Part 304
Detroit…this was it. Tomorrow, Nick, Sarah, Howie, and Jesse were going to meet Julie and Becca. A meeting point had been arranged and everyone was excited. Sarah just hoped that Howie would make it that long. He had seemingly calmed some and AJ had given Sarah a hand in keeping Howie and Nick away from each other. They had talked extensively about what was going on with Howie and they were both agreed that he was on the verge of breaking down.
Sound checks were being done and Sarah was sitting in the front row listening to them as she wrote the last part of ‘Dark Riders’. She had tossed around killing Nick in the story and had decided not to do it. Killing Brian was enough. After all, he was the ‘bad’ guy in this. Now all she had to do was put on the finishing touches, type it up, and send it off. That would have to wait until after dinner though.
"Hey, ‘Tigger’! Can you come up here for a second?"
"Be there in a minute," said Sarah as she reread what she had just written.
Setting her stuff down, she made her way through the underworld and up onto the stage where she heard Jeff ask, "What are you planning?"
"We thought it would be nice if Sarah could play the piano for ‘How Did I Fall In Love’ for Howie and Brian," said Kevin.
As she stood beside Kevin and AJ, Nick moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her neck. She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled, then glanced at Howie. He was seemingly okay with it so she relaxed.
Sarah asked, "How are you going to get the piano on and off the stage, Kevin?"
"It can be rolled on from the wings while we’re doing our change and going to the back stage."
"That’s going to distract the audience from the video," Sarah pointed out.
The guys looked at each other and AJ said, "Okay, it can be brought out before the video starts. How long could it take?"
"I have a better idea," said Sarah. "The middle of the back stage rises. Why can’t you guys just step off the center of it and let it come up in the middle of you guys?"
Once again the guys looked at each other and AJ said, "It’s an idea and it would put her closer to Brian and Howie which is what we REALLY wanted anyway."
"It could work," said Brian. "Jeff, could you get on it for us and we’ll rehearse with it to make sure it’ll work without one of us falling off."
Jeff left the stage and Sarah asked, "Is that what you needed?"
"Yeah. We thought since you weren’t doing your set that you could do at least one song with us, mainly Howie. And you can walk back across the catwalk with him," said Kevin.
As they waited for Jeff to get everything in place, the group of friends stood talking. Howie watched Sarah laughing with Nick and his anger began to build. What was Nick doing holding her like that? Damn him…for a solid week, Nick had latched onto Sarah. It was a wonder he hadn’t tried to sleep with her. No, he knew he didn’t have to worry about that. Sarah would NEVER go for that. He knew her feelings about that.
Sarah had definitely missed the dark cloud that had settled over Howie but AJ was fully aware of it. Seeing that the piano was in place, he said, "Come on, ‘Tigger’. Let’s go run through the song."
Nick let go of Sarah and she followed AJ to the back of the arena. The group spent about fifteen minutes working on the song, making sure the piano would come up without any problems, and then Sarah headed to the bus. Giving Howie a kiss, she left them to finish sound checks.
****************
Headed out to the bus, Howie spotted Nick and called out to stop him. Thinking nothing of it, Nick stopped and waited for him to catch up. As Howie approached though, Nick realized Howie wasn’t stopping him to be friendly.
Nick groaned, "What the hell have I done NOW, Howie?"
"What the hell did you think you were doing?"
Confused, Nick asked, "What are you talking about?"
"Hanging all over my wife!" raged Howie, his temper now beyond boiling.
"Oh for god’s sake, Howie. I had my arms around her. That’s IT!"
"Keep your damn hands off her, Nick! You’ve got your own wife and mine is NOT going to be a substitute."
"You are such a fucking hypocrite! You ‘share’ your wife with Kevin and AJ and you DEFEND AJ after he RAPED her but I put my arm around her in a friendly way and you’re gonna crawl my case! You really need to get a grip!"
