Page 27 of Fire and Ice

"There's a popular music hall in Downtown Baltimore. I think it's a good place to plant some eyes and ears," Viktor said slowly.

"And?"

"There's a popular local rock band that plays over there ..."

"Wait, one of ours?"

Viktor laughed. AGS had once put together a rock band as a cover for one of their German assignments. Several Guardians were musically inclined and Maia acted as the group's manager. They had successfully infiltrated a dance club that was a front for narcotics and firearms and taken down the mastermind of the operation.

"Hah! I wish. The band is called Ezra Crows, I believe you know their lead singer."

Maia groaned. "Lee Isaac. I thought they were in Philadelphia."

"They moved to Baltimore and they're almost an institution there. They play at Addison Music Hall every Friday and Saturday. It's well-attended by our target demographic."

"Our recreational drug users," Maia replied dryly. "What exactly do you want me to do?"

"Well, Lee was crazy about you."

"That was four, no five years ago, we were together three weeks."

"Three times in two years."

Maia scowled. She had met Lee at the exclusive Samabe resort in Bali, Indonesia. His band was playing at his friend's small wedding. She was in an outdoor restaurant when she heard him sing so she fleeted to the edge of the reception and watched him perform. His beautiful voice was wonderfully seductive, and she was mesmerized, so she stayed for a couple of songs and walked away before it became too obvious that she was crashing the wedding. Not that she really was, because it was outdoors anyway.

Later that evening as she was sipping a tropical concoction on the beach, Lee dropped down right beside her and said, "I thought I imagined you, I looked for you all night." They ended up in her room and made love all night. For the next few weeks, they just lazed around the beach. Lee would play on his guitar and sing to her.

It was a beautiful fling. Lee was busy with his band, he was artistic and did not need a relationship to weigh him down. They parted ways, both getting what they needed from the ephemeral nature of what they shared. They lived in the now and it was fantastic.

They talked occasionally over nine months until Lee suggested they go back to Bali. They met back at Bali two more times over a span of eighteen months.

Their coming together this last time was bittersweet. Three days before they were to leave, after making love to her, Lee told her that he was in love with her and wanted something more. Meaningless groupie sex left him empty and all he thought about was her when he was with other women. Maia turned him down.

"Tell me why," he asked brokenly.

"It's not gonna work. My job ..."

"Fuck your job!" Lee shouted angrily. "You are so fucked up!"

"Lee, calm down," Maia said while making a move to get up. She was sensing intense anger emanating from the man beside her.

His arm sliced across her waist and threw her back on the bed.

He held her down and settled between her legs.

"Lee don't!" Maia pleaded, dreading what he was about to do.

"You are mine, Maia. Mine!"

Maia closed her eyes and let Lee take her, she felt his pain as he wrapped his arms around her to grip her closer, she tentatively stroked his back. She needed to end this.

When he finished, he rolled off and said, "Fuck, I'm sorry Maia, I... I... was too rough."

She did not respond. Lee got up and left the room and did not return that night, probably getting drunk somewhere. Maia left the next morning, leaving a note and returned to the United States. She changed her number and never talked to Lee again.

"He may not want to see me," Maia told Viktor. It was a possibility. After all, she had left without saying goodbye personally.

"I just can't show up at his gig, that'll mean I want to connect with him again," Maia said. "I do not want to use him."

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