Chapter 9: Rapture

Darren stood at his hotel room door, his eyes never seeming to leave his watch as he waited for Sara to arrive. His mind was still spinning from the kiss they shared barely a few hours earlier. It had knocked him into every direction imaginable, but somehow, he managed to compose himself once more.

Wearing a thin, white cotton shirt and a pair of faded blue jeans, Darren was dressed well for the warm autumn night. But he couldn’t help the overheated feeling he was having as he waited for Sara. It was already nearing 7:30, and dinner was scheduled for eight. He was beginning to worry that she might have been held up at the office and forgot to call.

He began to dial in her number, but was soon interrupted by an incoming phone call. “Hello?” he eagerly asked, hoping it was Sara.

“Hey, Daz,” Leonie replied in her most casual way.

“Leo, what’s up?” he questioned with impatience.

“Well, I got some news for you,” she answered.

“Good or bad?”

“Good.”

“Well, what is it?”

“You know how the Vogue Fashion Awards are next week?” Leonie asked, her voice sounding almost eager. There was something she wanted to tell him, but he knew she’d postpone it until it was driving him nuts.

“Leo, I don’t have time to play your game,” Darren gently warned her.

“You’re no fun tonight,” she replied. “What’s stuck up your butt?”

“I’m waiting for Sara, who should have been here half an hour ago,” he answered.

“Why are you waiting for her?”

“Why don’t you mind your own business?”

“You’re going out with her, aren’t you?” Leonie finally put two and two together. “And you didn’t even bother to tell me?”

“Shut up and leave me alone. Just tell me about the Fashion Awards so I can call her and ask her why she isn’t here,” Darren ordered, his temper flaring like never before.

“Alright, already. You’re presenting. You’ve got an extra ticket. Happy now?” she retorted. “The tickets are in your pocket.”

“I’m presenting? Presenting what?”

“Best female designer or something like that. I don’t know. It’s not like I read the damn email.”

“That’s wonderful!” Darren exclaimed as his anger suddenly turned to utter joy. He could hear Leonie hang up on the other end. He knew she was pissed at him about his little outburst. As suddenly as it had happened, it was over when a knock came at the door.

Darren rushed to answer it, his senses picking up that Sara was near. Somehow, his perception had increased to levels that were off the charts, especially when it concerned her. It was as if that kiss had served as a gateway into their souls, making whatever connection they had even deeper. Slowly and cautiously, Darren opened the door to his room, not wanting Sara to think he had actually been waiting for her.

“Hi,” she said, a smile creeping onto her candy apple red lips. Darren scanned her body, noticing she looked very different now that she was wearing black leather pants, a red top with bowing sleeves, and a pair of black stiletto heels nearly three inches high.

‘Stunning… Marvelous… Beautiful… Perfect,’ his mind rambled as his lips stayed sealed. “You look very nice,” Darren finally said after much debate.

“So do you,” Sara replied, her cheeks turning a darker shade of rogue.

“Shall we go?” he asked, taking her arm. She merely nodded. They walked down to the elevator, unable to utter a word. They were just happy to be in each other’s presence once again.

It took the whole ride down to the first floor before Sara finally gathered up enough courage to say, “Where are we going, exactly?”

“First we’re going to dinner, then dancing, and finally, I’m going to give you a little surprise,” Darren replied as he led her to the five star restaurant the hotel boasted.

“Surprise?” she asked. “What kind of surprise?”

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, now, would it?” he answered. “Trust me, you’ll love it.”

*~*~*

“So, Sara Pezzini, tell me your secrets,” Darren said as he leaned over the table, his elbows steadying him as he stared into the deep green pools of her eyes, his mind a little tipsy from the wine he had drunk. They had finished dinner nearly an hour ago, including a wonderful dessert of chocolate cake, which they shared.

Sara looked at Darren with a little bit of surprise on her face. “Well,” she started, taking a sip of her red wine and putting her glass down. “I grew up without a father.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Do you mind if I ask why?” Darren inquired.

