Teacher: The Final Act (A Hollywood Rock n' Romance Trilogy #3)

by R. L. Merrill

  They played for about an hour and a half. Jane and I were enthralled the whole time. When they took a break, we took out our earplugs and she looked up at me, her blue eyes huge. ”I never knew they sounded so awesome! My dad is...Wow.”

  I giggled with her. ”I know.”

  The guys sat in a circle facing each other. Danny’s back was to me. They were talking in musician speak about the songs and which ones they might want to play live and which one should be their first single. Bronson tossed his hair back and took a long swig on his water bottle before addressing the group.

  “I think Tuesday we should have Patricia and someone from the label come down and hear what we have so far. She wants to meet with us to schedule the first round of appearances and interviews.”

  Danny nodded and said, “Definitely. I think we’re ready. And Nikki’s ready to do the album cover as soon as we are. He also said he’d do some publicity shots for us if we want. Julian, are you going to update the website?”

  “Already working on it. I’ve got some ideas for teasers. I was almost thinking we could drop hints or passwords in interviews that would unlock material on the website like photos, clips of the new songs, etc. What do you guys think?”

  Danny stroked his goatee, deep in thought. ”Maybe we could also do some scavenger hunts for clues to where we might make appearances? That could be fun. Some random places, like The White Stripes did in Canada on their last tour? Like post on Facebook thirty minutes before where we’re going to be there? Dude, we could like show up in a parking lot where they’re having a Food Truck Mafia!”

  The guys laughed and seemed game for that.

  Then Jane spoke up. “Dad, what about GeoCacheing? You know, leaving clues lying around that people can use their GPS to find and then when they find the right location, there’s like autographed stuff? Some of my friends are into that.”

  Danny turned around and smiled at her. ”That’s a cool idea. We’d need to find someone who knows how to do that shit, though.”

  Jane hopped off the couch. “Well, I kinda do. I did some with my friend Sasha and her mom. We could work on it together.”

  Danny beamed at his daughter. He grabbed Jane and kissed her hard on the cheek, giving her a squeeze. ”My daughter is a genius. Maybe we should make you our marketing guru! That’s sure a helluva better idea than those clowns have ever come up with.”

  Julian said he’d help her put the info up on the website.

  Alex laughed. ”Remember that time they tried to get us to play that pothead music festival? That one up in Humboldt? They thought it would ‘broaden our fan base?’ I’m so fucking glad we didn’t do that. Or the time they wanted us to be on an episode of Desperate Housewives? What the fuck was that all about?”

  The guys swapped stories of lame ideas the label had come up with. Bronson laughed loudly and sputtered, “Remember the action figures? They wanted us to fucking be like KISS?”

  Alex frowned. ”I kind of liked those dolls. You guys shot that one down.”

  Danny was laughing but then he got quiet. ”You know what I’d like to do? I’d like us to sing the National Anthem at a Giants game. Wouldn’t that be so cool? I heard Metallica showed up once, had a whole themed night. I’d love to do that. But maybe we could do like Spring Training or something, where there’s a smaller crowd of the diehard fans and then we could do like a show someplace after, in a club or some shit. I miss those intimate gigs. It’s been a long time.”

  They all nodded and Jane asked, “Can you even sing it, Dad?”

  He raised an eyebrow at her and then launched into the song a cappella. His voice was so powerful. I watched as everyone in the room broke out in goosebumps. When he hit the final high note, Julian and Alex started whistling loudly. At the end, Jane’s jaw was on the floor.

  “Daddy! How did you learn how to do that?”

  He grabbed her and pulled her in for a kiss. ”Practice! Now, why don’t you grab that guitar over there. Let’s play them our song.”

  Danny had taught Jane how to play “Smoke on the Water.” The guys clapped along and Julian and Alex joined in quietly to provide the bass and drums. Danny sang quietly, his voice able to go from the National Anthem to Deep Purple without missing a beat.

  The jam session went on and on. After Jane played she came back to the loveseat and leaned into me. In a few minutes she was fast asleep. Danny carried her off to bed. I followed them and waited in the hallway for Danny to come out.

  He was grinning like a madman when he opened the door. He backed me up to the wall with an intense kiss. He pulled back and cradled my face. “I liked having you here while we played. What did you think of the songs?”

  I swallowed hard. “It was kind of a shock. I had no idea...”

