Perfecting Patience (5 page)

“It’s good that you and Zeke are doing this. I think y’all are good for each other. So Chet’s doing well?” She nervously played with her straw.

It took a lot for her to ask about him.

“He seems to be. When’s the last time you talked to him?” I asked.

She took a draw from her sweet tea. “Right before they left,” she said sadly.

I tried to stop my jaw from dropping, but I didn’t catch it in time. “You mean he hasn’t contacted you at all?”

She shook her head no and her curling-ironed curls fell a little.

“I’m so sorry, Megan. Here I am talking about meeting up with Zeke and things getting better between us and you’re still pining over Chet.”

I felt like shit officially. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to still be hoping to hear from or see Zeke.

“Oh what-the-hell-ever, I’m not pining over his punk ass. I was just asking how he was doing. Honestly, I couldn’t care less.” She called the waitress over and ordered a piece of cake.

“You don’t have to pretend with me, Megs. Remember, I know all about pretending.”

We spent the rest of dinner talking about Chet and how much she missed him. She told me about a nice guy she was kind of seeing up in Columbia. He was in her algebra class, but she couldn’t get past Chet and his silly ways. She even talked me into texting Zeke and seeing if he could talk Chet into calling her. I felt awful for her.

Somehow, we ended up at The Pit—something about her needing to be somewhere that reminded her of Chet, but I was convinced she just wanted to choke down some drinks. I agreed. After panicking before my game, missing Zeke, and going to my mother’s grave, I was in need of something to drink myself.

I ordered a beer at the bar and turned and listened to the band. The place looked exactly the same and it reminded me of when I first met Zeke. He was a total asshole then and it was hard to believe the sweet guy that kissed me through the phone every night was the same guy that was a complete prick all those months ago.

I made sure the bartender gave us both unopened drinks, and Megan and I spent the rest of our night drowning ourselves in entirely too much alcohol and dancing to a band that wasn’t even close to being as good as Blow Hole.

It was so loud that I’d missed all the phone calls from Zeke calling to tell me goodnight. It wasn’t until I followed Megan into the bathroom that I caught them. I dialed his number back and waited for him to answer.

“Where have you been, babe? I was worried when you didn’t answer,” he said into the phone.

“I’m fine I promise!” I yelled.

The music from outside the bathroom was still making its way past the grimy tiles that covered the walls. I plugged my ear so I could hear him speak.

“What’s all that noise? Where are you?”

“I’m with Megan at The Pit. There’s some crappy band on stage. They’re nothing compared to Blow Hole.” My loud voice echoed off of the bathroom walls, but I didn’t care.

My phone decided at that exact moment to lose signal. I could hear broken pieces of what he said, but nothing made any sense. Finally the call was dropped and no matter how many times I tried to call him back, I couldn’t.

Three beers later, I gave up and decided to call him when we left. My phone was almost dead and I couldn’t hear a damn thing anyway. I turned it off to save the battery and stuffed it in my back pocket.

Six

Zeke

I’m not sure what was worse—knowing my snowflake was somewhere she had no business being, or being jealous of not being there with her.

The truth was I missed The Pit. We’d been talking about going back and playing a gig there on our own time, but things were picking up for us and everything was happening so fast.

More than anything, though, I felt fear. I knew what went down in the dark corners of The Pit, and I also knew I didn’t want Patience running around there alone. I hadn’t thought about the fact that the girls would go there when she told me she was going to Charleston to play a game. I wished I’d asked her not to go there alone.

I spent the next three hours walking the floors. I tried to get high and kill some of my nerves, but it didn’t
work. I called her phone over and over again until finally I just got her voicemail. I’d known this fear with Patience before. It seemed like I was constantly worried about her. She wasn’t ignorant, but she always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong fucking time. The Pit would always be the wrong place for her.

When my phone finally rang, I couldn’t answer it fast enough.

“Hey, Zekey. It’s Megan. I’m calling for Patience. She’s shitfaced, dude. She said she’ll call you tomorrow.”

I could hear Patience talking in the background and she sounded muffled.

“What’s she doing?”

“She’s puking beside my car. No worries. She’s in good hands. I’m taking her back to the hotel she’s staying at and she’s leaving with her teammates in the morning to go back to Florida. I’ll make sure she calls in you the morning.”

