by Maya Hughes
Using all her muscle power, she’d dragged some of the stuff out of the bunks and slept in there that night. The next day, they got in the plane together, no fun exploring this time, she’d worked on the layout for the photobook and tried to keep her distance from Eric. It was tricky considering it was mainly the two of them together all the time. She let out a sigh and responded to an email from the label, letting them know that it was almost finished. The heat was on and they were breathing down her neck to finish it. She slammed her laptop closed when Eric popped up at the top of the bus steps.
“Come on,” he said, motioning for her to follow him.
“What is it?”
“You’re not going to believe this. Come on!” he said, reaching for her hand and pulling her up from the table and down the steps.
He dragged her from the bus and down the small embankment they’d parked next to. He kept up the pace and she nearly tripped over her feet trying to keep up with him. The long grass slapped against her ankles as he came to a sudden stop in front of a picnic blanket and basket. He bent down to light a few candles and turned to her.
“What’s all this?”
“I figured it was the only way to get you off the bus. You’ve been avoiding me all day. You won’t talk to me.”
“Eric—” she said, trying to think of what there was to say.
“Tell me what’s wrong Keira. Please,” he said, holding her hands in his. She took a deep breath. How did you tell the guy you loved, yeah loved, that you were upset because he still had feelings for his previous girlfriend?
“I know you still care about Talia. I just don’t know where that puts us,” she said in one big rush. He scrunched up his eyebrows and looked at her like he didn’t know what she was talking about.
“I don’t still have feelings for Talia. Why would you think that?” he asked, looking genuinely confused. Now she was confused. Thinking back to the bus, she tried to figure out what had happened, if he hadn’t been pissed about Talia and then it dawned on her. She knew Owen wasn’t talking about her from the beginning because, eww, wasn’t going to happen. Not with him ever.
“So then you thought Owen slept with me? You thought I cheated on you,” she knew she hit the nail on the head when he ducked his head and glanced away. “You really thought I’d do that to you,” she said, a little dagger digging into her heart.
“Keira, it was a split-second reaction. I saw you in the dressing room with him that day and my imagination ran away from me. Once I realized it was Talia he was talking about, I didn’t give a shit, but I was pissed about the way he talked to you. I wasn’t going to let him do that to you.”
Taking another deep breath, she decided to get it all out of the way.
“I thought you were still hung up on Talia and that’s why you got so pissed off at Owen.” His eyes got really big and he was waving his hands in front of himself and shaking his head. Well that settled that. He stepped toe to toe with her and slid his hand along her face.
“There’s only one person I’m hung up on and she’s standing right in front of me,” he said, nuzzling his face against hers. She let out a contented sigh.
“I might just be a little hung up on you too,” she said, nibbling on his lips.
“Don’t tempt me to take you right here out in the open, Keira,” he said, against her lips.
“We wouldn’t want that now would we,” she said, coyly while sinking down onto the blanket. He growled and stalked toward her.
They laid out there on the blanket and talked for hours after a little under the shirt action. He told her all about his dad leaving when he was younger. How much it hurt him. That all he had left to remind him of his dad was the guitar he’d left behind. The pain he felt at his dad up and leaving was still raw. She heard it in his voice, how much it still affected him.
The gap between tours was shrunk to a couple of days, so they’d been on tour almost constantly since they started. Which meant, they’d come up with their own tour routine. Whenever he sang his finale, he always made sure that he sang at least one of the choruses, directly to her in the wings of the stage. He knew it riled her up. Their hasty retreat to the dressing room had to be noticed by the crew, but no one ever said anything. She left before the final notes, only to race back to the dressing room. He burst in and attacked her the second the door closed behind him.
She’d taken to wearing skirts on show nights if only to make these quick sessions that much easier. Hiking her skirt up her legs, she sat on the table in front of the vanity and hitched her legs up on the back of his thighs. Pushing her panties aside, he would push into her in one long solid thrust.
After two weeks, they’d both agreed to get tested, no longer needing to use protection. So much for her professionalism pledge, but in those moments, when his hot breath tickled the hair on the side of her neck and his fingers were threaded through her hair attempting to devour her mouth, she didn’t much care about being professional. All she cared about was the insatiable fire that could only be quenched in the way Eric could play her body night after night, show after show. The pounding he gave her, curled her toes and her back pressed against the mirror, shaking the entire thing. Biting his neck, still sweaty from playing on the stage, Keira’s breath hitched as he reached between them and played a rhythm on her clit that sent her over the edge.
He knew how to play her in more ways than one. Crying out against his shoulder trying to muffle her screams, she squeezed his shaft tighter as he pounded into her more erratically, reaching his own peak. He continued to kiss his way up and down her neck as he pushed in one final time and held himself there.
“I love you Keira,” he said, pulling back and staring into her eyes. Her breath that had only recently returned after another explosive orgasm stalled in her throat. The look he gave her, so raw and open, she could see the vulnerability and more importantly love he had for her in that moment. Heart soaring, it sped up after only just returning to a rate that was outside of the cardiac arrest range. She pulled him to her and kissed him, tasting all the sweat and musk he’d worked up that evening. Bringing her mouth to his ear, she smiled and her heart flipped.
