by Amy DeMeritt
“You really have set an impossible standard for anyone to meet in her eyes.” Karen lifts her head with a small smile and wipes her eyes. “Thank you for everything you do for her. She really thinks the world of you.”
“I’m not the reason things haven’t worked out with…?”
“No, Kayla. I have very high standards of my own too.”
“Looks like more people are here. I’m going to go inside to answer the gate.”
Everyone except my wives follow Sara back into the house. My wives and I move to stand in the grass and wait for Sara to let the caravan of vehicles in that are parked outside of the gate. Sam wraps her arms around me from behind and bites my neck below my ear.
“You better watch those roaming hands and stop feeling up Sorina’s ass.”
I turn in arms and give her a pouty look. “I’m sorry, baby. Are you mad at me?”
“No. It was funny. Sorina is a brat though.”
“Yeah, she is. You can punish her if you want.”
Sam laughs hard and grips the back of my tank top, pulling me in harder against her. “How do I get to punish her?”
Madison spanks both of us really hard on the ass, making both of us laugh. She grins and shakes her head. “Behave. We have too many people here for you to be skulking off to have sex.”
“Who was talking about sex?”
“We know you two. You’ll banter about punishing Sorina till you’re so hot and bothered that you have to be savages.”
“I thought you like when we’re savages?”
Madison kisses my lips and spanks me again. “Behave. I’m still all tingly from Jaime going down on me. You have to be more responsible right now.
“You know that doesn’t make me want to behave, right?”
Madison laughs and pinches my ass again. “I’m going to sit on your face later.” I release a moan and Madison’s smile widens. “Ok, here they come.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
I slide up next to Hayley as she’s making herself a drink on the deck. She looks up with a smile and rubs Eerin’s head, who I have strapped to my body looking out at the world.
“How’s the construction going?”
“Great.”
She pulls her phone out and hands it to me with a photo gallery open.
“Wow, you’ve gotten a lot done already. This is a good picture. Can I send this to myself?”
Hayley looks at the screen before looking in my eyes with a small closed lip smile.
“Yeah, go for it.”
The picture is of Hayley standing in front of the cultural center, which is basically just a foundation and steel framework. Her golden blonde curly hair is up in a ponytail and she’s wearing a tee shirt and jeans with her blueprints tucked under her arm. She looks really pretty and happy.
“I want this one too.”
Hayley laughs a little before taking a sip of her drink. “You can have all of them if you want.”
Hayley starts walking away from the drink table, so I follow her to take a seat in a couple of chairs in the lawn near the bonfire.
The pictures are mostly of the work in progress and the construction crew, but there’s a lot of Hayley and Sorina on the jobsite as well. There are even pictures of them with Awenasa’s family and my extended family at larger family gatherings and doing things around the reservation. I end up sending a lot of those to myself.
“It looks like you guys are having a great time.”
“We are. The crew is great and everyone has been really hospitable and friendly. Did Sorina talk to you about the CD idea she has for grand opening?”
“No, what is it?”
“I’d prefer if she explains. She’s very excited about it.”
Hayley stands up and looks around the yard, trying to spot Sorina. The yard is packed with about a hundred people between friends, family, and the construction crew and their loved ones.
“Where the heck is that girl?”
“Who are you looking for?”
Hayley settles back in her chair as Sorina walks over from behind us. “You. I wanted you to tell Kayla your idea for the CD.”
“Oh yeah!” Sorina sits down next to us perched on the edge of her seat in excitement. “I was thinking it would be really cool to record a CD with a variety of songs from the different tribes. Each tribe has great musicians and singers and we could easily come up with enough songs to fill at least one CD. It could be a commemorative grand opening special purchase item.”
“I love it, but I don’t know how we’ll pull it off before grand opening. Have you figured out a plan to make it happen?”
“Well, you have a recording studio. I was thinking we could fly the musicians out here.”
