Eric was hugging a woman who couldn’t have been anyone other than his mother. She had his same dark hair and eyes, which where leaking the tears I’d heard from the hall. She was much shorter than him, her feet raised to her toes as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her face resting against his neck.
Mr. Parish was standing beside them, crying silently, a large smile on his face as he patted Eric’s shoulder. I knew that smile well and had seen it on several occasions, on his son’s face. He had dark hair, his frame suggesting that Eric got his height from him. Wire glasses sat on his face, making him look very wise to me somehow.
“I’m so sorry, Mom.” Eric’s voice was choked, helping me realize that he was crying, his face turned away from me. “I thought I was making it hard on you. I didn’t want you to suffer.”
“No, no!” she insisted, sniffling as her tears continued to fall. “It was never your fault, sweetie. I never, ever thought even once that you were to blame for Adam’s death.”
“I know, but you always got so upset when you saw me. I misunderstood. I ran away. I’m so sorry.” He was holding her tightly, like a man who hadn’t been touched by another human in his entire life and didn’t want to let go.
“I was upset because you were suffering,” she replied, laughing slightly. “I kept wondering how long it would take for you to realize you had nothing to be forgiven for. It wasn’t Adam I was thinking of all those times—it was you. All I could think was to pray. God, please let him find the peace he needs. Let him know it wasn’t his fault. Bring my baby home from the darkness inside him.”
“We love you,” Mr. Parish spoke up, surprising me with the deep bass of his voice. “Nothing could ever change that.” Wrapping his arms around the two of them, he joined in the embrace. “You needed to sort through things. We understood why you left.”
“We were just waiting for you to be ready,” his mom said. “We knew you needed time and we didn’t want to take it from you. Clarrisa kept an eye on you and made sure you weren’t starving, or anything. We were ready to come any minute you needed us.”
“When she said you would be here tonight, we thought maybe you were ready to see people again. We didn’t know you would be dancing.” Laughing, Mr. Parish pulled away and smiled at him again. “You were amazing, son. One of the best performances I’ve ever seen you give.”
“I wasn’t supposed to be performing,” Eric confessed, finally releasing his mom from his embrace, but keeping an arm around her shoulders. “Scarlet needed me, though. I couldn’t let her down, not after all the work she’d done.”
“Who’s Scarlet?” Mrs. Parish looked at him in confusion. “The girl you were dancing with?”
“She’s a little more than that,” he said gently and I could hear the smile in his voice.
Thinking that this was the opportune moment to reveal myself to the oblivious group, I cleared my throat quietly, smiling as they turned to look at me.
“Scarlet.” Eric’s face lit up as he looked at me, his eyes shining with an amount of happiness in them that I’d never seen before. “Mom, Dad, this is my girlfriend, Scarlet. Scarlet, these are my parents.”
“Nice to meet you,” I replied politely, not sure what to do. I’d been eavesdropping on their reunion and was now thrown into it.
“Scarlet.” Mrs. Parish looked at me for a moment, her face blank, and then burst into tears again, crossing the space and hugging me.
“Oh!” Chuckling awkwardly, I patted her on the back, not understanding why she was so emotional.
“Thank you,” she whispered in my ear. “I don’t know how you did it, but you brought me back my son.”
“I didn’t do anything.” It was uncomfortable, holding on to so much emotion, my eyes still teary from watching the earlier exchange.
“That’s not true.” Eric crossed to the door and gently taking me from his mother’s arms and into his own, kissed me softly on the forehead. He was still shirtless, his scars out for anyone and everyone to see. “You showed me that it was okay to be who I am and embrace the story life has given me. If God was the one sending help my way, then you’re the angel he assigned to the task.”
I still didn’t understand why he’d changed so suddenly, coming to my aid and saving the day, all while showing everyone the things he’d so desperately wanted to keep hidden. It didn’t seem like the time to ask, though, with his family there around him, beaming down at me like I was a saint or a rare and precious gem they’d just discovered.
“Thank you.” It was a pitiful response at best, but he smiled just the same, kissing me quickly on the lips before releasing me.
“Are you done?” He wrapped his fingers around mine, flashing a grin at his parents before he focused on my face again.
“I still have my interview after the show. And Dad will be waiting for me to come say hi.”
“That’s right! I’m meeting your dad tonight. I’d forgotten with everything else.” He nodded as he spoke, his face wearing an expression that made me think he was moving things around in his head.
“You don’t have to,” I hurriedly replied. “If you want to spend time with your parents, I totally understand. I kinda didn’t even tell him I was introducing you.”
“No, I want to meet him,” he insisted. “We’ll all go back to my box. Sound good? Then you can come up after and we’ll meet.”
“That sounds fine to me,” Mrs. Parish said, beaming at the two of us.
“Great. Give me a second and I’ll be right up. I want to talk to Scar real quick.” Giving them the number of his box, he hugged them both as they passed by again, closing the door after they’d left. Sighing, he leaned against it and smiled.
“I am so confused,” I blurted out. “Why? Why did you do it?”
