Saving Grace (35 page)

"Wait! Hold on! I need to get my camera phone!" Alex
drunkenly
screamed from the floor. "You're not
thinking about OUR
BLO
G,
Grace
!"

Oh my GOD!
I completely forgot they were there
.

I fought with my shirt until I found my
armholes
,
while the idiots on the floor struggled to get out of their sleeping bags. It would have be
en
hyster
ically comical if
all my
damn girl parts WERE
N'T ON FIRE!

By the time Tucker reached the light switch and flicked it on, Shane was laying under the covers, arms behind his head relaxing against a pillow. I was
sitting up on the other side of the bed sitting cross-legged with
my hands folded in my lap. There
was
,
like
,
a thousand feet between us.
And the distance was physically painful.

Tucker's face was bright red and his nostrils were flaring. "Alex.
I'mnotfuckingkidding
I heard them
kissingandshit
!
" he slurred. He jabbed his index finger at Shane and I, "What the fuck were you guys just doing? I know those sounds," he yelled.

Shane and I looked at each other innocently and shrugged. I yawned, "We were sleeping until some drunk asshole sleeping on my floor woke us up with his screaming."

Alex looked from me to Shane and back to me again.

"Fine!" Tucker screamed. "I'm going to take a fucking piss.
" He stumbled over himself trying to open the door and turned back to f
ace Shane, "Remember you robbing
-fucking-
backstabber
, she was wit
h me first! The fucking minute you toss her
for
something new, I'm all over that ass
."

I watched the skin around Shane's eyes tighten and his jaw clench down. His features turned sharp and ridged and all I wanted to do was lay my hand on his face and take away his anger.

Tucker flicked the light off and we could hear him mumbling and falling down the hallway into the bathroom.

I skated my hand
under my covers and
along the sheets until I found Shane's and entwined my fing
ers in his, but his tense muscles did not
relax.
Did he really think I would go from him to Tucker? Can we all say, HELL NO!

"Whoa, Tucker has serious issues. Everybody knows Shane wouldn't sleep with someone in his band, that's against the rules, right bro?" Alex chuckled.
"Oh, and hey Grace? You might want to turn your shirt right side out again.
"

Shane's shoulders relaxed and he laughed back, "Dude, why don't you find another room to sleep in?"

I could hear Alex move and get comfortable in his sleeping bag, "
Nuh
, uh. But, if you're changing the rules of the band, I'm all for watching."

"You're disgusting," I laughed.

Shane's hands reached for me in the dark and drew me into his arms. "Don't worry, Grace. I'm sure you'
v
e heard all those rumors
about me a
nd
Alex having a torrid affair that we don't want our fans to know about
. Well it's true, and he
really
just wants to watch me, not you."

I laughed loudly and he pulled me closer and nuzzled his face into my neck. "Hey, Alex?"

"
Yea
h,
dude?"

"Desperately want to change the rules," Shane whispered.

"I don't blame you one damn bit. But, Shane
,
if you hurt her, we'll kill you."

Shane touched his lips to the back of my shoulder right over the tattoo of my broken angel's wing and gently kissed me. "Then I'll be living forever."

"Um, you guys know I'm still right here right? All this
bromantic
talk is making me think I should leave the room and let the both of you sleep on the bed."

Shane's shoulders shook from his laughter, "Shut
up
and go to
slee
p,
Grace."

Another
six
of my favorite words ever
.

When Alex's breaths evened out and Tucker stumbled back into the room and continued with his snoring, Shane softly pulled back my hair behind my ear. He leaned up on his elbow behind me and spoke right into my ear, "Grace?"

"Yeah?"

"What
did
you do with Tucker?"

"He just kissed me in his car." I rolled over onto my back and looked directly into his eyes in the dark
,
ice-cold
blue
.
Was that what he was upset about before?
"He tried to do more, but I didn't want to.
I don't like him like that.
"

"No more."

It wasn't a question; it was a statement. "No more what?"

"No more kissing anyone but me."

My heart thudded wildly. My butterflies were singing choruses of halleluiah.

I wanted to tell him I didn't have much time left. I wanted to tell him I was so broken that I could never be fixed. I wanted to tell him to run from me and Gabriel and all the evil things I had seen in my life. But I couldn't. I ran from Shane once, I wasn't running away again.
My rules now.
Even if
a had
only a few moments
left here and
I
couldn't win against Gabriel,
I was going to make every single moment with Shane count.
A
ll I wanted was
him
.

I brushed my lips over his, my heart pounding hard. "No more," I whispered and cuddle
d
into his strong arms.
I inhaled deeply, breathing in Shane's scent, and drifted off to sleep.

