Always in my Heart (The Subzero Series, #2)

by Rebecca Elise

  “Hmm...Maybe I’ll dye my hair blue. What do you ladies think? Would I look young and sexy?”

  “Maybe you should do rainbow colors?” Marci teases him.

  “No, that I don’t think I could pull off.” he says seriously.

  “Alright, let’s get back to this and then we can call it a day,” I say.

  Four hours later and I am sitting in my office by myself. I have Marci in charge of signing off on the bakery staff time cards and Juan Pablo in charge of the kitchen staff. They have to review them before they come to me so I can enter payroll. Caroline offered to be in charge of ordering supplies. We worked together to get scheduling completed for the first two months.

  I stretch as I finish entering everything in the computer. After hitting print, I swivel my chair around and grab the paper off of the printer. I stand up and reach toward the ceiling, lifting up on my toes in another stretch before heading into the break room to hang the schedule up on the bulletin board.

  Walking back into my office, I look over my things that need to be done list. I have at least half of the things I need to do before we open done already. My stomach rumbles and I realize I haven’t eaten since breakfast. Right on cue, my cellphone vibrates with a text from Tyler.

  I’m sitting here surrounded by loads of Chinese takeaway cartons. Orange chicken smells exceptionally good. You have 10 minutes before it ends up in my stomach.

  I laugh as I type in my response.

  For every piece of orange chicken you eat before I get there is one day you go without getting any. You decide what is more important – waiting or waiting. I’m on my way.

  I get a response almost immediately.

  You are evil but I love you! Come home...now!

  Chapter Four – Tyler

  By the time Wednesday rolls around I can hardly contain my excitement. We have been waiting for an opportunity like this for so long. It’s our first collaboration with a huge punk rock band. It doesn’t hurt that these girls are positively smoking hot either.

  We walk into the recording studio and the receptionist, Clara, tells us everyone is already waiting for us in Meeting Room 3, down the hall and third door on the left. As we get closer to the room, I can hear the sounds of soft, feminine voices ringing through the air. We walk inside the room and are treated to the sight of three of the coolest looking girls I have ever seen. They are sitting there laughing and chatting away with our manager, Collin, and a couple guys I didn’t recognize. Everyone stands up as we walk in.

  “Tyler McDermott, Jack Riley, Noah Walker and Dean Marshall I’d like to introduce you to Cath Healy, Ann Wilcox and Marie Kenney.” Collin says.

  I’m gawking. It is quite ridiculous actually. I try my hardest not to but I just can’t seem to look away. They have similar features but Ann and Cath tower over Marie. They definitely have the rocker chick vibe going on too. Marie has long, wavy black hair with chunky blue highlights. Her arms look like they are covered with freckles but, as I move closer to shake her hand I realize those freckles are actually tiny star tattoos. How cool is that?

  Ann has chin length black hair with chunky bits of purple. She has her nose pierced and, from what I can see, she only has one tattoo. It’s a tattoo of three shooting stars, pink, blue and purple, on the inside of her wrist. Marie and Cath have the same tattoo in the same spot.

  They are gorgeous but Cath...Cath sort of catches my eye. I don’t even know what it is about her but she seems different from the other two somehow. Everything about her looks so delicate and girly from the way she smiles to the way she runs hair hand through her curly half brown, half pink hair. My eyes zero in on the black and pink swirly tattoo being proudly displayed and showed off with the one shoulder black top she has on. It is pretty sexy when a hot girl sports some decent ink.

  What is wrong with me? I love Abby. I love Abby. I love Abby. I love Abby.

  I slide into an empty seat as I continue scolding myself for checking Cath out the way I was. I don’t even realize until it is too late that I took the empty seat next to her. I glance over at her and she flashes me a megawatt smile.

  She leans in a little closer to me. “So you’re the drummer?”

  “The one and only,” I check out the obvious muscle definition in her arms. “Let me guess, guitar?”

  She nods. “Electric.”

