Chapter Thirty-Six
Riley
Silas was back. He was back and he was in my arms again. I was too exhausted to do much that night, and there was almost so much to say that nothing got said at all. Instead, I took a shower, and climbed into bed with him. We didn’t say anything or do anything. He just held me in his arms while I slept properly for the first time in ages.
Before Silas and his crew had arrived, I had been sure that Able was going to kill me. He glared at me in a way I had never seen before. He had paced up and down the room and then decided to tie me up. Every hour or so he gave me a glass of water, which had been strangely nice and had only served to make me warier of him. Sometimes he looked at me in fear, other times in anger, other times in sadness. He seemed conflicted by what he had done but he seemed to think there was no going back. When he took off my gag to give me water, I would plead for him to let me go, but that would only make him angrier at me. I noticed he had a gun and I was sure my life was over. I would never forget the moment when Silas walked into the room to save me. All of this over a box of drugs. Silas had given the box to his friends who had handed it over to the police. Let them deal with it.
That morning, I woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. I walked to the kitchen and found Silas cooking up a storm. He grinned at me and handed me a cup of coffee. The whole house suddenly came alive again with him there, and I wanted to beg him to stay. I wondered briefly if he would.
“Are you okay?” he said to me. “Sit down; the food is almost ready.”
I smiled. “I’m better now. Can I help?” I wasn’t sure why but I felt shy with him there.
He shook his head. “Nope. I’m your slave for a while.”
My eyes widened. A while? Did that mean he was staying? But, of course, my excitement was short lived. Just as we were finished with our food, his phone rang. I listened as he spoke to his manager and heard him sigh. When he put the phone down, he looked at me and shook his head.
“It’s okay,” I said.
“I’m sorry. My manager . . .”
“It’s okay.” I didn’t really mean it. It wasn’t okay. I didn’t want him to go. I didn’t want the house to go back to the way it was. And once again, he was leaving without me knowing what was happening between us. Once again, I had no idea where I stood with him. But I wasn’t going to ask if he wasn’t willing to tell me. He was a star now, and he had more important things to do with his life than to stay behind with me. I kissed him gently when the cab came around to pick him up and told him that I was proud of him.
After that, the two of us stayed in touch more than we did the last time he went away. He immediately went to Florida and began touring there, so our communications were still not as great as I would’ve liked. But it was better, and I was just glad to have in back in my life again. Paisley had sat me down a few weeks after the event and told me that I should move on.
“It’s hard,” I admitted. “I like him so much. I maybe even love him.”
“But what’s going on between you?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“Is he coming back?”
I shrugged again. “I don’t know.”
“Oh Riley, you can’t do this to yourself. You have to ask him what’s going on. You have to at least know. I know that you are willing to wait for him, but what if he doesn’t come back? You can’t wait forever. You need to know where you stand.”
I had sighed. “Yeah, I know. I know. I guess a part of me just doesn’t want to know the truth. It’s going to hurt so much. I know what he’s going to say. He’s going to say that he has a new life now. If he really wanted to move on, he would’ve told me. I know it.”
“Riley, you have to ask him. You have to do this for yourself.”
I had promised her that I would, but a month passed, and I still had not found myself able to ask the question. And now, for the past week, I hadn’t heard from him at all. I knew he was busy and that he was touring and that his life was different now. But to not even send me one message was hard. Too hard. I felt angry. That night, as I got ready for work, I made myself a promise. I was going to give myself one week. One week. Before the week was up, I was going to have to ask him what was going on. I had to know.
I made my way to the bar, ready to tell Paisley what I had decided, but she was in a strange mood. She wasn’t listening to me much at all, and she looked excited about something. Maybe Ruben had proposed, and she was too afraid to tell me because she felt bad for me. I hoped not. That was not the sort of friend I wanted to be to her. I would have to talk to her after our shift to find out what was happening. She would be happy to know that I was finally ready to move on. I might not have been ready to date, but I was at least ready to finally know the truth.