I take a deep breath and run my hand through my hair as I lean back. “I don’t know. I mean, I really do love the idea. Our schedules are so damn hectic as it is. We leave for California in less than a month and we’ll be there for at least two months to film the next Sharps movie, but it will probably end up being three or four months that we’re there. Jerry is booking more studio time for Madison and they have to start looking for musicians for her. I have several photo shoots and commercials I have to film, as well as some TV interviews and a couple of obligatory parties. Kathy has me auditioning for more acting roles and has a ton of meetings scheduled for possible endorsement deals. We’re really going to need those few months at home before grand opening to recharge.”
“Damn, I don’t know how you guys handle so much at once.” She nervously bites her bottom lip, and with a bit of trepidation in her voice, she asks, “I’m guessing you wouldn’t trust me to be here alone if I fly back and forth to be here for the recording and still help Hayley with the construction?”
“It’s not about trusting you to be alone in the house. Of course, I trust you. But you would need someone who knows how to use the equipment. That stuff is expensive. Not just anyone can touch it. The sound studio is my wives, so I can’t authorize other people playing around with their equipment.” The look of disappointment on her face is unbearable and makes my heart ache. I take a deep breath and close my eyes to think about it for several seconds. Then, as if an actual light bulb turned on in my head, I have the answer. “Hang on, I have an idea.”
I stand up and look around the lawn. I spot them sitting around in a circle of chairs with a few other people and as I start walking towards them, Sorina and Hayley jump up to follow me.
“Hey, Jerry, you have a minute?”
Jerry gives me half a look for a moment before looking back at his phone to finish typing a message. He stands up with a bottle of beer in his hand and follows us a few paces away.
“What’s up?”
“We want to record a Native American music CD for the grand opening of our cultural center, but our schedules won’t allow us to be home to use our studio for it. Would we be able to get some studio time and help from your crew to clean it up and burn the discs?”
“Sure, we can work something out. Renting studio time usually runs around two to seven-hundred-dollars an hour, depending on the equipment you want and how many sound engineers you need. If you rent the space, you’d retain full rights and would just have to pay a small fee for the number of discs you want. If you’re looking for a contract deal, without upfront costs, you’ll probably be looking at eight to ten percent royalty. A CD like that is really outside of the label’s typical cliental, so I doubt a contract deal is in the cards. I could put out feelers to see if another label is interested.”
“I’d actually prefer to pay the upfront costs. The CD royalties will be going to the reservation, so we want them to receive as much profit as possible.”
“Let me know when you’re ready and we’ll book it.”
“Ok, thanks.”
He tips his bottle of beer to me with a smile and takes a swig as he walks back to his chair. Sorina grabs the sides of my face and kisses me on my lips for a few moments before pulling back with her eyes misted over
with emotion.
“Thank you. You should break out the instruments. I need to feel our Native instruments in my bones.”
My stomach flips, and my chest swells with adrenaline. Sorina smiles and looks at my mouth like she’s going to kiss me again.
“Will you dance with me?”
“Yes.”
“Where are the instruments?”
“In the house.”
“Stop looking at my lips, Kayla. You can’t have another kiss right now.” I laugh and my cheeks blush. I hang my head in shame and she ruffles my hair. “Come on. I want to dance.”
I inhale deeply as a flutter erupts in my chest and stomach, making me feel sort of giddy. Sorina giggles and pulls me towards the house.
“Stop looking at my ass.”
I laugh hard from being caught even though she didn’t look over her shoulder to know I was staring. My face is beet red and I can’t wipe the cheesy smile off of my face. I didn’t mean to look; it was just there and reminded me of my little moment with Sam earlier when she pretended to be upset with me for holding Sorina’s ass when she leapt into my arms. I wasn’t really holding her ass just to hold her ass though. I was just holding her up. But Sorina likes to tease and make things out to be more than they are to mess with me.
“You’re such a brat. Oh, hold up.”
