In A Heartbeat (21 page)

“Are you dropping the band?” He has every right to question my loyalty to the band. I have not been to the last two practices because I wanted to stay home with her.

“No. I am in and as committed as I have always been. I just won’t be giving you any competition in the groupie love department.”

“Huh, l
ike you were any competition anyway.”

“Do you not remember that we are identical twins?”

“Bro, it’s your lame ass personality that lost you girls.” He says, smugly.

“I disagree! It was your slutty ass personality that lost you THE girl!”

“She never even saw me that day. Her eyes were glued to your dark ass the very second the girls entered Smitty’s that first night.”

“What is the story with you and Ivy?” We don’t normally share details about girls, but he does know all about my past two relationships so I think it’s his turn to spill.

“There is no story.
We are just friends. I would like to be friends with benefits, but she isn’t interested in my supposed ‘rot cock’. So we are just friends that tease about sex.”

“That must suck!”

“You have no idea. I will break through Miss Poison Ivy soon.” I notice how contradictory his last two statements are, but choose not to point it out to him. If there is something meant to happen for the two of them, it will.

I have invited both sets of parents to dinner tonight. Holden and Taron are going to help me grill out and get everything ready for her party. I decided for dinner to include only our immediate families so Avery can bring her birthday present for Eaven. Of course Ivy is also invited since she is practically Eaven’s sister. Our friends will show up at Smitty’s around 8:00 for after dinner fun and I plan to surprise Eaven then.

My parents want to come early so they can help. I have a feeling that mom is missing all of us since we haven’t been home much lately. My parents didn’t get to meet Eaven before the accident. Of course my dad spent plenty of time
with us during the preparation for the police questioning with the lawyer.

Mom was at the hospital hours upon hours with me when she was first admitted.
I think mom had the mother’s sense of knowing how important Ev is to me and didn’t want anything to go wrong without me having support.

It is amazing how much a person can get through with the strength of loved ones bonded together during tough times. It doesn’t even have to be blood relations
.

I talked for hours about our relationship with my parents while Eaven was out of it at the hospital. They weren’t as surprised as I thought they would be when I told them I want to ask her to marry me. I have a feeling that one of my brothers may have prepared them that I am head over heels for her.

Of course they are encouraging me to follow my heart, but be smart about it. They want to see us engaged for a while so we can see how the band gig affects our relationship. I know that most people are going to think we are rushing things. I also know that I don’t care what people think. I don’t ever want her to doubt how important she is to me.

Sometimes it takes almost losing something before you see the importance.
I always knew she was important, but it wasn’t until I was in the river that I realized that my life is nothing without her. Life changes very quickly. Marriage was not on my radar at all before I met her and now look at me. I am planning to ask her the single most important question that I have ever asked anyone.

I am looking forward to Eaven spending a little extra time getting to know my mom today. She will be very appreciated in my family. After a life full of boys, my mom will finally get to do girl things and have girl talks. I know they will get along great.

“Hey guys! I am glad you were able to come early. Eaven should be back soon.” I tell my parents while we start to unload the car. I should have known my mom would not have come without trays and trays of food.

“Mom, I told you not to bring anything.”

“You know better than that
, son. If there are left-overs, they will get eaten in this house. So are you ready for the big night? Does Eaven know?” My mom starts in with the questions before we are even in the kitchen.

“I am just excited to officially have another female in the family. You don’t realize how lonely a girl ge
ts with all of that testosterone suffocating her. To be honest, I was afraid it would be ten years before we would have any additions to our family.”

“She is special mom. I am just nervous that I will shock her completely into silence. I know without a doubt that she loves me just as much as I love her, but I hope that she doesn’t freak out when I ask her.
”

“Maybe you should consider asking her in private and give her the opportunity to talk to you without any awkward moments in front of all of your friends.” I consider what my mom is saying and decide that she may have some good points to think about. I decide not to rush things today and get caught up in the stress of asking her in front of everyone. I have the ring and if the time is right, I will ask her. If not, then I will wait until the time is right.

I hear car doors outside and walk out to see Eaven and Ivy struggling to get up the steps with the crutches. I meet them at the door and put my arms around the birthday girl. She exhales when I touch her lower back.

“Are you hurting today?”

“Not from
my injuries. I am hurting because of my birthday present to myself. Meet me in your room and I will show you.”

“Baby, I would love to meet you, but my parents are here.”

“It will only take a second.”

I give her time to make her way through the house and into my room. She props one of the crutches against the bed and uses the other one to balance on one leg. She begins to lower her yoga style pants on the right side of her hip. Then she lifts her shirt
in the back high enough for me to see. I see what she has done and all of the earlier insecurities and doubts I had disappear instantly.

“I can’t believe you got a tat!” I get closer to see the detail.
It is an infinity symbol that ends with a feather exactly like the ones from my angel on my back. The figure eight is continual with both of our names written in cursive along the path. The symbol comes to an end with the feather. She had it placed on the right side of her lower back.

I stand up to look into her eyes. “I like the sound of our names interlocked forever near your ass.”

She playfully slugs me in the shoulder.

