Stubborn Love (15 page)

“Right? I wired it before I even did the drywall,” he boasted proudly.

“You have officially blown my mind.”

“Not yet, but I will,” he muttered under his breath, the childish sexual innuendo making me smile.

Once the music was playing he wasted no time relieving himself of his clothes. I began to throw catcalls in his direction, which he was happy to oblige me with an extremely sexy sway of his hips. With only his boxers on, he looked at me, waiting for me to let him know just how bad I wanted the full monty.

“Come on, baby, show me what you got,” I quipped playfully. And then he did. Revealing his massiveness, he perfectly on display at eye level. I reached a hand out toward him, but he pulled away, shaking a finger at me, as if I was being naughty.

“We have all night,” Colin informed me as he walked around to the side of the tub opposite of me and slid in.

“And what exactly do you have planned for this all-night marathon?” I inquired, watching him sink into the clouds of white, his legs grazing mine.

“Hmm… I want to leave some things as a surprise, but how long has it been since you’ve had a massage with real massage oils?”

“Good question… let’s see,” I responded, pretending to try and remember. “Oh yeah, never.”

“Then I’m glad I get to pop that cherry.”

“You’re going to be my undoing, Colin Bennett.”

“I hope so; it’s only fair since you were mine,” he said, beckoning me closer. I turned, sliding my back against his still semi-hardness, laying my head against his chest, his arm wrapping around me, his fingertips coming to rest just below my breasts. Expelling all the air from my lungs I closed my eyes, soaking in the peacefulness of the moment. No more pain haunting every thought, the guilt had found another place to live… at least for now. The only thing that plagued me these days was an overwhelming desire to be right here, in his arms.

You can do this. You open your mouth, and you just tell him. You know you need to do this—it’s not right to keep moving forward and not tell him. I told myself this as I stared in my bathroom mirror. The closer Colin and I had been growing, the more I felt like I should be telling him about Ashton and my past.

He shared so many intimate details with me, about when his parents died, or when his uncle basically abandoned them. There was even the night where he was almost in tears, telling me what a failure he felt like when Christian lost control of his sobriety. I sat there listening, nodding, consoling, but when he looked to me to reciprocate the giving, I simply sat there with a blank stare on my face.

He never pushed me, but I could tell he knew there was something behind my wall that I didn’t want him knowing. I could see that it was hurting him, and the last thing I wanted to do was hurt Colin.

“Emmie, Colin’s here,” Paige called from the other room.

I looked in the mirror one last time. Tonight, tell him tonight.

Emerging from my room I could feel all eyes on me. “What?” I asked, looking down at my most recent thrift store find—a mini dress with a sequined silver top.

“You look hot,” Paige said, her mouth hanging open.

“Thanks,” I replied beaming a smile back.

“I concur,” Colin added coming up behind me and wrapping an arm around my waist.

“Pace yourself, guys,” Christian snapped from the edge of the kitchen.

“Oh, come on, I’ve been watching you and Paige going at it for years.” Colin laughed at his brother’s reaction.

“That’s different,” Christian argued, unable to support his claim with any facts.

“Yeah, whatever you say. Grab your coats, ladies; we don’t want to be late,” Colin instructed.

For the first time, I stopped and took a good, long look at Colin. He was wearing distressed jeans and a red and blue button up plaid flannel shirt. “Wait, am I over dressed?” I asked, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.

“No way,” Colin replied.

“I thought we were going to a concert,” I said, searching for details.

“We are,” Colin answered plainly.

“Where at?” I questioned, not trusting his assurance that my attire was appropriate.

“Half Kings,” Christian answered as Colin’s eyes shot daggers.

“What? Oh my God, I’m changing. I’m way over dressed,” I complained.

“No!” Colin exclaimed. “I’m not letting you take that dress off until we get home tonight. You look amazing.”

“You do look hot, girl,” Paige offered in agreement.

“So, am I going to have to worry about any exes trying to make out with you tonight?” I asked, only half joking.

“Not if you’re wearing that dress,” Christian said looking over Colin’s shoulder.

