Rocking Esme (The Rocking Series Book 1) (14 page)

“I had best go, see you tomorrow?” He asked me.

I nodded my head and said; “Looking forward to it. Goodnight, Jax.” He kissed me on the lips, lingering as if he was struggling with his decision to leave.

“Night, Esme.” He said as he walked backwards towards his car, not breaking eye contact with me, I blew him a kiss and closed the door. I really didn’t want him to leave but I knew that he was right, we shouldn’t rush it.

Jackson

It was the night after our date and Esme was working. I wanted to see her again so I decided to pop in. As I walked through the door to The Archer, I looked over to Esme’s side of the bar and she wasn’t there. I felt disappointed, I was sure she had said she was working tonight. I made my way over to the bar and sat on a stool just in case she was out the back.

“Hey, handsome.” I heard from behind me, my heart skipped a beat and I was smiling from ear to ear. I turned around and saw Esme stood behind me with a tray in her hand.

“Hey, pretty girl.” She leant past me to put the tray on the bar and once she placed it down, I wasted no time in pulling her between my legs and giving her a kiss.

“This is a nice surprise, what are you doing here?”

“I thought I would come have a drink with the prettiest girl in the bar, w…” She cut me off by saying

“Oh, you better go find her then.” She giggled.

“Already found her and I’m not letting her go.” I laughed, tightening my arms around her waist. “What time do you finish?”

She looked at her watch and said; “Seven o’clock… Ten minutes.”

“Great, I will grab a table and then, maybe we can order some food and have a drink together?”

“That’ll be nice.”

I kissed her again and made my way over to a table at the back of the bar, watching Esme whilst she worked.

Esmeralda

I kept looking up from the bar and over towards Jax and every time he caught my eye, I couldn’t help the smile that was on my face. Once my shift was over, I grabbed a couple drinks and a menu and walked over to Jax, he was sat in a booth at the back of the bar.

“Here you go.” I said, passing him a Jack and Coke.

“Thanks, babe.”

I sat opposite him and he wasted no time in taking my hand in his across the table.

“What have you been up to today?” I asked him.

“Nothing much really… I was thinking that maybe it’s time to be looking for a flat soon, I can’t keep sleeping on Rick’s sofa.”

“Oh… How long is Saskia staying?”

“Don’t know, she was meant to be leaving last week but she is hesitating for some reason.” He said shrugging his shoulders. “How was your shift?”

“Not bad, quiet really.” I told him as I handed him a menu. “You got a busy week?”

He shook his head and replied; “No, not too bad really. How about you?”

“Just the same as usual, working.”

We ordered some food and talked whilst we ate and had a couple more drinks. It was nice and easy, we never struggled for conversation and it felt like we had been together for ages.
Once we had finished our food, I said to Jax; “Well, I guess I had better head home. Did you want to come over?”

“Sorry, babe, I can’t tonight. Got to sort out a few things with Flix, that’s if we can pry Marcy off Rick.” He laughed.

“Ha ha ha. She has really fallen for him, I’ve never seen her like this before.”

He just shook his head and said, “I know how she feels.” I looked into his eyes and smiled as he continued with; “Come on, I’ll walk you to your car.” He stood up and held out his hand for me. It felt nice leaving the bar holding hands, I was starting to feel like we were a couple but I didn’t want to get ahead of myself.

Once we were outside and I had unlocked my car, he pulled me into him and gave me a kiss, it started off slow and it soon turned hot and heavy, and I was a bit conscious of the fact that we were stood in the car park.
I
pulled away from him and we were both breathless, I looked around to check that we weren’t being watched and was relieved to see that the car park was empty.

“I’ll speak to you later, have your phone with you.”

“Ok, this was a nice surprise. Thank you.” I kissed him again, quickly and then got in my car; he watched as I drove away.

Jackson

“Hey. Yeah, that sounds good but how about this way?” Rick said as he stopped our rehearsal at The Archer to play us a different intro for the new song we had written for our gig at the Dome.

