Part 108
Sang's POV
Thirty minutes until it was time to eat North got up and left the room. "Luke!" Was all he yelled. I looked at Luke is question as he got up from his seat.
"Lunch will be ready soon. This is just final prep." Then he turned and left. I was sitting in Kota's lap right now. Neither of us were really watching the game. We were more watching each other. I kept remembering some of the positions I got into with the guys while playing pool.
I do not know where my confidence had come from at that moment, but I wasn't about to back down after the first slightly awkward position was decided. I did have fun watching Sean get awkward with the guys. Also, when Sean had to do the splits on the table like I did. He he he. How he did his leg stretch thing first! Then Victor had to do it too. Too funny.
Looking at Kota again, studying my eyes intently, I remembered how sweet he was to ask me if I was really ok with the position near the end. Luke was nibbling at my neck and Gabe was nibbling my other sides ear, and Kota was practically laying on top of me and was going to have to kiss me. I was blushing red just thinking about it again.
"What is going on in your mind right now Ten? Just a moment ago you looked like you wanted to laugh your head off and now you are blushing."
"Looking at you brought back thoughts of our pool game." I mumbled quietly.
"Ah, I enjoyed playing with you. We should do it again sometime." He winked at me. I blushed even deeper red.
"I am a part of the food prep team and North and Luke are in there doing there job. I want to stay here and enjoy my time with you, but..."
"Go do your job." He spanked my butt. "I have to set the table anyway. Victor, Gabe, time to do our job." He commanded. They looked up from their conversations, nodded and hurried out the room with us.
When we were done preparing the meal, I was surprised just how much food we had made. There was turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, cranberries, corn, salad, a vegetable tray with dip, and a fruit tray. Luke had popped the apple and cherry pies in the oven as we sat to eat so they would come out of the oven just as we finished eating.
Owen asked us all to go around the table and say what we were thankful for. There was a common theme to everyone's remarks. They were all thankful for meeting me, for this family, and for this trip that gave us this time together. When it was my turn I was a blubbering mess.
Owen was on my left and Nathan was on my right. Nathan rubbed his hand against my back and Owen handed me his handkerchief. I wiped my eyes but didn't want to get snot all over his handkerchief.
"You all have given me more than I could ever ask for in nine lifetimes. I must be a cat or something!" I looked at each of the boys as I thanked them personally for the things that brought them into my life. "I am thankful for fake broken dog leashes, I am thankful for bed covers that hid me so well, I am thankful for friends that knock and hide, I am thankful for fallen trees, I am thankful for messy wet hair, I am thankful for playgrounds, I am thankful for stuck curtains, I am thankful for those who stand up to authority and I am thankful for violin concerto's on the radio. Without each of those simple things, I would not have all of you in my life. I have never known the kind of love the nine of you have shown me. And for that I thank you."
"Damn it Trouble! You are sitting too far away from me right now! Nathan, kiss her for me please." Nathan kissed me once, then a second time.
"The first was from Gabe, the second was from me. Anyone else want me to kiss her for you?"
"Yes!" Luke giggled. Nathan kissed me again.
"That was from Luke." The others laughed saying yes too. Nathan kept kissing me.
"That was from Silas. That was from North. That was from Victor. That was from Kota. That was from Doc." Nathan looked at Owen, the only one who hadn't said yes.
"I can do it myself, thank you." Owen leaned in until our lips were a millimeter apart and then he held. We were sitting like that for what felt like hours, when I'm sure it was more like 10 seconds. I started smiling then bit my lip. At that he dove in for the kiss. With his own teeth he pulled my lip away from my biting it.
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Once we finished eating I felt so full my stomach hurt and I felt sick to my stomach. I just wanted to curl up at the base of the toilet in case I threw up. Owen sent Victor and I to my room to take a nap before we needed to get ready.
"You two better fucking sleep in there or so help me!" Meanie was yelling after us.
In my bedroom Victor picked me up and gently laid me down in the middle of the bed. Then he nestled down with his face in the crook of my neck, his arm around my waist.
I heard Victor's breathing even out pretty quickly. I was just about to fall completely under the fog of sleep when I felt a shift in the air. I listened because I couldn't get my eyelids open. But only heard tiptoeing. That's when I smelled Gabe's lovely warm apple and spice scent he wore today. I smiled.
"You're supposed to be sleeping Trouble." He whispered.
"Mmnni hmmmm." I was trying to say 'I am' but my voice wouldn't work. Gabe snuggled the other side of me.
"Sleep beautiful." He licked the crest of my ear, sighed and said, "mine" before I fell to sleep.
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"Time to get up sleepyheads." Kota was sing songing.