“It’s not
near
my ass. I put it on my hip because every time we lay together, I feel like I’m home. No matter where we are, once we spoon, I feel like I am exactly where I am supposed to be.” I get exactly what she is saying. She doesn’t need to describe the feeling any further. I know now that we are on the same page and I have no fear of scaring her when I ask her for forever.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Eaven

What a day. I spent most of the morning and afternoon with Ivy. We had a great girl’s day getting our hair and nails done. I was in serious need of some tender loving care after the past few weeks. We finished off at the tattoo shop so I could get the one I finally decided on. It came to me the other night when Talon and I were cuddling. I can tell he really likes it. His face lit up as soon as he could see what I had decided to have permanently inked onto my body.

I spent some time with Talon’s mom. I can tell she will be easy to get along with. She reminds me so much of my mom because of how easy she is to talk to.
Once my family arrives, Avery and Talon give me my gift. He helped her make it. He let her use drum sticks dipped in paint to splatter on a swatch of canvas. He then had it framed. There are so many colors and it is such a unique gift that no one else will ever have. I absolutely love it.

Talon has worked so hard to make sure this day is special. Both of our families are here in the same house. So far everything seems to be going smoothly
, and even Taron hasn’t caused any commotion or awkward moments with my parents. Maybe I have finally gained respect from him and he will not go out of his way to mortify me.

It has been great having Ivy here all day today. Since I have been staying here at Talon’s, I have missed her. She comes to visit me daily, but it just isn’t the same as being roommates. We have a lo
t of catching up to do.

My parents leave after dinner and we all go to Smitty’s for round two of my birthday party. Talon’s parents decide to join us until they have to head home.

When we arrive, I am overwhelmed by how many people are there to see me. Of course my cousins are here, and all of the band members. The cowboys and Macy are here as well. This bar is full of other people that I have seen in here multiple times, but I never knew any of their names. Every time I turn around someone is talking about the night I went into the river. I had no idea how many people were out there looking for me. Almost all of them told me that Holden had contacted them to help and had kept them in the know about my condition once I was in the hospital. I had no idea he had done all of that.

When I confront him about it, he just smiles and says that there were a lot of people concerned for me that night. He was just doing the big
brother thing. I smile knowing he also had a hand in helping me that night. I knew Taron had been involved, but I didn’t realize that Holden is so good at working in the back-ground.

Talon has been near me all night until just a few minutes ago. I guess the band is going to play some tonight since so many people are here.

‘Rebel Walking’ takes the stage and begins to play. I make my way near the stage like I always do. This leg may slow me down, but it is not going to hold me back completely. I notice that he is wearing his shirt this time. It must be out of respect for his parents. The band plays a couple of songs and Talon pulls his mic in close to speak.

“I have a special song I would like to play tonight. You see, I have been teaching someone to play the drums. I would like her to come up here and show us her moves.”

My face instantly rushes with heat. Is he insane? I know how off I sound. It is one thing to make a fool of yourself in his room with a few people, but here in public, with lights shining in your face? No way.

I begin shaking my head no and working my way backwards until I no
tice Ivy.

“Get me the hell out of here. I can’t go up there.”

“Eaven. Come up here baby!” Talon speaks loudly through the microphone. Now I notice the spot light on me as I stand there and try to plan my one legged escape. He hops down off the stage to come face to face with me.

“Do you trust me?” He asks with his face maybe an inch from mine.

“Yes.” I know the answer without thought. He takes my crutches and hands them to Ivy. He literally sweeps me off my feet and hauls me on stage. I notice all the other band members left the stage and he and I are the only two up here.

He gently places me behind the drum set on the stool set to play this massive contraption.

“You see here people. She has been practicing with a set of my drum sticks, so I thought I would buy her a set for her birthday.” He kneels down beside me to reach a set of red sticks. I see he even tied a red bow around them. I still feel nervous knowing that he wants me to play in front of all of these people.

I look down to untie the bow and see that the bow is tied though a ring.
A platinum gold, square cut, solitaire, diamond ring. I look at him confused and see that he is still down on his knee looking at me. My eyes fill with tears as I finally figure out what he is doing.

“Ev, I love you so much. You came into my darkness and in a heartbeat you brought light into my life. You have shown me what love is and what it feels like to be truly loved. I can’t wait to spend forever with you in my arms...”

I know
it is polite to wait until he finishes the beautiful words, but my insides are screaming and jumping up and down with joy. In fact if I didn’t have this cast on, I would push him over onto the floor and attack him right here.

I can’t contain my excitement any
longer as I grab him by the collar of his t-shirt to pull him in close for a kiss. I have temporarily forgotten the audience we have as I dive into his mouth for a kiss that screams
YES
.

Coming Soon

Book 2 in the Rebel Walking Series

Ivy & Taron’s Story

Chapter One Sneak Peak

Ivy

He is everywhere.

In my thoughts.

In my dreams.

In my air.

I am trying to fight my attraction to Taron, but my heart doesn’t seem to listen to my mind. I know it is a disaster waiting to happen if I give in, yet I still keep thinking of the possibilities.

He has a past. So do I.

He loves to flirt. So do I.

He will be leaving to go on tour tomorrow. I won’t.

He was there for me when I thought I lost my best friend. The title ‘best friend’ doesn’t really do what we have justice. Eaven is my sister. We may come from different blood, but in all aspects that count we are family. A couple of months ago Eaven was kidnapped and driven into the river by her boyfriend’s ex. Taron never left my side the entire time we were searching for her or when she was recovering in the hospital. He has been to my apartment to check on me daily since Eaven has been staying with Talon to recover.