The Complete Tempest World Box Set

by Mankin, Michelle

  “It doesn’t have to be complicated. I…”

  “Sweetness, you’re wrong. Your eyes tell a different story.” I stared at his back as he moved to the sectional, snagging his boots and socks from the floor and tucking them under his arm. Then he straightened and turned to look back at me.

  I held my breath as the moment stretched out. It seemed like he was holding something back, wanting to say more, but in the end he just gave me a tight nod.

  I lifted my chin, swallowing back the rejection that burned like lava in my throat.

  Rooted to the carpet, I watched him go. He hurried out, not even pausing to put on his shoes.

  When the door clicked closed behind him, the curtain dropped on the final act of all my desires, Warren Jinkins had exited my life stage left. I reached a hand out behind me, curling my fingers around the reassuring wood of the chair back. I steadied myself before I sank down into the seat, disheartened to discover that I felt even more lonely than before I had met him. I put a forearm on the table and dropped my head on the unyielding surface, letting the tears I’d held at bay finally flow.

  After the fountain dried up, I eventually shuffled my sorry self into bed, searching for solace at least, if not sleep. I found little of either, enduring the restless hours until the dawn broke.

  In the morning my red rimmed eyes actually worked in my favor, my dad never once suspecting that they were a product of heartsickness rather than a physical malady.

  “When did you get that?” his voice cracked through the icy crust of silence during the drive to the studio.

  I lifted my forehead from where it had rested on the cold glass of the car window. There was nothing to look at anyway, just darkened deserted buildings and empty city sidewalks. At this hour no one who had any choice in the matter was up and about.

  “Get what?” I squinted across the shadowed backseat at him.

  “That.” His gaze cut to my hands.

  “Oh.” I shrugged, feigning nonchalance, and tucked the bandana in my bag. “It’s just something someone left on the set.”

  “Who? I don’t remember seeing anyone with one of those.”

  “I don’t know,” I lied. “I’ll just leave it in the prop room.” But I had no intention of giving it up. It carried the leather and vetiver scent of his cologne which I was almost certain was Spicebomb. And since I loved to torture myself, I wondered where he’d gone after he left last night, what he’d done, and who he’d done it with.

  “I’m sorry you have to do this, Shaye.” He must’ve noticed my sigh. “You’ll be able to rest up after this movie is done though.” He reached over, taking my hand. I accepted the gesture, thankful he didn’t know the true reason I was so tired. “Did your mom call to check in on you last night?”

  “No.” My brows creased. “I haven’t talked to her since she got mad about Olivia answering your cell the other day. You should’ve just explained. Told her that we were on set…”

  “No,” he interrupted, irritation lining his tone. “We’ve been married a long time. She should trust me.”

  “Yeah, I know, but you’re away from her too much, Dad. I’m getting too old to need you to be my bodyguard anymore. I can make my own decisions. Don’t you think it’s time for me to start taking care of myself?” Hurray for me. I’d finally said it.

  He patted my hand. I bristled. He was treating me like a child, dismissing me just like Warren had done.

  Why wouldn’t anyone take me seriously?

  “You think so? What about that boy you sneaked off with during Thanksgiving break?” He reminded me with a pointed chin drop.

  I felt my cheeks get warm.

  “You thought he was a nice guy.”

  He had been actually. He just hadn’t liked taking no for an answer. “He wasn’t that bad.”

  “That’s not the way I remember it. I seem to recall we had to get a restraining order on him,” he went on, digging a hole for me and burying my bid for independence in it. “And what about when I let you go up to San Francisco with Alex to try out for that Joplin role you wanted so badly. Remember how that turned out?”

  Yeah, I remembered. An independent studio was planning to produce the film, so the money wasn’t all that great, but that wasn’t the reason I had wanted the part. It could’ve been a real breakout role for me. I’d prepared for weeks and nailed the audition. Unfortunately, the director had felt like I was too big of a risk, that I was typecast. I’d been so disappointed that I’d talked Alex into taking me to get drunk afterward. My first experience with shots, with predictable results.

  “Fortunately, I was able to pay off that photographer and get rid of those unflattering pictures.” He patted my knee again. “Small steps, Shaye, baby. Maintaining your wholesome image is critical right now. I know you’re tired of playing Pinky, but there are a millions of girls who wish they were you and would switch places in an instant. Be patient. We’ll get you cameo appearances in a couple of blockbuster movies first. That Jane Austin remake looks like a really good one. The character’s similar to Pinky, but different enough to be interesting for you.”

  No it wasn’t. It was just Pinky in period costume. I was ready to sink my teeth into a juicier role.

  But I was too sleep deprived and emotionally spent to stand up to him right now. My confidence had taken a hit as well given the way I’d mishandled things with Warren. Maybe my dad had a point. Maybe I wasn’t ready to be on my own.

  My cell rang with the Jaws theme. It got progressively louder as I dug through my bag trying to find it. “Hey, Mom,” I said finally getting the thing to my ear.

  My dad shook his head disapprovingly at me, but I noticed his lips twitched slightly upward.

  “Shaina,” she greeted, sounding bright and wide awake and I knew then what was coming.