  “Sweet.”

  “Do you play?” She asks.

  “A little bit.” I nod.

  “He’s just mastered Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Dean says with a laugh.

  “You are the one that told me to start with that and I believe I really bring an amazingly sexy edge to that song.” I say.

  Cath eyes slide up and down my body. “I’m willing to bet that’s true.”

  “I wanted to learn how to play Yellow so I go to this sod for help,” I point to Dean and shake my head. “I had this plan to do something terribly romantic and it was completely brill so I asked him for help since he is supposed to be like a brother to me and he has me playing twinkle stars. He kept making me play it and I just went on with it because I figured we’d get to my song at some point, which, by the way, we never did, so I guess that actually makes me the biggest mug there ever was for listening to him.”

  “I could teach you how to play Yellow if you are still interested in learning it.” She says.

  “Really?”

  “Absolutely, we can play around when we have some down time.”

  “You are awesome.”

  Cath shrugs and waves her hand in the air. “What can I say?”

  “Alright everybody, if we could just get started here,” Collin says. “I understand that you girls wanted to write the songs to be recorded with the guys?”

  “Yes,” says Ann. “We want this to be a joint collaboration and we want them to be involved with the songwriting process.”

  “Okay, well we aren’t going to keep you all very long in here. We want you to get writing so that we can get into the recording booth as soon as possible. We’ll be around if you need anything, also Domino and Bash are usually found in the control room if you need anything from them. I believe Subzero has their instruments here already, is that correct?”

  “As far as I know everything is here, set up, tuned and ready to go.” Noah says.

  “Alright, let’s get to writing shall we? Please let me know as soon as anything is completed.”

  I jump up from my seat, grab a notebook and a pencil and head outside. I walk over to a gigantic oak tree and sit down on the ground in front of it with my back leaning up against the trunk. I pull my iPod out of my pocket, stick the buds in my ears and turn it on. Scrolling to a playlist marked inspiration I hit shuffle all and lean back as the sounds of The Ramones fill my ears.

  I need an idea...something to inspire me so I can write something halfway decent. I open the notebook and start sketching the one person that inspires me the most. It isn’t hard to do. I have every inch of her, from the gentle curves of her body to her full, pouty lips, burnt into my mind.

  I have the majority of her face sketched out when a shadow falls over me. I glance up to see Cath standing over me, staring down at my drawing. She is saying something to me but I can’t hear whatever it is over the music.

  “I’m sorry, what did you say?” I ask, pulling the buds out of my ears.

  Cath smiles and gives a short laugh. “I said who are you drawing?”

  “Oh. It’s my girlfriend, Abby. I’m trying to get inspired to write something brilliantly amazing.”

  Cath stares at the notebook in my hands with an unreadable expression on her face. “Hmm...she’s pretty.”

  “Pretty? She’s gorgeous!” I exclaim.

  Cath shrugs. “Maybe but...a drawing of some girl isn’t going automatically translate into a song.”

  I try to ignore the fact that she just referred to Abby as “some girl” as she grabs my notebook and turns it to a fresh page, but I can’t.

  “She’s not just some girl.
She’s the girl.” I tell her.

  “C’mon,” She says, clearly ignoring what I have just said. “Write a song with me.”

  Before I have a chance to say anything at all, Cath settles herself down on the ground next to me.

  “Now, what sort of a tone do we want our song to have? How about something that’s dark and seductive?”

  I laugh, though I’m not actually sure why. Maybe it’s because I feel slightly awkward around her. It’s almost like I shouldn’t be here with her or something.

  “Okay...we could do something like that,” I say. “Have you got any ideas to get us started?”

  She bites her lower lip and looks up at the sky with a deep in thought expression on her face. Then she sticks the pencil up in the air and moves it to the paper as she starts writing furiously. I try to glance over her shoulder but can’t really make out what the words say. A few moments later she hands me my notebook so I can see what she has written.

