Here we are again, folks! I know some of you have been waiting for this next chapter. Its been a week or so, so we hope that you'll forgive us for that. Again, Life happens and sometimes you just have to roll with it. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. We really do appreciate all the feedback we get from those who read our work. So, here is Chapter Nine. Let us know if you like it!
Thanks so much,
butterflyswest and Erin Allen
9
Neela jogged a few steps to keep up with Ray, though she wanted to drop. Even though she'd left early, she still felt as though she had worked a full shift and then some. The stresses of the day weighed on her. Emily's story and more traumas than she could ever remember coming in had taken their toll on her energy reserves. She scowled at Ray's back as he walked ahead of them.
"You know you could have some thought to the short legged people back here," she called out sullenly.
He paused and glanced sheepishly over his shoulder.
"Sorry. I just don't want to be late for my gig."
"Screw your gig," Neela muttered under her breath as she and Emily caught up with him.
"I heard that," he said, speed walking ahead of them again.
"You really should think about getting a car, Ray," Emily puffed out. "Then you wouldn't have to worry about being…"She paused, shooting Neela a look. "A gig? What gig?"
"Didn't Brett tell you? His band has a show tonight." Neela looked at her curiously. "What did you and Brett talk about last night?"
Emily shrugged. "Sex."
Ray spun around, his face lax with shock, and nearly fell on his ass trying to walk backward.
"What did you say?" he yelled. Then he saw her wide grin and groaned. "I'm going to kill you one of these days."
Neela bit her lip as he turned around and stormed up the steps to their apartment building. She glanced at the girl beside her.
"You really shouldn't do that to him," she said with a chuckle. "He's not used to it from anyone but me."
"But it's so much fun," Emily said mildly as she opened the door and stepped inside.
There was no sign of Ray as they climbed the stairs. The hard beat and whine of heavy metal music slammed into them as they reached their floor, and Emily glanced at her in confusion. Neela suppressed the urge to laugh in anticipation. She knew what to expect when they reached the apartment. She had seen it many times before, but for Emily this was all new. She didn't even mind the mess she knew she would have to clean up after they left. She wanted to see Emily's face when she saw Ray in all his rocker glory.
As expected, the "boys" were all there, arranged around the living room like lazy dogs, some with their feet up on the coffee table, one was lying on the floor playing some video game and screaming at the animated players on the screen, and Brett was lounging in the easy chair, his legs thrown over one arm.
"Dr. Neela!" he called out, and Neela raised one eyebrow at him as the rest called out greetings or lifted beers in salute.
"How many times do I have to ask you to keep your legs off the arm of the chair?" she said in a bored tone, stepping over the game player to turn down the stereo.
"About a thousand," she mouthed as he said the same thing.
"Maybe at one thousand and one you'll listen?" she asked, and he laughed. He shifted his gaze to Emily.
"Hey there, Brat! Don't tell me that these two dragged you to that boring ass hospital all day."
When Emily didn't answer, Neela turned to look at her and stifled her snort with a cough. The girl looked as if someone had clubbed her over the head. She was staring at the guys like she'd never seen them before, though she'd met them two days before. But then, she'd only seen their day faces. She hadn't yet experienced a gig night.
"You'll get used to it or go crazy," Neela said, walking past her to drop her bag to the floor. Emily shot her a startled glance. "I haven't decided which way I'm going yet."
Emily looked at her as if she had lost her mind and glanced around the room.
"If you're looking for Ray, he's back in the bathroom getting ready," Brett said, strolling toward them. Emily turned and bolted down the hall, and Brett grinned crookedly at Neela.
"I'm not gonna miss this," he said, following in Emily's wake. Neela trailed along, for once in total agreement with Ray's band mate. There was no way she was going to miss this.
"What are you doing?" Emily said, her tone one of utter astonishment. Neela heard Brett laugh and edged past him as he fell back against the wall, holding his sides. She gave him a disgusted look.
"You'd better stop or your makeup will run," she told him sourly. He slid down the wall and kept laughing. Neela shook her head and turned her attention on Emily and Ray.
