You Shook Me All Night Long

by Simone Harlow

  Declan rolled his eyes. “Five more minutes.”

  She hitched a thumb over her shoulder. “Rack of lamb waits for no man and neither do I. So pack up your instruments and be at the table in two minutes.”

  “She’s bossy.” Vaughn said.

  “I know.” Travis commented. It was really sexy, but he wasn’t going to share that with anyone.

  Gavin snickered.

  “Well, it smells good.” Malcolm shrugged.

  “I am hungry.” Of course that’s what Gavin would say. He got up from his drum kit, dropped his sticks, and headed for the door.

  “I love rack of lamb.” Declan stood up.

  “We’re really going to go?” Vaughn frowned.

  Shane put his guitar on its stand. “I am.”

  “I’m in.” Malcolm scooted the piano bench back and stood.

  Travis found it really hot that she could get all of them to do exactly what she wanted with just a smile. He trailed behind everyone. Charlotte waited for him by the door with a sultry smile. He got to her and nuzzled her neck. “You look hot.”

  “Mr. Rexford, after dinner we have to discuss your overdue books,” she said sternly.

  “Sorry, Ms. Lambert, I’ll try to be better.”

  “You have said that before.” She shook her head. “There will be punishment.”

  “If you insist.”

  She giggled and they walked hand-in-hand to the dining room.

  When they got inside she walked to her place at the table. She giggled as he held out her chair for her. She sat next to Declan, who was at the head of the table. Just before he got into the seat next to her, Gavin slipped into the chair next to her and jiggled his eyebrows. She smiled. Travis let it ride, only because the chair right across from her was free.

  “Charlotte?”

  “Yes, Vaughn?”

  “Why is there green jelly on my plate?”

  Before she could answer, Shane asked, “Better question, why it is touching my meat?”

  Charlotte lifted her hands in supplication. “I do not make the rules for rack of lamb.”

  Travis wanted to ask too, but he didn’t want to look like an idiot. Apparently Shane and Vaughn didn’t have that problem.

  Gavin took a bite. He sighed, and then put his head on her shoulder. “Charlotte?”

  “Yes, Gavin?”

  “Will you marry me?”

  Charlotte giggled but shook her head. “When you wear big boy pants.”

  Everyone at the table cracked up.

  “Atta girl, Charlotte,” Jocelyn piped in.

  “Jesus Christ!” Declan grabbed one of the wine bottles and looked at the label. “Is this a Château La Nuit?”

  Charlotte nodded. “A 2005.”

  Declan touched the bottle slowly. “What is this going for? $1,200 a bottle? I thought the Chinese cornered the Boudreaux market.”

  Travis caught his breath. For some grape juice? Shit, that was like gold.

  Charlotte smiled as she cut into her lamb. “The house comes with an exceptional wine cellar.”

  Declan put the bottle on the table with a thud. “How come no one told me?”

  Charlotte pointed at him. “Travis told me not to tell you.”

  “Thanks buddy.” He filled his glass to the rim. “Hell, I’m not paying for it.”

  “Yes, we are.” Travis had to inform him.

  Declan pointed to the four bottles on the table. “Just pass them down my way.”

  Travis smiled. He was a beer man, what did he care. But Malcolm refused to pass his bottle. And so did Jocelyn.

  Shane’s phone pinged and he reached to answer it.

  “Put your phone away. This is family time.” Charlotte eyed Shane.

  “But--”

  At that moment, Travis’s phone pinged. He noticed it was his mother’s number. Hopefully she’d gotten her bar exam results, but he didn’t reach for it.

  She leaned over her plate and whispered. “Is it your mother?”

  He nodded.

  She flicked her hand. “Go.”

  Shane picked up his phone. “How come he can answer his phone?”

  “Because you’re getting a booty call and it can wait.”

  “Charlotte!” Malcolm, Travis, and Declan said together.

  She dabbed her mouth with a gold napkin. “Am I wrong?”

  Vaughn shrugged. “Duh, we’re dudes.”

  “Exactly. Mother calls trump everything.”

