Saving Grace (36 page)

Tucker sauntered into the kitchen and grabbed a mug, "Oh, Grace," he winked. "Thanks for making coffee for me." Then he hip bumped me again.

Shane shot up out of his seat and o
ur eyes met across the room
. "Well, Tucker," I snapped. "I was thinking that the only way you'd ever get me to go anywhere near your crotch
is
if I made a whole damn pot of coffee and poured it there. So, uh, yeah I'm making this coffee just for you."

Tucker pursed his lips together, "Wow. You have a real mean streak."

"Oh, you have no idea," I said.

"
Anywho
," Tucker smiled. "Has anyone been in touch today with Vixen4
to
see if they got the cleaning service in
yet? You guys have a gig tonight
and I want to make sure I can take someone home if
Shane, Alex and I score some bedbugs tonight." He looked at me and smiled. I should really introduce that freak to
Gabriel;
they would be
awesome
evil villains together; Devil Man and Douche Boy.
Able to creep a girl out in .5 seconds flat, and
kiss them into complete bo
redom so they want to jump off the tallest
building in a single bound...I could just picture Tucker in tights and a cape trying to strut his stuff.

Rolling my
eyes,
I walked into the living room and flicked on the remote to the television searching through channels. Shane sat on the coffee table
in front of me a few minutes lat
er
.

"I have to go home and see if everything is okay there, take a shower and stuff for the show. But I really want to talk to you...about last night. And us." His face was pained and serious and it made my heart crash itself against my chest in sharp distressful pangs.

Ok
ay
, so that's FREAKING ME OUT!

"Conner is staying here with Lea, so you'll be safe, okay? But I really want to talk to you sometime before the show tonight."

All I could do was nod my head.

H
oly crap! This human relationship nonsense was way too emotional and intense for me, how the heck do people keep doing this?

Alex,
Brayden
, Tucker and
Ethan walked in
,
grabbed their coats and stood in front of Shane waiting for him to move. Shane looked confused, like he wanted to kiss me but not in front of everyone. Then he walked out the front door and just gave me a backwards wave, "Later."

That
burned
.

I looked at the
clock on the wall. It was three
o'clock in the afternoon and I had
another four hours before the show. I walked back into the
kitchen with my empty coffee cup and refilled
,
eyeing Lea.

Conner understood my look and
announced he would be spending the rest of the day
,
until we had to leave
,
watching
television.
"Go do your girly primping stuff." He
whistled as he walked away.

"Please don't tell me that you were cock blocked by Alex and Tucker last night," she pleaded
walking me into her bedroom
.

"Well, then I'd be lying." I ran my hands through my tangled hair. "I don't even want to think about last night. All I want to do i
s
take a long hot bath and get ready for tonight's show, and I don't want to have Gabriel show up when I do any of that."

"You know
what;
you should really tell Shane everything. The truth about Gabriel
and about where you come from
and find out whose soul is in him now, I don't think he'll freak out as much as you think he would
. Then
he
could be the one to watch you in the bathtub and not me," she laughed. "Come on, let me grab my laptop and I'll sit on the floor in the hallway with the bathroom door open and try to give you some privacy."

I soaked in a scalding hot bath for an hour then stayed in the hallway while Lea took a long bath
. We painted our nails and
tousled
our hair
wildly. She laid out an outfit for me on my dresser,
a pair of extremely low hip hugging jeans and
a low cut shirt that clung to my body like paint so that my nipples could be seen piercing through the material read
y
to poke men's eyes out. I felt all sorts of hot and desperately wondered if Shane would like to see the silky material thrown onto the floor of his bedroom...
We put on our makeup
while still wearing our robes,
until we had an hour left before we had to leave, then Conner called for Lea to come into the bedroom with him. The guilt I felt when she said no, hit me right in the chest and I waved her off to go spend time with Conner. "Just bash through my door when it's time to leave," I smiled.

Of
course,
Gabriel was sitting on my bed when I walked in. "Grace."

I stood in the doorway and my anger boiled deep and violent in my veins. "Leave."

Gabriel stood and his perfectly sculptured angelic form moved towards me, "I love watching you when you come fresh from the bat
h Grace. So soft and pure
;
ethereal
."

I hugged my robe tighter around myself, feeling completely naked in front of him.

"Grace
. You know I will never stop until I get what I want."

I smiled at him, "Me
neithe
r,
Gabriel, me neither."

Lea and Conner came smashing through the door screaming. Conner gave Lea a 'told you everything was fine' look and folded his hands across his chest. "Grace, what is wrong with you. We've been knocking on the door for ten minutes and you're not even dressed yet!"

I nodded my head, "Oh, sorry I uh, just took my
ear buds
out. Lea, can you stay while I get dressed? I'll be right
ou
t,
Conner
,
I promise."