  Drowning

  By C. Healy and T. McDermott

  I see you with her

  And I finally realized how much I

  Need you with me

  By my side

  I just can’t stop

  I’m drowning

  I need your love

  To save me now

  I just can’t stop

  I’m drowning in you

  “So what exactly is this song about?” I ask her.

  She doesn’t look at me. Instead she focuses her eyes on the words she has just written.

  “It’s about wanting to be with someone that is already taken.” She murmurs.

  I raise one eyebrow and give her an odd look. Not really a strange topic for a song but something in the way she talks suggests that she has someone in mind. It isn’t my business though so I don’t question her. I take the pencil out of her hand and start where she left off.

  I never thought

  That I could want

  Someone like this

  I never knew

  That I could crave

  Your touch, your kiss

  I just can’t stop

  I’m drowning

  I need your love to save me now.

  I just can’t stop

  I’m drowning in you.

  “That’s really good,” She says with a frown. “I think it needs something in between your kiss and I just can’t stop. What about this?”

  She takes the note book back from me and in between your touch, your kiss and I just can’t stop she writes.

  If only she would disappear

  You’d see my love

  For you is here

  And you’d be forever

  In my arms.

  “Great job,” I say. “I can’t believe we wrote that so quickly. Let’s take this in to Collin.”

  I stand up and hold my hand out to Cath. She grabs ahold of it tightly and I pull her up to her feet. She stands there staring down at her hand inside mine.

  “You okay?” I ask.

  “Uh, yeah fine. Just thinking.” She quickly removes her hand from mine and wipes it on her pants.

  “We make you good team. We should write more songs together.” She says, smiling at me.

  “Yeah, definitely. Anytime.”

  “I’ll remember you said that.”

  We walk up to Collin’s office together and show him the lyrics we wrote. He nods his head as he is reading them.

  “Drums, guitar and bass?” He asks.

  I nod. “Might sound good with a little piano too.”

  Collin hands me back the lyrics. “Take this to Domino and Bash. They are in the control room for studio B. You can work everything out with them. Good job you two.”

  I nod to Collin as I turn towards the door. I glance over at Cath once we are in the hallway. “I think this song is going to sound amazing with Noah and Ann’s vocals.”

  “Yeah, they’ll be great,” Cath sounds distant and I can’t help but wonder why. “What’s your girlfriend like?”

  She catches me off guard. “Abby? She’s amazing. She’s beautiful and sexy and incredibly supportive. She lets me be me. It doesn’t matter what nonsense I get myself into. She’s always by my side. What about you? Do you have a boyfriend?”

  “No, no boyfriend. I’m completely, totally single...what does your girlfriend do?” Cath asks as we reach studio B.

  “She’s a baker. She’s about to open her own bakery.”

  I grab onto the door handle and open up the door, allowing her to walk through first. Domino and Bash are sitting in the control room watching something on the telly.

  “Collin told me to bring this down to you guys.” I say handing Domino the lyrics.

  He nods his head as he reads the lyrics. “This is good. Why don’t you guys go in there and lets work on this some more. I’d like to hear it with the instruments added in if you don’t mind.”

  “Not a problem.” I say.

  Cath and I walk into the sound booth. She picks up one of Dean’s guitars as I settle myself down on the stool in front of my drums.

  “Go ahead.” Bash tells us.

  “Okay, here’s what I was thinking.” Cath says.

  She starts strumming on the guitar in her hands. I let her play a couple of notes before I start drumming to match her beat and tone.

  “Keep playing.” Bash says through the intercom.

  The door to the sound booth opens and Jack, Noah and Ann walk in. Jack grabs his bass and starts playing along with us. Noah and Ann sit down together on the piano bench. Noah has the lyrics in his hand and Ann is reading them over his shoulder as she starts singing the first verse. Noah joins in singing with her as she reaches the chorus.

  By the time they finish the chorus, we seem to have a pretty good rhythm going together. The song finishes and we glance around at each other, huge smiles forming on our faces.

