by London Casey
I looked at my coffee.
Was I really going to sit around and waste the day?
I mean, I already slept in… I ditched work…
I chugged the coffee and got changed.
Change of plans.
I was going to pretend I was a rock star.
The empty club had a much different vibe to it.
There was a guy behind the bar, wiping it down, getting everything set up for another afternoon and night. The stage was empty with a microphone, bar stool, and a deep red curtain that covered up the backstage area.
Most of the tables had their chairs upside down on them.
Ernie sat at the biggest table, with money and receipts around him.
Carla and Faye spotted me, jumped up and ran toward me.
I had my guitar case strapped to my back.
“And she plays guitar,” Faye said. “I love this woman.”
They hugged me like we had been friends for decades.
They made me smile as I hugged them back.
“Thanks for showing up,” Carla said.
“Ernie wants to hear us sing,” Faye said.
“Right now?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Carla said. “That a problem?”
I looked at the stage.
Jitters ran through my body.
Then I pictured Liam up there, singing.
I laughed. “I’m always ready to go.”
We walked to the table and saw Ernie gnawing on an unlit cigar like a dog with a piece of rawhide.
“Look at that mouth go,” Carla said. “Where was that when we were together?”
Ernie looked at her and slowly plucked the cigar out of his mouth. “What did you just say?”
“You heard me.”
Ernie slowly snarled his lip. “I played your pussy like a violin, Carla.”
“You weren’t part of any orchestra down there,” Carla said.
“Oh, here we go,” Faye said.
“What the hell is happening?” I whispered to Faye.
“They do this,” Faye said. “They revisit their sex life and then end up… you know…”
“I was conducting, Carla,” Ernie said. “I was making you make noises that nobody ever heard before. There were famous animal explorers tracking the sounds, looking for new species.”
Carla laughed. “Looking for life? That’s about it when it comes to you pleasuring me. So dull that even the crickets fell asleep.”
I stepped forward. “Hey. Enough comparing Carla’s vagina to symphony instruments. I came here to play guitar and sing. Not watch a back-door deal in the making.”
“He never went near my back door,” Carla said.
“Because you don’t know how to have fun,” Ernie said.
“I went down on you while you were on a video conference call!” Carla yelled.
“Big fucking deal,” Ernie said.
“You two need to just get married,” Faye said. “Just call it what it is.”
“Faye fucked Dozer on the bar one night after closing,” Carla said.
“What?” Ernie said.
“She’s joking,” I said. I started to laugh. “Just joking. Right?”
Ernie looked around. “I have to figure out these receipts. Go make music.”
As Carla walked by Ernie, she put her hand to his shoulder.
He kissed her hand.
Carla blushed.
Faye looked at me. “Told you.”
I shook my head. “That’s quite the relationship you have there, Carla,” I said.
She pointed at me. “Aren’t you the one fucking an engaged guy?”
I gasped. “No. We didn’t… no. And he’s not engaged anymore.”
“I need those details,” Faye said.
I laughed. “After we sing.”
Ernie wandered from the table to the stage.
He stood with his arms folded, watching.
When we finished singing two songs, he slowly clapped.
“You like what you see?” Carla asked.
“I like what I hear,” he said. “You three are good. Especially you.”
Ernie pointed to me.
I laughed with a weak giggle sound.
Carla elbowed me. “Don’t go fucking my man there, okay?”
“What?”
“She’s got a man of her own,” Faye said. “The previously engaged hot guy that was here with her that night.”
My face was bright red.
“I like all of this,” Ernie said. “Feel free to use this place anytime you want. Practice. Write. Sing. Whatever.”
“Strip tease?” Carla asked.
“I’ll gladly pay,” Ernie said. “All three though.”
Carla hurried to take her shoe off and throw it at Ernie’s head.
“If she takes off her panties next, I’m out of here,” I said.
Ernie started to belly laugh.
Carla looked at me. “Do you think I’m a whore?”
“No,” I said.
“I’m not,” Carla said. “I wouldn’t go from a shoe to my panties. It would be both shoes, then pants… then panties.”
“Oh, right,” I said. “I messed up the order. Sorry.”
Ernie waved a finger as he walked away from the stage back to his table.
I had never in my life met two people who I felt so close to without really knowing them.
We went to the side of the stage and I put my guitar back in its case.
“Ernie was right,” Faye said. “About you, Emily. You’re talented.”
“I haven’t played a guitar in years,” I said. “Or sang.”
“Why not?” Carla asked.
I stood up. “Life.”
“It’s your life,” Faye said. “You get to choose what to do.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Seriously,” Carla said. “Don’t be afraid of life. Nobody is going to make it out of here alive. So who cares?”
“I do,” I said. “Way too much about everyone.”
