" Yea h, dude?"
"Desperately want to change the rules," Shane whispered.
"I don't blame you one damn bit. But, Shane, if you hurt her, we'll kill you."
Shane touched his lips to the back of my shoulder right over the tattoo of my broken angel's wing and gently kissed me. "Then I'll be living forever."
"Um, you guys know I'm still right here right? All this bromantic talk is making me think I should leave the room and let the both of you sleep on the bed."
Shane's shoulders shook from his laughter, "Shut up and go to slee p, Grace."
Another six of my favorite words ever.
When Alex's breaths evened out and Tucker stumbled back into the room and continued with his snoring, Shane softly pulled back my hair behind my ear. He leaned up on his elbow behind me and spoke right into my ear, "Grace?"
"Yeah?"
"What did you do with Tucker?"
"He just kissed me in his car." I rolled over onto my back and looked directly into his eyes in the dark, ice-cold blue. Was that what he was upset about before? "He tried to do more, but I didn't want to. I don't like him like that."
"No more."
It wasn't a question; it was a statement. "No more what?"
"No more kissing anyone but me."
My heart thudded wildly. My butterflies were singing choruses of halleluiah.
I wanted to tell him I didn't have much time left. I wanted to tell him I was so broken that I could never be fixed. I wanted to tell him to run from me and Gabriel and all the evil things I had seen in my life. But I couldn't. I ran from Shane once, I wasn't running away again. My rules now. Even if a had only a few moments left here and I couldn't win against Gabriel, I was going to make every single moment with Shane count. All I wanted was him.
I brushed my lips over his, my heart pounding hard. "No more," I whispered and cuddled into his strong arms. I inhaled deeply, breathing in Shane's scent, and drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 29
The afternoon sun shined through the open curtains splashing light against my eyes. A steady strong heartbeat thudded musically right under my cheek. My body draped across Shane's chest and our legs were tangled together under the covers. My hand lay over the firm muscles that stretched themselves along his stomach, my fingertips reveling in the smoothness and heat of his skin.
A slow sweet burn washed itself gently over my flesh as I slowly ran my hand along the dips and valleys of his skin.
Shane shifted his head, burrowed his face into my hair, and breathed in deeply letting out a slow deep moan. The pounding heartbeat in his chest quickened and a sharp thrill ran up my spine.
His lips brushed along my shoulder as he slid himself over me, moving his body so softly and perfectly so that the hard muscles of his thigh glided teasingly against the V -shape of my pajama bottoms.
Running his lips along my neck and jaw, his hot breaths sent rolls of heat through my insides. Slowly, so very slowly, he trailed his fingertips down my cheeks and neck, hovering his lips just above mine, "I can wake up to this perfection every morning for the rest of my life, Grace."
He placed his palms down on the bed on either side of my face and traced his tongue along my lower lip, then took it gently in between his teeth and nipped at it.
"With a few exceptions," I whispered into his lips.
"Like?"
"A hell of a lot less clothing."
"Grace..." he growled low, shifting to hold himself up on one elbow. He pulled my knee up to wrap my leg around him and slid his hands back down slowly to my outer thighs. He skimmed his fingers beneath my shirt caressing my side and kissed me long, deep and hard. What started out as a slow tender graze of his lips turned into a frenzied desperate kiss. I ran my fingers through his silky dark hair and pulled him in deeper, wanting so much more.
"God it tastes like someone shit in my mouth last night," Tucker moaned from the floor.
Shane and I pulled our lips apart, breathing heavily against each other. "Oh God," he moaned. "Why are they still in here?"
Laughing, and a bit dizzy, I pulled back the covers and sat up, swinging my feet over the edge and dangled them.
Alex's disheveled black hair stuck up adoringly all over his head as he pulled himself off the floor. "If I don't get coffee in me soon, I might kill someone," he croaked. "And Tuck, you taste like that because you're such a fucking asshole."
Tucker bolted up next to him, "Where the fuck am I?" He scanned the room and his eyes widened when he noticed me, then almost popped fully out of their sockets when he noticed Shane. "I slept on the fucking floor in Grace's room? And that douchebag slept in her bed?"