  “You wrote that?” Noah asks looking at me.

  “It was mostly Cath actually.” I admit.

  Noah nods his head. “That is pretty good. It looks as though we have our first collaborative song.”

  “Cath’s good,” Ann says. “She writes the majority of our stuff.”

  “That’s because she’s got the darkest mind.” Marie says as she and Dean walk into the sound booth.

  “I’m just a deep thinker.” Cath says as an odd frown clouds her face.

  “Noah and I are working on something but we got stuck,” Ann says to me. “You should take a look at it. See what you think.”

  “Absolutely, as soon as we are done here, I can take a look at what you have,” I throw my arm around Noah’s shoulder and shake him up a bit. “Though I’m shocked to hear this one got stuck. He usually has songs pouring out from his mind and onto his notepad.”

  “What can I say? Sometimes even the greatest minds have to stop and have a think for a bit.”

  Bash’s voice interrupts our banter as it comes booming through the intercom. “Okay guys, let’s take a few minutes and get the notes down on sheet paper and then we want to run through the song a couple of times.”

  Chapter Five – Abby

  Barnaby’s is jam packed, but then it usually is on a Friday night. Chloe and I push our way through the crowd as we try to walk over to the bar. Just as we reach it, I catch a flash of blue out of the corner of my eye and turn to see Tyler sitting at the bar drinking a beer. Just the sight of him has my lips curling into a smile.

  Tyler laughs and scoots back on the barstool. That’s when I see the person that just made him laugh. She’s tall - nearly as tall as he is. Her long, wavy brown hair is dyed bubblegum pink from her shoulders down. She has perfectly pouty pink lips, a tiny trim waist and she is sitting far too close to Tyler for my liking.

  Who the hell is she?

  I make my way over to them, bumping past people as I go. Walking up directly behind Tyler, I place my hands on his hips and slide them forward onto his stomach and up his chest. Leaning into him, I gently suck on the side of his neck. Tyler
turns towards me, staring at me with half lidded eyes and flashing me a lustful grin.

  “You are one saucy little dish.”

  Tyler leans his head back and runs his tongue along my bottom lip before sucking it into his mouth. He snakes his arm around my waist, planting his hand on my hip and sliding me in front of him so that I am standing in between his legs. His arms wrap tightly around my waist and he rests his chin on my shoulder.

  Tyler nods towards the girl sitting next to him. “Abby this Cath. She’s in the band Stardust. Cath, this is my girlfriend Abby.”

  “Hi.” I say.

  Cath looks me up and down once before flashing me an icy stare “Hi.”

  I get the feeling that Cath is bothered by my presence and I look over at Tyler, hoping to gain some insight as to why. He gives me a goofy grin and I can tell I’m not going to get much information from him.

  I lean in close to him. “How drunk are you?”

  Tyler holds his hand out, his thumb and forefinger extended to say just a little bit. Tyler opens his mouth to say something but he is interrupted as Dean appears next to us and gives him a smack on his shoulder.

  “Five minutes.” Dean says.

  Tyler nods. He gives me a sexy, smoldering look that has me tempted to pull him into the first dark corner we find and make good use of that five minutes. I look around for a spot as he nuzzles his nose into my neck and runs his hands up and down my bottom. Before I can find a spot though, he leans back, leaving a trail of heat in all of the places he was just touching me.

  “I’ve got to go be the sexy drummer,” He presses a couple of quick kisses on my lips before nodding towards Cath, who I had forgotten was still sitting next to us. “Could you hang out with her a bit? She doesn’t know anyone.”

  “Of course.” I say, offering him a somewhat genuine smile.

  He kisses me once more and then leans in to say something to Cath. Whatever he says must have been funny because she starts laughing as she twirls her pink hair around her finger. Tyler gives my hand one more squeeze before walking off with Dean. I glance over at Cath and she stares warily at me.

  “You’re from New York right?” I ask, attempting to make small talk. “Do you live in the city?”