Taking Stage 3: A Night With the Rock Star

***

Therese missed Max Stone. She was surprised because there had been nothing for her to get attached to. At least that’s what she thought. But with the nights she spent listening to his music after he sent her the iPod, Max became more real to her than the man who had filled her body with his cock. More real than the rock star who’d made her go groupie for him in that hotel. He became simply himself. And that self was the most seductive of all.

And because she missed him, Therese wanted to know what he was doing. She found his website, found his tour dates. Found out that after Atlanta he was Tallahassee, Florida. Then Tampa, Miami, and two dates in Los Angeles. All the concerts were back to back except for a break between his California tours. One on Tuesday, the other on Thursday. She supposed Max’s managers wanted to give him enough time to enjoy Los Angeles and all the decadent delights it had to offer.

Therese felt a little too fan-girl for her comfort with her near-obsession with Max, but she figured there was no harm in it. So, she tracked his progress across the country on tour, vehemently denying that was what she was doing when Nikki or anyone else caught her.

She knew she was dangerously close to becoming a groupie fan. Although she wouldn’t go as far as putting up a poster of him in her bedroom. She would have just settled for having Max himself in her bedroom, in her bed. She thought of how close she had come to realize what was now a fantasy but what had then simply been an opportunity. She missed him. She wished she could touch him again. But she had given up on the idea that she would ever see him again. Her time with him was past.

Thank God she had a job at least to keep her occupied. Otherwise, she’d spend far too much time reading Max’s tweets, checking his Facebook fan page, and just generally being pathetic about the guy who slept with her once and shared with her the best sex of her life.

Wednesday morning found her in the downtown Decatur retail store, Josephine’s, where she worked as book-keeper and sometimes salesperson. Ten AM. The window displays were fresh and fashionable. The new batch of summer camisoles folded and in a prominent place by the front door. Natasha, the young girl who worked mornings in the front of the store was already behind the cash register, eagerly watching the door for the morning’s first customers.

Therese made a pot of hot chocolate and brought a cup to Natasha before going back into the rear of the store where she normally took care of the financial well-being of Josephine’s. Although she was the store’s full time book keeper, she also stepped in to help behind the register every now and again.

At her little office in the back, she put her iPod in the cradle of the speaker dock that she bought the next day after Max sent his music. She pressed the power button and his deep voice filled the room. For a moment, she closed her eyes, enjoying the rough silk sounds of his baritone that was like a caress she felt all through her body.

Then she shook herself, turned on her computer, and pulled up QuickBooks to work.

About four songs into the CD, Natasha called her from the front register. A picture of the store front flashed on the front of her cell phone. She picked it up. Natasha was a stickler for the rules. She never walked away from the front of the store when there was a customer inside. Theft was always a problem in retail and Natasha aggressively did her part to make sure none of that theft happened while she was working at Josephine’s.

“Do you need me up there?” she asked into the phone.

“Oh no, no. Everything’s fine. There’s actually someone here to see you, Therese.” Natasha sounded a little strange, breathless even.

“I’m actually in the middle of something—” Therese paused. If it was her sister, Nikki would feel slighted, even if she didn’t want anything important and only just felt like having Therese’s company for lunch or some other triviality. She looked at the computer screen. This could wait. “Um...send her on back.”

Natasha paused for a moment, then said. “Okay.”

She saved her work on the computer. It was too early for lunch, so maybe her sister wanted her to buy her a Starbucks coffee or something. Footsteps approached the door of her office. She stood up, expecting Nikki to walk back there with her mouth going a mile a minute. Instead, Max Stone walked into the room.

“Hey,” he said.

Therese felt the breath huff from her threat on a note of surprise. She sank abruptly back down in the chair. And stared. Max was wearing his usual black boots, jeans, and white shirt combination. If it worked, there was no reason to change it, right? But this time, his hair was loose, a thick waterfall of darkness hanging to his shoulders and down his back. He had a pair of sunglasses hooked in the neck of his shirt.

He looked sinfully fuckable.

“Sorry I didn’t call first,” he said with a crooked smile. “But I don’t have your phone number.”

Therese just felt her mouth open and close, like a goldfish, in surprise. Max Stone was here. In her office. Okay, she said to herself. Get it together.

“How did you know where to find me?”

“I asked your sister. I told her that I had a thank you gift I wanted to give you but couldn’t have it sent to your apartment.” He looked pretty pleased with himself for coming up with that one.

Therese shook her head. “I don’t even want to know how you have Nikki’s number.”

Max shrugged. “She passed it around the night of the concert. I kept it in case I couldn’t get you to give me yours.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, watching her with his dark and slumberous eyes. He looked tired but happy.

“You should have at least called the store to let me know you were coming,” she said, slowly getting her bearings back.

“I didn’t want to give you a chance to say no to seeing me.” He shrugged, a charming devil’s smile on his full mouth.

I could never say no to you. The thought came and went. And it was true.

“So you’re here just to see me?”

“There’s no just about it. I’m here to see you, period.”

His smile widened. It was great to see him. He knew that. His already tanned skin had a hint of a deeper hue, perhaps he’d spent the day in Miami before his concert laying out on the beach. Wait a minute, wasn’t he supposed to be somewhere else?

