Page 27 of Her Dragons

“Well, I didn’t know how far I could fall until I let Mark take over my life.Giving up and letting him take over was a mistake.It cost me two years that I could have spent trying to get my career going again.It ended up with me being with the two of you, and I’m grateful for that.But guys, that’s two years of my life that I’ll never get back.I can’t lose any more time.I can’t have any more years like I’ve had.”

“And you won’t,” I said, giving her other arm a little squeeze.

“But see, there’s still a problem,” Lily said, sounding grim.“I can go out there and start performing again.But if I do, Mark will be out there too.My name will be out there, and I’ll be out there — and he’ll take notice.I know he will.He must have been looking for any sign of me since I left.And I’ve been laying low up until now.If I come back up to the surface again, I know sooner or later I’ll have to deal with him again and his anger, which will be worse now because I ran away.He’ll see that as defiance and betrayal.And he’ll be angrier than ever.And that’s what I’ll have to face if he finds me.”

“And you know what that son of a bitch will have to face?” I said.“Us.”

“Both of us,” said Jake.

I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.Jake kissed the other cheek.It was our reminder to her that whatever she wanted to do, we’d be there for her.

Lily said, “I can go to another city, or I can even leave the country, but the fact is that being a musician I have to face the public and the public has to know where to come and see me.Mark will always have a way to find me — unless I go into recording music for commercials, where it’s anonymous.I’ve thought about that.I’ve taken it as an option.It’s something I could do.”

“Yeah, but is it something you want to do?” I asked.“Is that where you really belong?”

“It would pay better than nightclubs and bars and weddings and all that,” Lily said.“Commercial work pays big.But it’s not the most satisfying work for me.It’s not where I’d make the best use of my talents or be the most creative and the work would always come second to whatever the product or the thing was.I’d be as much of a tool as a performer.But I’d make good money and be out of the public eye.It’d be a compromise.”She sighed.“Artists always seem to end up having to compromise on something.”

Neither one of us was really sure what to tell her.I gave her a squeeze on the shoulder and Jake squeezed her arm, and we all just lay there with Lily considering her next move.

“And the other thing,” she went on, “is that the three of us can’t go on here forever.”She said to Jake, “Your Uncle Robert will come home eventually, and he’ll want his place to himself, without his nephew and his friend and the musician you’re sleeping with taking up space.We’re all going to have to make some decisions about what we’ll do.”

Jake said, “Whatever I decide to do, it’s going to include you, Lily.What we’ve got here in this bed, it’ll leave here with us.I don’t want it to stop.”He kissed the arm he wasrubbing.“The one thing I’m most sure about is whenever I’m inside you, I feel something I’ve never felt with anyone else in my life.I’ll be damned if I’ll give that up.”

I kissed the shoulder that I squeezed, and said, “That goes for me too.Lily, this is the only time in my life that it’s ever felt like more than just fucking.Nobody ever made me feel like this.Just you.”

Jake said, “Wherever your work takes you, that’s where I’m going.Where you go, I go and Alex too.”

“Damn right,” I agreed.“And whatever it takes to help keep you safe, that’s what I’m doing.”I raised my hand.“We’re a team now.Am I right?”

“We’re a team,” said Jake.And he took my hand and held on.

Lily reached up and took our two clasped hands in hers.“A team,” she said, squeezing our hands.She looked back and forth between us.“No one else in my whole life has ever done for me what you guys have done.I feel like no one else has ever cared about me the same way.You’re the most special thing that I’ve ever had in my life.Yes, we are a team.”

“Together for keeps,” I said.

Jake smiled and said, “Two dragon guys and a pianist.”

I chuckled at the way the word pianist sounded like something else.Pianist — it sounded sexy, especially between the three of us.I said, “A pianist, two dragon guys — and their penises.”

Lily broke out laughing, a silly, crazy laugh that made Jake and me crack up along with her.The three of us lay there cracking up, and Lily gave us playful smacks on the thighs.And by that time, the things I’d been talking about that sounded like a pianist were getting as hard as the wood of Uncle Robert’s piano.

She kissed us both.The next thing we knew, Jake had his face down between her thighs giving her an encore, while I played a tune on her breasts.The performance for tonight was only getting started.

CHAPTER 11

Lily

The guys went to the door, but they hesitated to leave.Standing there, they didn’t remind me so much of dragons as they did a couple of protective German Shepherd dogs, reluctant to leave the human that they were guarding.

“Guys, really, I’ll be fine,” I told them.“All I’m going to be doing here is practicing.If I’m really going to start working again, I’ll need it.”I gestured across the living room.“The piano will be almost as good company as you are.”

They both had the cutest sour looks on their handsome faces.It was so sweet.Jake and Alex had started out as benefactors and quickly gone from bed partners to doting boyfriends.I thought they were adorable — but my mind was made up.They had something to do today, which was my opportunity to give undivided attention to my music.And as much as I loved being with them, a day spent with the 88 keys and the sheet music that I’d packed up when leaving Mark’s (sadly leaving my own electric piano behind) was something to which I’d very much been looking forward.

“Are you really sure?” Alex asked.“Because I’ll bet my friends would love to meet you.They won’t mind you joining us.”

“No, no,” I said.“Today was supposed to be for Jake to meet your old friends and for you to plan the Firewings’ big reunion.You guys go and meet your friends and have fun, and impress Jake with all your old stories.You deserve a guys’ day out, so go.Go on — shoo!”

Alex and Jake traded an uncertain look, and Jake said to me, “If you’re really, really sure…”

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