Satellite of Love

by Christa Maurice

  “He’s mad because him and Pam wanted you to be Nicky’s teacher next year, but if we’re dating you won’t because it’s an ethical gray area. And if I screwed you over and left town you wouldn’t because you’d be mad. I see his point. Nicky needs all the help he can get. I love the kid, but he’s no genius. He needs a good patient teacher. But I need that too. Not the teacher part, but the good patient part.”

  “I’m sure we can make sure Nicky gets the teacher he needs. All the other teachers at the second grade level in my building are good. I could steer him into the most suitable class.” Maureen clasped her hands in front of her. When was Michael going to slow down? His pacing made her legs hurt and he kept snapping his hands open and closed. Maybe she should try to stop his tantrum. He just seemed to be getting worse.

  “He wouldn’t have a problem with it at all if I wasn’t who I am. If I was just his brother and his business partner, he wouldn’t care who I dated. But because I’m in the band, he’s all bent out of shape. I don’t even want to be in the fucking band. I wish I’d never joined them.”

  Of the pictures she’d found, except for one shot where the band looked rather stern, they really seemed happy. Honestly, how horrible could it be to be worshipped by thousands for playing music? Not exactly back breaking labor. His entire tantrum reminded her more and more of the kids when they claimed they didn’t want to go out for recess.

  “I don’t want to go on tour. Being dragged around like a piece of furniture. Doing this promotional shit all the time in the hopes that we can sell enough records to pay back the record company. I just want to stay home with you.”

  “Stay home with me?”

  He stopped pacing and crossed the room to her. Taking her in his arms, he kissed her. “I love you, Maureen.”

  “I love you too, Michael.” She leaned her cheek on his chest. At least he wasn’t pacing anymore. “I’ll talk to Tony about Nicky. He could still end up in my class. Class lists won’t be settled for a couple of months yet.” That required working around her relationship with Michael, but she’d burn that bridge when she came to it. “He’s just worried right now. Once he sees there’s nothing to worry about, he’ll be fine. You are already committed to this tour so you might as well make the best of it. If you hate it at the end, you could still quit, right?” She looked up at him to see if the flames in his eyes had gone out yet.

  His face had settled into the lost expression he had appeared at her door with. He hadn’t shaved this morning either. Somehow that fact had escaped her despite her scratched cheeks.

  “When did you have this fight with Tony? This morning?”

  “Last night. He threw me out.”

  “Where did you sleep?” She had visions of him hunched in the backseat of the Satellite.

  “I went to a hotel. I figured you wouldn’t be too happy if I showed up here.”

  She stroked his cheek and felt some of the tension drain out of him. “You could have showed up here if you wanted to. If this happened last night, Tony might already be regretting it. People don’t think straight when they’re tired. He was up late waiting for you and got upset. Maybe we could stop by the garage on the way and talk to him.”

  “Marry me.”

  6

  Maureen blinked. Stress was making her hear funny. It sounded like he’d just proposed, but he couldn’t have because that would be crazy. “What?”

  “Marry me.”

  He had proposed.

  She’d only met him a week ago.

  She didn’t know him at all.

  He lived on the other side of the country.

  He wasn’t even going to be at that home for months.

  What about her job?

  Marriage wasn’t something to be rushed into.

  “Yes.”

  He picked her up and swung her around. “I love you so much. I am going to make you so happy.”

  “I hope I can make you happy too.” Her feet dangled above the floor and her heartbeat still hammered from the suddenness of being swooped into the air, but she felt safe, protected. As if it wasn’t such a bad idea to marry a rock star she’d met a week ago. Michael would make it right. Everyone had to see that they were perfect for each other.

  “You already make me happy.” He grinned with more brightness to his face than she’d ever seen on anyone and leaned her into the wall. “Everything about you makes me happy.”

