In Your Honor (37 page)

Blake fought the smile that wanted to erupt
on his face. That little devil.

“
She wanted to keep it secret for now
and I was willing to let her, but I think we all know that I was
going to tell you eventually.” Mike chuckled nervously and ran a
hand through his hair.

“
Who else is in it?” Blake asked,
sitting up eagerly.

“
So far? No one. But Harrison has been
working on a few pieces he wants her to take a look at.”

Blake was nearly giddy (yes, giddy) with
excitement. She'd done it. All on her own. She'd gone out on the
stage, shown the world what she could do, and now it was all
happening. He really couldn't be more proud.

“
Luke wants to get her to sign as soon
as possible but...” Mike waved his hand in Blake's
direction.

“
She's still skittish,” Blake finished
for him, rubbing his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

“
Maybe you could talk to her,”
Harrison prompted, and Blake looked over at the guitarist. His
friends were awesome. He really didn't deserve their loyalty, let
alone their talent by his side. And here they were, bringing Lucy
right on board with them.

“
I'll see what I can do. She can be
awfully stubborn.” Blake felt his jaw tick while he glanced down at
the spray paint on his jeans, suddenly lost in a memory.

“
You are the most
hardheaded girl I know!” Blake snapped and Lucy reared back, eyes
wild. Now he'd done it.

“
Oh, don't even pull that
on me, Mister I Refuse to Go to Science Class Until My Seat Gets
Moved.”

He should've known better than to ask her to
come with tonight. She'd been in a mood all day and he couldn't
figure out why. He thought that some casual vandalism to the water
tower would help lighten her up. But when he told her to climb up
on his shoulders in order to finish the penis he'd started to
paint, she refused.

“
What is wrong with you
today? You've been in a snit since I picked you up this
morning.”

“
I am
not
in a snit.” She folded her arms
over her chest and glared at him.

“
Yes you are.” He started
at her feet and pointed up to her head and back down again. “This
has snit written all over it.”

“
You really haven't
noticed anything different about me?” She focused her scowl at him
and he wanted to laugh. She was so damn cute when she was mad. The
only thing that kept him straight-faced was that he knew she was
completely capable of shoving him off the side of this
thing.

“
Besides your bad
attitude? No, not really.”

“
I cut my hair, Blake!”
she yelled at him, grabbing two fistfuls of her dark hair and
holding it out to the sides.

He stepped back and narrowed his eyes. “Now
that you mention it...”

“
Ugh! And it looks
horrible. She did it all wrong and now it sticks out all over the
place like Doc Brown. Adam Garcia called me Wynonna in History
class today!”

Blake lost it then. He doubled over in
laughter and fought to breathe.

“
It's not funny!” she
pouted angrily.

“
C'mon,” Blake tried to
calm down, “it's not that bad. I mean, I didn't even notice until
you pointed it out.”

“
That's the worst part.
It's like I'm invisible to you, but Gracie Lynn Taggert gets
highlights and you go on and on about how great she
looks.”

“
What? That did
not
happen. I may have
mentioned it once, but I never go on and on about anything. And
it
did
look nice.
Especially when she gave me ten bucks to say it in front of Kyle
Anderson to make him jealous.” He raised a pointed eyebrow at her
as she considered his information.

She scrunched up her face and shook her
head. “Still, you didn't notice and it made me mad.”

“
I'm sorry,” he
exaggerated as heavily as possible. “Now can you please get on my
shoulders and finish painting this penis?”

“
You're impossible,” she
huffed, and he grinned at her, knowing that she would do
it.

“
But you are stubborn.
Damn, girl, you were mad at me all day about your
hair
. You should know by
now I'm gonna love you no matter what. Even if your hair does
belong on stage at the Country Music Awards.”

She launched herself at him and he tried to
catch her, but she was all arms and huge hair and he couldn't get a
grip on anything. He staggered backwards into the still wet paint
on the water tower as her fingers flew across his abs, stealing his
breath. He hated to be tickled. He was really sensitive to it and
he felt like such a little kid when he'd go completely useless at
the lightest touch. It was Lucy's secret weapon and she used it on
him more than he cared for.

He tried in vain to retreat from her
diabolical onslaught, but she had him pinned to the water
tower.

“
Say you're sorry,” she
demanded as her arms and fingers seemed to multiply by hundreds and
she hit all his weak points in unison.

“
Just tell me,” he gasped
between guffaws, “how many channels can you get with that antenna?
I bet you get great reception. Ow!”

She reached his chest despite his attempts
at blocking her and twisted his nipple. That was going to bruise,
he thought briefly as he finally caught one of her hands with
his.

“
Say you're sorry or I'll
never paint your damn penis!” She was trying to glower, but there
was way too much joy in her face for her to pull it off.

“
I'm sorry, I'm
sorry!”

She stopped the assault and he grabbed her
other hand as well in case she changed her mind.

He grinned at her as they both caught their
breath. “You know you're the coolest chick in the world,
right?”

She smiled shyly and shrugged. He was caught
for a moment by the way the stars seemed to reflect in her eyes.
Maybe it was the second beer he'd recently imbibed, but she seemed
to smell pretty amazing tonight too. His eyes dropped to her mouth
and he cleared his throat.

“
All right.” He blinked
hard and let go of her hands. “Let's finish this phallic work of
art and have another beer.”

“
Sounds good,” she agreed
easily this time, and he wondered if she had felt whatever weird
thing that had just passed between them. He hoped not. Because he
really didn't need to be thinking about Lucy's lips or eyes or
sweet, sugary smell. She was his best friend. And he never wanted
that to change.

He handed her the spray paint and squatted
down to let her climb up to his shoulders. He gripped her thighs
tightly and tried to think about anything other than what he was
doing. But he was nineteen, so that was almost impossible.

