Rock Stars Do It Forever (13 page)

Jamie rubbed her palms on her thighs. “Yeah, see, for me, that’s exactly what I need. I’ve been so…closed off, numb…and just
bored
with sex, with men in general. Chase makes me feel alive. Like I’ve just been dreaming until now, and Chase is reality.”

Anna giggled, a little hysterically. “This is a strange-ass conversation.” She twisted the engagement ring and wedding band around her finger. “Jeff is exactly what I need. Being with him, making love to him is…it makes me feel cherished. He takes his time, he’s so slow and sweet and thorough, and he can get a little freaky sometimes, but mainly, it’s just…so completely what my soul and my heart and my body need.” Jamie wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she kept silent until Anna blew out a harsh breath and turned to Jamie. “I’m trying really hard to be cool about this. But…I’m upset. I’m confused. I’m hurt. I’m kinda angry, actually. I mean, I know this wasn’t something you intentionally chose, so it may not be
fair
for me to be pissed off, but it’s hard to ignore how I feel just because it’s not ‘fair.’” Anna used air quotes when she said the last word.

“I’m sorry, Anna. You have every right to be pissed at me. I get it. And yeah, I didn’t ask for this, but…I can’t—I don’t know what to do. Just don’t make me choose between you and him, please? I couldn’t—couldn’t do that. I love you, you’re my best and oldest friend. But Chase? He’s…I feel like he’s my future.”

“I’m not gonna make you choose, Jay. I wouldn’t do that. But I need time. I need to talk to Jeff about this. Just…give me time.” Anna stuck her key in the ignition but didn’t turn it. “I’m not gonna lie, Jay. The more I think about this, the harder it feels like it’s gonna be, the first time we all get together.”

“It’s gonna be—”

“Impossible.” Both women said the word simultaneously, and then laughed together.
 

The gaiety quickly faded, and Jay pushed the passenger door open. She got out and paused, bending down to look at Anna, her hands on the roof of the car. “I don’t know what else to say besides I’m sorry, and thank you.” Jamie felt like she’d said some version of that last phrase a thousand times in the last few days.

“Thank you?” Anna asked, her face screwing up with the tension of someone trying not to cry.

“For trying to understand. For being my friend anyway, despite this. I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve betrayed you somehow. Unintentionally maybe, but still.” Jamie felt her voice break.

Anna squeezed her gray eyes closed around stubborn tears. “BFF’s, no matter what.” She reached out her fist, and Jamie bumped it with hers. “Now go the hell away before you make me ugly-cry.”

Jamie sniffed and laughed, then turned away without another word and drove home. On the way, she realized that, despite the number of times she’d apologized to Anna, her friend had never said it was okay.
 

Probably because it wasn’t.
 

Anna might not have been actively in love with Chase, but old, dormant, and mostly forgotten feelings still had the potential to cause heartache.

Sitting at home, catching up on her DVR’d episodes of
Teen Mom 2
, Jamie found herself wishing she could quit her job and just follow Chase on his tour. Or fly out to wherever he was for each show and be with him that way. Or…anything other than sit at home missing him, jealous of the fans who got so much of his time and attention.

She Googled his tour dates, switched shifts around with the other assistant manager at work, and bought a plane ticket to St. Louis, where Six Foot Tall was performing next. The ticket nearly cleaned out her savings, but she’d just paid rent, and all of her other bills were up to date. Everything else could wait.
 

6

Chase finished his last encore number and stepped off the stage, the screaming of thousands of fans bolstering him despite his exhaustion. The band’s tour schedule was brutal. The last several weeks had been a whirlwind of nonstop shows back to back, sometimes with a few days in between. Demand for Six Foot Tall was growing exponentially, and there was talk of the band headlining a show in Detroit sometime soon. Jamie had met him for almost every show, Chase paying for her airfare and hotel stays. Their relationship had deepened over the last two months, but it was still very much like a long-distance relationship. They spent more time talking on the phone or texting than they did in person, and they rarely had more than one night together in a row. Chase needed a break. He needed a few consecutive days spent not on stage, not warming up or writing new material or traveling. He needed private downtime with Jamie, without the specter of the next show looming, cutting short their time together. Jamie understood, of course, and never complained. She came to every show she could, and was traveling almost as much as he was, flying all over the country to meet him. Chase’s credit card was racking up serious frequent flier miles.
 

