I WOULD BEGIN the skit in an elaborate Marie Antoinette costume, bleach blonde wig and all. I would end it naked from the waist up, dry ice fog swirling around me providing a dream like ambience. The camera and the crew were all ready. The after-party room filled with the usual cast of characters. I wasn’t nervous this time. Sky and Marsha were with me. Similarly attired in period costumes. Lucky's sister had prepped my skin. The lines she had drawn on it were barely visible, but Alec would be able to see them well enough to fill the colors in. The design wouldn’t be as elaborate as Lucky’s tattoo, but the lead singer would get the message. This would be an initiation ritual. I was being adopted into the Dragon family in a symbolic way. Cody’s idea was brilliant. I loved it.
Heavy footsteps sounded. I knew the cadence of that sauntering walk, knew who it was without turning my face away from the wall. I was to remain in place for this performance, my arms over my head and my palms flat against the cinderblock surface. The Phoenix Sun’s logo felt cold beneath my skin but my body buzzed with anticipation as the music of Lucky’s favorite band started. We had only been waiting for him to arrive. My heart beating in tune with Killers' "Brightside", the spotlight illuminating me, I felt hands along my spine, fingers twisting and undoing the long row of buttons. Cool air rushed in as the two sides separated. The first to touch me had been Rocky. Every detail had been specifically planned and each band member had a role in the ceremony except for Lucky. The rhythm guitarist came next. I didn’t turn my head to look at Cody as he lowered my arms to my sides, grasped the parted sections of my gown and peeled away the top half of my gown, leaving it to drape over my hips. Now completely unclothed from the waist up, chill bumps erupted all over my exposed skin as I waited for his partner, the last of my new family to do his part.
A warm body pressed close.
"Everyone in the room is holding their breath," Cody whispered into my ear before returning my arms to their initial position over my head.
There’s only one I care about, I thought and hoped his brilliant blue eyes shone possessively getting the message that what we did was all for him. My fingers flexed my eagerness against the wall.
Cool strokes began to brush over my back. The design Sky had drawn began to be filled in by Alec. My nipples drew tight as the wet body paint dried nearly as quickly as he painted it on. I heard the rising murmurs in the room as the object took shape. No singing by me this time. This was art set to music, the Dragons’ emblem fully revealed as the song ended. Alec took my arms down. Awed silence filled the room as he turned me to face him. The dragon Sky had drawn on me was her interpretation of Lucky’s tattoo.
Alec offered me his crooked arm. I took it, curling fingers that had become chilled from being over my head so long around. His arm steady and his head held high, he led me from the room. The rest of the Dragons including Sky would follow. The conclusion of my being shared among all the bandmates tonight might be erroneously drawn. Everyone who mattered knew the truth. But would that be enough for Lucky?
Alec escorted me out of the after-party room, into the hall and to the waiting elevator directly opposite. He removed the velvet overcoat he wore and draped it around my naked shoulders as Cody, Rocky and Sky joined us inside it. My serenity wobbled when Lucky didn’t immediately appear.
"It's ok.” Alec put his hands on my shoulders. “He’ll come.”
"He meaning me, I presume?" Lucky hopped onto the elevator. It jostled beneath the lead singer's added weight.
“I told you.” Alec grinned as he punched the button for the mezzanine level. The elevator doors started to slide together as Lucky drew me into his arms, his blue eyes blazing as possessively as I had hoped they would.
“Hey, you’re not leaving me behind." Marsha slid sideways through the narrow crack just before the elevator closed. She flashed a smile at me. "So where's the party?"
“I don’t know.” My fingers flexing into the smooth skin of his sinewy shoulders, I waited for Lucky to speak.
“It’s a surprise." He cocked a half smile that crinkled his stage makeup. Withdrawing my wig, he tossed it to Sky who caught it. Then he walked me backward into the wall, settled his pelvis against mine so I could feel him. He framed my face in his warm hands. "Then it’s just you and me, Angel,” his low voice and the cold of his rings sent icy shivers of anticipation through me.
"I want your rings on and your stage makeup too when you claim me for your own," I whispered boldly. His eyes flared within their kohl frame. He lowered his head. I wet my lips for his kiss. The elevator dinged.
"C'mon you two. We need to do a little more acting for the crew." Marsha stepped out of the cart as blindingly bright lights blasted into it.
"After-party Phoenix scene two,” Ignacio said as I blinked to adjust my eyes. “Action."
