The Heart Series: Complete Boxed Set (84 page)

“The fucking bitch, I am going to slap her silly,” Elijah growled

“Elijah, don’t—”

“Give me one good reason.” His eyes flashed in rage.

“Because this bitch is cunning. She will turn on the little miss innocent act and I’ll be left to look like the jealous whiny girlfriend who doesn’t trust her fiancé. He’ll believe her. He thinks the sun shines out of her backside. He obviously hasn’t seen her evil side. I need to think about this, how to go about it all and not look like I’m imagining things.”

He sighed heavily before speaking. “You’re right, I guess. We know how calculating these bitches can be. We have to play her at her own game.”

“It’s going to kill me though leaving him Monday knowing she’s trying to worm her way in.” I felt sick just at the thought of it.

He pulled me into a hug, kissing my hair. “I will try to be there when I can.”

“I trust him, Elijah, I just don’t trust her. She’s a manipulator. I’m scared that she’ll get him drunk and force herself on him. Joel wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt, and I couldn’t live knowing he’d been with her, even if he was intoxicated,” I mumbled into his chest before sobbing again.

“Calm down, Iz, it’s not going to go that far,” Elijah pleaded, but the demons were taking over and right now all I could think was the worst.

“How do you know?”

“Because Joel doesn’t drink to get pissed. He wouldn’t put himself in that position again. He won’t lose you, he loves you too much,” he soothed.

“I hope so,” I hiccupped.

“I know so.”

“Thanks for being here during my mini meltdown.” I hugged him harder.

“That’s what best friends are for. Now, no more freaking out. We’ll get through this and that bitch will get her just desserts, agreed?” he asked, pulling away, staring deep into my eyes

“Agreed.” I nodded.

“Now fix a smile on that pretty face else Joel will start asking questions, and we don’t want Chantel clocking on that you heard her.”

“I don’t feel like smiling,” I grumbled.

“I know, but do it for Joel. He has probably been looking forward to having you here while he performs. He’s missed you so much.”

I frowned at his words. “I’ve missed him too.”

“Come on then, chin up and let’s get back inside while the man you love serenades you. You’re all he sees, I can promise you that.”

I shook my head and smiled weakly.

“That’s my girl.”

We headed back inside to hear the rest of the act while I put on the performance of my life.

I lay staring at the ceiling for hours. Joel was flat out beside me. His arms around me with his nose nuzzled into my hair. After his performance, I had smiled in all the right places, trying not to bring the mood down. Every now and then Elijah would smile and nod silently reassuring me I was doing well.

When we returned home, Joel had showered, then despite my best efforts of feigning sleep, he roused me in his usual way kissing my whole body senseless till I caved and let him make sweet love to me. It was soft and tender and everything about this moment should have been breathtaking, apart from the fact every time he rocked into me, all I thought about was how I could lose him and moments like these could soon become a distant memory.

After finishing, we snuggled and he stroked my fingers down my back until they eventually stilled and I knew he had fallen asleep. The war raging inside my head was too much for me ever to sleep myself, so I headed downstairs. Ruby was in the kitchen, her head sprung up and she quickly wandered over wagging her tail as I made myself a drink. After giving her a few treats, we settled on the sofa together. As I tenderly stroked her soft golden fur, she slowly fell asleep beside me once again leaving me all alone.

* * *

I nuzzled my nose into what I thought was Joel’s hair only to find it was Ruby’s. We’d fallen asleep together. As my eyes slowly came into focus, I noticed a worried looking Joel hovering over us.

“What are you doing sleeping down here?” he asked, frowning in concern.

“I couldn’t sleep and I just wanted to be with Ruby. I’ve missed her so much since I’ve been gone. I just wanted her to know how much I love her.” Plus,  she was the only thing keeping me calm. She always was good at keeping secrets. She’d sit there and listen to me talk for hours on end, if she could speak she’d probably tell me to shut up.

“I don’t like waking up to find you gone, especially now that I rarely get to sleep in the same bed as you anyway.”

“Sorry, what time is it?” I yawned.

“Only six, shuffle up and let me on the sofa.”

