Scars and Songs (43 page)

Grace drove south down Second Avenue and we sat in traffic, moving only a centimeter at a time across the Queens Midtown Tunnel. Lea moaned and complained about how many people lived in the city, while Conner and I continuously kicked at her seat.  After two hours of traffic, Lea had all the windows open and was singing horribly to
Limp Bizkit’s
rendition of
The Who’s Behind Blue Eyes
.  I pleaded with Conner to get her to shut up, but he just laughed at me.

I didn’t pay any attention to any other music or anyone singing after that, I just looked forward and focused on Grace’s face in the rearview mirror.  Every once in a while, she would glance there to change lanes and I caught her smiling at me watching her.  Before I knew it, she was parking the Jeep in front of Lea’s parent’s house in Belle Harbor, the smell of the beach and salty water filling the air.

The four of us shuffled out of the car stretching, yawning and smacking each other.  Caroline Rossi, Lea’s mom, burst through the front door and ran at us screaming, apron flapping in the wind. “Anthony! They’re finally home!” She grabbed Lea and Grace up in her arms and swung them around. 

Caroline let go of Lea, but held Grace by the shoulders and looked her up and down, beaming. “You look healthy enough, but you need to put on more weight. You’re all skin and bones, dear.”

Lea laughed loudly and slapped Grace on the bottom, “Don’t worry, Ma, at the rate she’s been devouring ice cream and alcohol, she’ll pack on the weight within the next week. Her ass is gonna be so big she’ll have moons orbiting it.” 
Was it wrong that for some reason that turned me on?

Rolling her eyes at her daughter, Caroline giggled, “You need help, dear. Let’s go in and say hello to your father.” She then turned to Conner and me, kissing us both on the cheek. “Hello, boys, come on inside. Anthony has a game on and I’ll have lunch ready in a minute. We’ll see if we can fatten Grace up a bit today.” She grabbed Lea and Conner by the shoulders and walked with them into the house.

Grace stood frozen on the sidewalk, with her mouth hanging open.  Me, I was watching her ass. Moons orbiting or it not, it would always be perfect to me. When she stepped forward, I gently grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back. She fell back onto me, laughing, with her back pressed tightly up against the front of me.  One of my hands held onto her wrists, and the other was around the front of her waist, restraining her from moving. I
skimmed my hand up from her waist, along her sides, until I brushed aside the hair that fell in waves down her neck. Then I brought my mouth to her ear. I breathed in deeply and whispered, “I’m kind of in love with your ass just the way it is.”

She leaned her head closer to mine and my whispering lips touched her soft cheeks,
“Shane, shut up. I really hate you right now.”

I chuckled, dipping my lips into the crook of her neck and kissed her. Hot spikes of heat shot deeply into my belly and she moaned softly. “No, you don’t, Gray.”
And then? Then, I kissed her neck again and ran my tongue along her skin. 
She
.
Was.  Shaking.

“Dear God, now I need a change of panties.
Mine are soaking wet
,” she whispered.

No thoughts in brain.  Me want girl. 

I was seriously having trouble breathing air normally. 

Grace spun around in my arms easily, her whole body still trembling in my arms. “You know, Shane, if you could stop all your insane outbursts against me for five minutes, I would really love to see what that warm tongue of yours could do to the rest of my body.”

Her eyes locked on mine and I could feel mine widen, as I felt her heart beat drumming against my chest as fast as a hummingbirds.  Then the realization of her words slid right over me and I held her closer.  I tightened my grip on her wrists, my whole body stiffened and I sucked in a slow deep breath.  She looked at my lips and I knew she wanted me to kiss her, so I leaned in slow and laced one of my hands through her hair; pulling her towards me.

“Are you two coming in?  Lunch is almost on the table!” Caroline yelled from the doorway. 
You have got to be freaking kidding me! 

