Page 46 of What You Own
“Yeah, but knowin’ and believin’ aren’t the same thing.”
“You’ll see him today. Make him talk to you. And if he doesn’t, I’ll kick his ass for making you crazy.”
My lips twitched, wanting to smile. “Thanks, El.”
“Thank me by doing the dishes before we leave for rehearsal.”
“Can do.”
I finished eating, poured coffee, then cleaned up the kitchen. Checked my phone for messages—nothing. Drank my coffee and checked my phone again. More nothing. By the time we left for the center, I was an overcaffeinated nervous mess.
The auditorium was full of people. Adam was already there, setting up some music equipment on stage with Lou and Larry. My heart fluttered stupidly at the sight of him. I longed to push through the people between us, grab him and kiss him until we couldn’t see straight. To prove to everyone how I felt. For now, keeping my big feet still and respecting his space was all I could do to prove it.
I got a polite “hey” from him later on, same as Ellie, when the committee got up on stage with Lou to shush everyone.
“Welcome to our first cast rehearsal,” Lou said, his big voice booming without a microphone. Some folks clapped. Somebody wolf whistled. “Susan has a tentative schedule written up, so we’re going to go through every act in order today. We’ll tweak things as needed, shift things if we have to. How’s that sound?”
Lots of affirmatives burst from the sea of faces—adults, teens, and kids, all excited to be there and help the center.
Adam and Larry seemed to be running the music, so I stood off to the side with Susan, Ellie, and Lou. Six little girls got up on stage and went through a really rough rendition of “Hard Knock Life.” Ellie stopped them a few times and gave pointers, especially to Kaylee, the black-haired girl doing the Annie part. They weren’t bad and could get a lot better in a week with a bit more practice.
“The most important thing to remember,” Ellie said as the girls left the stage, “is to have fun. The whole event is about fun and family and showing people why the center is an amazing place.”
“Amen!” someone piped up from the back.
I fidgeted through three more acts by the kids, then one by some of the teens. I didn’t pay much attention to the singing, so my feedback was as useful as a three-legged mule. A few times I felt Adam’s stare. Don’t know how I knew it was him every time, but I did, and when I’d try to catch him at it, he’d look away real quick. I tried concentrating more when the kids from my Saturday class got up to do their songs.
They shocked the hell out of me by doing “Seasons of Love” a cappella, and it was gorgeous. I couldn’t look away. The words sank into my soul and twisted my heart up into a misshapen lump. My eyes burned. When Maggie Johnson did the female solo, I nearly bawled. She was great, better than I knew.
It ended, and all six kids looked at me, curious and hopeful. I couldn’t say anything around the lump in my throat.
“Holy shit, is he going to cry?” Maggie asked, a harsh whisper that everyone must have heard, because the auditorium was dead silent.
I couldn’t do anything but put my hands together, over and over. The applause thundered, and my students all went red in the face, and it was fantastic. I hadn’t been so proud in a long time.
We took a break for final notes, and then the younger kids gathered up their stuff. They wouldn’t be staying for the adult portion of the performances, and we needed to practice too. I escaped into the head for a few minutes to calm down. Adam and I hadn’t even talked beyond “hey,” and we’d be singing soon. Singing a song with a lotta meaning for both of us.
The bathroom door swung open. Adam stalked inside. I couldn’t even process him there, wide-eyed and desperate, before he’d locked the door and shoved me against the wall. His mouth crashed into mine, and his body did the same, and oh my Lord, I’d missed him. Wrapped my arms tight around his waist and hauled him as close as I could get him. His hands were in my hair, his tongue in my mouth, one leg hitched up around my waist like he could climb inside me that way.
I moaned into his mouth, desperate for more. For everything, right the hell now. His wood pressed hard into my hip, and that sent blood rushing into my own dick.
“Missed you so much,” he said, then dropped down to his knees.
The loss of his hot mouth on mine helped me remember where we were, and that this was a bad idea—locked door or not—but then he was fishing my cock out of my shorts, and all I knew was heaven. Lips and tongue and wet heat. I looked down long enough to see him pulling on his own dick, then let my eyes roll shut. I went away on wave after wave of amazing, while Adam sucked me off. Pleasure boiled and burst up. I slapped my hand over my mouth to stifle the need to cry out while I emptied my load into his throat.
Adam came right after, his spunk making an audible splat on the tile floor between my feet.
“Missed you too,” I said when I had some measure of sense back.
Me talking must have jump-started his brain again because Adam stood so fast he nearly clipped my chin with the top of his head. He zipped up quick enough that I feared for his junk and those zipper teeth. I took my time fixing myself up, wary of his sudden distance. He splashed water on his face and dried off on a handful of paper towels. We’d both gone off so fast that his lips weren’t too puffy.
On the other hand, he did look kinda scared, and I didn’t understand. He cleaned his spunk off the floor with toilet paper, then flushed it down. I grabbed his arm before he could bolt out the door. He didn’t resist, just kinda listed into me, a dead weight against my chest. I held him there, needing him in my arms a minute longer, worried this might be the last time.
“What’s goin’ on?” I asked.
“After rehearsal.” His voice was tight, strained. I didn’t like it. I wanted to rip whatever was hurting him into little bitty pieces. “We’ll talk then, okay, Rye?”
“M’kay.”