“He was murdered.” Sara simply answered. A distressed look came over Darren’s face. Her eyes gazed down at her wrist, the Witchblade sitting atop it without a glint of animation. As much as it pained her to talk about something that happened over two decades earlier, she knew she couldn’t lie to him. “As for my mother, I never knew her. I’ve only seen pictures of her. So much for having a normal childhood. And just a few months ago, my best friend was also murdered.”

“I shouldn’t have brought this up. I’m so sorry for making you relive all these horrible memories,” Darren sincerely apologized as his hand gently took hers and kissed it. She gave him a slight smile.

“It’s okay,” Sara replied. “You would have found out sooner or later.”

“Switching the subject to something a little lighter, what made you decide to become a cop?” Darren asked, trying to keep away from the whole family thing.

“My father was a cop. I guess it runs in my blood,” she said, a genuine smile finally appearing on her lips. “What about you? Why did you become a singer?”

“Actually, I was going to become a teacher, the singing thing just seemed to take off quicker,” Darren answered. “I dropped out of college as soon as I landed the Savage Garden gig knowing that it was meant to be. That feeling was reinforced when ‘I Want You’ was released and became a world wide hit.”

“I know this is a probing question, but why did the band break up?”

“Fair question. After all, you had to reveal something quite painful. I guess it’s my turn now, isn’t it?” Darren replied as he looked down at his empty wine glass. “Daniel hated being in the lime light. By the time the ‘Affirmation’ tour was over, he had had enough and just said that it was time to go our separate ways. We had a good ten years, and I’ll never forget that. He was my best friend, and of course I miss him very much, but I had to respect his decision.”

“Is he at least happy now?” Sara couldn’t help but ask.

“Yeah, as happy as I am,” he said with a smile. “And as you can probably already tell, I’m very happy, except for all the shit that’s happened on this tour. It’s like it was cursed from the beginning. First I get laryngitis, which made me cancel a few of the Australian dates, and now the whole roadie thing. Its like just after I hired Anastasia, everything seemed to go wrong.”

Something inside Sara’s mind clicked. She jerked her head up at the mention of that name. It was as if she had just found the proof she had been looking for ever since the roadie cases dropped into her lap. Darren stared at her strangely as she whipped out her cell phone and dialed Jake’s number. Excusing herself from the table, she walked down to the nearly deserted hotel lobby and eagerly waited for him to pick up.

“What, Pez?” Jake angrily asked when he picked up his phone.

“What’s your problem?” Sara replied.

“Well, for starters, I’ve been sitting here, in my office, watching those stupid videos without finding anything of interest while you decided to ditch me for some guy,” he retorted.

“For your information, this guy just happens to be one that I like, so just shove it up your ass for once,” she spat. “Swallow your pride and shut up because I think I just might have found some information that might help us with the investigation.”

Jake had never seen Sara this angry and actually obeyed. He knew she taken time out of her date with Darren just to call him. “I’m sorry,” he muttered. “Go on.”

“It’s Anastasia,” Sara said. “Darren just told me that ever since he hired her, things have been going wrong on the tour.”

“Are you sure that it’s not just a case of bad luck?” Jake questioned.

“Yeah, things are really pointing strongly against her. I mean, she did discover the first murder, and when I talked to her, she seemed to stop caring after only a couple of minutes. Then the second murder happened, and she was the first one to hear about it from the maid. Wouldn’t you expect a maid to call security before she called the personal assistant?” Sara was making quite a few good points.

“What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to dig up every little thing you can about her. I want everything from where she was born to where her parents and grandparents were born. This is very important, McCarty, got it?”

“Yeah, I’m on it, Pez. See ya later,” Jake replied as he hung up.

Sara returned to a very puzzled Darren. She sat down silently in front of him as he stared at her with confusion clouding his sapphire eyes. “What was that all about?” he asked.

“I just remembered I left my partner hanging and needed to tell him that I wasn’t coming in tonight,” Sara lied, trying to stay as far away from the roadie thing as possible.

