Inked Chaos (18 page)

Peering into the mirror, it’s plain to see
that I’ve just had the most amazing sex.  It’s written all over my face, and I
adore it.  I adore the fact that I feel safe and loved, and I relish the fact
that I totally trust AJ with my heart.  Smiling at myself in the mirror, I head
back into the bedroom, and as AJ sees me, he heads towards the bathroom.

Jumping into bed, I pull the covers over
myself and wait for him.

I watch as he strolls out of the bathroom
naked.  God, he takes my breath away.  He truly is a beautiful man from top to
toe.  There’s not an inch of fat, his body toned and hard, with his tattoos
showing his muscles off to perfection.  With his dark hair shining, and his stunning
blue eyes, edged with the longest lashes I have ever seen on a man.  Just a
smidgen of chest hair, lean hips and strong legs.  Yep, he’s the total package,
and I smile to myself knowing that he is mine.

Noticing my smile, AJ raises a quizzical
eyebrow as he climbs into bed and pulls me into his arms.

“You seem pleased with yourself.” He laughs
as I snuggle close and rest my head on his shoulder.

“Oh, I am.” I smile. “I’m just so pleased
with myself for having a really sexy man.”

Feeling his body shake, I glance at him to
find he is silently laughing.  

“You’re good for my ego.”
He laughs.

“Seriously? Do you
not know how hot you are?”

“It’s all hype
Birdie, I’m just me.”

“But you’re a hot
you.” I retort.

“Okay, I’m a hot me.” He
replies, laughing.

“I give up.” I reply,
snuggling in even closer.

“Good.  Now how was your
flight?”

After telling him about the nightmare that
was my flight, we fill each other in about each other’s life, over the last few
days.  AJ being particularly interested in the interviews and book signings I
had attended.  To my surprise, he is all for me doing promotional work while I
am here, even though it will interfere with our time together.  Although as I
haven’t a return flight booked, it does seem irrelevant.

AJ imparts that the tour had gone well.  They
have a few gigs set up over the next few weeks, trying to have everything
organised before Razor and Jens wedding; so that they can clear their diaries
for the big event, and the following honeymoon.  I ask if he knows where they are
going, but he denies all knowledge, but admits that “no offence Birdie, but
even if I knew I wouldn’t tell you.  I’d have been sworn to secrecy by Razor,
and I wouldn’t risk his wrath if Jen were to find out.” This leaves me debating
if he knows or not, but happy that he was loyal to his best friend.

As the next few days are going to be hectic,
with Jen and I having appointments regarding the wedding.  I thought AJ would want
to stay close to home tonight, but much to my surprise, he informs me that he
has arranged to go out for a quiet dinner at a well-known prestigious
restaurant.  Even though I am a little disappointed not to be spending time at
home, I appreciate the fact that he wants to make the night special for me.

After we have both taken a little nap,
(mine totally unintentional, having fallen asleep through pure jet lag, and
sexual exhaustion), we head down into the city, driven by Tiny with Wade riding
shotgun.  AJ seemingly on edge, and jittery, and I wonder what’s bothering him.

Arriving at the restaurant, we walk through
the foyer flanked by Tiny and Wade, and are greeted by the manager, who ushers
us to the rear of the room.  I presume leading us to a secluded table.

Stopping outside a door, he smiles as he
opens it, and stands aside for us to enter.

With AJ’s hand on my back I enter the room,
suddenly coming to an abrupt halt, as the room erupts into cheers of welcome
home, for the room is filled with people welcoming me back.

All the band are there with their
girlfriends, Jason with April, Travis with Naomi, even Zack has an unknown to
me, gorgeous lady on his arm.  I notice Steve, Joe and the other bodyguard from
the airport, who I later discover is called Dave, and finally my eyes fall upon
Razor and Jen, and in that moment it all becomes too much for me to cope.  My
vision blurs as my eyes fill up, the tears overflow, and start flowing down my
cheeks.  My breath hitches with a sob, and through the tears I watch Jen
walking towards me, and suddenly I’m encased in her arms.

“Welcome home Boo.” She says on a sob, and
for what feels like forever we hold each other tightly, before looking at each
other and laughing through the tears.  I turn to glare at AJ standing at my
side with a sly and cheeky grin on his face.

“I’ll deal with you
later.” I warn him.

“What?” he playfully
questions.

“You’ll get ‘what?’ Quiet
dinner, eh?” Is my reply.

“Look
forward to it babe.” He replies suggestively with a wink, as he walks away with
a shout of “Can someone find me and my girl a drink.”

