Saving Grace (34 page)

I dr
agged my eyes away from them, an uneasy animalistic feeling pulled somewhere deep inside me.

Shane pushed Bliss's shoulder away and scowled, "What the hell is wrong with you?"
The rest of Vixen4 appeared and slithered up to us like cockroaches.

Bliss smiled sweetly at him, "You sounded great singing
. We should do some work in the studio together, just
you
and
me
."

"No thanks, Mad World is absolutely perfect the way it is right now," he snapped.

Cream giggled, "
Shan
e,
you guys aren't much fun anymore."

"Yeah. You guys haven't partied with
us
too much while we were here, what gives?" Essex cooed.

"Maybe it's their new guitarist," Scratch said. She stared at me and sneered, "What was
your
name again?"

"I'm sorry, what did you say? I'm not fluent in stupid drunk slut." I looked to Lea inn
ocently, "I don't remember. Lea, did they offer that
class
in our high school?" The enormous smile
on Shane's face
after I said that
,
made me want to climb over all of my friends
that stood
between us and
lick his lips
clean of her.

Lea giggled next to me, "Skank 101.
No we definitely didn't take that nasty class.
"

"Bitch," Bliss hissed crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Lea laughed louder, "Oh, one syllable word war. You don't even need a brain to play that game! Okay,
m
y
turn! CUNT!"

I shook my head and held up my hands waving them, "No, no
no
. You can't call her a
cunt,
she lacks the warmth and depth of one. Slut is much
better;
it really fits h
er,
well
,
all
of them better."

Shane's eyes danced with laughter. Ethan, Alex and Conner joined him.

"Fuck off, you stupid bitch!"

Lea huffed next to me, "That's not one syllable. Skank."

"Ass," I added.

"
Whore," Lea called.

"Ho!" I yelled.

"Cow," Lea continued.

Bliss's face flamed all different hues of red
.
Scary
Crypt Keeper.

Lea gave me a small glance and tilted her head, "Should we move to two
syllables
or phrases now? It doesn't look like they understand the game."

"Should we talk slower?" I asked.

That's when Bliss lunged at me red-faced, spitting and screaming.

Before anyone could move to stop her
,
I stepped into her attack and smashed my fist right into her mouth. She flew back a few feet and crumpled to the floor moaning
.
A shock wave of pure adrenaline surged up my arms and I
instantly threw
my arms up to block myself from the other members of Vixen4. But none of them made a move for me. They just looked down at Bliss. Shane grabbed me back by the waist and Ethan's giant frame jumped in front of me
.

Lea laughed.

Tucker picked that moment to stumble through the sea of people and hip bump me. "
He
y,
Grace,
wanna
dance with me?" he slurred.

I ignored him as I watched Vixen4 haul Bliss up off the floor and drag her into the kitchen for ice, or tissues, or another drink
; I had no clue
.

"What the fuck, Grace?" Tucker ranted as he stumbled over his own feet. "What am I fucking invisible to you now? Whatever. That's cool. I always wanted a fucking superhero power."

Then he p
assed out
, right
at my feet.

Alex and
Brayden
carried
Tucker
back to my apartment while the
police, who were called by the neighbors from the building next door, ended the party. It was only midnight, but to be honest, I was glad it was over because the only thing I wanted to do was go home with Shane.

Unfortunatel
y,
when we got there
,
Tucker and Alex were sound asleep
on the floor in sleeping bags in my bedroom
.
Apparently
, no amount of banging on pots and pans would wake them up.

I threw on a pair of comfortable flannel pajamas and sat in the living room with Ethan,
Brayden
, Shane and Conner while Lea made hot cocoa for everyone;
her idea
.

Within five
minutes,
I was called in to help clean up a hot cocoa emergency and aid in the creation of a whole new batch of hot cocoa. She really was horrible in the kitchen. I mean, who messes up hot cocoa?
Lea, that's who
.
Why she thought you could make cocoa from a box of instant pudding is beyond me.

Finally, when everyone had a cup of hot cocoa in their hands
,
we hung around the living room and watched more horror movies. I sat on the floor with my back against the couch, my shoulder touching Shane's leg. When I leaned my head on his knee I felt his fingers start pla
ying with my hair and goose bumps broke out all along my skin.
Staring up at him sitting there in just a pair of pajama bottoms made a strong heat churn deep in my stomach. His strong shoulders, massive lean muscles tensed, just underneath
,
his flawless skin begged me to touch
him.

I shivered
and
Shane looked down at me
catching
my eyes
with
one of his heart stopping gazes that left me dizzy. The way
his
eyes hungrily devoured every inch of me
sitting there,
he didn't need to lay a finger on me for me to feel like I was been touched by him.

