Haunted (30 page)

“You’re too kind, chère. I could do that all day, every day. You look so amazing when you come. Your face relaxes and you have a glow about you. It’s awesome.”

I cringed and hid my face against his shoulder.

“No fair. I want to see you.” He shivered.

“You will, no hurry. We have all the time in the world to explore each other and believe me, I intend to thoroughly explore you.”

We kissed some more until my stomach started growling.

“We better take care of that,” he said, leaning down to kiss my belly. “Plus, if Star isn’t back there’ll be no one else to get breakfast for my fellow cavemen and I think by now they’ve forgotten how to pour cereal. Let me get dressed and I’ll help you.”

I pouted at him. “What about taking care of you? This is two mornings in a row I’ve left you in an uncomfortable position.”

He smiled that devastating smile at me. “I feel perfectly fine. A little tension just makes it a sweeter release.” He winked, crawled off me, and slayed me with his naked walk to the bathroom.

“Goddess of creation that is the most perfect ass on the planet.”

I blew up my bangs, thankful he didn’t see, but he must have heard me because I heard him chuckling in the bathroom. Voices through the wall let me know he had gone next door to grab some clothes. I hoped he grabbed a towel because that ass was sure to set Sherry to panting. How could it not? And he wanted me. That thought and the delicious pulses still moving through my womb had me feeling more complete than I think I ever had.

When he returned, he found me stretching languorously on the bed. He stopped with his hands on his hips and smiled, pulling at his soul patch. “Enough of that, beautiful. Time to get up. Why don’t you meet me downstairs? I’ll help you get breakfast going and then I’m going to workout.” He had another pair of basketball shorts on and still shirtless.

“You go on ahead and workout. It won’t take me but a few minutes to get breakfast going. Besides, I don’t think I could concentrate with you in the kitchen.” I winked at him and he smiled back before heading out the door.

After a quick wash up, I threw on sweats and a matching short tank. I piled my hair up and jogged downstairs. Breakfast was going to consist of some hastily thrown together omelets. There were diced tomatoes and onions already in the cold storage so I put all the fixings out and as the guys came in, I made them omelets to order one at a time. Mage started the coffee for me, and Jade poured juice for everyone.

“Hey, where’s Star?”  

I giggled. “He walked Mackenzie home last night. Guess he must have gotten lost.”

He walked in at that moment. “Very funny, Jaylene.”

He came over and kissed me on the cheek. He and I probably had the same goofy smiles on our faces. It was a good thing the others were still sleepy or we would have been in for a world of shit.

“Thanks for getting breakfast ready. Mind if I go clean up?”  

I shook my head. “No worries, I got this. You go on upstairs.”

He looked relieved. “Thanks, Jay.”

Marcus came in shirtless next and as he passed me to get to the coffee machine I noticed scratch marks all down his back. I didn’t breathe a word, but I was worried that Devon wasn't wearing a shirt this morning. I hoped no one would get an eyeful of my vampiric tendencies.

“Practice in a half hour guys?” The others grunted. “We’ve got a lot to do. I’ve got some new stuff and so does Devon so we’ll be at it most of the day.” Then he turned to me.

“Jaylene, maybe we can talk some more tonight and finalize ideas for the tattoos? I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m itching to get this thing done, get some new ink.”

I grinned. “And I better get started tattooing you guys or I might get rusty. Wouldn’t want me making any mistakes, right Jade?”

“Huh? Oh, right! She’s really scary with the razor too.” He winked at me and I couldn’t help but reach over and give him a big kiss on the cheek, which made him blush.

“Yeah, you need to get started tattooing so we can finish up here and get back to L.A. Now that we’ve got some material, we need to get into the studio and start moving.”

My heart dropped a notch at that statement. L.A.? Did Devon know or was Marcus just making decisions for them all.

“Sure. And remember I have to go back to my shop Saturday. I have out of town clients coming in. Sherry said you guys were fine with it.”

He nodded. “Of course. Take the day off. Maybe the rest of us can do the same if we get enough done. Hell, maybe we’ll be able to take the weekend off.” He smiled at me and left the kitchen as a sweaty Devon came in.