Turning
to Jen, I hold her at arm’s length, and look her up and down.  She looks good,
more than good.  She’s happy, content and more importantly in love, and it
shows.  I look towards the reason for this happiness and see Razor standing at
her side, a huge grin on his face.

“Welcome
home Boo.” He says quietly as he moves in for a hug.  It doesn’t escape me that
he calls me by the family name, and I love that he used it.  He feels like
family.  It feels right that he used it, and I swiftly squeeze my arms tightly,
hopefully letting him know that I loved that fact.

I turn
towards AJ as he arrives at my side, and hands me a glass of champagne.

“Good surprise?” AJ whispers in my ear.

“Wonderful.
 Thank you.” I smile. “You’ll receive your reward later.” I tell him with a
teasing leer, and watch as his eyes darken with the anticipation of things to
come later; and I feel a thrill between my legs at the thought.

“One
more thing.” He says as he reaches into the inside pocket of his jacket, “I
missed your birthday.  I had hoped to give you this last week, but that
couldn’t be helped.  So Happy Birthday my Birdie.” As he passes me a jewellery
box.

Stunned,
I take the box from him. “AJ?” I whisper.  Wondering how he knew it had been my
birthday, I open the box to find a stunning Tiffany cuff bracelet.  So
exquisite it takes my breath away.

“Oh AJ! It’s beautiful.  I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t
say anything.  Here, let me put it on.” He says, taking it from the box.  He
fastens the cuff around my wrist, and gently kisses my palm.

“Perfect.”
He states.  I open my mouth to thank him, only to be interrupted by Steve, who
says he needs a quick word with AJ.  So we part company, and as he walks away,
I hope my feelings are showing on my face, and he realises that I will show my
appreciation later, in rather a different way.

I’m drunk.  Totally and
utterly drunk.  I have partied the night away, danced myself stupid and had the
best night of my life.  I don’t care that my feet hurt.  In my usual ritual I
had taken off my shoes halfway through the night as I danced, and after
drunkenly hunting around the room to find them, they now reside on the floor of
the car, where AJ had thrown them.

The evening had started, by everyone
proceeding to give me a hug.  We had chatted and caught up on each other’s
news, and I had been congratulated on the release and future success of my
book.

I had then had the shock of my life, when
AJ had led me over to a group of people consisting of two women and a man, who
he had introduced as his mother Jeanie, a beautiful, stylish woman who clearly
knew just what to wear, and in possession of a beautiful smile.  His sister
Casey, who shared her mother’s smile, looked like a model with a figure to match,
and had the most stunning, long raven black hair I had ever seen; and her
husband Mitch, a well-built, handsome six foot four inch, blond haired, bruiser
of a guy.

I had held my own and hidden my shock.  Well,
I think I did, as they had all hugged me.  I had looked at AJ over his mother’s
shoulder as she hugged me, with an expression that let him know we would be
discussing this momentous event later.  To which he had just grinned at me,
thus making me even more annoyed.

We had eaten a sumptuous meal, followed
much to my embarrassment, by a cake in the shape of a book being brought out,
to everyone cheering.  The whole evening had been wonderful, topped by an
emotional few minutes, where AJ had stood and tapped his glass to gain
everyone’s attention, before giving a speech.

A speech where he congratulated me on the
book, even though he confessed to not reading it, and definitely not planning
to, much to the amusement of all gathered.  He also spoke of his joy at my
return to LA.  How he had missed me, and lastly how much he loved me.  Then,
seeing my watery emotional eyes, he joked about locking me up so that I never
leave LA again.  After which he leant down, wrapped a hand around the back of
my neck, and kissed me.  Hard.

For a few moments, both of us lost just
gazing into each other’s eyes, an unspoken message passed between us, which
heightened my anticipation of later, when we would be alone.

When the background music had been turned
up, I had grabbed Jen and dragged her to the small dance floor.  The minute we
hit it, we had done our usual thing, and danced as if totally alone in our own
little worlds.  When I went back to the table to quench my thirst, AJ had
broken off his conversation with Razor to look at me.

“Just saying babe, you dance like a goof.”
He laughed.

Being totally inebriated I took immediate
offence.

“No, I don’t.”

“Yeah babe, you do.”  

I stood for several moments, staring at him
with a drunken frown, mentally willing him to change his statement, and when it
was perfectly clear he wasn’t going to, in a huff I’d snapped.

“No.  I do not.” Only to hear his laughter
as I’d walked away.  My anger however, didn’t last long.  Due to the fact that
shortly afterwards, AJ had joined me on the dance floor, and after grabbing me,
proceeded to throw me around the dance floor like a pro.  

