Michael or Mac Ep. 10

"Reaching a fever pitch, it's bringing me out the dark," I sing back.

Adele smiles and returns. "Finally I can see you crystal clear."

Hell, I'm not going to be outdone, so I sing the next line. "Go ahead and sell me out, and I'll lay your ship bare." I see a little movement, and the drummer kicks in with a solid beat. I glance through the window, and the whole sound room has come to a standstill.

"See how I'll leave with every piece of you," Adele sings, looking at me with pure joy now.

"Don't underestimate the things that I will do," I return.

We go through the entire song. Adele sings the first chorus, and I sing the second. When we get to the line, 'The scars of your love they leave me breathless," Adele changes the word 'love' to 'voice.' As we approach the last chorus, Adele indicates to me that she wants us both to sing together. I nod and then close my eyes. The feeling inside is indescribable, and then it's time and I give it my all. My heart is beating so hard, and almost to the drum beat. The song comes to an end, and everyone starts laughing and clapping.

"Right, great warm-up," one of the tech guys says over our headphones. "Shall we get down to business?" We both nod. "Same energy as that would be great," he says.

I look at Adele with raised eyebrows. "You got this, Mac," she says. I nod and take a deep breath. The song is a great piece of writing and has two lovers discussing what they had together before they broke up. There's a lot of feeling between them, which comes across well.

It takes a couple of hours to run through the song from start to finish to get what Adele wants to convey to the listener. This is all new to me, and I am enjoying the experience. After lunch, we do the first full run-through of the song. It's a little rough, but everyone seems to be more relaxed now they can see that we are making some progress.

It past five, and we've been got a reasonable vocal down, but I'm not feeling the level of emotion that the lyrics have.

"Hang on," I say, as we are meant to start another take.

"What's up, Mac?" Adele asks.

I take my headphones off and walk into her booth. "This song is incredible, and I'm not getting the right energy. Can we try something?"

"Sure; what are your thoughts?"

"Can we share a booth?"

She stares at me momentarily, and then a smile spreads. "Guys, can we have a double booth?" She listens to the answer and then says, "I'm not asking ya; I'm telling ya." That was it. The whole place jumped as the technicians hustled in and removed the separation between the booths. They rearranged the mics so they were facing each other and then left. "That's better; good call, Mac," Adele says.

She reaches across and puts her hand on my shoulder. I nod and smile as I look into those eyes I have seen in many videos. Then something occurs to me; I've approached this as two lovers. I only have experience with one lover and never want to go through what this song conveys. I look down and realize my link with Adele is through my mother. All her songs have my mother in, not my lover. The lyrics are none specific, so I now find myself changing my mindset.

I start to shake as a whole set of different emotions runs through me. I hear the introduction that I played yesterday come over my headphones. I close my eyes as I hear Adele start to sing. I can feel her presence and the heat from her. As I return her first line, the feeling is instantly there and fits so well. We make our way through the song, building on the emotion as we go. I feel the hairs on my neck stand up as tears form in my eyes.

Adele is along for the ride as she feels the tension in the room. The anger I have felt over the years, not because my mother left me but because she was taken from me, comes flooding out. The lyrics give me everything I need to ask: why? Why, my ma, why me, why, why, why. Everything comes flooding out: the anger, the love I have for my mother, the loss I suffered. When the song finishes, my legs just give, and I collapse. I am emotionally drained and physically exhausted.

When I open my eyes, I am on the couch in the sound room. "Oh, Mac, you scared the shit out of me," Emma says when she sees my eyes open.

I take a deep breath and notice some paramedics kneeling beside me. "Hello, Mr. Carter. How are you feeling?"

"Lightheaded and like I've been hit by a truck," I say.

"Do you remember what happened?" He asks.

"What?" I say, a little confused. Then, after a moment, every person in the room looks at me to explain. "Yeah, sorry. The emotion of the song got too much. I'll be fine; I just need a minute," I say.

"Mac, I'd be happier if you go in for a check-up," Adele says.

"It's okay, Adele, that's needed to happen for years. It just took your song to bring it out," I reply, smiling.

"What happened?" Emma asks.

"The song wasn't working because I haven't experienced a breakup, but the song also fits...."

"A loss," Adele finishes.

