Hitting the Right Notes (6 page)

Her voice brought him back to reality – to the world, where he was finally meeting happiness.

“So, are you going to tell me how you found me?” asked Darya as they started walking along the street. She wanted to say hello to the city.

For a moment, Eric again considered telling the whole truth to her – opening every dark secret about him and how it all was linked to her and the music career, which she once had. Just for a moment. Telling her that he had blamed her for all the darkest pages on his life? Somehow that didn’t sound right just yet.

Maybe someday
.

There would come the day, when she would trust him enough, like him, maybe fall in love with him and then she would be ready to hear all that he had to tell and would be open to understand him. For now, the goal was to keep her beside him and make her happy.

“I…uh… one of my friends, who had got us the invitations to the after party… she knew someone, who knew someone, who knew your name. You know how much things work.” Eric knew he didn’t sound believable, but he was simply not ready to risk his chance with Darya. What if she turned and went back to her conference? If she wanted to remain anonymous, he was going to play according to her rules.

“Ah, I see. And what else did that someone, who knew someone, tell your
friend
?” Darya’s question felt like very thin ice. One had no luxury to make a wrong step or they would fall through and ruin the whole thing.

“That your name is Darya Blake and you are the most amazing businesswoman on this planet.” He lied easily. The second part was not a lie of course, but pure truth.

Eric loved the smile in her eyes. He knew it was not a very common thing for her nowadays and promised to himself to do everything to keep the warmth of that smile there as long as he could.

Hopefully forever.

“So this morning I just called all the possible hotels in the city and checked which of those hosted business conferences...”

“That’s a lot of effort to find someone who had disappeared on you without a proper goodbye.”

“I had two very enthusiastic helpers,” Eric suppressed his laughter as he said that. If only Darya knew how enthusiastic his double moms were to play their favorite role of matchmakers for Eric. They probably had already gotten tired of dragging him everywhere with them and entertaining him with their very explicit intimate moments.

“I hope I can thank them someday. It was a great idea to get me out of that conference,” Darya said with a giggle.

It seemed to Eric that she was not walking, but flying or dancing next to him – breathtaking and beautiful. This amazing woman was with him, she had chosen him – Eric – the biggest loser in the world. With her walking next to him, Eric was ready to change it, to change his whole life – challenge himself and everything that had made him the way he was. He would be worth her… and then … maybe someday she would also be the person she used to be. Someday, he knew she would decide to shine again – just for him.

“I’m happy,” he knew he was beaming like a lunatic, but he didn’t care.
May the whole world think I’m crazy, I’m finally truly happy. I say the words and I mean them,
he thought. “What if something urgent happens there?”

“My assistant will take care of it. And if she doesn’t, I’ll lose some money, but that’s nothing compared to what I’m going to gain.” Her lips begged for a kiss and he was mesmerized by how clearly they talked to him, let him know of their needs, make him their captive.

Eric drank in those deep eyes – so much pain hidden in them, he ran his fingers through her long hair – which shone like fire, and no pain could extinguish it. Her full lips sang of epic love. Even now, years after she had left the stage, it felt as if her lips were created to sing. And right now those lips were singing of desire and passion burning both of them. Eric could feel his heart racing and he was afraid it could stop the moment he touched those lips. They were getting so close that he could feel her light breath puffing on his own lips. For a split second, he thought he was so scared that he wanted to run and hide from the whole world, but the pull of those lips was irresistible. He was a slave to their wish. He finally covered those last few inches between them and their lips united in what felt like the most tender and sweetest of the kisses. He was not ready to let go of her just yet, but soon both of them were out of breath and had to break apart to get some air.

“Hmm, that was nice,” she finally spoke lazily. His Darya was like a cat, who loved being caressed and purred as her body was worshipped. But was she truly his? Could he dare dream about it?

“Darya, promise me you will not leave me again.” If she only knew how much of his life was put in those simple words, would she ever take those words so easily? She laughed – it was a nervous laughter, one, that spoke volumes and told the story of a woman, who was used to breaking hearts as once her own had been broken and left to bleed in the rain.

