Chapter 14
The four of us were left standing around awkwardly in the dark parking garage. Dr. Lansing was staring at the three of us with a knowing smile, and I flinched when she opened her mouth, but she didn’t say what I feared.
“I parked outside on the other side of the mall,” she smiled hopefully, “do you think you could give me a ride?”
“Sure,” Nancy said as she slung her purse on her arm, cool as a cucumber as she started searching for her car. “Dillon, this is Dr. Lansing. She’s one of the dentists at our practice.”
“Kelly,” the pretty redhead said, twisting one ankle behind herself and pressing her firm breasts up into Dillon’s face, “Please, just call me Kelly… you were amazing, Dillon. I’ve never seen a better guitar player.”
“Thank you,” he said, not quite sure how to take her forwardness, “playing the electric was different… but it felt right.”
“We need to get you one to practice with,” I said, as we walked after Nancy, “do you believe me now?”
“Yea,” he said sheepishly, “it was wild… like I could feel them… could feel them drawing in closer and closer… I don’t know how to explain it other than that.”
“And you loved it,” I said, hearing the deep emotions in his voice.
“I did,” he said, but it was soft, almost sad, “Maybe too much.”
“Everything comes with a price,” Kelly said, stepping up on Dillon’s other side, “You don’t get the soaring high of opiates, without violent, sometimes deadly withdrawals. Right now, you’re riding a wave of endorphins, adrenaline, and serotonin. Add to that, the alignment of the left and right hemispheres of your brain to form artistic perfection… You will begin feeling shaky and euphoric.”
“I do,” Dillon said in surprise.
“Here,” Kelly unslung her small gym bag and pulled out an energy bar, “Eat this, the glucose will help with the crash your experiencing. It’s not unlike shock, but because its impetus was such a powerful connection with a collective, you’ll never find anything close to its matching power and potency from illicit chemicals or pharmaceuticals.”
Nancy had stopped and turned around, staring at Kelly with the same surprised expression as me. She either didn’t notice or was willfully blind as she slipped an arm in Dillon’s, continuing to Nancy’s Tesla just ahead.
“You already know the only thing that can combat such profound euphoria and having a safe and stable outlet for such… energies and exertions, has always been beneficial to the artistic endeavor.”
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean,” Dillon said, his face puzzled.
Reaching out, I grabbed his arm, stopping him, the garage suddenly still and silent as our feet all came to rest.
“It was my fault that things got out of hand in the mall,” I said, raising my hand to quiet his interruption, “I suspected what might happen, if not to the level it did. Dillon, you see it now, don’t you?” My words were quiet, his brilliant blue eyes locked on mine, and he nodded.
“The moment I had them all… before things got crazy… I knew that’s what I was meant to do. But I can’t imagine doing it alone. I can’t go back to how things were a week ago… Nancy,” he said to her, “I want you to be my agent, then you should get the regular fees or pay or whatever. There’s only one thing I really care about, and that’s paying off my farm. If I can make enough from music to do that… well, then everything else is gravy.”
“You don’t really care about the money, though,” I said, seeing through his false bravado, “do you?”
He pressed his lips together, cheeks tinging a light pink before shaking his head lightly.
“What is it you really want?” Dr. Lansing asked, a curious little smile dimpling her cheeks.
“To play music… to feel the crowd…” Dillon trailed off, and I sensed he wasn’t being completely honest.
“Tell us the rest,” I said, voice so firm it drew a frown from Nancy, but because I was focused on Dillon, I saw the embarrassment and shame flit across his features quickly as he glanced at Dr. Lansing’s sexy little body. He saw me catch him looking, and before embarrassment could melt him on the spot, I stepped forward and grabbed his hand, gripping it in both of mine and speaking softer this time.
“We’re here for a reason Dillon, all of us… there is a purpose to it and what your music does… what you do when you sing… You have no idea what it does to me… to us… Nancy and I tried to show you last night, but even as wild as we got, it was a pale reflection…” I ignored Kelly quiet gasp, as Nancy’s smirk of satisfaction and went on.
“Tell us what really drives this incredible gift… tell us what you truly care about and want.”
“I can’t,” Dillon said, voice raw with emotion as he looked between the three of us. Face looking even more haunted in the harsh garage lighting, “It’s too shameful… what kind of man says that he doesn’t dream of having one wife? But of many? It’s greedy and sick.”
“It’s honest,” Nancy said, her arms folded beneath her breasts and hip cocked to the side.
“It’s possible,” Kelly said, then jumped a little as if surprised by her own voice, then when all eyes fell on her, she went on in a rush. “I mean, if any pony-tailed douchebag can wrangle himself a few coeds strumming an acoustic guitar on a stoop, you can get yourself a bevy of models clawing at your door.”
“Is that what you want?” I asked quietly, genuinely curious.
“No… I want you,” he said, sounding as if the words were torn out of him, “God help me, I want all three of you…”
“Forbidden,” Kelly said, stepping closer, her pink lips quirking in a playful smile, “that’s what the old books call it.”
“Call what?” Dillon asked with a frown.
“Harem,” Nancy said, moving up to his other side.
Suddenly I felt very warm, and space closed in around us as we backed Dillon up to the car. Nancy clicking a button on her remote and a gentle whir coming from the backseat.
“What are you talking about?” Dillon asked.
“Dillon, do you trust Nancy and me?” I asked, holding his gaze with mine.
“With my whole heart,” he said without hesitation, which melted me inside.
“Then just relax,” Nancy popped the rear door on her SUV open, and I saw with a thrill of pleasure that the backseat had folded flat and moved backward, leaving ample space in the darkened interior, “because we’re going to give you exactly what you need.”
With that, I gave the young man a light shove, which caused his legs to stop on the door jam and him to fall onto his butt inside the car. He looked up at me in surprise that turned to shock when I pulled Kelly in front of me and began pushing her down to her knees.
“Oh god,” the pretty redheaded doctor said, “you ladies are fucking crazy.”
“We are,” Nancy said with a fierce grin, “and you better be too if you want to join the harem… prove to him that you’re worthy, show him what his music meant to you.”
Kelly flashed us both grateful smiles and then smiled coquettishly at Dillon, who looked down at her from his propped elbows. The whole scene was crazy, with the doctor on her knees while Nancy and I stood over her. Glancing around the parking garage, I motioned Nancy around, and she grinned and skipped.
We could hear Kelly’s quiet murmurs of devotion to Dillon as she quietly told him how wild and powerful his music had been, how it had moved her, and put new sexy thoughts in her head. Opening the passenger door, Nancy and I slipped in, gripping each other's hand in excitement as we closed the door behind us.