Blessed Fate by Hb Heinzer Page B

cotton lounge pants when she shifted to face me causing her breasts to brush against my chest. She pressed her forehead against mine. It was one of the few times I had seen her without her colored contacts in; the eyes staring into mine weren't emerald green like normal, they were the color of dark honey. They were perfectly unique, just like Rain.
    We cuddled together, drifting in and out of sleep a bit longer before getting dressed to join her family in the kitchen. In another attempt to test the changing comfort level we had with one another, I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind as we walked down the hall.
    "You know, you keep holding onto me like that and no one's going to believe there's nothing going on," she laughed. It was a beautiful sound I wasn't sure if I would hear again anytime soon. "And then we're back to me having to explain your death, and I'm pretty sure your little groupies would kick my ass then. It'd just be bad."
    "Okay." I released her, holding my hands out to my sides. "You win. But only because I don't want your brothers to kick my ass. They're really not as bad as you make them out to be, you know. Sure, Matt's an asshole, but still nothing you can't handle."
    "Well, let's just say they're not as bad as they used to be. Trust me, the loving family you see right now has only been in existence for about twenty-four hours."
    Jon and I decided to go for a run after breakfast, wanting to give the family a little space. I knew they were trying to be accepting of us, but it didn't change the fact that we were outsiders, and they had enough going on without making sure they were good hosts to us. Rain was hitting the bottom of the staircase as we walked in the front door.
    "Hey Colt, can I ask you a huge favor?" The way she was wringing her hands told me she was nervous about something. I motioned for her to lead the way to the basement, which we had taken over as our little corner of the house where we didn't feel like an imposition.
    "I already told you I'm here for whatever you need. If I didn't want to help you out, I'd be on the bus in Wichita or holed up with some honey in a hotel room." She looked at me and laughed, exactly the reaction I was going for. While I had made some piss-poor judgment calls when it came to sleeping with Tanya, screwing groupies was something I had never done and had no desire to do. Even without the complication known as Rain, I wasn't much into sleeping with random women who would be teasing the cock of another musician as soon as the opportunity came around.
    She started to say something but stopped abruptly when she heard Travis playing around on my acoustic guitar. I watched her watching him play Dust in the Wind , completely mesmerized by the sounds. Travis was the quietest one in the group, more than happy to play his bass guitar, fill in on back-up vocals when needed and go about his day. The fact that he had amazing pitch and knew how to play just about any instrument he picked up wasn't common knowledge.
    I reached out for Rain when I saw her starting to cry. This wasn't the ugly crying from the other night, simply tears spilling down her cheeks. "Good job man, you made Rain cry," I called out to Travis.
    Travis hurried over to apologize to her. She wiped away the tears and got a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I'll be right back. You guys stay here, okay?" She ran up the basement stairs as if the house was on fire, leaving us to wonder what we had missed.
    "You have any clue?" Jon asked, pointing to the already empty stairwell.
    "Nope." I picked up the guitar and started playing the same song Travis had been minutes before. As much as I hated to admit it, it was one of the few songs he knew better than I did, a fact Jon had no problem pointing out to me.
    Rain came running back down the stairs after a while and asked us to come over to the sitting area on the far end of the basement.
    "Okay, so my dad asked me last night if I'll sing at Mom's funeral