“Nice, Christian,” Paige snapped.

“What?” Christian shrugged his shoulders. “You said something first. Besides, she’s screwing my brother, which that makes her like, sister material or something.”

“Just shut up,” Paige commanded, rolling her eyes.

“Fine—it’s settled—the dress stays. Now let’s go,” Colin ordered.

As we all filed through the doorway I asked, “So who’s playing tonight?”

“It’s a secret,” Colin replied.

“Paige, who’s playing?

Paige confirmed Colin’s story. “No really, it is a secret. Sometimes a larger band comes to town and they want a smaller show for fun or old time’s sake. Whatever the reason, they call up Half Kings for an underground show.”

“Do you know who’s playing, Colin?” I pressed. It drove me crazy when I was left out of the loop on things.

“I might,” he replied.

“Colin always knows who it is, but he wouldn’t even tell me this time.” Christian was clearly not pleased to be excluded from the inner circle either.

Colin laughed at the response of the group. “You will all see soon enough.”

As soon as we entered the crowded bar, Colin ushered us to the front, seating everyone at a table he must have had reserved. I began to ask more questions about who we might be seeing, but he simply acted like he didn’t hear me. I leaned in closer, wanting to make sure he could hear my next statement. “I want to talk to you about something important tonight after the show.”

He furrowed his brow, concerned by my words. “Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, I just want to talk about some stuff,” I answered. I knew I needed to lock myself into the conversation about my past, about Ashton, or I would chicken out. He nodded, then told me he needed to take care of a few things before the show started, and I watched as he escaped into the crowd.

“I’m going to get drinks—you girls want anything?” Christian asked.

“What are you drinking?” Paige asked in a stern tone, her jaw dropping.

“Jesus,
Mom
, I was going to get a ginger ale if that’s all right with you?” he snapped. Based on the exchange, I assumed Paige must have had her suspicions about his recent slip from the proverbial wagon. I hadn’t heard anything else from Colin about the matter so I assumed it had only been the single incident. I didn’t dare get involved in the conversation based on the looks being exchanged.

“I’m good,” I called over the crowd.

“And you can get your own,” Christian huffed before Paige could put in her request.

As he walked away, I looked to her, the thoughts going through her mind clearly displayed on her face. “Is everything okay?”

“Huh?” Paige muttered, realizing I was watching her. “Oh, it’s fine; he gets in a mood sometimes, that’s all.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” I attempted to reassure her.

Paige always wanted to talk about Christian and their relationship, but there was concern in her eyes, and in that moment, it seemed to be the furthest thing she wanted to talk about. “You and Colin seem to be getting pretty hot and heavy.”

“Yeah, I still can’t believe it,” I replied, looking around the bar for any sign of Colin, but he was nowhere to be found. “I swore I wouldn’t get serious with a guy while I was away at school, but he—I’m not sure, I guess it’s his charm.”

“Yeah, charm. Or the fact that he’s hot as hell,” Paige joked.

“Well, that doesn’t hurt,” I agreed, grinning foolishly.

“Seriously though, Emmie, I’ve never seen him like this with someone before.” Paige’s voice shifted to one of concern. “Are you sure you’re in this, too?”

Her question knocked the air out of me. I was a little shocked, that being my friend, she would ask me such a thing. “Why would you ask that?”

“It’s like you said, you didn’t want anything to do with a boyfriend, and now it’s all about Colin. I just don’t want to see him get hurt if you change your mind.”

Even though she had a valid point, I still felt myself getting defensive. “Look, Colin is the one that convinced me to give us a try. I told him I wasn’t ready.”

“I get that,” Paige said looking over her shoulder, presumably checking up on Christian, who was now headed in our direction with two ginger ales. “I didn’t mean anything by it, just forget it.”

Setting the extra glass down in front of Paige I saw his lips whisper, ‘Sorry babe.’ She looked up, smiling, their spat ending with a gentle kiss.

I turned toward the stage, my face still hot from the question Paige had asked me. I couldn’t figure out if I was angrier that she thought I would hurt Colin or because I thought I might hurt him.