  Travis grabbed his phone. “Hi, I’ll be right with you.” He stood. “You behave.”

  She huffed. “I always behave, that’s my problem.”

  “Not you. Them.” He hurried out of the dining room and sat on the front stairs. “Hi.”

  “Hello, Travis.”

  He took a moment. God, please let her have passed the bar. “So?”

  “I received two pieces of mail today.”

  “Yeah?”

  “The New Orleans Garden Society is naming a rose bush after me. A Glowing Peace rose bush. I’m impressed with myself. I could never get them to grow for me. They are tricky.”

  Okay that wasn’t the news he was hoping for, but he could hear how pleased she was and that made him happy. He gave up a nice chunk of change for that. “I might have had a little something to do with that.”

  “Thank you, I’m honored.”

  “And the second letter?”

  “You can tell the New Orleans Garden Society they can call my bush Grace Rexford, Esquire.”

  That pun wasn’t lost on him. His mother could cuss like a sailor. “You passed.”

  “That I did. I was surprised. About five minutes into the exam I was pulling answers out of my butt.”

  He laughed as the relief settled over him. “You always were a smart ass.”

  “Where the fuck did you get that potty mouth?”

  “I don’t have a damned clue,” he fired back.

  “Thank you, Travis. I would have never had the guts to go back to school if you hadn’t pushed me, and picked up the tab.”

  She was one of the smartest people he knew. She deserved to be more than a diner waitress. It had taken him a few years to talk her into going back to school. He’d gone so far as to fill out the application and submit it for her. “Have you decided what you’re going to do with your fancy degree?”

  “I’m thinking of hanging my shingle here in the neighborhood. There are a lot of people who need a good lawyer, but can’t afford one. Since money doesn’t seem to be a concern of mine now that my son is a big rock star. I’m glad I didn’t lock you up until you came to your senses and went to college.”

  So was he. He owed her a debt he could never repay. “Hey, you could have told me to stick to school and get a degree and be an adult, but you didn’t. That took a lot of guts letting me run off to L.A. without a backup plan.”

  She sighed. “I figured one of us should get a shot at their dream.”

  “I know it was hard, but you didn’t quit. No matter what.”

  There was a long pause. “They should have never let me hold you.”

  He wasn’t sure what she meant by that. “I don’t understand.”

  “Oh darling boy, I took one look into those beautiful eyes and I knew you were my destiny. I couldn’t give you up and I even had a nice couple picked out for you.”

  Did she say what he thought she just said? “You were going to give me up?”

  “Right up until the moment I held you.”

  He couldn’t believe it. She could have gone on with her life. “You could have gone back to school and been a lawyer.”

  “I’m a lawyer now. As much as I wanted that, it was nothing compared to being your mother.”

  “I don’t know what to say.” He really didn’t. All he knew was that he loved her more than ever at this moment. He knew how hard they struggled. Hell, he remembered how his father had told him ‘tough shit’ when he contacted him at sixteen wondering how he was going to afford college. His mother lo
oked him in the eye and told him that it would work out. He almost didn’t believe her, but her faith in him let him keep going. Even when he decided he wanted to be a rock star. She nodded and gave him her blessing. She was amazing.

  “You don’t have to say anything. It was my choice. Which turned out to be the right one.”

  “I love you.” The breathless quality in his voice surprised him.

  “Back at you kid. How’s it going, by the way, being a rock star?”

  “I’m writing.”

  “Thank God. I’ve been worried about you.”

  “It’s not my usual stuff.”

  She laughed. “No easy chicks and drinking too much beer? Are you selling out on me?”

  “I think I might be growing up.”

  “But how are you feeling?”

  “I’m dealing with it. Which is part of my news.”

  “What?”

  He took a deep breath. He hadn’t meant to tell her about Charlotte because he wasn’t sure where they stood, but she was an important part of why he was doing better. “I met a girl.”

  “You always meet girls. Don’t you know you’re considered one of the sexiest men in the music business according to some of your fan blogs?”