He leaned his face down next to mine and held out his hand to me with a crooked sexy smile, "Come to bed with me."

Those w
ere the five
sexiest
words I had ever heard,
in any of my lifetimes.
I wish I could have recorded them and just played them back repeatedly. Seriously.

Holding my hand he lead me through the hallway and through the door to my bedroom. I gave my head a small nod toward our two sleeping
friends, Shane just shrugged,
and pulled me close to him, "I'm just dying to put on arms around
you," he whispered pulling my covers back.

Climbing into my
be
d,
we snuggled our bodies facing each other close together.

He brushed my hair from off my face and his fingertips lingered over my neck.
"Tell me more about Gabriel
," he murmured.

I shook my head against the pillow. I didn't want to ruin
my
time
lying
in bed with Shane by talking about
him
. "I really don't want to talk about him, Shane. I don't want you anywhere near him either. He's a monster."

He leaned his head on his arm and stared deep into my eyes like he was searching for the answers I wouldn't give him there. "I promise Grace, I won't let him hurt you. I'll stay here with you every night if I have too."

"I believe you," I whispered giggling. "And I think
you staying here every night
might make me feel a little itsy bitty bit better," I teased showing him how little by bringing my index finger to my thumb.

He laughed and I snuggled closer. Shane and I, can you
FREAKING BELIEVE THIS?

"The way you sang tonight, the way you sang to me, was...you just compl
etely took my breath
awa
y,
Grace,
"
he whispered.
Um, I
love you Shane Maxton. NO. NO, don't say
it,
Grace.

"We've su
ng like that since my audition, haven't we?"

"Yeah, we have
."
LOVE. YOU.

My pulse kicked up a notch just from talking like that with him.

He touched his thumb lightly to my bottom lip and slowly dipped his finger in, "All I thought about was what it was like to be buried between the lips of
a woman who could sing like that
."

Heart. Racing. I couldn't even string a coherent thought together.

He ran his index finger along my jaw
and down my neck, "Why did you
choose
that song for us to sing?"

Raw heat spiked across my cheeks and tingled the tops of my ears.
"I wanted to tell you how I felt. Why I was always so mean to you, Shane."

"Because you feel broken?"

"Completely shattered," I whispered softly.

The
pain in his eyes broke my heart. T
he absolute torn look of his face crushed something deep inside me. He took his hand and brushed away a tear
that I hadn't realized escaped and fallen from
my
welling eyes.

Gently he took hold of my waist, and rolling me over, slid himself on top of me, his knee slipping between my thighs
,
opening them.
My body tumbled
easily
with his and my legs shifted
open
and wrapped themselves around his body.

Bringing his hands to my face, he leaned over me, lightly stroking my cheeks with his fingertips. "
Then let me
i
n, because
I promise you, I
will pick up every little
broken piece
of you,
every single fucking
piec
e,
Grace
,
and for
the rest of my fucking life I will put you back together...I'll make you whole again.
"

I stopped breathing.

Bringing his lips to my
mouth,
he traced the outline of them with his. Skimming so softly over them
, touching and dragging his so lightly over mine that I could barely feel them, just the warmth of his breath as it mingled with mine.
His body shuttered as he parted my lips with his.
He laced his hands through my hair
and dipped
his tongue
in
against mine. Tiny bursts of tingly pleasure shot across my skin and I moaned into his mouth. Digging my fingers into his
back,
I tilted my head up to deepen our kiss.
We devoured each other's lips, drowning completely, intensely in each other's kisses.

Our lips became desperate,
starving
, ravenous
and
wanton
.
I gripped my sheets, grasped at his skin, because my world was spinning, kissing him like it was the very last kiss of my life.

Without taking his lips from
mine,
he leaned up on one arm and with the other tugged at the bottom of my shirt yanking it up. Our lips parted long enough to drag it over my head. Grasping the back of my
nec
k,
he pulled me up to his lips
again
, a low growl rumbled through his throat. My bare skin against his sent a rush
of heat to all my nerve endings. A
hot rush of fast pumping blood shot through my veins
as his hands skimmed over my skin, exploring and playing.

"I can get lost
in
your lips forever Grace," he murmured against my mouth. "So beautiful. Perfect."

Breathless, I whimpered. Lowering my hands to the waistband of his pajama bottoms, I slid my hands just under the material. I tugged, managing to drag them lower on his hips. There was too much material between us and the ache in between my thighs was maddening.

"Hey!"

We froze.

"Hey, Alex! Get up! Get up! Shane's about to bag Grace!
" Tucker's voice tore through the room causing Shane to jump off me.
He fumbled for my shirt in the dark, grabbed it and yanked it
back
over my head.