Free Revelation of Blood by J. L. McCoy Page B

grimaced.
    “Give me two seconds and I won’t,” I giggled
as I held up three fingers.
    The bartender set our order in front of me
and I downed the shot and leaned back into Archer’s side. “What
about now?” I asked, puckering up.
    Archer chuckled and pulled me off the
barstool. “Mmm. Whiskey. Much better, baby,” he purred, pulling
back from the kiss. “Grab your beer. Jameson is going to play one
more song before the band comes out.”
    I wanted to dig my heels in and refuse to go,
but some sick part inside of me was obviously a glutton for
punishment. Archer and I joined a small group that had amassed in
front of the stage. Jameson took a final swig from his bottle
before he cleared his throat and began the next song.
    I didn’t recognize the tune at first and
smiled up at Archer in relief. Maybe he’s done torturing me ,
I silently hoped. I started to relax and enjoy the performance, but
was suddenly slapped in the face by the verbiage. Looking back, it
had to have been the alcohol that caused me to not pay close enough
attention to the opening. Jameson was singing ‘Rest in Pieces’ by
Saliva and his eyes were only for me.
    My breathing increased as I listened to the
song slack-jawed. The look in his eyes, coupled with the lyrics
‘Would you find it in your heart to make this go away and let me
rest in pieces’ made tears spring to my eyes and quickly fall down
my face.
    Archer noticed Jameson singing to me and when
his eyes met my face, he saw what the song was doing to me. No
amount of alcohol could have prepared me for what I was facing
tonight. I was standing in the middle of my own personal hell and I
had an audience of hundreds present for my humiliation and
shame.
    Archer came to stand in front of me, blocking
me from Jameson’s view, as he put his hands on my shoulders.
“Skye,” he whispered, his face full of sympathy. “I’m so sorry. I
didn’t want to believe those songs were about you.” He wiped the
heavy tears from my face with his thumbs as he cupped my cheeks.
“We’ll go, okay? We don’t have to stay. I’ll have a word with
Jameson later tonight.”
    “No,” I shook my head, suddenly angry. “Don’t
you dare. He has a right to his anger, to his hurt. He has a right
to tell me how he feels. I deserve this, Archer. I broke his heart;
I devastated him by falling in love with you. If this is what he
needs to move on then I’ll gladly stand here all night and take
everything he gives me. I want my friend back, Archer. Maybe this
is the only way he knows how to heal, who knows; who are we to say?
But, I’m not going anywhere. I’m not going to deny him his
voice.”
    Archer frowned at me, a look of indecision
playing on his features, as I moved him to the side and was brought
back into Jameson’s view. His eyes bored into mine as Archer
wrapped one protective arm around my back. I was suddenly a lot
braver than I had been when he sang his first song. I let him see
the full weight of my remorse in my eyes as he sang to me. I told
him without words how sorry I was that I wasn’t the woman he
thought me to be; sorry that I wasn’t the strong woman he thought
he fell in love with. I conveyed the full weight of my heart during
those three minutes and prayed he understood what I was trying to
say.
    After the song ended, the crowd whooped and
cheered as the rest of the band appeared. Jameson took one last
long look at me before he got up and started his show like nothing
was amiss. The next two hours passed relatively without incident
and I finally let loose and began having fun. I loved to watch
Jameson perform; I always had. Pride for my brother, for my friend,
was shining brightly from within me.
    Archer and I danced to almost every song The
Manky Langer played and we were really enjoying ourselves. Seeing
my Archer let loose and have fun was always such a big turn on for
me. I remembered the first time we’d danced at The Mausoleum and
how surprised I was that this seemingly