Between a Rock and a Hard Place (11 page)

“Did you find it?”

“Yes.  Thank you.”

“Where’s Tommy?”

“He’s getting dressed.  He’ll be out in a minute.”

“Oh.  Is he getting enough sleep?  Are
you
getting enough sleep?”

“Yes.  Stop worrying about us.  You have enough to worry about.”

Tommy came into the room with a white terrycloth towel wrapped around his waist, holding his folded jeans and T-shirt in his hands.  As soon as he realized Angel was on the phone with Jessi, he dropped them on the bed and waited to speak to her.

Angel smiled up at him.  “I think someone wants to say hello.  I’ll speak to you later, sweetheart.”

Tommy took the phone with urgency.  Angel watched him smile into the phone with his chin tucked into his chest, unaware of anything else in the world except Jessi on the end of the line.  He wondered how hard it was for them to be apart.  It was the first time Angel and Jessi were apart and he longed for her presence.  He missed her snarky humor and the playfulness they shared.  As much as he enjoyed the culture of Hong Kong and time alone with Tommy, he found himself wishing they were at the end of their time in Asia, instead of at the beginning, so that the three of them could be together again.

Chapter Ten

Jessi heard voices from the far end of the house.  They were coming from the family room. They were male voices and for a few seconds she thought it was Tommy and Angel.  Jessi leaned her ear toward the hallway, intent on identifying the voices, but they were too muted to hear clearly. She started toward the family room and stopped short when she realized they weren’t voices, but the sound of heavy breathing and moans. The mechanical hum that purred in the background reminded her of the noises that came from behind the curtain of Alyssa and Damien’s bunk on the tour bus.

Jessi’s face flushed red as she scuttled down the hallway.  She turned the stereo on high enough to drown out the noise and sat at the breakfast bar with a cup of coffee and tried to erase the image of Alyssa pleasuring herself in front of the TV in the family room.  She mentally berated Alyssa for tainting one of her favorite rooms in the house.

Halfway through Jessi’s second cup of coffee, Alyssa padded into the kitchen oblivious to Jessi’s discovery. She stopped as soon as she saw Jessi.  “Why is your face so red?”

Jessi rarely blushed, but sometimes Alyssa left her at a loss for words.  “Really, Alyssa?  In my family room?  You couldn’t do that upstairs in your own room?”

Her friend shrugged. “It wasn’t my porn.  I accidentally turned on the DVD player and a pair of dicks appeared on that giant 80 inch screen TV.  What was I supposed to do?  I never watched larger than life porn before.”  Alyssa raised a black, penciled eyebrow.  “As soon as the tour’s over, I’m telling Damien to buy one of those babies.”

“And you just happened to be carrying around your vibrator?”

Alyssa laughed.  “Not usually, but I was bringing in an overnight bag that I left in the car and it was in there.  And by the way, that man-on-man porn was fucking hotter than hellfire.  Is that what you get in the middle of every night?”

Jessi’s groin ached at the mention of her sex life.  Oh, she missed Tommy and Angel something fierce.  “I’m not in the middle.  Tommy is.”

Alyssa’s smile broadened and she lowered her eyes.

“Stop imagining us having sex.”

“I can’t help it.  Damien’s been gone for two weeks.  I’m ready to straddle the bedpost.  I don’t know how you’re not screwing every piece of phallic-shaped furniture in the house.”

Alyssa had a point.  She went from hot sex practically on a daily basis and sharing her bed with two gorgeous musicians to being the lone occupant of that damn oversized bed.  She wasn’t cut out for celibacy.

Alyssa stared at Jessi.  “Don’t tell me you don’t have any toys?”

“I . . . I have toys.”

“Jessi, you’re the worst liar I’ve ever met. Even worse than Angel.”  Alyssa tapped the heel of her boot on the marble kitchen floor.  “I’m taking you shopping.  You need to keep up with those boys of yours.”