“Yeah, that’s good. Let’s try it that way.” Will said.

I wasn’t paying much attention as I couldn’t stop staring at the door every time it opened, hoping it would be Esme coming in. I’d hoped she was working today, but it looked like I was all out of luck.

“Ready?” I heard Will shout and then heard the intro to the song start to play and I completely missed when I was meant to start singing.

“Yo, Jax, come on, man!” Frank shouted.

“Sorry, give me five, need to make a phone call.” I called back to them as I climbed off the stage and headed outside. I heard all the guys groan behind me. I chuckled to myself and thought they would all be like this one day. It had been a few days since I had seen Es and I was missing her.
I dialled her number and it rang a few times before she finally answered it.

“Hey, babe.” She said as she answered.

“Hey, how are you?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Thought you were rehearsing today?”

“Yeah, we are… I just missed you so thought I’d give you a call.”

“Ahh, that’s sweet. Is it going ok?”

“Yeah, it’s going good… Though I keep waiting for you to walk in the door.”

“Babe, I’m not working today.”

“Oh, aren’t you? You got much planned?”

“Yeah, going out for lunch soon, with Drew.”

“Drew?”

“Yeah, my friend, remember you met him at Rick’s birthday party.”

“I remember him… I just thought that would have been something you would have mentioned?”

“Oh, sorry, babe, it’s all last minute.”

“I’m not happy about it.”

“What? Why?”

“Because he wants in your panties.”

“Seriously, he doesn’t, Jax.”

“We all saw it, the way he looked at you that night.”

“Well, he is my friend. Besides, even if he does, that doesn’t mean he gets to… Don’t you trust me?”

“Yeah, it’s just…”

“No, you either trust me or you don’t. I’m not Cindy.”

“I know that, I’m sorry. I was just surprised that’s all. I didn’t think you’d seen him?”

“I haven’t seen him since Rick’s party and he has a free day, so we decided to meet up.”

“Ok… Look, I better get back to rehearsal. Will I see you later?”

“If you want to.”

“I always want to see you.”

“Ok, give me a call when you’re done.”

“Ok, see you later.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone, put it in my pocket and made my way back to the band.

“Hey, man, what’s up?” Rick said as he slapped my back. I shrugged my shoulders and picked up my microphone.

“Let’s just do this, then I can get out of here.” I snapped.

“What’s happened?” He whispered to me.

“Esme’s got a date with that Drew.”

“What? No she hasn’t.”

“How would you know?”

“Because Marce told me that they were going to meet Drew for lunch.”

“What? Why didn’t Esme tell me that?”

“Don’t know, man.” Rick said as he shrugged his shoulders and carried on with; “You don’t have any reason to doubt her, she’s yours.”

“I know, it’s just…” I began and Rick cut in

“She’s not Cindy.”

“Yeah, I know, that’s what Es just said. I’m just being silly, ain’t I?”

“Yeah, you really are.”

We both laughed and got back to our rehearsal. I would go and see Es later and make it up to her for doubting her.

Esmeralda

We were meeting Drew at The Coffee Bean for lunch today and I was looking forward to seeing him, it had been too long. Me and Marcy had just arrived and he was sat at the table by the window and as he saw us he got up and gave us both a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He then pulled me into the chair next to him.

“How you been, girls?” He asked.

“Really good.” I told him and carried on with; “How are you? Are you living here now?”

“Yeah, moved here a couple months ago. Didn’t know you two lived here.”

“It’s really great to see you.” I told him. He was smiling brightly and Marcy waved the waitress over so we could order.

“Can I have a black coffee and a ham and salad baguette, please.” Marcy ordered.

“I will have the same but white coffee.” I told her and I looked at Drew waiting for him to order and he was looking directly at me. “What you having?” I asked him, gesturing towards the waitress.

“Oh, um. Black coffee and an all day breakfast. Thanks.”

“So, Marce, how have you been? What’s new?” Drew asked her.