Howie shook his head, "You just don’t get it, you dumbass!"
"Well, why don’t you explain it?"
AJ and Brian had been among the people who were witnessing the two argue and hearing Nick’s ‘confession’, they headed over quickly to break it up.
AJ stepped between them facing Howie and said, "Howie, drop it."
"No, I won’t drop it!" growled Howie through clenched teeth. "First he hangs all over my wife and then he announces it to the whole damn crew about what happened last year. He touches my wife one more damn time and I’m gonna kill him."
Calmly, AJ said, "He was wrong for announcing it but you and I both know this isn’t about him touching Sarah. It’s about your fears. You almost lost Sarah and the twins and you haven’t had time to deal with YOUR feelings between all Sarah went through, Becca having her baby and the trouble she was in, your brother-in-law showing up with your father-in-law to stay with you, and Claudia showing up. Not to mention having Nick with you all week. Back off, D. Go spend some time with Sarah before the show."
Having AJ and Brian intervene, Nick smiled smugly and it was all AJ could do to keep Howie from going after him. Howie snapped, "Stay the hell out of my face, Carter!"
As Howie stormed off to the bus, AJ said, "That was NOT cool what you said about what happened, Nick. What if the press had been around? And the crew doesn’t need to hear that kind of thing either. Let’s not even go into what could happen to me if the law gets wind of what I did to Sarah."
"That smug look doesn’t help your cause either," said Brian. "I suggest you stay away from Howie for the rest of the night. You can ride with me tonight if you want."
"Oh, I’m gonna stay away from Howie alright but I have to ride with him and Sarah. We’re meeting Becca tomorrow."
"Do yourself a favor, Nick," said AJ wearily. "Don’t say anything, don’t DO anything that will set him off. He’s going out there with Sarah and hopefully, she’ll be able to calm him down."
**************
Climbing on the bus, Howie found Sarah typing on the computer. He looked over her shoulder as he sat behind her, his legs on either side. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair.
Sarah had seen his dark mood and as he took her in his arms, she stopped typing to lean into his embrace. Running her hands over his arms, she asked, "What happened this time?"
"I told him to keep his hands off you," grumbled Howie.
"D, it was NOTHING. Nick has put his arms around me plenty of times," soothed Sarah. "Why are you all of a sudden jealous, and of Nick no less?"
Sarah felt Howie’s tears in her hair as he said, "I don’t know, Angel. Watching him put his arms around you just set something off. I know I have nothing to worry about with Nick…it’s just that this last week, he’s been there every time I turn around."
"We did offer to keep him company, baby," reminded Sarah.
"I now but I kinda figured after the first couple days, he’d go on back to his bus and leave us alone."
"We’ll have plenty of time, D." She ran her hands across his arms lovingly. Time to distract him. "I finished ‘Dark Riders’."
"Is that what you’re typing?"
"Yeah."
"Read it to me."
Sarah picked up her papers and began reading. As the end of her tale unfolded, Howie’s mind began to spin a different scenario in his mind. He couldn’t REALLY kill Nick but Sarah could definitely do it in the story.
When she was done, she asked, "What do you think?"
"Two things…one, not enough hot sex with my little school marm and two, kill Nick."
Sarah laughed, "Are you that frustrated with him?"
"Yes!" snapped Howie defensively.
"Okay, I’ll rewrite it. You wanna do it or me?"
"Doesn’t matter. Since he shot me, maybe you should do it…you know, defending your man."
"You know this is gonna upset Becca, don’t you?"
"When are you gonna send it out?"
"I was going to do it as soon as I finished typing it."
"Why don’t you hold off, until you can explain it to Becca?"
"If I wait until REALLY late tonight or even first thing in the morning, she won’t see it. She won’t have time to check her mail and I can stall if she asks to use my laptop tomorrow."
"Thank you."
"I’ll take care of it after dinner. Why don’t we go lie down for a little while? You look tired."