Jessi wasn’t in the habit of visiting a sex shop.  She didn’t know where to look.  She was surrounded by dildos, and not average-sized ones either.  These dildos were made for plus size vaginas or very hungry bottoms.  She couldn’t image anyone taking something the size of a bowling pin inside their body.

Jessi was amused that all of the salespeople greeted Alyssa by name.  “How do they all know you?”

“The same way everyone at the fabric store knows your name.”

Alyssa scanned the wall of different sized play things.  “Do you see anything you like?”

“I see a lot of things I like.”  Jessi picked up a few dildos and examined their size and flexibility.  Some were made from glass and looked dangerous.  There were double-headed dongs that she and Tommy could use at the same time.  She held onto that one.  The vibrating anal plugs looked interesting.  She walked a little further down the aisle and found an assortment of strap-ons.  She could have a lot of fun with one of those.  She covered her mouth and giggled.  Thoughts and images of ramming Tommy in the ass with a strap on were a little too exciting to have in a public place.  She held the strap-on up to show it to Alyssa.  “I found something!”

Chapter Eleven

The smile plastered across Angel’s face was so big it hurt his cheeks.  He was in that realm, somewhere between sleep and consciousness, aware that he was slipping out of a dream that he desperately wanted to return to.  He kept his eyes closed, hoping to return, but it was gone.

He went over the details of the dream in his head before they left his memory.  It took place sometime in the not-too-distant future.  He was at home with Tommy and Jessi in the great room, only it was transformed into a children’s playroom.  Seated on the ottoman was a three year old blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty, holding a child’s electronic guitar.  Several feet away, a baby scuttled across the floor in a pint-sized Immortal Angel T-shirt.  His dark hair and eyes were striking compared to the fair complexion of the little girl.

She played the child-sized guitar with skill far beyond her years.  As soon as the baby heard the music, he spun around and plopped down on the carpet, mesmerized by the sound.  He gurgled his approval with a happy laugh and bounced on his diaper.  That was Angel’s son, listening to his half-sister play the little clunky plastic guitar like a rock star.

That’s when the scene had turned fuzzy and consciousness washed away Angel’s perfect family.  He always loved children and had hoped to adopt one day, when he was in a committed lifelong relationship.  God knows his mother had always pestered him about it.

He never heard Tommy and Jessi discuss having children.  With the struggles of adjusting to their relationship and then the instant fame and success of the band, Angel never really gave much thought to asking them if they planned on having a family.

He realized he was still grinning from ear to ear, lying in bed with his eyes closed.  He must look like a fool.  He swiped his hand across his face to tone down the smile, but it was stuck there.  He longed to return to the dream, but sleep eluded him, so he replayed it over and over in his head.  Each time, he connected to it more and elaborated on the scene.  He imagined Tommy giving his daughter guitar lessons and Jessi launching a rock and roll line of baby clothing.  He imagined his son taking vocal lessons and starting a band with his sister.  They would never be referred to as “step” or “half” siblings.  He imagined names for his son.  Maybe Rico, after his father, or Luis, after his grandfather.  Angel breathed a deep contented sigh.  It was as perfect as his life could be.

He rolled toward Tommy and slung his arm across Tommy’s chest.  He blindly searched for Jessi’s hand but couldn’t find it.  He extended his arm as far as he could reach, and it landed on the empty mattress.  It was rare that she didn’t sleep cuddled up to Tommy’s side.  Angel popped his head up.  He was disoriented in the unfamiliar surroundings and had to stop to think about where he was.  It slowly came back to him that they were in Asia and Jessi wasn’t with them.  The happy, content smile left his face in an instant. He missed Jessi.  It was the first time they were apart and the dream made him realize how much he loved her.  She not only represented his female partner in life, his “wifey” as he liked to call her, but she could potentially be the mother of his child.

His heart ached at her absence.  There was a huge void in the bed and in his life.  He wanted to speak to her.  He
needed
to speak to her, but he didn’t want to wake Tommy, so he took the phone into the other room.

Jessi answered on the first ring.  “Hi.  What time is it over there?  Isn’t it the middle of the night?”