  As his hard body pressed into her, she moaned. She kissed him, relishing his flavor. That rich, exotic, wonderful flavor. This was what movies were always going on about. Two people meet and fall madly in love at first sight. Destiny. No need to ever think about anything because when it was right, it just was. Everything else was details.

  His phone started to ring. He cursed, pulling the phone out of his pocket, but didn’t release her. “What?”

  She could hear the person on the other end as clearly as if she’d had the phone pressed to her ear. At this proximity, she practically did. “Just checking to make sure you were on your way to the radio gig.”

  “I’m kinda busy here.” He caught her eye and his frown turned to a grin. “Hey! Guess what!”

  “What?”

  “I’m getting married.”

  Breath caught in her throat, she waited for a response.

  “Married?”

  “Yeah.” Michael kissed her cheek.

  “To who?”

  “You’ll like her. Maureen.”

  “This woman you just met?”

  “Yeah, but she’s fantastic. Here, talk to her.” He twisted the phone to her ear. “Talk to Marc.”

  “Hello?” she said.

  “You’re Maureen?”

  “Yes, it’s nice to meet you, Marc.”

  “How did you meet Bear?”

  “Bear?”

  “The guy you’re apparently marrying.”

  “I met him at the garage. My brakes were making a terrible noise so I took it in and he happened to be there working on the Satellite.”

  “The Satellite?”

  “His car.”

  “So you’re going to marry Bear.”

  Utter joy welled through her body. She met Michael’s gaze. This guy. She was going to marry this guy. Whatever his name was. “Yes, I am.”

  “Well, good luck. Can I talk to Bear again?”

  She handed the phone to Michael, who stepped away this time. “She’s great. You’re gonna love her.” He paused beside the coffee table, but she didn’t need to be near the phone to hear Marc this time.

  “Are you out of your fucking mind? You just met this woman and you’re going to marry her? You haven’t even told Tessa about her, have you?”

  “You don’t know her.” Marc’s voice dropped out of her hearing, but Michael looked angry. “Well, you married a stripper, what did you expect?”

  “This is not about me!” Marc bellowed.

  “Like fuck it’s not. You know what? I just got engaged. Somebody should be happy for me.”

  Her heart ached for him. He sounded so forlorn, but Marc was right. They had just met and they were talking about forever. To keep herself from trying to go to him and fix it, she knitted her fingers together. How was unclear, but in any case, she shouldn’t be. This was his fight. She couldn’t start diving in to rescue him every time things got difficult. It set a bad precedent.

  “Fine. I’ll talk to you when I get back.” He snapped the phone shut and then opened it again.

  “Your friend not happy?”

  “He’s in the middle of a divorce. He’s jealous.” Michael fiddled with his phone for a minute and then stuck it in his pocket, grinning. “Now where were we?”

  Though she ached to take him back to the bedroom and get a repeat performance, she’d had enough time out of direct contact that reason was kicking in. “Michael, are you sure he isn’t right?”

  “He thinks you’re trying to steal my money. He doesn’t know you.”

  Oh yeah, money. Since he was famous, he p
robably had some. No wonder every time she mentioned how much something cost he sounded baffled. “We have only known each other for a couple of days though. It’s not even going to be a week until—” She checked her watch mostly because she couldn’t stand the shattered expression on his face. It reflected her own turmoil too well. “Six thirty tonight.”

  “So?”

  “It’s very fast. Don’t you think?” Maureen chewed her lip. “Shouldn’t we get to know each other better?”

  Michael put his hands on her shoulders and leaned his forehead on hers. His eyes bored into hers. “I know you. I love you. That’s all I need.”

  Emotion choked her, and she swallowed hard. His absolute certainty was hard to resist. The weight of his hand anchored her to the ground and to him. She couldn’t imagine anything better than to be wrapped in that love forever. She put her hands on his cheeks. “That’s all I need too, but we have to get going if we’re going to stop at the garage on the way.”

  “I’m going to have to hire you as a road manager. You’re ruthless.” He kissed her lightly. “Where’s your bag?”

