Scorpio Eyes

Chapter 5: That's the Way of the World

Brooke entered the door to find Adam standing with his back to her, hunched over the turntables getting another record ready to play after this one. There was a macbook next to the turntables and other recording equipment as well. She watched him messing with the player and putting records back inside their sleeves. He must have cleaned-up and changed his clothes because he was now wearing a plain white t-shirt and baggy grey sweatpants. His feet were bare.

The room was very large, it seemed more like a den that was converted into a music playland. There were shelves around the perimeter of almost the entire room with records filling the shelves. They looked to be in alphabetical order, very meticulous. The floor had plush carpeting and a big oversized teal couch in the center of the room. There was mood recess lighting that allowed him to dim or brighten the lights as he saw fit.

The lighting was dimmed and the music was filling the air. The atmosphere filled her with anticipation of what was to come.

"So this is your room of records" Brooke said, breaking the silence. Adam turned around to watch her walk in. She came over and stood next to him to see what he was doing. She peered over his shoulder to see what records were on. She knew one of the records was "That's the Way of the World" by Earth Wind and Fire because she could hear it as she walked down the hall. The other one was "La La Means I Love You" by the Delfonics.

As she was looking over his shoulder he leaned over and planted a quick kiss on her neck. Brooke pulled back and touched the spot where he kissed.

"You left it out there like that, so I had to do it." he said, sucking his lips and rubbing them together, his eyes questioning her reaction.

"I could spend hours... no days.... no weeks in here" she said, correcting herself each time on the timeframe because she knew she could get lost in here and never be found.

"I do" he said, looking around the room. "This is my sanctuary. The place where I feel most at peace and centered."

Brooke nodded. She totally understood what he meant. Music is a spiritual experience. It was why she was so anxious to get back to it after a year-long hiatus. This past year had been filled with such pain-- she and her boyfriend of two years, Nick, broke up after months of trying to make a very broken relationship work. They weren't right for each other. Deep down she knew it, but she tried so hard. They had an awful fight one night about money that she gave him that he gambled away and it got really heated. He hit her and pushed her into the wall in anger. And that was it.

She packed her shit up that night and left. She wasn't going to ever let anyone put their hands-on her like that. He tried to woo her back but there was no way. She didn't trust him. If he did that once, he'd do it again. It didn't make her any less brokenhearted though. She became deeply depressed and stopped making music, she stopped living.

"So about what happened earlier..." he started. Brooke tensed up. What was he going to say? Did he regret it? Did he want her to leave?

"It's not something I normally do... bring women home and have sex with them in the foyer of my home." he said looking away from her. Brooke had stepped back and was now sitting behind him on the couch. He continued.

"I'm sorry if I was rough with you, I should have made sure you were ok while it was happening" he said regretfully.

Brooke narrowed her eyebrows and felt confused.

"Did you hear me say "No" or give you any indication that I didn't want that to happen? Did me begging you to fuck me make you think I wasn't ok?" she cocked her head to the side slightly and waited for him to respond.

"No, but it was a little rough and...." he said slowly, she cut him off.

"Maybe I wanted it rough." she said letting that hang in the air for a second. She looked him dead in the eyes and said "Adam, you didn't do anything to me that I did not want very, very badly or didn't fully participate in. Ok? But thank you for checking with me."