“Gini told me that Danny was out. She came up to my box and that was all she said. When the number we’d been watching was over, she got up and left. I knew you’d worked so hard on the dance and must be so disappointed, but I didn’t know what to do. Then it dawned on me—all the times I’d thought I was being brave for you, meeting you, telling you who I was and what happened, and yet, I wasn’t being brave at all. I was hiding behind a mask, not wanting the world to find me.”
“Those were all brave,” I interjected, folding my arms. “It took a lot of guts to share those things with me.”
“Yes, but you were the one being brave. You came to the classes without knowing me. You listened to my story and didn’t even flinch. You were right there when I needed you. You urged me to be the best version of me I could be. Every day, you pushed me to be better, to love and accept myself. And it worked! I started to realize that it wasn’t my looks that mattered. It’s who I am as a person. But I still wasn’t ready to show myself.
“Tonight, you were the best version of Scarlet that you could be. But you needed help. You couldn’t do it alone. I sat there, thinking of all the times you’d helped me, even dragged me along kicking and screaming, and loved me without a single thought of anything else. If you could be that brave for me, then I could be brave for you. So, I went backstage and got ready. Danny was shocked, to say the least, when I showed up, but he handed the blindfold over without comment and wished me luck. I knew right then that you had been right—only the people who didn’t need to be in my life would care what I looked like. Danny stared at first, but he still treated me like a person. I can handle a lifetime of that for you.”
Staring at him in silence, I felt a tear slide down my face. “When you said you were there,” I said, my voice catching.
“I meant for more than just the dance, yes.” Pushing away from the door, he gathered me to his chest, his fingers moving to explore the side of my face. “I can do this. I know I can. I don’t want to be afraid anymore; not of people seeing me, not of what others say about me, and not of living a life without love. Before I met you, it felt certain that I was going to die alone. I even wished that it would happen sooner, rather than later. But then you came alon
g and it was like a light shone on every part of me. You really did pull me out of the darkness, Scar. And I love you even more for it.”
“I love you, Eric.” Not knowing how to accurately describe how his confession had made me feel, I channeled the happiness and love he’d filled me with into a kiss, pressing against him as I wondered at the change in him that was happening in front of me. I believed him. He wouldn’t be hiding any longer, not from his family or even complete strangers.
“I’m sorry I missed your ballet,” he murmured on my lips, his arms wrapping around my waist, holding me tighter.
“It’s fine,” I replied, not really caring at that moment. Like always, his touch was sending fire through my veins, lighting me up like the sun. “Thank you for coming to help me. It was perfect. Exactly what I’d imagined.”
“It was,” he agreed, caressing down my jawline and onto my neck. The touch made me mad with lust, coupled with my desire to love him in the way that we both loved best. “Is it bad that I want you now, after all that?” He was barely whispering, his mouth doing wonderful things to me.
“No.” It sounded more like a plea than anything else and he laughed, biting into me hard enough to elicit a yelp in reply.
“Lock the door,” he breathed, crushing me beside him as his hold on me strengthened. “You don’t have anything else in the show?”
“No.” It was a breathless answer, one made as we moved backward, resting up against the entrance as I turned the lock.
Trading places with me, he pressed my back up to the door, his hands slowly sliding the straps off my shoulders. His lips kissed the skin there, his leg pushed between mine, his groin already painfully hard against me. Despite my desperate whimpering, he took his time, sliding the leotard down to my waist as he kissed down my chest, between my breasts, and onto my stomach. Carefully, he hooked the dance suit, tutu, and my hose all under two fingers, working to pull them down until the material puddled around my ankles, my bra and panties the only items left on the rest of my body as he slid over it. Gently, he pulled my pointe shoes off, helping me to step out of everything.
“Come here.” Motioning for me to join him on the floor, he took my hands in his, pulling me to my knees. Face to face again, he captured my lips with his, his tongue filling my mouth as he undid my bra.
Heart racing, I held in a moan as he pulled the fabric away from my body, his hands covering my breasts, massaging them as the bra fell to the floor between us. The possibility of someone possibly entering the room at any moment was strangely erotic to me. I eagerly undid the button on his pants, feeling like I would simply stop existing if I didn’t have him inside me soon. Dancing together had helped to warm me as well, our bodies moving together in a way that only we could share.
Releasing his hold on my chest, he helped me pull his pants and underwear off, his lips still glued to mine like I was the only air he could breathe.
After removing my last piece of clothing, I let him guide me onto his lap, where he was standing ready for me. My heart sputtered at the sight, my body practically screaming for me to hurry it along. Eric seemed to know this, though, slowing me down and setting me just out of reach of what I wanted most.
“Patience,” he muttered, his mouth leaving mine. Bending down, he took my nipple in his mouth, sucking hard, his hands kneading my butt as he held me close. Whimpering, I rocked against him, telling him to come inside. Shushing me, he released the one breast in favor of the other, biting me softly as he sucked. Unable to help myself, I moaned, tossing my head back as my hand drifted lower, rubbing his cock.
Groaning, he reached down and began to stroke between my legs, knowing just how to move his fingers. Suddenly, I began to climax, shuddering, and he clapped his free hand over my mouth, stifling the noises I made. Quickly, he removed his hand from between my legs, steadying me with it as he guided me onto him, his warmth sliding into me at last.