“
I hope you realize how
wrong this is,” she said, interrupting his internal struggle, and
he almost choked. Was she reading his thoughts now? “I really
shouldn't be drawing penises on anything. I've never even seen one,
for cryin' out loud.”

“
Good. Let's keep it that
way,” he responded brusquely. “I want you to think that all penises
are cartoonish and misshapen.”

“
Mission
accomplished.”

She tapped his head and he lowered her to
the ground.

Standing back to survey their work, he
couldn't stop the proud grin on his face. “Couldn't have done it
without you. I really am the worst role model. God only knows what
I'll teach my kids.”

“
That's a really good
point.” Lucy sat down on the edge and swung her legs out over the
open area. He heard the twist off of a beer bottle cap and he
joined her.

“
Thanks for coming with
tonight,” he said sincerely. “It would not have been half as much
fun without you.”

“
You can talk me into
anything. It's kind of not fair that you have that much influence
over me.” She chuckled and took a long drink.

“
I plan on keeping it that
way.”

“
She seems to listen to
you, though,” Mike was saying, and Blake pulled himself back to the
present.

“
Yeah, I'll talk to her,”
he nodded with a smirk. “I don't know if my influence is as good as
it once was, but I can try.”

Blake sat in the very back row of the
highest seats in the venue. The arena was bustling below as the
crew set everything up for that night's show. He laced his fingers
behind his head and relaxed.

His thoughts weren't fuzzy like they had
once been. He knew with perfect clarity what he was supposed to do.
No more conflict, no more urge to run, just the complete and total
conviction that he was exactly where he was supposed to be. And the
future would unfold as it should.

He heard a familiar loud laugh and his mouth
pulled up on one side. He looked towards the floor below and saw
Lucy getting set up for sound check. She was like a ray of
sunshine, lighting up the whole arena with her presence.

He knew she'd gotten back a couple hours
ago, but he had kept himself busy. They'd see each other soon
enough. He no longer carried that anxious fear of missing an
opportunity to talk to her.

He watched her tune her guitar and goof
around with Chad, that happy smile never leaving her face. Could
she be any more perfect?

Shane was nearby, to be sure. Blake doubted
that he'd stray far from her at this point. But that was good, no,
that was great. If Shane could keep her heart safe, then Blake
would support them at all costs.

“
Who's lurking in the
shadows?” Lucy called into the microphone, pointing up the
bleachers at him.

He grinned, that girl had eyes like an
eagle. No way she could tell it was him. At least, he didn't think
so.

He stood up, cupping his hands around his
mouth, and shouted, “Get back to work, slacker!”

She laughed and turned around, saying
something to Chad and Stuart. He would probably always enjoy her
pre-show antics. She was a natural entertainer even though she
pretended not to be.

He had talked to Luke and the rest of the
guys again this morning about Lucy's potential to be a serious solo
act. Luke was already in the works to introduce her to a few good
agents who would be able to help with her fledgling career. That
was the thing with being in the music business for as many years as
they had been—you learned shit real quick. You figured out who to
avoid and who to trust. Now that DBS owned their own label, they
could coach new talent into being a success instead of getting lost
in the shuffle.

Getting Lucy to pursue this kind of a future
might be a trick. She had talked about it a lot when they were
kids, but had pushed it to the back burner when her grandparents
got sick and she took over the diner. Her loyalty to her family
came first. Having her here on tour was no doubt thanks to Triny's
encouragement. But Blake was positive that once the tour was over,
she'd return home. Or possibly follow Shane around the world.

As such, the band had appointed him to be
the one to present the offer to her. He wasn't sure how to go about
it yet, it would require some more thought. And quite a bit of
finesse.

***

Shane couldn't take his eyes off of her. As
Lucy tuned her guitar and jumped around with her bandmates, she was
shining like a star.

That morning, when he had woken up with her
in his arms, her hair spread across the pillow, her arms around his
middle, he realized he had never felt so much contentment in his
life. He hesitated waking her up, knowing that once he did, they
would have to face daylight's harsh realities.

She stuck close to him the whole drive back.
Holding his hand, mussing his hair, staying positive even though
they both knew goodbye was nearing them.

She invited him to stay for sound check and
the show, prolonging the inevitable, and he was more than happy to
indulge her. He wasn't ready to let go yet either. How was he
supposed to know that one taste of her would cause such an
addiction?

He turned around and looked up the
bleachers, knowing it was Blake sitting in the shadows. Lucy had
kept their past fairly protected. Shane knew she wasn't hiding
anything, but he recognized that they had a history that he might
not ever completely understand.

He chewed on his lower lip, conflicted
between what he wanted to do and what he knew he should do. He
looked back to Lucy, who was engrossed in her task, and he knew
that this was probably the best opportunity.

He started the long trek up the steps,
headed to the top. His heart thudded with anticipation of the
upcoming conversation. He wasn't sure what he would say or if Blake
would talk to him at all. But he had to try.

When he was close enough to make out Blake's
face, he could see the rocker's eyes were closed like he was
asleep. Shane sat in the chair next to him and rested his feet on
the top of the backrest in front of him.

“
What's up, Brookings?”
Blake asked, not opening his eyes.

“
Nothing much, just wanted
to say hey.” That was stupid. Shane held in a groan. He wasn't an
easily intimidated man, but he'd never been able to get a clear
read on Blake and it unnerved him. He always seemed a little off
base. As if underneath that cool exterior, he was too tightly
wound.

Blake opened his eyes and slowly turned his
head, looking Shane in the eye. He examined him intently, as if
seeing right through him, analyzing what he saw and rendering a
conclusion. All without saying a word. Yep, unnerving.