I budged forward and he crawled in behind, pulling the cover back over us as we all snuggled in together. Ruby let out a contented sigh as I kissed her head as we all fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Sunday was filled with a roast dinner at my mother’s, where she fussed over us all. Kara and Mike came over but headed off once dinner was over. Kara said she’s give me an update on her shopping trip with Elijah. I could only imagine the chaos on Oxford Street. 

We headed out after my mother’s for a drive stopping off for a drink before followed by a meal. When we got home, I was ready for a long soak in the tub and to get my pyjamas on. Monday was looming, and I could feel my mood become darker at the prospect of leaving Joel especially with the present situation.

I slipped beneath the bubbles and sighed. Joel joined me shortly after with some drinks. he maneuvered himself in behind me so I was lying back on his hard, wet chest.

“I miss taking baths with you. It’s not the same when you’re not here.” His arms encircled me tighter.

“So you take bubble baths without me, huh?” I giggled.

“It’s something I’ve become accustomed to, just me and the bubbles.”

“We’d better enjoy this while it lasts then.” I turned and kissed him, and he held me there, taking it deeper. I eventually pulled away feeling slightly breathless by it all.

“The next four weeks are going to drag,” he groaned, his eyes looking sad.

“I know but we have busy schedules. We’ll soon be counting down the days till I’m back.” That’s if I had a relationship to come back to.

“You seem a little distant, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I wasn’t but I’d have to just suck it up.

“What did you think of Chantel yesterday?”

Oh god.

“She seemed nice.” It was all I could bite out. I felt like I would choke on the rest.

“She is amazing,” Joel added.

Oh here we go, fucking superwoman speech again.

“Do you really need her now? I know she’s helped to get the band more attention, but surely now as your fan base is growing you won’t need her as much, you can cope on your own.”

“So you do have a problem with her?” he snapped.

“No, I just—”

“What, Iz, spit it out. Stop lying and just tell me the truth. Are you jealous?”

“No!” I shrieked.

“Because if you are, there’s nothing to be jealous about. I’m not interested in her that way and she isn’t interested in me.”

Yeah, not what she said.

“It’s just—”

“What, tell me?” he urged.

“The distance between us and—”

“Do you really think I would cheat on you because I’m lonely?” he growled, looking hurt by my reasoning.

“No.”

“Do you trust me?” he asked, his eyes searching mine.

“Yes.” I did trust him with all my heart. It was Chantel I didn’t trust.

“Then you have nothing to worry about, the only girl I’m interested is you, the only girl I sing about on the stage is you, the only girl I want to marry is you.”

I buried my head in the crook of his neck and sighed. “I love you so much that sometimes it scares me if I ever lost you.”

“Life is uncertain and we never know what lies ahead, but one thing I know is my love for you will never lessen, if anything it will grow deeper over time. You and me are forever unless you decide different.”

My eyes snapped up to meet his. “Well, that’s not going to happen.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about. Now how about you scrub my back and all the other hard to reach places.” He grinned as I rolled my eyes at his attempt to lighten the mood.

“Who am I, your slave?” I giggled.

“Yeah, sex slave.”

I snorted. “You wish.”

“Oh baby I do, right now I have something for you.”

“I can feel it.” It was hard to miss.

“How about helping me out.” He stroked his nose against mine and his eyes heated with lust. My fingers ran along the length of him and he groaned at my touch.

“My pleasure,” I breathed.

Oh, I was about to enjoy every minute of this.

* * *

Leaving Joel behind never got easier, each time it broke my heart, but I had to remind myself that four weeks would soon fly by. It was a double edge sword as I was doing the job I loved, but I missed Joel with all my heart. Joel helped to dispel the insecurities, but I was always on edge waiting for Chantel to make her move. Girls like that, who had an agenda, always made it their mission to get what they wanted. I just had to trust my intuition that Joel would come through.

Elijah was keeping tabs. He went along to all their gigs to keep an eye out on any kind of unusual behavior but he always reported back with the same thing—that everything appeared fine. Of course he had to stop himself tearing into Chantel every time he saw her. He had labeled her Vamp Tramp, which was always a name that made me smile. I kept my pretence up and concentrated on my performance that was my main priority, going out there and giving it my all. It was probably the only thing keeping me sane. Corinne and Micha could sense something was up but they never pursued it. I guess my immediate answer of fine each time they enquired meant they weren’t about to push the matter further, and for that I was grateful.

