The Rock Star Next Door, a Modern Fairytale (33 page)

“She seemed like such a sweet girl when you brought her out a few weeks back.”

“Mom, listen
, she’s been getting ca
lls from her sister, who is
religious
in the extreme. Her sister told her
I was a Satanist,
that she shouldn’t marry me. I think the whole family is
upset about our engagement
and they’re grabbing at any chance to stop the wedding
--
because of me, because of who I am
.”  Lex paused, pinching the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb as he tried to regain a calm demeanor.

“Her
mother
was definitely not lucid
--
or calm. She seemed
desperate for me to hate her own child
.
What kind of mother does that?
All it did was make
me feel sorry for the poor girl. Oh,
such things shouldn’t surprise a person in my line of work. I see the handiwork of abusive parents on daily basis.
It’s just . . . one doesn’t expect to encounter it on such a personal level.
”

“Yeah.”
Lex agreed, remembering the long line of abused
kids his parents had taken in as foster parents over the years u
ntil social services found permanent homes for them.

“I received a second call this morning.” Emma confessed. “Not from the mother this time, but f
rom a woman named Rachel
Johnson
. She claimed to be
Marcie
Kelly’s sister.  S
he
apologized for the earlier call. She told me not to
b
elieve anything
Mr
s. Kelly says
because
Jessie’s mom
suffers from schizophrenia and has constant delusions about people being out to get her. She asked me not to tell her sister that she called on Jessie’s behalf, as things were strained between them as it was.”

“Jessie’s
aunt
called you?” Lex repeated, taken aback.

“Yes, dear, to defend your fiancée and
to
apologize for the
entire incident. Lex,
I didn’t m
ean to upset you.
I don’t believe what Mrs. Kelly said. Tell Jessie
that for me
or let me talk
to her.”

“Mom,
” Lex began, uncertain himself about how to bridge th
e subject with Jessie. “Just let me handle it
. Don’t
say anything about this
to Jessie. I
t would hurt her to know
her mother called you and said those things
.”  He bit the key ring
and told himself to breat
he deep, remain calm
and let the anger pass through him.

“
Tell her I’m thrilled to have her in our family.”

“Yeah.
I’ll talk to you later.”

“I love you.” Emma
cooed
in her sweet tone
. “Take care of that sweet girl
.”

“Love you, too.” Lex replied, warmed by his mother’s tenderness and concern as he
turned off the
cordless
phone.
Christ!
He set the phone on the counter, leaned on it with his elbows and hung his head. “
With Cruella De Ville for a mother and a religious fanatic for a sister,
no wonder you’re so edgy about a big family wedding.”

A clattering of voices echoed in the hallway outside his study. Inez’ worried voice, and Jessie’s cool, determined one.

He rose and opened the door.
Jessie stood clutching Dun
can in her arms, her feet bare
and her face chalk white as she tried to pass by the housekeeper.

“I
’m going home.” Jessie whispered
in a
tone fraught with hysteria as she looked from the housekeeper
to Lex. “I have to go home now.
”

“Jessie
,
no.
” Lex started toward her with his arms opened, intending to scoop her up and carry her back upstairs.

She
backed away with tear-filled eyes. 

“Inez,” Lex gestured her away with his head while slowly approaching the distraught Jessie, his arms outstretched, his face determined. “Jess, it’s okay. Just come back upstairs, honey, we’ll talk this out.”

“I can’t marry you. There
too many thing
s you don’t know about me. About my family. Horrible things.
My mom called your mother, didn’t she?
Didn’t she
?
”

Lex
clucked his tongue and
pulled her hard into his arms.
“She did, but my mother could tell she was not right in the head. My mom didn’t believe her, honey,”
She sagged against him, weak with pain and defeat. Duncan groaned, crushed
between them
. Lex released her just long enough to take Duncan from her arms and place him on the floor, then lifted her easily into his arms and carried her back up the stairs.

He placed her on the bed, sat down
and gathered her into
his arms
. Jessie trembled in his arms and pleaded with
him to get Jack. “I’m here
. Shhh . . . everything’s going to be all right, I promise.”

“I don’t want to be any trouble. Just, let me go.”

“Jessie.
”  Lex cradled her head in both hands, making her look at him.
“Stop it. Stop this. Yo
u can’t just run away.
”

He slipped one arm beneath he
r neck, hovering over her as
t
hey lay together on the bed. Lex gently brushed away her
tear
s with his fingertips. “Shhh,
love.” He kissed
her brow, her
temples and finally
her lips with the utmost care. He nuzzled into her ear and kissed it softly, then the wisps
of copper encircling it. “Forget
eve
ryone in the world but you and me
. That’s a
ll that matters
right now
, Jess--
just
us
.” 

