The Rock Star Next Door, a Modern Fairytale (28 page)

Oh, God---Oh God---Oh God
.
  Jessie’s mind froze, she closed her eyes, shame filling her as the reality of her mother’s tormenting behavior was about to be revealed.

“No, you can’t talk to her
.
Fuck off and die.
  Stop terrorizing Jessie with your suici
de threats and sick mind tricks.
” Jack’
s voice was harsh, piercing the night as he screamed at their mother. Jessie huddled in her lover’s arms, hoping against hope that Lex wouldn’t learn just who was
stalking her in her own home.

After
a few more loud oaths, Jack hung up. Jessie winced, burying her face deeper into Lex’s protective shoulder
as her brother flung the cordless receiver
across the next room. The steady beeping of the receiver being off the hook echoed in the silent house, as Jessie waited for Lex to ask the one question she dreaded with all of her being.

It didn’t come. Silence reigned. A potent, deadly
, taunting silence as Lex held her and massaged the tension from her neck with powerful fingers.

“Want anythi
ng?” Jack s
tuck his head in the living room? “A good stiff drink?”

Lex shook his head and
pulled back to look
at Jessie. “I’ll pass. W
ould you like to go for a walk on the beach. It’s peaceful this time of night
.
” Soft blue eyes care
ssed her soul, embracing her with
tenderness.

“N-n-no--just--just stay--hold me?
”

“I’ve never seen her like this before
.
” Jack’s conc
erned face emerged from the panicked fog in front of Jessie’s eyes
. “Oh, Chris
t
.
” Jack plunked down on the coffee table opposite
them wi
th a heavy sigh, his hand moved
cons
olably along Jessie’s knee as she huddled against Lex
.

“She’ll be all right.” The sensual throat echoed against her ear as Jessie found herself pulled into Lex’s arms once again. She sank into him, relishing the arms about her, nestling her head in the holl
ow beneath his chin. “It’ll be okay, Jack. We’ll take care of this.” Lex
sounded so sure, so calm, so in control of everything.

Jessie let her head rest on Lex’s shoulder, luxuriating in the calm assurance of his presence.

Jack licked his lips. He ran
a shaking hand through his tousled copper man
e. “Okay, I’m going upstairs
.
” He stood up and gave Lex a classic rocker salute
thumb and baby finger raised in the air to form a horn. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

After Jack left them, Lex held Jessie in the silence of the beach house. The lights were out, and all they could see was the dark outline of the Malibu shoreline through the windows and the beauty of the stars hanging above the
sea
l
ike diamonds amid dark velvet. 
His sureness and calm seemed to seep into her skin as they just sat, looking out the large window facing the sea, without talking, not needing to.

Jessie started to drift away. It became harder to keep her eyes open. At last, she simply gave up and let them close and allowed her head to rest on his chest, just beneath his chin. His flesh was warm pressed against her cheek. She could feel his heartbeat beneath her. It mixed with the steady waves of the sea outside their glass and steel refuge.

Chapter Fifteen

Jessie was stirred from a de
ep, dreamless slumber as grey light
was
filtering in the glass
walls facing the sea. She snuggled
closer to the warm hard body cradling her so protectively. Soft, curling hairs tickled her nose, as a gentle thrumming serenaded her dreams. She was in an ethereal world, somewhere between sleep and wakefulness, a fragile haven, safe, sheltered
in strong arms. She didn’
t want to open her eyes and be pu
lled back to the loneliness of
her empty bed.

A musky
male
scent
teased her senses
, pulling her back into the sweet delirium.

“Go back to sleep, sweetheart.”  Her phantom lover whispered, grazing the top of her head with his lips. And then, just as the sweet words penetrated her mind, she lifted her head with a start.
It wasn’t a dream after all
.
She wasn’t in her bedroom, she was in the living room downstairs, on the sofa. Lex was holding her as she slept, holding her on top of him, his legs splayed to allow her body a soft resting place between them as he reclined beneath her on the soft leather sofa. 

“Shhh, it’s too early
.
Close your eyes.
” His hand eased her head back down on his chest.  Jessie sighed, but kept her eyes open in spite of his gen
tle reprimand.

“What time is it?” She whispered, her throat heavy with sleep.

“Five-thirty. I love you, go back to sleep
.
”

She
snaked her arm about his waist and let it settle on his chest at the opening of his robe. Her fingers brushed over soft whorls of chest hair as she
snuggled closer to him, feeling the soft pull of exhaustion as she surrendered to her body’s need. 

Jessie awakened curled up
on
the sofa alone
. The enticing scent of his cologne verified his presence the night before. Jessie rolled over on her back, stretching slowly as she marveled at his tenderness as he comforted her through the night.

