Page 54 of You Spin Me

The only thing that would make this better? If I could share it with Jess.

Chapter13

Don’t miss WBAR’s annual Bleeding Hearts concert this weekend at the Ratt in Kenmore Square with headliners The Colourfield and Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Tickets available at Ticketron.

JESS

I manage to make it to the station only a few minutes late. There’s a different receptionist at the front than there was the other day, but after a few unsuccessful tries at getting Jones on the phone, the woman gives up and points down a hallway. Unfortunately, this place is a bit of a rabbit warren. After a few turns, I find myself in a hallway lined with closed doors. I try to retrace my steps, but I end up in what seems like a different hallway, also lined with closed doors.

Now fifteen minutes late, I’m wondering if I’m actually asleep and having a nightmare. Telling myself that I won’t ruin the broadcast if I’m super quiet, I pick a door and turn the knob.

When I pull it open, a man falls through.

CAL

Still riding the high of a successful interview, I head to the music library to put my research away before we edit the tape. Arms full of folders stacked on top of my crate of albums, I turn around to open a door with my back, but it disappears behind me so fast I stumble through the opening. Instinctively protecting my precious cargo with both arms, I land on my ass with a thud. I save the albums, but the folders and their contents scatter across the floor.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” A mass of dark corkscrew curls hides the face of a petite woman as she stoops to gather up the papers, but I sure as hell know that voice.

“I’m so stupid,” she mutters. “I’m trying to find the promo booth. I swear I can get lost anywhere.”

I don’t think. Without even getting up, I take both of her hands in mine.

She looks up, drops the papers, and gasps. I never put my hoodie back on after the interview, so my tats and my scars are exposed. Her eyes take it all in, from my hands, to my arms, to my neck, my jaw, left cheek, and finally to my eyes.

What I see in hers about kills me. It’s the usual suspects.

Surprise. Horror. Pity.

Boom, boom, boom.

I squeeze her hands once before releasing them and giving her my crooked smile. It’s not a flirty thing. It’s the only one I’ve got.

Eyes on the spill, I quickly sweep everything up, give her a quick nod and get away as quickly as I can, hoping the lit Recording sign in the studio will keep her from following me.

It’s only when I’m safe behind the closed door that I wonder what the fuck she’s doing here.

Chapter14

Brought to you by the station that fits you to a T, WBAR 101.7 FM, Boston.

JESS

I’m not sure how long I sit on the floor after the mystery man leaves.

When I do manage to stand, my legs are shaky. I feel like I just saw a ghost. No, not a ghost. More like one of those guardian angels from that movieWings of Desire. But the warm, firm hands gripping mine said otherwise. Not to mention broad shoulders that looked like they held the weight of the world. Or muscled arms strong enough to do the most challenging choreographed lift.

The scars molding and stretching the planes of his face looked painful. Angry, even. But they weren’t what brought on my tears. It was what I read in his eyes. In seconds, I saw an entire life story.

Desire. Rage. Despair.

Boom, boom, boom.

On top of that, I’m such a weirdo that all I wanted to do was touch his skin. And see more of it. Images of the back of his left hand, his neck, his jaw are seared into my brain. Marbled swirls of ridged and pulled skin on one hand, glorious, inked colors on the other. Somehow the imperfect pieces of his puzzle added up to a whole that just saidyes.

Who was that guy?

And how do I find out?

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