Текст книги "Vintage (Volume Two)"

Автор книги: Lisa Suzanne

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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 13 страниц)

nine

The next morning, we were up early to head to the airport. I was flying home with my dad. Parker was heading back to LA with the band. Flashing Light ended up booking additional gigs on their own, and they wouldn’t be returning to LA for another two weeks.

I was thrilled for Parker and the success he was finding in his career.

But I was devastated to be away from him. I’d grown reliant on him for the safety he provided me, and I was scared to be without him while the Randy threat loomed largely in front of us.

I knew I’d have my dad nearby for protection. Unfortunately, that also meant Jadyn would be nearby.

I’d built up in my mind a million different ways that everything would be different when I returned home.

But nothing was different.

Everything was exactly the same as I had left it.

When I had left, I was in love with Parker and missing him already.

Now that I was back, I was in love with Parker and missing him already.

A lot had changed between us; we were “engaged” now, and he’d be back in a two short weeks so we could resume our charade.

Parker.

Even as his name threaded through my thoughts, I couldn’t help but feel a little spasm in my chest just thinking of his brown eyes, his messy hair, the stubble on his jaw, the way he looked at me, the way his abs hardened under my fingertips.

I loved him, and being away from him made me realize how much.

I didn’t know what I had until it was gone. It was cliché for sure, but being away from him showed me how reliant I’d become on his presence.

It wasn’t reliant as in dependent. It wasn’t the dangerous dependence I’d had with Damien.

It was different with Parker. He provided things for me that I didn’t know I never had, and now that those things were with him on his bus in some other state, I realized how much I needed him.

I didn’t want the engagement to be a charade. I’d thought it more than once, but it was probably time to admit the truth to Parker.

The thing was…I wasn’t exactly sure how to do that.

How do you tell the man you’re fake-engaged to that you want to be actually engaged to him?

I was all for girl power, but I wanted the traditional fairy tale where the man asks the woman for her hand in marriage. That had already happened, but not the way I wanted it to. Not the way that counted.

I immersed myself back into my job. Vintage appeared to be exactly the same as I had left it. In fact, it seemed like my absence was hardly noticed.

When I first walked in a few minutes before eight in the morning, I couldn’t help my yawn. I’d been used to sleeping in until whenever the hell I wanted to over the past month. I’d been used to an afternoon into night schedule. This was the reverse of that, and it was going to take some getting used to.

I stopped at the café and asked Heather, the café manager, for a cup of coffee. She handed it over, and I filled it with cream and sugar. I headed back to punch in, and then I met Tim up by the registers.

I took a sip of my coffee, and I watched as his eyes fell onto the ring Parker had given me.

I hadn’t really considered Tim’s reaction. I hadn’t really thought about Tim much at all, in fact.

His eyebrows rose, but he didn’t say anything. His gaze just stayed on my ring.

I broke the silence. “I'm, uh…engaged.”

He nodded. “I see that.” He turned his attention to one of those binders that held information that was a complete mystery to me. “Congratulations.”

His voice was soft. He was hurt, maybe because I hadn’t told him or maybe because it was confirmation that he had no actual chance with me.

“Thanks,” I said, and I headed down to the floor to start my daily routine.

Tim pretty much ignored me—not in an offensive way, but in a way that showed me that he was sad.

It was a fake engagement, anyway. I wanted to tell him, but I couldn’t risk telling anybody. Even sweet, harmless Tim.

In my absence, Tim had taken on more hours, as had Virginia, and I couldn’t help but notice something was going on between the two of them.

It started in the afternoon. I was on the early shift, done at two, while Virginia was scheduled to start at three.

I’d been folding, my typical afternoon activity, when she came in about a half hour early.

Virginia tended to be one of those employees who rushed in through the door ten seconds after her shift was supposed to start.

So seeing her in early told me something was going on.

Tim was behind the register. The store was empty, and his eyes followed her to the break room the moment she walked into the store. They were obviously trying not to be overt about it, but I’d recently become much more aware of my surroundings. I’d recently started reading into every situation going on around me for fear of my safety. Tim and Virginia had nothing to do with my safety, but apparently my awareness extended beyond those things concerning just my protection.

Tim waited an appropriate amount of time and then pretended that he had something to do in back. I was dying to know what they were doing back there, but since I was the only employee in the front aside from Heather in the café, I knew I couldn’t head back to check on them.