I let out a low moan, slid my hands back down to her waist and turned her towards the front door.  “Ah…yep.  We’re um…coming, Mrs. R.,” I said breathlessly.  I slid my hand to the small of her back and gently pushed her to walk alongside me into the house.  We glanced at each other and I brushed a strand of dark hair that fell across her cheek behind her ear.  She bit her lip and I wanted so badly to know what she was thinking.

Please do not let anyone notice me walking strange.
  I felt like I have a third leg, and that wasn’t my ego talking either,
that’s just how damn hard I was
.

We walked in (okay, I was limping) to Lea’s father
, Anthony, yelling, “There’s the comatose kid!  How are you feeling, Gracie?”  His arms opened wide and he grabbed Grace in a giant hug.  “Ah, Jesus, Caroline!  You’re right, she’s all skin and bones.”  He shoved her comically in front of one of the plastic covered dining room chairs and pushed her shoulders down until she sat.  He kept one hand on her shoulder and the other grabbed mine, giving me a hearty handshake.  “Hey, and the
rock star
is here too!  How you doing, son?”

“Hey, Mr. Rossi.  Thanks for having me today.  I’m doing great.  How have you been?”  I answered.

He lowered his gaze and stepped closer to me.  “Good, good, son.  I’m sure glad that everything was settled and you didn’t have anything to do with hurting our Gracie.  Lea told me that you were the one to help her when that son of a bitch got his hands on her.  We’re forever in your debt, Shane.  I knew you couldn’t have hurt her.”  He slid in front of the dining room chair at the head of the table, and sat down, leaning back with his arms folded across his chest.  A serious expression crossed his features, “So did anybody get the son of a bitch, yet?  Or am I going to have to make some calls…” Holy shit, it’s like the
Godfather
.

“Shut up, dear,” Caroline cut him off, while placing an enormous platter full of spaghetti and meatballs on the table.  She waved her hands at him to settle him down.  “Let’s have a nice delicious Sunday lunch and not talk about all this horror, please.”  She fanned her hands over her face dramatically, “You men can talk about all this
Law and Order
,
CSI
crime stuff after eating. Grace has been through enough already.  She doesn’t want to hear anymore.”  She walked back into the kitchen, only to come back with more food, salad, Italian bread, garlic knots and a huge pitcher of water with slices of fruit floating in it. 

Then
lunch/dinner began.  I had never seen so much food in my entire life, and everything was delicious.  And the conversation was very entertaining to say the least; it started with the most insane giggling from Grace and Lea.

“Gracie, dear.  When was the last time you ate any food?” Caroline asked.

“Um, I had a handful of Tic-tacs on Thursday,” Grace answered.  Lea looked over at her, while shoving an enormous spoonful of spaghetti in her mouth and laughed.  Grace slurped up a long strand of spaghetti, smacking sauce all over her face.

“I can tell, dear.  Don’t you girls ever cook for yourselves?  You do know how to make nutritious foods, don’t you?”  She glared at Lea.

Lea looked thoughtful while she chewed on her food.  She took her time swallowing and then answered.  “Well, we did make some Spam with Oreo Cookie glaze last Wednesday.  That was yummy, right guys?”

What the?  Spam with Oreo Cookie glaze?

“I see,” Caroline grumbled.  “Well, does anyone have any good news or surprises to tell us?”

“I won a whole dollar in a scratch off game!” Grace giggled madly.

“Have you been drinking, dear?” Caroline reprimanded her.

“No more than usual,” Grace smiled back.

It was like watching a sitcom.  This shit was hilarious!

Caroline smirked at Lea then glanced at Conner, “Well, Lea, I just can’t understand why you’re not married yet.”  Conner sunk lower into h
is chair. 
Wuss
, if it was me I would have gotten down on one knee right there.

“I’m just lucky, I guess.  No really, I mean, I love Conner and all but I’m holding out for Johnny Depp,” Lea answered batting her eyes.

Johnny Depp?  Like, Captain Jack Sparrow? 

“And you, Grace?  What’s your excuse?” 

I smiled to myself. 
Give me two weeks, lady.  Then I’m on one knee
.

