Evelyn Vine Be Mine (65 page)

Darkness fell and my family and friends sat down to eat dinner while the band started to set up. I picked at my food as I gazed over at Stone, wondering if he was going to come and talk to me at all tonight. Had the band convinced him to play? Was that the only reason he was here? He turned, as if he’d felt my stare. My lips parted, but they refused to kick up in a smile. My hands refused to rise and wave. For the second time tonight, I simply stared at him, a blush creeping up my neck. Jake followed my gaze with a frown and nudged me softly. “What are you looking at,” he drawled in a low voice.

“The band,” I said innocently, turning back to my food as Donny approached the microphone and everyone quietened.

“Hello, Hello,” his sexy-as-sin voice purred out, sounding both gleeful and naughty at the same time. “As most of you know, we’re Rabid Manifests and we’re here to wish a very special woman a happy birthday!”

Cheers rang out around the field and my siblings stood up in their chairs to holler obnoxiously. I blushed and hunched over to hide from the attention.

Donny laughed and blew me a kiss. “We’ve asked around and put together a set made up of our girl Evie’s favourite songs.”

More cheers rang out and I slid a glance over at Candy. Her eyes twinkled in a way that told me she’d had a lot of input into the song choices. I smiled. Candy knew me better than most people. I glanced up at Stone again and caught his stare.

And Stone knew some parts of me even better than her.

My skin heated as the first song started and I remembered one particularly erotic afternoon with him. We’d been listening to this song. We’d been…making love. It was a slow rock ballad, with an even slower, but strong, thrusting beat. Amazingly, the lyrics sounded even better when sung by Donny and Alec. I looked down at the table and avoided Jake’s piercing stare. I started eating again and conversation restarted around the table.

Song after song played – some of them bringing up memories of Stone, others not. I laughed when Donny announced they were going to sing the Korn version of Brick in the Wall and he apologised to all the Pink Floyd fans. That initiated a heated debate with Paulie as he tried to argue with me on the subject. Evan eventually told him to shut up and I hummed happily along to the rest of the song.

“So,” I said into the silence as the band paused for a break, “Is the car a present from everyone?”

I grinned cheekily at my siblings and friends. Logan laughed and threw his napkin at me. “When did you get so greedy?”

I pouted and made sad eyes at my brothers. Jake and Harvey were sitting on either side of me and both tried to pull me into a hug. Harvey won. “Of course we bought you prezzies,” he said in the soft voice he rarely ever used, “Do you want me to go get mine?”

Vicky coughed. “Who bought the presents?” she prodded. Everyone laughed, knowing that Evan and Harvey hadn’t looked at all. Vicky always bought the presents from them. Hell, Vicky bought gifts whenever Harvey had to buy for anyone, whether it be for a girlfriend or a boss or someone else.

“Fine,” Harvey acknowledged, “Vic got you something.”

Candy narrowed her eyes at me. “Too bad you’ll have to wait until the band’s finished,” she said sternly.

“Awww,” I whined playfully.

Donny moved back to the microphone and I noticed that the band looked really keyed up about something. My eyes moved to Candy, Mason and Briar and I watched them fidget anxiously in their seats. I frowned. Something was happening. Were they going to sing Happy Birthday?

Maybe.

I wished they’d hurry up and start. Looking at the band meant my eyes irresistibly fell on Stone…and that was just too painful right now, knowing that I loved him, but not knowing what to do about it or even if I should do anything at all.

Donny smiled over at me and nervous butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I couldn’t look away as he opened his mouth and started talking.

“We have one last song to play for you tonight,” he said slowly, grinning at the chorus of ‘awws’ from the girls in the crowd. “This song is one of our own…one we’ve been working on for the last two weeks, trying to get perfect for tonight.”

He cleared his throat and grinned over at my siblings. “For those of you who don’t know, our songs are all composed by our drummer, Grant Stone, and then we all work together to tweak it and make it work as a finished piece.”

“This song is extra special and we hope our gorgeous birthday girl thinks so too.”

The band members fiddled a little bit, doing a quick tune up, while Paulie leaned over the table to grin at me. “They wrote you a song as a birthday present. Wicked cool, sis.”

Candy and Briar muffled their laughs by taking big sips of their drinks and I started to worry that Paulie might not like this song. Shivers of apprehension crawled up my spine and I bit my lip. I had no idea why I was nervous though. How could a metal song make my brother mad?

Fredi led the song in, playing soft music on her keyboard for a bar or two. She stopped on a high note and Donny’s deep ‘metal’ voice broke in harshly:

Ev-el-yn Vine

Say you’ll be mine

Evvvv-el-yn Vine!

My jaw dropped at the sound of my name, but some of my siblings smiled curiously as Stone started a rapid drum beat and Donny and Alec power-screamed my name at intervals:

(Drum)

Evie!