Alec moved to one side of me and slid his arm around my waist. Lucky maintained his position at the other to facilitate the ruse of them sharing me. Rocky, Sky, and Cody followed close behind us. We passed through the mezzanine where leftover concert goers and more than a few women with RFC t-shirts lingered hoping for a celebrity sighting like the one we were providing. We stopped, signing autographs while the cameras rolled. Alec feigned eagerness. Rocky preened as if amused by the bassist's attempts to woo me. He probably actually really was, given that we all knew that it was really Cody who held the bassist’s heart. Lucky kept his arm around me, his spine straight and his grip tight. His eyes flashed a message no one could fail to read. I belonged to him. It gave me a shiver each time those eyes met mine. It wasn’t acting. It was strong, the bond between us, and it was real. Would the camera pick it up? Would the audience be supportive when I made my choice public in LA? Would the network VP be pleased?
Held breaths were released all around once we left the fans, film and fiction behind and entered an extended SUV outside the venue. Smiles broke out as we pulled away from the arena.
"You were brilliant." I laid my head against Lucky's shoulder.
"Not hard to pretend to be crazy about you, Raven." His fingers stroked my hair.
"Ditto." I lifted my head.
"You're crazy about you, too." He grinned. "One never knew."
"Ass." I smiled back at him. "Just where are you taking your fallen angel?"
"Old Town Scottsdale."
My skin prickled. That's where my parents had met. "Isn’t that far away?"
"Only about thirty minutes. I’m sure the music won’t be the equal of when your mother used to perform. But there’s a Navajo couple performing traditional music tonight. I thought you might enjoy having a drink and listening to their show."
"You thought right." I squeezed my eyes shut tightly to contain the barrage of emotion I experienced from the thoughtfulness of his surprise, but my voice quivered with it. I bit back the words I really wanted to say to him replacing them with lesser inadequate ones instead. "I’ve always wanted to see where my parents met. And I haven’t heard Navajo music since the last time we visited the reservation." My body vibrated with excitement. "You are too good to me, Lucky Spencer. Taking me to see my dad, and now this..."
"I would do anything for you, Angel." His eyes searched mine. "I hope you realize that."
WE WALKED THROUGH the swinging double doors and settled in at the Rusty Spur Saloon. The guys in their makeup, and we girls in our eighteenth century garb certainly drew a ton of stares. Lucky, Marsha and I sat at one of the round tables near the stage. Rocky, Sky, Alec and Cody found a higher one near the door. I heard the drummer tell Sky in no uncertain terms that she wouldn’t be standing up on one of the bar stools and pinning a dollar to the wall. He hadn’t been too happy about the high slit in her skirt that exposed the garter on her thigh, either.
I watched him lay his jacket over her lap as a couple slipped inside the saloon. The tall man carried a drum and a rattle. A woman much shorter than he was had a small instrument case which I suspected contained a flute. I soon discovered the accuracy of my guess as they took their places on two wooden stools side by side on the small stage. The woman tucked her long satiny black hair behind one ear and spoke.
"I'm Doli. That means ‘blue bird’." I sat up straighter. Birds had significance in the Navajo culture since they could inhabit both the earth and the sky. That was why my mom had chosen Hawk for my brother’s name and Raven for mine. "I will play the Apache spirit flute,” Doli continued. “May it bless you. My husband Ahanu whose name means ‘he laughs’ will play the water drum and the medicine rattle. May the sound drive away any evil that might chase you." Clapping erupted from the thirty or forty other people jam packed inside the bar. Some looked like locals in their cowboy boots and western hats, others like tourists in their ball caps and tennis shoes. "We will chant in our native tongue. I will translate when we finish."
I didn't take even one sip of my beer. The steady drum beat. The periodic rasp of the rattle. The lilting melody of the flute. The harmony of their voices. The magic of their music pierced my soul with mystical awareness and stitched together the pieces that had fragmented since my mother's death. At some time during their performance, Lucky had taken my hand and threaded our fingers together. I squeezed his hand when the song was done, breathing a thank you through my trembling lips. He returned the squeeze as I swiped my other hand across my wet cheeks.