“I’m waiting for the zombie apocalypse, because that’s the theme of the wedding I want.  I figured all the guests could just eat each other and I could really save a few bucks on food, you know?”

I completely snorted my water through my nose with that.  I hoped nobody noticed.  It got all over my shirt and the worst part were those tiny bits of fruit in the water.  Did I mention it shot out my nose?  Bits of fruit?  Yeah.

“No, no, Caroline.  Why should these girls buy the cow when you could get all the milk for free?” Anthony laughed along with the girls.

“Oh my.  Well, I just want to know if either of you will be giving me grandchildren anytime soon?”

This is when Conner started to choke on a meatball.  He was grabbing at his throat and coughing; me, I laughed.

“I’m allergic,” Grace laughed.

“Conner’s family eats their young, so that’s a no go for us,” Lea smiled.

“Oh dear,” Caroline mumbled and covered her mouth with her hand.

Lea’s hands flew up in the air, “I win!  Biotch!”

Grace threw her napkin into her plate. “You, my friend, are the undefeated champion!  We shall have a parade in your honor and a statue built in your likeness.”

Lea held up her finger and giggled, “Umm, build it in chocolate and erect it outside in the front yard, then everyone can eat me!”

These two were bat-shit crazy, and I would thank God every day of the rest of this life for leading me to them
.

We sat around the living room after dinner.  Conner, Lea and both her parents argued and debated about what they should name grandchildren or some nonsense like that. 

Grace sat on one of the old couches with slumped shoulders, and watched the discussion, without expression.  Her eyes moved from the loud laughter and yelling to her folded hands on her lap.  A heavy sadness seemed to blanket her features and my breath stalled; I recognized her loneliness. I knew it all too well.  The need to touch her was overwhelming to me, so I sat next to her, her beautiful face turned to mine. Our lonely eyes met each other.  No words were spoken between us, nothing needed saying.  Our eyes and souls were connected in a room full of life, and we had been the two loneliest people in the world, I understood her; and we didn’t have to be alone any longer. 

In front of us, the laughing and teasing went on.  My heart ached as if it were a real pain, for her.  Th
ese were the only people she had left; Lea was like family to her. 

I slowly reached my hand out to her and I could see her breath quicken a notch at the anticipation of my touch.  Both of us looked down at our hands side by side in between us waiting for the collision of our bodies.  When I slid my pinky along the side of her hand and up to the tip of her elbow, her breath caught and our eyes locked together once again. 

I leaned in close to her.  “Want to take a walk?” I asked in a low whisper that blew the loose strands of the hair against her neck.

Grace’s head tilted back as if I had caressed her and a mischievous twinkle danced wildly in her eyes.  “I have a better idea.  Want to go for a bike ride?”

My stomach clenched. Why in the world would she want to go bike riding on a cold March day?  “Yeah, sure, but I was kind of hoping I could hold your hand while we
walk
.” 
I also want to kiss you until you’re a puddle of sexy sauce on the floor, and then I want to lick you up
, slowly.

She laughed and snorted, giving me a playful shove off the couch.  “Come on, the garage is out back, and I’ll let you hold my hand.”  She glanced over to Lea and smiled at her, giving her a wink. “Shane and I are going for a ride.  We won’t be too long.”

Why did I have the feeling those two were laughing at me and she was  going to put me on a bicycle with a giant banana seat with glittery pink fringe sticking out of the handlebars? 
Hell, I would slap some bright pink lipstick on and paint my damn nails if it meant I could spend time with Grace again.

Lea smiled wide, eyes twinkling, “Sure, when you guys get back, we can get ready to go somewhere on the beach to dance tonight.”  She gave me a wink. “Have fun.” 
Oh, yeah.  Something was definitely going on
.  Freaking bike probably had a little bell and a basket. 
Screw it, I was ready to ring the bell, so bring it on
.

We grabbed our jackets and threw them on.  She led me through the kitchen and out the side door into the backyard, all the while, holding my hand and tugging me forward, “You might want to zip up; it gets pretty cold by the ocean if we ride fast.”