The Rock Star Next Door, a Modern Fairytale (42 page)

Jack
burst into
the room. “So, you’re set, Jess.
Nothing serious. What’s
a little bit of blood-l
etting among band members
,
hey? No harm, no foul.
”
Steve followed Jack’s grand entrance with a silent, irritated scowl.

“I
see nothing’s
chang
ed.” Lex moved to stand
in front of Jessie
so she had to l
ook at him. “Still babysitting the boys, are we
, Jessie
?”

Jessie was abo
ut to give Lex a sharp set down for his comment. She stifled it when her eyes
met
his. The
ominous
look in his eyes brooked no argument
.
Yeah, that pretty much summed up her life in the past month.
She nodded, despite her outrage at his alpha male, leader of the pack aura.

“I’ll take her
home.” He told the three stooges
and they all nodded like obedient little wolf pups before their leader.

Lex had that effect on everyone
. He exuded a powerful
presence
that
other mal
es
easily surrender
ed
to. And females, well,
they swooned at his feet.

Rick
, the sound engineer
could never compete with
such a man for her heart. Rick
was a nice, polite, milquetoast sort of date. Gangly, apologetic, uncertain. The Danny Kaye sort, while Lex was the e
mbodiment of a romantic hero;
self-assured, co
nfident, thoroughly
capable of taking the heroine’s heart ca
ptive
as well as her body.
As she ruminated on the
hopelessness in ever ‘getting over’ such a man, Jessie found herself being wheeled out of the hospital by the
arrogant rogue
and helped into his El Dorado.

What’s wrong with me?
Was it that shot of m
orphine
they gave her that
made her so pliable and easily maneuvered into his keeping?
The engine started, and they were moving out of the pa
rking lot. Jessie was going to
have to fight this growing lethargy if she was
to have any control over the attraction she still had
for the man beside her.

Why did he insist on
taking her home when her
b
rother and two friends could easily escort
her? Jessie licked her lips and tried to appear amused as she asked, “Are you trying to rescue me?”

Lex gave her a penetrating look. “Do
you need to be rescued?”

“Maybe a little. M
y guys always
take care of me.
”

“
Steve called
me
. Jack is
dusted, and by my observations, I’d say
so is Darrell, which is why he probably st
abbed you instead of Jack. W
hich leaves Steve.” He paused, giving her a fierce look before continuing. “Who, as I stated before, called me.”

“And you were just
sitting around
the castle, waiting around for the call to arms?” Jessie laughed, but the sound she intended to be amusing turned out to be caustic.

“Steve and I have an understanding.”

“Oh?”

“We
care about you
. We’d both do anything to protect you, even if it means k
eeping you away from your
family.”

Jessie hissed sharply
, grip
ped the seat with her free hand and swallowed
her panic.

“What is that supposed to mean?
” She insisted with all of the outrage she could muster, under the circumstances. “Jack wou
ld never hurt me.”

“Not
intentionally.  But t
hat’s
not what I was talking about.
”

Jessie took a de
ep breath to
clear her hea
d.

“I
missed
you
.” She found herself saying
and wished she could slap herself to make her head clear. That shot
was starting to affect her. She felt
relaxed, so relaxed that she was confessing things she didn’t want him to know.

“I’ve bee
n very busy.”

“But you’re always home?”

“I’m pleased y
ou noticed.” Lex
looked away from the road to gi
ve her a languid smile.

“Yeah,
well . . . I . . .” She started to say, as the painkiller
the doctor gave her
flowed delightfully through her system. “I wa
nted to . . . to call you--
but . . .”

“Your pride got in the way?
”

An uncomfortable silence grew between them. It seemed to be taking ages to go the few miles from the
hospital to their exclusive neighborhood
.  Jessie looked at the passing landscape, feeling a bit dizzy.

He was pas
t the turn off for their neighborhood.
“Where are you taking me?”

“For a short rid
e.”

Jessie gazed at his profile as he drove. She realized
she was glad to be with him, however
briefly.

“S
o, tell me?” She asked
. “
What do you do a
ll day at home? Watch talk shows or those nauseating soap o
peras?”

“Mysteries.” Lex offered with a smile.

“You read mysteries . . . all day?”

“No, I write them.” Lex turned off to park at the scenic overlook, and turned off the engine. He gazed wistfully out at the rolling waves of the Pacific Ocean.

“You’re a writer now?
”

He leaned back, placing his arm about the back of the car seat, and turned slightly so that he was looking at Jessie. “
Yeah.
I just signed a six book contract. Remember my abrupt trip to New York a couple of months back?”

Jessie nodded. It was the night he thought Steve was her lover. He
left for New York
the next morning without a word
.

