Epilogue
One Year Later
Soul sat in the same booth he had been in a little over a year before and waited for the show to begin. He and Patience survived and tonight marked their one year anniversary…amazingly. In their time together, there had been more than a few times when he truly believed they’d kill each other instead of stay together, but somehow they’d stuck it out.
After the first month, Soul got an email that stated his “relationship contract” had been renewed for another month. Today, he’d gotten the eleventh email, and like the others, he saved it in a special folder.
She still said she didn’t really believe in love, and that was all right because they were taking their time and finding out what was right for them. If they never got married, he’d be okay with that. If she never said it, he could live with it because those emails she sent every month like clockwork, were one of the many ways she told him how she felt about him.
“Soul,” Jodi said as she dropped a bottle of beer on the table in front of him.
“Jodi,” he responded. “Thanks, but I didn’t order—”
“It’s on the house. It’s the least I can do for putting up with my best friend for a year…and letting me crash your anniversary. I honestly didn’t realize what today was when I begged her to sing tonight.”
“It’s all right. Besides, this is how it all began, so it’s kind of perfect for us.”
“Well, aren’t you the romantic. At least one of you is, because I sure as shit know it ain’t her.”
Throwing back his head, he laughed. Jodi had hit the nail on the head with pinpoint accurate precision. “Too true, but I don’t mind it.”
“That’s probably a good thing.” She slapped him on the shoulder and nudged her chin toward the stage. “Your girl’s about to go on.”
Something about Jodi’s smile had him wondering if there was something special about tonight’s performance. This certainly wasn’t the first time he’d been by the club to listen to Patience sing since they’d started their odd relationship. He’d been here at least once a week.
But his eyes still drifted to the stage and his lips curled upward in a smile as soon as he saw her. She wore the same dress as that first night they’d met. His dick instantly sprang to attention when he remembered what happened after they’d left the club that night. He hoped the same thing would happen again tonight, and he’d even made sure to make a reservation at the same hotel and requested the exact same room. Adjusting himself under the table, he softly moaned in anticipation. Her set couldn’t end soon enough for him, and this time, he would be the one to peel the dress off of her body.
“Before I begin, I need to call someone up to the stage. Soul, come on up.”
He frowned. Did she just summon him?
“I know where you’re sitting. Get your ass up here, Soul.”
Slowly, he got out of the booth and carefully made his way through the crowd that had gathered tonight. Leaping on stage, he stood next to her with a perplexed expression on his face.
Patience almost laughed at his bewilderment, but it didn’t surprise her. She’d never asked him to join her on stage and barely spoke to him while they were at the club together. Everything about this crossed the line into new territory and she was more than ready for whatever the future held for them. “You may have seen this man skulking around the bar or in one of the booths, well tonight’s one year since he convinced me to give him a chance—not an easy task mind you.” She turned to Soul. “I know that I’m not always the easiest person to get along with and that you got the short end of the stick in some ways, but you’ve never complained. It’s one of the things I love about you.”
Soul sucked in his breath. When he’d stepped up on stage, he hadn’t expected to hear those words. He claimed he could go without them, but hearing them made him want to pound his chest, grab her, and fuck her into next week. “I love you too.” It seemed like the natural thing to say back.
“Can we get the chair?” The smile on Patience’s face lit up the entire room. She felt like she glowed and that it could be seen from a million miles away. Only this man did that to her. After she’d agreed to give him a chance, he’d stayed at the hospital to make sure her mother would be all right. Thankfully, it was nothing more than a reaction to a new medication. First, he’d completely won her mother Ruby over, and then he’d completely stolen her own heart. Or maybe the reverse was true and she had been the first to be won over. It didn’t matter.
“Take a seat,” she ordered when someone placed a chair in the middle of the stage.
Following her instructions, Soul sat down as his eyes drifted salaciously from her face to the bottom of her dress, lingering in a few places longer than most. The first night he saw her, he compared his desire for her to that of a drug addict needing a fix. Over the past year, it had only gotten worse. He couldn’t get enough of her, and he was almost tempted to drag her to the back and have his way with her before she sang her first note.
Bending over, her breasts looked as if they would spill out of her dress, Patience kissed his cheek, licking it slightly before pulling back. “Be a good boy now. I wrote this song for you.”
And as soon as she opened her mouth and sang the first note, a hush fell over the crowd. They were just as enraptured by her as he was. She held a power over them like a siren in the old legends, but this siren didn’t bring sailors to their doom.
I’ve always been on my own
Never needing anyone
Always all alone.
Lovers came and left,
But only you stayed
You gave me a chance.
And love blossomed, love abounded.
When I turn, you were there.
I was never alone again
My soul, my love, my hopes
Abolishing all my fears.
I found you
You found me
Amidst the shipwrecks in the sea
You came, you stayed
You completed me.
And love blossomed, love abounded.
When I turn, you were there.
I was never alone again
My soul, my love, my hopes
Abolishing all my fears.
I never knew what it meant.
The darkness surrounded me and I wept
Scared and blinded, you brought the light
You were the one that gave me my sight
Because you are my soul
You gave me the light
You are my dream and now I see
You are my soul…my one and only soul.
His chest felt tight and his eyes burned listening to the words. And when the song ended, she leaned down to kiss him again. “Thank you…and oh, by the way, my set’s over.”
He jumped up, wrapped his arm around her waist, and dragged her off the stage. The crowd parted like the Red Sea, allowing them to leave quickly. No one dared to get in the way of the two lovers.
And when they finally made it up to their room and the door closed, she told him, “You know, we got a lifetime ahead of us.”
“My Siren.”
“My Soul.”