"Yeah, sorry, It just overwhelmed me, but I'm okay now."

I sit up and take a deep breath. "Any chance of a bottle of water?" I ask. I look up at Adele. "I hope you got that last take."

Adele nods with an overwhelmed look. "That was singularly the best thing I have ever been involved with," she says. "I can't wait to hear the playback."

I get my bottle of water, and the paramedics seem happy they're no longer needed. The sound engineer starts the track once the room is again cleared of unnecessary people.

Once again, the hairs stand up, and I have goosebumps up my arms as I hear my emotions come across the speakers. Emma sits next to me as my voice follows Adele's. I am not often pragmatic about my voice, but I can hear that it more than stands up.

I look at people's faces while listening to the track and see their emotions change. As the emotions build, I look across to Adele, who's sat in one of the engineer's chairs. She leans her forehead against her hands that are together like she's praying. Her eyes open, like she feels me looking, and I see the first tear start to make its way down her cheek. She smiles at me and shakes her head in disbelief.

I lean back, and Emma snuggles into me. She looks up with wet eyes as her emotions get overwhelmed. I lean down and kiss my beautiful girlfriend. We have come so far since that day in the classroom with Susan. My life is so different; if I could have chosen a path for my life to take, it wouldn't have been much different from what it is.

As the track comes to its end, there's nothing. What we just heard has stunned the room into silence. Everyone looks to everyone else for guidance to see if the others feel the way they do.

"Bloody hell," Adele says to break the moment. Then there's laughter, and everyone seems to relax. "Mac, thank you," she adds.

I shrug and say, "Guys, I want to rerecord the guitar tomorrow. I think it's now missing the intensity of the words." They all nod and then look at Adele for approval.

"Bloody hell, guys, it's time to go home. We will see you all tomorrow, and Kelvin, I want that track security locked, and no one, and I mean no one, can listen to it," Adele says, looking stern. She looked across at me. "Last time they showed someone, I deleted it and refused to rerecord it," she says. Kelvin nodded to tell us how true that was, and by the look in his eyes, it didn't go down well.

I'm exhausted when we return and go straight to bed. I was asleep before my head touched the pillow and had one of the deepest sleeps I've had in years.

I'm woken by a warm wet feeling surrounding my cock. I look down, and the most beautiful eyes on the planet look back at me, full of love and need to make me happy.

I groan as I close my eyes, feeling I must have died and gone to heaven. Emma isn't looking to finish me off with her mouth, though, and when she's happy that I'm fully erect and awake, she straddles me and lowers herself down on me with a contented sigh.

Once my cock has stopped pulsating, she pulls the duvet back up over us, and she lays down. Kissing my lips, she whispers. "Good morning, my love."

I kiss her again and reply, "The best way to wake up ever. Good morning, beautiful."

With that, Emma starts rolling her hips while keeping her upper body completely still. She squeezes me with her pelvic muscles as my cock pushes back into the softest velvet glove. I never last long when she does this, and I feel my orgasm building fast. Just before I empty myself inside her, I feel her vaginal walls quiver just before they try to strangle my hard member to death. That's all it takes to push me over the edge as we hold each other tightly.

We are so attuned that we often climax together, but not always. This morning, there was the added intensity of me still being emotional from the day before. Emma continued to hold me, sensing my need for this closeness. Although I could feel our combined juices leaking out, I don't want to move, ever.

"Come on, you noisy buggers," Adele shouts as she bangs on the door. "Breakfast's nearly ready."

Emma and I look at each other, stunned, and Emma buries her face in my neck and laughs. We get up and shower together before making our way to the kitchen.

Breakfast is done, and the car is waiting outside for us. Emma is off with Penny again as we go our separate ways.

The studio has even more people milling around than the two previous days combined.

I don't hang around to talk to anyone because I don't want to lose my focus. I pick my guitar up and sit in the same area I recorded the first attempt.

I put the headphones on and check my guitar is tuned the way I like it. "Ummm, do you mind turning your mic off?" I ask as the noise from the sound room starts to invade my thoughts. Then, I am left in silence. The sound technician is the only person in the music room with me as he quietly makes sure I'm plugged in and the sound-absorbing walls they've erected are in place.

