The Rock Star Next Door, a Modern Fairytale (22 page)

“I’m glad we agree on that.
”

“So,
you’re going to go ahead and say yes
?”

“I want to---but--”

“Christ.
” Jack sank back heavily on the sofa, jolting Jessie so her drink overflowed on h
er bare legs. “Here we go again.
”

“Ah
.
” Jessie gasped, grabbing
the edge of
his baggy shirt to sop up the icy brew.

“K
nock it off,
damn it. T
hat’s cold.
” Jack jerked his shirt hem away from her.

“
H
e’s in such a hurry.
It’s freakin’
weird.
” She wiped her hands on her own shirt as she spoke. “I told him that day on the beach that I needed time, so he a
sks me if three weeks is enough.
Don’t you think that
’
s sort of creepy
?”

“In Califor
nia, this close to Hollywood?
Aren’t you the naive one?
”

“What about Mom?”

“She’s in Wisconsin, Jess
. She can’t do
a damned
thing
about it
.”

“
What if Lex finds out
?”

“That’s it.”
Jack
slapped his knee
. “I’ll tell him, o
kay. If he
loves you
it won’t matter
.”

“Don’t you dare
say a word
.
” Jessie snapped, punching him in the arm.

“
Ow
.
Jess, he’ll find out;
sooner or later.”

“You can’t tell him. It’s too bizarre.
When we
try to
tell the truth p
eople think we’re making
it up.
They think we’re nuts.
You can’t do this.
”

Jack nodded slowly. He sat forward, thinking for a moment, and then he turned to her,
his
green eyes
fixing her with
infinite sorrow.
“Jess,” He
placed a large, reassuring hand on her leg.
“
The school system
didn’t know how to deal with that k
ind o
f abuse.
We
didn’t have bruises.
It was her word against ours and she made sure we
sounded like liars.
You have to trust him, Jess. Give him a chance to understand before you just damn him for being like everyone else.”

“I can’t--” Jessie
whispered. Her limbs started
shivering
sporadically
as t
he carefully tamped down fear and pain rose
to the fore. “
I don’
t want him to know about Marcie’s
illness
.
There’s always the chance that if I do say yes,
she’ll come out
here
for the wedding and behave herself.”

“Yeah,
maybe she’ll leave the flying monkeys home. Maybe she won’t turn into Sybil at the rehearsal dinner.
That could happen--with somebody
else’s mom.
” Jack snorted. “Jess, I’m telling yo
u,
invi
ting our mother to your wedding
i
s
like
playing with explo
sives. You can’t depend upon her
to be norm
al
. Just
marry the guy
and
forget to tell mom and dad, okay? For me.
Please
.
Save us both the pain.”

Chapter Thirteen

“What about the ro
yalties?” Jessie answered
their agent via the
Bluetooth
pinned to her ear
as she poured the batter into the waffle iron the following morning. 

“Ask hi
m if I can have a framed proof photo for my collection.
” Jack wagged a finger at her as he sat nursing his coffee at the kitchen table. Jessie shook her head at him reprovingly as she tried to make out Max’s words above her brother’s remarks.

“O
kay, it’s in the clause
?
Those e
xact words?
” Jessie
opened the fridge
. She bent to rifle through the beer bottles for the missing bottle of pancake syrup. “Good. Another thing, Jack want
s to know if he can get a proof copy
for his collection, so he says.”

Jack gave her the thumbs up sign as she placed the syrup and but
ter on the table
.

“Max wants to kn
ow if you want the same one
Fender chooses for distribution to the stores?”
She asked.
Jack nodded. “Yeah, he does. Okay, I’ll tell him.”

Jessie hung up the phone
, removed the bud from her ear
and attended to the
waffle batter sizzling out of the press in a slow moving beige blob
.

“When do we start the shoot?” Jack yawned and scratched his
bare
chest.

“Next Tuesday. Max said to tell you
no drugs, he doesn’t want you loo
king stoned in the photos
.
”

“Yeah, yeah.
” Jack waved her rebuke
. T
he doorbel
l rang. “Get the door, will you?
”

Jessie gave him
a penetrating look. “Excuse me?
” She ladled the
serving
plate with steaming waffles and t
hen poured
more batter into the machine.

“All right, all ready.
” Jack snarled as he went to answer the insistent ringing. He returned just as Jessi
e was sitting down to breakfast. He tossed
a small package at her.