  That was shocking and also a little awkward. Your mother shouldn’t know about that part of his life. “Do you read that crap?”

  She laughed. “You’d be amazed what they say about you. Now, tell me about this girl.”

  He stretched out his long legs, getting as comfortable on the stairs as he could. “She’s helping me deal with Andy’s death. She’s good at making me talk and even better at listening.”

  “Is she a therapist?”

  “No just really … she’s…” How did he describe Charlotte to his mom? This was a big step for him.

  “Is she a groupie?”

  “She’s not a Scorned fan, but she does like my writing. She told me I’m a poet.”

  There was dead air for a second. “I might have to meet this one. How serious is it?”

  Now that was the million-dollar question. “I don’t know. I like her. I just like hanging out with her.”

  “Hmmmm.”

  His mother never pulled her punches. What the hell did she mean by that? “What does that mean?”

  “Just what it sounds like. What’s she like?”

  How did he boil Charlotte down to a few words? “She’s sweet, funny, smart, and beautiful.”

  “Beautiful last. Interesting.”

  He did have it bad. “Oh shit.”

  “Yeah, you really like this one.”

  Travis shoved a hand through his hair. “I said beautiful last.”

  “I was thinking about a visit to New Orleans, but I didn’t want to interrupt you and get all clingy. Now I really have some incentive. I want to meet her.”

  He mentally backpedaled. How serious were they? “We’re not getting married.”

  “She’s special to you though?”

  Why did his mother know how to read him so well? “How can you tell?”

  “You told me about her. We haven’t talked about girls since Brittany Lerma broke your heart in eleventh grade.”

  He could never get past one of her interrogations. She was like a CIA interrogator. Her skills scared him. God help the people she faced in court. “She made me rack of lamb.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You better hang up with me and eat all your dinner.”

  “She’s got a lot of money. Family money.” He just kinda blurted that out.

  “A Dixie Deb.”

  What the hell was that and was it a bad thing? “A what?”

  “Rich Southern girl. Bred to be princesses, according to Alyssa Dunham.”

  “Who is she?”

  “She was in my torts class and she’s one of them, so she would know.”

  Charlotte wasn’t snobby. In fact, she was more real than any woman he’d met in a long time. “She is not like that.”

  “You better eat all that dinner. I’m going to get a few things together and I’ll fly down. I want to meet her.”

  “I want you to meet her.” Did he just say that?

  “Take care, Travis. I love you.”

  “Love you back. Talk to you later.” He hung up the phone and stuffed it in his pocket then went back to the dining room. As he entered, he heard a burst of laughter from the table.

  “Why would any man not want to marry you?” Declan asked as he poured a glass of wine for Charlotte. All the way to the top.

  Charlotte shrugged. “I didn’t flip his switch.”

  Travis sat down and stared at Charlotte. Was she drunk? He was only gone for about fifteen minutes.

  “Was he stupid?” Gavin asked.

  “Gay.” She stuck out her bottom lip.

  Travis looked around the table and noticed that every set of eyes were on her. Charlotte swayed a bit.

  Yep, Charlotte was toasted.

  Declan patted her hand. “You must have been devastated.”

  “I found out a month before the wedding. I mean the dress was Vera Wang. What my mother shelled out for that wedding. We were supposed to go to Venice for the honeymoon.”

  “Tragic.” Declan shook his head.

  She slapped her hand on the table. “Not only did he fail me as a fiancé, he failed me as a gay man. How could he let me run around looking so, so, so…”

  “Frumpy,” Gavin added.

  “Exactly. Damn him. That cock-sucking, ass-fucking bastard.”

  “Charlotte!” Travis was stunned. He hadn’t even been sure she knew that kind of language.

  “What? It needed to be said. It’s not like I’m ever going to say it to his face. Now I’m completely free and I can move forward.”

  “You’re drunk.” If this wasn’t happening at the table in front of the band this might be funny.

  She pinched two fingers together. “Just a tad.”

  “You need to stop drinking.”

  She leaned over the table. “Are you afraid I can’t be the drunken naughty librarian?”