An irrational part of my brain didn’t like it. I had no right to feel jealousy; Tim deserved happiness, but somehow seeing him with my friend Virginia grated on my nerves.

I always liked the fact that Tim nursed a crush on me, but now I was in his past. It was good for him, but it bruised my ego.

So I ignored the two of them, especially when they were giggling at the registers while I folded shirts, and I thought about my future at the store.

Vintage was my home, and I didn’t want to give it up. But while from the outside it appeared to be the same as it had been before I’d left for the tour, on the inside, something was different.

I didn’t hear about it my first day back, or even my second, but on the third day, I was in Barry’s office chatting about my schedule for the following week.

He had been showing me the schedule in his spreadsheet on his computer. I’d pulled a chair around to sit and look at the computer with him.

He’d excused himself to take a call on his cell phone when an email came through on his computer. He had one of those notification boxes in the bottom right hand corner of his screen that allowed previews of incoming emails. We had both been staring at the computer as we looked at the schedule, so I wasn’t exactly invading his privacy, but it wasn’t meant for me to see, surely. Only the first line of the email popped out at me before fading away, ending on a fragment, but it was all I needed to see to know that something was seriously wrong.

To: Barry Henderson

From: Ronald Sherwood, JD

Subject: Chapter 7 – Business Bankruptcy

 

Barry,

 

The documents are set to arrive at 3:00 PM. Call my

I drew in a deep breath. JD? I knew that JD indicated a lawyer. I’d seen enough paperwork around my dad’s house to learn that at an early age.

But why was Barry contacting a lawyer?

The subject line had mentioned bankruptcy. Was Barry filing bankruptcy on the store?

I had a short internal argument with myself as I heard Barry wrapping up his call. I wasn’t sure whether to be honest and tell him what I saw, play dumb, or figure out some way to help him.

And that’s when an idea struck.

If I was being honest with myself, the thought had taken root long ago, but it finally blossomed into an actual idea.

It hit me over the head, and once it was there, I was certain it was right.

I had access to plenty of money. My dad never made me want for anything. The only reason I kept working at Vintage was because I loved having a place to go, a job to perform, people to interact with despite my social reservations after Damien had left me.

And if Barry was filing bankruptcy on the store, all of that could be pulled out from under me. From under all of us.

But I could help Barry.

On the one hand, I could give him the money that would get him out of whatever mess he was in financially.

And on the other hand…

Maybe he wanted out. Maybe he was ready to just let Vintage go. And maybe I could be the one who picked it up from him.

I had plenty of good ideas, marketing strategies, and contacts. Maybe I didn’t have a college degree, but I could hire people who did, who had the knowhow to manage the business aspect while I managed the creative aspect.

Parker had pushed me to explore my ambitions, but in the moment I glimpsed the email I wasn’t supposed to see, I realized that they’d been sitting right in front of me the entire time.

All of that ran through my mind in the ten seconds it took Barry to end his call and walk back into his office. I still wasn’t sure if I should say anything to him, but the look on his face told me I didn’t have to.

“Roxy, can we talk for a minute?” he asked.

“Of course.” I stood and walked to the opposite side of his desk so we weren’t sitting together staring at the computer. This way, we could face each other for whatever conversation he wanted to have.

“You have always been like a daughter to me. You know that, right?”

I nodded. He’d always protected me. He knew my father was gone most of the time, so he became a pseudo-father figure to me in many ways.

“You’re the only one here I’m ready to talk to about this. I’m going to retire, Roxy.”

Retire? He’s going to retire? What about the bankruptcy?

“I’m ready to let this place go. I’m ready to travel the world with Judy.”

I nodded. “You deserve it, Barry.”

I had about a million and one questions, starting with what the hell was going to happen to Vintage and its employees, but I stayed quiet. It wasn’t the time for me to admit what I had seen, but Barry was retiring and leaving Vintage in the lurch since clearly there was no money left to maintain it.

ten

Every single day, the monotony of folding t-shirts caused my thoughts to wander to the possibilities ahead of me. Was it really possible for me to buy this place? I looked around the store. The café did well, for sure. I already knew I’d add in a larger menu. As an employee, I knew the store fairly well, and I knew what it was missing. Pizza, for one thing.