“I love you too,” she chuckled, as he hardened against her. She pulled back and saw the feral look in his eyes. “Again?”
“Only with you,” he said, before biting her lip and slipping back inside, drawing a sigh from her.
24
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” he said, driving through the suburban neighborhood. Housing in various shades of blues and whites slid past them.
“I thought you said we were going to get something to eat.”
“We are,” he said, shooting her a mischievous grin.
“Yeah, that look on your face isn’t making me any less suspicious.”
“Trust me, you’ll love the food where we’re going.” Keira peered out the windows looking for any sign of a restaurant. He made another turn and pulled up into the driveway of a one-story house with blue siding and white shutters. He turned off the ignition and opened his door. She sat in her seat, trying to figure out what was going on. Eric came around to her side of the car and opened the door. As soon as he opened it, a lanky teenager came jogging out of the open garage and threw his arms around Eric.
“You’re here!” he said, thumping Eric on the back. Eric punched him on the shoulder and got him in a headlock. Halfway out of the car, Keira froze, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. A short woman with fiery red curls pushed open the front door, wiping her hands on a towel. Her smile was so big and wide that Keira swore she could count her pearly whites from the car.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” she called out. She walked toward them, freezing when she saw Keira. “You’re in luck. Lunch is almost ready.”
“Great, I’m starving,” Eric said, ruffling the teen’s hair.
“You brought me home to meet your family?” Keira squeaked. Slightly lightheaded, she
glanced up at him, eyes wide. What the hell? His smile faltered.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong. I mean it’s fine. A heads up would have been nice. I’m meeting your mom,” she glanced down at what she was wearing. Pulling at the hem of her shirt, she winced at the wrinkles on her skirt.
“Don’t worry, she’ll love you. Come on.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the small woman who gave her the death glare. Great, just great!
Stepping through the front door, she tried not to let the icicles shooting from Eric’s mom’s eyes burn her skin. He hugged her and her face immediately transformed into what a warm, loving mother should look like. She closed her eyes and squeezed him back, both arms tight around him. Pulling back, she gazed up at him with tears in her eyes.
“You didn’t have to send me that money, Eric,” she said, her voice catching.
“Of course I did mom. But, you can’t put it in Sean’s college fund.”
“Eric, you know I need to save for that—”
“You would, if I hadn’t already taken care of it,” he said, pulling an envelope from his back pocket and holding it out to her. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tentatively took the envelope from his hand and flipped it over. Carefully, pulling the letter out from inside, she covered her mouth and the tears she’d attempted to hold back came pouring down her cheeks.
She threw her arms around his neck again, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “How did I end up with such a great son?” she said, squeezing his cheeks.
“I’d say, it’s probably because of a great mom, Ms. Newcastle,” Keira said and immediately regretted it. Stupid, should have kept her mouth shut! Ice daggers back in full force, she moved Eric aside.
“And who is this?”
“Mom, this is Keira,” he said, stepping to her side and wrapping his arm around her shoulder. His mom, zeroed in on his hand, which squeezed her shoulder.
“Keira,” she said, trying out her name like some strange foreign food that looked like it would make you puke. “Are you one of the performers on the tour with Eric?”
“No, I’m not a musician.” His mom’s shoulders seemed to relax a scintilla. “I’m an artist. I’m working as the on-tour photographer, putting together photo books for fans to take away as keepsakes from the shows.”
“Keira’s incredibly talented. Her eye is second to none when it comes to capturing things with her camera,” he said, smiling down at her. A blush crept into her cheeks as it always did whenever someone spoke about her art in front of her.
“Hmm,” his mom said, not giving an inch. “So, you’re traveling with Eric the whole tour?”
“Yes, we’ve been together since he was on tour with Uncharted.” His mom’s eyebrow raised at the phrasing. “I mean, not together, like that, just together as in working together. But not together, like we’re together, together.” His mom glanced at his arm around her shoulder and the blush on her cheeks traveled down her neck and lit up her chest like a raspberry.
“What she means mom, is that we’ve been doing the art thing since the Uncharted tour, but us being together as an item is a more recent development. Right?” he said, glancing at her and nodding his head. Suddenly unable to speak, she could only nod back. The frown on his mom’s face threatened to crush the foundation of the house under the weight of it. She’d certainly stepped in it now.
The rest of the afternoon into evening progressed about as awkwardly as could be imagined. She tried to make polite conversation with Eric’s mom, who she’d learned the hard way was not in fact, Ms. Newcastle, but Ms. McKenna, she’d taken back her maiden name. Thanks for the heads up, Eric! Walking through his childhood home, his brother, Sean, delighted in bringing out old photos of Eric to try to embarrass him. When his brother queued up the old VHS tapes, Eric finally drew the line and banished them both to his bedroom. Instruments of various shapes and sizes, some of which she didn’t recognize lined the walls and sat on shelves. Ribbons, medals and trophies from music competitions covered all the spaces not currently occupied by an instrument.
