Hard Rock Unrehearsed (17 page)

“Baby I might have looked but that was all.”

“Oh really, you only looked.  Fine so tomorrow night when I look at those gorgeous buff guys who come to see me at the meet and greet and they show off their bodies you won’t mind.  I’ll be asked to sign their abs while they come on to me and you will be happy to stand there and watch while I touch their bodies because all I’m doing is looking.”

“Don’t push it baby.”  He could not disguise the snarl in his voice.

“She touched you and you did not do one damned thing to stop her!  You grinned down at her and ate up the body she displayed for you giving her the impression that you're available!”  His girl shook her head as she looked away from him with undisguised disgust.  “Why don’t I ever learn?  I had to stand around and watch women crawl all over Val and had to let it go because it was his job!  Now I learn to my eternal disgust that yet again I have to stand around and watch a woman making herself available to
my
man while he does nothing to discourage her.  Shame on me for not learning my lesson the first time around, but I’ll be damned if I let it happen to me again.”  She pushed against his chest and he relaxed his arms a little as she put space between them.  “I love you Diego but I’m not doing it again.  I’m no longer an anxious twenty year old trying desperately to hold onto her guy.  I loved Val but he hurt me with his continuous flirting and the stream of women who followed him where ever he went, women he never sent away because it was a part of the job as far as he was concerned.  Funny how Damon, who is the most gorgeous man I have ever seen by the way, sent all of the women to hell when he met Anne and had eyes only for her, and still does even now, two kids and eight years later.  But that’s not what I’m on about, or maybe it is.  I want what Damon and Anne have, a commitment so strong that nothing can shake it.  If you can’t give me that Diego now is the time to step away.  We’re new enough that if you walk away now it’ll hurt but I will heal and I will move on.  As they say in the movies, the choice is yours.”

Her eyes glittered with tears and fury as she looked up at him and his breath caught in his chest.  She was the most precious thing in his life and he was standing on the precipice about to lose her.  He had to let her know that his reaction to the slut had been a knee jerk reaction, something he was so used to doing in the time before Jade that he hadn’t given it a thought.  Hell he was giving it a thought now!  Looking down into her eyes he brought his hands up to frame her beautiful face.

“Baby I promise you it will never happen again.  It was disrespectful to you and to me.  I don’t ever want to hurt you and today I did because I’m a dick.  I love you and only you.  I want to live my life with you and plant my babies in you.  Who knows, my son might already be growing inside of you and I almost fucked it up for us.”  Dropping his forehead to hers he looked deep into his women’s eyes.  “I won’t ever treat you the way Val did, today was the first and last time, you have my solemn promise on that.  There will be no flirting and definitely no stream of women, hell I never understood why Val didn’t clean up his act when he had the best thing that ever happened to him right there on his arm.”  Stroking his thumbs over her cheekbones he wiped away the tears that dripped out of her beautiful eyes.  “Say you forgive me baby, tell me you love me and that you’ll marry me.”

Her eyes smiled up at him as she snorted in mock derision.  “If you think that is how you’re going to propose to me you are making a big mistake buster.  I want it all, the dinner, the candles, the flowers, the bended knee, the big ass ring, everything!”

Relief flew through him as he drew his head back and laughed.  “Okay baby, you got it but it’s going to happen when you least expect it and it’s going to be damned good.”  He already had an idea of how he wanted to do it, he was just going to need some help in pulling it off.

“If you two have finished sorting your selves out can we come in, and oh my God!  Did you just say you might be pregnant?”  Mel’s voice climbed higher and higher as she stormed into the room.

Diego looked around and only then noticed that while they were talking his father and Tag had left the room but now Mel and Astrid stood looking at them with huge ass smiles.

“It’s not to be discussed with anyone else.”  He clipped out as he pulled his woman into his side, holding her against him as he frowned at the two women.  “We will tell everyone else when we know for sure.  Can we count on you to keep it between us for now?”

Mel and Astrid nodded furiously and Mel even made as if she was zipping her lips to indicate that she wasn’t going to say a word to anyone.

Nodding Diego lifted his woman’s face and kissed her.  It was hot, deep and wet and it pleased him when he lifted his head to see her slowly opening her eyes and looking up at him with her eyes dazed and filled with love.

