Rock Star (Dream Weaver #2) (7 page)

Chapter 9 Jesse’s Girl

              For days, Nick and I held tentative orbits around each other as the swirling winter plunged deeper into the new year. He was definitely hiding something from me. An image, a thought, a memory he didn’t want me to see. His touch was tentative, almost fearful. Something in his head restrained him. I couldn’t see it, but I felt it—something seized his heart and coiled up within him like a spring wound too tight. And I had to wonder if, or when, that spring would snap. I knew Nick had a private vault for his treasured, tortured memories. But even with his decades of experience, Thomas had been able to dig them up and use them against him. And I believed there was something else that he kept hidden from me.

             
Each night, Nick lay at my side with my head on his chest and Eddyson sandwiched between our bodies. Only a few weeks ago, the pup was a ball of fur curled up against my chest. Now, his body stretched the length of my torso. But more than a warm puppy lay between us. Nick’s fortress of secrets was erected and fortified. Our talk was shallow, cordial. My heart ached at the distance and the constant tension on his face.

             
The sun eked out from behind the clouds more often and chased the mounds of snow into the thawing ground. On the crisp, sunny days, we hung out at the house or went into town. We became regulars at Urban Blends and the Bistro where he became as familiar to the baristas as me. Nick kept me busy with trips to the park up on Mt. Spokane, or Manito, or Riverfront. This blind ambling existence reminded me of the naked mole rats I’d seen at a zoo in Seattle a few years ago. The sightless little rodents toddled through tunnels aimlessly, and bumped into each other in their wandering. Blind and present.

             
Crisp late-winter sunshine sliced through a gap between my curtains and gouged me from sleep, just in time to hear my cell on the nightstand buzz out the strains of a goofy song about a fox. Ivy’s ringtone. My best girl, Ivy. My sweet, petite best friend from junior high. She fell in love with my last name immediately back then, and from almost the beginning, she called me ‘Sweets’ or ‘Sweetie’. I eventually retaliated and gave her endearment of her own. Baby. We were ‘Sweetie’ and ‘Baby’, the dynamic dorks. My lips curled with fondness, and I reached across Nick’s chest to retrieve my phone.

             
“Hey, Baby. What’s up?”

             
“Hey, Sweets. Coffee date?” Her voice lilted through the phone.

             
“Well, good morning to you too,” I said feigning annoyance.

             
“Fine. Good morning. Coffee date?”

             
“Who am I to turn down an offer of Nectar of the Gods?” There was no other drink in the world that made me happier than an Amoretto breve, except maybe a shot of Fireball, and Ivy knew it. My thoughts turned to the third dorkateer in our club. Jesse. “Hey, have ya seen Jess, lately?”

             
Silence answered me and I knew she was trying not to cry. “No. Not much. He quit Cash’s because of—what his brother did, so now, I don’t see him much at all. I miss him. A lot.” It was my turn to fight the lump in my throat. “Sweets? You okay?”

             
“Yeah, Ives. I’m okay. I miss him, too. Maybe we’ll just have to hunt him down, and force him into a group pedicure.” Nick’s body tensed beside me. Was he jealous? Seriously?

             
“Yeah. Maybe. So. Urban Blends? Noonish?”

             
“Sounds good. See ya there.” I thumbed my cell off and tossed it on the nightstand. Nick’s arms snaked around me and whisked me onto my back. His chest pressed against mine; his face hovered above me. His eyes scanned my face as though searching for the answer to a question that warred on his lips. My eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong?”

             
“Nothing.” But he continued to search my face. I waited. He traced my jaw line with his thumb. “You know I love you? Right?”

             
“I don’t even know what that means, right now.” I paused, doing some investigating of my own. “Is this some kind of ‘marked territory’ thing?” I asked finally.

             
Nick laughed. “A what? Where did you get an idea like that?”

             
“Sabre.”

             
Nick gave a knowing nod. “Aw. I see. And you are aware that Sabre is an ass?”

             
I giggled, pushed him away and slid off the bed. “Yeah, I’ve heard something like that a time or two.”

             
“Well, it’s true,” he said. “And don’t you ever forget it.” A rush of heat exploded in my chest as I watched him, with his dark eyes and mussed hair, and most assuredly looking the part of a bad ass rocker dude. So hot!

             
“Forget what…oh. Yeah. Sabre’s an ass,” I reminded myself, and turned away to hide the blush that flamed in my cheeks. “Uh. Gotta get a shower.” I dismissed myself to the bathroom to lasso in my hormones and my brains.

             
Nick and Sabre were such a unique pair. I wondered how Nick managed to stand him for all these years—since 1918 when Nick—transformed. Sure, I’d gotten inklings of a different, softer side of Sabre, but sometimes, he was just downright mean. And you could almost never tell his motivations in anything he did. The one thing you could count on was that Sabre was constantly analyzing, constantly experimenting, constantly searching for answers. Damned the cost.

             
Nick dropped me off at the Chile’s entrance on the west side of the mall, even though the walk to Urban Blends was longer. I still couldn’t stand to use the Cash’s entrance on the other side. It just conjured way too many memories of a day in my life I’d prefer to forget.               I spied Ivy’s petite frame pacing in front of the café.

             
“‘bout time!” she teased.

             
With a dismissive wave, I said, “Whatever. It’s not even noon.” It felt so good just to see her face. Her cool blue eyes sparkled with joy. “Hey, Baby.”

             
She wrapped her arms around my neck and I hugged her to me like I’d never let go. “Gawd, I’ve missed you, Sweets.” Her words echoed the sentiments in my own heart, and her body vibrated against me as the heaviness of her pent up emotions finally found freedom in the safety of my arms.

