Stripped (9 page)

Even from the distance - the stage to the bar - Emily could see the crisp color of his blue eyes.  Both his hands held the microphone tight, giving Emily erotic memories of the night before.  She wondered if he squeezed the mic as tight as he squeezed her wrists and nipple. 

When the song reached a clean sounding bridge, allowing Gunnar’s voice to overtake the entire band, Ann side stepped toward Emily.

“Fucking amazing, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Emily said loudly. “I have to tell you something.  About Gunnar.”

“He’s beautiful.”

“Ann...”

The drums beat in a building rhythm, leading to a guitar solo that ripped through the club, front to back, with the lead guitarist holding the guitar vertically, his fingers coming dangerously close to sliding off the neck of the guitar.  Something about that sound made Emily want to jump and cheer.  He climbed down the neck of the guitar with a fast and final run, setting up the song’s finale, going back to the intro riff and into one quick verse and two choruses. 

Another perfect song.

At the end of it, the band stopped and the light stayed on Gunnar.

“What’s up?” he cried out, bringing the crowd to a frantic scream. 

Everyone pushed and fought, desperate to gain an inch to get closer to the band.  Emily watched from the bar at the sea of people, moving like a pissed off ocean wave, wanting to get to the shore.  Little did any of them know - including Ann - that Emily hadn’t just gotten to shore, she’d gotten to fool around in the sand with Gunnar.

“Everyone ready for a little music tonight?” Gunnar asked.  He laughed and nodded, loving the energy.  “I got to tell you, you all packing these small places are making it hard for us to keep touring like this.”

“We fucking love you!” someone shouted.

“And we fucking love you too,” Gunnar said.  He threw his left hand in the air, the signal for the drummer to kick off the next song.

One... two... three... four...

“And the rain came down,” Gunnar said in a sweet, whispery voice, the lead guitarist playing a clean intro riff.

The song was ‘Pouring’, a semi-ballad that built heavier as it went along.

Emily reached for Ann’s wrist and pulled at her, desperate to tell her that Gunnar had been the man from last night. 

The song made the crowd move but it was Gunnar who brought them to life.  He started to move along the stage, singing and engaging in his band.  Then he took to the edge of the stage, reaching out to what looked like a million hands, all wanting the chance to touch their favorite rockstar.  He sang overlooking the crowd, holding the mic out when he felt like it, picking up where the audience left off, and never for a second, missing a beat.  The band really belonged in an arena, on a huge stage.  Gunnar could work a crowd of twenty thousand with ease.  Hell, he could do a stadium tour, bringing more fans to a football stadium than athletes. 

The energy in the room intensified by the second, ready to lift the roof off the small club.  Emily understood what Gunnar wanted.  He didn’t want to just play a stadium, he wanted to own the stadiums and the big stages.  He didn’t want to open for bigger bands and work his way up.  The crowd in the club and the crowd outside the club, all those wanting to hear and feel the music... they would be the ones to take Down Silent to a higher level.

With that in mind, Gunnar stood back at the mic and looked at Emily again and she wondered how far Gunnar would take her, if he wanted to touch her ever again.  She hoped that she wasn’t just some groupie to him, so woman he picked up at a bar to play with.  But the way he touched her, the ways his hands slithered along her curves, the way he opened her without even actually touching her most tempting spot or having her sexually...

“I need him,” Ann cried out.

“You what?” Emily yelled.

“I mean, I need to talk to him.  This story is too big to let go.”

“You’ll get it,” Emily said.

“I think so.  He keeps looking over here...”

The song came to an end and Gunnar walked to the drums and grabbed a bottle of water.  He drank some, poured some on his head, and then threw the bottle into the crowd.  People fought over the water bottle that Gunnar had touched like it was a million dollar check.  It was unbelievable the power that rock n’ roll held.  From the creators to those given the music, it was like nothing else in the world.

“Okay, now we’re playing, right?” Gunnar asked.  He spoke to the crowd with such a casual tone, like they were all friends.  Old pals enjoying some music together.  That’s what made Gunnar a living rockstar.  He could hold the crowd in his hand.  He could also hold Emily in his hand, but she preferred his hands. 

Both of them, working together.

“I normally don’t do this,” Gunnar said, “but I’ll do whatever I want, right?”

The crowd agreed.

“We’re going to slow this show down for a song.  You all know it.  If you don’t, learn the fucking albums and come back tomorrow!”

The crowd started to bounce.

Gunnar looked to his left, at the lead guitarist, giving a signal.  The guitarist looked to the drummer and that set off a chain of head nods and signals as Gunnar spoke.

“I have always loved a good ballad.  They’re like cutting your heart and seeing what the blood makes on paper.”