“I’ll go check on breakfast.”  He grinned at the women as he left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Michael Galloway and his father were waiting for him in the lounge, while the others could be heard talking in the kitchen.

“Is she gone?”

“Yes.  I’ve sent her to a hotel for tonight and tomorrow morning she will be on a flight back to New York.  One of my men will make sure she’s on the flight.”

“Good.”

“Is she okay Diego?”  His father asked softly.

“My brother did a lot of damage with his lifestyle.  I’ve given her my word that what happened here this morning will never happen again.  I acted like a dick Dad.”

“Yes you did but you’ve apologised and that’s all I can ask of you.  The women we Delgado’s choose to love are never easy but it comes with the reward that they love us as much, if not more, as we love them.  Remember that Diego and your home will be mostly peaceful.”  His Dad smiled as he clapped him on the shoulder.  “You do take note that I said mostly peaceful.”

“I don’t care, peaceful is overrated in any case.  I prefer passion and fire myself.”

Michael laughed and put his hand on his other shoulder.  “Then you have chosen the right woman son.  My princess is filled with passion and fire but I know that with you by her side she will find the peace that she needs to be happy.”  Moving away from them and towards the kitchen Michael winked.  “Let’s get this breakfast underway before we start chewing on the furniture.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Breakfast was great despite the drama of earlier.  An abundance of food coupled with the continuous teasing between the Galloway siblings and the members of the band made it a relaxed and enjoyable couple of hours.  From where she sat between Rick and Mike she had a perfect view of Jade and Diego and it was so very obvious that the two loved each other.  She smiled as Diego rubbed a thumb over the corner of Jade’s mouth to remove a bit of something stuck there then stuck that same thumb in his mouth.  She sighed softly at the gesture and looked back down at her plate.

“Why the sigh Astrid?”  Rick asked softly.

“I’m just happy for her Rick.  She deserves to have the love of a good man, a man who will love her and only her to the end of his days.”  She threw a quick sideways glance at him as she spoke then turned away as he raised his eyebrows at her.

“And you Astrid?  Are you looking for the love of a good man?”  He leant a little towards her catching her eyes as he spoke very quietly.

The sorrow that flew through her eyes was there and gone so quickly that Rick knew if he hadn’t been looking at her he would have missed it.

“We’re not talking about me.  What about you?  Are you looking for the love of a good man or a good woman?”  She grinned at him with sudden devilment.

Astrid stopped herself from gasping in surprise when Rick leant into her and whispered in her ear.  “I’m looking for one of each love and you'd fit so nicely into what I want.”

She gave a choked little laugh.  “Sorry but I’m too old for you.”

Rick grinned at her with a hot look in his eyes.  “I wouldn’t call forty two too old for me Astrid my love.  Age, after all, is only a number.”

Shaking her head slightly she smiled and looked down at her plate.  Rick Gaines was a dangerously sexy man.  But he didn’t give up that easily.

“Whenever you’re ready I’ll be waiting Astrid my love.”  He whispered before he sat back and continued his conversation with Trace as if he hadn’t said anything earth shattering at all.

Holy shit!

Lying on her belly on the big bed in her room Jade’s eyes was getting bigger and bigger as Mel dragged one outfit after the other out of her trunk of treasures.  Trunk of treasures indeed!  Mel had been busy and she had spiced up Jade’s look by about a hundred and fifty percent!  There were tiny tops and miniscule shorts, pants with cut-outs, bras that were sexier than the ones she presently wore when she played, shirts that defied the name of shirt they were so outrageous and footwear.  Good heavens the footwear!

“After hearing the story of the slut du jour I’m insisting that you wear what I choose for you to wear after the show tomorrow night.  It’s time you showed the world you’re a woman and not a badly dressed tomboy!  I’m going to have Diego Delgado sweating blood to keep the men away from you and teach him a lesson in humility at the same time.”  Mel stormed angrily.  She still hadn’t calmed down after Astrid had regaled her with the Holly story.

“We’ve sorted it out Mel.  He won’t ever disrespect me like that again.”  Jade tried to pour oil on the troubled waters but Mel would have none of it.

“I don’t care, he’s a man, they learn their lessons by following visual clues and I’m about to give him the biggest clue ever!  He’ll never disrespect my girl ever again, not if I have anything to do with it!”