“The novel
I spent the past y
ear writing was
accepted
by a major publisher
.
I’m under contract to write
five more as part of a
series. S
o, yes,
I’m always home; writing.”

“That’s wonderful.
” Jessie felt he
r spirits soaring in a strange exuberance that had to be drug induced. “
L
ex, I’m so happy for you.”  She moved
impulsively to give him a hug. His arms surrounded her as he obliged her intentions with a wide grin.

“Oh--
Oww
.
Ssssss
.
” Jessie exclaimed, hugging her aching
limb protectively.

“
B
ehave
or I’ll have t
o get out my leather restraints.
” Lex quipped, winking at her with pure fun in his eyes.

Jessie gave a weak laugh at his oblique reference to the stuntman she’d told him about. “What about your music career?” She leaned back into his familiar frame as his arms remained about her in a loose hug.

“I’m retiring.
Don’t you read the gossip rags?”

“I’ve been up to my eyeballs in our newest album release. We had to haul it hard to meet our deadline with the label in this past month. I’ll been sleeping with m
y guitar, when I sleep,
and it’s usually not a planned event
.
”

“I’m jealous . . .” His sultry blue eyes pinioned her. “Of that guitar, sweet thing.”

Jessie giggled. “Don’t be, it
’s cold
. Smooth
,
but cold.”

They stared at one another, not knowing what to
say
, reflecting back a thousand apologies in a still whisper betwe
en their s
ouls.
Slowly,
as if
in a dream sequence, it seemed to Jessie, they were merging together. His lips were soft
and full, their intention
sincere as they plied her own.

He withdrew slightly, whispering, “I’ve missed you,
Babe
.”

“Don’t call me that. I hate it.” Jessie was quick to reply.

“Is that why you broke up with me?” Lex drew away from her.

“I didn’t break up with you, Lex. You left me.”

“You refused to marry me, just like Crystal
did
.”

“No,
I didn’t refuse.
” Jessie sat up straight, coming to attention with his abrupt change from sweet to sour. “You wanted it
now
,
today.
I asked
you to step back, wait a while
and you
were offended. You stomped
off
in a huff. Y
ou left
me
--
just like those guys who alw
ays want sex on the first date
when I say ‘no, not yet, we’re moving too fast, they split. They dump me.’”

Lex turned the key and the engine started
. He checked the rearview
, shifted and pulled onto the road again.

“Right, so just drop me off at home.” Jessie insisted in a sharp hiss
.

“What are you hungry for?” he offered instead of acknowledging her accusation.

“I’m not.”

“You have to eat. You just said you’ve been living on the edge for a month with your new album coming out. It’s no wonder your band mates are trying to kill eac
h other.
”

“Will you just chill?
You don’t know what happened, wh
at kind of pressure we’re under
with Kyra ditching us
and the
record execs pushing Jack and me
into
the forefront of publicity. We have
jealousies cropping up and egos---” She was shouting, nearly crying, wanting more than anything to just open up the car door and jump out, leave his arrogance and self assurance
ass
behind
her
.

“Don’t I?” He pulled his gaze from the high
way just long enough to give Jessie
a  heated look. “We left Phoenix when we were eighteen, four of us, with a vision, just like you and the guys left Wisconsin. Fourteen years later, Mike Parks is the only origin
al member of the band he and I started.
It’s the ha
rd times that pull you together. Not the money. T
he success and
the publicity inflates egos.
I’ve been t
here and I don’t want to be there anymore
.  I’m retiring, starting a career as a writer which means I’ll probably lo
se Mike’s friendship now, too,
for not providing him with an easy income off m
y royalties for another ten to fifteen years
.”

“Does he know?” Jessie asked in a controlled voice. Lex was nearly snarling back at her, and he was right. He knew, better than she the hardships of the rock lifestyle.

“Yes
and he’s not too happy with me right now.” Lex pu
lled into the drive through of the
burger joint and ordered two c
heeseburger meals
. He fell silent as they waited at the window, a hard grimace on his face as he stared directly ahead, his fingers gripping
the steering wheel with tenacity. The window opened, he paid the waitress and took the bag without returning the woman’s wishes for a great day.

“
Here
.” He shoved the bag at her. “I’d take you out for a decent meal, but you really should go home and rest, like the doctor said.”

Jessie took the bag of
cheeseburgers from him.
She was hungry, not so much for junk food, but as the scent of fresh grease,
fried onions and meat
filled the front seat she couldn’t
resist reaching in
to
the bag
to
snag a burger
. Unwrapping it was a chore, as she had her arm wrapped tight and the shot they put in her IV was makin
g her clumsy. In the end, Lex
unwrapped the burger for her as he drove quickly down the P
acific Coast Highway
to their exit.