Emily's mouth was hanging open in shock as she stared through the open door of the bathroom. Neela looked in and raised an eyebrow. It wasn't anything she hadn't seen before, though each time was still a little strange. Ray was sitting on the edge of the tub, an open bottle of black nail polish on the lid of the toilet. He'd already gelled and spiked his hair into angles that hair was never intended to go. He looked at Neela in mute appeal, the nail polish applicator still in his hand. The dark eyeliner around his eyes seemed bizarre in the cool white light from above the bathroom mirror. With the black sleeveless shirt and the tight jeans, the full picture was…oddly seductive. Neela felt the blood rush to her face at that thought.
"Neela, help me out here. I can't get this…"
"Ray, what are you doing?" Emily asked again. "Are you…?"
Neela pasted a look of innocence on her face and looked away when he scowled at her.
"Yes, I'm wearing eyeliner, OK? Its part of the show."
"What kind of music do you play?" Emily asked shortly. "I thought KISS went out years ago."
Behind them, Brett squawked laughter, gasping for air, and Neela kicked him to shut him up. As expected, he just kept it up. She glanced back and found him laying fully on the floor now, his arms around his middle. She rolled her eyes and looked away.
"They're a punk band," she told the girl. "Like I said, you'll get used to it or you'll go nuts."
"Thanks, Neela, for your input," Ray said flatly. "Now will you help me? I don't have a lot of time here."
Emily beat her to it, entering the room and snatching up the brush and bottle. She sat on the toilet lid and glared at him expectantly.
"Lay your hand on my knee," she ordered. When he complied, she began to paint his nails black. "You know, you could have warned me," she said finally. "Instead of letting me come home to the circus."
"They are a bunch of animals aren't they?" Neela shot out from the doorway. She grinned at Ray when he gave her a resentful look. Then he grinned back, his eyes showing clearly that he would get back at her later. Heat flooded her body at the seductive look in those hazel eyes. She began to tingle from the tips of her toes to her head, imagining what he would do to her for this bit of business.
Bloody hell, she thought with wonder. I'm turning into a groupie.
But she only went for the lead man.
She turned to look down at Brett, whose laughter had tapered to odd snorts and giggles. He'd finally managed to sit up and was leaning against the wall with his knees to his chest.
"Enjoying yourself?" Neela asked sarcastically.
"Quite a bit, actually," he answered with another burst of laughter. "I haven't seen anything so funny since my brother fell into the lake skateboarding."
Neela opened her mouth to ask, but changed her mind. She was pretty sure that he would tell her if she asked, and she was equally sure that she didn't really want to know.
"Help me up?"
She raised an eyebrow at his innocent expression.
"It's the least you can do after you kicked me," he said, batting black eyelashes.
"Deal with disappointment," she said, her lips twitching with the beginnings of a smile.
"Ooohh…Dr. Neela!" he said, looking wounded. He pushed to his feet, steadying himself against the wall. "Whatever happened to the Hippocratic Oath?"
"I'm off duty," she shot back, giving in to her grin.
He put his hands over his heart with a dramatic look of hurt. He stuck his head in the door.
"Ray, your girl just denied me medical attention."
"Just try to stay alive until after the show," Ray said without interest, though the smile he flashed at Neela was full of amusement.
"Well, all right," Brett said, not the least bit disturbed by any of it. "I know when I'm not wanted."
He turned and started back down the hall, only to turn on one heel and come back.
"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. There was someone here looking for you, Ray."
"Who was it?" Ray asked, finally emerging from the bathroom.
"I don't know. He didn't give me his name. He was dressed really slick though."
Ray froze, shooting Neela a wary look.
"What do you mean slick?"
"You know. Armani suit. Cufflinks. Shiny shoes. Why?" he asked with a frown, suddenly sensing the tension that had come over them. "What's up?"
"What exactly did he say, Brett?"
"He asked if you were home…no, actually he said he was looking for you and Emily."
Neela felt the color drain from her face, and she placed her hands flat against the wall behind her to steady herself. No one but Carter, Wendell and the few nurses at the hospital knew that Emily was here. Only one other person could have guessed that this might be where she had come.
Their father.
Neela looked at Ray and saw a muscle in his jaw twitch. His eyes blazed with anger.
"What did you tell him?" he asked tightly.
"I didn't know who he was, so I told him that you weren't here."
"What did you say about Emily?"
Brett narrowed his eyes. "Do you think I'm stupid? I told him that I didn't know who he was talking about."
