Back-Up (34 page)

“Thank you.”

At the end of our day Jennifer makes an announcement. “Make sure you are all at the photographers at nine sharp. I know this is the middle of the night for you guys but suck it up…especially you, Trey.”

He
gives Jennifer a look that clearly says, “Bite me.”

Jack secretly told me the session doesn’t start until ten, but Jennifer made him promise to not let the boys know that small detail.

As I’m gathering my things to get ready to leave, Scott says to Jack, “Let’s go to Granite. Trini has been asking for you.” I sneak a quick peek at Jack and he stiffens slightly.

“Oh
, I don’t know. I’m not in the mood.” He shoves sheet music into his bag.

Scott
asks, “Do you have other plans with the brunette from…”

“You don’t know her.” Jack cuts Scott off before he can finish his sentence. He looks at me and adds, “I’ll see you guys at the shoot tomorrow. Don’t be late.”
Then he strolls out of the studio.

Scott turns to Hunter.
“He’s such a dog.”

Hunter nods and looks over at me. He catches me biting on my lip and I quickly turn my back to grab my bag.

A few minutes later I say my own good-bye. The guys respond, which I barely hear. I can’t get out of the studio fast enough.

Was Jack serious? I’m a little stunned at what I just heard and it stings more than I’d like to admit. He has a date tonight? What t
he fuck? I get that he has to act normal in front of the guys because it was my idea after all, but he could have warned me that we would be continuing with our private lives. He never claimed to be exclusive. Even so, there is no way I’ll be ok with him sleeping around while he’s sleeping with me.

I take a deep breath and walk to the lot where my car is parked. As I approach Bessie, I see Jack leaning a
gainst the driver’s side door and it catches me off guard.

“Hey.” I say
, slowly walking towards him.

“Hey.” He
grabs my bag from my hand.

“What are you doing here?”

“Um, I packed some things. I didn’t know if today would work as I planned, but since it has, I’d like to come home with you tonight.”

“You’re a good actor. You had me convinced you had plans.”

He pushes my hair off my shoulder and touches my ear lobe. “You should have known it was an act.” When he kisses me, I drop my car keys.

Laughing, he picks them up and says, “I’ll drive.”

Chapter 22- Jack

“Damn woman, this is delicious.” I point out as I scoff down my third helping of penne with vodka sauce.

“I don’t cook a lot
but I can make this well.” She answers with a smile. “I’ve had a lot of practice since the guys love this dish. It’s all they want me to make for them.”

“It’s really good. I’m stuffed.
” I push my plate away. “I’ll clean up.”

She looks at me suspiciously. “You’ll clean up? Why do I feel this is gonna cost me?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” I grab our plates to bring them to the kitchen. She follows and watches me like I’m crazy.

“What?”

“Do you know you have to use soap, rock star?” She says as she grabs a dishtowel to dry.

“Smartass.” I say as I flick water at her. Giggling, she hi
des behind her dishtowel. Not being able to resist, I turn the sink hose on her full blast. Her screams make her that much more endearing as she hides in the corner.

“I love the sound of your laugh.”  I also love the way she looks down when she is embarrassed. I love the way she wrinkles her nose when she doesn’t like something I say. I love the way she mumbles in her sleep. She has said my name a couple of times already, and I have to stop myself from waking her up to devour her.

I want nothing more than to do that right now. As she stands in her kitchen, her t-shirt clinging to her breasts, leaving nothing to the imagination, I am throbbing with need. I lean forward, tugging her towards me by her wet t-shirt and bringing her wet body up against mine.

“Jack, I’m drenched!”

“Just the way I like you.” 

Her heated gaze focuses on my lips. In a flash we are manically
remove each other clothing and literally try to consume each other. I can’t get enough of her; she’s like a drug to me. Just one hit causes me to spiral out of control.

I lift her and carry her t
o her bed, devouring her mouth on the way.

Wasting no time, I drag
finger up her leg and straight to her clit. The process causes her to shiver. My fingers stroke and caress her slowly as I take her nipple into my mouth. I mimic the motion of my tongue on her nipple with my fingers below and I sense her building. Her hands holding my wrist in place as she moves against it.

“No… not yet.” I say removing my hand.

“Jack, please.”

I slowly kiss my way down her body and she grabs my shoulders to pull me up. Shaking my head, I continue
my path. “I need to taste you.” She surrenders and lies back allowing me to reach where I need to be.