Shane growled and moved to get closer to Tucker but I held my hand out to stop him, "Whoa. Stop. Alex? Shane? Please go make coffee; I need to speak to Tucker alone. Again."
Shane's narrowed eyes snapped to mine and Tucker gave him a smug look. Alex laughed and walked to Shane patting him on the back, "Let's go dude," he said.
Shane walked out of the room with his eyes still narrowed on mine. Like I was going to jump on Tucker, Psf.
Tucker slowly got up, massaging his temples, and attempted to sit down on my bed, but I stopped him before he could.
" O h, hell no." I said. "Do not make yourself comfortable on my bed, Tucker. I wanted to talk to you privately so you could save face in front of your friends, but I'm not going to be nice to you right now. I made myself perfectly clear many times to you that there will be nothing between us, that there is nothing between us. So, I would appreciate it if you stayed out of my bedroom and stop talking your bullshit about us."
"But I thought that maybe...When could I have fucked up so badly?"
"You open your mouth, Tucker, and naturally pops out complete fucked- u pped ness . I told you I wasn't interested."
"But you're interested in Shane, right? You'll fuck him Grace and then he'll jump on the next chick like you were nothing, then what?" He sneered.
"And you would be different how?" I asked blatantly.
"I would never fucking hurt yo u, Grace, not like Shane would."
"Tucker, enough. It's none of your business what or who I sleep with. Hel l, Tucker, I'm not even sleeping with anybody. Get off my back and leave me the hell alone. I don't have enough time left to play your stupid games. And if I ever come home and find you sleeping in my bedroom again, I will kick your ass so hard, they'll have to turn you right side out again." I stormed out of the room flustered. I couldn't even believe I said out loud I didn't have enough time left, and I couldn't believe I said it out loud in front of Tucker. But, this was Tucker and he probably hadn't heard anything I just said anyway.
I thundered down the hallway and into the kitchen where everyone was sitting around the table sipping coffee. I grabbed a mug and picked up an empty coffee pot, glaring at everyone around the table. "Who would do such a thing?" Everyone laughe d, thinking I was being funny. Obviousl y, they knew nothing about my caffeine addiction, jerks. I made more coffee and complained the whole time.
Tucker sauntered into the kitchen and grabbed a mug, "Oh, Grace," he winked. "Thanks for making coffee for me." Then he hip bumped me again.
Shane shot up out of his seat and our eyes met across the room. "Well, Tucker," I snapped. "I was thinking that the only way you'd ever get me to go anywhere near your crotch is if I made a whole damn pot of coffee and poured it there. So, uh, yeah I'm making this coffee just for you."
Tucker pursed his lips together, "Wow. You have a real mean streak."
"Oh, you have no idea," I said.
"Anywho," Tucker smiled. "Has anyone been in touch today with Vixen4 to see if they got the cleaning service in yet? You guys have a gig tonight and I want to make sure I can take someone home if Shane, Alex and I score some bedbugs tonight." He looked at me and smiled. I should really introduce that freak to Gabriel; they would be awesome evil villains together; Devil Man and Douche Boy. Able to creep a girl out in .5 seconds flat, and kiss them into complete
boredom so they want to jump off the tallest building in a single bound...I could just picture Tucker in tights and a cape trying to strut his stuff.
Rolling my eyes, I walked into the living room and flicked on the remote to the television searching through channels. Shane sat on the coffee table in front of me a few minutes later.
"I have to go home and see if everything is okay there, take a shower and stuff for the show. But I really want to talk to you...about last night. And us." His face was pained and serious and it made my heart crash itself against my chest in sharp distressful pangs.
Okay, so that's FREAKING ME OUT!
"Conner is staying here with Lea, so you'll be safe, okay? But I really want to talk to you sometime before the show tonight."
All I could do was nod my head.
Holy crap! This human relationship nonsense was way too emotional and intense for me, how the heck do people keep doing this?
Alex, Brayden, Tucker and Ethan walked in, grabbed their coats and stood in front of Shane waiting for him to move. Shane looked confused, like he wanted to kiss me but not in front of everyone. Then he walked out the front door and just gave me a backwards wave, "Later."
