Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star (55 page)

“Hello, pumpkin,” he said calmly. “What is all this I hear about you and the big-shot rock star?”

Elizabeth smiled. Most other people would be offended, but she recognized her father’s dry sense of humor. “He’s made me his love slave,” she answered casually.

“Very good,” he replied. “Tell me, is being a love slave to a rock star a well-paid position?”

Elizabeth laughed. “You know, I think there might just be a ‘room and board’ clause to this. I’ll have to check on that.”

“Lizzy?” His voice had turned serious. “Are you sure you are making the right decision?”

Elizabeth was touched. This was how she knew that under all his bluff, he loved her dearly. “I am, Dad. He’s wonderful. I know this seemed to happen quickly, but it’s actually been building for a while and I’ve never been so happy in my life,” she told him confidently. “Listen, we’re all off next Sunday, maybe we could come up for dinner and you can give him a hard time.”

“Oh, no! The man is taking one of my daughters off my hands. I’m not going to give him a hard time. He might send you back!”

Elizabeth giggled.

“But it would be nice to spend a bit more time with the man. Perhaps Jane could bring her Romeo too?”

“I think that could be arranged,” Elizabeth replied, pleased.

“Very good, Lizzy, your mother just passed me a note that says ‘Tell Lizzy to call Alex.’ Well, now you have been told.”

“I have; thank Mom for me.”

“Take care of yourself, Lizzy.” His voice had a note of tenderness. “I’ve missed you around here. The house has suddenly gotten very quiet.”

“I will, Daddy. I love you.”

“All right. I’ll see you next week. Bye, Lizzy.”

Elizabeth turned off the phone and sat still for a moment, staring out the window at the trees. She had always been her father’s favorite but had never realized how painful her leaving would be to him. She resolved to be more faithful in her phone calls to him, even if it meant she would have to listen to her mother’s silliness.

With a shrug she turned to the phone and dialed Alex’s number. He answered with a doubtful, “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me. Mom said you called?”

“Lizzy? Where are you calling from? I thought you’d be back home by now.”

“Oh, that,” she grinned. “Slight change in plans. I’m at Darcy’s.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, I ran into him at Tanglewood and we talked and, well, here I am.” Elizabeth looked up to see Darcy coming up the short flight of steps from the studio, his mother’s guitar in his hands. She flashed him a bright smile and a wink.

“So now you’re fucking him, you mean?”

“
What?
”

“Oh, please, Lizzy. I’ve seen the way you two have been staring at each other for the whole tour.” His tone was ugly. “I’m just surprised you were willing to take him back after the VMAs. He must be damn good.”

“How. Dare. You.” Elizabeth was shocked and revolted. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

Silence was her only answer. Elizabeth was about to hang up when Alex said in a low voice, “I’m sorry, Lizzy. I just hate to see him treat you like that.”

“Alex, you have no idea how he treats me or what’s going on between us, and frankly, it’s none of your business.”

“Elizabeth, if it affects you or the band, it’s my business. That’s a manager’s job: keeping his band together. And frankly, I don’t like what that man and his friends have been doing to you.”

Elizabeth wished then that she had never said anything about Darcy to the others. She could see for herself how dubious her admission of love must look to the others, especially after she had been so vehement in her disdain for him. “Look, Alex, I’m sorry you don’t like him, but the fact of the matter is we are now a package deal. You want to deal with me, you deal with him.” Her nerve broke and her voice softened. “I don’t want to fight about this, Alex. I want you to be happy for me.”

Again, there was a long pause. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll be happy for you, Lizzy. And if you’re wrong, and I’m right, I’ll be there for you too.”

“I’m not wrong, Alex. Trust me.”

“All right. I just called to see how you were, Lizzy. Are you all set for Tuesday?”

“Yes, I’ll meet you at the airport.”

“You have all the details for that?”

“It’s on my email.”

“Good. I’ll see you then. Take care, baby girl.”