I bend her knees
and open her up to me. I place a single kiss on her, causing her to inhale sharply. She’s so smooth, so soft. Dragging my tongue over her, I taste her like it’s the first time. She fists the blanket beneath her hands as I try to consume her savagely.

“Oh god…Jack. Please, please.” She pleads as I pull away. I could taste her for hours, but I need to be in her, looking at her when we connect.

She huffs in frustration, and I smile against her skin as I slowly move up over her body. I lace our fingers together and lift our hands above her head. I’m positioned at her entrance, and I slowly sink into her. She closes her eyes, but I can’t look away from her beautiful face.

“Open
them.” I command as I move slowly in and out of her body. She feels like heaven. She clenches around me and I’m fighting to remain in control. 

She finally opens her eyes, and they are moist with unshed tears. I kiss her and grip her fingers tightly with my own. The sensation is unbearable, and I’m quickly building. I won’t be able to hold off any longer.

“Leila, please get there. I can’t hold back.” She wraps her legs around me in an effort to get me deeper. I pull out and slam back in, causing her to gasp. Removing my hand from one of hers to slide it down between our bodies, I begin to touch her where we are connected.

She pants my name and I feel her coming apart beneath me. I watch her face as I bring her to the edge
of reason. Her shuddering body immediately causes me to let go as well. I look directly into her eyes as I moan with my own release. Our orgasms roll on wave after wave. I still feel her tremors as she continues to clench around me.

Once my
body stills, I can’t look away, pull out, or move, afraid of breaking the connection. We remain this way until our pants subside, and our breathing returns to normal. I then pull her into my arms and hold her tightly until we both fall asleep.

The next morning, I wake first. W
atching her sleeping so peacefully simply leaves me breathless. Her long brown hair is fanned out around her naked torso, with one perfect pink nipple peeking through. Not being able to help myself, I slowly skim a fingertip across it, and it instantly pebbles beneath my touch. Even in her sleep, she reacts to my touch…as I do to hers. She stirs slightly, her tongue poking out to lick her perfect lips. I can watch her for hours. But I really should wake her, though, since we need to start getting ready to leave for the photographers.

Running my fingertip over her nipple again, she stirs but doesn’t wake. Bending, I pull her pebbled nipple between my lips, watching as she slowly moans and opens her eyes.

“Mmm, nice wake up call.”

“Like that?”

“Mmm…yes.”

“We need to get up sleepy
head. It’s getting late.”

S
he rolls away from me. “Can’t we stay here, and skip the photo shoot. I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Nice try.”

She moves over my body, kisses me erotically, causing my excitement to instantly grow. “You’re playing a dirty game, Miss Marino.” I smack her on her butt. “Time to shower.”

“I don’t wanna.”

Jumping off the bed, I walk over to my jeans, still laying crumpled on the floor, and bend over to fish out my phone.

“Well we hafta.”

Turning, I see Leila on her stomach, kicking her feet behind her in the air, her head on her hands, blatantly molesting me with her gaze.

“You like?” I ask, raising my eyebrows suggestively.

Nodding, while grinning like a fool, she says, “Uh huh.”

“And you say I’m insatiable.” Walking back
towards the bed, I grab her hands and pull her up until she is up on her knees and our bodies are pressed up against each other. Bending, I pull her bottom lip in between my teeth and tug.

“Shower time.” Turning, I reach behind my back to grab her thighs and pull h
er up to give her a piggyback ride. Squealing, she wraps her arms around my neck as I carry her into the bathroom. Setting her down long enough to turn on the water, I take her hand, helping her climb into the shower. As she watches me, I join her under the shower’s steady stream.

“I thought we were late.”

“We are. I’m saving time…showering together and making love to you all at the same time. Smart idea, right?”

“Brilliant.”

Standing behind her, I wrap my arms around her waist, my cock is pressing into her lower back. Pulling her hips towards me, I then reach for her hands. Entwining our fingers, I raise them up against the wall in front of us. Positioning myself, I slowly slide in.

It’s
way too soon before we climax together, our hands tightly entwined. Our pants are competing with the steady sound of water hitting our bodies. My pounding heart is pressed up against her back while her head rests on my chest. This is exactly where I want to be…forever.

