Sheet Music - A Rock 'n' Roll Love Story

by Ann Lister

  Michael smiled up at her then pulled her into his lap. The sudden movement caused Annie’s towel to slip below her breasts, exposing them. Quick as she could, Annie yanked the thick terry cloth back into place.

  “You know, Annie, you’ve got great tits,” Brian commented.

  “Hey! Watch your step, Lofgren,” Michael scolded in mock disgust. But all he could do was smile because he knew Brian’s assessment was correct.

  Barbara leaned closer to Brian and playfully punched him on the bicep. “You’re about to cross that line, sweetheart.”

  “Excuse me?” Annie replied, her face flushing.

  “No, I’m serious. They’re not too big and they’re not too small.”

  “You know what they say,” Michael joked.

  “Yeah, more than a mouthful is wasted,” Brian laughed.

  Annie took a sip of her drink. “Well, if that’s the case, then a lot goes to waste on you, babe,” she stated to Michael.

  Both men broke out in laughter.

  “What can I say, it’s a curse I’ve had to live with my whole life,” Michael smiled proudly.

  “Yeah, yeah, we should all be so cursed,” Brian moaned, suddenly feeling inadequate.

  “Oh, honey, it’s okay to be average. I still love you,” Barbara added, her voice smacking with sarcasm.

  Brian raised his middle finger toward everyone and shrugged. His mind had already moved on to the next subject. “What I can’t understand, Annie, is how someone that came as close to death as you, has no visible proof of it.”

  “What are you talking about? I have a huge scar on my stomach and my foot was all messed up,” Annie answered.

  “That scar on your stomach is nothing. Did you ever see this?” he asked, pushing the towel aside and exposing a jagged half moon scar on his left kneecap. “I got this bad boy back in 1982. I was so shit-faced, I fell off stage in Oklahoma and blew out my knee. It put me out of commission for almost two months and the last half of the tour had to be canceled.”

  “Yeah, I remember that. You were lucky you were too trashed to feel it,” Michael added.

  “And how about this one,” Brian continued, turning his right shoulder toward her. “Motorcycle accident, 1985.”

  “I have one,” Barbara said. Then she stood and carefully opening the towel to expose the right side of her abdomen. “Appendicitis back in 1969, I think.”

  “Okay, how about this,” Michael interjected, pointing to a small, thin line beneath his otherwise perfect chin.

  “Oh, be serious,” Annie laughed. “Cutting yourself shaving doesn’t count, pretty boy!”

  “Good one, Annie! The bastard doesn’t even have a tattoo to blemish his beautiful body,” Brian replied rolling his eyes in disgust.

  “Hey, it’s not my fault I hate needles,” Michael defended.

  “Yeah, an ex-junkie that hates needles. Go figure,” Brian answered with sarcasm.

  Brian and Barbara stayed most of the following week at the beach house. They barbecued on the deck, walked the beach, took the boat out fishing and spent many a night laughing and jamming with their instruments late into the night. It was a great bonding experience for Annie and filled her with joy.

  “Listen to them,” Annie whispered to Barbara in the kitchen one night, as they put away the clean dishes from dinner. She was referring to the latest jam session in progress outside on the deck. It was like watching famous master painters, applying paint to their latest canvas. With Brian banging away on his keyboard and Michael burning riffs on his guitar, it was art in the making. “I hope they’ve got the tape rolling in that recorder,” Annie added.

  “This is when they’re at their best, you know, just him and Michael creating the base line hooks to their next album. After all these years, it still gives me chills when I see and hear it happening. When they click like this, it is pure magic.”

  “I can see what you mean.”

  “Well, it’s late. I think I’ll go to bed,” Barbara yawned.

  Annie glanced at the wall clock. “You’re going to go to bed and leave them out there?”

  “Yep. I learned a long time ago, when they get on a roll like that, it’s best to leave them be and not interrupt the process. They’ll be out there for hours, Annie. Get some sleep while you can.”