We sold a variety of music memorabilia, and as I looked at my surroundings, I realized how little I actually knew. I had no idea who supplied the items we sold. I didn’t know how to manage the weekly schedule or how to assign bathroom duties or who managed money.

Truthfully, I hadn’t the first clue about how to run a business.

But I was dying to learn so that I could save Vintage.

I had to.

It was my first true love, the first thing in my life that had always been there for me. It owned a piece of my soul, and I didn’t have it in me to stand by and watch it crumble because Barry was retiring or filing bankruptcy or whatever was going on.

I was brought out of my thoughts by the jingle of my cell phone signaling a new text message.

I checked around me to be sure there weren’t any customers before taking my phone out of my pocket to read the text.

It was from Parker.

Three more days. I don’t know how I’m going to get through them.

I smiled down at my phone before firing off a response. Any time tonight for Facetime? Or maybe phone sex?

Can’t we combine the two?

I blushed at the thought even as I realized how much I loved the idea.

Phone sex while we were watching each other? It felt forbidden and naughty. And kind of perfect.

Parker texted again before I had a chance to respond. We’re on the bus tonight. But that doesn’t mean I can’t watch you.

How did a simple text turn into that?

Maybe. I miss you.

I miss you, too.

How are things going?

A customer was snaking his way through the aisles, so I stuck my phone back in my pocket.

“Do you have this shirt in a medium?” he asked, holding up a black t-shirt.

I always tried my best to be friendly with customers. This one had a sort of eerie sense about him, though. He was tall and well-built. He wore black pants and a black shirt under a black leather jacket. His hair was greased back, and he wore sunglasses over his forehead—not on his eyes and not on top of his head—like a douche. “All of our stock is on the floor, but I can help you check the pile.”

“I don’t need it. I just needed an ice breaker.”

I looked up sharply at him. In the back of my mind, I wondered where Tim was. Aside from Heather in the café, who was focused on blending something quite loudly in a blender, just Tim and I were working the afternoon lull. Tim tended to work in Barry’s office during our down time.

“An ice breaker?”

“Are you Gideon Price’s daughter?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I have a message for someone named Roxanna. Your nametag tells me you’re Roxy, which could be a nickname for Roxanna.”

A shiver ran through my blood. This was the first sign I’d seen of him since I’d been back, and I suddenly felt very alone.

“Who is this message from?”

He was silent.

I masked my fear as well as I could manage under the circumstances. I tried a different approach. “What’s the message?”

“He knows the engagement is fake. And you’re both fair game.”

“Get the fuck out of my store,” I said, my voice breaking like a teenager in puberty.

I didn’t want to show him my fear, but I couldn’t hide it.

He spun on his heel and walked to the exit. With a quick flick of his wrist, he lowered his sunglasses to his eyes.

I stood in place, shaking.

“You okay?” A voice pulled me out of my trance and I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I spun around and my eyes met Tim’s.

I shook my head, unable to speak.

“What’s going on?”

I drew in a shuddering breath before attempting to answer. Tim waited patiently.

“A man came in and threatened me.”

“What?”

“My dad’s got an enemy. That’s all. It’s okay.”

Tim sighed. “It’s not okay. I should’ve been out here with you.”

“Why? It’s not your fault. You’ve never felt the need to be out here before.”

His face cooled slightly from the warmth he usually directed toward me. “Are you okay now?”

I nodded and turned back to the shirts I’d been folding before Randy’s crony came into my store, losing myself in my thoughts.

My dad was married to someone who he stole from Randy.

It only made sense that Randy would be after me because he had some twisted need for revenge on my dad.

Randy’s closest connection to me at the moment was his ex, the former porn star Jadyn Snow. And I still didn’t trust her.

Randy was after me—and according to the message, apparently Parker was on his radar, too.

An eye for an eye. My dad hurt Randy when he stole away someone who Randy loved, so Randy was going to hurt someone my dad cared about for revenge.

My dad and Randy had a history that surely went back further than my dad stealing Randy’s girl.

My dad had called it a “need to know” basis, and I felt like it was about time I was in the know.

Tim was up front at the register. “I’m going in back for a break,” I yelled, and without waiting for a response, I headed into the break room to call my dad.