"We have shared the story of the Rainbow's End.” Doli's nut brown eyes met mine. “How long ago the first woman, the Earth Goddess wandered the earth looking for the perfect mate. She encountered many handsome men but none spoke to her heart. Until she met the Father Sun. But though she loved him from first sight he could not accept her fully until she proved herself worthy of his affection. She had to be remade. She had to step through the arch that had been formed at the beginning of time to be made new. She had to chant four times that she loved only him while a rainbow formed over the valley, Monument Valley. Then she would be pure, then their life would be blessed, then the Father Sun would step out of the sky, walk the bridge of many colors and come to her. Only then would the time be right to birth the Dine’ which means ‘The People’. My people. The Navajo nation."
"I DIDN’T MEAN to upset you." Lucky had been watching me closely ever since the Navajo couple had finished their set, but I think he had sensed that I didn’t want to talk about it until we were alone and in private.
He had been right.
"You didn’t upset me. You gave me the perfect gift. I can barely put into words what tonight meant to me." My eyes glistened anew.
"Angel, you don’t have to." He came closer, his handsome face earnest, his sexy form highlighted in the low glow of the bedside lamps in the hotel room we would share tonight before leaving for LA in the morning.
"I do." I held up my hand to halt him. I needed him at arm’s length just a bit longer. "It’s huge. I need to share. Music is at the center of who I am and another big part is my heritage. Those pieces weren’t meshing together properly before I met you. I heard only the sound of silence, and I had forgotten how deeply my mother's music, the music of our people ran in me. Until tonight. Until you."
“You have always been more to me than just a beautiful woman. You are a creative artist. A bold lover. A loving daughter. A selfless friend. I want you. Each and every aspect of you. I won’t settle for less.” The determined sheen in his eyes made the tears I’d held at bay spill over.
"Raven," he said softly reaching for me, and I welcomed his touch. I brought my hands up and rested them on his strong forearms as he captured the warm tears from my cheek on his thumbs. I tasted the saltiness of my joy when he moved the pad of his thumb to the corner of my lips. He lowered his head. He sealed our mouths together. He kissed me deeply while framing my face gently as if I were precious glass. I felt precious with him. I told him so. He groaned. “You are so perfect for me, Angel." His eyes searched mine. I felt the tension in his forearms. He saw. He knew my reservations. I couldn’t speak the words yet. He sighed. "In LA it’s over. No more holding back the way we feel. Our world. Our reality. No one judging us or telling us how we should define or express our love. Understand?"
"Yes," I breathed. "But tonight is the first part of that." I stepped backward, unbuttoned Alec's jacket and dropped it to the floor while Lucky watched me. "I am yours, Lucky Spencer. I’m also theirs. Part of your family." I turned to show him my back. I saw the lights of downtown Phoenix in the floor to ceiling windows along with the image of the man behind me. All the emotion he felt for me reflected there in his eyes.
"You are mine, and I am yours." He reached for me. I saw his hands coming for me in the glass before the heat of him actually surrounded me. He cupped my breasts. He flicked the erect nipples with his thumbs. My lips parted. I let out a blissful sigh.
"Lucky. That feels so good."
"Touch me, Angel." His eyes met mine in the reflection. "Make me feel good." I reached backward. I traced his length through his jeans, thick and hard. He exhaled shakily.
"Mark me." I lowered myself to my knees on the carpet watching him in the window. He stood behind me like some kind of primordial god. I lifted the heavy taffeta skirt to show him that I wore no underwear. He unbuckled his pants and removed them and everything else while I stared at his reflection. My breaths came rapidly. My skin felt feverish though I was exposed. I could feel the slickness between my thighs. "Hurry," I begged.
He dropped to his knees behind me. He palmed my ass with a firm hand. I shivered. I was so primed for him. He covered me with his body. He positioned. He filled me. His entire hot length. I shuddered.
"Angel," he groaned then cursed darkly. "Take me. Take me hard."
"Yes." I managed before my teeth rattled together on his next thrust. He pounded into me. In and out. I got wetter. The slick sound of his possession reflected audibly against the glass. Over and over again, he gave me his cock. I panted. I tightened around him. Tears leaked from my eyes as my knees skidded along the carpet. He slapped my ass unexpectedly. Burning on my knees. Sharp sting on my ass. His rod inside branding me. I came hard around his hot cock. He pulled out while I was still quivering with my release. His cock on my back, I watched in the glass as he squeezed his eyes shut and arched his neck. He roared as he came, the violence and the warm liquid of his release eliciting another surge of excitement in me. I stared at him in the glass as he opened his eyes. His expression fiercely possessive, he trailed his fingers through the warmth of his cum spreading it over my skin, my spine, my ass, my breasts and my nipples painting me with himself, marking and making me his.