The afternoon sun shined through the open curtains splashing light against my eyes. A steady strong heartbeat thudded musically right under my cheek. My body draped across Shane's chest and our legs were tangled together under the covers. My hand lay
over the firm muscles that stretched themselves along his stomach, my fingertips reveling in the smoothness and heat of his skin.

A slow sweet burn washed itself gently over my
flesh
as I slowly ran my hand along
the dips and valleys of his skin
.

Shane shifted his
head, burrowed his face into my hair,
and breathed in deeply letting out a slow deep moan. The pounding heartbeat in his chest quickened and a sharp thrill ran up my spine.

His lips
brushed along my shoulder as he
slid
himself
over me, moving his body so softly and perfectly so that
the hard muscles of his thigh
glided teasingly ag
ainst
the
V
-shape
of my pajama bottoms.

Running his lips along my neck and jaw, his hot breaths sent
rolls of heat through my insides. Slowly, so
very
slowly, he trailed his fingertips down my cheeks and neck, hovering his lips just above mine, "I can wake up to this perfection every morning for the rest of my life, Grace."

He placed his palms down on the bed on either side of my face and traced his tongue along my lower lip, then took it gently in between his teeth and nipped at it.

"With a few
exception
s
," I whispered into his lips.

"Like?"

"A hell of a lot less clothing."

"
Grace..." he growled low
,
shifting
to hold
himself up on one elbow
. H
e pulled my
kn
ee up to wrap my leg around him
and slid his hands back down slowly to my outer thighs. He skimmed his fingers beneath my shirt caressing my side
and kissed me
long, deep and hard
.
What started out as a slow tender
graze of his lips turned into a frenzied desperate
kiss.
I ran my fingers through his silky dark hair and pulled him in deeper, wanting so much more.

"God it tastes like some
one shit in my mouth last night,
"
Tucker moaned from the floor.

Shane and I p
ulled our lips apart, breathing heavily against each other.
"Oh God," he moaned. "Why are they still in here?"

Laughing
, and a bit dizzy
, I pulled back the covers and
sat up, swinging my feet over the edge and dangled them.

Alex's disheveled black hair stuck up adoringly all over his head as he
pulled himself off the floor. "If I don't get coffee
in me soon
,
I might kill
someone,
" he croaked.
"And Tuck
,
you taste like that because you're such a fucking asshole."

Tucker bolted up next to him, "Where the fuck am I?" He scanned the room and his eyes widened when he noticed me, then almost popped fully out of their sockets when he noticed Shane. "I slept on the fucking floor in Grace's room? And that douchebag slept in her bed?"

Shane growled and moved to get closer to Tucker but I held my hand out to stop him, "Whoa. Stop. Alex? Shane? Please go make
coffee;
I need to speak to Tucker alone. Again."

Shane's
narrowed eyes snapped to mine and Tucker gave him a smug look. Alex laughed and walked to Shane patting him on the back, "Let's go dude," he said.

Shane walked out of the room with his eyes still narrowed on mine.
Like
I was going to jump on Tucker,
Psf
.

Tucker slowly got up,
massaging his temples,
and attempted to sit down on my bed, but I stopped him before he could.

"
O
h,
hell no." I said. "Do not make yourself comfortable on my bed, Tucker. I wanted to talk to you privately so you could save face in front of your friends, but I'm not going to be nice to you right now. I made myself perfectly clear many times to you that there will be nothing between us, that there is nothing between us. So, I would appreciate it if you stay
ed out of my bedroom and stop
talking your bullshit about us."

"
But I thought that maybe...
When could I have fucked up so badly?"

"You open your mouth, Tucker
,
and
naturally
pop
s
out
complete fucked-
u
pped
ness
. I told you I wasn't interested."

"But you're interested in Shane, right? You'll fuck him
Grace and then he'll jump on the next chick like you were nothing, then what?" He sneered.

"And you would be different how?" I asked blatantly.

"I would never fucking hurt
yo
u,
Grace, not like Shane would."

"Tucker, enough. It
's
none of you
r business what or who I sleep with.
Hel
l,
Tucker, I'm not even sleeping with anybody. Get off my back and leave me the hell alone. I don't have enough time left to play your stupid games. And if I ever come home and find you sleeping in my bedroom again, I will kick your ass so hard, they'll have to turn you right side out again." I stormed out of the
room flustered. I couldn't even believe I said out loud I didn't have enough time left
, and I couldn't believe I said it out loud in front of Tucker. But, this was Tucker and he probably hadn't heard anything I just said
anyway
.

I thundered down the hallway and into the kitchen
where everyone was sitting around the table sipping coffee. I grabbed a mug and picked up an empty coffee pot, glaring at everyone around the ta
ble. "Who would do such a
thing
?"
Everyone
laughe
d,
thinking I was being funny.
Obviousl
y,
they knew nothing about my caffeine addiction,
jerks
. I made more coffee and complained the whole time.