That night’s show was one of the rare and blessed dates that was followed by three days in a row off. He’d already booked a suite for the two nights he had with Jamie. They were in Phoenix, Arizona, and the next show was some tiny club somewhere in New Mexico, an unplugged acoustic set. He accepted a towel from the stagehand and wiped his face and head with it, searching the backstage area for Jamie’s wild red curls. There she was, facing into a darkened corner, her phone pressed to her ear, finger plugging the other. He sidled up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and kissed her neck while she finished her phone call.

She hung up and stuck the phone in her purse, then turned in his arms and met his lips with hers. “Hey, baby. Great show!”

Chase smiled into her lips. “Thanks. Who was that you were talking to?”

She shrugged. “Work call. The M.O.D. messed up the inventory order, and I had help her unfuck it.”

“Gotcha. So, ready for three days and two nights alone with me?”

“God, am I ever,” Jamie said. “Are we staying here in Phoenix?”

“Yep. I have a suite booked. I’ll meet the guys at the next show in New Mexico.”

“And you’re in L.A. after that?”

Chase nodded and pulled her into a walk out of the building where the limo rented by the label was waiting. “That’s gonna be a huge show. Biggest yet, I think. If that one goes well, our agent says we might get a headliner billing at the Palace.”

Jamie lit up, gripping his arm in excitement. “Really? That would be so huge! Headlining in your hometown? I bet it would sell out.”

Chase laughed. “Yeah, probably not, but nice try. We’re a long way from selling out the Palace, baby.”

Jamie shoved him playfully. “You so would. I’ve heard people talking about you guys. You’re getting a lot of radio play on the WRIF and 89X.”

Chase glanced at her. “Really? Jim told us we’ve been getting more air time, but I guess it didn’t quite register what that meant.” He handed her into the limo and slid in next to her. “It’s kind of weird. For as much as I’m all over the country, I still feel isolated from reality in a way. We’re playing in front of sold-out crowds, but they’re there to see the other bands as much as us, if not more so. We play, and we keep going. We’re getting paid a shitload of money, but it’s not really
real
most of the time, you know? Someone tells you, ‘You’re getting a lot of radio play,’ and you’re all like, ‘Oh, that’s great,’ or whatever, but it doesn’t
mean
 
anything most of the time. It’s not like I’m in those cities hearing our songs on the radio, you know? Right now, it feels like the whole word is broken up into the bus, the stage, and you, and nothing else even exists except in theory.”

Jamie turned on the limo seat and draped her legs over his, curling her arms around his neck. “You’re building a brand, baby. A name. Recognition. It’ll all pay off. It already
is
paying off. People are starting to know who you are, on a household level.” She nuzzled her face into his throat. “And now none of that matters.”

“No?” Chase asked, tangling his fingers in her hair.

“Nope. For the next few days, you’re mine. You’re not a rock star as of this moment. You’re just my Chase.”

He sighed into her hair. “Your Chase. Perfect.”

The limo dropped them off at the hotel, where they ordered room service and drank two bottles of expensive white wine. They sat side by side on the bed, finishing the last of the second bottle.

“How long can you keep this up, Jay?” Chase asked, apropos of nothing.

Jamie tilted her head to rest it against his shoulder, swirling the wine at the bottom of her glass. “I don’t know. Like you said, my life feels compartmentalized into work, airports, your shows, and hotels. I love traveling, honestly, but…it
is
getting exhausting. I’d give anything to spend a week on a beach with you.” She tossed back the last of her wine and set the glass aside before turning to straddle Chase. “I’ll do this as long as necessary. As long as this is your life, your career, this is how I’ll see you.”

“Do you even see your friends anymore?”

Jamie shrugged. “I have lunch with Anna when I’m back in Detroit. I went out with Lane and his partner Matty the other day. The rest of the people I called my friends? They weren’t really friends. They were drinking buddies. I only drink with you now. They don’t call me or try to catch up. The only people who keep up with my coming and going anymore are Lane and Anna, so they’re really all that matter.”

