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Charity
The nightclub sidewalk was lit up like broad day, crowded with people, paparazzi and bouncers. People waited in a long line that stretched around the corner from the nightclub gates. The club had a parking lot on one side, but nobody drove in there to access the place unnoticed, so a bunch of valets waited by the curb, to get the cars of the celebs that didn’t have a driver.
Jim slowed down right behind a silver Mercedes in the line to the gates. Silvia noticed the bouncers weren’t letting regular people in. At that moment, only those that ranked VIP were allowed into the club, for the crowd and the paparazzi to see.
“Wait for me to get your door,” Jim said. “And then it’s only five steps from the car to the access.”
“Okay,” she murmured, her eyes on the people screaming and taking pictures of a rapper walking into the club, the blinding spotlights, the flashes firing nonstop.
Finding herself in that s
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Sean drove to Santa Monica in the warm noon, feeling more than ready to play until dinner time nonstop. However, he couldn’t help wondering if Jim would be able to focus on their music, knowing Silvia downstairs and waiting for him. Not the musing he would’ve chosen, but it was better than wondering how many corny love songs Jim had made over those three weeks of marital bliss.He saw Tom’s car on the driveway and found the bassist had made himself at home at the porch, smoking a joint while he read something on his phone.“He’s home,” said Tom, seeing Sean’s stormy scowl as he got out of his car. “Guess he’s already upstairs, ‘cause I heard him play.”That would explain why Jim hadn’t heard the doorbell. Sean produced his spare keys and opened the front door. They’d hardly walked in when they heard Jim’s guitar pouring down the stairwell, as if he hadn’t closed the door to
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Liam and Walt joined the rehearsal on Tuesday, and the whole band spent six hours straight locked up in the attic studio. By the time they put their instruments down, Silvia had texted Jo to join them there and they had already ordered food for all of them. The musicians were tired, so they left shortly after they finished dinner.Jim was glad to see Silvia shake her head when he tried to help her in the kitchen. He would’ve liked to lay back on one of the loungers at the deck, or the living-room couch, or his bed, but he stayed sitting at the isle to keep her company, dropping by Twitterland while she put some order around.“I dated my flight today,” Silvia said out of the blue, in a carefully casual tone.“Already? What’s the rush?” he asked, chuckling at a tweet from a Polish fan.“I’m leaving on Friday, Jay.”He looked up, taken aback, to find her filling a trash bag with empty cans.
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“Now you believe me?”Jim chuckled while Silvia kept shaking her head slowly, eyes out the windshield.He’d joined her and Sean at the bar by the time they were done with their beer, and his brother had left without a word, just nodding goodbye at them with one last glance at Silvia.Jim took the way to his home, hearing her incredulous account of her close encounter with the eldest Robinson.“I mean, from the moment I left you to your Q&A, it all felt like I’d stumbled on an acid and it fell down my throat, getting me lost on a bizarre trip,” she said, making him laugh. “All of a sudden I’m wearing a frigging Versace! And diamonds! What the hell! And a minute later, I’m having a beer with Sean?” She threw up her hands, feeding Jim’s laughter. “You know what’s the craziest thing of all? Seeing you walk into the bar was the most reassuring thing to
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The sun touched the bedroom window looking south about noon, waking Jim up. He threw an arm across his face to shield his eyes and felt around with his other hand. The bed was a complete mess, all the covers fallen to the floor, and he was sprawled on it flat on his back. His hand landed on Silvia’s shoulder and slid down her skin in no hurry, as he registered his sore back, his stiff thighs, the exhaustion nesting in every muscle.The night before had been just crazy.He and Silvia had a pending conversation about her promise to come back, and Jim didn’t want to leave it for long-distance communications. But looked like she didn’t want to talk about it, so every time he tried to bring it up, she managed to distract him. And after those three weeks sleeping together, she knew how to keep him distracted alright.Until he’d just given up trying to have that conversation and sought some payback for so much distraction. Which was why now he f
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