  Travis dropped his head in his hands and the table erupted in laughter. “Yeah, let’s go with that one.”

  She waved her hand. “I’ll be fine.”

  Suddenly, a sharp pain hit him in the groin. He looked down to see her steel heeled stiletto in his crotch. He grabbed her ankle and removed her foot. “Next time take the shoe off.”

  “Do you realize, I swore?”

  “I do.”

  She made a check sign with her fingers. “We can take that off my list.”

  “We’ll talk about that later.”

  “What list, Charlotte?” Declan asked.

  Please God, don’t let her be an honest drunk.

  “My bucket list.”

  Gavin looked at her with this strange expression on his face as if he couldn’t believe it. “Cussing was on your bucket list.”

  “That and few other dirty things.” She giggled.

  Declan leaned over. “This is getting interesting.”

  Travis rubbed his eyes. Oh, it was about to get truthful up in here. “Do you really want them to know?”

  “They might have to help.” She held up three fingers. “You know with the ménage a trois,” she pursed her lips and tilted her head. “But then again, I might want to do it with another woman. I haven’t decided yet. Or maybe they could watch.”

  Declan raised his hand. “You need a third? I’d be happy to volunteer.”

  Travis glared at him. This was a trainwreck and he couldn’t stop it.

  “You are such a man whore.” Malcolm took a sip of wine.

  “True, but what are friends are for.” Declan inclined his head toward the bedroom. “Let’s get to it.”

  “Maybe later.” Charlotte started giggling. “Travis wants to play naughty librarian tonight.”

  Gavin raised his hand. “Don’t you want someone to watch? I would be happy to help.”

 
Charlotte’s eyes widened. “You like that?”

  He shrugged. “Yeah.”

  That was Gavin, pervy and proud.

  “You could come to my dance recital.”

  Did she just invite him to see her strip? Travis dropped his head into his hands. He was never going to live this down. Ever.

  “What, like ballet?” Jocelyn asked.

  Charlotte shook her head. “No, I’m going to strip.”

  Gavin leaned over. “As in pole dance?”

  Now that just perked up the table.

  Charlotte pointed at him. “Burlesque. I only have to go down to a G-string and pasties. Travis is coming.”

  “Really, I can come?” Gavin held his hands up in prayer.

  “All of you can come.”

  Shane started laughing.

  Charlotte shook her finger at him. “Don’t think you’re going to escape. Besides Henry will be there.”

  “Do I care?”

  She nodded. “Henry wants to have sex with you and it’s perfectly fine with Everett, if he can join in.”

  “Who the fuck is Henry?” Travis asked, even though he didn’t want to know.

  “I don’t do dudes.” Shane scowled.

  “Henry’s short for Henrietta. My sister-in-law. She’s gorgeous.”

  “What does she look like?” Gavin asked, leaning closer to Charlotte.

  Charlotte took her phone out of her pocket, pressed the screen, and then passed the phone to Gavin.

  Gavin whistled. “She’s hot. Are those real?”

  Charlotte nodded.

  Travis held out his hand. “I want to see.”

  Gavin gave him the phone. He looked at the sexy blonde made up to look like Marilyn Monroe in a low cut white dress. “She’s beautiful, but she’s not you.”

  “Oh Travis.” She put her hand over her heart. “Thank you.”

  He passed the phone down and Shane took a look. “I’m in.”

  “What does she look like?” Declan asked.

  “Guess Jeans-era Anna Nicole Smith,” Travis answered.

  “Nice, but Travis is right. She’s not you.”

  Charlotte stood up. “Travis, you better take me to bed now.”

  Travis smiled. “Now, I’m in.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Declan looked at the new tattoo on his inner wrist. The red diamond shaped interconnected boxes stood out on his tanned skin. It was beginning to itch a bit. Unlike the rest of the band, he wasn’t inked up the wazoo. This was only his second tattoo. But this was for Andy. It was strange –– the mark brought him some peace. As if he had a part of Andy with him forever. He missed his friend. Andy’s low-key personality kept everyone sane. He was funny, caring, and calm.