The Rock Star Next Door, a Modern Fairytale (41 page)

“Did you hear that ass-hat?
” Darrell thundered as soon as they were in the elevator.

“Yeah, but he signs our checks.” Jack reminded him with a toss of his flowing copper mane as he ignored the sign and lit up a cigarette in the elevator.

“Easy for you suck up.
” Darrell retorted. “You’re the golden boy--”

“Don’t start.
” Steve sighed, giving Jessie a commiserate look.

Before any of them knew what was happening, Darrell swung at Jack, while Jack grabbed Darrell around the throat and would not let go.

Steve pushed
the stop button on the elevator
as Jessie tried in vain to get her brother to stop choking their friend.

“I’
ve had it with your jealous ass.
” Jack shrieked. Jessie was sure they could
hear
him three stories up. “Get off my case or you’re dead, understand?
”

Steve joined the fray as Darrel
l started to turn blue from lack of oxygen.

“Jack.
” Jessie cried, trying to keep her voice low despite her fear. “Stop it
.
”

As Steve pried Jack’s fingers from their drummer’s throat, a flash of silver caught Jessie’s eye. She shoved Jack out of the way as
an intense pain seared
her
upper fore
arm.

“You bastard.
” Jack s
hrieked, “You stabbed my sister.
”

Darrell turned chalk white, his eyes apo
logetic. Stoned, as usual, Jack grew
panicked and outraged at the scene before him. It fell to Jessie and Steve to keep order in the ranks. Steve let Darrell slump to the floor momentarily as he examined Jessie’s arm.

“It’s okay, just a scratch.
” She assure
d him.

“Like h
ell it is, you’ll need stitches.
” Steve mumbled, only to turn away from her qu
ickly as Jack started kicking
the elevator door
.

I
n his
blind panic Jack managed
to find the alarm button.
He pressed it and the screaming alarm bells provided an ear splitting serenade to Jack’s panicked shouts.
“Somebody, help us
.
” Jack screamed, his face becoming red as the veins popped out above his crew neck shirt. “My sister’s
bleeding
’ to death
.
”

“
Shhh
.
” Steve and Je
ssie chastened as one. “Stop it.
”

“You’ll get us arrested.
” Jessie whispered harshly as Steve tied his bandana around her arm to hide the sla
sh. “You are wacked out on coke
and Darrell
isn’t exactly stone cold sober.
I
suppose you have it on you, too?
”

“Just a pinch . . .
enough to get me through the meeting.” Jack swal
lowed, realizing they were
inches away from being hauled off by security to the LAPD if he
didn’t get himself together.
Jack closed his eyes, rolled his shoulders and twisted his neck back and forth, like an athlete preparing to enter a contest. After a moment, he opened his eyes and
turned to look at them all.

Darrell
was returning to a normal complexion.
Steve and Jessie
knelt
on either side of him.
Jessie
was pressing
Steve’s blue bandana over her blood soaked sleeve amid the shrill alarm ringing in their ears and the emergency phone ringing off the hook beside him. Jack broke out in hysterical laughter. “A
wesome, man. A
ll that’s missing is Ozzy Osbourne biting the head off a bird in t
he conference room
.
”

With a
scowl, Steve
stood,
opened the cabinet
and answered the phone.
“Yeah, we’re okay, sorry, a false alarm. My friend
accidentally leaned against the stop button and then
he
pani
cked. He’s claustrophobic--sure--no, sir--
w
e don’t need to be rescued.
”

“Just from ourselves.
” Darrell quipped as he struggled to his feet. “Jess, oh, God
.
” He wrapped his ar
ms around her. “I’m
sorry I
freaked--don’t hate me,
Babe
?
”

Steve closed the phone portal and turned to them all. “Okay, the security personne
l are waiting for us
and the elevator technicians are on their way over. It’s
protocol, you idiots. W
hene
ver the alarm sounds they get the code red
here and at the compa
ny who does the maintenance on
the elevator. If you intend to kill each other, do it in a less
public place, if you don’t mind.
”

“Ozzy,
man,
whe
re are you when we need you
?
” Jack wailed with glee.

“Shut up.
” Steve cuffed him in the shoulder. He
took off his den
im jacket and offered it to Jessie
to camouflage her bleeding arm
. “We have to get past security
and get Jessie to a doctor. What’ll we say, her drugged out brother pissed off the drummer and he stabbed her instead?”

Darrell sobered, picked up his jackknife, wiped the blood on his pant
leg
and put
it
in his pocket. “Okay, we’ll get past security, go out in the parking lot, and then make a ruckus, say some punk attacked Jess . . . tried to steal her purse . . .” His voice had become gravel. “We can take her to the hospital for stitches . . .”