I look around and spot Jo on the deck bench talking to a couple of her contractor friends, my dad, and Tahoma.
“Hey, Jo, you ready to jam?”
Jo looks at me confused, so I hold my hands in a guitar playing position and strum my fingers over my baby’s tummy. Jo smiles and shrugs a shoulder as she stands up.
“Sure.”
Sorina tugs on my hand again, pulling me into the house. Mine and my wives’ mothers are working in the kitchen on final feast preparations and all of them look over from their side conversations.
“Do you need something, sweetie?”
“We’re getting the instruments out for some dancing. Oh, hey, did you tell them the idea?”
Sorina smiles and shakes her head. “Later. I want to dance.”
Without waiting for me to respond, she yanks on my hand again, causing me to stumble slightly. I place a hand on Eerin to steady her.
“Careful, woman. I have my baby strapped to me.”
“Learn how to walk.”
“Brat.”
We collect a couple of drums, flutes, a panpipe, a finger pluck board guitar, and a couple different rattles. When we get outside, I gather my wives, my dad, Tahoma, and Joey to help play the instruments. Joey is very good with the pluck board guitar because I bought him one while we were in Hawaii and he plays with it all the time.
Jo walks over, and asks, “Where can I plug in the amp?”
“Damn, that’s hot. I love that coloring.”
The body is a standard electric guitar shape and it has an awesome pattern that looks like cracked asphalt. I show Jo where to plug the amp in and she starts tuning her guitar. The rest of the party starts moving in closer to see what’s going on and our mothers come out of the house.
Sorina tickles Eerin under the arm, and says, “It’s time to let someone else hold Eerin.”
I pout and rub my baby’s head. “Ok.”
My mom walks over and helps me remove the harness from my torso then cradles Eerin in the crook of her arm. With a cute grin, Sorina takes my hands and skips backwards towards the fire. Damn, she’s beautiful. Sorina’s warm cinnamon chocolate skin is glowing and her light caramel eyes are glittering in the sunlight.
She stops when we’re a few feet in front of the fire and she stares in my eyes while we wait for the family and Jo to work out a good beat together. When Awenasa starts singing in Cherokee, we start dancing around the fire in our Native style while holding hands. She falls into the steps of a fancy shawl dance and spins, pulling me against her back, as if I’m her dance shawl. My heart flutters and excitement rushes through my veins. We move in perfect sync around the fire with her controlling me as her dance garment. She spins me around her, holds me out in front of herself, then spins me back to wrap around her from behind so my chest is pressed to her back. It’s a very intimate dance and feels really nice.
I really love the combination of instruments we have for the song. The pluck board and electric guitar add a nice layer, making the music more complex and intriguing.
My dad picks up the tempo of his drumming and the other instruments catch up to him. Sorina’s smile grows and she releases me to start a new faster paced dance. I release a wild jumpy war cry and fall into a wild dance, combining our Native dancing techniques, lyrical, and acrobatics. I flip, twirl, lunge, and stomp in beat to the music. I throw my body into the currents of every beat, allowing the vibrations on the gentle breeze to move my body however it pleases. I become a puppet to the music and it’s intoxicating. I feel so alive and free. I feel like my body is being torn open and my spirit is spilling out to intimately unite itself to the music.
I jog a few paces, step up onto the seat of a lawn chair, and flip backwards, eliciting applause and cheers from everyone. As I land, I spin around into the embrace of Sorina, and she holds my hands as we stomp around the fire. After we do two full rotations around the fire, she stops and throws her arms around the back of my neck, pulling me into a tight hug.
She kisses the side of my neck, and whispers, “You are my favorite dance shawl.” I laugh and pull back to look in her eyes. She runs her fingers through my hair and brushes her fingertips down the sides of my neck to rest her hands on my shoulders.
“You should ask Jo to be on a part of the CD.”
“Why don’t you ask her? She’s your new friend.”