It was a busy night. Busier than usual, even. I ran from customer to customer trying to get their orders correct. The more I worked, the more I realized it was not what I wanted to do with my life. I needed to get started on my new dream of working with troubled teens. I was not going to make enough money waitressing, and now that I didn’t have to worry about rent anymore, I was sure that I could start, even if it meant starting small. I was so wrapped up in my own head that I almost didn’t hear my boss up on stage. I had no idea that there was going to be a band playing tonight, so I edged closer to hear who it was going to be. No wonder there were so many people at the pub that night. My boss locked eyes with me and gave me a smile, which I thought was a little strange. I actually turned around to see if he was smiling at someone else but there was nobody there.
“I have a little surprise for everyone today. We have a singer about to perform for you tonight that has come just to play at this pub. This, I’m proud to say, was the pub where he was first discovered. He’s new to the scene, but I’m sure most of you will already know him. Please put your hands together for the wonderful, the talented, Silas Aarons.”
Silas? My eyes widened, and I almost dropped the glass that I was holding when I saw Silas walk up onto the stage. I looked around and saw Paisley staring at me. She grinned at me and nodded, and I knew then that she was in on it too. What was going on? Silas smiled at the crowd and immediately started to sing. My boss came up to me and told me that I had the rest of the night off and that I could just stand and enjoy the songs. It was the nicest thing he had ever done for me, and I smiled gratefully at him. He must’ve known I wouldn’t have been able to work anyway. Not with the beautiful voice of Silas all around me. I edged forward to watch him. His familiar face. His familiar voice. As usual, when he was up on stage I could see that he didn’t look at the audience. It was just him and his guitar. He looked just like he had all those months ago on this very stage. It was as if nothing had changed.
“I have one more song. This is a new one, and I hope you all enjoy it.”
The song was all about riding on a motorcycle that breaks down by a beautiful field of flowers. The song was about two roommates that fall in love. The song, I realized, was about me. It was about us. The crowd went wild as he finished, but I couldn’t move. I could barely bring myself to clap. I just stood there, in shock, staring at him. He walked off the stage and down the stairs and then walked straight up to me. He took me in his arms and kissed me. As he pulled away, everyone around us began to holler and cheer. I chuckled, and so did he. He took my hand, pulled me to the side and kissed me again.
“Are you really here?” I said.
He nodded. “I’m here. Riley, I can’t bear to spend another day without you. I just can’t. I love you.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Just that morning I was thinking that I was going to finally ask him what was going on between us. I had expected him to tell me that he had moved on, that he had a different life now. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever imagined that he would utter those words to me.
“I love you too, Silas.”
Paisley and Ruben came running up to us. Ruben was all flushed, and I realized that he had hoped to meet Silas at the concert before the whole mess had happened.
“Silas, this is Ruben. Paisley’s boyfriend.”
“Ruben,” Silas said and shook his hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
“No, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Ruben gushed. “Your songs are amazing.”
We stood there for a while, catching up, and while I watched him talk to Ruben and Paisley, I stood in shock still unsure as to what had just happened. Silas was holding my hand and had never once let go of it during the conversation.
“All right, I bet the two of you don’t want to hang around here,” Paisley said. “And if I don’t get back to work, I’m going to be in huge trouble.”
“Are you sure I don’t have to work? It’s such a busy night, and I feel so bad leaving you in the lurch like this.” It wasn’t all that true. I didn’t feel that bad, and I was only trying to be polite. Paisley laughed, and I could see that she saw right through my words.
“Oh, you were never scheduled to work, anyway. That’s why we have extra staff tonight. We just didn’t want you to know.”
“How long have you known?” I asked. I had no idea that something like this was going on.
“Not that long. But it was fun to be in on it. Now, go on, you two, I’m sure you have a lot of catching up to do,” she said and winked at me. I tried not to blush, but I could feel the heat rising to my face.
“Want to go home?” I said to Silas. I had no idea how long he even had with me, but I hoped that his answer was going to be yes.
He nodded. “I would love to go home.” And suddenly, it really did feel like home again.