  “On the bed.”

  He bowed and bounded down the hall after it. God, she hoped his confidence stayed with her. He made it sound so simple.

  When he returned, he ushered her into the car and started talking about his plans for the weekend. After the radio show, he wanted to take her out to a restaurant she’d never heard of. Where he’d gotten the recommendation, she didn’t know, but guessed it was several degrees better than the one he’d taken her to last weekend. Saturday there was a concert he wanted to go to, but he had all day free and he was willing to go back to the natural history museum. After he let her out of bed, of course. Sunday, he needed to show up at a record store. It was a surprise appearance and he didn’t have a set time he had to be there.

  “I don’t understand how it’s a surprise if you plan to be there,” she said and twisted sideways in the seat. All the better to stare at him.

  “It’s a surprise for the people who shop there.” He brushed his fingers over her cheek. “The owners may have told a couple of people, but otherwise nobody knows. We do these hit and run things sometimes. It’s fun.”

  She nodded and glanced up the road. They were getting close to the garage. Hopefully, Tony had cooled off after last night. She didn’t want to get caught between the two of them. Most of her life was designed around avoiding tension.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Michael said. “We can just go on our merry way.”

  “You were very upset this morning.”

  “I got over it.”

  It was a lie. He wasn’t over it. She spoke enough body language that she could understand the tenseness in his jaw and the stiffness in his back. For whatever reason, the argument with his brother bothered him a lot and she didn’t want him to have to carry that around. “We’ll give him a try before we go. You don’t want him to hear secondhand that we got engaged, do you?”

  Eyes bright, he turned a grin of pure glee on her that made her heartbeat leap. “Oh yeah. We got engaged this morning. Maybe that’s what we should do tomorrow. Go hit a couple of jewelers for a big, fat rock.”

  “It doesn’t need to be that big.” Her face heated. What were the other teachers going to say when she showed up Monday morning sporting a flashy engagement ring?

  Michael pulled into the side lot and shut off the engine. “Ready?”

  “Are you?”

  He leaned across the parking brake and kissed her. “Now I am.”

  She waited while he jumped out and ran around the car to open her door for her. Not like it was a hardship. No one had ever wanted to put her on such a high pedestal before and she was enjoying the view.

  Rusty stood behind the counter. He looked up when the bell rang as Michael opened the door. Without a word, he shambled down the hall to the repair bay. In itself, that wasn’t unusual. She hadn’t heard Rusty say more than a dozen words in the six years she’d been bringing her car here. Today, his taciturn nature put her on edge. More on edge.

  Michael reached for her hand and as he did, she turned toward him. Over his shoulder she saw an empty nail on the wall over the cash register. That must have been where the picture had hung. She vaguely remembered seeing one there, but hadn’t been interested enough to look at it. Usually when standing at that register she was too busy gasping at the cost of the latest repair.

  Tony walked out, sullen. “Yeah?”

  “Me and Maureen are getting married.” Michael thrust out his chin.

  Tony’s eyes narrowed. “That so?”

  “It is.”

  The brothers glared at one another across the reception room. Rusty’s shadow filled the doorway to the repair bay, and the sound of Eric shuffling near the door to the side bay came to her. Neither Tony nor Michael were going to move and this reconciliation was spinning down the drain.

  “Tony,” she said, breaking into their standoff. “Michael said you were hoping your son would be in my class next year.”

  “Like that’s going to happen now.” Tony kept glaring at Michael.

  “I’ll talk to his teacher this year and we’ll see who might be the best fit for him. I’m sure we can figure something out.”

  “Thank you.” Tony sounded like the last thing he wanted to say was thank you, but she wasn’t going to push him.

  “You could be nice about it,” Michael said. “She doesn’t have to help you.”

  Maureen squeezed his hand. “It’s okay.”

