Page 53 of Blackout

Lex made her way to the freeway, setting her cruise control to the speed limit, and we settled in for our three-hour drive north. We chatted the whole way and caught up on the last ten years. Both of our lives had been less than uneventful. Mine with the bakery, the accident and lack of sleep. Hers with her overprotective family, her brothers included, her move to the city to find herself and the sassy independent two feet she now stood on.

‘Are you playing at Zach’s event?’ I was curious as to why there were guitars in the boot of Lex’s car. I’d noticed them when putting my suitcase in.

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she said. ‘Zach only allows the locals to sing at his events, and Connor and I aren’t exactly locals. We were, but we both now live in Melbourne.’

‘But why the guitars?’

‘Stress relief,’ Lex told me.

I didn’t believe her but maybe I shouldn’t knock it until I tried it.

‘I usually travel with my guitar. Sometimes I get to play it, and sometimes I don’t.’ Lex turned off the freeway, and there wasn’t long to go now.

The glimpse of Lex’s face that I caught as she turned her head my way briefly gave me the impression she was up to something, despite what she’d just told me about only locals being able to play tonight. After all my family’s drama, I hoped Lex knew what she was up to.

After arriving in Mulwala, Lex pulled her car into the first spot in the Black’s Bar and Grill carpark she could find. I hugged her across the centre console and thanked her for the lift. With only my phone in my hand, I took off. There was someone I needed to find. Someone I needed to give a little bit of love to.

Twenty-six

I walked into Black’s Bar and Grill and moved to where I could hear the tail end of a song and the sound of cheers. I knew that song, ‘Blacked Out’ by Chris Young. I turned to the stage to see who could sing like that. I was only a little bit surprised.

A crowd had built up in the Carbon Bar. There was a small silence then the man I stared at spoke into the microphone. ‘Thank you. I’m grateful to everyone who came out this evening to celebrate our annual acoustic shindig. It was a pleasure to perform for you tonight, and soon some of my friends will get up here and play for everyone. I have a couple more songs to play for you, and I just want to say that these songs go out to the woman who has my heart completely. I just wish she was here tonight to hear me sing them to her.’ It was Zach who had spoken to the crowd.

Frozen to the spot, I hadn’t taken my eyes off him on the stage. Tonight, he looked tired, maybe a little worn out, and I wasn’t sure if it was from sleepless nights or this event. I knew I had contributed to his stress, but up on stage with a guitar in his hand under the stage lights, to me, he looked incredible, totally edible. From the way he wore his hair and the beard he hadn’t shaved to the way his casual clothes fit over his lean body. There was no doubt that he was the man I loved.

There was another silence before Zach started to move his fingers over the strings of his guitar. I knew this song too. When Zach started to sing the first verse, my heart melted. I sang quietly along to ‘Break on Me’ by Keith Urban as I let Zach’s voice wash over me.

He didn’t know I was here, but I knew in this moment that this was where I wanted to be, right next to the man on stage. I wanted what he was singing to me, to lay my head on his shoulder, fall part in his arms and love him for the rest of my life.

As the song finished, Zach moved straight into his next song. Without an introduction, I wasn’t sure if anyone here this evening would know this song. But Zach played it anyway, and I knew the only reason he knew this song was because of me. Because he’d found my favourite playlist from the night I’d stayed in his hotel, the playlist I had sang along to.

Somehow throughout the time we spent together, Zach had managed to copy the list of my favourite songs, and it didn’t surprise me that he had learnt every one of them given the recent time we had spent apart.

‘I Ain’t Going Nowhere, Baby,’ by Cody Johnson, were the words that came of Zach’s mouth, and in that moment, I knew I had to let him know I was here.

I walked over to the sound desk to ask for the microphone, but the guy behind the desk just looked me up and down. Then I saw Brock approach from behind and relaxed. After telling Brock exactly what I wanted him to do, I hugged him then took the microphone and waited for my favourite part of the song. And when it was my turn, I sang about changing our plans.

From the moment his microphone was turned off and he heard the female voice come out of another mic, I knew that he knew it was me. I walked towards him as I sang, climbing the stairs to stand next to him. I didn’t face the people who had come out tonight to enjoy this event, but just gazed lovingly at Zach and sang. When I got to the chorus, he joined me. His mic had been turned back on so we sang the last part of the song together.

As the song ended and our audience cheered for us, Zach removed his guitar and put it down on the stand. He turned to me, took my hand and pulled me towards his body, then wrapped me up in his muscular arms and dropped his lips to mine. It was a kiss I never wanted to end, but this wasn’t the time or the place for our reunion.

Zach and I both thanked everyone with a bow, then we both left the stage. Brock and Shea had made their way to the stage to take part in this event, but Zach didn’t want to hang around to watch his friends perform.

No. He had other plans. Ones that involved me and only me. With a firm hold of my hand, he was on the move, and he was in a hurry. As Zach pulled me along, I didn’t have to guess where we were headed. And as soon as Zach pointed us towards the stairs, I knew the only place down there that he wanted to take me to was his office.

Behind the closed office door, Zach pushed me up against it. As he reached down to turn the lock, I wrapped my arms around his neck.

‘Tell me you’re here to stay,’ Zach whispered into my ear, and when I nodded ever so slightly, he added, ‘Tell me you don’t want me to stop.’

All I could do was shake my head, and with this movement, we had our hands on each other and our clothes on the floor. Our lips pressed together for the longest time, and it was the neediest kiss we had ever shared. It said I missed you and I want you so much. As Zach’s hands cupped my face, he tilted my jaw ever so slightly upwards to get better access for his mouth to devour mine. Our lips and our tongues danced together with a need that I never wanted to let go of.

Zach picked me up with an ease I could get used to and laid me down on the leather lounge in his office. He reached for a condom and rolled it on, and all I could do was watch. I stared up at Zach as he stared back at me, our eyes locked. I guess four weeks really did affect a man. I felt a shiver run the length of my body. My desire was obvious. I squirmed a little against the coldness of the leather lounge, and one side of Zach’s mouth lifted in the sexiest smirk I had ever seen on a man.

Zach ran a hand through his hair, and I found the movement so erotic as it stretched out all the muscles on his torso. He moved closer to me and stood over my body then kneeled down to check if I was ready, his tongue running the length of my pussy, and I squirmed again.

‘Zach,’ I moaned.

Zach moved up my body, his tongue flat against my skin as he licked in a straight line from my pubic bone over my belly button, through the gap between my breasts to my neck. My head fell backward to make room for him to continue the movement of his tongue up my neck and over my chin, where he came to a complete stop at my lips.