  “Your father told me you have the flu.”

  “I did, but I feel bet…”

  She cut me off. “You wouldn’t get sick if you took the vitamins I gave you.”

  “I do, Mom.” I sighed. “I…”

  “Are you eating an orange every day and sniffing the peels like I told you to? The fumes are full of antioxidants.”

  I rolled my eyes, giving up trying to get a word in, besides the only two she wanted to hear. “Yes, Mom.”

  “That’s my girl. We can’t afford for you to be sick.” A pause. I could tell she was drinking something. Probably that nasty spinach concoction she glopped down every morning. “We need you in top form for the Cassie’s Cause mini marathon and fundraiser.”

  “Yes, Mom,” I replied dully. I would need to start training for that soon. Serious training. Not just flirting with the treadmill.

  “Put your dad on the line, baby. I need to give him his flight information.”

  “What flight information?” I squinted at him. He hadn’t mentioned anything about a trip to me.

  “He’s coming down for the day,” she explained. “He has some business, but he’s going to spend the night here at the house. Don’t worry. He’ll be back up there first thing in the morning, probably before you even wake up.”

  As the chauffer turned into the underground entrance to the parking garage of the studio, I stared over at him in bemusement. Had he taken my advice to heart? He hadn’t been home once since we’d been in Seattle filming. He’d blown me off each time I’d mentioned the idea.

  The driver pulled our vehicle up to the curb beside the double glass doors. My dad ended the call, handing the cell back to me. I slid it into a pocket inside my cavernous bag hoping that would help me find it easier the next time I needed it.

  Distractedly I thanked the chauffer as he opened the door for me. Once inside the building, we took the escalator up from the basement full of movie props and stepped out into an open area reminiscent of a large warehouse but divided into smaller subset vignettes from the movie. The director and main camera crew were loitering, steaming cups of coffee in hand. Apparently, it’s possible to be fashionably late even at fiv
e a.m.

  “Shaina.” I turned and watched Alex approach, already in costume from our kissing scene the previous day.

  I offered him a wan smile.

  “Olivia’s waiting for you.” He reached for my hand and pulled me in the direction of the dressing room, casting concerned glances at me along the way. “What’s wrong?” he whispered. “What happened after I left last night?” He started hammering me with questions the moment we were out of hearing range of my father. “Every time I touched you, War looked like he wanted to pummel me.” He gave me a saucy wink. “And I’m thinking that he had a different kind of pounding in mind for you.”

  I shook my head, knowing nothing could be further from the truth. I was feeling too sorry for myself to give him more of a response than that. Not that Alex could’ve even guessed how badly things had turned out.

  He stared at me, his brows high in apparent disbelief.

  I think my bestie had a skewed view regarding my sex appeal. “Nothing happened. Not a damned thing.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  War

  “Warren.”

  “Ugh.” My brain felt like someone had used a full bottle of Maker’s Mark to tenderize it, which in a way was kind of the truth. Sitting up only made things worse, and ’cause life wasn’t done pissing on me, I ended up busting both elbows at the same time, one on the wood backing of the booth and the other on the edge of the formica top.

  “Motherfucker!” My shout bounced off the walls of Footit’s, the Southside bar that was practically my second home growing up. I took a bleary eyed glance around me. The place was completely silent and as cold as a tomb. The neon signs were off, the chairs turned upside down on tabletops.

  Totally dead.

  “Here, take these.” Addy Footit, the proprietor, her blond hair pulled back in a sloppy bun, a sympathetic smile spread across her face, offered me a bottle of aspirin along with a glass of water. She must have let me sleep the night in the bar after I passed out.

  “You think no one cares if you jump off that bridge, but you’re wrong.”

  Shaina’s words ricocheted around in my mind like a chastisement. Maybe she was right, though I didn’t want to admit it. Addy had a soft spot for me. All of Tempest, really. We’d played our first gig right here in Footit’s, and even put a dedication to her in the liner notes of our first album.

  I shook out a few pills and knocked them back, draining the glass of tepid water. Then I laid my head back on the table, trying to regain equilibrium, willing the room to stop spinning.

  “Missing her, are you?”

  For a minute, I thought she was talking about Shaina. Thoughts about that pink seductress bombed my mind again just as relentlessly as they had last night, weakening my resolve to stay away from her. How good she had looked on my lap. How great she smelled. The taste of her lips. How close I had come to taking her…

  “I miss her too, baby.” I felt her settle into the booth beside me. “Did you know she used to come in here every Friday after her shift?” she asked softly.

  Oh, yeah. My dearly departed mom. I raised my head back up to meet her searching gaze.

  “She was really proud of you. She talked about you all the time to anyone who’d listen.”

  “Funny she never mentioned that to me,” I replied acidly.

  She offered an empathetic look. “I knew her a long time, Warren. Even before you were born.” She tilted her head to the side. “She ever tell you that we used to wait tables together at Shannigans?”

  I blinked slowly as I absorbed that particular tidbit of information.

  “That’s where she met your father.”

  “She was always good at keeping secrets from me,” I bit out through a clenched jaw that had more to do with what we were discussing than my headache. “Especially when it came to my old man.”