(Drum)

Evie!

(Drum)

Evie!

A very short guitar rift brought the keyboard and guitars into subtle, background play and Donny started to sing the first chorus, his voice turning sensual and melodic:

We sit, we lie, we talk in silence

Communication, eyes that spell

our thoughts, our wants, our wishes

Communication, touch and tell

Me that you want me, that you need me

Mouths stuck shut, Eyes open wide

Hands that glide, Lips that slide

Spread open wide,

Let me insiiiiide! (Power scream)

I blushed at the sexual double entendres and felt my siblings turn their eyes on me one by one. Paul wouldn’t miss the meanings behind the words – that I knew for sure. I listened hard to each and every clearly sung word, making sure I knew exactly what Stone had written.

As Donny finished his scream and the music picked up, Alec joined in with perfect timing to sing the chorus with him:

Evie can’t you see!

What you mean to me!

I was mute and I was dumb

But I am pinned beneath your thumb

And now I’ll shout it, I will scream it

I will fucking yell it! (Power scream)

The drums sped up again for a repeat of the bridge and I found myself watching Stone, my heart pounding wildly as my hands began to sweat.

(Drum)

Evie!

(Drum)

Evie!

(Drum)

Evie!

I felt hope build even further as the music gentled once again and Donny started the second verse:

I told, I bossed, I straight demanded

Commanding silence, my stony eyes

I bade, I forced, I took for granted

Commanding silence, it’s no surprise

That I lost you, that you left me

My mouth stuck shut, eyes open wide

It hurts my pride, but I won’t hide

Please open wide

Let me insiiiiide (Power scream)

Chorus - Donny and Alec:

Evie can’t you see!

What you mean to me!

I was mute and I was dumb

But I am pinned beneath your thumb

And now I’ll shout it, I will scream it

I will fucking yell it! (Power scream)

Bridge – Donny and Alec:

(Drum)

Evie!

(Drum)

Evie!

(Drum)

Evie!

Both sets of triplets and Paul were alternatively glaring up at the stage and trying to pierce me with hard looks. I ignored them, my focus completely centred on the stage. On Stone. That’s why I startled when the format changed and Fredi sang the next verse in the sweetest, softest voice I’d ever heard her use:

Grant, grant me just one thing, explain the rules of this damn fling

Grant, grant me one small smile, Is it really such a trial

To let me know

Just what’s the go?

Your eyes may spell, but they don’t tell, me

What you’re feeling, you’re concealing

Tear open wide, let me inside.

As Fredi held the last note a little longer, Alec and Donny started the chorus straight away, their voices louder, clearer, more energetic, and laced with a fervent frustration…only this time, the words were a little different:

Evie can’t you see!

What you mean to me!

I was mute and I was dumb

But I am pinned beneath your thumb

And now I’ll shout it, I will scream it

I will spell it out it for you

You’re divine, you’re so sublime

I fucking love you Evelyn Vine!

There was a crash of drums on the last words, all of the instruments stopping abruptly, creating a tense silence throughout the field as the words sunk in.

He loved me.

I held my breath and heard several people audibly gasp in surprise and excitement as Grant Stone himself leaned toward his microphone.

No, I thought, there is no way he’s going to sing.

But he did.

He looked straight at me and opened his mouth, letting that deep, growly, erotic, masculine voice throb through the microphone and speakers, making goosebumps break out all over my body…my limbs trembling, my chest vibrating with his voice. His words were slow and measured, clearly heard in the dead silence:

So say you want me, say you need me

Mouths unstuck, Hearts open wide

Nothing to hide, lips that confide

Evelyn Vine,

please say you’ll be…

Mine.

His last word was softly uttered, but everyone heard it. The silence continued as heads turned to stare at me. For once, I didn’t blush at the attention. I barely registered it. I didn’t even realise that our table was all standing – including me. I couldn’t take my eyes off Stone.

He arched a brow when I didn’t move. He looked confident, but I saw the nervousness flickering in the depths of his eyes – even from a distance. I felt a gentle push in my back, just as my siblings started to stir. “What are you waiting for,” Bridget hissed in my ear, “Go get him.”

I felt a wide grin stretch across my face. Stone was mine…all I had to do was go to him.

His lips started to quirk at one corner and I found myself running through the crowd towards the stage, barely feeling the brush of Harvey’s fingers as he made to grab at me. My heart pounded loudly in my ears, drowning out the whoops of excitement coming from Briar and Candy. I started towards the side steps, but suddenly, Stone was there at the front of the stage. He reached down and grabbed me mid-run, hauling me up onto the stage in a show of brute strength. My feet landed on the wooden floor and I gripped his arms tightly for balance, my knees shaky and weak.

He leant down and pressed his forehead to mine. “Does this mean you’ll take me?” he murmured softly, his silver eyes hooded. I shook my head. “No,” I whispered.