Victor and Gabe both groaned but rolled off the bed. Kota sat down and stroked his fingers through my hair. "Come on sweetie. You want to support Victor at his concert don't you?"
He knew exactly what to say. I shot out of bed like a rocket. "I'm not late am I?"
He laughed. "No, you have time. Gabe has it all set up for you." He kissed me lightly on the lips and left the bedroom.
Gabriel had the bathroom all set for what looked like a major beauty overhaul. I knew I wasn't runway model ready, but I didn't think I was this bad off.
"Does it really require this much to make me look pretty Meanie?" I asked sitting down in the chair.
"Fuck! You are gorgeous, Sang! If I ever hear you ask a God damn question like that again I am going to spank that sweet ass of yours until you never do that insecure girly shit again!"
I just bit my lip and put my hand on my throat. I was confused. If I was as pretty as he said, why do we need so many cosmetics?
He must have understood my confusion. He crouched down in front of me, put both hands either side of my face to hold me looking at him. "Sang, I am adding this makeup shit to your face to just enhance your natural beauty. We all love you without this gabbing up the works. Every girl at school would kill for your natural beauty. It takes them hours of putting on their faces to still fall short of your exquisite nature. I think Silas might be right when he says you are prettier than Aphrodite herself."
I didn't know what to say to that. There are no words. I did the only thing I could think of. I leaned forward and kissed him hard on the lips. He groaned and pulled me closer then stopped, breathing heavy. "Damn it! Now's not the time. We have a job to do."
"Sorry, let's get on with it then."
Gabe covered my face and neck with some kind of lotion then dusted me with a powered paint brush looking thing. It kind of tickled as he covered me. Next he put some eyeliner on me followed by eye shadow. He kept it in neutral tans and browns. A light pink blush was applied to my cheek bones then mascara to my lashes. He finished with a medium pink lipstick. It was almost the same color as my lips.
Meanie had me stand to see myself in the mirror. "What do you think?"
"You are a miracle worker. I have never looked prettier."
"I don't think that is true, but you will look very nice for tonight. I need to do your hair still."
I sat back down so he could get to work. He put some loose curls in my hair then pulled the front and sides back into a pretty clip at the back of my head. "I normally do not condone using a hair clip, but in this instance, I concede."
I giggled. He then pulled out the beautiful necklace they had found for my dress. The CZ tear drop that hits just past the hollow of my throat. "I hope Victor likes it." I commented.
"The problem will be him liking it too much and being distracted by your beauty." I looked at Gabe with worry. "I'm teasing you Sang! But we will all probably fight to get to sit next to you at some time tonight." He was laughing. "Get your dress and your shoes on and we will be waiting in the living room."
The dress was hanging on the back of the door and my shoes were in front of the bed. When I put on that strapless white dress that Owen and Gabriel picked out with Victor's concert in mind, I felt like I was the prettiest girl on the planet.
As I made my way into the living room I heard Luke whistle, Silas said something in Greek, Sean exclaimed "wow Pookie, you look magnificent!", Nathan's jaw was on the floor, so to speak, Kota appeared to be counting, Owen smiled a real smile and was slowly perusing my body with his eyes, and North didn't say anything but his eyes grew wide with what I can only describe as hunger, although I don't know why he is hungry, we just ate.
Coming down the stairs together were Victor and Gabriel. Victor's hair was immaculate, he had on a simple suite and tie. Whereas the other guys all had on tuxedos. The look of confusion, again on my face had Gabriel answering my unspoken questions. "This is Victor's I'm showing up for work suit. Once there he will put on his performance tuxedo. Then after the show he will put on his meet and greet tuxedo. There is a lot of wardrobe changes that takes place at these things."
I nodded my head, again not sure what I should say. "Princess..." I looked at Victor, "you look elegant in that dress." His eyes were a flaming inferno. My insides flipped at his eyes.
"Thank you." I said awkwardly. What I wanted to do was get lost in his eyes.
"Since we are all present and accounted for, let's get this job over with." Gabriel spoke up.
"Yea, they won't have the football game on in the lobby. The sooner we get started, the sooner I can get back to see who won the second game and watch the end of the third game." Silas grunted.
"Thanks for the support Silas." Victor said to him sarcastically.
"You know I am always there for you Victor. I just like to watch football on Thanksgiving."
"I know." Victor smiled. "Shall we Princess?" He held out his elbow toward me so I could place my hand in his arm.
When we got into the party bus I sat next to Victor and North sat on my other side. "Don't worry Princess, we have it all worked out who gets to sit next to you throughout the night."
"So what is the plan?" I asked.
"North and I get to sit next to you on the way to the concert. Luke and Kota get to sit next to you in the first half, Doc and Mr. B get to sit next to you in the second half of the concert and Gabriel and Nathan get to sit next to you on the way home."