As the night wore on, we laughed, talked,
danced and yes, even made out, much to my embarrassment, due to it being in the
presence of his family.  When at two in the morning, AJ suggested it was time
to head home, I had thrown my arms in the air and shouted.

“Yayyyy home time.” At the top of my voice,
to which AJ’s response was.

“See total goofball.”
Much to the amusement of our friends.

“Will you stop calling me a goofball? I am
not a goof.” I slightly slurred drunkenly.

“Okay, you’re a dork.” Was his reply.  Which
meant, he got the full on treatment of me standing with my hands on hips, and
trying in my stupor to give him the evil eye.

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, I really
did look a dork.  A delightfully funny dork, according to AJ, which he would
inform me of the next morning.  In fact, he had to remind me of quite a few
things the next morning.

*****

I open one eye and just as quickly close it
with a groan.  I have a herd of elephants trampling round in my head, and I
don’t know what spooked them, but I wish they would trample off someplace else
and leave me in peace.

Gingerly opening my eye again, I notice the
bed next to me is empty.  Slowly twisting over onto my back, I raise a hand to
my head just to make sure it’s still attached.  On hearing a noise to my right,
I look to see AJ leaning up against the bathroom door, wearing a towel around
his hips, a grin on his face and not much else.

“Morning.” He smirks.

With a groan, I pull the
covers up over my head and hide.

 “Stop being so chipper.  I
can’t take it when you’re so chipper.”

Hearing him chuckle, I know he is moving
closer, and sure enough within a few seconds, the covers are pulled off me and
there is AJ, apparently none the worse for wear.  In fact, much to my annoyance,
looking damn fine indeed, no sign of a hangover in sight.

“Feeling rough?” he
enquires.

“I’m dead.” Is my deadpan reply.  To which
he starts laughing, as he reaches over to the bedside cabinet, where he picks
up a glass of orange juice and two tablets.

“Here.” He says, holding
out his hand, and at my questioning

look.   “Ibuprofen.  It will
help.”  

Tentatively, I sit up, take the glass from
him and swallow the tablets, pass him back the glass, and fall back onto the
bed.

“How come you don’t have a hangover?” I
query. “It’s just not fair that you aren’t suffering like me.  I think it’s
totally mean that you make me suffer all on my own.”

This remark results in his lying down on
the bed laughing, with a reply of, “Such a total goof.” Followed by a full blown
account of the events from the night before.

To which my reply, after staring at him
horrified for several seconds, is to once again pull the covers over my head,
with a plea of, “Please.  Kill me now.”

On hearing his laughter, I push the covers
back down and try my evil stare, but as it hurts my eyes and head, and it
appears to be having no effect whatsoever, I give up, and once again cover my
head.

“Just so you know, Mum
and Casey love you.” He states.

This brings me sitting upright with such
speed it makes my head spin, and I stare at him in a shocked stupor.

“They agree with me that you’re a goof, but
they think you’re adorable.”

“Oh my God! Oh my God!” These words being
uttered in quick succession, as I push the bed covers off and scramble to climb
out of bed; my legs becoming tangled in the covers, tripping me up in my rush
to do so.

Reaching out and wrapping an arm around my
waist, AJ pulls me back into his lap, and I can feel his body shaking with
silent laughter.

“It’s so not funny AJ.  Now let me go,
quickly.” I say pushing at his arms trying to release myself.

“Birdie calm down.  Where
are you going?”

“Calm down! Are you mad? I have to call
your mother, and beg forgiveness for my behaviour last night.  God, she must
think you’re dating a drunken lunatic.” I shout, still trying to extricate
myself from his hold.

Tightening his arms and giving me a little
shake, he rests his chin on my shoulder.

“Birdie.  Stop.  Honestly, it’s all good.  We
were all drunk, including my mum.  Did you not see her drag Razor onto the
dance floor, and try to teach him to jive.  Damn, funniest thing I ever saw.  Honey
believe me, we all had a good time and she loves you, as do Casey and Mitch.  I
know this, because I heard it straight from their mouths as you were dancing
your goofy dance on the dance floor.”

I stop struggling.  I do remember that.  I also
remember we all laughed our heads off about it, including his mum and sister.  So
now feeling slightly embarrassed about my mini freak out, I focus on the only
thing I can think of as a cover.

“It’s not a goofy dance.”
I say petulantly.

“Okay, it’s not goofy, but whatever it is
Birdie, I love it.  It’s you, I love you so I love it.  Now give me a kiss good
morning, and I’ll go find you some breakfast.”