“Hey CC,” he answered on the second ring. He sounded tired.

“Dad, some guy just came into the store with a message.”

“From?”

“Didn’t say.”

“Fuck.” His voice was a low growl. “What did he say?”

“That he knows the engagement isn’t real and that Parker and I are both fair game.”

He paused and drew in a sharp breath. “I think you need some time off.”

“I was just off for a month while I was on your tour. Remember? I can’t take more time off. They’ll fire me.”

“Then let them fire you. You don’t need that job.”

“Do you even give a shit about what I want?”

“Of course I give a shit. But I won’t take unnecessary risks with your life.”

“Isn’t that a little dramatic?” I was hoping he’d say that yes, he was being very dramatic. Instead, he abruptly changed the subject.

“Where the hell was Bruno?” he asked. Bruno had been following me pretty much everywhere in Parker’s absence.

“He looked like a customer. There’s no way he would’ve known.”

“It’s his job to know. I’ll talk to George.”

“Dad, it’s fine.”

“No, it isn’t. If it was fine, you wouldn’t have called me.”

He had a point.

I just needed Parker. I needed his strong arms around me. I needed him to tell me that everything was okay, that we would get through this, that Randy wasn’t a real threat.

Instead we were both in danger.

“I think it’s time for you to tell me what’s really going on, Gideon.”

“I disagree. And you know I hate it when you call me Gideon.”

“Can Parker and I come for dinner when he gets back? Maybe you can fill us in on some stuff?”

“I need to talk to Parker about some things anyway. Yes to dinner, maybe on the filling you in part.”

I sighed in frustration.

“I love you, CC.”

“You too. Even though you’re awful.”

I managed to elicit a tiny chuckle from my dad before he hung up.

eleven

The days separating me from Parker seemed interminable. I more than missed him. You miss a television show when it’s between seasons or you miss baseball in December. I ached for him. I longed for him.

And it wasn’t just his strong arms protecting me from whatever threat was lurking in the shadows. It was everything about him—the way he talked to me, the way he understood me, the way he loved me.

I already knew that what we had together was unconditional. It had changed once we’d been forced together for a month during the tour. At first, the idea of being forced together with him made me miserable. But once I got past the betrayal and the lies and realized that he had his reasons for what he did, I had a hard time functioning without him.

I was working, this time on registers. The store was fairly busy since we had a local singer coming in for a signing later that evening, but I’d requested the early shift because I knew Parker was coming home that night. I wondered why Barry had never thought to set up a stage for short performances. Even one or two songs would easily gain us two or three times the number of customers.

My mind flashed to Damien as I rang up someone purchasing a Nirvana t-shirt and CD. He’d loved Nirvana, and I always thought of him when I passed our merchandise sporting their name.

And just as quickly as thoughts of Damien entered my mind, they disappeared when the bells above the door jingled and Parker James walked into my store.

My heart jumped into my throat as I stared at him from my spot behind the register. I watched him look around the store, and then his eyes found mine.

And I felt like I was home again.

I always felt like I was at home when I was in the store, but having Parker there was different. Intense.

Perfect.

His face lit up as a grin spread across his lips, and I forgot the customer I was waiting on as I ran from behind the register to meet him in the middle of the store. He grabbed me into his arms and held me tightly for a moment, whispering into my hair. “I love you so much, Jimi. I don’t ever want to be apart from you again.”

I felt tears in my eyes, and I wasn’t even sure why. This was all so cliché, like some big reunion in a movie. I felt eyes on us, but for some reason, I just didn’t care. Privacy had always been a priority, but in that moment, Parker was my only priority.

He pulled back from our embrace and his lips pressed to mine. My entire world shifted to the way it was supposed to be. The ache I’d repressed for two weeks was gone the moment my eyes had met his from across the store.

He broke away from our kiss, his eyes burning into mine. It was one of those moments where our unspoken conversation was louder than any words could ever be. In his eyes I could see the love he had for me and the same pain I’d endured. He saw the same emotions mirrored back at him.

“What time do you get off?” he finally asked, his voice a hoarse whisper.

“Six.”

“I’ll meet you at your place at six-thirty. Okay?”

I nodded. It was less than an hour until six, but I knew it would be the longest hour of my life.

I needed Parker back in my space.

