136. Nine to Five

Warning: coarse language and all the things our parents warned us against, reader discretion is advised. Please don't try this at home.

Bridgeport, present day...

In spite all the shit going on in their lives, the mood in one of the meeting rooms at O+ Records was phenomenal.

Krimsyn couldn’t stop smiling as she ripped through one of the five boxes stacked around the room.

“Hello darling!” She whispered, holding up one of the CDs. She stared at it for eternity, tears glistening in her eyes.

And then she grabbed Katie, the songwriter they’d hired for After Dark, and twirled her around the room, both of them laughing and screaming at the top of their lungs.

“It's party time! P-A-R-T-whY? Because I gotta!” Cameron, in a voice very similar to Jim Carrey's in The Mask, joined their madness, while J.D. and Krisis, slapped each other’s backs in a congratulatory fashion.

After months of working their asses off, writing songs, reworking lyrics, band practice and endless hours in studio, the finished product was finally in their hands; their supplier had just dropped off the first thousand After Dark CDs for the release party just a fortnight away.

A mysterious looking vial of ecstasy came out of someone’s pockets and with the exception of Krimsyn they all clamored around the table to get their hits. They washed down the magic pills with SKYY Vodka and Jack Daniels, drinking it straight from the bottles while thin sticks of MJ were expertly rolled and smoked at an incredible rate.

By the time Mark, their record producer, and the rest of the band’s management team showed up the room was covered in a thick cloud of smoke and all five K-Infinity members were riding a euphoric wave.

“Let’s get to work people!” Mark hollered at everyone and went straight for the bar. He reached for a colorful cocktail and bumped a blunt from Cameron; he took a few pulls from it before rushing everyone to the table.

Natalie, the band’s publicist, ran through the program for the meeting.The first item on the agenda was the album production. Now that they had the promotional CDs safely in their hands, they could all breathe again.

More bottles were opened, glasses chinked and the small pink pills lined the surface once more as they went through another round of excited congratulations.

Despite the glares and the complaints, Natalie steered the group back to the reason for the meeting and they reluctantly returned to their seats.

For the next hour they discussed the release party, from the venue and publicity surrounding the event, to the guest list and the entertainment lineup.

Stanley, the band’s manager, wrapped up the meeting with the announcement that their first single from After Dark, A Love Since Forgotten, released six weeks earlier, had made it to the top ten on the Dark Forces charts.

At the parking lot, plans to carry on with the impromptu party were quickly made. None of them wanted to go home. Their lives behind closed doors were too depressing and so damn complicated. They wanted to hang on to their happy bubble for a little while longer.

They piled up in their cars and raced to the Flaming Flamingo, the nightclub where Krimsyn and J.D. had held their engagement party almost a year earlier.

_______

J.D.

Krimsyn and J.D. put on a fantastic show for everyone as they cuddled in their VIP booth. Other than Krisis, no one else knew they were in the middle of a raging war.

“What are we going to do about Mickey,” Krimsyn shouted over the loud music, trying to fill the tense silence between them.

J.D. shrugged. He didn’t know. Something was seriously wrong with their daughter, they’d both seen it that morning and he had no frigging clue how to help her. He wished he was good with words and women and their emotions.

“I’ll talk to her,” he yelled back at Krimsyn and looked away. He was still so angry with her for tampering with his document from the VIA. She didn’t trust him, didn’t believe his word. And that hurt him deeply.

“I trust you. I was afraid you’d go back, that’s all,” she answered his thoughts. J.D. shrugged, dismissing her silent pleas for forgiveness.

The truth is though he wasn’t entirely sure who he was mad at the most, Krimsyn for not trusting him, or himself for lying to her. He’d never tell her this but he missed being a SWAT agent, missed the excitement, the adrenaline rush, and the emotional high he’d gotten from catching bad guys. If circumstances were different, he would have accepted VIA’s offer to head his own unit in a heartbeat. But he’d given his word to Krimsyn, he wasn’t that person anymore. He knew her fears and insecurities and he’d never do anything to fuel them.

“Come here,” he growled, realizing all over again just how much he loved her and cherished what they have.

Krimsyn blinked, surprised by his sudden turnabout. She flashed her fangs, moving closer. His groin tightened, aching for her.

Their makeup kiss was hard and angry; he was punishing her for not believing and trusting in him.

Krimsyn pulled back, shocked, angry, confused. She started to move away, but he reached for her again, and took her mouth gently. This time it was an apology he gave her.

“I promise you, here and now, you have nothing to worry about. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than right here with you,” he murmured, kissing her ear lobe.

“I know. What I did was uncalled for. I can't justify it and I won't. But I am deeply ashamed I let my fears get the better of me. I'm sorry," she whispered back, running her hands on his thigh, raising them to the straining erection in his pants.