  “I wish you could have known her back then. She was a sweet girl before he was through with her.” My mind registered the silent plea in her warm eyes, but my heart resisted it. “Sometime people lose their way after getting hurt the way she did. I don’t think she ever really found her way back.

  I huffed skeptically.

  “Don’t be so hard on her, Warren. Or yourself either.” Her fingers curled gently around my fisted hand. “I know there was some distance between you. But don’t ever doubt that she loved you. Because I know that she did. In her own way. The best that she could.”

  • • •

  I thought I’d be done with her when the coffin was finally in the ground, but the emptiness I felt inside just wouldn’t go away. I ran a hand over my stiff neck, my stomach was even tighter. I hadn’t bothered to put anything in it besides the water and aspirin at Footit’s earlier.

  I stared at the freshly tilled mound of dirt in front of me until it blurred, thinking back to the service.

  It’d surprised me a little how many people had actually showed up. Apparently my old lady had mellowed and let a few people in over the past two years since I’d been on the road. She hadn’t ever tried to mend things with me, or maybe she had, but I’d just been too absorbed in my own messed up shit to pay attention.

  My fingers curled into fists, the anger that was now so quick to flash to the surface hitting a crescendo. But this time, it was a little different. This time some of anger was self-directed.

  I’d lived my whole life by her example, behind the same type of emotional barrier that always from as far back as I could remember had separated the two of us.

  One time I’d fallen off my skateboard and skinned myself up pretty good. Instead of tenderness, she’d made me clean and bandage my own wounds. I was six fuckin’ years old at the time.

  She always knew how badly I wanted information about my father, but she would never tell me a damn thing. When I did finally confront the bastard, I ended up in juvie for stealing and wrecking his car. Did she visit me once the whole time?

  Hell, no.

  And when she found out that I was having sex, there was no heart to heart. She just shrugged, told me to use protection, and warned me not to get too emotionally involved with anyone. I’ll admit the latter was good advice, because the only time I broke the rule was with Lace, and she’d ended up breaking me.

  Right now, here behind my wall was a pretty fuckin’ lonely place to be.

  I unfurled a clenched fist to rake it through my hair, a couple of strands catching on my rings and pulling, but I didn’t mind the pain. It was superficial and temporary, controllable. Unlike this emotional crap that churned my gut and clenched my chest.

  I turned my attention to the small headstone I’d selected, resting under the base of a hundred year old tree. I’d paid extra to have her here in this shaded location. I’m not really sure why.

  The leaves behind me crunched underneath approaching strides. The strong smell of cigarettes hit me, and ice water immediately flooded my veins. I’d been wondering when he’d show up. I’d seen his mom sitting near the back during the service, but even though I’d been expecting it, I still wasn’t ready to do this shit with him. I certainly didn’t want to have this confrontation right here, right now, feeling as God awful wretched as I did.

  I craned my neck around, catching the sympathy shining in his eyes, but I rejected it. I didn’t want or need his pity.

  “War,” he stated.

  “Bryan,” I answered like a warning, my expression unyielding.

  “Listen, brother…”

  “Don’t fuckin’ start with me right now, asshole. Can’t you see I just buried my old lady? Give me a fuckin’ break. You know I don’t want you here.” My voice was gruff, stretched to the breaking point by the effort it’d taken to walk through this day.

  “Just hear me out.” He took a step closer and I turned on the one who’d betrayed me, who I’d trusted but who’d taken everything from me. Who had everything that I’d let slip through my fingers.

  Dusting dirt off my palms, I wished it could be that easy to rid myself of the pain he had ca
used me. I straightened, drawing myself up to my full height. I had an inch on him, and there was no way in hell, I wasn’t bringing that into play right now. “There’s nothing to say that hasn’t already been said.”

  “I disagree. We’ve been friends too long to let this shit go on. Especially after this. Let’s mend this right now.”

  I barked a laugh. “Says the one who bangs my woman the minute my back is turned.”

  A shadow crossed his face. “You know there was a lot more to it than that. I stepped aside for years and gave you your shot with her.” He pulled in and then let out a long weary breath. “But I didn’t come here to rehash everything. I’m here ’cause whether or not you acknowledge it, I’m still your friend.” His voice lowered, almost imploring. “I’ve got Lace in the car. Come see her, man. She’s really worried about you.”

  “Bullshit.” I rolled my eyes at the irony, staring blankly at the tangle of branches above my head.

  “Don’t be like this, War. We both care about you. If you’d just give it a chance, I think we could find a way to make things work.”

  “How’s it gonna be, huh? We gonna take turns with her like we did with the groupies on tour?”

  His eyes turned positively glacial. “Not doing this with you, War.”

  “Good. We agree on one thing at least.” My voice went deathly low. “You knew she was the one, Bryan. I told you that from the very start.”

  “And I trusted her with you, Warren,” he returned. “She almost died because of the shit the two of you were doing while she was on your watch.”

  I snorted. “So you’re the fuckin’ knight in shining armor? You keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night.”

  “Dammit, War. Don’t you feel any remorse about what happened?”