  Annie fell asleep with the muted sounds of Michael’s music drifting through her head and the occasional outburst of laughter from Brian. Many hours later, Michael slid into bed beside her.

  “Sorry babe, I didn’t mean for that to last so long,” he sighed, pulling her naked body up against his.

  “Don’t apologize. That’s your job,” she whispered, reaching back and rubbing his bare thigh.

  The next afternoon Michael took them all out on the boat. After lunch and a swim, they all hung lazily round the boat, coupled off contentedly. Annie read while Michael serenaded her with guitar riffs from their new material. A sudden shift in the wind direction added a subtle chill to the air which was detected only by Annie.

  “Feels like rain,” she commented to no one in particular.

  “What makes you say that?” Brian asked, checking the horizon for clouds and seeing none.

  “I can feel it in my ankle,” she replied, rubbing the still-tender skin beneath the protective sock.

  In less than an hour, the blue sky had disappeared and turned into a murky gray. Then came the huge fat rain drops that splashed noisily on top of the boat deck. Without discussion, Michael began picking up their belongings in preparation of heading back to the beach house. Before they reached their destination, the intermittent rain had turned into a cool summer downpour. The rain was just tepid enough to extinguish the heat from their sun baked skin and plentiful enough to rinse the salt water from their bodies.

  Michael pulled up against the dock and secured the boat with rope, while Brian and Barbara ran off toward the house as if they might melt. Undaunted by the rain, he finished his task, then draped a soaked towel around his neck and slowly headed off the dock. Annie began to follow him and then dropped the book she was reading. It was when she crouched to retrieve it that the visual of Michael’s swagger caught her eye. She tossed the book back into the boat and stood. Her eyes studied his tanned muscular form with great interest as she scanned the length of his bare back, then settled on his narrow hips. The worn cut-off shorts he wore were now soaked through, clung to his ass like a latex glove. She watched intently as each stride he took his hips loosely swayed back and forth and his long legs extended and splashed through the collecting water on the wooden planks. Even dripping wet, his form excited her.

  “Michael?”

  The sound of her voice made him turn. “Yeah, babe? Do you need a hand with something?” he asked, walking back to her.

  Her eyes never raised above his hips and remained firmly cemented on the area below his belly button. The water cascaded down his torso in thin rivers and disappeared into the drenched fabric of his shorts. When he was close enough for her to touch she reached for the waistband on his shorts and hooked her fingers through the belt loops.

  “Have you ever had sex in the rain?” she asked suggestively, her eyes finally raising above his groin.

  A sly grin quickly formed on his handsome face as he rummaged through his old memories. Then he laughed and tipped his head backward, exposing his throat. “I don’t believe I have,” he replied.

  Annie’s eyes widened with excitement. “Oh, my God! Do you realize what that means?” she asked coyly, using the belt loops to pull herself up against his slick body.

  He snickered knowingly and pulled at the back ties of her bikini top. “I’m thinking it means I’m about to get lucky for the second time today,” he answered, discarding Annie’s soaked bathing suit to the floorboards of the dock.

  “Ooh, Mr. Wade, I do believe you're correct in that assumption,” she teased, biting him playfully on the neck. “I think we have finally found a sexual situation that you haven't experienced yet. Which, loosely trans
lated, means I will finally have one sexual memory with you that only involves me!”

  Michael’s face grew serious, as he felt her fingers tugging at the zipper of his shorts. The rain dripped from her eyelashes and nose in a most provocative way that caused his heart to beat loudly in his chest. Carefully, he wiped the water from her face.

  “Annie, every moment I spend with you is memorable because of the way you make me feel. Nothing I’ve experienced before compares or matters now.”

  Annie pushed the soggy material of his shorts over his hips and laughed when it splashed around his ankles.

  “You do realize that Brian and Barbara can probably see what we’re doing out here, right?” he said, circling his arms around her slippery curves.

  “I don't care, how's that! Besides the house is too far away for them to really see anything.”