Conner shook his head and closed the door behind him.

"WHAT THE HELL
IS HAPPENING
?" Lea yelled.

I could hear Gabriel's low chuckled thunder in my ears, "She really is quite a precious
sou
l,
Grace. I would hate to take her from you."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and suddenly felt the dread of his plans fill me to almost drowning. "I need more time
her
e,
Gabriel, please."

"I love
to
hear you beg
,
Grace," he whispered back.

I walked to Boozer's on
shaking legs.
Gabriel was going to hurt Lea, tha
t I had no doubt in my mind
.
I had to get far away from
here;
I couldn't let anything bad happen to her.

I wracked my brain trying to figure out what to do, I was so obsessed and consumed with my thoughts that I
hadn't realized we even entered Boozer's until I noticed Shane.
He was so painstakingly gorgeous my breath caught. Tilting his head in my direction like he could feel my eyes on him, he stilled. So perfect, like a god among men.
I would remember him like this always.

When Shane took one look at my expression, he ran to me and grabbed my shoulders
,
looking wildly into my eyes, "Grace, what's wrong? What happened?"

I looked at him deadpan and my heart deflated, "After the
sho
w,
I'm going to have to leave for a while, Shane." I opened my mouth to say more but the words wouldn't come.
I love
yo
u,
Shane. I love Lea. And I wasn't letting Gabriel hurt
either of you
. I was leaving, running until I found a safe plan
. I was giving myself one more night to sing and play guitar with him.

"Is this about Gabriel? Did something happen? Or is this about me, Grace?"

Ethan walked over to us and lightly drummed his sticks
on my shoulders, "Hey, you okay?
We have five minutes to get to the stage, why you so late?"

Alex and
Brayden
pulled us to the stage, Ethan and Shane eyed me frantically.

"I'm fine, I just need a drink
," I lied.
Not about the drink part though,
that I really needed
.

Ethan jumped to grab our shots that were waiting on one of the speakers. I yanked off my jacket and Shane sucked in a breath when he got a look at my
outfit. I sh
ou
ld have been all sorts of happy. And I would have been
if I didn't
have the thought of Gabriel,
center stage
,
in my mind.

Alex plugged my guitar in and Shane pulled me to the side behind the speakers. Ethan watched us carefully from behind his drum kit. I watched Ryan hop
onto the stage to introduce us
then I noticed how packed Boozer's was. I had never seen it like that before. It made my heart swell and then it made tears well in my eyes.
I didn't want to leave any of this.
I loved this life
.

"Babe, you need to tell me right now what's going on."

He called me babe
. Damn
yo
u,
Gabriel!

"Are you in trouble? Is this about Gabriel?" His tone was low and angry.
He stalked closer towards me, "What the fuck is going on!" With his
tall muscular build, tattoos and face twisted in anger he looked so fierce I cringed.

"Shane, just sing with me, okay? Just play that guitar of yours by my side tonight, the way that only you can."
I pleaded
.

He tried to sa
y more but he was drowned out by
the sounds of the crowd chanting our name.
I pulled Shane out in front of the audience and the sound was deafening;
it thundered and vibrated
the stage under our feet. I pushed Gabriel out of my mind
,
turned towards Shane
and stared into the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen since the beginning of time.

I gave him a slow sexy smile and his eyes warmed and his muscles loosened, and I swear I fell in love with him all over again.

Haunting
,
savage
,
aching notes danced through his fingers and
our first song silenced the crowd immediately
. His powerful lament
ing
soul spread itself through the melody and I matched his sorrow with my rhythm
,
mingling our harmony into a turbulent ballad.

We tore through all of Mad World's songs.
Dark, epic, fast
, raw and emotional.
W
e played lik
e it was our last night ma
king music together, and maybe it was.
How could I stay, knowing that all the people I love would be hurt? I couldn't.

A
magnificent
array of sounds and emotions resonated through the bar. It reverberated
through
our bodies and danced its shadows all
over
the walls.

Shane's dazzling eyes never disconnected from me. The entire set, he watched me, sang to me, played for me, and listened as I played back. The audience wasn't there. They had disappeared with the sound of his first
chord
s
. All I saw was
him
. All I heard was
him
. And all I thought was how I never wanted to say to goodbye.

By our third
song,
we played with our backs touching one another. The intense and electric charges
between both of our quivering guitars took over and spiraled into something tangible. I sang, sliding my body around his like I was his skin. We needed to touch each other through every riff, the heat and fire between us was consuming.

As
our set finished, the last note succumbing
to its silent end, Shane gently tipped my chin up making me look into his eyes.
For that brief moment time stopped and it was like seeing heaven.
The crowd seemed to hold their breaths in silence, waiting with heavy anticipation for what was yet to come.