Ray blew out a breath in relief. Brett wasn't stupid. He sometimes didn't think before he spoke, but he wasn't stupid. Even so, this changed everything. He glanced back into the bathroom at Emily. Thankfully, she was occupied looking through the medicine cabinet, shaking her head with a confused look on her face. He turned back and looked at Neela, who was watching his reaction with wide eyes.
"We can't say anything to her," he said in a low voice. "I don't want to scare her."
She nodded.
"I'm going to have to stay home tonight. I can't…"
"Wait! What are you talking about? We need you there, man!" Brett stammered.
"I can't leave Emily and Neela alone here."
Neela frowned.
"I can take care of myself, Ray."
He grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her into his arms, holding her tight.
"I know you can, but I don't want to take any chances." He lowered his head to whisper in her ear. "I don't want to lose you."
Her breath caught in her throat at the naked emotion she heard in his voice. She lifted her eyes to his and was taken aback by the sheer worry she saw there. She reached up to touch his cheek.
"I'm fine," she said softly.
"Oh God! Not again," Emily said as she came out of the bathroom. Neela glanced over and couldn't help but laugh. The girl was waving her hands in the air, the nails painted black. Ray glanced at her and scowled.
"Do you know how hard that stuff is to find?" he asked sharply.
She glowered right back.
"Yeah, Ray. It's a bare market, what with the Goth scene in full swing. I didn't use that much." She blew on her nails and looked at the three of them. "So, when do we leave?"
Ray opened his mouth to tell her that they weren't leaving, but Neela cut him off.
"That's not a bad idea, Ray," she said slowly. "If we go with you, then you won't miss the gig."
"Neela…"
"You love what you do. You know you need the money. And you won't be there worrying about us all night."
He frowned and glanced at Brett. "Do you think they'd let her in since she's my sister?"
Brett shrugged. "Not sure. I don't see why not. We've just got to make sure that she stays backstage." He smiled. "It wouldn't look good if Barnett here got picked up for contributing to the delinquency of a minor." He raised his eyebrows. "Would it, Barnett?"
Neela looked away from them all, unable to hide the smile that came to her face. The incident with Zoë was still good for a chuckle at Ray's expense, though what had happened after was not. Neela's smile dried up, and she looked up at Ray. Would he have to fight another enraged father before all of this was done?
She bloody hoped not.
"That's it," she said firmly. "We're going. Just let me change."
"Neela…"
"Make it quick, Dr. Neela," Brett said, cutting Ray off. "Come on, Barnett. We've gotta move."
He left them then, returning to the living room where the sounds of the guys gathering up their things could now be heard.
Ray looked down at Neela.
"Are you sure you want to go?" he asked.
"If it will make you feel better," she said. "Besides, don't you want Emily to see you in action?"
"Less blood this time, please," his sister piped up.
"Go get your coat, squirt," Ray growled. She smiled and walked down the hall, testing her nails to see if they were dry yet.
"You are amazing," he whispered, dipping his head close. When he kissed her, Neela was tempted to take back everything she had just said and just stay at home for the next week. Preferably in bed.
"I'm gonna make this all up to you," he said softly against her lips.
She smiled, slipping her arms around his waist.
"I can think of a few ways," she said in a low voice. "But you don't have to make anything up to me, Ray. I love you. I'll do everything I can for you."
He grinned, liking the way she was being with him, how easily she had turned to him. If this was what it was to have Neela's love, he couldn't believe that he'd waited so long to tell her how he felt.
"I love you," he said, holding her tight against him. He nearly came out of his skin at the feel of her body against his, her breasts pressed against him. For a moment, he was tempted to just tell the guys to leave without him, but he squashed it. He was part of the band. They were counting on him to be there.
"We'd better go," he said reluctantly, and she nodded against his chest. "We'll continue this later," he promised, pulling away from her. He smiled at the blush thatstained her cheeks.
Brett cleared his throat, and they both turned to look at him.
"If you two love-birds are finished, then we do have a gig to get to. Your sister is just about foaming at the mouth to leave."
"We're coming," Ray said.
Brett opened his mouth, but Neela cut him short with a look.
"You don't have to just spout out whatever comes into your head you know," she snapped, brushing by him.
He grinned.
"But that's why I'm so loved!"