On Solid Ground: Sequel to in Too Deep

by Michelle Kemper Brownlow

  “Hell yeah! You got me! It’s all me, Calon! I’m your girl!” Becki’s voice was louder than three thousand people. Well, it also could have been that she had hopped up onto a bench on the sidewalk and was jumping up and down.

  “Okay, Becki. Let’s chat after our set. I think you may be the one.” He winked and waved to her.

  “Gracie, did you hear that? He said I’m the one! I am the one!”

  I couldn’t stop laughing at her, which helped to bring the blood flow back into my extremities, so by the time Calon and the guys were ready for what would probably be their last battle in Knoxville, I could actually walk off the stage on my own.

  Jake, Sam, Becki, and Ashley had made their way to the bottom of the stairs off the wing of the stage and enveloped me in hugs and compliments. Jake pulled me into him and took my face in his hands.

  “I love you, Gracie Jordan. And I can’t believe I am cool enough to have sex with a rock star.”

  Fifty-three

  Jake

  Gracie had opened for Calon and the guys twice before Summer Fest. Then she had her surprise performance at the festival. All three performances took my breath away. It was August second and the guys were leaving the next day for their new gig playing with Smiling Turkeys, the hottest thing to hit the south. She was really going to miss Calon; I could see it in her eyes when he talked to her about leaving.

  I filled the coolers and checked the CO2 tanks before the doors opened. I watched Gracie and Calon goof around on stage. She smacked him for something, and he tried to duck out of her way, but she got in a good hit. They cracked up then Spider whacked his sticks together to get their attention.

  We had Buzz let Sam and Ashley in early so they could get as much of Gracie on stage as they could since it may have been her last night.

  “We gonna practice or what?” Spider pounded on the drum pedal for effect.

  “Can I pick the song? Just a warm up song?” Gracie had that ornery smirk I knew all too well. Say no, Spider. Say no.

  “Sure, G. Whatcha got?” Spider twirled his sticks between his fingers while she tapped her chin and thought of a warm-up they could do.

  “Do this...” Gracie walked over to Spider and stole his sticks. She tapped out a simple beat and handed his sticks back. He raised an eyebrow as he repeated the beat she gave him.

  I had no idea what she was thinking, but she giggled so hard, I couldn’t help but laugh from behind the bar. I went back to work but watched her. I swerved around my bar mates as we prepared for a mass of Gracie and Calon fans.

  “Now, Calon, I need you to just go, Mmmm Mmmm on the fourth beat, just follow Spider, you got it?”

  Calon nodded but threw his hands out to his sides and looked around at the other guys. A smile spread across his face. He looked back at me and pointed at her, in a way asking me what was up. I shrugged and rolled my eyes.

  Sam was howling. Ashley tried to cover his mouth with her hand, but he was practically convulsing in the booth. It had been a long time since either of us had seen Gracie this way and it was beyond hysterical.

  “Bones, Manny, sorry, we don’t need you for this. Calon, Spider, you ready?”

  “Let’s do this.” Spider was just anxious to bang something out.

  Gracie took center stage, bumping Calon out of her way with her hip. She bounced to an inaudible beat then pointed to Spider. He tapped out the simple pulse for a couple measures then she pointed to Calon who came in with his Mmmm Mmmm.

  Like nothing I’ve ever seen, Gracie Jordan rapped her way through “No Diggity” by Blackstreet and Dr. Dre. She sang every fucking word like she was born in the hood. Everyone behind the bar stopped what they were doing and clapped along with the beat. It was all Calon could do to keep his lips together for his part. He laughed so hard, I thought he’d double over any second.

  She ended her thug debut with, “I think about Jake all the time.” The bar erupted in hysterics. Sam laughed so hard, he popped one of his contacts out, so he and Ashley were crawling around looking under the booth. Even Buzz was bent at the waist and howling at her goofball antics. That was my girl, not a care in the world. Living just to live.

  When the doors opened, the house was packed in no time. Gracie looked across the masses at me, but this time, not in fear, but in sheer excitement to perform.