  “It’s not okay,” Michael snapped. “He’s busting my ass about screwing up Nicky’s chance to get in your class and he can’t even say thanks when you promise to help? And nothing about us getting married. I told you he was being a dick.”

  “You want me to congratulate you for popping the question after a week? I should be apologizing to her,” Tony shouted then turned on her. “You do know he won’t go through with it. Or if he does it’ll be a disaster and you’ll be divorced in two years.”

  Michael took a step forward but when she laid a hand on his arm, stopped. That must mean he wasn’t too serious about his threat. “Let’s go,” he snapped, turning for the door. Slamming through it, he shattered the glass.

  “I’m right, you know,” Tony said.

  “I hope you’re not. I do love your brother.”

  “I do too, but he’s a natural disaster. Hurricane Michael, here to destroy your life. Tell him he owes me for the fucking door.” Tony stomped toward the hall, but stopped just short. “Oh, and thanks for the help with Nicky. Me and Pam really appreciate it.”

  “It’s not a problem.” Trying to get her pulse and breathing under control, she looked at the broken door. This did not bode well.

  * * * *

  Bear scowled out the windshield. As soon as she’d climbed back in the car at the garage, he’d reached for her hand and kissed her. Other than a few minutes when he’d needed to navigate onto the highway, he hadn’t let go and she hadn’t tried to pull away. He took that as a good thing, but he wasn’t enjoying the sound of her silence at all. First Marc had to be a loon and then Tony.

  “He’s wrong, you know,” Bear said when they got close to the city.

  “I know.” Her voice was soft, as if she were talking to him from a distance. Then she squeezed his hand, reminding him how near she was. “Maybe we shouldn’t tell anyone else we’re engaged.”

  His body froze and he had to resist the urge to clench her hand. If he squeezed too tight, he could hurt her. “You change your mind?” The thread of wild panic that wound through his voice humiliated him, but he couldn’t take it back now. He couldn’t even stop the beat of panic drumming through his blood.

  “No.”

  Her tone had the flat metallic taste of a lie. He pulled his hand away from her, clutched the wheel. That he couldn’t hurt when she finally coughed up her rejection. The world started to swim. Ahead the highway divided in three and the woman who’d given him the directions h
ad warned him that it was tricky. One direction led to the morass of downtown. He could get to the radio station from there, but it wouldn’t be easy. A second lane led in the opposite direction. He needed option number three, except he couldn’t remember now if option number three was the left lane, the right lane or the middle lane. Traffic wasn’t helping either. Every other driver on the road seemed intent on shoving him into a different lane and the semis in front of him kept blocking the signs.

  “I just think that it’s confusing the issue.” She turned to him. Her tone still hadn’t changed. “Your friends are going to need to meet me before they find out we’re getting married.”

  Based on the way his phone had been vibrating since he’d hung up with Marc and turned off the ringer, all his friends already knew. “So we’re still getting married?” He switched into the left lane at the split and hoped it was the correct one.

  “I haven’t changed my mind. Have you changed yours?”

  “No.”

  She smiled. “Good.”

  The world stopped swimming and he took a deep breath. Traffic had cleared and he could now see the signs. The wrong signs. “Shit.”

  “What?”

  “We’re headed the wrong way.”

  “No big deal. We’ll find an exit and turn around.”

  She had the calm tone to her voice again and was staring straight ahead. Maybe that wasn’t distance from her. Maybe that’s how she handled tension. Marc and Tony were right about one thing. He didn’t know her, but it was going to be a lot of fun getting to know her.

  “There’s an exit.” She pointed.

  The exit ramp snaked around and dumped them off on a residential street with no sign of an entrance ramp. Bear stopped in front of the elaborate Catholic church at the bottom of the exit. “So now what?”

  Frowning, she surveyed the neighborhood. She looked really cute with her lips crinkled with that puzzled quirk.

  “I know, let’s run into this church right here and get hitched. That would blow their minds, wouldn’t it?”