"Mac, can you play something so that we can check the sound?" A voice says. I nod, play a couple of scales, and then, the beginning of the song I will be playing.

I look out of the window to my right and ask. "Are we okay, Kelvin?" He nods. "Can you play everything except the original guitar, please?" He nods, and I close my eyes as the track starts. "Okay, stop," I say. "I will do the intro first. Lay it over the track, and then I'll record the rest."

Again, he nods his understanding, and I listen to be tapped in. I record the intro to the single with the feelings I have built up and stop just before the music kicks in for Adele to sing. I open my eyes and look back out the window. Kalvin is sweating now, and when he sees me looking, he smiles and gives me a confident nod.

"Okay, Kalvin, can you run that back through for me, and then we'll go for a take," I say. He nods and reruns the part I just recorded. "Wow, that's better. Okay, start from the beginning, and we'll try to get this right this time."

"I didn't see anything wrong with the original," Kalvin says.

"You will," I reply. There's a moment of silence, and I close my eyes as the intro begins. As each note is played, I mime it on the guitar. Then we get to the part where I have to play, and I feel the vibrations as my plectrum hits the strings. My guitar starts to sing to me as I play along to Adele's voice. Her voice, one I have known since I can remember, sinks into my soul. Then my voice replaces it, and suddenly, the years of pain from the loss of my parents come flooding back. I hear the pain resonating through my headphones as I express that pain through my music, something I have done since I first picked up a guitar.

Then, it's time for the solo. Adele has an orchestra pre-recorded, and I can hear the violins over the top of me as I pour my soul into a piece of work one last time. This will probably be the last new song I help create. I nearly didn't do this, but I had already agreed, so I gave it everything one last time, and now I'm so glad I did.

As we sit in the room on the last day, listening to what we had achieved, everyone seemed transfixed by the song. It still needs tweaking, but I have done my part, and Adele is overwhelmed with what we have created. Emma sits on my lap with Adele next to me as we listen to the last couple of bars.

"Mac, if I could have explained how I wanted this track to turn out, that would be it. I never felt in my wildest dreams it would turn out that well. I can't thank you enough," Adele says.

We finish early and make our way back to Adele's house. Emma and I need to be up early because we have planned to surprise our friend James Stokes with a visit. I'm desperate to see where he grew up, and from what I have Googled, it is an incredibly beautiful area. I can't wait.

Adele is in tears when we leave and promises to visit us on the ranch sometime. The helicopter is waiting on the same pad it dropped us off on. The pilot said it was easier to fly out from Canary Warf.

Ten minutes after arriving, we are flying along the Thames and past the iconic Battersea power station chimney stacks. Emma is snugged up to me and has her eyes closed with her head resting on my shoulder. We are heading for the south-western part of the country to North Devon, where our friends, James and Isabel, are staying with their families after their trip to Cambridge.

I'm relaxing while listening to the drone of the engines and flying over the English countryside. "Excuse me, Mr. Carter," the pilot says over the intercom. "I've just been reviewing where we can land, and if you can get permission, I can get you quite close to where your friends live."

"Okay, what do you need," I say.

The pilot tells me about a hotel only a few miles from James's parents, so I get my phone out and call him.

"Hey, Mac, what bloody time do you call this," James says down the phone. I laugh and shake my head at my friend's response.

Then Isabel comes on the phone. I think she hit him for being rude. "Sorry, Mac, what do we have the pleasure of your call a day early?" She says.

"Did I wake old grumpy up?" I ask. She laughs, and I add, "We're in a helicopter flying towards you. Is there any chance you can get us clearance to land at a Saunton Sands Hotel?"

"Oh, right. When will you be here?" She asks.

"About an hour," I say.

"An Hour? Bloody hell, Mac, that's no notice.....We know where Saunton Sands Hotel is; hang on."

I hear her relay my message to Jay, who still sounds pissed with me waking him up. She comes back on the phone. "Mac, Jay will sort something, and he says see you in an hour." She hangs up.

Ten minutes later, I get a text telling me we have permission from the hotel's owner, and I relay that to the pilot.

"Mr. Carter, we are nearing Barnstaple, and if you look out to the left, you can make out the coast; that big white building is our destination," the pilot says, pointing.

