Killing Me Softly(A Broken Souls Series)

“Wicked! That place is really cool. You kids have fun,” Sam exclaims before turning his attention to a group of girls who walked in the store.

Eduard, the closing manager walked over to me and I read him in, so I can leave.

Tate and I walk through the mall holding hands and he has my backpack casually over his shoulder. I try to memorize every way his body moves when he walks, the same way I memorized his hand. No matter how hard I try, I can’t make myself stop grinning like a little girl with a chocolate bar.

***

After dinner, we head to Edmond. I’ve never been in Edmond without the traffic being bumper to bumper, tonight is no different. Tate doesn’t seem to mind all the cars and he never once yells at anyone who cut us off. I counted three people and he never yelled anything or acted frustrated.

Tate turns down the radio and looks over at me. “My grandma is coming out here in two weeks, I was hoping to introduce you to her. I understand if you think it’s too soon.”

“What’s the occasion?”

“You would ask wouldn’t you? She’s coming for my birthday.”

“Your birthday? You’ll be twenty-two?” Twenty-one plus one is twenty-two, but I had to ask.

“Is that a yes?”

“For your birthday, yes, I’ll meet her. How long will she be in town?” I’ve never met a guy’s grandma before.

“She’s flying out on a Thursday and flying home on Tuesday morning.”

“What day is your birthday?”

“Sunday, the eighteenth. I have a gig that Saturday night in Norman. It would be awesome if you could go with us and sit with her. Don’t worry, she isn’t a typical granny, she’s more granola who isn’t a vegetarian.”

“She’s what? Granola?”

“All about healthy foods and against processed crap as she calls it. She runs and does yoga before she starts her day.” Tate’s voice is filled with love and admiration as he talks about her.

“Oh good, I wasn’t sure if we were going to eat granola for dinner or something. Not that I have anything against granola,” I stammer.

His GPS announces, “Your destination is on the right.” The bar’s sign is short and squatty, part of the bi-laws in Edmond, they can’t have tall signs. They’re afraid of cluttering up the view, is what my dad told me one time when I was little. I think the town looks silly with the short signs, but I don’t have to live here, so no worries from me. My hands start sweating as we pull around back to enter through the employee doors. Cars are already parked in the front parking lots but the back is still pretty open.

Tate tells me to wait for him and he runs around to my door and helps me out of the truck. His guitar is in a hard case tonight. The thought of him playing reminds me of our evening looking out on the lake. Before closing the passenger door, he pulls me in for a hug. My arms go around him and we stand that way for a good minute before he says anything.

“Holland, if you’re too nervous, I won’t make you sing with me.”

I sigh in relief. “Are you sure?”

He holds my arms and he leans back so he can see my face. “I wouldn’t embarrass you. Don’t get me wrong, I want you to sing with me, but I won’t make you. Nothing’s worse than being forced to do something you’re uncomfortable with. Not that you’re uncomfortable. I’m hoping you understand what I’m trying to say.”

“I understand you. We’ll see.” I pause as I look up at him and he tilts his head toward me.

“Tease,” he says and gives me his sexy up to no good grin. “Ready?”

“Just don’t abandon me.” Why did I say that? “I’m ready.” For anything you want. Bad girl! Don’t think things like that. You’re a new and improved Holland. This is the kind of relationship writers dream about writing. Like a Nora Roberts couple or possibly Nicholas Sparks with romantic gestures and rugged good looks. I’m not giving into my hormones before I know him and he knows everything about me. I haven’t even told him about Andy. Why? I don’t know.

He takes my hand and we go through the back door. It reeks of spilled beer. Tate leans over and tells me it’s coin night from eight until ten. People can get a beer with any coin in their pocket. It occurs to me that you have to be twenty-one to be in this bar. My fake ID is at home under my lamp. Tate came this way so I wouldn’t get carded. A couple of employees are on their way out the back door with their cigarettes for a smoke break.

“Tate, I don’t have my fake ID with me,” I whisper to him.

“Don’t worry, the owner said I could bring you in with me. If the cops come in, he will have you go out the back door. It’s all good, especially if you decide to sing. Tons of bands are under age and they’re allowed to be in a twenty-one and over club if they’re working.” He smiles at me and relief rushes over me. “You have a fake ID? Awesome. Just don’t bring it on base with you, they will send you to the sheriff’s office.”

“Okay.”

We are shuffled off to the green room to get ready before the show. Tate tells me there’s an actual stage for him to sing. The lighting guy comes into the room and asks Tate what songs he wants the lighting changed to a different color. He not only handles the lighting, but the special effects too. If we do the song we worked on, Tate asked them to use the smoke machine and blue lights.

The room has a window that looks out on the stage and bar. Tate said they can’t see in the room but we can see them. He goes over and flips a switch and now we can hear them too. We walk over and admire a table with junk food and various beers and sodas.

“Do you get nervous before you go out and sing?” I hold his hand and we walk over to the window to watch the crowd.

“Not really nervous, but I get jittery. If I had a choice, I’d just play the guitar. For the time I’m on stage, I’m able to be someone else. It’s hard to describe, it’s probably nothing other than adrenaline.” He walks over to the leather couch he propped his guitar against and opens up his case. “Let’s practice the song.”

My stomach flips around at the idea of singing in front of strangers. I take in a deep breath and I sit on the coffee table facing him on the couch.

We decided on a Destiny’s Child song, Say My Name. He told me that he saw a Youtube video of a guy and girl singing the song and it came out cool. I’ve watched that video at least a thousand times over the last five days. If we can pull it off, it will be awesome. If we don’t, he’ll probably never want to see me again.

The opening act was a local comedian. The bar quiets down as he tells a few jokes that get the crowd laughing. I can see the bar is set up with jars with witchy labels that I can’t read this far away. Each of the barmaids and waitresses are dressed in short sexy witch costumes. The owner has spent a lot of money making this the coolest place I’ve ever been. Just from the green room I can tell this place is awesome.

The comedian announces Tate’s name and my instant reaction was to hold my breath. Over the next ten minutes, I reminded myself to breathe at least a dozen times. A couple of beers would give me the liquid courage I need right now. No drinking, that’s my number two rule for when I’m on a date. Number one rule is not to have sex with anyone until we’ve dated for a few months. That rule is going to be hard to follow with Tate in the picture. These rules were created tonight when Tate kissed me in my office.