In Your Honor (19 page)

Damn it. Luke looked down at the floor and
frowned hard. “You're right.” He raised his eyes back to hers in
time to see her soften her expression. “Honestly, it wouldn't have
been that big of a deal except that I saw Blake with her after the
open mic thing.”

Lenny swallowed and nodded in agreement. “I
saw it too.” She took a step towards him, a question on her face.
“What if this is how it has to happen?”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
What if protecting Blake
is only holding him back? What if he needs to face the reality of
his choices?”

“
Make him witness losing
Lucy forever?” Luke felt sick at the thought. He couldn't imagine
having to watch Lenny with someone else.

“
Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe
you shouldn't try parenting him anymore. He's a grown
man.”

Luke sniffed. “Old habit.”

Lenny reached out and touched his arm. “I
know. That's because you're a good guy. Your loyalty to your
friends is one of the first things I fell in love with.”

He reached out and pulled
her to him, pressing her body to his and burying his face in her
hair, unable to stand the space that had separated them a moment
ago. “I don't know what I'd do without you.”

Lucy chewed on the inside of her cheek
and she saw Luke narrow his eyes at her movement. She stopped and
instead tapped her leg with her index finger repeatedly. She had
picked up the cheek-chewing thing from Lenny when she had tried to
kick her own nervous habit of playing with her
bracelets.

“
We're only talking about
five songs. It'll be over before you know it,” Taylor was trying to
persuade her. He really didn't get it.

She still couldn't figure out why they
thought this was the best idea they could come up with. They could
just as well have Chad go out there and do a strip-tease and it
would be just as entertaining. Maybe more so.

“
Look, Lucy,” Mike began.
He had stayed out of the discussion for the most part until this
moment. Now, he leaned forward from his seat on the chair across
from her. “Obviously we can't make you. And that's not what this is
supposed to feel like. You've got an enormous talent. We have a
platform. Most performers jump at an opportunity like
this.”

“
I know.” Lucy let out a
sigh and smiled at him. “And I'm flattered. Really. It's just...”
She sucked in her bottom lip and bit down. “What if I'm no good
without the band with me? What if it's all an illusion?”

Mike's light blue eyes crinkled at the
sides when he grinned at her. “We're professional musicians. You
can't fool us.” Lucy moved her tapping finger to her lip and Mike
studied her for a moment. “Guys, give us a minute.”

Taylor and Luke exchanged glances, but
they both moved to exit the blue bus. Lucy leaned back in her chair
and crossed one leg over the other.

“
Is this the part where
you bribe me?” She narrowed her eyes at Mike playfully.

He shook his head and looked down at
the floor. “I want to be honest with you without an audience.” He
looked back up, his face serious.

Lucy swallowed and held her breath,
not really sure what to expect.

“
This whole thing was my
idea.”

“
Huh?” Lucy felt her face
go stupid.

Mike smiled sheepishly and ran a hand
through his shaggy dark hair. He could really use a haircut, she
thought to herself absentmindedly.

“
I usually only
collaborate with the same four guys. Over and over. They're great
and I love them, but you have something different. Something
exciting and new for me, and I want to be a part of it.”

Lucy felt her ears start to get hot
and she was thankful her hair was covering them. “I'm not—” she
began, shaking her head no.

“
Yeah,” Mike stopped her.
“Actually, you are. You're the real deal. I want to sit behind you
on that stage with only you out front. I want to watch you make the
crowd fall in love with you. And I'm hoping that maybe, eventually,
and I realize this is a
very
long shot with you, but I would love to put our
own band together and see what happens.”

“
You're crazy.” Lucy
couldn't stop the grin from appearing though. “What would we call
ourselves?”

“
I honestly could care
less. Naming a band is the hardest part. We could be called Lucy
Newton and The Lackeys if you want,” he answered her
dryly.

Lucy chuckled, causing Mike to smile.
She bit her bottom lip and let out a loud sigh. “You make me
excited to do this.”

“
Then I'm hoping that
means what I think it means.” He looked so hopeful.

“
I'm a little surprised, I
have to say.” Lucy arched an eyebrow at him.

“
Oh, because we hardly
speak? Is it awkward to find out I've been stalking you musically
since we first met way back when?” He grimaced when her eyes went
wide.

“
You what?”

“
Well, I had sort of an
infatuation with your father, and then I met you and I could not
get the idea of starting a band with you out of my head. Taylor,
Chad and Stuart got a good thing going. But they're green and have
a long way to go before they hit their stride. You're already
there. Your talent is already mature and developed. And I want
in.”

Lucy's mouth came open, but no words
came out.

“
Plus, Luke is looking at
taking next year off so Lenny can train, and this really could not
have come at a better time.” He tried to get her to meet his eyes.
“We could end up having a really great time. I've been doing this
for a while. It's all I want to do for the foreseeable future. I
have a lot of ideas, and I think we could create something really
awesome. ”

Lucy found herself nodding in
acceptance. “Okay, but can we keep the big picture stuff to just us
for a little bit? I'm a bit overwhelmed. Excited... but
overwhelmed.”

“
I have that effect, I've
found.” Mike gave her a crooked smile and then stuck out his hand.
“Partners?”

***

Shane smirked at Lucy's reply and
turned off his phone. He already had a dozen comebacks, but he was
going to make her wait.