I ran my hands roughly through my hair.

“Y’all had no business going to The Pit. You both know how dangerous that place can be!” I yelled into the phone.

It wasn’t my thing to yell at females, but I was so worried and pissed that I couldn’t help it.

“Dude, she’s fine. She’ll call you in the morning.”

And then the phone went quiet.

It took everything in me not to trash my phone again. I wanted to throw it at the wall, but I couldn’t. It was killing me being this far away and not being able to be there for her. She was drunk and sick and who knew what else, and I was hours away stuck on a fucking bus, helplessly waiting for her to call me back.

That night I couldn’t sleep for shit. Every hour my emotions changed. For an hour, I’d be so pissed that I could kick someone through the face, and the next hour I’d be so worried that I wanted scream. It fucking sucked.

The sun peeked through the curtains, the bus in stop-and-go morning traffic, when my phone finally rang. Looking at the screen, a picture of a smiling Snowflake popped up. Pressing my finger against the screen, I answered.

“Feeling better?” I said rudely into the phone.

I hated being mean to her, but I hated that she kept me up all night worried, too.

“Not really. I feel like I got hit by the bus I’m riding on. I’ll be back in Florida in about three hours.” Her voice was raspy and rough.

She was definitely nursing a serious hangover and as bad as it sounds, I couldn’t help but think how much she deserved it.

“Well, that’s what happens when you drink too much. You get sick and you feel like shit the next day. I hope it was worth it.” I sat up and threw my feet over the side of my bunk.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked.

I shook my head in aggravation and took a deep breath. Long-distance relationships sucked so much ass.

“What’s wrong with me? Are you seriously asking me that? You went to The Pit… alone. Every time you go to there something happens to you. I spent the entire fucking night worried about you.”

“Shut the fuck up, man!” Tiny called from the bunk beside mine.

“Kiss my ass and go back to sleep,” I yelled back.

I put the phone closer to my ear.

“I didn’t sleep at all last night.”

I knew when the words came out that I sounded like a little bitch. Shit, I felt like one, but I was so angry with her. It was just like old times.

“I’m fine, Zeke. So stop it,” she said softly into the phone.

It was obvious she was surrounded by other people and didn’t want to have this conversation in front of them, but I never gave a shit about what other people thought. Then again, I’d never really given much of a shit about anything. Thinking about it now, caring about someone kind of sucked some ass, too.

“Whatever, Patience.” I said her full name like it was a punishment. “I’m over this shit already.”

I hung up.

The minute I did it, I contemplated calling back immediately, but I was so sleepy and annoyed. My phone rang over and over again, and as badly as I wanted to answer it and apologize for being a dick, I didn’t want to talk. The boys were starting to bitch so I silenced my phone, rolled over, and went to sleep.

We had an interview on some radio show in four hours and I was running on no sleep and not much food. I was already half-assing this tour and being a part of the band. The guys were already starting to complain. I needed to shape up or ship out. Ship out to Florida, preferably.

*

I didn’t talk to Patience again until a day later. By then I’d blown off some steam and she was feeling better. I didn’t apologize for hanging up on her and she didn’t apologize for making me worry. Instead, we just kind of both never talked about it again.

She filled me in on her game and told me about going to visit her Aunt Sarah and Sydney. Since Florida State was a few hours away from her aunt’s house, she was staying in a tiny one-bedroom apartment at the school. The thoughts of moving to Florida once things were set in stone with the band and the tour was over kept creeping into my mind, but I shook them off knowing that soon I’d be able to sneak away for a weekend with her.

We had a show in Houston, Texas, the day after that, and I didn’t get to talk on the phone with her much. I took my aggravation out in my music and played hard. It was like the old days when I used my guitar to get through the bullshit at home. I could honestly say I hadn’t played that well since leaving South Carolina. I’d forgotten how much I loved what I did.

We did an encore of our final song when the crowd chanted for more, and by the time we were back on the bus and hitting the interstate back to California, I was too tired to lift my head. Still, I called to tell my snowflake goodnight.

“I miss you so much,” she answered.

“I miss you too, baby,” I said as I lay back on my bunk.

There was a sniffle on the other line and I sat up again.

