An excessively cheery jingling woke me up the next morning. In my sleepy stupor I had a difficult time locating what was creating the horrid sound. Next to my head on the night stand my phone lit up, I answered it groggily, "Hello?"
An unfamiliar voice was on the other end of the line, "Where are you? We were supposed to start rehearsal half and hour ago."
"Huh? Who the fuck is this?" I responded, getting mad at the mystery person who was scolding me.
"It's Ryan dude. We were supposed to start rehearsal thirty minutes ago."
"What are you talking about," I answered scrambling out of bed.
"Jake didn't tell you? He said he would last night at the barbecue."
Great, he had forgotten to tell me in his drunken stupor."No he didn't mention it. I'll be there as soon as I can." While trying to find my clothes from the previous night, Mark sat up in bed.
"What's going on?"
Shit, this was probably going to make him mad. But...I just have to go. "Um, I'm supposed to rehearse with the guys today and I'm late."
"What do you mean? After last night you're still going to sing with his band?" The look on his face was enough to make me second guess my choice.
"Yes I'm still going to go." I answered as I slipped my skirt back on. "Jake was trashed last night and besides, wasn't it your idea for me to do this? I mean, I was going to say no before you butted in." I put my hands on my hips and waited for an answer. But Mark had none.
With a frustrated sigh he climbed out of bed and put on his jeans, "You're right I'm sorry. Do you need a ride?"
"Yeah if you don't mind. A cab is expensive and I need to get there fast I'm super late." The pair of us got ready in record time and were in the car less than ten minutes later.
The whole way there Mark was ominously silent and staring out the windshield with a dark look in his eyes. From the look of it, he was ready to hit someone. Maybe bringing him wasn't the best idea. "Are you going to be okay?" The last thing I needed was for Jake and Mark to get into a fist fight. "Because you can just drop me off if there's going to be an issue."
He released another loud sigh but he responded, "No everything is fine. Besides, I'd like to hear you sing." An odd smile spread across his face and he placed a hand on my thigh and gave it a reassuring squeeze. I relaxed a little knowing Mark wasn't going into this in a foul mood. I wondered briefly how Jake was doing but didn't have to wonder long because Mark pulled up to Ryan's house.
"Finally!" Ryan exclaimed looking none-too-pleased with me. "At least one of you is here, Jake is on his way."
"Jake is late too?" That was odd but not too surprising seeing as he downed countless beers the night before.
The loud rumble of Jake's truck filled the air and Mark stiffened next to me, Time to distract him, "Oh guys this is Mark. Mark this is Ryan, Alex, and Nick." Mark held his hand out to shake each of theirs in turn as both Jake and, of course, Megan approached. He looked rough, with his blood shot eyes and hair that clearly hadn't been combed. Megan glared at me through her thick lashes, keeping her arms crossed over her chest and not-so discreetly keeping track of every move I made. Her presence was going to be annoying.
"Is everyone tuned up?" Jake asked gruffly, adjusting the mike stand in front of him.
Mark leaned over me and gave me a soft, warm kiss on my lips, "I'll be sitting over there." He pointed to a picnic table that sat in the corner of the garage. Megan grinned and headed over that way, clearly she was going to try and make me jealous.
YOU ARE READING
Stripped
Romance"I've got you," he repeated over and over rocking me back and forth as I bawled into his shoulder. "Don't worry baby. I'm going to get you back. I promise." Then he pulled away for a moment and lifted the chain from around his neck gently placing it...
