Fall From Grace(64)

“I have never seen anyone more exquisite in my entire life, Grace.  You seem to have this knack of making me completely...breathless.”  He seemed shocked at himself for saying the words.  He spun me around again, brushing the hair off my shoulders, his gaze sending shivers along my neck.  His breathing stopped, caught somewhere in his lungs.  Lightly touching the skin on my shoulder, he inhaled deeply, “You have another tattoo,” he exhaled in a whisper.  I felt him trace the lines with his fingers.  My most special piece of artwork, my broken angel’s wings.  The very reason behind why I needed to step away from Shane’s warm touch.

The corners of my mouth quirked upward. “I bet that’s your signature line to try to pick up women, huh?”  I stepped away; keeping the smile on my face, but inside I was dying.  How could it be that every time he touched this body and I pulled away, it ached all over?  I shook my head free from my thoughts and placed my hand on the back of my shoulder.  “They are my angel wings.  To remind me and to honor what I’ve lost.”

Shane flinched and drew his hands back when I said the words.  He tucked his head down and looked away, “Your family,” he murmured.

I didn’t correct his assumption.  I tucked my lips between my teeth and clamped down tight.  What would I tell him anyway?  Gee, Shane, I was born thousands of years ago when the world was first created, in what people today call biblical times.  When a small band of angels called the Watchers were placed on Earth to watch and protect the humans.  Yeah, sure, that would go over well.

Should I tell him also that these angels, even though it was against their laws, took human women to be their wives?  Each wife bore the angel’s children; the Nephilim.  These creatures, part angel-part human, grew to be giants in our world.  Giants of pure evil.  They wreaked havoc on the Earth, tearing humans apart, and eating their flesh.

Should I tell him that I was one of the girls who fell in love with one of the angels and I was the only one who didn’t have a child?  That we never got further than a kiss?  The Watchers were exiled from the earth, thrown into the Abyss until Judgment Day.  The punishment I was given was this existence.  A lost soul searching for my angel on earth, forever banned from heaven.

Yeah, sure, and the next thing I’d see is the view from the back of the silly bus as they hauled me off to the funny farm.  I could never tell someone like Shane my secrets.

The next few hours flew by as if someone had pressed the fast forward button on my remote control of life.  We met up with the rest of the band at the bar; it was more packed than I’d seen it the first time I stepped foot in it.  Conner was absolutely right when he said the auditions for a new band member would get them a lot of publicity.  Everywhere you turned in the bar, people were talking about who would take Alex’s place.  Alex sat in a booth as if his was royalty; his fans coming up to him, paying their respects.

Tucker walked in with his head held high.  His Gucci suit was still on with his tie undone and the first two buttons open.  He brought an entourage of people from work, escorting them all right to me and introduced me to each one.  There was red headed Jimmy, who spoke with an Irish accent.  There was also Cameron, who upon meeting me said, “Your girl has a great ass, Tucker.”  Lastly, there was Bradley, who elbowed Tucker and called him the luckiest guy in the world.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Shane grimacing.  His foot started tapping wildly against the chair he sat in and he had his eyebrows pulled together.  When Tucker placed his unwanted hand on the small of my back and began moving it quickly downwards, Shane jumped out of his chair.  Pushing himself between Tucker and me, he grabbed my waist and pulled me forward, “Okay.  Almost time to go onstage, so let’s have a band meeting before we do this!”