Zenith Rising (12 page)

Pulling into his driveway, Spencer turned the
car off. He opened his door and stretched his long legs out, as
Erica did the same. His swift movements seemed angry. Annoyed. Was
he letting her know what he thought of her prying? She walked
around to the driver’s side of her car and he went up in front of
her hood and stopped her.

“You ever dump that prick, Dr. Roy?”

“No. Why? Did I say I was going to?”

“You were there, right? Didn’t you notice he
thought that crappy pamphlet was almost okay? He didn’t seem too
upset. Since, you’re so into prying, why not look at your own life?
Or is all that judgment and advice meant only for the women
patients you so easily dispense it to? Oh, yeah, and to me, the
out-of-work musician that I am, and loser handyman to you. Isn’t
that right, Doc?”

Erica was startled by the harshness of his
voice, not to mention all the hostility directed at her. She
stepped back.

“No, that isn’t right. None of that. I don’t
think you’re a loser. Not even close.”

“Really?” He stepped closer, his head bending
down towards hers. His hands suddenly came up, wrapping around her
biceps, and he pulled her forward. “What do you think about, Doc?
When you’re all alone at night, what do you think about? The next
patient? The next problem you can solve? The next person you can
cure?”

“You make me sound like I’m obsessed with
fixing everyone’s problems that I meet. It’s not like that for
me.”

“What then? What do you think about? Fixing
me? Is that what you’re trying to do?”

She jerked back and his hands gripped her
tighter, keeping her right there before him. She shook her head.
“No. Stop it, Spencer. I don’t appreciate this. I was just asking
you a few personal questions. You don’t have to turn into such an
ass about it.”

“Fire me, Doc,” he said softly, a taunting
smile curving his lips. He stared into her eyes, as if daring her.
“Why don’t you just get it over with and fire me?”

“If you don’t want your job, or don’t like
working for me, then quit. Whatever! Just stop being such a prick
to me.”

“Still, you can’t even raise your voice, can
you? Get angry? Get a little emotional?”

“I can. When I actually care. I don’t care
what you do.”

“That’s your problem, you care about what
everyone needs. I doubt you even know what you need for yourself
anymore.

He was staring into her eyes until his gaze
fell onto her mouth.

He brought her right against him and his head
lowered as his lips found hers. Soft, full, and with gentle
pressure, his lips moved over hers, in striking contrast to his
mean words. His leg burrowed between her legs, and he pulled her up
onto it before his mouth returned to hers: open, hot, wet, and
deep. Her legs turned to jelly at the sudden rush of passion she
felt inside her. She nearly trembled, and used his leg to catch her
and support her, although it also shocked her. All of it. It came
out of nowhere. He kissed her like that for several minutes. Then,
she lost all sense of time and space.

As quickly as he started kissing her, he
unexpectedly pushed her away. His hands dropped off her body and he
shoved them into his pockets. His eyes once more went cold, as his
expression turned neutral.

“Get out of here, Doc. You can’t fix me.”

Chapter Eight

Erica froze, and stopped listening when
Spencer walked through the door. Rob and Spencer came in together,
dressed alike, in suits. They arrived there hours before they had
to play, doing sound checks and practicing, while talking to each
other. Now they were back all dressed up, and Erica, busy as she
was, suddenly became way too aware of Spencer’s presence. When his
fingers danced over the keys of the piano with practiced skill and
confidence, she stared in awe at him. The sounds he created were
perfection to her ears. It was certainly something to see Spencer
doing what he was best at, with confidence, and God-given talent.
He even looked different to Erica up on the stage playing. He
seemed relaxed, at ease, in command, and almost approachable.

Erica fluttered around the now decorated
banquet room, chatting, smiling, and helping the caterers and
servers with any questions or dilemmas that arose. The flowers
scented the air with sweet perfume, and the balloons clung to the
ceiling, while glitter and fake snow blanketed the floor.