“Put yourself first,” Faye said.
“And the hot guy’s cock second,” Carla said with a wink.
I laughed and blushed. “I haven’t seen… or… whatever.”
“Maybe you should,” Carla said.
“Single is single,” Faye said.
“Even if single isn’t single, oh well,” Carla added.
“You two are bad for me,” I said.
“We’re so bad, we’re good,” Faye said. “Now pick that guitar back up. We’re not done yet.”
“I have an idea,” Carla said. “Let’s make Ernie let us drink for free and we get drunk.”
“How are you going to do that?” I asked.
“Give me five minutes alone with him,” Carla said. “And he’ll let us do whatever we want.”
Carla walked away with a smile.
I loved her confidence.
I loved that Faye was laid back.
I loved that my shell was cracking.
There was only two things left to do.
Get drunk… then tell Liam how I felt about him.
Chapter Thirty-One
Liam
I laughed when Emily sent me the pictures of her on stage with a guitar.
She looked so fucking beautiful.
It was unfair.
Either Carla or Faye took the picture because the angle was from down on the floor.
Emily was in mid hair throw with a smile on her face hidden behind her hair. But I could see it. I could see her hair. I could fucking smell it if I shut my eyes.
The picture made me tense up in all the right ways.
As I sat behind my desk at work, a knock at the door took my attention away from the woman I loved.
Jacob walked a folder to me.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“I went through all those depositions for you,” he said. “Highlighted some interesting parts. I think we might be able to revise the timeline.”
I opened th
e folder and flipped through the pages. “If this works and we get the lawsuit dropped… this is a big deal, Jacob. Did you do this alone?”
“Completely alone,” he said.
“Anything else?” I asked.
He shook his head.
I could tell something was tearing him up inside.
He walked to the door and I gritted my teeth. “Hey, kid.”
Jacob looked back. “Yeah?”
“Sometimes the biggest dreams don’t involve big buildings and big paychecks. Seems to me that those who have that shit are just as unhappy as the guy with nothing. You have to ask yourself something… do you want to leave work and go to a bar and throw cash around looking for someone to fuck or do you want to go home to someone who’s going to hug you?”
“If this is your way of getting me to quit, it won’t work. I know David is going to end up with the job, but I’m still going to work my ass off.”
Jacob left the office.
On a professional level, I respected his work ethic.
On a personal level, he needed to find his girl and make things right.
But who was I to talk, right?
My phone buzzed again and it was another picture of Emily.
This time she was squished between Carla and Faye.
All I knew was I hadn’t seen that kind of smile on her face in a long time.
I noticed they all had shot glasses in their hands.
I looked at the time.
I laughed.
Getting drunk on a work day?
I started to look at the work Jacob did and Emily texted me right back.
Hell to the yes, Liam. Wanna join? ;)
I groaned.
Then I stood up.
I wanted to do more than join.
I wanted to steal Emily away.
I had years to make up to her.
I grabbed my mail out of the mailbox and when I tossed it to the counter I saw the thicker envelope slide away from the rest of the pile.
I noticed the handwriting on it.
Then the return address.
Which was just the word Boston.
And the handwriting was Miranda’s.
“What the fuck is this?” I whispered.
I couldn’t believe the anger and annoyance that went through my body and mind when I saw her name. That wasn’t good. Whatever was going to happen here, we still had a lot to figure out. This wasn’t two people dating and breaking up. This was…
I tore the envelope open and reached into it.
I felt something soft and pulled out a ball of tissues.
I dug through the tissues and let out a laugh as the engagement ring hit the counter.
That’s what she did.
She put her ring in an envelope and mailed it to me.
I grabbed the envelope again and looked at it.
So that was it then.
Not that I was expecting things to work out.
Done was done as far as I was concerned.
But this was typical Miranda. She knew how to make a grand gesture when it came to arguing or proving a point.
I picked the ring up and studied it.
The day I bought it, I wasn’t sure of it or what I was doing with it. Somewhere in my heart I knew it wasn’t going to be good enough for her. Yet I wanted it to be this simple gesture of… something.
The truth was I fucked it up as much as she did because it was for all the wrong reasons.
I had no idea what to do with the ring.
I dropped it to the counter and walked to the cabinet where I kept the good whiskey.
There was no glass needed for this celebration.
I took one drink.
Then other.
Three met four.
Five collided with six.
And my next collision was going to be with Emily.
I got a ride to her apartment after she phoned to tell me she was home.
She warned me she was drunk.
Her voice wasn’t slurred, but she was definitely flirty through the phone.
The two minutes we talked, I stared at the engagement ring on the counter.
And for those entire two minutes I pictured the ring on her finger.
I could see her crying over the ring. Telling me it was too big, too much, and I shouldn’t have done it. I could see her smiling as she took the ring off and on when needed.
