Three weeks later . . .
I STAND HERE WITH A satisfied smile on my face as I take in all the bodies filling the room.
Express is at its capacity and there’s still a small line of people waiting for others to leave so they can come in and watch the performers lined up for tonight.
I couldn’t be more thankful that Tegan has been here by my side since the doors opened a few hours ago, because I seriously don’t think I could enjoy this moment as much without her here to experience it with me.
Stepping behind the bar, I grip her waist and lean in to speak against her ear. “Thank you.”
She laughs and turns around to face me. “For what?”
“For being here. It means so damn much to me. You mean so damn much to me.” I move my hand up to caress her cheek. “And I appreciate you working the bar for a while. You really didn’t have to.”
“I wanted to,” she says, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Everything needs to be perfect tonight and I really don’t mind. It’s sort of fun.”
“It is perfect.” I swipe my tongue across her lips, before kissing her. “You being here assured that.”
“I know,” she says with a cocky grin.
I laugh and kiss her again. The more she’s with me the more I wear off on her and I love it. “I should go greet some more guests before my performance.”
“Okay, babe.” She moves her hands down to grip the top of my shirt, before she pulls me in and playfully nips my bottom lip, and then kisses me. “You’ve got ten minutes before you’re up. Don’t be late or I’ll have to punish you.”
I smirk, before running my tongue over my lips. “I have a feeling that I’m going to love you being in charge.”
She watches me with a playful smile as I hurry away and get lost in the crowd, wanting to make my way around to as many people as I can before my show.
“Thank you for coming.” I smile and shake the hand of another guest, welcoming them to Express.
I’ve shaken too many hands tonight to count and I still haven’t made it around to everyone.
I’m just about to hold my hand out to greet the next person when I look up to see who’s standing in front of me.
Alexander is standing there dressed all sharp in a blue button-down shirt and a pair of black slacks.
As happy as I am to see he decided to show up for the opening, I don’t know what to expect from him.
We haven’t spoken much since I returned home with his sister, so I assumed he still hasn’t come around to the idea of us dating yet.
“Micah.” He holds his hand out and I take it, giving it a firm shake.
“Thanks for coming.”
He nods and releases my hand. “I see you have my sister working for you.”
I look over at Tegan to see her watching us from behind the bar with a small, hopeful smile.
“Yeah.” I can’t help the smile that takes over as she blows me a kiss, before turning away to help a guest. “I hired her as management. I wanted someone I could trust, and well . . . you know me.”
He nods and reaches for his glass. He watches me over the rim as he takes a drink. “She seems happy. Really happy.”
“And I plan to keep her that way. I don’t care what it takes and I want you to know that.” I meet his eyes, wanting him to see the truth in them. “I fucking love her and I’d do anything for her. Whatever it takes. I want you to fucking see that.”
“I know.” His lips curl into a small smile as he sets his glass down. “I realized that the day you showed up at my doorstep when you were supposed to be here opening the damn place you’ve worked so hard on. I know more than anyone how long you’ve worked to get this place up and running. You wouldn’t have walked away unless you truly loved my sister.” He pauses to look over at her again. His smile broadens as he watches her laughing with someone. “I was a hothead. I needed some time to be pissed off at your dumbass for going behind my back. I didn’t want to give in too quickly. I’m not a pussy.”
I chuckle and grip his shoulder. “I think your fist slamming into my jaw about ten damn times proved that you aren’t. The fucker still hurts if moved just right.”
He grins and hands me one of the shots in front of him. “Sorry about that, Man. I lost my shit when I saw you two together. I just want what’s best for her, but now I know that’s you.”
We tilt back our shots at the same time, and just as we set them down Tegan wiggles her way in between us with a smile. “I see you boys are playing nice,” she says, wrapping her arms around me. “This has totally made my night.”
Alexander releases a breath, while looking us over. It’s the first time since the night he caught us that he’s seen us together. “I suppose you two do look nice together. I do kind of already like him. But I’ll still kill Micah if he hurts you.” He cracks a smile, which has Tegan moving to give him a hug.