Two weeks had already passed since she and
Spencer shared their first kiss. She tried her best to ignore him.
Although she wasn’t proud over hiding from him, she was undeniably
relieved. She couldn’t find any appropriate words to say to
Spencer. Did she dare to confront him about what happened that
night?
That kiss.
That was the kiss she’d been waiting for
all of her life.

No! It couldn’t be. Spencer could not be the
one she’d been waiting for. He kissed her solely out of anger, and
because of who and what she was, and what he perceived she was
trying to do. He thought she wanted to fix him. As well as fixing
everyone else. Actually, she didn’t know the true reason why he
became so angry at her. All she did know was that Spencer hated
her.

His kiss shook her up way too much. It
traveled from her lips into her gut in a few seconds, and soon had
her skin tingling, her toes curling, and her entire womb feeling
like it was on fire. He did it just to annoy her. To punish her,
because he didn’t like her type. However, it only created the
opposite effect on her.

Then, for four days, she didn’t see him at
work around the building, or her office. It wasn’t until Thursday
that she ran into him leaving work. He just stared at her with a
hard, unforgiving scowl that shook her up and made her nervous. She
even tried to offer him a smile.

He passed right by her with a lazy, insolent,
Hey Doc
, and a transparent and rude smirk. Since then, there
was no contact between them, no words or explanations. His parting,
horrible remark kept tumbling around in her brain,
Get out of
here, Doc, you can’t fix me.

Rob was the one who called her about
confirming the start time and details for their performance
tonight. Rob was courteous and very polite to her on the phone. He
said they found a drummer to play with them. Rob also assured her
they wouldn’t do anything to embarrass themselves or her for this
one night.

So Erica had no clue of what the night might
entail, or why Spencer chose to kiss her. She never knew what
Spencer felt, much less, what he thought. That was why she nearly
got sick and her nerves felt raw anytime she even contemplated
seeing him, talking to him, or trying to figure out what he wanted
from her. Nothing. Loud and clear, Spencer wanted nothing to do
with her.

****

Roy arrived only a half hour before
everything was scheduled to start. He wore a tuxedo quite well. He
was groomed and tanned, looking quite healthy in a fitness club
kind of way. A way that made it fairly obvious to any onlooker that
he waxed his eyebrows and highlighted his hair. Erica hated seeing
it, but forgave him.

The dinner started, and the guests filled the
room. All was going along well without any major glitches. Spencer
played the piano for ambience as people mingled before dinner. It
was a soft, unending tune, but totally appropriate and equally
enchanting.

Sitting down for dinner, the emcee of the
evening listed the major donors before the auction started. The
ensuing laughter and bidding won the guests over. The more fun it
became, the more money they spent.

Finally, Rob joined Spencer and they played
dancing music. It was mostly soft, retro songs, of smooth rock and
jazz, but all of the music was unanimously appreciated. When Roy
came up behind her, sweeping her out to the dance floor, Erica let
out a laugh. They danced long enough for Erica to get winded. It
was an odd sensation for her to dance to a live band she knew
personally. It was even odder that she spent more time looking at
Spencer, and watching him, than her dance partner or anything
else.

Eventually, the evening, as well as the
guests, started to wind down, and many began to leave. Erica
drifted across the long balcony that ran beside the hotel. It was
made of stone, and interspersed with gothic gargoyles and potted
plants situated under the cool, deep shadows of the roof’s
overhang. She leaned against the stone siding. If felt warm. She
was pleased with her accomplishment at hosting a successful
fundraiser. Maybe some good karma would reward her efforts tonight.
Now however, she was tired and very glad it was nearly over.

“Looks like you don’t need any pleather. That
dress seems to do it for old Dr. Roy.”

Erica jumped, startled, as the disembodied
voice approached her.

Spencer
. She looked around, then
spotted him. He was tucked away between the waist-high stone
railing and a hideous gargoyle. He was sitting on the foot-wide
ledge. It was a stupid place to sit, as they were several floors
above the pavement below.

He was staring at her and watching her
silently from the first moment she went out there. He had a lit
cigarette that illuminated in the shadows as he put it to his lips
before exhaling a stream of smoke.

“I didn’t know you smoked.”

“I don’t.”