  He smiled to himself and allowed her to pull him down onto the saturated wood. She probably wouldn’t want to know about the binoculars sitting on the ledge of the windows in the living room, he thought, as he felt the warmth of her mouth engulf his organ. The smile on his face was quickly replaced by the sweet expression of ecstasy as Annie taunted every nerve ending in his body. When she was done, she slid her body up the length of his torso and pressed her face against his wet chest, a satisfied smile spread across her face.

  “There. Round one was for you and round two can be for me,” she giggled, the heavy thud of his heart echoing in her ear.

  He flipped her over playfully and rolled between her legs. “I love you,” he sighed, inching himself inside her.

  They remained on the dock tightly entwined together until the rain stopped. It was dusk by then and the smell of chicken barbecuing on the grill prompted them to head back to the house. Apparently, Brian and Barbara had grown tired of waiting for their dinner and had begun the preparations without them.

  When they arrived back at the house, Brian was tending the chicken wearing nothing more than a chef’s apron and a smug smile. A pair of binoculars hung heavily on his chest.

  Michael immediately took notice of his friend’s neckwear and laughed heartily. Annie tossed him a confused glance and quickly passed by Brian, entering the house to change into something dry. Michael stopped beside Brian at the grill with his arms crossed over his chest.

  “Nice necklace,” he commented to Brian, shaking his head.

  Brian roared with laughter. “Man, you’d be shocked at what you can see with these things,” he teased.

  “Yeah, well don’t tell Annie,” Michael replied, giving Brian a rough shove on the shoulder as he made his way into the house.

  “Hey,” Brian called after his friend. “If you’re interested, I gave you a ‘6’ on your performance but an ‘8’ for effort. Frankly, I could have done a whole lot better.”

  Michael shook his head again and slammed the screen door behind him, leaving Brian alone on the deck. But Brian’s laughter could still be heard clear to the back of the house.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  The phone woke them all early the next morning. Michael pulled on a pair of shorts and staggered out to the kitchen to answer it.

  “Yeah,” his irritated voice asked, as he rubbed at his eyes.

  “Michael?”

  “Yeah, who’s this?”

  “It’s Arnold Levenstein. Sounds like I woke you.”

  Michael came to attention when he heard his lawyer’s voice. “It’s all right. What can I do for you?”

  “I received a phone call last night from Beth’s lawyer. Seems she’s interested in talking with you about some new custody agreement.”

  “Oh really? There’s got to be more to it than that. I don’t trust the bitch.”

  “I agree, but nonetheless, she wants to meet with you tomorrow at noon to discuss it.”

  “Is she in town?”

  “Yes, I believe she’s staying downtown at the Ritz.”

  Michael sat at the kitchen table and massaged his forehead. “What are you advising?”

  “I think you should go, listen to what she’s offering, get the paperwork and I’ll review it. And for God’s sake, don’t sign or agree to anything, no matter how good it may sound!”

  “As if I’d let that happen!”

  “I’ll go with you if you want, but at this stage of the game, I think the two of you should try and come to some sort of agreement first before you get the ‘suits’ involved.”

  “Okay,” Michael sighed. The thought of being in the same room as Beth again unsettled him.

  “I want you to call me after you meet with her, okay?”

  “Right.”

  Michael started the coffee maker then stepped out onto the deck. The morning sun was already intensely warm with a layer of haze masking its exact location behind a fog bank. Without shirt or shoes, Michael set off down the beach to digest his conversation with Arnold. By the time he sauntered back to the house, the others had gotten out of bed. Annie greeted him as he climbed the steps to the deck with a warm kiss and a cup of coffee.

  “Is everything all right?” she asked.

  “Yeah. That was Arnold on the phone. I’ve got to go back to Boston later today.”

  “Who’s Arnold?” she asked.

  “He’s my lawyer. Are Brian and Barbara up yet?” he asked, walking into the house.

  Annie followed him. “Why does Arnold want to see you?”

  Brian emerged from the bathroom, grunting loudly as he stretching. “Does Arnold need to see both of us or just you?”

  “Just me.”

  “What did you do this time?” Brian chuckled, filling a cup with fresh coffee.