“So, this is where the great Eric Newcastle developed his unparalleled musical skill and love of Baywatch,” she said, plopping down onto his bed and pointing up at the posters of orange bikini clad lifeguards on the ceiling. He glanced up and laughed.
“Many a night were spent getting to know one another, if you know what I mean,” he said, raising his eyebrows up and down. He wrapped his arms around her and ran his fingers through her hair. She snuggled in closer and rested her head on his chest, the rhythm of his heart calming her. Eric started humming a tune as he dropped a kiss on the top of her head. His fingers ran up and down her back, playing a slow and sensual rhythm. She peered up at him.
“Are you playing me like your guitar?” she said, grinning. He laughed.
“I guess I was. I hadn’t meant to, but we were laying here and you smell so good and felt so right in my arms that it just came to me.” He gripped her chin and tilted her head up. Pressing his lips to hers, his tongue played with the seam of her lips before she opened them to let him in. The click of his bedroom door had them both jumping up and apart like two teenagers caught making out.
“Eric—“ His mom paused inside the bedroom doorway. “I wanted to know if you two needed anything.”
“Nope, mom. We’re good. We’re going to turn in for the night. I’ll go get our bags out of the car.”
Keira crept down the stairs to the kitchen on her tiptoes, not wanting to wake anyone. Her phone charger was in her purse by the front door and her battery was sitting at 5%. As she passed by the kitchen, she heard a low, frantic voice. Peeking around the doorway, Eric’s mom was on the landline. Her voice filtered out into the hall.
“He might be your son, but you are no father to him. Do you understand me? You stay the hell away from him!” she said, her voice raising higher with each passing second.
“I don’t care what you need. I’ve told you so many times to stop calling here. What he needs is for you to stay the hell away from him.” Keira’s feet were glued to the floor as she held her breath, not wanting Eric’s mom to know she was listening. She couldn’t have moved if she’d wanted to. She was talking to Eric’s father. Eric’s father that he’d wondered about and wanted to talk to, if only to find out why he’d left. And here, his mom was talking to his dad. Had been in contact with his dad.
His mom looked up and went pale as a sheet. “Don’t call back again,” she said, hanging up the phone.
“Keira,” she said, getting to her in two steps. “What you heard..It was just…it was just…” she sputtered.
“You were just talking to Eric’s dad, who he thinks ran out on you guys and you haven’t had any contact with since that day,” she said, her blood boiling for Eric.
“Take a seat, Keira,” she said, pulling out a chair at the kitchen table. She poured Keira a cup of tea. After stirring her tea for what must have been five minutes, she sighed and looked up at Keira with tears in her eyes.
“I’ve kept him away for the boys own good. I figured it was better for the boys to think their dad just walked out on them, rather than know he was a junkie who would have made us homeless before he kicked his habit.”
“You don’t think Eric could handle it? He’s a man now. He deserves to know,” she said, unable to believe his mom had been lying to him all this time.
“That guitar he has, Vicki? I bought her back from a pawn shop when his dad sold it for drug money the night I made him leave. That was the last straw. I wasn’t going to let him destroy my boys. I wasn’t going to let him get them caught up in what he was mixed up in. He’d taken out tens of thousands of dollar’s worth of loans out on this house, I had to work the extra jobs to keep a roof over our heads. I didn’t know what else to do. I loved my husband, but I loved my kids more. I gave him the choice, get clean and he could come home. He hasn’t been back in fifteen years.”
“Eric has the right to know,” Keira said, glanci
ng up toward the stairs.
“I know. I know he does and I’ll tell him. I just don’t want to destroy what good memories he might have of his father. But I’ll do it. I’ll do it when the time is right.” Keira gave her a hard look. “I will. But I need to tell him. Please don’t say anything until I’ve told him, okay,” his mom said, squeezing her hand.
Keira ran her hands through her hair. She didn’t want to keep secrets from Eric, but it wasn’t her place to tell him. She didn’t know what his mom had gone through all these years, raising the two of them on her own with everything her husband put her through. As much as she hated to do it, she wasn’t going to tell him anything about it.
“Okay, I won’t say anything,” she said, hoping she was making the right choice.
25
The knock on the dressing room door brought him out of his pre-show ritual. Smiling, he stood and crossed the dressing room to the door. Keira always tried to give him his space before a show, but knew he might need a little special attention to keep his nerves at bay. He flung open his door and his face dropped.
“Talia, what are you doing here?” She stood in the doorway, leaning against it with one arm stretched up over her head. Her smoky eyeshadow, halter top and leather pants screamed rocker chick.
“I was in town and knew you were too, so I thought I’d drop by,” she said, pushing past him into the dressing room. He glanced out into the hallway before allowing the door to close. Talia dropped down onto the couch, spreading her arms out along the back of it.
“That’s not a good enough reason. Why are you here at my show and how did you get backstage?”
She flashed the ultimate access laminate that he’d given her months ago. “I still had this.”