  She opened with a couple of her favorite songs then played a couple new ones to see what kind of reception she’d get from the crowd. I was pretty sure she could play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and get the crowd roaring in no time. She was just about to introduce Alternate Tragedy when Buzz forced his way through the crowd. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen Buzz move so quickly; he wasn’t young.

  “So, of course by now, you all know that our favorite Friday night band is moving on to the big time without us. This is the last night we will have these guys in the house.” A loud “boo” vibrated the bar. No one was ready for them to leave. Buzz raised his hand to get the crowd’s attention back. “This means, while these shitheads are out playing for the Laughing Birds, or whatever—”

  “Smiling Turkeys.” Calon corrected Buzz then handed the mic back.

  “As I was saying, we’ve got an opening in our schedule now. We need to find ourselves a new Friday night act. Now, who do you think we could get to fill that spot? And it has to be someone unbelievable.”

  “Gra-cie! Grac-cie!” The words were barely out of Buzz’s mouth when the chant started and only got louder. Gracie blushed and shook her head. She looked back and me, and I blew her a kiss.

  “All right! Jake, do we have any plans for the next thirty-six Fridays?” She called to me above the chanting. I shook my head and did the math; thirty-six was roughly how many we had left before graduation.

  “Okay, okay! I would be honored to take the spot formerly reserved for my favorite band on the planet.” She bowed toward the band, and Calon grabbed the mic from Buzz.

  “If you guys don’t mind, I’d like it very much if Gracie joined us for our whole show tonight. You all okay with that?”

  Dumb question, of course they were. Gracie and the band let loose and had a blast way into the wee hours of the morning. My feet throbbed by two o’clock when we threw the lights up to get everyone to leave. But Gracie seemed like she was on crack, she was so revved up from the adrenaline from the night. I knew I’d never get her to sleep. Which could work to my benefit. It didn’t matter how tired I was, having Gracie in my bed would wake all my senses right the hell back up.

  Sam texted me that he was staying with Ashley for the night since her roommate wasn’t home. Just as I texted him back, Gracie gasped and reached in her pocket for her phone.

  “Who are you texting?”

  “Daniel, the poetry TA. I had to let him know my final performance wouldn’t be on the corner of College and Allen. I let him know I scored myself a new gig and he’d have to come to Mitchell’s to see me.”

  “Gracie, are you stoked about this?”

  “Oh, Jake, you have no idea. It’s a bizarre feeling to be so excited about something you didn’t even know you wanted until someone set it right in your lap. I think this is it. I think I could do this forever.”

  We walked into the apartment and she pushed me against the wall. “Jake Rockwell, would you like to shower with me?”

  “Shower with a rock star? I’m not that kind of guy.”

  “Well, you better start being that kind of guy. But only with me.”

  “Good, because, I only want to be with you, Gracie.”

  We never made it to the shower. We started kissing, and I backed her up into my room and gently pushed her down onto the bed. If I didn’t know any better, I would say our clothes took themselves off us, because I’m pretty sure we were naked before we even got under the covers.

  “Jake, wait, not here.”

  “Where?” My heart was beating through my chest. I was out of breath and I hadn’t even touched her yet. Just the fact we were both completely naked in the sa
me bed had me so hard, it hurt.

  “Jake, do you trust me?”

  “Of course I do, baby girl. But I have to be honest, that look on your face is making me a bit uneasy.”

  She grabbed the top sheet and wrapped it around her body and threw me a towel from the back of my desk chair.

  “I’ll follow your lead, but I have no idea what we’re doing.” I stood and wrapped the towel around my waist. My movements were slower than usual because I was obviously perplexed. She raced out of the bedroom and to the front door. She grabbed her keys from the table along the way. She peeked out of the peep hole then pressed her ear against it. Her eyes rolled up like it would help her concentrate.

  “On the count of three, run for the stairs...”

  “Gracie Ann, we are bare-ass naked!”

  “What, are you scared?” She gave me a disappointed but jovial glance.