Crying into his hand, I moved with him, shaking as I came again, desperately wishing that we could stay like this forever. I hadn’t come this easily in weeks, my body enjoying the foreplay he would give me, but tonight was different. It was like I needed to finish fast, so another orgasm could rock my body. It all felt different and new, somehow, enforced by his confession that he wanted to be with, and do, everything with me for the rest of forever. Where it had felt like really good sex before, now it felt like more. It truly was making love, the two of us showing each other the extent of our feelings through physical touch, the same as our first night together.
Shaking beneath me, his own orgasm was close to breaking, and I put a hand over his mouth as well, gasping as he sucked a finger into it. Releasing into me, he bit back his own cry by sucking hard, moving urgently beneath me, his body lubricating us even more than we needed. I was moaning too, and more than thankful that he’d thought to try and keep me quiet. Again, I felt my own release build and topple over the edge, my body shaking violently as he crushed me to him.
Finally, unable to move any more, we fell still, breathing heavy, our hands over each other’s mouths as we stared at each other, throbbing together in spent lust and overflowing love.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
None of the Parish family had been back to their home upstate since the fire, except to remove a few precious items that couldn’t be replaced. Now, seven years later to the day, they all stood on the overgrown grass that used to be their front lawn, looking at the remains of their old lives.
After the showcase, Eric had met my father, who had done nothing but talk about the expert dancing he’d witnessed that night. Dad had left three days ago, called home early by his work for something important they needed his help with.
“You call me as soon as you know if you got in or not,” he’d told me at the airport, hugging me tightly. Behind us, Eric had stood by, steadily ignoring anyone who stared or talked loudly about his scars. “And you keep hold of that boy.” He spoke much quieter, turning from Eric and moving away a few more steps. “I know the look he gives you. He’s a good guy, Scarlet. He’ll take care of you.”
“He already is,” I replied, blushing slightly. “And I will. I love him. I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”
“Good.” Hugging me again, I knew it was time for him to go through security. “Oh, one more thing.” He blushed, clearing his throat awkwardly and walked back over to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. “You be safe, okay? I mean . . . you know. In the bedroom.” The last part was so quiet I almost didn’t hear it, but the color drained out of my face all the same.
A sex talk in the middle of the airport? No, thank you.
“I gotcha, Dad,” I answered, laughing nervously. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay.” He reddened a bit, and he coughed again, nodding. “Right. I’ll call you when I land.”
“I love you,” I said as he walked to the security gate.
“Love you too!”
“It looks so . . . sad.” Eric’s voice pulled me out of the thoughts and back to the present. It was hard to look at the house and know what had happened, the lives that had been forever lost here seven years ago.
One wall of the house was still standing, however, the rest was a crumpled, overgrown heap of charred beams and concrete marking the spot. A few trees had started growing around it, closing it in some, but it still felt like a graveyard. It was in a sense; Adam hadn’t officially died here, but it was the last place he’d ever been conscious and living without the aid of a machine. Both he and Eric had lost the course that their lives were on that day, the dreams of their youth dying in the flames. Everything had changed for them in just a few moments.
It was strange to me how so many huge things in life happen over just a few minutes. In the space of a minute you went from being unborn to born. A minute walk across a stage and suddenly you’re an adult graduated from high school, ready to make your mark on the world. After just a ten minute ceremony, you could go from unmarried to married. A baby suddenly comes into
existence after a few moments of ecstasy shared by their parents.
And a note that took mere seconds to leave changed my life forever.
“Let’s leave the flowers,” Mrs. Parish said sadly, tears in her eyes. “I’m ready to go.”
Obeying her wish, Eric placed the bouquet he’d been holding—yellow daffodils—at the edge of the ruin, stepping back to my side as soon as he was done. Slowly, we all turned from the house toward the ocean, walking carefully away from the past we’d come to visit.
In my pocket, my phone started buzzing and I excused myself, stepping off to the side for a moment. The number on the screen was from the office at UD and I knew this was it; I was going to find out if I’d be offered a spot in the company or not.
“Miss Redford?”
“Yes, this is she.” I felt breathless, my heart rate picking up exponentially as I listened to the male voice on the other end of the line.
“This is Andy Webber with United Dance.” He sounded so calm. Was that good? Would he sound sad if he was calling to tell me I hadn’t made it?
“Mr. Webber, hello! Thank you for calling.” What? Thank you for calling? Get it together, Scar!
“Thank you for spending a year in our training program,” he said, chuckling. “You did very well. We saw a lot of improvement from when you first arrived and your final showcase performances were beautiful.”
“Thank you so much.” If he didn’t tell me if I was in or not soon, I might pass out from anticipation.
“As you know, we only had a few spots open this year. The staff and I, as well as your teachers, have gone over all of your footage and discussed with each other.”
Oh no. He wasn’t saying anything about me joining up. Was this an easy let down? What was I going to do? Where would I go?
“After much consideration, we would like to offer you a place in our chorus, with the opportunity to have a few spotlight roles through the season.”
Watching Over Me: A Dreams Novel Page 18