That burned.
I looked at the clock on the wall. It was three o'clock in the afternoon and I had another four hours before the show. I walked back into the kitchen with my empty coffee cup and refilled, eyeing Lea.
Conner understood my look and announced he would be spending the rest of the day, until we had to leave, watching television. "Go do your girly primping stuff." He whistled as he walked away.
"Please don't tell me that you were cock blocked by Alex and Tucker last night," she pleaded walking me into her bedroom.
"Well, then I'd be lying." I ran my hands through my tangled hair. "I don't even want to think about last night. All I want to do is take a long hot bath and get ready for tonight's show, and I don't want to have Gabriel show up when I do any of that."
"You know what; you should really tell Shane everything. The truth about Gabriel and about where you come from and find out whose soul is in him now, I don't think he'll freak out as much as you think he would. Then he could be the one to watch you in the bathtub and not me," she laughed. "Come on, let me grab my laptop and I'll sit on the floor in the hallway with the bathroom door open and try to give you some privacy."
I soaked in a scalding hot bath for an hour then stayed in the hallway while Lea took a long bath. We painted our nails and tousled our hair wildly. She laid out an outfit for me on my dresser, a pair of extremely low hip hugging jeans and a low cut shirt that clung to my body like paint so that my nipples could be seen piercing through the material ready to poke men's eyes out. I felt all sorts of hot and desperately wondered if Shane would like to see the silky material thrown onto the floor of his bedroom...We put on our makeup while still wearing our robes, until we had an hour left before we had to leave, then Conner called for Lea to come into the bedroom with him. The guilt I felt when she said no, hit me right in the chest and I waved her off to go spend time with Conner. "Just bash through my door when it's time to leave," I smiled.
Of course, Gabriel was sitting on my bed when I walked in. "Grace."
I stood in the doorway and my anger boiled deep and violent in my veins. "Leave."
Gabriel stood and his perfectly sculptured angelic form moved towards me, "I love watching you when you come fresh from the bath Grace. So soft and pure; ethereal."
I hugged my robe tighter around myself, feeling completely naked in front of him.
"Grace. You know I will never stop until I get what I want."
I smiled at him, "Me neithe r, Gabriel, me neither."
Lea and Conner came smashing through the door screaming. Conner gave Lea a 'told you everything was fine' look and folded his hands across his chest. "Grace, what is wrong with you. We've been knocking on the door for ten minutes and you're not even dressed yet!"
I nodded my head, "Oh, sorry I uh, just took my ear buds out. Lea, can you stay while I get dressed? I'll be right ou t, Conner, I promise."
Conner shook his head and closed the door behind him.
"WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?" Lea yelled.
I could hear Gabriel's low chuckled thunder in my ears, "She really is quite a precious sou l, Grace. I would hate to take her from you."
I swallowed the lump in my throat and suddenly felt the dread of his plans fill me to almost drowning. "I need more time her e, Gabriel, please."
"I love to hear you beg, Grace," he whispered back.
Chapter 30
I walked to Boozer's on shaking legs. Gabriel was going to hurt Lea, that I had no doubt in my mind. I had to get far away from here; I couldn't let anything bad happen to her.
I wracked my brain trying to figure out what to do, I was so obsessed and consumed with my thoughts that I hadn't realized we even entered Boozer's until I noticed Shane. He was so painstakingly gorgeous my breath caught. Tilting his head in my direction like he could feel my eyes on him, he stilled. So perfect, like a god among men. I would remember him like this always.
When Shane took one look at my expression, he ran to me and grabbed my shoulders, looking wildly into my eyes, "Grace, what's wrong? What happened?"
I looked at him deadpan and my heart deflated, "After the sho w, I'm going to have to leave for a while, Shane." I opened my mouth to say more but the words wouldn't come. I love yo u, Shane. I love Lea. And I wasn't letting Gabriel hurt either of you. I was leaving, running until I found a safe plan. I was giving myself one more night to sing and play guitar with him.
"Is this about Gabriel? Did something happen? Or is this about me, Grace?"