“And now, ladies and gentlemen, we have a very special treat for you tonight.” A man with a very large belly and muttonchops on the sides of his round face took the small stage, yelling into the microphone.

The crowd began to scream, though I wondered why since nobody was supposed to know who this was. “Where’s Colin?” I asked, looking back at Paige and Christian. They both shrugged their shoulders.

“For your listening pleasure,” the man continued, “I am thrilled to present a band some of you might remember when they were just Wesley Jeremiah.”

The crowd erupted into frenzied screams. I searched around once again for Colin, but it was hopeless. Turning back to the stage I attempted to wait for him patiently, becoming increasingly agitated he brought me to a concert, only to abandon me before it even began.

“All right, quiet down. Now for those of you who weren’t around back in those days, these boys went on to bigger and better things out in Denver, even though we will always remember their New York days, right folks?”

And again the crowd erupted. I turned toward Paige, only able to mouth, ‘who?’ She seemed to have the answer, but I couldn’t figure out what she was trying to say over the noise.

“The Lumineers!” My stomach flipped, and I suddenly found myself screaming like the rest of the crowd. I loved The Lumineers; they had become a standard part of my playlist while painting. Damn, I wished Colin were there.

A petite woman entered onto the stage, taking her seat behind a cello that was waiting for her. Soon after, the four remaining members joined her, the noise from the crowd causing my ears to pulse. The lead singer grabbed the microphone at the front, center stage, motioning for the crowd to silence. After a moment they obeyed.

“Hello Half Kings!” he shouted, which only caused him to have to wait for the crowd to quiet again. “We are thrilled to be here tonight, and actually, we are here thanks to the effort of one friend. This guy helped us out more than once back in the day. Colin, get out here.”

I was certain there must be something wrong with my hearing—that is, until I saw Colin stumble onto stage and into the embrace of the lead singer. I looked back at Paige and Christian in disbelief. They just laughed in response to my expression.

“Colin found out we were in town, and he called me up with a sob story about how he met a beautiful girl who changed everything for him. After thoroughly heckling the poor bastard he still asked if we could help him woo this lovely bird. Isn’t that right, brother?”

Colin leaned into the mic, laughing slightly as the crowd cheered. “The boys, oh and sorry, lovely Neyla as well, agreed to help me express my love for my beautiful Clementine.”

There it was—he said my name in front of the room of screaming fans, in front of The Lumineers, and now everyone would be sure to witness my inevitable fainting spell. This couldn’t be happening.

“That’s her right there in the front. Beautiful, right?” Colin graciously offered me up to the crowd, my face now bright red and extremely warm.

“Stand up, love,” one of the bandmates chimed.

“Yes, stand up, baby,” Colin agreed.

Wanting the embarrassment to cease, I did as I was asked, the crowd whistling at me in response. All I could think was that everyone in the bar thought how completely overdressed I was.

“Babe, since I met you my life has been so different. Better. I feel alive. I know you’re a tough nut to crack, and that’s why I want to sing a little song for you,” Colin continued.

I decided my only hope to make it through the event would be to focus on Colin, staring only at him, letting the crowd fall away. “You sing?” I mouthed toward him in disbelief.

“Yes, sweetheart, I sing. Perhaps not well, but you’re about to find out though. Ready guys?” Colin asked looking back at the group. As soon as they began playing the music I recognized the song: “Stubborn Love,” one of my favorites.

When he began I could hear the nerves in his voice, but after only a few words, it faded away. He took a step closer to the edge of the stage, locking eyes with me, and in that moment we were alone. After about half the song passed the rest of the band joined in. This was my life now; I was with a man who would get up in front of a crowd of people and serenade me alongside a band he knew I loved.

“Give it up for Colin Bennett everyone!” the lead singer shouted as the song came to an end. Colin was like a rock star up there, exchanging some sort of handshake only the cool kids could possibly know the sequence of.

Leaping from the stage he scooped me up into his arms, dipping me back, and delivering a passionate kiss. As I broke free, he whispered into my ear, breathing heavily, “I love you.”