Page 92 of Electric Touch

My next surprise is a visit to one of the biggest vinyl record stores I’ve ever been to. The place is in a warehouse, designed like an old school record store. There are row after row of shelves holding albums from every artist I can think of, going back to the 1950s. A set of stairs leads up to a café area and Adrestia tells me they hold gigs here. She had been to a Q&A with a band back in college. I fire off a text to Dylan and Declan about it. Dyl, cos I know he would be in heaven coming here, and Dec, because it could be a potential venue. Maybe.

Rock music is playing over the sound system, with old school concert posters on the walls. The floor is dusty, and the staff are all wearing band T’s. It’s fucking perfect.

There are plenty of people wandering the aisles. No one seems interested in me, even though I’ve taken off my hat and glasses. Blake is near the entrance, keeping a watchful eye on us. I stroll through all the different aisles. Adrestia trails behind me. I catch her watching me a few times and kiss her more than once as we work around the building.

“I want to live here,” I tell her as we stop at an advertising wall with leaflets about everything imaginable related to music. There is a flyer for guitar lessons and she laughs, saying she should have come here to find a teacher. I growl at that, making her laugh.

We grab a coffee in the café. I pick up some leaflets for various events. We end up chatting to one of the staff members, who recognises me. She leads me to a new display that has our EP in the middle of it. I almost fucking die when she asks me if I wouldn’t mind signing some. saying they will use them for one of their monthly fundraisers. We’re taken to a small office out of sight. I sign every album they have, and I take their details so I can speak to our publicist about them.

When we leave, I have eight new albums in one hand and my arm around Adrestia’s shoulders. This woman fucking amazes me. We may have spent a little too long in there because it’s dinnertime when we leave. I think she had something else planned but says we can skip it and head for dinner because she is famished. I love she isn’t afraid of food. Sometimes Riley would go most of a day on a bottle of water and an apple.

Of course, we go for Greek food. A different place to the one she took me last time, but no less authentic, and the food is divine. It’s close to my place. I’ve never noticed it before, but intend on bringing the others here at some point. We choose to walk back. I try to dismiss Blake, but he takes his job seriously. Adrestia brought him some takeaway from the restaurant. He was surprised, but accepted it graciously. Once we are back at the apartment, Adrestia waves goodbye and I thank him for allowing us to drag him around. He laughs and says he had a good time.

Of course, that makes Adrestia beam. I can’t stop staring at her as we wait for the elevator.

“What?” she asks as we step in.

“We totally could have sat at home and had a movie marathon, or took a walk around Central Park. You’re amazing, you know that.” I crowd her into the corner and put my arms around her waist. Her head tips back and she smiles at me.

“What was your best part?”

“Er, that is fairly obvious,” I chuckle.

“The record store?”

“Fuck no. Well, yeah, that was pretty dope. I guarantee you I’ll be going back. Plus, signing all those records was a dream come true. But… Yeah, sorry,” I laugh when she arches a brow at me. “The best part of it was all of it. It felt like my birthday. Everything about today has been awesome.”

“It’s not over yet.” She gives me a quick kiss as the elevator doors open.

“I’m not sure sex on the roof can top sex over your desk.” I grip her hips as we walk out of the elevator, nuzzling the back of her neck. It makes her giggle. Funny, on Adrestia, the giggle thing is hot.

We wash up, then hurry up to the roof as sunset is approaching. When we get there, all of our stuff is gone. I frown and look around. “Really? Someone took it?”

“Maybe it was your Super?” she suggests. “They might have thought someone was squatting.”

“Well, fuck, that’s annoying.”

“It’s no big deal. Come over here.”

We walk to the edge of the roof. She leans against the wall, her hands folded. I stand beside her and do the same. Together, we watch as the sun drops to the horizon. I’m actually stunned by how quickly it happens. Also how much it changes in that brief span of time, the colours, even the surrounding air shifts. A couple of faint stars appear.

I walk behind her and hug her again, my arms around her waist.

“Why are you doing all of this?” I ask softly. “Really?”

For a moment, I swear she tenses up, but when she leans back into me, I relax.

“I told you, I was languishing. Life is slipping me by. I was letting stress get to me.”

“Stress? About work? That doesn’t sound like you. I’ve never known anyone to love their job like you do.”

“No, not work. I guess we all get stressed in our lives.”

“True,” I agree. I’m not entirely sure she has answered the question. Again. I wait for her to say more and think she isn’t going to when she speaks again.

“Work has never been the problem, insomuch as I adore my job. It’s the other side of it. That I love my job too much. It was all I did. I threw everything into my work.”

“Okay, so you’re taking some time to enjoy the other side of life?”

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