Ethan walked over to us and lightly drummed his sticks on my shoulders, "Hey, you okay? We have five minutes to get to the stage, why you so late?"
Alex and Brayden pulled us to the stage, Ethan and Shane eyed me frantically.
"I'm fine, I just need a drink," I lied. Not about the drink part though, that I really needed.
Ethan jumped to grab our shots that were waiting on one of the speakers. I yanked off my jacket and Shane sucked in a breath when he got a look at my outfit. I should have been all sorts of happy. And I would have been if I didn't have the thought of Gabriel, center stage, in my mind.
Alex plugged my guitar in and Shane pulled me to the side behind the speakers. Ethan watched us carefully from behind his drum kit. I watched Ryan hop onto the stage to introduce us then I noticed how packed Boozer's was. I had never seen it like that before. It made my heart swell and then it made tears well in my eyes. I didn't want to leave any of this. I loved this life.
"Babe, you need to tell me right now what's going on."
He called me babe. Damn yo u, Gabriel!
"Are you in trouble? Is this about Gabriel?" His tone was low and angry. He stalked closer towards me, "What the fuck is going on!" With his tall muscular build, tattoos and face twisted in anger he looked so fierce I cringed.
"Shane, just sing with me, okay? Just play that guitar of yours by my side tonight, the way that only you can." I pleaded.
He tried to say more but he was drowned out by the sounds of the crowd chanting our name. I pulled Shane out in front of the audience and the sound was deafening; it thundered and vibrated the stage under our feet. I pushed Gabriel out of my mind, turned towards Shane and stared into the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen since the beginning of time.
I gave him a slow sexy smile and his eyes warmed and his muscles loosened, and I swear I fell in love with him all over again.
Haunting, savage, aching notes danced through his fingers and our first song silenced the crowd immediately . His powerful lamenting soul spread itself through the melody and I matched his sorrow with my rhythm, mingling our harmony into a turbulent ballad.
We tore through all of Mad World's songs. Dark, epic, fast, raw and emotional. We played like it was our last night making music together, and maybe it was. How could I stay, knowing that al
l the people I love would be hurt? I couldn't.
A magnificent array of sounds and emotions resonated through the bar. It reverberated through our bodies and danced its shadows all over the walls.
Shane's dazzling eyes never disconnected from me. The entire set, he watched me, sang to me, played for me, and listened as I played back. The audience wasn't there. They had disappeared with the sound of his first chords. All I saw was him. All I heard was him. And all I thought was how I never wanted to say to goodbye.
By our third song, we played with our backs touching one another. The intense and electric charges between both of our quivering guitars took over and spiraled into something tangible. I sang, sliding my body around his like I was his skin. We needed to touch each other through every riff, the heat and fire between us was consuming.
As our set finished, the last note succumbing to its silent end, Shane gently tipped my chin up making me look into his eyes. For that brief moment time stopped and it was like seeing heaven. The crowd seemed to hold their breaths in silence, waiting with heavy anticipation for what was yet to come.
He let his guitar swing behind him and cupped my face with his hand. "I love yo u, Grace Taylor." It barely came out above a whisper from his lips but it echoed through the microphone. And then he kissed me. In front of everyone, he kissed me. A slow, deep kiss that sent heat from my lips to every other surface of my skin, and completely and utterly set me on fire.
The crowd roared to life, erupting into an explosion of screams. Ethan's voice boomed into the microphone, " Go d, Grace, were you the only one who didn't know?"
Shane laughed at Ethan, still cupping my face. I was paralyzed; frozen with the fear of Gabriel hurting this man, this man that I love and who just told everyone else he felt the same way for me.
I tore the microphone off my body and tried to smile at him, but I could tell he sensed my panic. "I, um, need a drink." I placed the palm of my hand on his cheek and one tear fell from my eye. "Shane Maxton, I love you more than I ever loved another human being." I leapt off the edge of the stage and walked to the bar where Ryan had a bottle waiting for me. The crowd screamed and hooted, but when I finished my first shot, the silence was deafening.
Saving Grace Page 20