He greedily crushed her lips with his, and smiled to himself when he heard her soft whimpers.

Wordlessly, she got up from the seat and took his hand. He followed her as she led the way to the ladies' room. Their passion wouldn't wait till they were home,their hunger screamed for instant gratification.

They rushed inside one of the stalls, their hands and lips eager and ready…

_______

Krisis...

After signing a few autographs, some on very strange places, Krisis made his way to the bar and downed one drink after another, wishing he was a thousand miles away with Leigh in his arms. But she was still so hell bent on staying at the hotel, refusing to come home till he’d made peace with the bullshit with Thornton.

He took a long sip from the glass and winced when the bitter liquid stung his throat. He closed his eyes, remembering the kiss he’d stolen from her earlier that morning when she’d stopped by to pick up Lily for their trip to the park.

He’d wanted to steal more than just a kiss from her, and he knew if Patty hadn’t walked in when she did, he would have taken Leigh right there on the dining table.

Suddenly he couldn’t wait for their babies’ arrival. He missed Leigh in every way possible; he missed her body underneath his, the heat between her thighs, her soft whimpers in the dark, her hazel eyes heavy with lust, and her soft folds enveloping him, sending him on the edge of the world.

“Fuck,” he growled under his breath, when he looked down and saw the evidence of his lustful thoughts standing proudly in his pants.

He slammed the glass on the surface and walked out. Fuck the time apart. He was going to her, and he’d have his way with her, make her see just how much he needed and wanted her back in his arms…

________

Cameron...

Despite flirting with every woman walking past him, Katie included, Cameron’s heart longed for only one.

Back at Hollow Creek, a part of him had wanted nothing more than to take Michaela in his arms and kiss her till she promised she’d never leave the house again without him. But he’d held back. She was confused and distraught. He had to stay away from her. Give her time to accept what she’d almost done, and let her figure things out on her own.

He wanted to tell her how he felt about her, but he wouldn’t. It wasn’t the right time. Besides, she’d sent him away at her door when he’d dropped her off that morning, insisting she needed to be alone, and she’d deal with her parents on her own terms.

He’d back off. Give her all the time she needed. He wondered though how he was going to do that since he wasn’t known for patience. But for her, he’d wait a lifetime.

He knew he had to tread carefully with her. He didn’t want to scare her off, or push her into anything she wasn’t ready for, or didn’t want. She wasn’t some random groupie. She was different…

Michaela had snuck up on him like a thief in the night and thoroughly enmeshed herself in his life and now he couldn’t get her out of his system. Not that he wanted to.

A small group of college kids walked in. Their high pitched chatter and laughter annoyed the shit out of him, and he was almost at the door, leaving, when he bumped into Maddie, Michaela’s best friend, and two other girls he’d never met before.

He pulled her aside and asked her where Michaela was. They were usually joined at the hip.

“I don’t know. At home I think.  I called her but she said she had stuff to do,” Maddie replied, throwing her long dark her hair over her shoulder with a flick of her head.

Her friends screamed at her to get a move on, happy hour was almost over and they wouldn’t miss out on free drinks because she was chatting up a hottie rockstar.

“Go have fun with your friends,” Cameron waved her off and left the club. He’d changed his mind about staying away from Michaela. Normally, she would never pass up a night out with her friends. She was obviously still in a bad way, letting her guilt get the better of her. He had to see her, make her understand that she didn’t kill that guy, dead men don’t just get up and walk away.

He’d just unlocked his car when Krisis drove past, throwing dirty looks at him as he sped off.

Cameron stared after him, wondering if the man had a radar for these things; it was almost as if Krisis knew where he was headed.

He shook off his paranoia and got in his car, speeding through the evening traffic.

It took him exactly two minutes from the Flaming Flamingo to the Frosts’ penthouse. He rang the buzzer three times before Caroline, the Frosts' butler, answered.

She sounded irritable when she told him Michaela wasn’t home. Apparently she’d disappeared soon after her parents left for work that morning. Caroline thought she'd skipped school because her backpack was there.

Cameron thanked the butler for her time and she grunted something inaudible before the intercom went dead.

He had a deep frown on his face as he slowly walked to his car, his hands stuffed in his pockets, silently contemplating what he should do. She could be anywhere and finding her would be impossible, and she wasn’t making it easy; her phone was turned off, he'd tried it on his way to her place.

As he slowly cruised home, deflated and disappointed, he kept hoping she wasn’t on another hunting trip.

For the first time in his life, he felt something very much unfamiliar and disturbing. Worry and concern for another…

______

Special thanks to Fae/Zhippidy for writing all the songs in After Dark and for your girl, Katie, she's made an awesome addition to the band. Without you and Katie there wouldn't be an album release party. I can never thank you enough for your kindness and for all the work you've put into After Dark and the follow up album. You Rock!