I remembered a time when I had just met him, when I hadn’t been ready to share my address and my home with him. And now home felt empty without him there to share it.

While we’d grown close over our time on the road together, nothing compared to settling into the routines of our daily lives. I knew his routine would never be normal because of his career, but it was the principle of it.

I was certain our reunion would start with the two of us in bed. We’d always been magical together, and while sex certainly wasn’t the only base of our relationship, it seemed to set everything right between us. It drew us closer in intimacy, but it also managed to bond us emotionally. I needed it, and I could tell from the way he pressed his body to mine that he needed it, too.

But after that, I had an awful lot to discuss with him.

For starters, I needed to tell him about the bankruptcy. I wanted to figure out how to save Vintage and subsequently how the hell to run it.

I wanted him to know about the threat we’d received. I’d held off on telling him because he was on the road. I didn’t want him to worry, and I knew he had the guys from his band surrounding him. My dad informed me that George had put a security guard on Flashing Light during the tour, and he remained with them for their extra performances.

I wanted to ask Parker to move in with me. It wasn’t a stretch, really, considering my dad wanted him watching me as often as he could. It just made sense.

And, perhaps most frightening of all, I had to talk to Parker about marriage. I wanted to marry Parker for real, and I wanted more than anything for him to know that.

I just had no idea how to even start that terrifying conversation.

“Oh shit,” I said, glancing toward the register. “I have a customer.”

Parker chuckled and grabbed my hand, leading me to the register to finish the transaction. “I haven’t been home yet,” he said after the Nirvana man went on his way.

“You came here first?”

“Of course.”

I wasn’t sure why I was surprised by that, but I was.

“I needed you in my arms. I’ve been stupid worried about you for the past two weeks after protecting you for the last month.”

I couldn’t help my smile. “Well I’ve been stupid worried about you, too, Parker.”

He leaned in for another kiss just as Tim walked up to the register. “You’re on the clock, Roxy,” he reminded me.

“I’ll go,” Parker said. “I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

I rolled my eyes. “Tim’s not going to do anything.”

Tim raised an eyebrow in my direction, grabbed a binder from behind the register, and headed back to the floor of the store, pulling down a pencil that had been perched behind his ear.

Parker kissed me once more and then headed toward the exit. My heart dropped when he disappeared through the doors. I missed him already. Again.

My shift went faster than expected as I prepped for the signing. Tim asked me to stay late, but I had a pressing appointment ahead of me, so I declined.

I raced home, making it in record time. I had ten minutes before Parker was set to arrive, so I changed out of my t-shirt and jeans and into a dress that made me feel pretty. I brushed my teeth and combed my hair. I touched up my make-up, and then I put in my favorite earrings: simple one carat diamonds that my dad had given me for my sixteenth birthday.

I wanted to make an effort for Parker, even though I had very limited time in which to do so.

I heard a knock at my door and my heart raced into overdrive. I wasn’t sure why I felt as nervous as I did; it had only been two weeks that we’d been apart, but I felt like a giddy girl going on her first date with the boy she had a crush on.

I had a lot that I wanted to say to him. Words that had gone unsaid in those two weeks apart needed to be said that night.

I checked my reflection once more in the mirror, drew in a shaky breath, and headed toward my front door.

There was no way I could have expected what was behind that door.

I opened it and first spotted the flowers Parker held in his hands. There had to be two dozen white roses.

And then I noticed Parker. He stood anxiously in a black suit. He wore black pants and a black jacket with a black shirt underneath. He even wore a tie—black and silver plaid. He looked refined and dangerous. His dark eyes gleamed in my direction. He cleared his throat nervously and handed me the flowers.

I wasn’t sure what to feel, but about a thousand emotions lanced through me. Curiosity, nervousness, and unbridled lust, to name a few.

I wallowed in the emotions. After not feeling them for so long, this felt good. Parker felt good.

“What’s all this about?” I asked, stepping aside to let him in. I set the flowers on my dining table situated near the door.

He took my hands in his.

“You look extraordinary,” he murmured. His voice caught nervously. His nerves were making me nervous.

“So do you. I’ve never seen you so dressed up.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so dressed up.”

I giggled. I couldn’t picture a time he would have been apart from school dances or maybe a wedding.