“Bye,” she whispered. He hadn’t called her that in a year and the words still had power over her.

Elizabeth looked up to see that Darcy was gone. She frowned and went to the bedroom, following the sound of furious strumming. She found Darcy sitting on a chair in his room, playing angrily.

Elizabeth crossed the large room to him and stopped his hands with her own. She looked at him, questioning him.

Darcy put the guitar down on a table next to him carefully and then turned to Elizabeth. “What is he to you?” he asked in a low, deliberate voice.

Elizabeth felt her mouth go dry. “He’s my manager. Nothing more.”

Darcy shook his head and waited, his eyes staring into hers.

“Does it show?” Elizabeth asked uncomfortably, realizing she needed to tell him; she owed him that.

Darcy shook his head. “Not on your side. But looking at him? Hell, yeah. There’s clearly some history between you.” He sighed and dropped his shoulders. “Elizabeth?” he asked.

She held up a hand in defeat and nodded. “Okay. It’s just, um, I’m not… It’s not a pretty story and I’m going to need your help telling it.”

Without another word, Darcy stood and took her into his arms. She held him tightly, anchoring herself in his embrace. A few moments later found them stretched out on the bed together.

“It happened a long time ago. I was seventeen and had just graduated from high school. We were very busy that summer, mostly because for the first time I could work past eleven o’clock.” She laughed lightly. “But we were traveling around the area, playing everywhere and starting to take off as a band.”

“I found myself wanting a boyfriend. Both Jane and Charlotte had serious relationships with guys and I was kind of feeling left out, so I started paying attention to Alex. He was older, and not bad looking, and, well,
there
.” She looked down and moved her hair out of her face. “I didn’t know that I could be attractive to a man. I was used to being compared to Jane and ignored, and I didn’t know that I could affect someone.

“So when I started flirting with Alex, I got really excited when he started flirting back. Looking at it now, I can see that most men would have trouble resisting a horny seventeen-year-old girl, but then I thought I was plain and unsexy.” She looked at him unhappily and Darcy kissed her lightly, encouraging her to go on.

“I don’t know what more there is to say. I started kissing him, and that felt good, so I started petting with him, and that felt good, and before I knew it, we were having sex.”

“Do you feel bad about that?” Darcy asked gently.

“No, well, in a way.” She shook her head. “I wished I had really been in love.”

“Weren’t you?”

“No. I thought I was, but I wasn’t,” she sighed. “September came and I started college, and between school, rehearsals, and work, something had to give, and that was Alex.” She shrugged. “I realized in November that we hadn’t had sex in over a month and that I didn’t miss him. That was when I knew I didn’t love him. I found out soon afterward that he had moved on. While that hurt, I couldn’t blame him.”

“That’s not all,” Darcy said, calmly knowing there was more.

“Nope. Fast forward to last summer. We were recording ‘First Impressions’ then and it was horrible.” Elizabeth frowned at the memory. “It was beastly hot and we were in the studio every day for almost two months. And we couldn’t even work at our day jobs because we were recording every day, so we were all getting really short on cash and stressed. I was going on almost no sleep because any time I was out of the studio, I was trying to keep my computer network business going. It was just the worst time in my life.

“Finally, I remember one night I was there alone, laying down guitar tracks, and finally the engineer looked up at me and said, ‘Lizzy, you’re done.’” She looked at Darcy and smiled. “I can’t tell you the relief I felt at that moment. You know what it’s like. Studio work is nothing like performing. It’s so repetitive and long and boring and we had no idea what we were doing. And then that man said I was done, and I put my guitar down and walked out of the room to Alex and he gave me a huge hug. I wasn’t even thinking, I just instinctively kissed him. And then he kissed me, and all of a sudden we were making out and rushing off to his apartment.”

Her voice had grown very soft with embarrassment and Darcy could see this was hard for her. His hands gently offered his support to her. “Neither of us had been in a relationship for a long time, and I don’t know, I think it was just dumb horniness at first. The first week, nobody knew about it, mostly ’cause we never got out of bed except to work. The second week, Jane and Char found out, but they kept quiet about it. It was the middle of the third week before we even had a conversation about what was going on.”