She stared with obvious puzzlement. He was
certainly smoking now.

“Would have preferred a hit off a joint, but
all I could scrounge up was one of Rob’s cigarettes.”

“A hit off what?”

“Pot, Doc. What else?”

“How would I know? I’ve never been into
street drugs.”

He laughed and his white teeth flashed in the
moonlight. He took a drink from the beer bottle next to him. “Not
really a drug.”

“It’s barely legal.”

He smirked and raised his eyebrows. “Shame
you’re not more fun, Doc.”

He seemed to be deliberately trying to tick
her off. His innuendos were childish and insulting. Why? He usually
wasn’t so rude to her. He usually kept things very impersonal and
distant.

“Maybe you shouldn’t sit up there.”

He smirked as he leaned back slightly, while
looking down. “Nice view from here.” Then he glanced her way and
sat up straighter. “Both directions. You look good tonight too. Not
exactly like any doctor I ever saw before.”

She wore a black dress that was simple,
classic, with a V-neck. It made her hair color pop, but was also
rather sedate and tasteful. It wasn’t exactly the kind of dress
that drew unwanted men’s attention in the way Spencer
suggested.

She sighed at his nasty mood. “What did I do
to offend you?”

“You judged me. Don’t like being judged.”

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “You
mean about Tamira? Maybe I did.”

“Always so proper, aren’t you? Well-spoken.
Looking out for everyone else.”

“And now you have a problem with that
too?”

He ground the cigarette into the stone, and
flipped the butt over the side before standing up to his full
height, and stepping closer to her.

“I have a problem with you being a
hypocrite.”

“How am I hypocrite?”

“You look down on me for something I did in
my own home; while old Dr. Roy gets to feel you up in the office,
and fuck you in some coat room. At least, when I do it, I keep it
private.”

“Fu… What coat room? What are you talking
about?”

“You know, the coat room.”

She shook her head, scrunching her eyebrows.
“What coat room? Where? What are you talking about?”

Spencer’s smirk slowly faded. “That… wasn’t
you?”

“Me? Where? When?” Her voice was unnaturally
high.

“I thought it was you.” He shook his head.
“Never mind.”

“Never mind what?”

Spencer sighed and pushed his hands into the
pockets of his trousers. He dropped the rude tone. “I was looking
for Rob’s coat to bum a cigarette and I saw your Dr. Roy back in
the corner; he was doing it with someone. I… just assumed it was
you.”

“
Oh my God.”
Erica turned away from
him, her humiliation churning her stomach, flushing her face, and
warming her cheeks. Here? Roy dared to cheat on her with someone
here? At a damned charity event? One she worked her ass off
organizing? He actually did it in the damn coat closet?

Erica turned around, aiming her anger
unreasonably at Spencer. He was rude to her because he thought she
was having sex in the closet with her boyfriend? Where did he get
off? “So what if it was me? Why would you care if I was the one
doing that? I would have guessed you would have applauded me.
You’re so out there, with how free and unconventional you choose to
be.”

Spencer shrugged and stepped back. “I’m
sorry. Really, I wouldn’t have told you like this.”

“You’re sure it was him?”

“I’m sure it was Dr. Roy, Doc.”

His voice was low and sincere. She knew he
was telling her the truth. Later, she’d think about it, and see how
she felt. That’s what she’d do: figure out how she felt. Right now,
it was simply humiliating to discover what a fool she’d been. She
turned to hide the tears in her eyes.

Spencer put a hand on her shoulder. It felt
large and warm as it rested there. “Hey, I’m sorry. Really. I
shouldn’t have opened my big mouth and told you that.”

Surprised, she turned. He dropped his hand.
He had a real thing about showing affection.

She rubbed at her eyes. “It’s not like my
heart is broken. I’m just humiliated. I thought… I thought we were
at least being faithful to each other. Dating exclusively. Is that
really too much to ask?”

He held his hands up. “You’re asking me? I
don’t know. I never signed up for it. But sounds like the prick
doctor did. So yeah, he should have had the common decency to live
up to it.”