Diamond (9 page)

Tommy rolled his eyes, wished again that he hadn’t quit smoking, and slid a smile into position.

“As if I could,” he said. “You’re a goddamned broken record about the issue.”

Mack Martin leaned against his pickup truck and took a long drag on his cigarette. The smoke curled around his eyes and then spiraled upward into the air as the nicotine leveled off in his system and pulled his ragged nerves back into gear. Recording sessions always made him edgy. He’d choose the spontaneity of a live performance any day.

A cab pulled up at the studio gate. A slow smile parted the brush of whiskers on his face as he watched the passenger emerge from the back seat. It was Diamond!

He flipped the cigarette butt onto the pavement, ground it into the concrete with the toe of his boot, and wiped his hands on his thighs.

“Hey, hey, darlin’,” he called, and met her as she came across the lot. “If you spend all of Jesse’s money, then you just come to me. I’ve got plenty of that…and anything else you might need.”

Diamond flushed but said nothing. His implication was obvious. The last thing she needed was what Mack was offering.

“Here now, let me help you with some of those bags,” Mack said, purposely sliding his hands across her breasts as he took the packages from her arms. The look in his eyes dared Jesse’s latest woman to ignore what he was offering.

He was being rude and pushy, but Diamond was used to men like Mack. Whitelaw’s Bar had been full of them. She knew exactly how to handle a man with too much on his mind.

“Thanks,” she said, letting him have her bags. “Here’s another one.” She piled a package on top of the armful she’d relinquished. “Follow me. I’m going to tell Jesse I’m back.”

She walked away, leaving Mack literally holding the bag.

Mack’s eyes narrowed as his lips thinned. That hadn’t gone exactly as he’d planned. This one was cool, he’d give her that. But he could wait. And when he got hold of her he’d warm her up good.

The
In Session
light was off over the door. That meant they’d finished for the day. It hadn’t taken Diamond long to catch on to the ins and outs of how an album was cut. There were rules governing everything, and she was good at following rules.

“Did anyone miss me?” she asked as she breezed through the door.

As Jesse turned, he knew that the smile he was wearing was inches too wide for his face, but he couldn’t help it. He’d never been so relieved to see anyone in his life.

“Didn’t know you were gone,” he said, and then watched her smile. He was lying, and she knew it. He didn’t care.

“Guess what?” she said.

Jesse started to hug her, felt her body stiffen with unconscious resistance, and then stepped away, giving her the space she so obviously needed.

“You’re hungry?”

She punched him on the arm and then motioned toward Mack, who’d entered the studio carrying her packages.

“No, smart aleck,” she said. “Well, actually I am, but that’s not what I was about to say.”

Jesse stuffed his hands into his pockets and rocked on the heels of his boots as he waited for her to continue. She was so damned pretty that he was having a hard time concentrating on what she was saying. All he could do was watch how those wide green eyes caught and reflected the light, and how the pink on her cheeks matched that soft pink sweater cupping her body.

“Are you listening to me?” Diamond asked.

“No,” he said. “I was looking at your sweater. It fits you good…real good.” He wiggled his eyebrows and gave her a practiced leer.

“You’re such a…such a
man
, Jesse Eagle.”

It was meant to be denigrating. Men didn’t rate high on her list of trustworthy people. But Jesse took what she said and turned it into a compliment that made her blush.

“Yes I am, lady,” he said softly. “And don’t you forget it. I haven’t.”

Diamond did completely forget that she’d been about to tell him she’d spent some of her money. She forgot to tell him that she’d also opened a bank account and had looked around at some apartments. She forgot everything but the fact that this evening when she left the studio, she’d be going home with a man who was driving her crazy.

“Where ya’ want me to put this stuff?” Mack asked. He wasn’t any too happy about being a pack mule for this love-struck pair. In fact, he was getting pissed off about the whole deal.

Jesse dug in his pocket, pulled out some keys, and tossed them to Mack, who managed to catch them without dropping his armload of bags.

“Just put them in the trunk of my car,” he ordered.

Mack swallowed a curse, turned around, and headed back out the door with Diamond’s new clothes. He needed to work on his strategy. He wasn’t putting up with this shit again.

