Fall From Grace(88)

“Do you want me to stay here and drive up with you?  It’s up to you, nobody should make the call for you,” Shane said.

“That’s fine,” I answered.  Turning my head to Lea, I continued, “I’ll just run to the store quickly, I promise I’ll be right behind you guys.”

My choice seemed to settle everybody down, even Tucker and Blake.  I couldn’t keep my eyes off him as they packed his truck with the duffel bags in the falling snow.    He couldn’t keep his eyes off me either and before he left, he walked past me and looked right into my eyes.  “Be as quick as...humanly possible,” he grinned.  I almost fainted.  I toyed with the idea of just grabbing a handful of Shane’s clothing, or sharing Lea’s, but none of it made sense.  Just a few more hours, it wasn’t as if it would be a few more lifetimes.  My heart catapulted through the air.

I took exactly thirty minutes in the department store, grabbing whatever I could, not even trying anything on.  Shane just walked beside me wherever I went, holding bags and cracking jokes that made me laugh out loud, literally.

We rushed home and I tossed everything I bought into the huge backpack I had purchased along with my clothes.  My phone ringing its sirens, alarming me of a text message, was the only thing that slowed me down.

New Text Message

Lea: 2:45 pm

Are you sure this is him?  He’s an a$$hole.

Me: 2:45 pm

IDK!  Not like anyone gave me a chance to talk 2 him!

Lea: 2:47 pm

Bad feeling.  Rethink ur options

Me: 2:49 pm

WTF are you taking about?

Lea: 2:51 pm

U decide...

The next message was a multimedia one sent from Lea’s phone.  I left Shane in the living room watching the news about the slow moving snowstorm, while packing his belongings as slowly as he could.  I locked myself in the bathroom and clicked on the message.

She had recorded some of their conversation in Blake’s truck.  The conversation was between Tucker and Blake placing bets on who would bag me first, and they were up to one thousand dollars.  Lea’s caption read: Isn’t Acting Like Much of an Angel.

The second multimedia message was from Conner’s phone.  I pressed the icon and immediately heard myself playing my guitar.  Conner’s camera phone scanned across the studio to Shane’s expression.  It was an awestruck Shane. I had brought him to his knees.  Conner focused in on Shane’s face, tears welled in his eyes; desire and love shining over his face.  It made me breathless, watching his perfect features watch me with such intensity and longing.

Shane banged on the bathroom door bringing me to my senses.  I needed to get to Blake to see if he was whom I’d been searching for.  Yes, God yes, I loved the way I had just seen Shane look at me, but we all knew that look would only last one night.  Even if Blake wasn’t my angel, I couldn’t settle for someone like Shane. Grace was worth more, I was worth more.



Chapter 14

I tilted my head up to watch the hushed fall of the feathery white flakes blanketing the earth.  Delicate snowy crystals seemed to dance around the air in front of me; moving to music that only they could hear.

Snowcapped windowsills and fluffy snow covered branches made the city look picturesque and hopeful.

Shane brushed off the snow that had collected on the front and back windshields.  I was amazed at how much had already fallen and the news said that the storm wasn’t even near us yet. There had to be about a foot of snow on the ground already. Before we left the apartment, we watched as warnings scrolled along the bottom of the television screen to stay indoors and to drive only in cases of emergency.