The Rock Star Next Door, a Modern Fairytale (24 page)

Jack
stepped forward
and
took the phone from her.
He pressed the button and threw the phone at the sofa across the room
. “
Time to change the house
nu
mber
. This is getting old.”

“They aren’t coming.” Jessie whispered in a defeated tone. She told Jack about her father’s refusal to give her away.

“So what am I, chopped tofu
?” He swept her up in fierce hug.

“W
hat do I tell Lex? He wants
to meet them. I can’t tell him they think he’s the devil incarnate, he’d be hurt.”

“So, don’t tell him.
Just say they can’t come.
”

“
Jack
?
” Jessie shook her head. It wasn’t that easy.

He
sauntered over to the counter to check the answering machine. “I hope Lilly called.” He pressed the button, releasing a string of messages to assault them both.

“Your father and I are washing ou
r hands of this wedding
. How can you do this to us? We’re ash
amed of you, too ashamed to
tell our friends who you’re marrying
. I wish I’d never had any god-d
amned kids
.
”  Bleep.

The next message began: “As far as I’m concerned
,
I have only one child,
Michelle. 
She’s shown me what a disgusting pervert you intend to marry. It’s bad enough that you had to go and get knoc
ked up, but to marry such a lewd, disgusting pervert
, why don’t you just
take care of it
.
” The frenzied voice emphasized, her mother’s insinuation clear. “. . . save us all the humiliation of a public wedding. Abortion i
s legal in California, it should be, it is everywhere else.
”

“Oh, Christ.
” Steve came down the stairs with
a grimace. “That woman is evil
.
”

“Nuts.” Jack clarified. “Freakin’ Crazy on steroids.”

A knock sounded at the glass patio door. The horrified trio turned to
find Lex standing on the patio waiting to be let
inside. Jessie was gripping her heart, trying to shove down the rush of pain instilled by
both
her parent’s verbal assault. Jack, too, was
stunned, unable to function as their mother’s haunting tones echoed in his head.

It was Steve who moved to unlock the glass portal and allow Lex entrance into their living room.

“Hi . . . ?”  Lex peered at the twins curiously, “Is everything all right?”

“Fi
ne, never better.
” Jack quipped
with mock cheerfulness as he
ascended the winding iron stairs to his room. Jessie watched
him with terror seizing her
. She knew what he
was going to do.
He was going to
console himself in
the
arms of his
favorite
mistress:
cocaine.

“Didn’t you want to call Lilly?” She
shouted after him, praying
that dangling his latest fascination before him would take the edge off his pain and prevent him from succumbing to the po
werful substance to hide from the old pain
.
He
didn’t answer. He just continued walking slowly up the stairs, like a zombie toward its master.

“Bad day?” Lex queried in a sympathetic tone. “The shoot didn’t go well?”

Jessie swallowed hard as
ag
ony flooded her soul. “No,
no, everything’s fine.” She found herself saying in a staccato voice.

Lex stepped toward her with concern. His lips brushed her forehead as he pulled her to him, lifting her face to meet his. “You look so . . . scared. Honey
, what’s wrong
?”

“She’
s fine, just
a
family brawl, you know.
” Steve gestured to the stairwell where Jack had disappeared moments before.

“Really?” Lex studied Jessie’s face as she kept her eyes averted. “I thought
twins were different.”

“Not those two.
” Steve rallied to Je
ssie’s defense. “F
ire and gasoline.
Stand to
o
close to either and you get torched,
at
least when they’re fighting.” He smirked, leaning against the granite island separating the kitchen
from the living
room as he nursed his coffee
. Jessie gave him a grateful look. “Malibu Grooming Company called.” He c
ontinued. “
Dunc
an’s all pretty again.
”

“Oh--Duncan.
” Jessie blustered, thanking the heavens
for the distraction. “I forgot.
I have to pick him up. Want to ride along?” She chanced a look at her concerned lover at last, safe in the knowledge that Steve had spared her explaining
her shaken demeanor
.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Lex probed as they drove down Civic Center Way, back
to the beach house with the black Scottie sitting
in the back seat catching a breeze in his neatly trimmed bearded face.

“I’m fine
.” Jessie assured him in an impatient breath.

“Have you talked to your parents about coming out for the ceremony?”

It was the wrong thing to say, the worst thing. Jessie braked as she came
up
to the Pacific Coast Highway. She gripped the wheel in both hands, feeling
as if
the breath h
ad been knocked out of her a second time in one afternoon
. “Yeah
. . .
I did.”

“And
?” 

Jessie remained silent, holding the brake down, grinding it to the floor.

“You can go now.” Lex prodded in the tradition of masculine superior
ity as she sat pensively before the stop sign at the
intersection
joining the PCH
.