“Hey you, how do you like your omelet?”  

He kissed the top of my head and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. The rest of the guys left the kitchen on their way to work out or get showered.

“However you like. Oh, hold the onions though.”

He downed the contents of the water bottle and was leaning in the fridge looking for the orange juice. Damn. His ass looked just as nice covered up in shorts. Ok, not quite. But it had the same effect. I cleared my throat and fanned myself.

“Coming right up.” I got to work on his omelet and flipped it onto a plate for him.

He took it with a smile and kissed me on the cheek. “Thank you, chère.”

I gathered he didn’t just mean for the omelet.

“No, thank you.” I winked at him and started putting things away. “It’s my turn for some yoga and then I need to get cleaned up for the day. I want to have some drawings for you guys to look at tonight.”

His eyes travelled my body. He took another drink of his juice. “Yoga?” His voice was barely more than a squeak.

I nodded and bounced out of the room. “See you later.”

I heard him groan as I left the room

Back in my room, I put on some slow music and tried to relax. I’d been so off my routine this past week that my body was starting to feel off as well. A little yoga would get me back on track. And there were some new muscles I had discovered recently that needed some attention after the attention they had received. Sigh.

After I was thoroughly stretched out, I showered and dressed in a tank and shorts. I braided my wet hair and let it hang. I could hear the guys downstairs playing their hearts out, but I was enjoying the peace of my room. It was very sunny outside so I sat at the drawing table and utilized the natural light to draw out some ideas for their tattoos.

I used the basis of Maggie’s tattoo and added some details. Some of the feathers were falling from the wings. There was a skull at the base of the fleur de lis. I also did another drawing, this one of the Weeping Angel monument. Nah, that wasn’t right for them. I put that one aside. I did my own take on the monument. Instead of an angel, it was a beautiful woman leaning over the tomb with black wings and she was looking up with a tear falling from her eye. Skulls lined the bottom of the tomb. None of these seemed right for Maggie though. Cool, but not Maggie. I needed some ideas from them.

I texted Mackenzie to see that she was ok.

More than ok, baby doll. Had a great night. Hope you did too. Can’t wait to have you back Saturday, even if only for a day. Karen called and confirmed and so did Jonathan. They’ll be here. TTFN. Gotta go pierce some guy’s dick.

She always ended on a shocking note. That was my Kenz. I debated whether I should tell her that my ‘dare’ paid off. Figured it would make her day.

Thanks, Kenz. BTW, the girls made their debut appearance to rave reviews.

It only took a few seconds for her to hit back:

YESSSS! ! ! Bout fucking time! Enjoy them. I do!

Oh, I did enjoy them. I was starting to quiver just thinking about him touching me again. Which had me thinking. I made another call, this one to my doctor. With things progressing as they were, it made sense to take precautions. She agreed to call in a prescription to the pharmacy across the street. I’d pick them up Saturday before heading to the shop. She explained it would take a cycle before I was protected so I wanted to get started as soon as possible.

Of course, if Devon was leaving soon to go back to L.A… Nope, not going to think about it. If he does, hopefully he’ll come back. I had to believe him when he said he wanted to be with me. Although no time frame had been mentioned. Whatever. Not thinking about it.

I decided to get some air and check on things downstairs. As I descended the steps, they were playing a slower song and the lyrics Marcus was singing, well, breathing into the mic, were pretty intense.

One kiss from you and I’m no longer a boy

You taught this boy just how to be a man

And this man wants to show you just how good

A man you’ve helped him to become

But it wasn’t Marcus. It was Star! He was singing in a breathy voice, one higher than Marcus’, way higher than Devon’s. I sat on the steps and listened to him sing, smiling wide.

I wallowed so long in a world of pain

I fought the bottle but it was all in vain

I never thought I’d be worth anything

Then you taught me what love could bring

You made me see there was a light

Just one kiss and all the strife

Was gone and now I’m ready to fight

You showed me there was more to life

Tears were streaming down my face. So this is what he must have been scribbling down the past couple of days. They finished the song and the guys all congratulated him.

Devon hugged him. “I knew it would be beautiful man, that was great.”