"Where’s Jess?"
"It was Kevin’s turn to take her to a park to play and Lisa went with them. They’re gonna take her to dinner before they come back."
"So, we’ve got until the show to ourselves?"
"Yes."
Howie felt a desperate need to be one with the woman he loved, to feel her body next to his, her legs wrapped around him. Pushing her up, he followed. Wrapping his arms around her, he guided her to the back of the bus and closed the door behind them just in case someone joined them. He began to undress her but his hands were trembling.
Sarah took his hands in hers. "Slow down," she coaxed. "We’ve got plenty of time."
"I need you, Sarah," whispered Howie, his emotions spilling out in his voice as his tears threatened to do the same.
Sarah put her hands on the sides of his face. "Shh, D. I know you need me and I feel the same way but slow down. Enjoy this. Take a deep breath and let me help."
Sarah undressed for Howie, helped him undress, and then pulled him onto the bed. She ran her hands across his chest as she kissed him, her tongue showing him what she desired most. Slowly she moved her hands down finding his ‘desire’. Taking his hardening cock in her hands, she slowly stroked him until he was completely hard and the first satiny drops of cum bubbled forth. She moved down between his legs and took his head in her mouth tasting him.
Howie’s hands went through her hair, seemingly holding her in place as he moaned. "Your breath is hot. I need more."
"You’ll have more. Be patient," purred Sarah. She took him in her mouth again swirling her tongue over the tight flesh.
His breaths came short and fast. Slowly, carefully, he urged her to go deeper. As her nose pressed into the damp curls at the base of his erection, she heard a choked gasp. Her throat muscles closed hungrily around the deep-throated silky shaft milking it for every drop.
Her fingers tenderly caressed his nut sack causing them to tighten as she pumped her head up and down. Her tongue traveled over the veins that throbbed. Up and down she moved, licking and sucking, faster and faster. Her throat gripped harder, her mouth applied greater and greater suction.
Howie wasn’t sure how he was able to but he pulled Sarah off to stop her. "Not..this..way…I want…to feel you cum with me."
Sarah moved to straddle his midsection, his eager cock pulsating. Reaching between them, she grasped it, guiding it into her steaming core. The heat from his penis intensified as he drove deep into her.
She settled her buttocks onto his pubes, completely encasing him in her loving embrace. Slowly, she began to rotate her hips, forcing him inside to drag against her delicate sides. His cock swelled with power and thrust even more deeply.
Howie’s hands moved expertly across her body exploring the new changes it was going through. He caressed tenderly the gentle swell of her belly, love flowing from his hands. Moving up, he grasped her firm breasts, pinching her nipples playfully.
His lips took her breasts and sucked them ravenously as his hips bumped up underneath her to compliment the bounces of her pussy up and down his shaft. He let Sarah guide the action. Slow or fast; hard or gentle. Whatever she wanted, he gave back.
The internal rings of muscles clutched at his driving cock, milking it with powerful strokes as her hips rose and fell eagerly over his thrusting cock.
Sarah came more powerfully than she ever remembered. Every inch of her body exploded with lightening bolts of excited nerve endings. The energy swept in and out in crashing waves that only intensified when Howie, too, erupted inside her sending gushes of heavy cream flooding into her insides.
Sarah fell forward onto the powerful muscles of his chest and abs as he continued to arch his hips up hard against her. The powerful planes of his pecs expanded and contracted, the tight ridges of his abs rippled with tension. He grabbed her ass and clutched fervently. She responded with another shiver of explosive climaxes skittering throughout her body.
The rolling waves of bliss subsided as they lay quietly, allowing their bodies to return to normal. Sarah closed her eyes as she played with his chest hair and his fingers lightly stroked her back.
"Howie, I love you and only you. I need you back. I need my strength," Sarah whispered sleepily.
Looking down as his wife fell asleep on his chest, he whispered, "I’m trying, Angel…I really am."