“I promise,” she finally whispered into his ear. “To hell with the whole world, I want to enjoy my life, finally!” This promise was enough to fuel his heart. He knew there would come the day when the promise would vanish as would the woman whose lips had spoken those words, but until then, he was intent to live and make every moment of her life a miracle.

It would’ve been almost a miracle, if not for the sudden phone call, which interrupted their kiss. Eric sighed – there were only two people who ever called him and right now he was sure not to expect anything good from any of them.

“Hey Margo, what’s up?” he tried to press the phone so close to his ear, that in the likely case of Margo shouting something embarrassing, those words didn’t reach Darya’s sensitive ears. Though, he could read on her face that she had heard a female voice and was already looking at him with thousands questions on her beautiful face. “No. Absolutely not. No way. No. No. No… Please, just don’t… oh my god, give the phone to Alison, please…”

He put the phone back into his pocket and looked at her compliantly. “They are coming – the two best friends I mentioned to you…they decided to invite us to have lunch together.” Eric knew he was blushing to ears. How could they do this to him? What surprised him the most was Darya’s calm face – she didn’t freak out, didn’t run away, didn’t even ask why his friends knew where and with whom he was.

“Do you think they are going to like me?” she asked – half playfully, though a slight wave of insecurity showed underneath the confident tone.

“Absolutely,” he hurried to kiss her before his best friends showed up and made a complete fool of him.

Darya often felt that the world was too black and white.

It was strictly divided into two – the world and life before her failure and those after it. The world that came before the failure was full of friends and family and warmth. Now, she had denied herself all of it and seemed to have been used to this life for ages now. Even Kiara’s kids sometimes annoyed her to no limits. Even if she didn’t see them, the fact that her assistant had them and her attention was divided between them and her work was not to Darya’s liking.

Now, waiting for Eric’s friends to join them, Darya felt extremely nervous. She was not ready for any family warmth that this encounter was possibly bringing to her. Would they even like her? Jay had been her only boyfriend whose family she had known. They had been friends before even they fell in love with each other. But with Eric – this was going to be their very first date. Now why were his friends interfering?

As she watched two super attractive, bright, and lovely ladies jump out of the cab and hurry towards them, Darya’s worries immediately grew to monstrous anxiety. She was not going to survive this.

“Hey, here you are!” The first woman threw herself into Eric’s arms, then after what seemed to be an overbearing sisterly hug, let him out of her arms and launched herself towards Darya. “Hi, Darya, I am Alison, it is so nice to finally meet you!” And she hugged her again. Surprised and not knowing what to do with her arms Darya returned the affectionate gesture a bit awkwardly. Alison was a tall blonde woman with a perfect slim body and a beaming smile. She could understand how such a person could be one’s best friend – it felt as if she brought sunshine to her surroundings.

“Let me see them, baby,” said the other woman – much shorter and with more sportive built and cinnamon colored short hair. “You did good job, Eric, proud of you. Hi, Darya, I’m Margo, Ali’s girlfriend, which you have probably guessed already. Eric has been talking about you since morning.” She threw a meaningful look to Alison, which Darya didn’t understand and in a moment she even forgot about, since the two women were so loud and friendly, that she had to deal with a huge amount of shock.

“Well, so you’ve already managed to embarrass me on my first date. What’s the plan now?” Eric finally spoke and to Darya’s surprise he sounded as unsure as she felt.

Good, it is the two of us
, she thought. Though apparently, the enthusiastic couple of best friends were not planning on leaving them alone anytime soon.

“Shall we go grab lunch somewhere?” Suggested Margo and Alison seconded her offer eagerly. Eric looked assertive, so Darya realized there was no skipping the best friends just yet. So, why not use this time to one’s own benefit and try to learn as much about the guy she liked as possible? She knew one thing for sure – best friends were the ones to know one’s darkest secrets and with the right approach and good beer no secrets were held behind sealed lips.