“It’s that time,” she whispers, after moving back in to hug me. “Are you ready?”
I nod and kiss the top of her head. “Yeah.” I drop my hands down to cup her face, and then move in to kiss her long and hard. “As long as you’re watching me, babe.”
She nods and moves in close to Alexander as I walk away and head toward the stage.
My heart is racing with a mixture of nerves and excitement, because tonight I’m performing a song I wrote for Tegan when she was gone.
I want her to feel every word of the pain I felt without her in my life.
And now that she’s here, there’s no way in hell I’m ever allowing her to leave me again.
I may not have ever experienced love before, but I’m damn sure that not everyone gets as lucky as I am. I plan to hold onto this feeling for as long as I can, because I already know what losing her feels like and it’s something I never want to live through again.
Tegan Tyler is mine and I’ll spend every day making sure she knows that . . .
Tegan
Excitement fills me as I watch Micah make his way through the crowd and up to the stage. Jealousy is the last thing on my mind, even though random girls still make attempts to get his attention.
It’s different now, because I know that he’s mine, when before I only wanted him to be.
He doesn’t offer the girls a second glance as he grabs his guitar and takes a seat on the stool. He looks down at his guitar while he tunes it, before looking up to see if I’m watching him.
I smile to let him know that I am. It’s always been impossible for me not to.
After staying in Wisconsin for a few days I took Micah over to my parents’ place to meet them and break the news that I was moving to California.
They were upset at first, but after seeing how happy Micah made me I think they finally warmed up to the idea of me leaving with him.
Apparently my brother had talked about Micah to them over the years, telling them all good things about how he’s had his back and really helped Vortex get going in the beginning.
I’ll admit, I was a little annoyed that even my parents knew about him when I didn’t, but I guess it ended up being a good thing in the end, because my parents were quick to trust him with me. They ended up loving him, which made me extremely happy.
I was hoping that by the time we arrived in California Alexander would be ready to talk to Micah and work things out, but he found ways to avoid him for the past three weeks.
He hasn’t even been to Micah’s place to see how I like it there. He’s made me come to him every time I want to see him.
When I saw that my brother made an effort to show up for the grand opening I had hopes that he’d talk to Micah, and when I saw that they finally were happiness and relief filled me. I knew he’d eventually come around, but I didn’t know how soon and the wait has had me anxious.
“I’m still proud of him, just so you know. Still a little pissed too, but proud as hell.” I look away from Micah to give Alexander my attention as he continues. “I’ve never seen anyone work harder than he does and that’s always impressed me. I’m actually happy that he has you to help him, to be honest. Trust has never come easy for him, so I was wondering who he’d get as management.” He laughs and takes a sip of his drink. “I figured he’d attempt to run the whole damn place himself. It wouldn’t have surprised me in the least, and he probably could’ve pulled it off. If anyone could it’d be that dick.”
I smile and bump him with my shoulder, happy that he’s willing to give Micah another chance. “He’s pretty amazing, right?” My heart jumps with excitement when I look over to see that Micah is watching me. It reminds me of when he played at Vortex, and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that feeling. “I love him, Xan. He treats me good and I’m so damn happy when I’m–”
“I know, Tegan. I’m sorry for being an overprotective asshole.” He grabs the back of my head and looks down at me. “All I want is for you to be happy. It’s obvious that Micah is what makes you happy. I can see now that I was wrong. I’m choosing to trust that he’ll keep it that way, because I’ve never seen him this happy or crazy before when it comes to a woman. The asshole about ripped my head off to find out where you were. I never thought I’d see that day.”
I laugh when he does. “I didn’t know that story, but I’ll have to ask Micah about it later.”
“Did I miss it? Please tell me he hasn’t played yet?” Jamie shows up beside us, appearing out of breath. “It’s crazy in here, and if it weren’t for Sebastian working the door I don’t think I would’ve made it past the line outside. Wow.”
