13. Heartbreaker

(Seth)
"I can't remember the last time you smiled at me like that," I said as I laid my head down on her chest.

She giggled. "Sometimes I forget how well you can see in the dark."

"I'm glad that I can." I rolled to the side and pulled her into me. "Still having nightmares?" I asked, knowing that she was. I had to wake her up every night while she screamed in her sleep. Sometimes she would grab at her clothes yelling about snakes.

"Yeah." She shrugged. "It's okay, though."

"You seem a lot happier lately."

"Maybe I am," she replied with a sleepy smile. "Being close to you has that effect on me."

"Being close to you is incredible." She knew I didn't just mean physically. She had the tendency to close up in her shell sometimes, but she'd been an open book lately. I wanted things to stay that way. "You excited for tomorrow?"

"Mostly," she replied. "I'm a little nervous, too. I can't remember the last time I had to perform without my band, without metal. This is so much more intimate." She pushed the blanket down and sat up, her bare skin illuminated from behind by the moon. "It feels like being naked in front of everyone."

I pushed strands of her hair behind her shoulders to get a better look. "Let them see you," I told her. "You don't have to be afraid."

A small smile played at her lips. "I'm afraid of what they'll see."

"I like what I see."

"Not everyone's eyes are as forgiving as yours."

"Not everyone's are as harsh as yours," I countered. I couldn't understand what she was scared of. "You're so incredible and you don't even see it. Just being near you is like... free falling and not knowing what you're going to land on."

"Sounds... exciting and really fucking scary." A smile crept across her features. "I think I like that."

"I definitely do."

She touched my face gently and ran her hand slowly down. I could hear her pulse quicken, her breath hitch. I could see her heart pounding furiously. Her hand hit just below my belly button and I grabbed her wrist. Her eyes snapped up to meet mine, but I caught her face and pulled her down to me.

"If we're doing it again, we're going slower this time. Fuck what they hear."

She gasped when my mouth found hers.

I stood at the edge of the stage watching her in absolute awe. She was such a presence in any setting, but she'd been right about this being much more intimate. She was baring all tonight and the atmosphere was charged with emotion because of it.

"Don't cry, dude," Josh whispered to me.

I shot him a look. "Shut up."

There was this guy standing really close to us and he'd been staring up at my girlfriend for the past hour or so with stars in his eyes. I hadn't paid much attention to him until I caught him giving Josh and I a death glare. When Liz and Ana wrapped up their set and thanked the audience, they both sat at the edge of the stage and lowered themselves down to the floor. The guy immediately got up in Liz's face, telling her that he was her biggest fan ever and providing intimate details about why he loved her and her music so much. He seemed like a total creep to me, but she stood there graciously, listening to this guy gush over her.

He touched her shoulder while they were talking and she visibly stiffened up, uncomfortable with the contact. I stepped closer, but Ana had noticed it as well.

"Sorry bud, but I need a moment with Liz," she said to him. She didn't give him time to object, she just hooked her arm around Liz's and they walked off together, first backstage to put their guitars away and then to Josh and I. "Let's go outside for a few minutes."

I leaned my back against the rough brick outside of the venue and just watched Liz. Everyone out here was huddled against the building, under the small bit of roof overhang to be out of the snow. They were smoking and talking and being boring. Liz was out on the sidewalk, a cigarette in one hand and a huge smile on her face as she held it upwards to catch the snowflakes on her skin. Music started playing from inside and she danced and twirled.

She was this really beautiful type of weird.

Ana cleared her throat and nudged me, bringing me back down to earth. She nodded her head to the side and that creepy guy from inside was there, by himself and pressed close to the shadows as he stared at Liz. I was a firm believer in intuition, especially my own and this guy was shooting off warning alarms all through me.

"Baby," I called, my eyes snapping back over to her. She pranced over and laid a kiss to my lips.

"You know, I really like Seattle. We should come stay out here some time and hang out with Leah and Embry, see the sights... all that fun stuff."

I was listening to her but I was watching Creepazoid. He was staring at us. I could see Liz out of the corner of my eye as she turned to see what I was staring at. She turned back to me and placed an ice cold hand to my cheek before she stood on her tip-toes to kiss me again.

"Come on," she said, wrapping her arm around me. My eyes didn't leave the guy, and his eyes didn't leave her as we walked past to go back inside.

"The fuck is up with that dude?" Ana asked once the door had shut behind us.

"I'm a weirdo magnet," Liz shrugged. "I'm going for beer, anybody want anything?"

Ana and Josh nodded. "I'll come with you," I said.

She smiled up at me. "You don't have to be my bodyguard all the time, honey. I promise, I can make it from here to the bar and back without assistance." She bounced up and kissed my cheek before skipping away. She got stopped twice on her way there by people wanting pictures, and just as she put her elbows on the bar and leaned towards the bartender to order, weird guy swooped in again.

I started making my way through the room as she stood there listening to him awkwardly, glancing towards the bartender.

"Is that guy you're with your boyfriend?" he was yelling to her over the band.

She simply nodded in return.