“Look, Jimi. I didn’t do this right the first time. I let other people talk me into something that I knew wasn’t right. But I need to correct that mistake. And this time, it’s just you and me. There’s no one else here to judge or to report back or to see what’s happening. Just us, okay?”

“Just us,” I echoed, sublimely confused at the direction of this conversation. It was the suit. He was jumbling all of my thoughts standing there in a suit, looking so goddamn handsome that I had to force my eyes to blink.

I didn’t want to miss a nanosecond of Parker James in a suit in my foyer.

He took my hands in his. His were ice cold, which was unusual for him. He always radiated warmth.

“I love you,” he said, the nerves in his voice subsiding to a deep and genuine sincerity. “I think I loved you the second I first saw you when your dad asked me to watch over you, and the more time I’ve had the honor of spending with you, the deeper I’ve found myself. I’m in this forever, Roxanna.”

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my lips. “I don’t want some stupid fake engagement, and the second I did it, I knew it was all wrong,” he continued. “I want to marry you. I want to be with you. I want to protect you forever. I want that ring that symbolizes the lie off of your hand.” He paused, and he pulled the ring off of my finger. He set it on the table as I held my breath.

“I want you to wear the ring that I chose for you, not the one George picked up. I want this to be real, because I’ve done a hell of a lot of thinking over the past two weeks, and I know that my life was empty until I met you. You fill it with laughter and energy and strength, and I want that. I want you. Forever.”

Parker knelt down on his right knee. My heart raced in my chest.

This was different than the last time. Last time was in front of a crowd of fifteen thousand people at Raleigh’s Walnut Creek Amphitheater.

This time was real. This was just for us. This was in the privacy of my home. This was Parker declaring his love for me, telling me he wanted to spend the rest of his life committed to only me.

He flipped open a jewelry box that he’d pulled from his pants pocket.

An oval diamond was horizontally perched over two thin pave-diamond encrusted bands that twined together. The ring screamed Vintage to me. It suited my tastes completely, as if I’d gone myself to choose it.

It was perfect, but Parker was even more perfect.

Just like before, I didn’t care about the rock—even though it was just right for me. I cared about the commitment. And I knew my answer before he even asked the question.

“Jimi, will you—”

“YES!” I shouted before he had the chance to complete his question. He slipped the ring onto my finger.

I knelt down in front of him and wrapped my arms around him. Somehow our mouths crashed together to seal our commitment. He held me in his arms for one sweet moment, and then the sexual tension always present between us crashed down on me.

I pushed his jacket down his arms and he pushed my dress up to my waist. He manhandled my breasts roughly as I cupped his cock through his pants. A sexy growl of lust rumbled up from his chest.

Clothes flew in random directions and somehow sealing our commitment with a kiss turned into sealing our commitment with sex.

He pulled on my panties until they snapped clean off of me, and I fumbled with his zipper while I fondled him through his pants. His heavy groans matched my loud moans. It had been too long, and there was too much pent up emotion between the two of us. Somehow I ended up beneath him.

He helped me with his zipper and he sprung free from the cage of his pants. I stroked his cock slowly. A long and slow growl emitted from him. He looked down at me through heavily lidded eyes. “You’re the last woman I want to fuck for the rest of my life,” he said, and then his cock slammed into me.

My head hit the floor behind me, but I didn’t care. When Parker was inside of me, that was all that mattered. He repeated his thrusting rhythm, driving me closer and closer to orgasm within mere seconds of his entrance. He had the right formula for satisfying every need I had, and that was only part of what made him perfect for me.

“Oh my God,” I yelled as his lips met my neck. He grinned as he continued pumping into me.

“Fuck,” he muttered, thrusting up and lingering inside of me as he came. It was too quick, but we’d been apart for too long.

He drove me into my own orgasm, and then his mouth found mine for a slow and sensual kiss, a heady contrast to the fast fuck he’d just given me.

We collapsed together on the floor. Parker drew a pattern of circles on the back of my hand. I was totally worn out and sated, and even though I was lying on the floor, I never wanted to move. Ever.

“I can’t wait to love you for the rest of my life,” Parker whispered against my hair.

I melted into the floor. Creating the perfect rhythm with words was his career as a songwriter, but hearing those words aimed for me out of his gorgeous mouth was overwhelming. And the ring on my finger was proof I’d get to experience his words every day for the rest of my life.