“You didn’t miss him. He’s about to play.” I look behind her for Sebastian, but can’t see him anywhere. “Isn’t Sebastian coming in for–”
“Hell yeah, I’m here.” Sebastian’s voice comes from behind me, almost scaring the shit out of me. “The ladies wouldn’t stop flirting with me at the door.” He grins, taking a spot next to me. “There’s no way I was missing this though, so I had to tell them I’d be back.”
I roll my eyes and laugh as Sebastian winks.
“How’s everyone doing tonight?” Micah asks into the microphone, causing the whole room to go quiet. “Everyone enjoying the music so far?”
The crowd screams with excitement, which has Micah laughing into the microphone. “I’m gonna sing an original song tonight, so I hope you all enjoy. It’s something I’ve never done before.”
The room goes quiet again as Micah begins strumming his guitar, and like always I can’t take my eyes away from the stage.
He’s sitting there, dressed in a pair of old faded jeans and a black t-shirt, yet he still has the attention of everyone around. It’s his talent that brought everyone here and not him being shirtless.
Him playing shirtless at Vortex was just an extra treat for everyone, but for me it takes away from the most important part. I love that here it’ll be all about his amazing voice. The introduction to the song plays and before I know it I’m lost in the stanza . . .
“I should go to sleep now, but all night you’ve been on my mind.
Tossing and turning, I never thought we’d run out of time.
My head is ready for some peace, from the thoughts that never cease.
I haven’t found any since you walked away.
Because I miss you more than I know how to say.
There’s an ache deep in my heart, pain in my chest.
My girl’s long gone and my mind will never rest.
It’s just past four AM . . .”
Listening to the lyrics has my heart, because I know right away that his song is about me. He must’ve written it over the week I was back home in Wisconsin. I hate that he had to feel those things for even a second.
I swallow back my emotions and glance over to see Alexander looking at me. He wraps his arm around my neck and offers me a small smile, because he knows too now just how much Micah hurt when I was gone.
“I’m not ready to do this without you, my world is torn in two.”
With each word that he sings I find myself getting closer to the stage, my eyes locked on him as he pours his heart out.
I’ve never heard such raw emotion in his voice before and it’s ripping my damn heart out that I’m not next to him right now, showing him that I’ll never leave him again.
Right as I reach the end of the stage, he stands up and swings his guitar over his shoulder, coming at me as if he needs to get to me.
He doesn’t even bother finishing the song. He just walks off the stage and pulls me in as he crushes his lips against mine so hard that it about smothers my breathing.
It’s as if the song reminds him too much of the pain he felt when we were apart. It does the same for me too.
I wrap my hands into his hair and kiss him back, harder than I’ve ever kissed him before.
We’re so lost in each other that we almost forget we’re not alone, until there’s a loud whistle followed by some cheers of excitement.
Micah pulls away from our kiss and places his forehead to mine. His eyes meet mine as he moves his hands up to cup my face. “I love you so fucking much, baby, and I never want to know what it’s like to lose you again.”
I shake my head. “You won’t have to.” I stand up on my tiptoes and brush my lips over his. “I love you, too. And that song . . . It was beautiful. I loved it, but I don’t want to hear another sad song from you ever again. I can’t handle it. Promise me.”
He flashes me a cocky smile. “So, you loved my song?”
I laugh and hit his chest. “Is that all you took from that?”
He shakes his head.
“Then promise me,” I say firmly.
“You’ve already promised me you’ll never walk away again.” He rubs his thumb over my lip. “That makes it easy to keep my promise to you. Do you really need to hear it?”
I nod. “And I need you to promise me the same.”
He smiles against my lips. “I’ll promise you anything you ever want, Tegan. Trust me.”
“I do,” I whisper.
And it’s the truth.
I love this man with all my heart, and I know without a doubt that he feels the same way.
And I know for a fact that things can only get better from here now that everyone accepts us being together.
He is mine and there’s no one else I’d rather give myself too.
Because Micah Beck is addictive to the last drop and I’m completely in love with him . . .
THE END