“Who is it from?” She
asked suspiciously. “There’s n
o return address.” She bit into the luscious stack she’d poured a generous amount of butter and syrup over.

“
Hell, it’s not ticking, open it.
” Jack scoffed as he smothered the waffle squares with butter and maple syrup. “Hey, whose been hitting this like candy?” He held the near empty bottle up to the window light. “Have to order another c
ase from back home.”

“Go ahead.
” Jessie murmured between bites. “The num
ber is on the computer
desktop over there.” She pointed to the small alcove between the kitchen and the living room harboring a desktop computer the band used as
a
communal office for shared files. “It’s
in the file
named
‘important phone contacts’.
”

“You know I a
lways leave that technical crap
for you.”

“Yeah. Calling a
maple syrup farm
in
Wisconsin and charging a case of maple syrup to your
credit card, really tough, Jack.
”

“Testy this morning, aren’t we?” Jack opened the bottle and poured the golden syrup stra
ight into his mouth. “Too many m
argaritas?”

Jessie ig
nored him
as she turned the small package around in front of her, feeling it, studying the postmark. “It’s postmarked from here
in
Malibu.”

“Open it, already.
”

“Hey,
save some for me, you sugar junkie.
” Darrel slumped into the chair beside Jack
and grabbed the bottle from his hand
with a scowl. “No wonder we g
o through this stuff like water. This is the last bottle. Y
ou’ll have to order some more, Jess.”

Jessie looked at the pair of them, too lazy to o
rder the maple syrup they loved
or the
Leinenkugel
beer that also came from Wisconsin
, or pay the rent, make a gr
ocery list for the housekeeper
and any number of various chores around here. Why on earth was she stalling about marrying Lex? She was already m
arried--to three lazy pigs
who expected
her to take care of everything in the household.
One guy ought to be a breeze.

She pushed her plate aside and opened the package. As
she suspected, it was from Lex, a neatly scripted note and an
i
Pod
.
Hot Pink, a lovely color choice, a teeny little iPod
Nano. The note
said:
This is my
heart, but Savage Garden says it
better than I could.
I love you always.
Truly-Madly-
Dee
ply
, Always Yours
throughout eternity
,
Lex

Jess pressed the button to turn on the device. One song was on it.
A single release from
1998
by the band called Savage Ga
rden. The name of the song was
Truly Madly Deeply
, the words
Lex had so cleve
rly underlined in his note. She didn’t remember the song.
Jessie left the pigs to their trough as she went upstairs to her bedroom to savor the offering alone
. She slipped the earphones in,
pushed
the button to play the song Lex gifted her with.
Soft music began and then the lead
singer brought forth lush lyrics that caressed her very soul
.

“I’ll be your dream . . . I’ll be your wish . . . I’ll be your fantasy . . .
I’ll be your hope, I’ll be your love, be everything that you need . . .
”
The lead singer of Savage Garden crooned with a deliciously silken voice.

Jessie sighed and
nearly purred
as she re-read Lex’s note
while listening to the song. He said
these words were
carved in
his hea
rt, even though someone else
originally
penned them
.
She close
d her eyes
and smiled, entranced by the words. The song ended. The
silence
and her melting heart
beckoned her to play it
again, to sa
vor it. Lex was using the music
to make
love to her soul. She pressed repeat, and s
tood gazing out at the serene beach
with her hands pressed to her heart
.

Beyond the music, she heard the faint sound of the bedroom door creaking open
.
It was
Duncan
pushing his way through the door to be near her. He
r
Scottie
couldn’t stand t
o be separated from Jessie
when she was home, even when she was using the bathroom.

“Good boy.” She murmured. “Now, go lay down.”

“Only if you come with me.
” A deep, sensual
vo
ice startled
Jessie
. She tu
rned abruptly to find an amused
Lex standi
ng behind
her
.

“Oh.
” Jessie cooed
,
reaching for him and
letting him wrap his arms about her.

“Do I get a treat?” He teased, eyeing her with puppy eyes. “A
good morning kiss
?
After all, you did just say I was a good boy.
”

“Somehow
the term
good
doesn’t
fi
t the image of the infamous Lex.
”

“I’ve the sudden urge to lick yo
ur ivory skin until you’re
drowning in
passion.” He returned with a grin, squeezing her
butt
playfully.

“Down boy,” She slapp
ed his hard derriere and grinned
. “Give a girl a chance to catch her
breath
. Your gift i
s . . . i
nspiring.
”

“So, have you come to a decision? Will you marry me?”