I looked around at all of them. Why had they not said Silas? As I looked at Silas he was looking at the ground. "Why doesn't Silas get a turn?" I asked with an authority in my voice that they better answer me.
"I volunteered to be the one who didn't get a turn next to you tonight. Someone had to." Silas quietly spoke. There was something else going on.
"Are you mad at me for something Silas?"
He made eye contact with me, sadness in his eyes. "No Aggele. I could not be mad at you."
"This was his self appointed penance for hurting you earlier today." North spoke matter of factly.
"What?! Because I made the mistake of missing the football, he is being punished?"
"When we hurt you on accident, we pick our own punishment. North's is usually to not be allowed to see you for a period of time, Luke's is to not get any of his sweets for how ever many days, Nathan usually chooses extra workouts, mine would be to spend more hours practicing the piano, and so on and so forth."
"Even when it isn't your fault? Because today was not Silas' fault. It was mine. I didn't know what I was doing and just missed."
"Even when it isn't our fault. You have to understand that when you are with one of us, or multiples of us and you get hurt, we feel like we could have done something different to prevent the outcome. So we give ourselves a punishment of sorts." Victor continued.
"You boys are nuts. I am a walking disaster at times. You will all start hating me because you will be constantly punishing yourselves. Please don't do that." I was pleading with them. Then I realized I needed to take action so I stood up and sat on Victor's lap. "Silas come sit by me now. This way everyone gets a turn and you all can stop your crazy punishments." Silas looked reluctant but moved to sit next to me. "Crazy boy! Don't do that again!" I kissed his cheek and he smiled at me.
"Ok Aggele."
I looked at the others with a serious eye stare, "if I hear of anyone else punishing themselves because of something I did to get myself hurt, you will have to deal with me." They all smiled.
" I am willing and I will obey" they all said and I nodded my head.
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Once we were at the concert hall, Victor was escorted by North, Silas and Nathan as his bodyguards with Gabriel going to get him ready.
Owen went to do his "Manager" duties and the rest of us went into the lobby to get a drink before the concert began. No one openly touched me in anyway that could be taken as anything other than a friendly gesture. This is the one thing I do not like about public settings. I am around all of my boyfriends, and they are all so handsome and I cannot reach out and touch their face or their hair or their hand or get a hug.
The lobby had a 3 story tall Christmas Tree near the front doors. There were waiters serving champagne and a bar area where we went to get sodas and waters. I was with Luke, Kota, and Sean.
"What do you think Cupcake?"
"I like listening to Victor play, but I don't know about the crowds. And the way they are all milling about and talking to each other looks so fake."
"A lot of it is an act. They are keeping up with their social duties. Being noticed. Making small talk with the appropriate people. Similar to what Victor's parents do." Sean explained.
"That must be why it is bothering me. It reminds me too much of his parents. They taint everything that is good in Victor's life."
"Not for much longer Ten. He only has 14 months left to be under their control."
"Then what?"
"Then he gets to live his life free of George and Jasmine's opinion." Luke shrugged his shoulders as he said this. It was that simple, turn 18 and viola! No more parent problems.
A lot more people were milling about the lobby when the lights started flickering. I looked up at the massive chandeliers and Sean told me it is time to take our seats. "The lights tell the audience what time it is." I had been to his concerts before, but was always backstage.
We had really great seats. We were about 6 rows back from the stage and we were near the end of the row so we could get in and out. Silas, Nathan, Owen and Gabriel were already seated when we found our seats.
When I sat down with Luke on my right and Kota on my left they each took a hold of my hand. Victor would just be performing the two pieces with the choir in the first half of the concert.
The choir and orchestra were on the stage already waiting. The audience was quiet and the lead violinist stood up and bowed. Everyone clapped. He played a note and all the string instruments tuned to him. Then he played a note again and all the rest of the instruments tuned to him. He sat and it got quiet again. When the Maestro walked on the stage everyone clapped again.
We listened to them sing and play about 6 songs when Victor was introduced as a guest performer with the symphony. Victor walked on to the stage and he looked debonaire as he made his way to the piano. Once there, he turned to the audience, took a small bow and sat at the piano bench. The music began again.
After those two songs the audience stood and applauded while Victor took a bow. I saw him look to find me but he seemed to be struggling with the bright lights in his eyes to see me. I looked down the row and Gabriel, Owen, Silas and Nathan were gone again.
At intermission, Luke escorted me backstage because I needed to use the restroom and he didn't trust me going into the women's restroom in the lobby. He walked me to Victor's dressing room and Nathan let me in to see him.
I was beaming when I saw Victor up close in his tuxedo. He is a sight to behold. I walked over to Victor.