“So you’re not mad I kissed your sister?”  

Devon socked him in the arm. “Nah, as long as you kept your filthy paws to yourself, dick.”

They threw a couple more fake punches at each other and then Mage and Jade were hugging him.

“I like it Star. I think I can make that work. How bout we add in a little more crunch to the guitars on that one part and speed it up a notch.”

Star shrugged, then nodded.

“Whatever you think, man. I’m just glad I got it off my chest.”

“Me, too,” I said, walking towards him.

His eyes were glassy as he reached for me and I hugged him tight. When he didn’t let go for a minute I pulled back. His eyes were full of tears.

“You want to take a walk?” He nodded and I led him out back calling over my shoulder, “We’ll be right back.”

I heard Devon yell, “Take your time, chère.”

I kept my hand on his back until we got out the back door and led him over to my bench. I sat next to him and he pulled me to him and started sobbing. I held him and rubbed his back for several long minutes until he was able to breathe normal again.

“Better,” I asked him.

He nodded. He wiped his face with the inside of his shirt. “Much, thanks. I started writing the other day when I found that picture. Man, that night was so great. It was just the first of many times that Maggie was there for me. Did I tell you she bailed me out of jail a few times?”  

I shook my head and he laughed.

“Yeah. Once for fighting at a bar, once for a DUI...Once after I beat the shit out of my dad for beating the shit out of my mom. She saw me at my worst, no doubt. But that night at the dance, man. She and I danced. We talked and laughed. Then afterwards when we had all gone out to the restaurant after it closed, she asked me if I’d ever kissed a girl. I told her not really, not a real kiss. She turned to face me, she was as tall as me with her heels on, and she said, ‘Star, I’m going to make sure you do it right.’ And she planted one on me! I was in shock. She showed me how to kiss like girls like to be kissed and she told me I better not ever treat a girl bad. She even told me that if I learned to be a good kisser and a good lover, I would find a perfect woman for me and get away from all the drama that was my parents. She talked to me about not being jealous and possessive...” He frowned and looked teary again. “It’s too bad she didn’t take her own advice about that.”

“Did she ever talk to you about her husband?”  

He shook his head. “No. I confronted her once and she just kissed my cheek and said, ‘Babe, I got this. Don’t I always got this?’ But she didn’t. One night at a bar I saw them, but she didn’t see me. They were arguing because she’d gone out with some girls from work and they’d run into one of the bands she’d signed. The guys were buying her shots when Thomas showed up. He got pissed. He dragged her outside by her arm and I followed to make sure she was ok. He yelled at her, she took it, and then he started crying and she hugged him. Then they went home. That was it. I told Devon I was worried and he was, too, but she wouldn’t listen to us. She wouldn’t even listen to Mr. Daryl.” His breathing was shaky and I took his hand in mine. He smiled down at our hands.

“I miss her, but talking to you helps a lot. You’re different than her, though. There’s a peace around you that she never had. Her energy was wild and crazy. Yours is more comfort and peace.” He smiled at me. His eyes were red from crying and his cheeks were blotchy. “I can’t thank you enough, Jaylene. For me, for Devon, for all of us.”

I hugged him again and he kissed me on the cheek. “You’re welcome, Star. I’m just glad I can be here. I’m glad I got to hear you sing your song, too. It was beautiful. Maggie would have been honored that you felt that way about her.”

He smiled a little too wickedly. “She was a helluva teacher. Devon was so pissed when he found out. I thought he was going to beat me up and like I told you before, Devon didn’t fight. He wasn’t like that. But that night he was beyond pissed.” He laughed and stood up. I stood with him and squeezed his hand.

“So I’m guessing last night went ok?”  

He turned to me and sighed.

“I feel like a total kid with a crush. I fucking love her, Jaylene. I mean it. I love being with her and talking to her. I told her everything, you know, about rehab and shit and she didn’t freak out. She’s great.” He literally had stars in his eyes.

“I’m glad, but be careful. I love her too, but she’s finicky. It takes patience and tolerance to be a part of her life. Just be careful with your heart, ok? I don’t want to see either of you get hurt.”