When I stood at her door with my hands empty, I cursed myself for not getting her flowers or wine or whiskey or something.
Then she opened the door.
Wearing an oversized, old looking sweater. Her left shoulder completely exposed. Smiling with whiskey stained lips and her eyes focused on me.
Her hair was messy the way it always was.
The woman I loved.
I walked into the apartment and grabbed her by the hips and pulled her right against me.
Emily let out a gasp.
My hands moved fast, touching her face.
I lowered my mouth to hers and it was finally meant to be.
Our first kiss was interrupted by her heart as she put her hands to my chest and pushed me back.
I watched as she licked her lips.
Her eyes bouncing left to right, staring, wondering if she should say something. Ask something. Do something else.
But we both knew what our fate was here.
I shut the apartment door and twisted the deadbolt as though it were the final piece of the puzzle between us.
I moved toward her again and she jumped into my arms.
We kissed and I took her to the first place I could find, which was the kitchen counter.
I sat her down and touched her face again.
My thumbs stroking her soft cheeks.
Kissing her with purpose. Tasting her thin lips. Feeling her tongue move against mine in a way that had my cock begging to be free. To finally be free and have what I had been dreaming of for more years than I wanted to admit.
My fingers moved into her hair and I gently pulled her head back.
Our kiss broke with a loud pop sound and she let out a long sigh.
My lips slid down her neck, seeking her bare shoulder.
I kissed softly - one, two, three, four…
Then I stopped and put my nose to her shoulder and shut my eyes.
My hands slid down the sides of her body and reached for the bottom of her shirt.
With her shoulder exposed and no bra strap showing…
“Fuck, babe,” I whispered as my fingertips eased along under her shirt. “You’re beautiful, Em. You’ve always been beautiful.”
As my hands moved over her breasts, she looked at me.
“Are we doing this for the first time on the kitchen counter?” she asked.
“Anywhere you want,” I said. “Counter, floor, rooftop…”
“My bed…,” she purred.
Without hesitation, I slid my hands to her back and pulled her against me.
I lifted her off the counter and walked her to the bedroom.
I wasn’t sure any moment in my life had ever felt so right before.
She was all mine.
Finally all mine.
Finally feeling right.
I walked up behind her and gazed upon her naked body.
My hands touched her shoulders first, gently squeezing, telling her she was okay with me. She was safe. She could be happy. She could be free. I would always take care of her. Protect her. I would always love her.
“Move your hair, babe,” I whispered.
Emily reached back and lifted her hair.
That’s where my lips wanted to kiss first… the back of her neck.
When I kissed her, she moaned.
It was an achy kind of moan. Suggesting she had wanted to be kissed there but nobody ever did.
Until now.
My hands moved down her arms, seeking her hands.
I stood in nothing but my boxers.
My bulge no longer just a bulge. My
boxers looked like a 3D triangle as my cock got fuller by the second.
As my fingers interlocked with Emily’s, I kissed the back of her left shoulder.
Then I stopped.
I put my forehead to her shoulder and took a breath.
“Liam,” Emily said. “Don’t stop. Don’t go slow. Not tonight.”
I gritted my teeth and growled.
I was hoping she would say that.
In a swift motion, I spun her around, let her hands go, and touched her face.
My eyes moved down to see her breasts.
They were perfect.
Of course they were.
This was Emily.
My Em.
I kissed her and eased my hands down to her chest.
She grabbed my face, her nails digging into my skin, which only made me growl again.
I felt feral.
I could smell the desire coming from her body.
The room was already getting hot from our deep breaths, our needs, and now our kissing.
I cupped her full breasts, my thumbs helping themselves to the cliché swipe across her nipples. But I had to. I had to feel her body shiver. I had to taste her mouth as she gasped into mine.
I broke the kiss and bent my knees, now needing to taste her breasts.
One at a time, I slowly rubbed my lips against her pebbled nipples. Making circles around her rose-pink skin, taking in a deep breath to never forget the smell of her body. I opened my mouth and welcomed her left breast, engulfing her with speed and purpose. I allowed my hands to move to her back as I pressed against the front of her body to move her down to the bed.
We had tried a slow, seductive type of strip tease.
Her back to me. One piece of clothing at a time.
Mark my words, I would make love to Emily someday very soon.
But tonight was about all the years between us. All the memories that never occurred. All the fantasies that cost us both happiness.
All the mistakes we both made…
I pulled away from her breast with a wet pop sound and she fell to the bed.
Her hands reached forward and pulled at the top of my boxers.
When my cock was finally set free, I made fists and ground my teeth.
I was so fucking hard, I felt like I was going to explode already.
“Oh, fuck, Liam,” she said, which was all the validation I’d ever need in life.