Jade grinned and made big eyes at Astrid who sat in the arm chair next to the bed and watched Mel with obvious mirth.

“You have to forgive Mel her little rant Astrid, she’s been a bit uptight lately.  Not getting enough sex I think because she’s kicked yet another poor man to the curb.”

Mel snorted with fake anger and ignored her which just made Jade continue teasing.

“You have never seen anything like it Astrid, she burns through men like a wild fire and when she tells them it’s over they remain her friends, even taking her on friendly dinners and little outings.  It’s sickening!”   Jade winked at Astrid as Mel straightened and slammed her hands down over her slim hips.

“They know from the start that I’m looking for the right one and they all want the chance to see if they are it.”  Mel tilted her head and narrowed her eyes.  “Unlike someone who will remain anonymous I do not waste seven looong sexless years waiting for a man to wake his shit up and take his shot.”  Her eyes narrowed even more when Jade snorted with laughter.  “And you’re right I’m going through a bit of a dry spell.  All this flying about has made it difficult setting up a little bit of hanky-spanky.”

Astrid’s eyes went big.  “Hanky-spanky?”  She queried softly.

“Yip you heard right.  Our girl Mel here likes to be tied up and spanked, not as hard-core as Tag likes it, but still.  I’ve never found the fun in that I must admit, Val tried but I just couldn’t get into it.  Thank heavens Diego isn’t into it, he says he’s slightly to the left of vanilla which I take to mean he likes a bit of rough play with some bondage but no spanking and the shit that goes along with that.”  Jade rolled to sit up as she shared and grinned at Astrid’s shocked eyes.

“You girls really talk about anything and everything don’t you?”

“We’re best friends and both of us don’t have mothers we can turn to so we talk to each other.  I know everything about Mel and she knows everything about me.”  She wasn’t sure but she thought that Astrid was trying to feel her way about them to find out if she could share something.  And then Astrid shared and it took everything she had to keep the mirth off her face.  Trust Rick to rock the boat!

“Rick told me at breakfast that he would like me in a three-way relationship with him.  He told me when I was ready he would be waiting.”

Mel clapped her hands in glee.  “Yay!  I’ve got just the thing for you to wear when you rock his world!  Sexy lingerie is Rick’s Achilles heel.  Jade and I used to spy on him and his girls and when they wore sexy under things he became a wild man.  We got quite an education spying on them.  I actually asked him about the lingerie once and he just grinned at me and on my next birthday he gave me a gift card to his favourite lingerie shop!  It’s the only place I shop at now.”

Jade nodded as she swung her legs over the side of the bed.  “I got that too.  He told me straight up that a man likes his woman to make the most of what she’s got and since I had ample I had better make use of it.  I have to admit that when I’m not playing I like nice undies, it makes me feel good knowing that under my clothes I’m wearing sexy bras and panties.”

“Wow, you girls are really something.  When I was your age I would never have told my best friend about my sexual preferences, she would have died of shock!  Come to think about it I think I would have died of embarrassment while telling her.”  Astrid grinned at the two young women grinning back at her.

“Are you saying that you have a little bit of a kink as well?”  Mel watched closely as she asked.

“I can’t say that I’ve ever done anything like being tied up and spanked but I have to admit that Rick’s offer has made me think about having two men paying attention to me and I....... well I think I’d like that.”  Astrid frowned.  “The only problem I see is me not liking whoever Rick has in mind to join us, and that would not be good.”

Jade’s eyes widened as it suddenly occurred to her who Rick had in mind and she quickly hid her face by looking down and digging through the clothes strewn over the bed.  He wouldn’t!  Would he?  She knew that the two of them had shared women before but this had the potential to screw with all of them in a big way.  Lordy she hoped that Rick knew what the hell he was about.

“I have to get to the music room to meet with the guys, you choose whatever you think will work for me on stage and please don’t make what I have to wear to the after party too revealing.  I like to keep my body out of the tabloids as much as possible.”

Making her escape before either of the women could say anything Jade raced out of the room and into the music room, slamming the door behind her and leaning against it in case Mel tried to get her to go back into the bedroom.  She sighed with relief when five minutes went past and nothing happened.  As she stood leaning against the door the guys sat watching her with confused frowns, and wouldn't you believe it, Rick was there with them.  Oh joy!