She reache
d up to touch his
hair. She looked so lost,
desolate.
“What did your mother say?”

“She said to tell you she’s happy to have you join our family.”

Jessie gazed at
him with wariness. His mother received the promised
call. She cou
ld tell. She wondered if Lex was
lying about his mom’s welcome, trying to
smooth things over between them
.

She was so tired. Tired of running, of
trying to avoid th
e ugly reality that stalked her.
Tired of
trying to pretend everything was normal
in her family.
She wa
sn’t going to cry. Not anymore
. She was finished crying over her mother’s bizarre need to ruin any
chance she might have for happiness
.

Jessie placed her palm behind his head, pulling him close
. And then she kissed him, hard and d
eep.
Nothing mattered
but the two of them
?
Yeah, let’s roll with it. Focus on
the physical
. Right now, she needed him, needed his firm skin pressed hard against her. She needed to be kissed unt
il she couldn’t think straight. Until she could only feel him, until he became her only reality.
Jessie wanted to forget, and Lex was g
oing to help her
, if only for a little while.

She tugged at his pants, jerking the button open and
sliding
the zipper
down
. She kept kissing him with the devouring hunger of a demon trying to suck someone’s soul out through their mouth. Lex responded
to her hunger, her need. She plunged her hands inside his
j
eans, outlining his hips and skimming his tight
ass
as she pushed his pants and his underwear down to his thighs. His reaction was immediate, he
spr
outed some serious wood.
Jessie
rolled onto her back and
gripped his shaft
fi
rmly, pulling him by
his ready cock
to mount her
. He
followed her lead, settling between her thighs and allowing her
to
guide him into her slick wet folds.
“
Love me hard,
like a pirate.”

Lex complied
.
Jessie gasped
at his
rough intrusion, bu
t it felt good.
So good.
It was delicious
to be filled
by
him, to have
his engorged cock inside
of
her
be
the only reality
right now
, the only feeling she would allow.
She wanted to be
nailed
by him. Lex;
the bad boy rocker, her dangerous pirate, the sexy
master of seduction.

Her arms went about his trim waist, tugging at him, urging him to rest his full weight on her as they kissed and devoured one another with lips, tongue and teeth.

It was glorious
,
wicked,
erotic.
Lex was
fucking
her.
Yes, she liked that nasty word right now and the quick, hard strokes of their un
ion. Jessie arched
against him m
easure for measure as his powerful
body
covered her and they
succumbed to
pure
primal pleasure
. She
gasped and writhed,
hugged his hips with her legs
and urged him on as he
banged her for all he was worth.

At last,
sweet
release c
ame. Jessie gasped and moaned her
triumph,
savoring every last shiver as the heady rush of raw, hard
sex with a man sh
e trusted
lifted
her high above
the
cares of the
world and into
the realm
of pure
fantasy.

*    *    *

“I thought you’d like to know about this right away.” Rolly began as Lex sat in the chair opposite the detective’s desk. “I talked to the skinny guy after you left for the hospital with Ms. Kelly's brother.”

“Steve.” Lex clarified.
“Steve Walker.”

“The guy
with t
he long dark hair and no shirt. Has
pierced nipples. Odd
, don’t you think?”

“
I didn’t notice.” Lex shrugged
. It was common to have piercings among the younger set these days.
Some of the younger rockers
even
had pierced penises. Not that he’d go that far, but nothing much surprised him after
being in the rock world for
close to fifteen years.

“
I asked him questions. H
e w
as edgy, didn’t want to give
mu
ch away.” Rolly handed him a pap
er from across the desk as he spoke. “But then, the guy pressed the message on the answe
ring machine for me. This is it. This is what sent your fiancée
into hysterics, and a near heart attack.  B
y the way, how is Ms. Kelly?”  The sharp man added the last in a perfunctory tone.

“She’s better, thank you.” Lex took the paper from him, read
the cryptic message typed on it and
regarded Rolly with raised brows. 

“I
t’s verbatim
.
” Rolly assured him. “I wrote it down w
ord for word. I had my secretary type it up so you could read it as opposed to my handwritten copy.” The small notebook was thrust at Lex as proof that the message on the answering machine had not been tainted or added to. “Your stalker is a woman.”

“
Marcie
Kelly.” Lex read from beneath the message on the scrawled notepad. “She made good on her
threat. S
he did call my mother with nothing but slander against Jessie.” 

“So she’s guilty of telephone harassment and defamation of cha
racter
, for starters
.” Rolly noted, shuffling
through a s
heaf of papers on his desk. He
handed Lex the one he’d been searching for. “This is a printout of all the calls coming into the house in the last three weeks.”