He wiped his clammy hands on the towel and tossed it aside. Jaws clenched and eyes ablaze he causally stepped out of his hotel room without a back ward glance at her.
Glossy red hair clung to her moist neck, frightened eyes bulged out, her sensual mouth...gaping. She laid in a heap on a sticky rusty stain soaking the plush carpet...her blood!
He was there! His fans screamed and chanted his name, “Lo-ren! Lo-ren! Lo-ren!!!” His baby blue eyes scanned the sea of faces, reading the signboards as the besotted girls blew kisses, clapped, cried and jumped up and down to catch a fleeting glimpse of him.
He sucked a deep breath ... they loved him! Oh, what sweet music was his name to his ears. They would kill for his handsome frame, innocent look, straight Greek nose, rumpled brown hair and lopsided grin.
Waiting backstage beads of perspiration clung to his skin as the same weird sensation ran over him...just as it had six years ago; still the recollection of it unleashed his ire and filled him with venom.
How could she? His darling? He had found her in room: 24 with another guy...convulsive pain made him shudder. She had then disappeared without a trace, without giving him a chance to tell her that he still cared and would always love her ...no matter what! His Angela had been so different, so sweet and so enchanting. Her betrayal had changed him forever...
Loren walked on to the stage; glaring lights stung his eyes while a rumbling roar of anticipation ran over the crowd. He would sing out his heart tonight, he promised himself. His melodious croon hushed his fans and he sang like he had never sung before, driving the pushing crowd wild! The last song was a new number he had written for Angela six years ago but had never sung before.
His heart fluttered as he began the first verse in his silvery voice:
“It had been so long,
That I glanced and smiled,
Keeping my feelings inside,
Wanted you for so long babe
But that day was different,
For I knew what I had to say,
Say to you what I’d held back...
It was that dance again,
One I’d dreaded for so long
Only I had to make it change,
So I took you in my arms
And showed you how I felt...
Looking into your dancing eyes
A new world opened up for me.”
His tender gaze analyzed the response of the mesmerized audience. That’s when he spotted her, his Angela. Same red locks, smoky gray eyes, same black dress and a pearl necklace, there in the front row! His lungs felt as if on fire. Gazing at her ardently he sang the next verses for her:
“Oh I thought it was meant to be,
But the next day baby oh baby
When I held you against me,
You pushed me aside and
With a sneer you gleefully cried
That was just for April fool’s Day...
Of only you knew how deep
Your smile pierced my heart,
If only you knew your dancing eyes
Were new dreams for me...
Oh babe babe...oh your killer smiles,
Oh honey honey...oh dancing eyes...
Why couldn’t you have thought twice
Still next time thing again...
Before playing such a cruel game,
With another on April fool’s night
My innocent darling with dancing eyes,
Your sweet embrace and killer smiles...”
Glistening eyes greedily absorbed her details. His vision blurred for a moment, then the haze lifted with a loud strum for the electric guitar. He hummed but his eyes searched for her frantically in the boisterous crowd.
There she was!!! Ohhhh...he groaned to himself...it wasn’t her though this girl had a striking resemblance with sweet Angela. Only gray eyes were replaced by mischievous green ones that stared back at him in awe!
She was perfect, was his next though. An ideal girl for his public image. Ahhh...he was free to date again, free after six long years. What perfect timings he mused; just as he had set himself free, another ideal girl steps into the picture.
As the chorus finished, he pulled the girl onto the stage with a husky hello. Adrenalin was pumping in his blood as he with a wink told her to stay there and ran off backstage. His manager was smart and the wave of Loren’s hand said enough.
She would come he knew, which girl would miss such an opportunity! Sudden regret dulled his enthusiasm and he cursed Angela. Why couldn’t it have been her tonight ...why did she leave and spoil every thing? Why didn’t she return? She had hurt him so bad that he could still fell the emptiness in the pit of his stomach! If only she had loved him as he loved her...he thought, if only loneliness hadn’t stamped out his fire and her betrayal hadn’t stabbed his soul...angry reflections scraped his raw nerves! Bitter bile stung his throat as the same questions reeled in his mind making him giddy.
Pushing back thoughts and surfacing from his memory lane, he promised that he wouldn’t let Angela spoilt tonight’s plan. Once again eyes began to gleam with passion and a high-pitched giggle of exhilaration escaped his dry lips as he stepped into the elevator.
Turning the doorknob, he stepped into his room. Waited for a few seconds, picked up the phone and dialed the management. In a urgent and terse tone he said, “Send some security up here in room: 24. This is Loren Davis. Somebody has been murdered in my room during the concert.”
With a deep sigh, “It’s one of your hotel staff I believe, a...wait...” with a deliberate pause, “yeah...the badge says its some Angela Davis...”
The Reed’s faith, a mystery to some, will be tested like never before. Will it hold? Mark’s love for his wife and their intimate romance is shattered by Brandy, a barmaid.
When Goldie Silver receives the wrong shipment of antique Russian samovars at her shop in Juneau, Alaska they sell quickly but people begin to die. What makes those tea dispensers worth killing for?