Pointing a finger at him she let it rip.  “You had better know what you’re doing!  If you fuck it up I’m going to rip your nuts off and feed it to the fishes.”

Rick pretended innocence but his eyes were gleaming with devilment and anticipation.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about princess.”  He smiled as if he was innocence personified.

“I’m warning you Rick, don’t fuck it up.”

“Princess if I was doing anything that would warrant a warning you know I would be very careful and I would definitely not fuck it up.  Now let’s make some music.”

While she had been conferring with her girls they had set up the studio with the equipment stashed in the equipment room.  Everything was ready and waiting, they even had mics set up to record what they were going to be doing.  They had set it up so that they would all be able to see whoever sat in the booth.

She quickly realised that Rick wouldn’t be playing or singing with them, he would be at the desk in the booth.  With him manning the desk Jade knew they would get a very professional recording as Rick produced a lot of the songs that his band recorded.  He produced songs for other artists as well and was well respected in the business.  It was then that Jade realised that her Dad had had the small studio built for the two of them should either of them ever need a private place to record.  It was absolutely perfect.

“Play something you will be playing tomorrow night to give me an idea of where to set the levels.”  Rick ordered as he left the room closed the door of the booth behind him and settled behind the desk.  His voice filled the room as he opened the mic to talk to them.  “Ignore me and just play.  I will stop you when I’m ready.”

They played two songs before Rick stopped them.  “Okay, let’s do the song you want to play tomorrow night and then we will move onto the songs RJ wants to add to the repertoire for San Diego.”

“I want Jay to play piano on some of those songs Rick.”  Trace’s deep voice growled.

“No problem.  I’ll record the piano separately then mix it into the final track.”

“Cool.”  Trace grinned as she tapped a stick against her ride cymbal in irritation.

“Did anyone think to put a sign on the door to let everyone know not to come in while we’re recording?”  Giv suddenly asked.

“I flipped the recording sign on from here, no worries.”  Rick grinned through the glass then gave them the thumbs up.

“We will be doing
‘Wishing and Wanting’
first.”  Trace took his stance in front of the mic and waited for Jade to count them in.

From there on it just flowed.  They did three songs before Rick told them to take a break.  As they sat sipping water and Trace sipped on his usual throat lubricating honey and brandy concoction Rick played it back for them.

“Holy shit!  That’s fuckin’ amazing!  All three of those songs rock the living shit out of it!”  Jimmy could hardly contain himself he was so excited while Trace just grinned.

Rick came out of the booth and stood looking down at them where they were lounging on the couches.  He shoved his hands into the pockets of his threadbare jeans before he spoke.  “I am producing this album.  There is no fuckin’ way I will allow anyone else to touch it.  We’ll use my guys to engineer it and if you boys are clever you will sign with Regional before we record it.  If you have any more material like the three songs you just played this album is going to earn you a Grammy.”

Jimmy and Giv smacked their hands together as all of them whooped with excitement.

Jade grinned at Trace as he leant over and pulled her braid.  “You and RJ better get on it girl, we need at least nine more songs by the time we get back from Europe.”

Rick jumped in and interrupted them.  “Wait, wait!  Are you fuckin’ with me?  This is Jade’s work?”

“Yeah man, she’s been working every night when she wasn’t able to sleep and if RJ hadn’t found out about it she wouldn’t have told anyone.  She even had Tag sworn to secrecy.”  Trace shared.  “She has a voice that peels the skin off you when she sings it’s so sexy.  I want to do
‘Wishing and Wanting’
as a duet with her when we record it and the song she was working on last night is so good it had the hair standing up on my arms.”

Rick swung around to her.  “Is it ready?”

“I think it’s done but it’s kind of hardcore and I have to play the piano or a keyboard so I can’t really do it now.”

“That’s no problem, Jimmy can play the drums and you can put down a drum track over it later.”  Trace ordered as he shooed her off the couch and to the piano which Rick, Jimmy and RJ had already swung so she would be able to see the rest of them while they played and to keep an eye on Rick in the booth.

Rick had the lid open and was setting a mic up for her, working furiously to get it done and get to the music.  The door opened as they were moving equipment around and Diego and Tag came in and sat down on the couch where they would be out of the way.  Jade was too busy stressing out to pay any attention to them.