So, letting the unsure confused Darya to linger by herself on the streets, Darya put on her investigative ego and hugging Eric followed Margo’s lead to find a restaurant for their lunch.

This is going to be fun,
she promised herself.

And it actually was!

It took only one glass of wine and beer to melt the ice of embarrassment, which troubled only Darya and Eric, since the couple was already completely at ease and bubbling nonstop about how they had helped Eric earlier that day in his quest to find Darya.

In a brief moment, Darya imagined how she would love to be at ease with the guys, who had once been her best friends. Alison had mentioned that the three of them knew one another for almost 18 years now. Darya did envy them in many ways. If Jay had not left her, their friendship with DaBlazers and her own band could have a history of almost 25 years. They could gather like this every now and then and remember the stupid adventures they had in their youth.

“We had to show Eric how to kiss when he was preparing for his first date in high school,” Alison’s cheerful words brought Darya back to reality. Eric blushed harder than the pomegranate juice he was having. He had mentioned that someone had to stay sober, but Darya got a feeling that he avoided alcohol in general – a quality she admired for sure. So many things would’ve been easier to overcome if she had not looked for answers in alcohol back in a day when she was weak and broken.

Margo laughed, and then kissed her girlfriend fondly on her cheek. “Baby, you are ruining this boy’s image. What will Darya think?”

“I think, it’s a damn sweet story. I never had such best friends to teach me – had to learn how to kiss with my own teddy bear,” Darya laughed and leaned on Eric’s shoulder. It was such a great feeling to have someone by her side not only for a secret one-night stand, but to share this kind of funny situation together.

“You couldn’t call it sweet if you knew what happened afterwards,” but Alison never managed to finish the story, as a huge floret of broccoli was shoved into her mouth. While she struggled to chew it, Margo nodded understandingly to Eric.

“Let’s just say that he never saw that girl again,” she said, hardly holding her own laughter.

“End of the story,” Eric growled menacingly, though taking in his sweetness, nothing he said could ever sound like a threat, he was more like an adorable puppy, who hoped his prey would simply walk away and save his dignity.

“What about you, Darya? Any first date failures to share?” Alison’s question would’ve been innocent and even friendly if it didn’t hurt so much. Of course, she had no way to know the real story and her question was simply out of curiosity, but one knew the wound of past was not healed, when even a light touch could drive sharp bolts of pain through it.

Darya did remember her first date with Jay. He was the new boy at school, his family had just moved to Oakland and he was the only boy who dared to wear a
Metallica
t-shirt underneath the school uniform and open the buttons of his shirt, so that everyone could see it. That had conquered Darya’s rebellious teenage heart. Next she knew, they were composing their first song together and kissing in every hidden corner at school.

Sweet as they were, those were not the memories she felt comfortable to share – especially with these people, who seemed to accept her as simply Darya and didn’t crave for sparkling stories covered with stardust.

Eric took her hand and Darya realized that she had been silent for too long.

“Don’t mind these two, they have not learned the word ‘private’ at school. But, you know, one doesn’t get to choose the best friends – they are like family – you get what you get.” Eric was her knight in white armor at that moment, as he not only saved her from her haunting memories, but also became the target of Ali and Margo’s teasing and funny stories until they were through with their meals.

He was there to protect her – this young beautiful man she had met only the evening before.

How
strange!

But one thing Darya knew for sure she was not going to throw away the gifts of destiny. She had done it way too often before and this time it felt too dear and desired not to cherish it. She was going to take her chance and to do everything in her power to make this work.

The shoulder she was leaning on became more and more comfortable – his spicy scent warm and familiar already. She could get used to having herself always wrapped in his warmth. And though, her instincts and protective reflexes were screaming at her to simply run away and hide before she was hurt again, Darya’s heart was brave and daring. Darya from the past thought it ridiculous to trust a man she had just met and knew nothing about him – this was exactly how people were getting themselves hurt. But she was no longer Darya from the past, she was herself – a woman, who wanted to be loved and she was going to accept that love from this lovely handsome man with big honest eyes.