We were down to the final week. All was going well until a knock sounded at my door in the middle of the night. At first I thought I dreamt it but when a second rap at the door came I knew it was definitely real.

I squinted through the peephole, my poor eyes trying to regain some kind of focus, they soon widened when I saw Joel stood there.

Fuck.

I opened the door and he spun around, his eyes full of alarm as he tried to find the words to speak.

“Izzy,” he finally got out.

“Oh my god, what’s wrong? Is someone ill? Hurt? Is it my mother? Mike?”

“No, nothing like that.” He shook his head.

“Then what?” I whisper yelled, feeling my heart rate climb by the second.

I dragged him in the room before we made any more noise and woke up half the people on our floor.

“Joel—”

“Iz, I have something to tell you. I’m sorry, so damn sorry.”

“What, Joel? Just fucking tell me, my head is spinning here.”

“Chantel kissed me,” he finally got out.

Fuck.

“What do you mean she kissed you?”

“We’d just finished the set. I was getting changed when she came in the room with her friend. She was all flirty and I told her to stop, but she continued proposing I should have a threesome with her and her friend. She said she knew about my reputation and if I was going to be a rock star, I may as well live the rock and roll lifestyle. I told her to leave, that I was engaged to you, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She lunged at me and kissed me before I could do anything. I pushed her away, but it was too late. Her friend caught it all on camera. She said she was going to send it to you and that with your jealous ways you would think the worst and you wouldn’t forgive me.” The fear inside his eyes was growing by the minute. He was going into meltdown.

“Picture? I didn’t get a photo.” I clicked on my phone I had muted to find it there ready to open on screen. I frowned and my thumb hovered over it. Was I ready to see something like that, even though I knew it was staged?

“Please Iz, give me the phone. You don’t need to see it, but you need to believe me. I wouldn’t do that to you, to us. I want our future together you know that. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise that.” Joel pulled at his hair, his eyes frantically searching mine, pleading with me to believe him.

“I believe you,” I whispered almost so low Joel didn’t hear me.

“What?” he exclaimed.

I sighed before speaking. “I know every word you’re saying is the truth. I know the real Chantel. I had to endure her telling her friends she was going to get you into bed. The cheeky bitch even said she would soon be wearing my ring.”

“What?” he growled.

“When I came to your last gig, I was in the toilet cubicle just about to come to see you during the interval, and she walked in with all her friends mouthing off how she was going to worm her way into your life and make you fall for her. Obviously her plan hasn’t worked if she’s chosen to go down the blackmail route.”

“I would never look at her that way. All I wanted was for her to promote the band. I don’t see anyone else but you.”

“Here.” I tossed the phone over to him. “I don’t want to see it, delete it off.”

He caught the phone and within seconds the offending picture was removed. The thought of it alone was hard to take, never mind actually witnessing it.

“Come here.” I opened my arms and he walked into them. He was physically shaking, and I couldn’t help but wonder how he managed to drive the four hours and still be in one piece. The thought of him hurting himself in anyway travelling this far in the middle of the night scared me, but he was here and he was safe, and for that, I was grateful.

“I love you, Iz, and I would never—”

“I know, shush, we don’t need to talk about it. She thinks that she’s done damage, that I’m out of the picture, but we know better,” I soothed. The bitch was about to get hers, I would make sure of it.

He pulled away to look at me. “She’s sacked, right now I don’t care about the band, but I won’t continue to work with someone as conniving as she is.”

I cupped his face with my hands. “Good, I just wished I’d been there to give her a slap, ’cause trust me, I am more than ready to.”

“I would have liked to have seen that too.” He chuckled.

I kissed him long and hard before pulling away. He was panting lightly but there was still fear inside his eyes that unnerved me. “Come on, get into bed, I need to be near you, skin on skin.”

He smiled lifting his T-shirt over his head, his Converse and jeans soon followed. I peeled off my T-shirt and led him over as I pulled the sheets back and slipped inside. His body was warm as I nuzzled into his chest, his arms entwined around me, holding me close, like he was afraid to let me go. I kissed his neck and weaved my fingers into his hair, softly stroking it over and over. I knew that it soothed him and would hopefully lull him to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be hard, but tonight we would just hold each other.