“Uh-huh
. She’s attacked in broad daylight while surrounded by three guys, a slew of camer
as and fans?
Brilliant, Darrell.
”
Steve whipped out his cell phone and started dialing. “Okay, I’m on it. Are we ready to face our public
everyone
?” Like a general surveying his troops, Steve gave them each a severe glare before pressing the button for the elevator to start again.

He turned away from them all, muttering into the
cell
phone in a tone
so low
that no one could overhear. The doors opened to the lobby. As they faced the security officers
standing in front of the doors
and the fans and cameras in the foyer of StarSign Records, Steve marched out
first, appearing
distracted
by a phone call and behaving as if nothing were
amiss. Darrell wrapped his arm a
bout Jessie, holding her
against
him so she didn’t seem unsteady
while Jack, the perpetual clown of the group started singing
the refrain from Aerosmith’s
Love in an Elevator
, as if it were all a big publicity stunt.

Security helped them get past the
crowd
and they managed to smile for
the ever-present flash of cameras
that nearly blinded them as they made their way to the car.

“Okay, Lex will meet us at Malibu General. He’s calling his pri
vate physician to take care of
Jessie.” Steve informed them as he slid the seatbelt about him and started the engine of his ‘72 Mustang.

“What
?
”  Jessie huffed with outrage.
“Why did you call him?”

“Who els
e am I going to call in this town? I doubt
Max o
r Charlie Zands would be amused.
Lex is
our neighbor,
man. A
nd he still cares for you.
”
Steve pointed at Jessie.

“And y
ou have
to
call him and
make it sound like I’m s
ome pathetic damsel in distress! Thanks, Steve--glad to know you’ve got my back.
”  Jessie felt
the blood rush to her face
. She’d wanted to
call Lex
many times
in the past month but he’d seemed so angry and
so cold that day she’d
asked him to give her more time.

“Take it easy.” Jack soothed, sensing her distress. “It’s no big deal. Smile, be coy, he’ll be eating out of your hand again
.
” 

“Shut up.
” Jes
sie’s eyes blurred. “Just shut up. I don’t need this.  N
ot now,
not when
I’m trying to get over him
.
”

“
So, s
top trying.” Jack shrugged.

“Stop the car.
” Jessie hissed. “Let me out. I’m not using this flimsy excuse to make him come running back.”

“
Hysteria
.
” Steve and
Darrell chimed, knowing their taunt would make Jessie angry and rational,
just to prove them wrong. “Typical female behavior
.
”

The Malibu hospital loomed before them. Ste
ve pulled up at the ER entrance.
Darrell jumped out, pulled the seat forward and helped Jessie out of the back. He guided her past the gliding doors and the tall, dark image of Lex met them
behind a potted palm. He signaled to them
to come to him
before they could approach the registration counter.

“What happened?” His
voice was fraught with concer
n as he placed a hand on Jessie’s back, guiding her inside
the elevator
.

“Darrell was trying to stab
my brother and I got in his way.
”

“Yeah, sure
.
” Darrell laughed. “That’s right, blame it on me
.
We were downtown and this guy came out of
nowhere
, man . . . tried to steal Jessie’s purse, and when she wouldn’t give it up, he stabbed her . . .” Darrell gave her a pleading look. “Right Jess?”

Jessie didn’t answer. She just glared at him,
savoring the feeling of outrage that hid her more tender feelings for t
he man standing beside her.

“Dr. Roberts is waiting
.” Lex pressed the elevator button.
“St
eve said you wanted to avoid publicity.”
He said as they were taken to the fourth floor.

The doctor’s office
was more like a reception room for an
elite Hollywood starlet.
Dr. Roberts was the private physician of many of the stars
in Malibu
and L.A
. His d
iscretion and anonymity came with a steep price. Steve was right, Jessie needed stitches. Four, to be exact. She’d taken a b
low to her left arm, just below
the elbow. Lex and Darrell were allowed to stay with her throug
h the procedure, while Steve took
Jack
and
waited in the plush
private
waiting area
so no one would notice Jack
was toasted on coke
.

“
That’s a nasty puncture wound.
You’ll need to re
st your arm for a
bout a week or two
. No guitar playing. No sports, just pillows
and a sling
.
Percocet
should take c
are of the pain, but you shouldn’t
drive while
you are
taking
it.”

“That’s okay, I’ll let my drugged out
band mates drive me around.” Jessie snapped.

“A chauffeur will be available.” Lex answered with all the authority of an overly protective spouse. “I’ll see to it personally.”

“Yeah, we’ll ta
ke care of her.” Darrell echoed with a tinge of guilt
.

“By the way, where is that purse you felt the need to risk your life defending?”
The doctor asked. “Was it Gucci or Prada?”

“I didn’t have a purse.
” Jessie returned without cracking a smile. The doctor assumed it was
a joke
and laughed as he left the exam room.
Darrell
turned away with a grimace
whi
le Lex remain
ed stoic and silent as he
studied Jessie
with severity
.