             
“I’ve missed you too, Baby. Now. You’d better let me go before people start talking.”

             
“Let ‘em talk,” she said, but she let me go. Instead, she took my hand and dragged me into café. The barista, Tessa’s perky smile warmed me as we entered the coffee shop. “Well, don’t you look just beautiful,” she said.

             
“Thanks, Tess.” I hadn’t given her the opportunity to get me alone so she could interrogate me about Nick, and the desire scorched behind her eyes. May as well get it over with. She leaned across the counter as she rang me up and waggled her eyebrows at me. “So? Cute boy. Spill.”

             
I giggled. Nick wasn’t really much of a boy. “I know, right.”

             
“He’s like, rock star hot,” she said as she started my breve. “Where’d you find him?”

             
“Oh, skulking around in the woods.”

             
She laughed, no clue how serious I was. “Did you meet him since…I mean. You never brought him around before…I mean…” Tessa cringed. “I’m sorry.”

             
“No sweat, Tess. We knew each other ‘before’, sort of. He’s been hanging out with me since. Kind of taking care of me.”

             
“That’s sweet.” Worry still corrugated her brow and I reached across the counter to touch her hand as she slid me the coffee.

             
“It’s all good, Tess. Really. I’m doing okay. A bit of PTSD but, like I said, it’s all good.”

             
The barista’s brow relaxed and her tense shoulders drooped. “You’re so sweet.”

             
I chuckled. “Just curious, but did you know that’s my last name? Sweet?”

             
She huffed a surprised laugh. “I didn’t. I just know you as Emari, from Cash’s. That’s a great name.”

             
“Yeah, just thankful the olds didn’t name me Candy or Sugar or something else gag-worthy.” Wow, I hadn’t called my parents ‘the olds’ in a long time.

             
“There is that.”

             
Another customer ambled to the counter, so Ivy and I said our goodbyes to Tessa, and took our coffees to the comfy chairs in a quiet corner. Neither of us wanted to the broach the subject of Jesse; it just hurt too much. We used to be the three amigos. Now, Ivy and I hardly ever saw each other, and neither of us saw Jesse. I missed the cheesy old songs he used to sing to me—old Elvis tunes and ballads from the fifties and sixties.

             
Ivy filled me in on the comings and goings at Cash’s Department Store; how Collin, our manager, and Blake, the store loss prevention guy, were doing. After thirty minutes of banter, we both grew quiet and contemplative. I could’ve sworn I saw Ivy’s coffee tremble as she brought it to her lips.

             
“So, are you okay?” I asked.

             
“Yeah. Sure.” Hmmm. No ‘sure sure’ like she would normally respond, in ode to one of our favorite books. So things were most definitely not ‘okay’ with Ivy.

             
“I think…” I began, but her cell rang and she held up a finger to pause me. ‘I think you’re full of it,’ I wanted to say.

             
Ivy snapped her phone shut. “Duty calls,” she said, acting all chipper and fake. Wait. Since when did she need to b.s. me?

             
“Seriously?”

             
“Totally.”

             
“Wasn’t there something you were going to tell me?” I pushed. A little.

             
Ivy’s sweet face blanched white. “Uh. No.” She lied. Unconvincingly. “The new Brittany is sick. Collin’s freaking cuz there won’t be anyone in Kid’s in like five minutes.”

             
“Oh yay! Another Brittany—like there aren’t a ton of them in the world now.” Ivy had no intention of spilling, and she was using work as an excuse. She scrambled to gather her things, when I knew she was the opposite of happy about going to work. Normally, she’d be grumbling and cursing and moving as slow as she could.
Hmmm.
Her muscles were rigid and twitchy when she gave me a hug good-bye.

             
“Ives? I’m here. If you need me. Okay?”

             
“Sure sure,” she said as she hurried away and turned to wave.

             
Sure sure, my ass!

             
I texted Nick to meet me, and he strolled into the café a few minutes later. Tessa’s smile couldn’t get much bigger. ‘Hot boy!’ she mouthed and I laughed.

             
“What?” Nick asked.

             
“Oh, nothing. Inside joke.” Our arms slid easily around each other’s waist and I glanced over my shoulder in time to see Tessa give me a ‘squeeze his ass’ gesture. I felt the air suck out of my lungs and my shoulders stiffen. Mortified at the thought, I shook my head ‘no’ at her. Her laughter chased us down the corridor.

             
“Still an inside joke?” Nick asked.

             
“Yes. And please don’t try to find it.”

             
He nuzzled my ear and whispered, “As you wish.”

             
Nick and I wandered through the mall hand in hand, grateful that songs with words like ‘Santa bring her a new heart, cuz I broke the old one’ no longer blared overhead. Although, I did miss the Santa skulls in my Goth store. We were walking past the skateboarder’s shop, when Jesse walked out. My eyes sought out the warm brown of his, and when they met, a flush of something beyond friendly affection blazed within me. I acted impulsively on a memory from Sabre’s rock star weave. I dropped Nick’s hand, flung my arms around Jess’s neck and kissed him full on the mouth. When his lips and arms didn’t respond to me, I realized what I had done. Jesse was my beau in Sabre’s weave and some part of me still remembered the intimate relationship we’d shared. My face radiated embarrassed heat. I jerked away and grabbed Nick’s hand, thrust a desperate plea for help at him.

             
Jesse stood rigid and stunned, the word ‘what’ still gaping from his mouth.

             
Nick understood what happened, and my desperation for it to be fixed. Jesse didn’t need to be confused about where we stood because of Sabre’s little escapade. Or because I was stupid. ‘Please!’ I begged Nick with the pain of remorse prickling in my eyes. ‘Please fix it for me.’