In Your Honor (20 page)

“
She's not my girl.” He
smiled slowly. “Not yet, anyway.” That wasn't a half-bad idea
though. He wondered where the DBS tour would be at that time. Would
it be too forward to offer to fly her out to him? Yeah, she'd
probably think he was insane. He smiled at the idea... her ears
would turn bright red.

***

Shane:
how
was the show tonight?

Lucy:
really
great :)

Shane:
any more Newton originals?

Lucy:
lol, not yet

Shane:
that's a shame

Lucy:
soon ;)

Shane:
where
will you be 2 weeks from
today?

Lucy:
the schedule says somewhere in Washington

we'll be between shows,
have the week off

Shane:
spend that week with me

Shane knew he was putting it all out
there, but it was time. He wasn't getting any younger.

The longer it took for her to respond,
the more nervous he became. He debated whether or not to call her
and try to explain what he meant. He knew what it looked like, he
couldn't stop staring at the glaring black letters on the screen of
his phone.

Lucy:
I don't understand

Shane breathed a sigh of relief. He
thought really hard about how to word the next message, but he
realized that what he really wanted was to be honest. He liked her,
he wanted her to know.

Shane:
some
friends and I are spending the
week in Encinitas

you could lie on the beach
and I'd teach you how to surf

Several minutes passed before her
reply.

Lucy:
what are you really asking, Brookings?

Shane:
if
you'll be my date for a week of
sun and surf, Lucy

***

And there it was. Ten days of
shameless flirting and skating around the issue. He'd first-named
her and declared his intentions in a simple one-liner.

Lucy felt her ears get hot, and she
was annoyed that he could invoke that kind of reaction from a half
a world away.

She had no idea how to reply. She
wanted to say yes. Badly. But her life had never been one for easy
decisions.

What would Blake say? Would he get
mad? Would he even care?

She ground her teeth together in
frustration. Why did her mind always go to him?

She had been spending more and more
time with him, mostly writing. But sometimes they would just talk,
like they used to, before everything went all pear shaped. He'd
made it pretty clear he only wanted a friendship with her, and he'd
done a good job at keeping up his end of the deal. Even when she
would deliberately touch his leg or arm, he had no reaction. He
maintained pure stoicism.

He was over her. With a finality that
made her heart clench like a fist.

But sometimes... she'd catch him
looking at her and she'd see the slightest hint of desire darken
his eyes. Almost as if he were about to say something or pull her
to him... and then the moment would pass, and he'd return to his
usual, unreadable self. Besides, Lucy had a history of seeing what
she wanted to see. Especially where Blake was concerned.

Meanwhile, Shane had been making it
pretty obvious that he was interested in more than friendship. But
he hadn't outright declared it until this moment.

Lucy chewed on her thumbnail as she
weighed her options. On one side she had Blake, her oldest and
closest friend who could still make her forget her name and turn
her legs to jelly if he chose to invoke that power. But it had
always turned tragic and she had no reason to believe it could be
any different. Especially now, when he was proving how much they
really were just friends.

And on the other hand, she had Shane
Brookings. Successful, good looking, charming and sweet. And he
seemed to really like her.

She could tell him no right now. And
he'd probably be totally cool about the whole thing. But where did
that leave her in the long run? Would she always be turning down
potential happily-ever-afters in fear of losing Blake forever? Had
he ever been hers at all?

She felt strange tears burn her eyes
as she accepted her reality. They really were done. And it was time
to move forward.

Lucy:
I like that idea

***

Blake was happy. Authentically,
non-chemically, true to his core happy.

He awoke every morning with the
promise of a brand new day that he hadn't screwed up yet. He would
get to see Lucy. And soak her in. Every particle of her. Her scent,
her laugh, her voice.

He was having a hell of a time keeping
himself restrained. All he thought about most of the time was
pinning her against the side of the bus and showing her exactly how
much he still wanted her.

But that wasn't the plan.

The plan was to
actually
be
a
better person. And if in doing so, she gave him one more chance...
he wouldn't mess it up again.

In full disclosure, he had
a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. He knew Lucy had been
talking to Shane Brookings, and he was positive that the friggin'
walking Greek god was into her. Actually, it would have pissed
Blake off more if Shane
wasn't
into her. She was great, it should be noticed by
everyone.

But Shane was clear across the globe.
And Blake was here.

“
You're early for sound
check.” Greg eyed him up and down with a smirk. He knew why Blake
had been hanging around so diligently. He was never far from
Lucy.

“
Anything added to the set
list?” he asked, looking over the big man's shoulder.

“
Nope. Same as always,”
Greg reported.

Blake sighed and shoved
his hands in his pocket. He'd been trying for days to talk Lucy
into doing one of their songs during a set, but she wouldn't budge.
She had this annoyingly admirable quality of trying
not
to steal the
spotlight.

He couldn't relate.

Blake was fairly certain that Taylor
wouldn't mind, the guy was as reasonable as they came. He suspected
that Lucy was using her good character as a mask for her
insecurities. It was something he used to confront her on in the
good old days, but he was trying a gentler approach this time
around.