At the thought of breakfast, my stomach
churns, so turning towards him, I give him a quick peck on the lips, and start
to pull away, declining breakfast and saying I am going to hit the shower.  However,
I don’t reach very far, as AJ’s arms tighten around me.  So I look down at him
quizzically, with a raised eyebrow.

“I said a kiss.” He
shares.

“I just did.”

“That was no kiss.  That was a peck.  Now
are you going to kiss me good morning, or do I have to take drastic action to
get one?”

“Drastic action?” I ask staring with wide
eyes.  Receiving no reply, I purse my lips and narrow my eyes before enquiring,
“What sort of drastic action?”

“The sort of drastic action that you’re
going to enjoy.” He replies with a smile.

“Oh, that sort.” I say breathlessly,
feeling ever so slightly excited.  

Definitely liking the idea of his form of
drastic action, I decide to play along and with a teasing smile on my lips, I
pretend to pull away from him.  Within seconds I’m flat on my back, and AJ
shows me exactly what he means.  Which I might add, is not so drastic at all,
but absolutely mind blowing, and delayed breakfast.

*****

Looking in the mirror I survey myself, the
Ibuprofen has worked and I feel all but normal.  I’m meeting Jen today, and we
have a heavy schedule.  The first stop is the bridal shop so Jen can show me
her gown, and organise my dress.  With this in mind, I decided it best if I
wear a dress.  With undressing and redressing etc., it seemed an easier option
than jeans or leggings.  So here I stand, wearing a white dress that has red
poppies on it.  It sounds so loud and garish, but is stunning, and I’ve matched
it with strappy sandals, and a shoulder bag.

Pleased with the outfit, I head down to the
kitchen, the smell of bacon cooking, becoming stronger the closer I walk.  By
the time I push open the door and enter the kitchen, my stomach is rumbling and
I feel like I haven’t eaten for a week.

AJ is standing at the cooker, and Millie is
busily wiping down the counter top.  On my entrance, AJ turns and smiles at me,
turns back to the cooker and within seconds, turns to me again, holding out a
plate, containing the best looking bacon sandwich in the great old US of A.  Almost
snatching it out of his hands, I hold half of the sandwich, take a huge bite,
close my eyes, and relish every single morsel.

Hearing AJ laughing, I open my eyes to see
he’s looking at Millie while he does so.  Turning towards me, he walks over to
the counter and leaning down on his forearms, watches as I take another bite.

“Good?” he asks.

Quickly finishing chewing and swallowing, I
nod my head and smile.

“So, so good.  You have no idea.  Thanks.”
After which I proceeded to take another bite of the delicious delicacy.  It has
to be said, there is just something phenomenal, about eating a bacon sandwich
the morning after the night before.  Heaven.

Turning away from me chuckling, he grabs
two cups of coffee and walks around to sit next to me at the counter.  Holding
my sandwich out towards him, I gesture as if to ask him did he want a bite, but
he shakes his head, and informs me he has already eaten.  While I eat, I watch
as Millie starts the process of cleaning up the kitchen, and it comes to me,
that AJ may make a mean sandwich, but he makes a hell of a mess whilst doing
it.  Turning towards him, as I still have a mouthful, I tilt my head to the
side and pointedly with squinted eyes, look back to where Millie is cleaning
up.  Making a point that as he made the mess, surely he should be cleaning it
up.  To which AJ informs Millie, that I am giving him the glare about her
cleaning up his mess.

“Oh no Jorgi.  See I would rather do the
cleaning up and know it was done properly, than have to go over it again
afterwards.  You know what men are like.  No offence AJ.” She states, turning
to him with a smile.

On turning back to me, she informs me that
it’s really her kitchen, and the only reason she let AJ cook my sandwich, was
because he told her I was feeling off colour.

“Millie’s very territorial about the
kitchen.” AJ announces with a smile, and takes a sip of coffee.

Swinging my eyes from his, back to Millie
and then back to him and reading their expressions, I swallow the last of my
breakfast and state. “Noted.” Which receives smiles from both, as I take a sip
of my coffee.

Hearing the door open behind me, I swivel
around to watch Tiny and Wade walking in.  AJ asks me if I’m ready to go, and grabbing
my bag, we all walk out to the front of the house.

I climb into the back of the Range Rover,
and Wade climbs in behind the steering wheel, leaving Tiny with AJ.  

As Jen and I have a full day, and AJ has a
busy schedule, the plan is to meet back at the house this evening, and we will
stay home and have a quiet night in.

Reaching into the back of the car, AJ gives
me a quick kiss, and tells me to have fun, before closing the door and we pull
away.  With me giving what I will admit, a goofy kind of wave goodbye as we do
so.