"I've heard every interview you've ever done. I figured you just pretended to be in a relationship so guys wouldn't hound you." He laughed and it was like nails on a chalkboard.

I reached them but I didn't say anything, just stood behind her with my hands on her shoulders. He looked up at me, sizing me up. He didn't offer to introduce himself or shake my hand, just stared for a bit and then smiled at Liz again.

"Will you sign my arm? I want to have your signature tattooed on me."

"Uh, okay," she answered. He handed her a marker and she neatly signed his upper right shoulder. Then she handed it back, grabbed our bucket of beer and said goodbye.

"That guy seriously looks like the type that beats off on public transport," I said into her ear as I pulled her closer to my side.

"He looks like he played with himself in the middle of classes back in high school," she joked as she sat down at the table.

"He looks like he strangles all the cats in his neighborhood," Ana joked.

"And all the hookers," Liz added.

"He's coming over here," Josh said, and we all turned to look.

Liz raised an eyebrow at Ana. "Let's go to the bathroom."

They got up just as the guy reached our table and brushed past him without acknowledgement. The guy actually had the balls to just stand there at our table like he intended to wait for her.

"What's your name, dude?" Josh asked loudly.

"Ted," he answered.

"Bundy?" I whispered under my breath.

Josh couldn't help but laugh at me. "I'm Josh, and that's Seth," he said as he shook Ted's hand. "You live around here?"

"Nah, I live a few hours away. I just had to come out and see Liz. I've been to three of her shows before and haven't gotten the chance to meet her until tonight."

"Oh, yeah," Josh said neutrally. "You a big fan?"

"I'm her biggest fan ever," he answered, matter of fact. "I saw her a few years ago online and couldn't believe it when I heard she had a band and an album out. I buy every single magazine I see her in."

I shot a look at Josh whose expression almost mirrored mine.

"I write her record label all the time but I guess they don't pass her mail to her," he continued. Apparently we'd found his favorite subject in the world and he really didn't care to sound like an almost-stalker to her boyfriend - never a good sign. "She just seems so awesome and she's so fucking hot."

"Dude..." Josh said as my fists balled up.

"I think you need to leave," I told him, biting back some of the anger.

He looked kind of shocked. "I'm not leaving. Maybe you should leave."

I almost laughed. I had a good hundred pounds on this guy and he didn't seem intimidated. "If I leave, I'm taking your obsession home with me."

He opened his mouth to say something, then decided better of it and walked away towards the door.

"What the fuck, dude?" Josh laughed deeply. "Get out of here with that shit," he waved once after Ted.

"She's told me about some other ones that freak her out at shows and stuff, but never would I expect some scrawny ass creeper to even think of talking about her like that to me." I shook my head in disbelief.

"Shit, if somebody came to me saying Belle was sexy I'd lay them out just for looking too hard," he chuckled.

"Yeah I don't have that luxury..." I scanned the room with my eyes, trying to find Liz and Ana. They'd been gone at least five minutes. My eyes met his and we both got up wordlessly and made our way outside. The girls were right there, just smoking and talking to each other and Ted was out of sight but I could still smell him.

Liz was mid-sentence when she saw me and her eyes got wide as her lips sealed shut.

"Spent it on what?" Ana asked, unaware of our presence behind her.

"Oh, uh. Just clothes and stuff," Liz replied, smiling at me over Ana's head. She leaned in and whispered into her ear, "Butt plugs. I bought butt plugs."

We all laughed and went back inside together. The band was saying goodbye, and Liz let out a squeal.

"Noah is going to play," she said, her voice caressing his name.

I rolled my eyes as I pushed her chair closer to the table.

Liz called this guys music folk-lullaby. I had heard him before because she played his music, both through speakers and on her guitar, but I had never paid attention quite like this before. Never noticed the way his voice wrapped around each note he plucked, never noticed the quiet strength behind his words. I was impressed.

Liz was staring at him like she was emotionally invested in his performance and he was delivering. I looked at her again as he was singing his final song and she was actually crying, her teeth gnawing at her bottom lip. I committed that to memory; it was so raw and so beautiful.

She got a picture with Noah and thanked him quickly for inviting her to play before we all left. Josh had to work the following morning, so he and Ana had to drive all the way back tonight. Liz and I were staying here for the night, possibly longer. You never knew with her.

It was still snowing as we crossed the large parking lot alone, puffy flakes drifting straight down due to a lack of wind. "I love it when it's warm like this and it snows," she said as she spread her arms wide.

"I think it turns to water before it hits me." It basically just felt like it was raining. She spun once in the light of a streetlamp when I took a breath that smelled like wintergreen Skoal, old Stetson and ass sweat. Ted, from earlier. I sighed. "That guy is back."

She rolled her eyes and then looked around. "I don't see him and would rather avoid him. Want to just run and carry me?"

"Wow, I was sure you'd want me to kick his ass."

She smiled broadly. "Tempting. I don't know what it is but a little bit of violence gets me all hot."

"Oh, babe." I scooped her up and nuzzled her neck, then started running at a steady pace. We passed right by Ted on the way to our motel.