  “Brian, stay out of it!” Barbara interrupted. “That’s between them, not you.”

  Michael glanced in Annie’s direction. “Beth has requested a meeting to discuss a change in our custody agreement.”

  “The bitch is back in town? That’s a scary thought,” Brian commented, as Barbara dragged him by the hand out onto the deck in order to give Michael and Annie privacy.

  Annie dropped her eyes to her coffee mug. “When are you leaving?”

  “This afternoon. I’ll fly back, check on things at the house, then meet with Beth tomorrow.”

  Annie nodded.

  “You’re upset.” Michael stated.

  “No, really, I’m not. I totally understand. I’m not thrilled at the thought of you two being together but it’s important that you go. Maybe she’s had a change of heart and is willing to let you see your son now.”

  He pulled her against his chest. “I wish that would be the case, but with Beth nothing has ever been simple. She’s probably just looking for more money, that’s all.”

  He held her tightly for several minutes. “Do you want to come back with me and get a change of scenery?”

  “Well, thanks for asking, but I should stay here and get some practicing done. Taylor will be calling any day now and I’m nowhere near ready to start rehearsing with them.”

  “Okay.”

  Michael and Annie stepped out onto the deck and sat at the table. “Man, it feels like July, not September,” Brian panted. “It’s hotter than hell!”

  “It stays nice here through October,” Annie commented, sliding on a pair of sunglasses left on the table.

  “So, when are you heading back?” Brian asked Michael.

  “I guess after lunch.”

  “Then, if you don’t mind, Barb and I will share the plane. I want to run some of the new material by the other guys so we can get moving on these tracks.”

  “Sounds good. Maybe next week we can start jamming with the band and see what comes from that,” Michael added.

  Annie drove them to the airport and pulled the jeep up to the curb. Brian and Barbara quickly unloaded their bags and waited on the sidewalk.

  “Annie, I can’t thank you enough for the hospitality,” Barbara said, hugging her tightly. “It was nice to spend some time with you and Michael like this.”

  “Yes, I enjoyed it too
. I feel like I know you both much better now,” Annie replied.

  “I’m not sure if that’s necessarily a good thing,” Brian joked, sliding his arms around her midriff. Then his hands drifted down her backside and rested on her butt and gently squeezed.

  “Hey, hey! Watch the hands,” Michael scolded. “I’m obviously gonna have to teach you some boundaries, aren’t I?”

  “Don’t be so sensitive, Mike. She’s like my sister, for Christ’s sake,” Michael’s friend chuckled like a dirty old man.

  “Yeah, and that’s not saying much. You’d screw your sister if she’d let you,” Michael hollered from the back of the jeep. Then he turned toward Annie. “Before I forget, let me know if you hear from Taylor. I want to help you move down to New York. Okay?”

  Brian stepped back into the conversation. “Oh yeah, Annie, that’s right. Mike told me you signed with Lace. That’s great news! And a smart move to get the contracts signed before Taylor and Lacey knew your connection with us,” he laughed. “Especially considering Mike’s old connection with Lacey.”

  The air froze in Annie’s lungs. “What do you mean?” she asked flatly.

  Brian immediately shot a look at Michael at the back of the jeep. “Ah, shit! Don’t tell me you didn’t tell her yet?” he yelled to Michael.

  Michael dropped the last bag on the sidewalk. “Tell her what?”

  Annie’s eyes fell on Michael and began to fill with tears. “Brian says you have an old connection with Lacey. Is that true?”

  Michael turned to face Brian. “What the fuck did you say?”

  “I thought you already told her, man! How was I supposed to know!?”

  “Get on the plane, Brian!” Michael screamed.

  Annie quickly made her way around the front of the jeep. Michael caught her by the wrist.

  “How could you?” she asked, tears sliding down her cheeks. “You’ve had three months to mention something about this and you didn’t! Why?”

  “I wanted to, but I was afraid of having this exact conversation.”

  Annie clenched her jaw tight. “And, me walking into rehearsals with them and not knowing about you and Lacey was a better option?”