  I rolled my eyes, “I just—”

  “One—two—three—go!” We bolted from the room and let the door slam, unlocked, behind us. We made a mad dash to the secluded stairwell and laughed our asses off while we tried to catch our breath. We heard a door below us open and slam shut, so we froze. But the voices got quieter along with the skipping sound of feet in descent, so we knew we were safe. We hustled down to the doorway to her hallway and peeked through the glass window. It looked safe, so she flung the door open and I followed. We got half way to her apartment when we heard the elevator ding. We were mid-hallway, too far away from both the stairwell and her apartment door not to get caught, even if we ran.

  “Act natural,” were the only two words she had time to say before some girls came around the corner and stopped dead in their tracks. Gracie was closest to them but they didn’t even notice her; their eyes landed on me in nothing but a towel. It was as if I was wrapped in plastic wrap. I felt my face turn bright red.

  I quickly passed them as they continued to stare. Gracie glanced back at me and giggled, because I obviously struggled with how to be polite and say hello while being publicly naked. I didn’t know what was so funny. She would have been doing the same thing if it was a group of guys. The girls turned as they walked past me. We reached her door, and she fumbled with my key ring trying to find her key. She got the door open and ran for cover, leaving me in the hallway alone for a mere second, but I headed through the door when the one girl opened her mouth and I didn’t want to know what she was about to say.

  “Honey, when you’re done with her...we are all in Room 309, we’ll leave the door open.” They howled and giggled.

  I rounded the corner into Gracie’s room, slammed the door, and leaned against it while I caught my breath. I ran my hands through my hair and held onto two handfuls on the top while I shook my head from side to side.

  “I don’t know how Calon does it. I really dislike feeling like a piece of meat. Those girls wouldn’t even care what my name was. They just wanted to fuck me.”

  Gracie howled with laughter. “Did you hear what you just said?”

  I chuckled and pushed myself off the door then headed to where she was leaning against the arm of the couch. I realized how ridiculous that sounded coming from a virile college guy. I wrapped my arms around her and leaned down to kiss her on the nose.

  “Now, what exactly made you force me into public humiliation?” I nuzzled into her neck and felt her body shiver.

  “I want you to show me how much you love me.”

  “Okay, but I was about to do that upstairs. Why the change of venue?”

  “I wanted to make new memories. Can you show me here?” She looked up at me, and the small portion of hard-on I’d lost on our trek downstairs returned beneath my towel.

  “Baby girl, I can show you anywhere.”

  “You made that perfectly clear in the planetarium.” She winked.

  She took my hand and led me to the couch. She hooked her finger in the tucked part of my towel and pulled. At the same time, she let her sheet drop to the floor. I sat back on the couch, and she straddled my lap, leaving a large gap between us.

  “Jake?”

  “Yeah, Gracie.” I was breathless.

  “Can I show you how much I love you?”

  “You know I’d never say no to that.”

  She stood but then went down on her knees between my legs. She hadn’t done this to me before. I assumed it was due to something she’d experienced with Noah. I didn’t need her to do it; I didn’t want her to think I expected it.

  “Gracie, you don’t have to—”

  “Jake, shut up.”

  “Gracie, if it’s not something you—”

  “Jake, just watch. I said I wanted to show you how much I love you.”

  She wrapped her hand around me and I couldn’t breathe. When she took me into her mouth her lips hugged me and her tongue lapped at the underside and then began to circle. I closed my eyes.

  “Jake. Watch.”

  Her mouth moved up and down the entire length of me. The world fell away. There was no holding back, my hands were in her hair, and I moved them around to where her lips connected with my hot skin. My hips worked in the opposite direction of her mouth. I held it for her. There was something so hot about that. I was so hard, I thought I’d explode, and as soon as I looked down and her eyes lifted to mine, I lost it. I came so hard, I called out her name and slammed my hands into the couch, grabbing as much of the fabric as I could fit in my fists.

  She stood slowly, put her hands on my knees, leaned over, and pressed her lips to mine. I could taste myself on her mouth, and I was instantly hard again.

  “My turn to show you how much I love you.” I pulled her onto my lap and eased myself into her as she lowered herself onto me.