“Are you crying?”

“No,” she said softly.

“Are you lying?”

“Yes.” Her sobs got louder on the other end of the line.

My heart broke. I felt the sudden need to rush to Florida and hold her. This would never do. I needed to be with her and she needed me there.

“What happened? Did someone hurt you? I’ll kill whoever it was. Tell me who hurt you.”

My anger rushed through me, causing the hair on my arms to stand on end.

She giggled a little on the other end. “No, no one hurt me. I just had a bad time in South Carolina. I went to my mom’s grave and on top of all that, I miss you.”

“As soon as we get off this bus, I’m coming to you. We’re supposed to play a gig at a local place, but I’ll skip it.”

“No. How about I come to you for a few days?”

And like that, my night was a million times better.

“Sounds perfect.” I smiled into the phone. “I’ll call the airport and have a ticket set up for you.”

I couldn’t wait to call and give them my credit card information for the earliest flight available.

“I can buy my own ticket, Zeke. I have some money saved. It’ll be fine.”

I was happy to hear her tears had stopped.

“Absolutely not. You’re coming to me so I’ll pay. Plus, I owe you money from when you paid my fines.”

She was quiet on the other line for a bit.

“You knew about that?” she asked.

“Of course I knew about it. I know all, baby. So I’m going to call the airport and then I’ll call you back when I have everything set up. Sound good?”

I could hear her smile through the phone and I felt like I’d won a medal.

“Sounds great.”

“Oh, and snowflake?” I grinned to myself.

“Yeah?”

“Bring those sexy little gym shorts you used to wear.”

She laughed. “Deal.”

Seven

Patience

The last thing I packed was my gym shorts. I had a big goofy smile on my face as I zipped up my suitcase and pulled it out to the living room to wait for my cab. Of all the things I could wear to turn on my man, those damn gym shorts seemed to do the trick.

I called Aunt Sarah and Sydney and let them know I was going out of town for a few days. I promised to come by for dinner as usual when I got back. I tried to catch dinner with them at least two days a week, and I’d already felt like I was slacking.

I felt nervous about the flight, so I took another valium, thanks to Hope, to get me through. I promised myself I wouldn’t take any more of those things, but it seemed like I was taking at least one a week now. It helped when I felt anxious about something.

The flight to California took forever, and after switching planes in Houston and sitting through a two-hour layover, I was exhausted and slept through the rest of the
trip.

Grabbing my luggage, I made my way to the spot Zeke told me he’d meet me. I saw him before he saw me. He was leaning against a pole with his arms crossed, looking out at the scenery around the airport. He wore a black T-shirt and dark jeans. His boots were barely tied as usual.

His dark hair was over his face, and the aviator shades he wore covered his brown eyes. I was almost across the airport to him when he turned and looked my way. His serious expression changed and a sweet smile pulled at his full lips.

I smiled back and dragged my luggage behind me. He met me halfway, taking all my bags from me, and gave me a soft kiss.

“You look beautiful,” he whispered in my ear.

“I highly doubt that. I’ve been stuck on a plane most of the day.”

“Trust me, baby. I know what I’m talking about here.”

I followed him out to a car that I didn’t recognize, and he stuffed my bags in the back. I tried to help, but he
smacked softly at my hands and told me he had it. He opened my car door for me, but before I could get in, he pushed my hair to the side and kissed me.

It was the kiss of a starving man, all hot and deep. He drank me in and pushed me over the edge of decency. I tugged on his T-shirt and pushed a hand under it to run my fingers across his hard abs. He released my mouth and hissed and bit down on his lip.

“Okay, that’s more than I can handle right now.”

He gave me a pop kiss and shut the door behind me after I climbed in. Once he got inside and cranked up what I could only assume was his new car, he reached out and intertwined his fingers with mine.

“So where are we going?” I asked.

“Straight to the show. I’m sorry, I know you’re tired from your flight, but it’ll be nice to have you there while I play.” He squeezed my fingers.

“No, that’s fine. You know I love watching you.”

He grinned over at me, then lifted my hand to kiss my fingers.
Mine…
That’s all I could think.

The rest of the band welcomed me backstage when we got there, and I sat to the side as the boys prepared for the show and passed around a joint. I didn’t miss the fact that Zeke declined when it came his way.