I love you, go back to sleep.
Jessie smil
ed as those words brought new
yet familiar
warmth to her heart. She never
woke up with a man beside her
before
, holding her sweetly, whispering words of love through the shroud of slumber. Jessie understood now
why Kyra was so exci
ted to move in with her fiancé
. Waking up every morning in Lex’s embrace would be pure heaven.

The
house
phone rang.

Gut twisting fear
repla
ced the peacefulness of the morning
.

The land line gave a
second ring, and then a third.

No one answered it downstairs.

Oh, God, please
. 
Jessie prayed, immobilized by terror.
No more threats.

She assumed t
he
voicemail kicked in
when no angry voices were raised from the
within the
house
in answer
. She sank ba
ck down on the forgiving sofa
with relief.

“Morning.
”  Jack’s bronze head peeped in t
hrough the kitchen

“Where is Lex?” Jes
sie asked, afraid to ask who
called.

“He had
business in LA this morning. Said he’d be back later. He wanted you to sleep as long as possible after last nig
ht. We agreed on that point.”
Duncan and
Ozzy
entered the room behind him. Seeing she was awake, they raced as one to the sofa to greet her.
Jessie laughed as they
stood on hind legs in front of her face, each
one wrangling and vying for her at
tention
.

Jessie quickly sat up to escape thei
r devoted licking and slurping as the
y tried to wash her face.
“What was it the two of you didn’t agree on?”

Jack released an aggravated sigh
and ca
me to sit at the edge of the sofa, near her feet
. “He wants to hire bodygua
rds
and a private detective to f
ind out who
is harassing you.” He gave Jess
ie a level look.
“And
he was pumping me all morning to tell him what I knew.”

“You didn’t tell him.
” Jessie pleaded. Jack shook his head. She closed her eyes and
leaned back against the sofa back
with relief.

“No, but
you shoul
d.” Jack interrupted
. “He’s out now, trying to hire a body
guard for you. If he knew it was Marcie
and she’
s 2000 miles away, he’d
feel a lot b
etter. T
he guy’s really worried about you, Jess.”

“I can’t.”
Jessie
hugged her knees. “I just can’t--”

“Then let me.”

“No
--Jack
.
”

“You can’t go on l
ike this. He’s in love with you. H
e needs to know some demented fan isn’t stalking you. If
he knew it was our wacky mother
back in Wisconsin, he wouldn’t be going about like the godfather, trying to t
ake control to protect his lady. Y
ou should have seen him this morning, Jess, he was loaded for bear.”

Jessie wiped her cheeks, sniffling slightly as she fo
ught to regain her composure.
Remembering Jack’s hot retort to their mothe
r,
she asked, “Since when are you seeing a counselor? You could have told me.”

“Lilly plugged me into this guy in the H
ills.  I’ve only had two
session
s, but he told me not to let Mom
manipulate us. Th
at’s part o
f the problem, Jess.
Challenging her will make her stop, at least with us
.
Appeasing her doesn’t
work. I
t only gives
her
more power ov
er us. We have to draw the line. We have
to
make boundar
ies. It’s okay to
do that, Jess. Even with family. E
specially with family.
”

“Did she call again this morning?”

“
Yeah, t
he machine got it
. More bullshit.
” He sat up, looked her straight in the eyes, and said in such a quiet tone Jessie had to
strain to hear him, “Jessie, this
is abuse. Emotional abuse,
that’s what my counselor
called it
the other day. And telephone harassment is
a crime.
”

Jessie didn’t know
what to say.
Big, tough Jack had tears in his eyes as he regarded her silently, waiting for her to respond.
H
er throat
tightened. Her chest burned with a dull ache
. Jess
ie felt the pain of a lifetime
rise up; t
he
ir mother’s
rejection and the
cruel word
s that haunted her,
even
as far away as California.
They ran away as teens, but they were still running, it seemed, and they couldn’t run far enough.

“You aren’t
suggesting . . .” She croaked
in a thick voice,
“that we
press charges?”

“I don’t know.
” Jack
whispered back, his voice raw with pain
. “I just know that
every time
she does this
it kills me
a little more
inside. It’s
worse than any physical pain she could inflict on us
.
It kills me, Jess! It burns deep to see
you
cowering
at the
s
ound of
mom’s voice
on the answering machine.
I
t hurts when she disowns us,
again
and again.
” Jack’s shoulders shook as he sniffled and wiped away the moisture with the back
of his hand. “I wish she’d
leave us
the hell
alone
.
I wish you hadn’t called them to tell them about marrying Lex.
God,
sometimes I wish she’d jus
t do it, just
take all of her
damn
pills
be done with it
.
”

“Jack,” Jessie wrapped her arms about him, stunned by this soft side he never let rise to the sur
face. He was
always the strong one, always ready to rally to
her defense.