We are flying over a beautiful area. The beach that I can see must be Saunton Sands. Well, if the hotels called that, the beach must be. I can just make out three figures standing near the helipad, waiting for us to land. I can tell the one must be James because of the guy's size.

I point it out to Emma, and she smiles at me excitedly. Emma and Isabel frantically greet each other with a wave as we come into land. It takes a minute for the rotors to slow and for us to get out and greet our friends. I'm interested to hear how he got on at Cambridge. A dickie bird had told me he was in the running for some prize or another. Fingers crossed, he won. Jay is standing next to an overweight middle-aged man who, I presume, owns the hotel.

"Mac, this is Mr. Peter Brend. He was kind enough to allow you to land this morning." James says as we walk over to where he is waiting.

"Hello, Mr. Brend. Thank you for making that happen...Jay, are you sure we are good just to drop in?" I say in return.

"It might give a couple of heart attacks, but it will be fine. Are you staying the night, and we can all travel tomorrow?"

"Yes, buddy, that was the plan," I say, then walk back and thank the pilot. We quickly grab our luggage and move away as the helicopter starts up. James and Isabel hug Emma as the helicopter starts back up and takes off. I suddenly realize that Jay's car isn't there. "Jay, where's your car?"

"Some idiot totalled it when we were in Cambridge. We'll travel down on the train if that's okay with you." He says before turning to Mr. Brend. "Once again, Mr. Brend, thank you. I will probably see you around," he says, shaking his hand. They have a short conversation I didn't catch, and then we get into what I've been told is Jay's mum's car.

Emma and I are sat in the back of the car as we pull out of the hotel's car park and turn left. "The view coming in was incredible, Jay. You live in a beautiful part of the world," I say as I look out of the car window and across the water.

"I think your ranch can compete on the view front," Jay replies, glancing back at me.

"You're not far wrong there," Emma says. "It's wall to wall.....holy shit, baby," Emma gasps as we turn the corner to see a small bay with a beautiful sandy beach come into view.

"I've lived here around four years and still not used to it," Isabel says with her back to the door looking back. "So, how inconspicuous do we have to be?" She then asks.

"Not sure. Will we be bothered much if we go out?" I inquire.

"I don't know, Mac, but we can go out to The Thatch later for a meal and something to drink. It should be quiet enough tonight," Isabel says.

"We can, but you know people will notice us because of Glastonbury," Jay says, looking slightly concerned. "People are generally okay around here, Mac. We will be fine but popular." Jay laughs as something comes to mind, "We won't have to buy a drink all night."

"Don't forget the legal age to drink at home is twenty-one," Emma says.

"There's The Thatch," Isabel says as we pass an old-looking pub. It has an amazing thatched roof. "It's up to you if you want to drink. We're not big drinkers but like to relax occasionally." This place is amazing; there aren't many places like this in...well, anywhere.

We drive out of the village and along a road that should be condemned. Shit, I've seen wider dirt tracks. James doesn't seem perturbed as we pass the occasional house.

Then we turn down an even smaller road. I look at Emma; her eyes are wide open as James doesn't even slow down on what seems like a road, only a little wider than the car. The road opens out, and we slow when we approach a group of four houses. We pull into the first house on the left.

We get out and walk around the front of the house to a side door. The door is like a stable door in two halves, and the top is open. James opens the bottom, and we walk into a good-sized kitchen; at a table near the back sits a middle-aged woman who must be James's ma.

She looks up stunned, obviously not expecting visitors. "Mum, these are my friends, Michael Carter and his girlfriend, Emma Johnson," James says. I can see what James is doing, but it doesn't make me feel any less uncomfortable.

His mother stands to greet us, looking as uncomfortable as I feel. Like many people who meet me for the first time, she subconsciously checks her hair. "Thanks, Jay. It would have been nice to be warned," she says, giving him a look only a pissed-off mother can.

I have to laugh. "Don't worry about it, Mrs. Stokes. Jay has made it a habit of not warning people we are coming," I say, remembering the first time we met Isabel and Sam.

"Would you like tea or coffee?" His mother says with a more confident smile. I now see where James has got his charm and good looks from.

"Ohhh, a cup of tea would hit the spot right now," Emma says. "We left for the airport at six and haven't stopped since," she adds.