“Okay…” Darren replied, dismissing it out of his mind before it could begin to dwell there until it bugged the hell out of him. “Are you ready to have some fun?”

“Of course,” Sara answered as they stood up and headed out of the restaurant to the waiting limo outside.

*~*~*

“Oh, my, starry eyed surprise. Sundown to sunrise. Dance all night. We’re gonna dance all night to this DJ,” Paul Oakenfold’s “Starry Eyed Surprise” blared over the speakers as Darren pressed body against Sara’s while they danced on the enormous floor of New York’s hottest club, Charisma. His arms were gently resting on her hips as they swayed together to the trance music. The song was quickly mixed into DJ Sammy’s “Heaven.”

“I love this song!” Darren yelled over the loud music. “Baby you’re all that I want, when you’re lying here in my arms. I’m finding it hard to believe, we’re in heaven,” he sang along. Sara wrapped her arms around his neck, the smile on her face unable to go away, especially after the three Long Island Iced T’s she drank before even stepping onto the dance floor.

Sara hated the club scene. It made her job a living nightmare. Most murders she usually encountered were some kind of brawl at a club that just led from on thing to another, and finally to someone getting killed. But with so much alcohol in her system, the club just seemed like another great hangout.

“This song is awesome!” she yelled into Darren’s ear. Sara ran her fingers through his hair, gently pulling him closer to her lips before planting a soft kiss on top of them. With the perfect song playing in the background, it seemed like the right thing to do. “Now nothing can change what you mean to me. There’s a lot that I could say, but just hold me now, ‘cause our love will light the way…” the song continued.

And Darren held her, not daring to let Sara go even as the music played on and the people stared. He finally managed to pull away, her eyes probing his, trying to figure out why. “Come on,” he said, grabbing her hand and dragging her out of the club and back into the limo. They drove for only a couple of minutes before the driver stopped and let them out.  

They were in Central Park in front of a white horse drawn carriage, the driver waiting for them. “Oh, my God!” Sara whispered. She couldn’t believe that Darren had done all this for her. She was ready and willing to believe that he was her Prince Charming, and would probably accept a wedding proposal under these circumstances, if that would ever happen.

“Didn’t I tell you that you’d love it?” Darren said as he helped her up.

“I can’t tell you how nice this is,” Sara said, the alcohol in her system slowly draining away.

Darren gently wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight as the driver took off through the park. Sara looked up into those beautiful blue pools that were his eyes and saw a glimpse of what seemed to be genuine bliss, something she, too, was experiencing at the moment. His lips gently kissed her forehead, then her nose, her cheeks, and finally her lips. They stayed locked onto each other for most of the ride, or at least until the driver stopped in front of Darren’s hotel.

The night was coming to a close, but Darren still had something up his sleeve. As he helped Sara down and walked her inside, they stopped just at the door.

“I have to ask you something,” Darren said as he took her hands and held them.

Sara couldn’t help the smile that grew on her lips. “What, Darren?” she replied eagerly.

He pulled something out of his pocket, which stayed concealed. Sara’s mouth began to drop. ‘He can’t be,’ she thought in shock when she remembered what had run through her mind earlier that night about accepting a wedding proposal if it came.

“Well, I hope you enjoyed tonight, because I really did. Just being in your presence was enough to make my day so much more wonderful. You’re someone special, someone I want to be around day in and day out,” Darren said as Sara’s excitement and dread grew. Her hand was already covering her mouth by the time he finally blurted, “I would be honored if you’d accompany me to the Vogue Fashion Awards next week.”

Sara looked at him strangely, relief flooding her mind when she realized what he had said. “Yeah, of course! I’d love to,” she answered. “Wow, it’s like everything tonight went from good to great to perfect.”

“It’s not perfect yet,” Darren replied as he pulled her into his body and consumed her with yet another kiss. As their lips parted, he added, “Now it’s perfect.”

Sara rested her head on his shoulder and whispered, “Does tonight really have to end?”

Looking down at the beautiful woman in his arms, Darren answered, “No.”

Chapter 10: Repentance

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