He smiled over at me shyly and I smiled back, letting him know I was happy with his decision. Although, with the way I was popping valiums these days, there wasn’t much I could say about what he did to relax.

I stood to the side of the stage and watched when the band went out. The crowd went wild; the noise lifted the roof and forced me to peek my head from behind the supports. The amount of people staring up at the boys was shocking.

The first song they played was familiar to me, and I found myself bobbing my head to the music. Every now and again, Zeke would look over at me and wink. I loved watching him play, the way his fingers moved across the strings so effortlessly. The peace that moved across his face when he played was beautiful. I envied that peace.

A little while later, he was drenched in sweat and playing his heart out. The crowd was crazy and full of crowd surfers. Once, a girl tried to climb up on the stage but was quickly removed. That didn’t happen, however, the second time a girl tried to climb up. She narrowly missed the big guy who was a part of the crew, and she made it on stage.

She stood waving her hands out at the crowd, and then she ran straight to Zeke and threw herself against him. He jerked back with a smile, but she moved quicker and planted her lips against his. Fire flew through me, and had there not been so many people out in the crowd, I would have gone out there and ripped out her hair. Zeke nicely pushed her away and grinned down at her. His fingers continued to move across his guitar.

Finally, the girl was taken away and the boys continued to play, but I couldn’t get over Zeke’s smug grin after the girl kissed him. Did he like it? He didn’t seem bothered by her being all over him.

He continuously peeked over at me, but I wouldn’t look at him. The longer they played, the more pissed off I was. I couldn’t handle these girls being all over him and knowing had some guy done the same to me, Zeke probably would’ve killed him.

After the show, Zeke came straight over to me. He kissed me on the lips and then pulled back with a big happy smile on his face.

“Stay here. I’m going to run and clean up a bit. I’ll be right back. Don’t move, okay?”

I nodded my head and he turned and walked away. His shirt was sticking to him. It’s amazing the sweat they worked up on stage. Thirty minutes later, the stage was still and the crowd was gone. The room was
silent as I walked out on the empty platform and ran my fingers across the different instruments.

Tiny’s guitar was sitting in its stand and when I ran my fingers across the strings, the entire room seemed to vibrate. I snatched my hand back quickly and stepped away. I bumped into something solid and turned around to see Zeke grinning down at me.

“You like that way that feels?” he asked.

“What?”

He reached out his hand and strummed Tiny’s guitar again, and again the stage seemed to vibrate from the bass.

“That,” he said as he ran a hand up my bare arm.

I felt my cheeks fill with heat when I caught his meaning, but suddenly I remembered the girl running up on stage and kissing him. The anger peaked again, and I rolled my eyes.

“I can tell you what I don’t like.” I stepped back.

He followed me step for step. “And what’s that?” he asked with a raised brow.

Damn, he was sexy.

“I don’t like those girls kissing you, but you seemed to like it just fine.” Turning my head away, I swiped at the hair in my face.

His rough fingers caught my chin and he turned my head to face him again.

“Are you jealous, snowflake?”

More anger hit me.

“No, I’m not jealous. I’m just saying.” I rolled my eyes again.

“That’s so fucking cute. You’re jealous.”

I took in a breath, ready to yell at him and deny my bright-green feelings, but before I could speak, he moved in and caught me around the waist.

“You’re the only girl I want. Do you trust me when I say that?” he asked.

Swallowing hard, I shrugged my shoulders instead of answering.

“Do you?” His fingers dove into my hair and I almost purred out loud. “I need you to trust me, baby, and if you do, I promise I’ll never do anything to break that trust.”

Leaning in, he placed his warm lips against mine, and I forgot all about the girls who ran half-naked across the stage. Who cares what they did? He was mine.

He slowly walked me backward until the back of my knees hit something hard.

“So tell me, snowflake. Do you trust me, pretty girl?”

Again, his hand moved down my bare arm and his fingers caught mine.

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Good. Now, let me play for you.”

His tongue slid across my bottom lip before it slipped into my mouth. Minty sweetness invaded my tongue, and I moaned softly against his mouth. I didn’t flinch when he slowly started to push me down into a seated position. What was hard behind my knees was now hard underneath me as I sat.