  We made new memories on the couch, against the kitchen wall, on the bathroom counter, and more places than I could count. A few hours later, we were spent and limp in her bed when I realized we hadn’t locked my door.

  “Dare you to race me upstairs.”

  “You’re on!” She grabbed the sheet and took off.

  Getting back to my apartment proved almost as interesting as going down to hers. I rarely stayed in her apartment, so there were absolutely no clothes I could slip on to get back upstairs without being guilty of public nudity. Unfortunately, the girls in 309 got a good look at my ass when I lost the grip on my towel as I passed the small room where the vending machines were. They whistled and squealed.

  Gracie giggled for hours over that.

  Fifty-four

  Gracie

  I had yet to open my eyes on this Saturday morning, but the phone was ringing. No one I knew would be awake at this hour. I reached for my phone and blindly hit the screen trying to answer.

  “Hello?” Only the second syllable was audible, but I assumed whoever was calling would figure out on their own what I’d said.

  “Miss Jordan?” Who the hell calls me that? No one.

  “Yes.” I rolled over onto my back and rubbed my eyes.

  “Miss Jordan, this is Criminal Investigator Doug Peterson from the Knoxville Police Department. You dropped off some DVDs with one of our officers a couple weeks ago.”

  My eyes sprung open. “Yes.”

  “Miss Jordan, in preparation for a pending case involving Sigma Chi, I was asked to watch the videos to determine if they could be used as evidence.”

  Why was he calling me to tell me he saw Noah and me having sex. How humiliating. “Thank you for calling. I—”

  “Miss Jordan, there’s more.” He cleared his throat. “What we have is one sexual encounter burned onto ten different DVDs. And that encounter involves a female and five males.”

  I gasped and my hand flew to my chest. “Oh my God. I’m sorry, Detective Peterson, those aren’t the ones I dropped off. The DVDs I dropped off were...just...me and my ex-boyfriend.” I was so embarrassed to admit that to someone I didn’t even know.

  “Miss Jordan, maybe you should come down to the station so we can talk this out.”

  “That won’t b
e necessary. The videos you’re referring to are of someone else.”

  “Miss Jordan. Could you come down to the station to—”

  “Detective Peterson, thank you for calling, but I don’t understand why you need me.”

  “Miss Jordan, we made a positive ID of the victim.”

  “That’s great.” I didn’t think it was police protocol to give out that kind of information to someone who wasn’t part of the findings.

  “The DVDs you turned over to us are ten copies of a gang rape.”

  I was suddenly nauseated. I swallowed hard. “So, what exactly do you need me for?”

  “Miss Jordan, we need to speak with you about pressing charges. You are the one in the video, and, with this recording, we could charge five Sigma Chi brothers with rape.”

  END CALL.

  I burst through Jake’s apartment door barely able to see through my tears. I didn’t remember leaving my apartment or running up the stairwell. I collapsed onto the floor in a heap and sobbed uncontrollably.

  Sam ran from his room. “Holy shit, Gracie! What’s wrong, honey? Gracie. I’m here, you’re safe. I got you, I got you.” He dropped to the floor next to me and pulled me into his lap. His strong arms held me close to him and he rubbed my back. My body convulsed violently as I cried, but Sam rocked me gently and pressed his mouth close to my ear. His deep voice resonated against my face, but I could barely hear his words over my sobs.

  “Jake, it’s Sam. God, dude, you gotta come home. It’s Gracie. Jake, she’s a mess.”

  I had no idea how long Sam held me before Jake burst through the door in the same way I had. All of a sudden, I was sandwiched between Jake and Sam, and they both rocked me.

  “Gracie, baby girl. Shhh. God, Gracie. What happened? Baby, calm down so you can tell me what’s going on.”

  My body shook, and I choked through the sobs. My mind was spinning, but I tried so hard to not let my thoughts stop on what I’d just learned from the investigator. I ran to the kitchen and bent over the trashcan. I wanted that truth out of my body. I vomited over and over in a psychological attempt to rid myself of remnants of each of the guys who shared me the night that video was taken. My rapists.