“
How about a coffee?”  Jessie changed the subject as she drove
down the highway, past the turn off
for the exclusive Malibu Colony
and made
the turn onto Cross Creek Road. She was
backtracking several blocks to near
ly
where they’d started when they picked up her dog from the groomer.

“Are you upset with me?”

“No.” Jessie parked her corvet
te in front of Starbucks. “J
ust
a little edgy today. A white mocha latte
for me
, if you don’t mind.
I’ll stay here with Duncan.”

Lex raised a
brow at her command. “Edgy, huh?
” He gave her a reprovin
g frown. “Is it PMS. Would you like some chocolate with that
?”

“Sure.”
Jessie nodded. Lex
put on
his baseball cap and sunglasses. He gazed about them before exiting the car
and then
disappeared into the
coffee shop. Jessie
patted her lap.
Duncan
squeezed between the front seats and
came to sit between the wheel and his mistress, his tongue sagging in the sea breeze. “Yeah, I guess that’s a good enough excuse, hey buddy? Blame it on the hormones, anything but having to explain my family.”

With his shades hiding his eyes,
Lex returned with a c
ardboard tray with two
cups
of coffee,
se
veral chocolate brownies
and a pleased smile
. “They say ch
ocolate is suppos
ed to be the best antidote for
ladies day
.” He offered Jessie a cho
colate drizzled cookie
.

“Whatever.
” Jessie mumbled, taking
a bite as he held it to her lips and then yanking her coffee
from the tray he balanced across
his lap. “I’ll drop Duncan home
and
then I’d like
to drive up the coast
road
.”

“I’ll drive.” Lex amended, only to receive a steel
y glare. “Seriously, I’ll drive and
you can relax.”

Jessie felt anger roiling up within her. He was being so patronizing, and he had no idea what was wrong. If only it were simply overactive hormones, she’d feel truly blessed. “
Don’t
-
-okay--just don’t start with me.”

“What
?” His hand squeezed her knee. “You didn’t argue with Jack, something else is bothering you. When I walked in, you looked really hurt, as if something terrible had happened. Hey---Pull over, you’re all over the road
.
”

Jessie eased the car to the side of the road,
leaned over the steering wheel
and closed her eyes. She willed
herself not to cry.  She choked back tears as
sharp
pain cut throug
h her abdomen
.
Yep, menstrual cramps would be nice about now.
At least with them she wouldn’t feel like her heart was breaking.
With a stifled gasp, she grasped her stomach with both hands, as if the added pressure would push back the torment she felt at her family’s blatant rejection. 

Lex watched her with concern, not speaking, just observing her movements and the determined look on her face.  “Cramps?” He asked after a long moment.

Shocked by his comment, she gave him a dirty look. Seeing Lex was be
ing solicitous and not cocky
like
the
guys she lived with,
Jessie shook her head in denial
of his question. She couldn’t speak for fear her steely facade would
crumble and she’d burst into tears at any moment.

A heavy truck passed
, rocking the ca
r
as the e
arth vibrated beneath it. Lex
opened the
passenger door,
got out
of the car
and walke
d around to
the
driver’s
side.
He didn’t say anything, he just gestured with his finger for Jessie to get out from behind the wheel. She hesitated, glaring up at him, but her shades were in place as well as his, so it was a lost cause trying to communicate via eye expression.

A car zipped past them. Fearing for his safety as he stood there waiting for her to get out and relinquish the wheel, she slipped across the seat so he’d get in. Once he was at the wheel Lex
moved back on to the highway in a U turn, moving south until they reached the entrance to the Surfer Beach State Park.
He took out his wallet and paid for a day pass.
The
attendant at the booth
politely reminded
them
that dogs had to be leashed at all times in the park, even on the beach
. Lex nodded.

He
parked overlo
oking a lonely stretch of beach
and drew Jessie close.

“Tell me
. Whatever it is, we’ll face it together.” Lex rubbed his hand up and down her spine.

His arms
were like a fortress
about her. Strong, resolute, unbreakable
. Jessie l
eaned into him, closed her eyes and
s
oaked in the
comfort he
so freely
offere
d. She let out a shaking breath
and plunged ahead
. “My sister keeps calling me
every day
,
and
now my mother is doing it and so is my father.
”

“And that’s
upsetting?” Lex stroked her hair, gently, steadily, as her dog
propped his stocky forepaws on
the armrest and hung his head out of the window from her lap.

“My family is not like yours.” Jessie began. “My sister i
s very religious
. The types who
are always claiming that certain cartoon characters are Satanic.”

“And she doesn
’t approve of me?”

“She’s convinced you’re a Satanist.”

Lex pulled back from Jessie, resting his arm on the back of the
leather seat behind her. “What do you think, Jessica
?
All that matters in this is what you believe.
”