“What did he say?” Darcy prompted her.

“He told me I was special and beautiful and he had always had strong feelings for me.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “And I knew I was in trouble then, because I didn’t feel that way. I was enjoying it, the sex, and I liked Alex, but I still didn’t love him, and I knew I couldn’t love him.” She looked out the window and continued her story. “I knew it wouldn’t last, and it didn’t.

“We were used to having Alex tell us what to do. He had worked in the music business before, and we hadn’t, so we trusted him. It became second nature to do what he told us.” She sighed. “But he was starting to get very personal about what he was telling me to do. The next week of the affair, he started telling me how I should look when I sang, what expressions I should use, and how I should wear my hair—even how I should greet people when I met them.”

Darcy massaged her back softly, letting her get it out. “It happened during the fifth week.” Her voice was low and brittle. “We were in bed together and he was… touching me, and he said, ‘Lizzy, you would be so sexy if you just lost weight.’” Her voice cracked and a single tear ran down her cheek.

Darcy held her, comforting her and murmuring soft words to her as she finally broke down and cried, releasing a hurt she had never shared before.

When her tears were done, Darcy pushed her back just enough so he could see her eyes and firmly said, “He’s wrong. You are the most beautiful, most sexy woman I have
ever
seen, and he was wrong.”

“You’re biased,” she said, looking away. “I admit my thighs and ass—”

“Stop!” he interrupted her. “I will not listen to this. Your ass is amazing. I’ve caught myself staring at it—hell! You’ve caught me staring at it more times than I can count.” He tilted his head. “And don’t tell me you haven’t.”

Elizabeth smiled. “I have, even back at my house.”

Darcy nodded. “And I love your thighs.” His hand touched them for emphasis. “They’re strong, because you’re strong. You’re a swimmer, just like me, and I love the way your body is shaped. It’s perfect, and I need you to know it.”

She looked at him and nodded, and he pulled her close again. She spoke softly into the crook of his neck. “So, now you know all about Alex. I walked out on him when he said that right in the middle of having sex.” She grinned ruefully. “But I guess that’s why I’m a little oversensitive about people telling me what to do and why I thought you were negative when you were looking at my body.”

Darcy slowly rolled her onto her back. “For the rest of my life, I’m going to make sure you know exactly how sexy and beautiful your body is, Elizabeth,” he said with a low, determined voice that made her insides tighten.

He took off his shirt and pushed her dress up to her hips, revealing the red cotton panties she was wearing. Smiling with approval, he placed his lips over her mound and kissed her once, lightly. His hand slowly trailed up and down her outer thigh, over her rounded hip. Elizabeth’s head tipped back as she relaxed in his touch, and Darcy felt again the trust she placed in him.

“Roll over, Elizabeth,” he growled.

With a sexy smile she followed his direction, turning her ass to him. She moaned slightly as his hands caressed and squeezed her through the thin cotton.

Elizabeth felt herself growing hot under his ministrations. She let herself go and enjoyed the feelings he was giving her, forgetting to worry about how she might look.

Darcy enjoyed the sight of her unashamedly taking her pleasure and he stopped to remove his pants, all the while telling her how he had stared at her ass for so long, wanting to touch it.

“Can I see it now, Lizzy, please?” he asked as he crawled back on the bed. Elizabeth lifted her hips and let him draw down her panties, gasping slightly at what he saw. “You’re so beautiful, Elizabeth. I need to taste you.”

Slowly Darcy dragged his tongue over the twin curves he found there, stopping only to nibble lightly with his teeth. Elizabeth yelped and wiggled and he slipped his fingers between her legs to find her center wet and open. Carefully he inserted a finger with a second nip, startling her with the sensation. He continued to stimulate her, licking, nipping, and inserting a second finger, until she was crying out in earnest.