“Well, my Dad owns a gym here so I work there and I’m dating the bass player from Flix…”

Drew cut her off asking, “Rick?”

“Yeah, it’s going really well. How about you? Girlfriend?”

“Um… No, not at the minute.”

“I’m just gonna run to the bathroom before the food gets here.” I told them as I got up and headed to the back of the café.

Marcy

“What’s going on?” I asked Drew as I leant in closer to him.

“I don’t know what you mean.” He said as he looked over his shoulder towards the back of the café.

“You like her?”

“Of course I like her, what’s not to like? Do you think I should ask her out?”

“NO! She has a boyfriend.”

“Really? Who?”

“Jackson, the lead singer in Flix.”

“Oh, thought he had a girlfriend.”

I shook my head and said; “Sorry, but you got no chance, she has got a hot rocker and she is not giving him up for no-one.”

Esmeralda

I made my way back to the table and noticed when I got there that it was very quiet.

“What’s going on? Why are you all quiet?” I asked them.

“Nothing, I was telling Drew about Rick and Jackson.” Marcy told me.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, she said you had a boyfriend.” Drew said to me, a little sternly.

“Well, I’ve kind of been seeing the lead singer of Flix.” I told him, wondering why he was acting funny. I was about to ask him what was wrong as my phone beeped. I got it out of my bag and saw a text from Jax;

Sorry about earlier. I trust you x

I’m sorry for not telling you, I didn’t think it would be a problem x

It’s not a problem. Miss you x

Miss you too x

“Sorry about that.” I said to Marcy and Drew.

“Has he met Jonathan?” Drew asked me.

“No, not yet.” I said as I shrugged my shoulders.

“I can’t imagine he would be happy about it.”

“Well, it’s not up to him who I date.”

Our food arrived and we all fell into an easy conversation. My phone beeped again and I saw it was Jax;

You having fun?x

Yeah, wish you were here x

He didn’t reply straight away so I thought he must have been busy. I looked up from my phone and noticed that Marcy was talking on her phone, I turned to Drew and asked; “Where are you working?”

“Just a garage down the road, it’s nice doing a job I love… Do you love him?”

“What? I… It’s still early, but yeah, I think I do… Drew, what’s wrong? You are acting a bit funny. Did I upset you?”

“No, it’s…” He got cut off by someone behind me saying;

“Hey, babe.” I turned around and saw Jax and Rick standing behind us, Jax pulled me out of my chair and gave me a kiss as Rick went and sat next to Marcy.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered to him, cuddled up to his chest.

“I wanted to see my girl and I got a text saying that she wished I was here, her wish is my command.”

“You are so sweet, come and meet Drew.” I said as I pulled him towards the table. He sat in my chair and pulled me down to sit on his lap.

“Drew, this is Jackson.”

“Hey, man.” Jackson said, as he held out his hand for a hand shake and Drew just looked at him. I gave him a glare and then he took Jax’s hand and shook it.

“Nice to meet you.” Drew said to him and carried on with; “I gotta get going. Was nice seeing you, girls.” Drew got up, pulled me off of Jax’s lap and gave me a hug goodbye, then he leant over the table and kissed Marcy on the cheek and shook Rick’s hand.

“See you soon?” I asked Drew.

“Yeah.” He threw some money on the table and then left.

I sat back down in Drew’s empty chair and Jax said; “What’s his problem?”

“You.” Marcy said giggling and carried on with; “He wanted to ask Esme out.”

“What?” Me and Jax both shouted at the same time. Marcy shrugged her shoulders and nodded her head.

“I knew it, knew he wanted in your pants.” Jax said angrily.

“Babe, he has no chance.” I told him, throwing my arms around his neck and kissing him. That made him a bit happier.

“You guys wanna go out for an early drink?” Marcy asked.

I laughed and looked towards Jax and he shrugged his shoulders as if to say he didn’t mind.

“Sure, let’s go.” Marcy squealed and we made our way to The Archer.