“Funny how that happens, huh? When you’re gone all the time, the fake friends have a way of getting culled out.” Chase slipped his hands beneath her shirt to run his palms on the hot skin of her back. “It works for me, though. The guys are my friends. The roadies and the driver, the security guys, they’re friends, too. Jim, our agent. You. That’s about it.”

“Who else do you need, really?”

Chase kissed the base of her throat. “Besides you and the band? No one. Who else is there?”

Jamie reached down and peeled her shirt off, her curls bouncing down to hang around her shoulders. She’d let it grow recently, and it was now almost to mid-back. Chase loved her hair, loved to hold on to it, run his fingers through it, grip it in his fist as he made love to her.
 

He’d been planning this night for a while. He’d hinted at what he wanted to do with her, and she’d not demurred. He skimmed his hands over her shoulders, across the lace of her bra, feeling the hard beads of her nipples, then reached behind her to unhook her bra. He felt his cock twitch and harden as her heavy breasts fell free. He took them in his hands, cupping them, kneading the silky flesh, grazing his thumb across her nipples. He flicked a nipple with his tongue, a featherlight touch, and Jamie gasped sharply, arching her back.
 

She shifted her weight backward and unsnapped his pants, unzipped them, and gripped the waistband of his pants and boxer-briefs, tugging them down. Chase lifted his hips, and she slid the garments down to his knees, where he toed them off and kicked them aside. She peeled his shirt over his head, and then shimmied down his body, her soft breasts brushing his skin. All thoughts left his mind as she took his erection in her mouth. She worked her jeans and panties off while she licked and kissed his cock, and then they were both naked together. He let her work his cock for a second, and then drew her up so her face was level with his.

“I have plans for you,” he told her.
 

“Oh, yeah?” Her voice was low and sultry, and her eyes hooded.
 

She rolled over and lay on her back, posing for him. Her palms skittered over her breasts before moving down to cup her sex, teasing and inviting. “What kind of plans?”

Chase hopped off the bed and dug in a pocket of his suitcase, producing a bottle of lubricant and couple of condoms. “Plans that involve this.”

Jamie’s eyes widened and her nostrils flared, her tongue running over her bottom lip. “Oh. Oh, god. Okay.” She sat up, then moved to her hands and knees.
 

Chase laughed, crawling across the bed toward her. “Eager, are we?” He curled his hand around her hips and drew her to him, so his cock slipped, upright, between the firm, soft cheeks of her ass.
 

She writhed into him.

“Yes…” she breathed. “So eager. You’ve been teasing me about this for so long.”

Chase sucked in a hard breath, pulling his hips away to caress her ass with his palms, sinking back on his haunches behind her. “It’s not teasing. It’s…getting you ready for it.”

“I’m ready.” Jamie watched him over her shoulder, biting her lip.

“Not just yet,” Chase said. He skated his hand over her spine, then around her ribs to cup a breast, working his other hand between her legs to trace her damp heat with one finger. “First, I need this. I need to taste you. Feel you come. I’m so hard for you, I couldn’t last long enough to get deep enough, slow enough in your tight little asshole.”

He fingered her clit, feeling her juices begin to flow. He circled the sensitive nub, tweaking a nipple as he did so, and within minutes Jamie was quivering and rocking back into his hand, near to orgasm. Before she came, she reached behind herself and found his cock, guided him into her silky wet folds. He was throbbing already and had to hold back after only a few slow strokes. She began to thrust back into him, and the feel of her ass pushing against him brought him to a boiling point all too quickly. He slowed then, clenching his teeth and forcing himself down. He reached for the lubricant, squirted some onto his fingers and slathered it against Jamie’s tight anus, massaging at first with one finger. She moaned in ecstatic relief as he nudged his finger in to the first knuckle, then began to whimper when he worked a second finger in, liberally working her entrance with lube.
 

“Fuck me, Chase. I want it. Fuck me in the ass.”

“Not yet, baby,” Chase gasped. “Come for me first.”

He began to stroke into her pussy, sliding his fingers in and out of her ass gently, in sync with his thrusts. She began to buck hard against him, and Chase had to focus all his strength in holding back his own orgasm as she let go, whimpering softly into the blanket as she climaxed.