Blake sniffed at his own
thoughts.
Look at you, Diedrich, maybe
you're growing up after all. Took long enough.

“
Hey!” Lucy burst over the
wall and made both men jump. She giggled, a huge smile on her face.
“Whatcha doing?”

“
Checking the set list.”
Blake raised his eyebrows at her reprovingly.

Lucy gasped loudly,
“Stalker!”

Both men chuckled, and she pushed up
on her toes to lean further over to snatch the sheet from the
table.

“
There is one, small
correction.” She produced a pencil and scratched an addition onto
the sheet. She continued to smile and handed it back to
Greg.

Blake leaned over to read the change
and his heart lurched violently in his chest. It wasn't just a new
song. It was a whole new set list.

Five songs, four of which he had
written with her, one he didn't recognize. He looked up at her,
unable to form the questions that were racing through his
mind.

She grinned at him. “Mike talked me
into it.”

Blake was speechless. He wanted to hug
her and yell at her at the same time. But he couldn't settle on
one, and then she gave him a wink that nearly stopped his
heart.

“
I'll do sound check with
some old classics,” she instructed Greg who nodded, pleased at the
turn of events. “I wanna save my new stuff for the
audience.”

Blake finally found his voice but she
was already heading back to the stage. He jogged to catch up with
her.

“
Lucky!” he shouted and
she spun around, that gorgeous smile still lighting her
face.

“
Why didn't you tell me?”
he asked as he caught up with her.

“
It seriously
just
happened.” She
laughed. “I came to find you first, but you were already with Greg,
so it saved me some time.”

She was coming tell him
first. Hell yeah
.

“
I'm so proud of you.” He
wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her in a hug. She
hugged him in return and his heart soared. He pressed her soft body
close to his and buried his face in her hair. All he wanted was to
make her every dream come true.

It was finally happening.

***

Blake couldn't take his eyes off her.
She kept it simple. Just her and a guitar, Mike was on drums. The
lack of other instruments didn't seem out of place though, she held
it together nicely.

The first four songs he knew by heart
because he had been there when they were written. The fifth song,
the one she closed with, was brand new.

Mike retreated to the side of the
stage and came to stand next to Blake. Lucy sat down on a stool and
adjusted her microphone.

“
She's doing great,” Mike
murmured from beside him.

Blake only nodded.

“
Last song,” Lucy laughed
lightly, “then I'll be back to play with Taylor Stevens.” The crowd
applauded and she smiled as she waited for it to quiet
again.

“
I just wanna say thanks
to y'all for being so sweet tonight and letting me sing my songs.”
She made a couple of adjustments on the guitar.

“
This last song is...” She
chuckled nervously and then cleared her throat. “Well, it's the
last song.”

She took a breath and her fingers
danced lightly on the strings, pulling a delicate and complex
melody from the instrument. Her voice joined in and Blake felt
goosebumps break out on his arms and spread across his
shoulders.

The words, the depth, the feeling.
This was as raw as Lucy came.

It was a tribute to her mama. Blake's
vision began to burn as he absorbed the tidal wave of emotion that
crashed into him. He hadn't been expecting this. It was the most
beautiful thing he'd ever heard.

The song began to close and her
playing slowed down, drawing out the last verse.

“
... I only ever want to
be the best reflection of you... I only ever want to see the
starlight streaming through...”

She slowly stood up and the crowd
exploded. She gave them a shy wave before heading in Blake's
direction, her eyes watching the floor. A tech ran up on stage and
took her instrument from her hands.

Blake enveloped her in his arms and
guided her down the steps. When they reached the bottom, she
clutched him tightly, and he could feel the emotion start to wrack
her small frame.

He pulled her into an empty room and
held her as she sobbed into his chest. No wonder she hadn't
practiced the song beforehand. The authentic passion it took had to
pour out of her. Because that was who she was. No fakery, no
gimmicks. Pure heart.

He tightened his grip around her,
letting her sniff quietly into his chest. He felt her tears soak
through his shirt and he thought how fitting that he was still the
one to hold her when she cried. That after all this time and
everything that had happened between them, she'd folded right into
his arms when her heart was sad. It was a connection they had
forged as children, and it was entirely possible that it would last
forever.

After a few minutes she pulled back
and tried to wipe the tears off her face.

“
Thanks,” she peered up at
him shyly. “I think I got some snot on your shirt.”

The side of his mouth twitched up.
“Not a problem.” He kissed the top of her head and continued to
hold her. She took several deep, slow breaths and he tried to match
each one with his own.

“
You sure you're gonna be
okay to play again in a few minutes?” he asked,
concerned.

“
Yeah, I just needed to
let it out,” she replied, keeping her arms around his waist and
resting her cheek against his heart. He liked that she didn't let
go. That she felt safe and in no way uncomfortable in his
embrace.

They stood silent for a little while,
then she sighed as she finally pulled away.

“
Better fix my face before
going back out there.” She held up her hands to show the black
mascara streaks that had rubbed off.

“
There is nothing wrong
with your face,” he told her seriously.

She only smiled as she reached for the
door handle. He resisted the urge to stop her. He knew she had to
get back on the stage, but this overwhelming instinct to protect
her was threatening to take over.