“Give me a minute to firm up tomorrow’s schedule with Tommy, and then we’ll go home, okay?” Jesse said.

Diamond nodded and tried not to feel sorry for herself. If only home and Jesse were synonymous.

Henley hovered in the background, quietly refolding and repacking everything that Jesse was stuffing into his bags. Jesse’s muttered curses and complaints went in one ear and out the other. Henley knew what was wrong. He just didn’t know if Jesse knew.

It wasn’t the first time he’d helped Jesse pack to leave, but it was the first time that Jesse would be leaving someone other than Henley behind.

“Is that everything?” Jesse asked. “Don’t forget to pack my silver jacket. And for God’s sake get my hatbox. The last time I went without it, someone slept on my Stetson. Took the hatter a week to get the damned thing back in shape.”

“Yes sir,” Henley said. “It’s all here. Don’t worry.” And then he added—as if in afterthought, although he knew it was the excuse that Jesse needed to make an exit and tell Diamond good-bye—“Miss Houston is in your music room, sir, if you want to give her any…instructions.” The hesitance on the word
instructions
was pointed, and they both knew it.

Jesse whirled and stomped from the room. He moved through the house and down the hallway as tension snaked itself inside his belly. It wasn’t as if he didn’t trust her alone in his house. It wasn’t as if he didn’t want to go sing, either. Hell, he told himself, performing was the other half of himself. He’d die without it.

But this was the first time he could ever remember being reluctant to leave, regardless of the fact that he would only be gone three or four days. Denver wasn’t all that far from Nashville. He knew it would be a good gig. The performance had been sold out for months.

“What the hell are you doing?” he asked. The door slammed against the wall as he shoved it open and stomped into the music room.

The stack of sheet music fell from her hands as Diamond turned around in fright. The look on his face matched the sound of his voice, and she wondered what she’d done wrong.

“You told me to—”

“I’ll be leaving soon,” he said. “I don’t mind you being in here, but be sure and put everything back where you found it when you’re through.”

His anger was so unexpected, she didn’t have time to suppress her reaction. A swift set of tears came to her eyes, but she blinked them away. She was well practiced at hiding her emotions.

“I will,” she said. “You forget, I’m only following orders, Jesse. In fact, that’s all I’ve done since I got here—follow orders.” The censure in her voice was thick.

Jesse’s fingers curled into fists as he closed his eyes and wished he could rewind the last few minutes and do it over again. But there were no retakes in life and he knew it. There was nowhere to go but forward.

“Sorry I snapped,” he said. “I always get edgy before a road trip. I’ll get over it.”

“And that’s supposed to pass for an apology?” Diamond muttered.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing of importance,” she said. “Just have a safe trip.”

She picked up the scattered music, placed it carefully on the desk, and walked past him without saying anything further.

Jesse reached out, but he was too late to stop her, and the words wouldn’t come to say he was sorry. All she left behind was the scent of her perfume and the sound of her heels tapping sharply on the floor as she walked away.

“Your ride is here!” Henley called.

“Hell,” Jesse said. It was a combination of how he felt and where he supposed he should go.

“Jesse! Jesse! Jesse!”

The auditorium rocked from the sound of his name as the fans screamed for him to make just one more curtain call. But three was his limit, and they had come and gone.

“Let’s wrap it up, boys,” he said, and headed offstage with the members of his band close behind.

As always, it was like running a gauntlet to get from the stage to the dressing room and not be taken apart at the seams. It was the only part of his public life that made him uneasy. No matter how tight the security or how intricately they planned an exit, a swarm of fans always managed to get past the guards. In the back of Jesse’s mind there was always the knowledge that someone could be deranged enough to kill.

“Ooowee,” Mack shouted, still on an adrenaline high from the rowdy crowd. The louder and wilder they got, the better he liked it. “That was one fine show, Jesse. I saw good pickins on the front row, too. Al, did you see that redhead? The one wearing red Rockies and that little bitty bandana she was passin’ off as a blouse? Hot damn! She bounced more than my mattress on a good night.”