“You should be in Los Angeles now,” Therese said.

His mouth twitched with laughter, like the thought of her knowing where he was supposed to be both flattered and amused him. “That’s true. But the second LA show isn’t until tomorrow night. I have at least a day to kill.”

His words slowly registered in her mind. It was Wednesday. He had had a show in the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday night and had another practically sold out one on Thursday night.

“I want to spend the day with you,” he said, his voice deep and rough. “Can I?”

She didn’t have enough reasons in the world to tell him no.

“Let me get my things.”

Therese grabbed her purse, her cup of hot chocolate and left her office with Max in tow. At one of the dress racks, helping a customer pick out something for a wedding—or at least that was what Therese heard as she approached—Natasha stared at her and at Max.

“Natasha, I’m going to step out for a while. Call me if you need anything at all. I’ll keep my cell phone on.”

The girl’s eyes darted between Max and Therese, shock on her face.

“Um…okay.” She stared at Max again as if she wanted to ask something, then shook her head. “Okay. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yes. I left Josephine a message letting her know I’m leaving, but please remind her if she calls looking for me.”

“I will.”

The customer, a pretty woman in all black, was too busy looking in the mirror to pay Max any attention. Therese and Max walked out into the brilliant sunshine of the Wednesday morning. Traffic was light in the square, with only a few cars passing by on the narrow street on their way someplace else. A smattering of pedestrians wandered the sidewalks, most of them aimlessly moving from store to store. Therese took a deep breath, turned to Max.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” she said. “I never thought I’d see you again.”

“Did you want to see me again?”

She thought the answer was fairly obvious. But instead of giving him that answer, she bit her lip, turned and walked away from him. Therese felt his eyes on her ass, on her hair swept up high on her head in a curly bun. Then he was walking at her side.

“I parked over there.” He pointed to a blue two-door Toyota at a nearby parking meter.

They walked together toward the car with Max fishing the keys from his pocket. Therese couldn’t help but notice again how tired he looked. Then she remembered that he probably hadn’t slept very much since his tour started. From Atlanta straight through to the California shows with no days of rest in between. According to the website, today was his first day off in a long while. And instead of resting, he’d jumped on a plane to see her. Flattering but foolish.

“Give me the keys,” she said.

After giving her a brief and questioning look, Max handed the keys over and got in on the passenger’s side. Therese slid behind the wheel, adjusted the steering column, mirrors, and seats to suit her body and pulled out of the parking spot. She slipped smoothly into traffic.

“Did you have any idea what you were doing when you got on that plane from California?” she asked.

“None.” Max leaned back against the seat, his hair loose around his face and shoulders. “All I kept thinking was that I wanted to go for a drive with you.  Just spend some time, you know?”

She was surprised. Surprised and flattered that he’d even thought of her beyond the day he dropped off that package of music to her in the mail. It was good to know that she wasn’t the only one unable to forget the time they had shared together.

“A drive, huh?”

“Yes. A drive.” He smiled at her, his teeth bright against his dark skin.

“I know just the place.”

She took him south, leaving Decatur to head down 85 South toward Calloway Gardens. It was a long enough drive. Two hours. And once they got there, it was a peaceful place where he could rest if that was really what he wanted. Calloway was a favorite of hers. She’d often take herself down there for a weekend stay at the hotel, wander the gardens at her leisure, swim in the pool, and take in a movie nearby. Her oasis when things got to be too much in the city.

As she drove, Max rested his had back and talked softly about the tour, telling her how the cities were, the hotels the band stayed in, what he liked about each place. His words were a deep and meandering rumble. Like he just wanted to talk to her, or at least have her listen to him while his mind checked out.

“I feel safe with you,” he said. His eyes slitted toward her. “Isn’t that strange?”

It was strange and it was beautiful. She had no idea what he saw in her, what quirks of his personality led him to gravitate so cleanly toward her, but she was glad for it. Having gone through one way fascinations before, she knew they were no fun. This was much better.

Before they got off the highway for Calloway Gardens, Therese stopped at a Walmart and grabbed food and picnic supplies. Max tried to give her money but she shoved the hundred dollar bill back in his hand and told him to relax.

“You came all this way to see me,” she said, barely believing it as she said the words. “This is my treat.”

At Calloway, she parked the car and led him away from the crowds heading inside to tour the buildings. Instead, she took him out into the wild, into the woods with the tangle of vines, varieties of ferns, and a thousand and one kinds of azaleas. There was a path and they took it, then Therese led him away from that path. Out there, their feet crackled over dead leaves and twigs, over abandoned snail shells, and lost hair ribbons bleached to near nothingness by time and the sun.

“Here,” she said.

The here was her favorite place on the entire property. A secluded arbor on a stretch of riverbank overlooking the calm waters of Hummingbird Lake. The sun beamed down on the clearing but around them was a tall ring of trees, some spindly with barely a hint of leaves, others full and thick in their green finery. Therese spread out a blanket and invited Max to lie down. He collapsed onto the thick blue blanket with an exaggerated groan of pleasure.