For the past week and a half they had
talked almost endlessly every day. Flirting via text was tedious
but so worth it. She was spunky and clever and he could picture her
happy smile and bright red ears in nearly every communication. The
better they got to know each other, the more he wanted to talk to
her. It was hard to believe they hadn't gotten sick of one another
yet.

Shane had taken the dating scene easy
since his implosion with Lenny. He sort of had a reputation now for
being a playboy, and that got two reactions from the female
populace. Most women didn't trust him, hated his guts and usually
told him off to his face. Then there were those few oddballs who
got turned on by a man who cheats. He had no idea if they thought
they were going to change him or break him, but he didn't really
want to find out.

He hadn't been looking for anything
when he'd met Lucy. She was a game changer simply because she
didn't play games at all. She was beautiful and mysterious and he
had been taken with her right from the start. Now, he couldn't get
enough of her.

“
Are you ready, Big City?”
Serge asked from the doorway. Serge had taken to calling Shane that
a few months back when he had semi-permanently relocated to New
York during the start-up of the East Coast operations. He had
teased Shane mercilessly about selling out and going big
time.

After their trip to the back country
of Alaska last year, he and Serge had stayed in contact. They had
quickly become friends, and Serge challenged Shane to better
himself at his chosen sport. He was also one of Shane's strongest
supporters when he started to toy with the idea of quitting
competition to focus on building his new business. Giving him a
hard time for it was his way of approving.

Shane nodded and left the phone on the
nightstand by the bed. He'd talk to Lucy more later on tonight
after they got back. It had become the perfect way to unwind at the
end of his long days on the slopes of New Zealand. And she didn't
seem to mind the time difference, teasing him about his texts
coming from the future since he was so many hours ahead of
her.

He looked forward to it more than he
cared to admit. He continuously found his thoughts settling on her.
He couldn't put his finger on it. Why was she so intriguing? What
was it about her that made him get so nervous? That made him look
for ways to make her laugh even if he couldn't be there to hear
it?

He
liked
the distance that existed
between them at the moment. It took the pressure off and kept him
from moving too quickly, which he sometimes did. The last thing he
wanted was to be too pushy, chase her away. He wanted to take it
slow, see where it went. Start as friends, let it grow. He knew he
really liked her. A lot. And it scared him a little bit. He didn't
want to screw something up before it ever had a chance. Before he
knew if it could be something more.

His mind kept trying to come up with
excuses to meet up with the tour without making it look obvious.
Thinking of things he could say to convince her to spend the week
with him learning to surf back home. He was thankful for the
massive distraction that Serge provided. Without it, Shane probably
would have already given her the key to his house. Crazy? In more
ways than one.

That day's events included being
dropped out of a helicopter on the side of a mountain and trying
not to die before reaching the bottom. Shane was sorely out of
practice and he suspected that was why Serge was pushing him so
hard. He'd basically taken the last six weeks off from any real
physical activity to set up his company, and his muscles screamed
at him from their lack of use.

He made the first run without too much
trouble, and then Serge made him do it four more times.

He felt punished. He felt sore. He
felt alive.

It was the last line of the day and
fatigue was catching up with him. He wondered if it was possible
that Serge wasn't human at all. He didn't seem to get tired. Ever.
And apparently, that's when Shane thought it would be a good idea
to wreck epically.

End over end, his board disengaged and
he continued to flop and roll through the powder. Ice and snow
packed into his face and against his goggles, whiting out
everything. Shoulder, ass, knee, elbow, head, shoulder again. He
finally came to a stop lying flat on his back.

“
Am I dead?” he asked out
loud, still unable to see through his goggles. Of course there was
no answer, and he raised his arm to wave and let Serge know he was
fine.

He stayed put for a few extra minutes,
wondering when it happened that he had started to get old. He was
never taking time off like that again. His body didn't bounce back
like it used to in his twenties.

He sat up slowly and removed his
goggles, cleaning the snow off. He looked around at where his body
had come to settle and was relieved to see he had made it to the
bottom. He wouldn't have to go far to get back to the heli where he
would have no problem announcing that he needed to return to the
hotel. He didn't care if it made him look like a pussy, he needed a
beer and hot shower.

Serge didn't protest, and it wasn't
long before their group all settled around a small table at the
hotel bar.

“
No more vacation days for
you.” Serge took a slow drink from his beer and set the bottle
down.

“
Nope,” Shane agreed with
a grimace. “I'm not as resilient as I used to be,” he added with a
chuckle, and gingerly touched the purple bruise that was slowly
spreading around his elbow.

“
I am headed back to
Encinitas in a couple weeks. I rented a house with some people. You
want to join us?” Serge asked casually.

That guy never stopped. Shane wasn't
even sure how old he was. Historic events placed him in his
forties, but he seemed to have stopped aging when he reached
thirty.

“
I should get back to the
shop anyway. I haven't checked in with Clarke since leaving for New
York.” He wasn't worried though. Clarke was more than capable of
handling West Coast operations without him. In fact, he got the
impression that Clarke preferred it when he wasn't
there.

She had started as an aspiring fitness
model who interned at Billabong. Shane had made frequent trips into
the building for different meetings and she was normally the one
running the whole show. Impressed with her organizational skills
and ambition, he hired her away immediately. She was young for the
position he offered her, only twenty-four, but she was undoubtedly
the perfect person for the job.

“
I'll drive down and catch
up with you guys,” he agreed as he waved the waitress over for
another beer.

“
You can bring your girl
with you,” Serge suggested, and Shane actually felt himself blush
slightly.
I'm such a man's man,
he thought sourly.