Any other night Jesse would have laughed and joked with his band, throwing in his own observations about the female fans. The groupies were always the ones who dared to be different, willing to try anything to get an entertainer’s attention, certain that this time his reaction would be different. Certain that this time their hero, the entertainer, would fall hopelessly and madly in love with them.

Only they never did. The only place the entertainers fell was in and out of bed. The groupie was just another notch on someone’s bedpost. Another girl without a name. After a while, they didn’t even ask…they didn’t even care.

During the concert Jesse had gotten lost in the music and pushed the guilt he’d carried with him to the back of his mind. But the music was over. The night was just beginning for the band, only this time, Jesse had other plans.

He pushed his way through the crowded dressing room, past the boys in the band and the string of women who were straggling inside. They were the chosen few with backstage passes. In less than an hour, the pairing would have taken place, and Jesse wanted no part of it. He wanted a phone. And he wanted it now. Before he closed his eyes on another day he had to hear Diamond’s voice. He had to say
I’m sorry
and let her know he meant it.

“Jesse, there’s someone I want you to meet,” Tommy said. “This is Bobbie Lee. Isn’t she a honey?”

Jesse looked. The woman hanging onto his manager’s arm was smiling. It was a smile he’d seen before. It said
yes
to whatever he wanted. Long black hair framed her plump, pretty face. Her eyes were big, and bright, and lost somewhere beneath several layers of makeup. Her ample figure underneath her western shirt and tight jeans gave new meaning to the word
filled
.

“Ma’am,” Jesse said, smiled, tipped his hat, and headed toward the phone at the back of the room.

The woman pouted, smiled up at Tommy, and knew that he was going to be all she got for the evening. It was her policy not to play favorites. Bobbie Lee’s favorite was always the man she was with.

Tommy frowned, and then she squeezed his elbow and leaned her breasts against his shoulder just enough to set his blood to racing. He swore beneath his breath, angry that he’d been unable to swerve Jesse’s attention from that damned woman back home, and took what was offered.

Jesse took the phone and carried it into the only place in the dressing room that had a modicum of privacy, the bathroom.

He shut and locked the door then dialed the phone. The closed lid of the commode served as a chair as he plopped down and began peeling off his hot, sweaty clothes. Finally he was shirtless, hatless, and nervous as hell, had counted thirteen rings, and still no one had answered. And then he remembered the time. He looked down at his watch. Back home in Nashville it was two o’clock in the morning. He’d be apologizing for more than being an ass. Then she answered.

“Hello?”

“Mornin’, honey,” he said softly.

“Morning? Is it?” Her sleep-befuddled manner made him smile.

“Yes, it’s morning. A little early, but morning nonetheless.”

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“I’m fine.”

“Are you drunk?”

He laughed. “No, Mother, I’m not drunk. I’m just on a concert high. One of these days you’ll know what I mean.”

Diamond stood in the darkened hallway of Jesse’s home and stared at the shadows on the walls, wishing he was there but afraid to say so.

“Sorry I woke you,” Jesse said, “but there’s something I need to say, and I knew that I’d never rest until I said it.”

She waited, hoping, uncertain of what it was that she hoped for.

“Honey…about the way I acted the day I left. I’m sorry, really sorry. I don’t know what made me act like such an ass. I wish it hadn’t happened.”

Diamond sighed. She heard the regret in his voice. And she’d known when he yelled that he wasn’t angry about her going through his music.

“It’s okay,” she said, wishing she had the right to say more, like how much she missed him, and to come home soon. But she didn’t have any rights where Jesse was concerned. So her remark came out sounding offhand and disinterested.

Jesse’s stomach turned. She sounded too distant. He had a sudden urge to go home that moment. He needed to see her face, reassure himself that his “shiny girl” would be waiting for him when he returned.

“I’ll be home day after tomorrow,” he said.

“I’ll tell Henley.”

Mack’s voice boomed through the thin paneled door. “Hey, Jesse, either get out or move over. Someone else wants in, old buddy, and she’s a hell of a lot prettier than you are—and a lot more willing!”

He laughed raucously at his own wit. Jesse winced, knowing that Diamond would hear everything that was going on and misunderstand his part in the levity.