Fifteen minutes later, as we are hurriedly getting dressed and ready for the shoot, I notice we move around each other like we’ve been together for years. It’s strange. I’m so comfortable with her. I would never have imagined feeling like this
with anyone. It wasn’t something I wanted or craved. Now that I’ve experienced this with Leila, I never want to go back to live the way I used to. It sickens me to think about all the women I’ve been with. They didn’t care for me, and I sure didn’t care for them. Except for Trini…she always has my back. I should call her. I haven’t spoken to her besides a few texts since the night of my party. She will be happy that I’m happy.

Moving towards her, I wrap my arms around her as she tries to get dressed. “Ok…out! Now!” She says, pointing to the door.

“You’re no fun.”

Sitting in her favorite chair, I’m waiting for her to finish getting ready. I’m totally lost in thought when my phone buzzes with Hunter’s name on the screen. I can ignore it, which would probably send him into a panic thinking I’m passed out at some chick’s house sleeping right through our appointment. It’s annoying, because I’ve never given him any reason to have to check up on me or keep tabs on me.
Whatever, he’s in manager mode and all.

I decide it’s not worth the trouble and I answer my phone.

“Yes?”

“Just making sure you are alive.” He
replies. “Where are you?”

“I’m on my way.” I know what he meant...he meant, who am I with?

“Ok, just double-checking. See you there.” He says hanging up.

“So annoying.” I
mutter aloud.

“Who?” Leila asks as she walks into the room. She looks fantastic. She is wearing a dress that show off her tan legs, her hair is lose and down, she looks so good.

“You look really nice.” I mention appreciatively. She smiles and comes to sit next to me on the couch. “Thanks. Who’s annoying?” she asks again.

“Oh…Hunter. He’s checking up on me and it’s annoying.” I kiss her cheek. “Ready?” She nods and we leave her apartment.

She is very quiet on the drive to the city. I can guess it’s because she is nervous about this photo shoot. Eventually I take her grasp and tell her, “Stop stressing.”

“I’m not stressing.”

“You are an awful liar.” I squeeze her hand.

At five minutes to nine, I pull up in front of the building to drop Leila off. “I’ll go park your car, this way you can go inside well before I do.” She nods
. 

J
ust as she is about to get out of the car I see Dylan walking towards the building. She looks over at me confused when I grab her hand again.

“Dylan.” I say nodding towards the building. She gasps and turns her body so her back is to the door.

“Oh crap. Do you think he saw us?”

I watch Dylan head through the doors and shake my head. “No, he didn’t. That was a close call though.” She nods with relief. “Go ahead, I’ll see you upstairs.”

She turns and opens her door. I watch her look left then right, and bolt to the front doors. I hate this…it shouldn’t be like this. I should be able to proudly be with her and not have to hide. I need to convince her that if no one else, our inner circle should know about us. There is no reason we should hide.

***

Ok, this fucking sucks!

We have been manhandled, our hair has been done, our faces made up, and we were forced to try on a dozen different things until the photographer approved. We are all dressed casually in t-shirts and jeans. After an exhausting argument, thank God the photographer finally allowed Trey to keep on his shades.

The said photographer is named Pierre and is very eccentric. He has a small army of staff at his beck and call. He keeps fiddling with my hair and I want to slug him. We are now sitting in a studio waiting for Leila, and I’m done.

“That chick put lipstick on me. This sucks ass.” Hunter says wiping his lips with the back of his hand.

“It’s necessary for the camera to capture your faces properly.” Jennifer
explains as she paces the room again. She is getting on my nerves.

“Can you please sit down? Y
ou’re driving me crazy.” She scowls and sits in a chair.

I don’t mean to be so harsh, but I’m in a bad mood and I’m not hiding it well. My day started out great, until we were almost seen by Dylan. Then as I’m parking the car, distracted by thoughts of hiding my relationship with Leila, I answered my cell without checking to see who was calling. Big mistake!

Jessa, my high school girlfriend was calling to let me know she would be seeing our first show. She asked to see me afterwards and I told her absolutely not. She said one way or another she would see me. We were on the phone all of two minutes, when I wanted to put my fist through a wall. The phone calls and texts have been coming daily, and I’ve been ignoring them. I can’t stand it anymore. I have no doubt that she wants something.

Hearing a commotion in the corner of the room, I snap back to reality and remember where I am. What is taking so long? We are sitting here for almost an hour and we are all getting really cranky.

The door finally opens and my mouth drops.

Holy
shit!

Leila stops at the door
and she doesn’t look happy at all. Every person in the room is staring at her and it’s making her uncomfortable, as well as me.

I slowly walk over to
her and ask, “What’s wrong?”

“I look ridiculous.” She
agonizes.