"You can't kiss him Trouble, I just touched up his stage makeup."
"You did a great job. I look forward to your next set." I told him holding both his hands.
"Knowing you are in the audience listening is all I need. Thank you Princess for supporting me. I love you."
"I will always love you my Prince."
"Enough with the mushy, get back to your seats. He needs to focus." Gabe teased with a wink.
We took our seats again and this time I sat next to Owen and Sean. In the row was Luke, Kota, Nathan, North and then Gabriel came right before it started.
The choir and orchestra were on the stage again, sitting in their seats and Victor was introduced. Everyone clapped for him. He walked to the piano, took a bow then sat down and found his fingering.
He played through his set with such passion and intensity that I had tears streaming down my face again. Owen handed me a handkerchief again and I dabbed at the tears. When Victor was done the Maestro walked on stage, stuck out his hand to shake Victor's hand, then turned to the audience and presented Victor for applause where Victor took a bow. He got a standing ovation.
Then the choir and orchestra completed the rest of the concert. Gabriel was missing for the last of the concert. He must be getting Victor into his meet and greet tuxedo.
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This concert made for a long night. We hung out in the lobby, staying to the fringes as the director introduced Victor to the high society types in Charlotte. Nathan walked behind Victor as his shadow bodyguard. Owen stayed to Victor's side as his "Manager" getting business cards of those that want to have Victor perform at this event or that event.
When we were done, Luke and Kota went and collected all of Victor's belongings from his dressing room and met us on the party bus. Meanie and Honey were both beyond excited to sit next to me on the way home.
"Thank God that is over! Keep your sweet ass parked right here Trouble." Meanie said to me.
Nathan pulled my legs on top of his and popped my fingers in his mouth. As he chewed his eyes rolled back and he made an, "mmmmm" sound. "I have been dying to do that all week but knew Gabe would throw a fit about messing up your fingernails for the concert."
Meanie pulled the clip out of my hair, "I know your hair looked nice pulled up but a I like it down." He finger styled it. The he handed me and Victor what looked like wet wipes. They were makeup removing clothes. We both eagerly rubbed until the makeup was off. It took 4 clothes to remove all of the stage makeup on Victor. It only took 2 to remove mine. I felt sorry for him with how much makeup he had on.
"That is so fucking much better! Now come here so I can kiss you." Meanie pulled me toward him and gave me a chaste kiss. "Awwww" he slumped back in his seat. Both Honey and Meanie sat close and relaxed on the way back.
Once we were at the house Victor came over and picked me up bridal style, turned to the guys and said, "good night gentlemen." Then walked briskly in the house to my room. The others were calling foul for him whisking me away, but it was his night to sleep next to me and if he was tired, we would go to bed.
Once we were in my room, he set me down then turned his phone on. To my surprise it was his concert recorded. He bowed to me and asked, "might I have this dance Princess?" It was Vivaldi's Winter that we danced to.
I felt like Ginger Rogers and he was Fred Estaire. The whole time dancing with Victor his eyes burned my body with the all consuming fire that blazed in them. At the end of the song he twirled me around, caught me at the waist and dipped me back where he planted a long, passionate kiss on my lips. He was a gentle kisser. His tongue caressed mine in smooth long stokes. Lifting me back up to standing his hands gently moved across my back, up and down my sides, up into my hair where his fingers tangled into the back. He moved from kissing my lips to kissing down my neck, to my left shoulder, across my collar bones, to my right shoulder and up the right side of my neck.
Once he got to my ear, he said in a husky voice, "I need to stop now Princess. You are too special to me and everyone here for me to continue." Holding me tight around the waist, my body against his, he dropped his forehead to my shoulder, taking long deep breaths.
I stood there panting from the sensations he created in me and then the sudden stopping of sensations. It left me feeling a little frustrated and confused. Once he gained his composure he looked at my eyes and his facial expression dropped. Worry or panic clearly on his face.
"I am so sorry. Did I push you to allow me to kiss you? I would never intentionally force myself or my desires on you Princess."
I put my fingers up on his mouth to get him to quit talking. "I was enjoying our time and then it was suddenly over. I just felt the instant loss and it made me feel, I don't know exactly, confused? No that's not right. Frustrated somehow? Does that make sense?"
He smiled a sweet smile at me, "yes Princess. I know what you mean. When I get overly involved kissing you, I feel frustrated myself when I know I need to stop. Because the last thing I want to do is stop. But you are more than just a fling, or a girlfriend I had for a time. You are my everything and I want to take my time with you and enjoy every touch and kiss we have."
He did understand. I nodded my head smiling at him for being so sweet to me. Then he turned me to the bathroom. "Go get ready for bed and you can lay in my arms all night long. For tonight you are mine to hold."