Fatal Attraction (Dark Desires 4)

“We have a lot of work to do.” She looks serious as she says it with her hands on her hips.

“Baby I’ve got nothing but time. We can record while I recover. They actually think it might be a while. We may have to just write together, I’m going to need PT for my shoulder. I hope I’ll be able to play guitar after.”

“I have faith you’ll be able to, but if not, I’ll just learn.”

She leans over me and I inhale her sweet scent of strawberries and other intoxicating aromas. She puts her lips to mine and I can tell she’s trying to be gentle so I make a point of pushing my tongue into her mouth and grabbing her ass with my good arm.

“I think you’ll probably have to sleep here tonight,” I tell her and she sits on the bed beside me.

“They don’t allow visitors to stay overnight.”

“You can sneak back in.”

She kisses me again. “Hang tight, I’m going to go and gather us up a hospital feast.”

When she returns she has three to-go boxes and extra plates with cake on them.

“I cleaned them out.” She says and grins at me. “What will it be? Steak sandwich, grilled cheese, tilapia, or rice and steak?”

“Wow, you really did clean them out.”

I point to the things I want and happily eat them as Ada tries to find something to watch on the small television.

“Find the porn,” I tell her earning a swat on the arm.

“Thomas says if we get the album finished we can release it in two months. Do you think our whole lives are about to change?”

“I think our lives will change if we work hard and you sing your little heart out.”

“We won’t change though, right Charlie. I don’t want us

to become rich assholes and demand strange things in our dressing rooms.”

“We’ll never change doll, we’ll stay just like this.”

“I saw this and thought you might want to see it,” she says and hands me a newspaper. The headline reads Drug Dealer Busted, Another One Off the Streets. The first words I see are Turner Conrad. I’m beyond thrilled he’s not going to be a threat to my life or George’s anymore.

“This is good news.” I read on to see that an informant came to the police to give them the information they wanted to know. The informant wasn’t named of course, but I know it’s George.

“George finally did the right thing.”

I smile and think at least some things are looking up and I got my girl with me. I can’t really ask for much better.

“I love you, Ada,” I say and I truly mean it. I reach out to take her hand.

“I love you too Charlie.” She bends over and puts her lips on mine. I kiss her gently and then hold her to my chest. She feels just like home.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Ada

My heart almost stopped when Charlie got shot. I couldn’t process what had just happened. Despite the fact we’d been under threat of it happening before, when it happened I just couldn’t believe it. I thought I’d lost him. He was so weak and there was so much blood.

It had taken me a while to realize this was related to something completely different than my father. After we talked for a while in the hospital about everything, we determined my father had actually threatened Charlie the night Jimmy had fought him in the bar. I had started to form a picture of my father that was completely different than I thought he was. We both decided no matter what, when it came to our fathers, we wouldn’t let them ruin us. Having shitty dads was just another way Charlie and I were able to bond.

Physical therapy had been hard on him. He found it difficult to be weak in front of me. I told him that was silly, but he still couldn’t get past it. I still went to as many of his sessions as I could so I could support him.

Now he’s feeling a lot better. He’s had his last physical therapy session and he’s ready to try the guitar again. I’m so nervous for him and hope he can do it. It’s Tuesday and the first day back teaching the kids. Surprisingly despite the place being shot up and then Charlie actually getting shot, they let their kids come back.

The studio is no longer in the same place though. Charlie bought another place that’s much bigger in a better part of town. There are bars and restaurants around so people are always close by. Having the students there probably saved his class. The parents are careful not to say anything about the incident to him having already learned everything on the news and then pulling me aside to fill in the details they didn’t know.