He broke the kiss and stood above me, looking down with red-hot lust in his eyes.

“Don’t move from that spot.” He ran a finger down the side of my neck and into the top of my tank top. My nipples hardened and I leaned my head back to give him more of myself.

Backing away, he picked up Tiny’s bass guitar and grinned at me.

“I’m pretty sure Tiny’s going to kick your ass for messing with his precious guitar.” I chuckled.

“I’m pretty sure if knew what I was using it for, he would approve.”

“And what exactly are you using it for?”

No sooner than the words left my mouth, Zeke strummed the guitar. Vibrations shot between my legs
and up into my core. I gasped and looked down in shock. I hadn’t paid attention to what I was sitting on, and now I could see it was a speaker.

I looked up at him with wide eyes, and he was closer. The mischievous grin on his face let me know he wasn’t done. Taking another step in my direction, he strummed it again, and again, the chord he played bounced inside the speaker and worked its way up between my thighs. The tiny bundle of nerves around my pleasure point jumped with the vibrations, and I couldn’t help the tiny sigh that drifted from my lips.

“Again?” he asked with a raised brow.

I swallowed hard and licked my lips anxiously. What kind of girl would I be if I asked him to keep going? Would he like that? I wanted more than anything to turn him on, but someone could be watching. Better yet, someone could walk out on this empty stage to break down everything at any moment.

He took another step toward me and held his hand above the strings as if he were about to strum it again.

“I’m waiting, snowflake. Tell me you want me to play for you, baby.”

One more step in my direction and he was standing above me, looking down into my flushed face. I could feel the heat on my cheeks and my bottom begged for him to play that chord over and over again.

He was so good at this seduction thing, but two could play that game. I no longer cared who came in or who might be watching. I’m not sure what that made me, but I didn’t care about that either. If Zeke thought he could seduce me, I’d show him I could play just as hard, if not harder.

I stood, pulling my skirt up around my thighs and allowing him a glimpse of my pink panties. His eyes drifted down and he greedily took me in. Spreading my thighs, I slipped one leg onto the other side of the large speaker and then lowered myself onto it.

Pleasure flashed across his face as I straddled the speaker and looked up at him with big innocent eyes. He was so close the hardness was pressing against his jeans was within my reach and the tiny tremble in his fingers was visible as he held them above the strings and waited for me to respond.

His eyebrow lifted as he waited.

“Tell me what you want, snowflake.” His voice was rough and aroused.

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. His tongue peeked out and ran across his lip ring. I teasingly ran my hand up my knee and rested my fingers on the inside of my thigh. Brown eyes followed my movements and again he swallowed hard.

“Play for me,” I said softly.

With a slanted grin, he began to play simple chords. His fingers picked at the strings over and over again, sending hard vibrations up into my skirt that shook every sensitive part inside my panties.

I threw my head back when he continued to play and the pleasure rippled up inside of me and into my thighs and lower stomach.
I bit at my bottom lip as the vibrations continued and I felt a rise spinning up from the speaker and pushing itself up into me. My stomach clenched as I leaned back completely and gripped on to the part of the speaker that was behind me.

Closing my eyes, tiny noises spilled from my lips every time he picked the guitar strings.

“That’s so fucking hot, baby. Goddamn, that’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” he rasped.

He settled on one specific chord and played it over and over again. He played faster and faster and I could feel myself about to let go.

“Oh my God, Zeke. I think I’m going to…”

And then the craziest thing happened. I came—sitting there on a speaker as Zeke fingered those strings as if his life depended on it—and it was quite possibly
the best orgasm he ever gave me. Far away, I could hear him agreeing with my sounds and movements. I hadn’t even realized I was moving back and forth on the sounds like I was riding him.

When I came back to myself, I opened my eyes and he was there. He unhooked the guitar and set it back on its stand. Helping me up, he adjusted my skirt and then he swooped me into his arms and carried me over to the side of the stage. We passed a few people who looked at us like we were crazy, and then we were in the parking lot and making our way to his car. He set me down next to the door and opened it.

I climbed in, and he shut the door behind me and ran around to the driver’s side. The light inside the car illuminated the darkness between us as he got in. Once the door was shut, the darkness took over again.