The crowd slowly quieted.  The lights all turned off except a faint light on Gunnar.  He looked out beyond the audience.  It gave the appearance that he wasn’t talking to them, but there he was sharing himself.  Telling something deep.

Emily was hooked.

So was Ann.

“We all grow up to die,” Gunnar said.  “Some go young, some go old, but only our hearts can judge the reality of age.  We’re given memories to keep, but maybe sometimes those memories are a curse.  We can burn the pictures and drink away the pain, but the memories... I said,
the memories
...
”

Gunnar put his head back and waited.

The audience, coming together, finished the sentence.

“Remain!”

Gunnar put his lips back to the mic.  “This one goes out to last night.  We were alone but we weren’t a secret, were we?”

An acoustic guitar started playing as the drummer held the pace with closed hi-hat hits and the occasional tap of the bell on the large ride cymbal. 

That was last thing Emily cared about at that point.

Had Gunnar just dedicated a song to her?

And nobody knew it. 

She reached for Ann again and when Ann looked at her, her face dropped.

“Are you going to throw up?” she yelled.

Gunnar’s voice came in, leading the beginning of the song as two people meeting.  Emily knew the song,
‘
Whispering Memories’
, because it was a huge ballad hit.  With its simple chord structure, emotional lyrics, and powerful tone, the song stuck in everyone’s head that heard it.  The story followed two people through the ups and downs of a relationship until it finally came to an end.

Emily shook her head and her knees bent.

“Come with me,” Ann yelled and she took Emily by the wrist.

Emily tried to scream in pain, thanks to Gunnar, but when she looked at the stage, feeling the song and picturing the night before, the pain started to feel good again.

Ann led the way to the bathroom, which was, no surprise, empty.  People would rather squeeze their legs together than miss a second of Down Silent.

“What’s wrong?” Ann asked.

Emily leaned against the sink, looking in the mirror at herself for a second, then looking back down.  The sound of Down Silent poured through the heavy stone walls but it was low enough that she could talk.

Finally.

“Ann, do you know a lot about Gunnar?”

“Yeah.  A lot.  Why?”

“What’s his first name?”

“Seriously?  You brought me in here for that.”

“Answer me,” Emily snapped.

“Bryce.  Okay?  Bryce Gunnar.”

Emily groaned and turned the water on.  She splashed a little water on her face.  Her emotions were raging.  The erotic emotion of last night was coming to terms with who Bryce or Gunnar really was. 

Ann put a hand to Emily’s back.  “What’s going on with you tonight?”

“You said that Gunnar disguises himself, right?”

“Yeah.  So I’ve heard.  He likes to check places out.  He does it hidden and at random.  To feel the place out.  To see it.  To hear music so he could perfect his sound.”

“He was here last night,” Emily said.

“Who was?”

“Gunnar.”  Emily looked in the mirror again, focusing on Ann’s reflection inside of her own.  “He was here.”

“When?”

“You were in the back, with those other guys.”

“No way.”

“He had a hooded sweatshirt and big black aviators.  But he showed me his eyes, twice.  They were the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen.  They... they controlled me.”

“You met Gunnar.  Wait a second, that bottle...”

Emily nodded.

“Holy fuck!  I drank from a bottle that Gunnar did?  Why didn’t you tell me?  I don’t know what I did with that bottle.”

“I didn’t know it was him,” Emily said.  “Not until he took the stage tonight.”

“That’s the greatest story I ever heard,” Ann said.  “Oh, wow, check this out.  Maybe I can put you in my story.  Yes!  Listen to this opening...”

The ballad played beyond the bathroom, the words hitting Emily hard. 

“Em, listen to me,” Ann said.  “I open the article painting this scene, right here. 
‘
Whispering Memories’
playing the background as I find a woman standing at a bathroom sink.  She looks confused and I talk to her.  She paints the scene to confirm one of the sexiest rumors in rock n’ roll today.  The fact that Rock God, Gunnar, disguises himself and goes to venues before Down Silent shows.” 

Ann’s eyes were wide.  She was into it.

Emily wasn’t sure how to feel.

“Imagine that... then I bring in Gunnar’s story.  I could even talk to the band.  Maybe the cover story can be how elusive he is.  But I just need a few minutes with him.  Alone.”

“Been there,” Emily whispered.

“Been what?”

“There’s more,” Emily said.

She held out her wrists.  Ann saw them and looked back to Emily slowly. 

“What did you two...”

“It was the hottest night of my life,” Emily said, finally admitting it in the open.  “He controlled me.  My mind.  My body.  And all he used were his hands.  I wasn’t allowed to touch him.”

“Holy fuck,” Ann said for the second time during their conversation.

‘Whispering Memories’
reached the guitar solo and Emily started to move to the bathroom door.