“She’s kind of a hard ass. If it comes from me, she’ll think it’s charity. I think it would be better to come from you. But don’t walk over there right now. I mean…”
Sorina places a few fingers over my mouth to silence me. “I know how to talk to people, Kayla. I got it.”
“Thanks.”
“What’s her deal?”
“Long story. I’ll have to tell you later. She wants to get into the music industry though.”
“Ok. I need some water now.”
She slips her hand in mine and pulls me with her to the deck. Madison turns the stereo back on and they set the Native instruments aside. Jo pulls her guitar off of her shoulders with a look of disappointment.
“You’re not so bad with that thing.”
Jo smirks and looks me up and down. “You’re not so bad at dancing either.”
“Thanks. Maybe after we eat, we can have a kicked-up campfire sing-along.”
With a quirked eyebrow, she repeats me, “A kicked-up campfire sing-along?”
“Yeah, you know, like what we just did, but my wives and maybe Giz can sing along.”
“Ok.”
Sorina skips up onto the deck, leaving me with my wives. Awenasa grabs the back of my neck and rips me forward, pulling me into a powerful kiss that leaves me breathless. She brushes her thumb over my cheekbone and firmly nips my bottom lip.
“That was some good dancing, puppy. The improvised shawl dance was very beautiful.”
I smile really big and she gives my cheek a couple soft pats with a small laugh. “Are you going to dance with me today?”
“Yes, but we need to help get the food ready to feed our guests.”
I kiss her lips and nod once. “Ok, baby.”
“Here.” Sorina holds a bottle of water out to me as she takes a sip from her own.
“Thanks. Are you going to tell them now?”
“Tell us what?”
Sorina’s face spreads into big smile as she hops forward, looping her arm through mine. She tells them the idea for the CD and that Jerry is willing to give us studio time and technicians to help us while we’re in California. All of my wives throw her support for the idea, especially Awenasa.
Sorina turns to Jo, who is still standing outside of our huddle with us, and she casually as
ks, “Hey, what’s your name again?”
“Jo Rodriguez.”
“You’re really good. Most of the groups we’ll have on this CD already have their own musicians, but Kayla’s wives would rely on family and friends to be theirs. Would you be interested in doing something like this? They’d probably do about three to four songs, but I’m only guessing at this point. I’m still in the planning stages.”
Jo turns on me with a look like she’s going to punch me in the face, and spits, “What did you do?”
“Nothing. The CD was entirely Sorina’s idea.”
“And I just happen to be the only person you know that plays guitar?”
“No, but you happen to be here.”
“That’s the only reason she asked me?”
Sorina smiles and shakes her head as she interjects, saying, “No, not the only reason. I think you have talent.”
“Kayla didn’t put you up to this to ask me?”
“What if she did? Why does it matter? I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t think you have talent.”
“So, she did tell you ask me? Kayla, don’t try to do me any favors.”
Jo turns to walk away, but I catch her arm so I can try to apologize. She releases a sort of growl and tackles me. She actually puts up a better fight than earlier and we end up wrestling on the ground for at least a full minute before I have her on her back with her shoulders pinned down.
“Jo, you need to…”
“What the hell is going on?” Rod is hovering over us looking pissed off. “Rodriguez, get up. You’re out of here. I warned you to keep your temper under control.”
“Rod, go away. We’re all good here. This is how Jo does her best thinking.”
“But…”
“I said, we’re good.”
Rod looks between all of us and throws Jo a dirty look before walking away with his girlfriend at his side. I look down at Jo and the expression on her face is not what I was expecting. She looks at peace, instead of angry.
“You’re very annoying.”
I laugh and sit up on her hips, releasing her shoulders. She doesn’t move and looks content to stay like this.
“I know you were a tough ass army girl, but you’re a tough ass civilian now. It might have been frowned upon in the army, but in the civilian world, it’s acceptable to get ahead by knowing people in the field you want to get into.”