  “I know it’s really personal. I hope you’re not upset.”

  I shook my head. “No, not at all. It’s not like anyone else is going to know what it’s about.”

  His smile fell a little. “But they will. I’m going to be doing interviews all over before the album comes out. They’re going to ask. You gonna be okay with our relationship being out there?”

  I paused before answering him. He backed up from me so I could sit on the bed. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Here life goes, taking another crazy turn, I thought to myself. I looked at him and took his hands in mine.

  “I don’t know. Just how personal are we talking? I can only imagine my students might see or read an interview about you. I’m kind of concerned.”

  He tugged on his goatee a little. ”I can see that. I guess I shouldn’t talk about your flexibility, or that sexy mole you have on your lower back.”

  I pinched his side and he scooted back on the bed to get away from me.

  “Ow! Fuck! Alright! I guess I really shouldn’t talk about how you like to abuse me.” I tackled him and straddled his chest, pinning his arms with my knees. ”Oooo, I like this move, honey. Okay, fine. I will definitely not tell them about how much you like skinny dipping in my pool.”

  “Remember, I can always do my own tell-all interview,” I said with a smirk.

  He stopped laughing. ”You could. I wouldn’t stop you. But I’m only kidding. I hope you know that. I will only say that ‘yes, I am in a new relationship, it’s very serious, and she’s the love of my life.’ Will that be okay? I mean, if they really listen to the lyrics, it might give them other ideas...”

  I leaned down and kissed him. ”Just don’t go into detail about our bedroom activities. Or my new bra size.”

  He pulled his arms out and cupped my breasts. ”Mmmmm, no way. These are mine. I fucking love these. I loved them before, you know. Now they’re just more kissable, and suckable and cuddleable.”

  “I get it. There’s just more of me to go around.”

  He moaned. “Exactly.”

  “But you can tell them how excited you are that you passed the California High School Exit Exam and are officially a high school graduate.”

  He stared at me blankly. “What did you say?”

  I bent down and rubbed noses with him. “You passed, silly. I told you you would! I’m sorry I hadn’t told you yet. Gloria called me and told me the day everything happened. I—”

  Danny flipped me over on my back. I was completely at his mercy. I’m sure he thanked me at some point. I was just distracted by his expert use of his tongue and fingers, and the way he contorted my body to get exactly where he wanted to be. I could barely hold on as he showed me with his body just how much he appreciated all of the hard work we’d done together, and were about to continue doing together.

  When he finished inside me, we were both gasping for breath. He nuzzled my neck and fingered my necklace with the Teacher pendant that I never took off.

  “I am so blessed to have you in my life, honey. Thank you for this gift of you.”

  I started to tell him we needed to plan a celebration, but he silenced me with his kisses.

  “This is all the celebration I need. This a
nd a fucking wedding reception. Everyone and everything else can wait, God dammit. I just want you.” I started to protest, but he just had this way of taking over. Just like with everything else. This time I was happy to let Mr. Bossypants be in charge. He continued to be in charge for hours.

  Monday and Tuesday the guys were in the studio. After I picked up Jane from school, we hung out at the Mannings’ and watched movies. We spent time in their hot tub, ordered take out, and bummed around. It was probably no different from what the brothers did on a regular basis.

  Wednesday afternoon Nora took Jane to the ranch while Danny and I prepared to go to the house and meet with the decorator. He worried about how I would feel going over, but Nora assured us the room was already gutted. The crew she hired moved fast. I was less worried than Danny, but I knew it would be weird for a while. I would feel better as soon as I started self-defense training with Sandra. I made a mental note to get her number from Danny.

  We pulled up in front of the house and the decorator was already there. Her name was Megan, she was totally Gothed out, and had a very dry sense of humor. Danny tried to be his usual charming self. Her response was a blank stare. It was up to me to make this working relationship happen. She brought some samples and Danny brought pictures of his collection. That finally warmed her to him, and together they geeked out over his classic horror film collection.

  “I have a better plan now,” she said and grabbed him by the arm. She led him around the room pointing, talking colors and gesturing.

  I watched from the steps, not quite frozen, but once again reliving the attack. I must have missed Danny speaking to me because he was by my side in an instant with his hands on my arm.

  “Honey? Jesse! Are you okay?”

  I shook myself and gave him a smile. ”Sorry. Did you ask me something?”

  He frowned, but let me off the hook. ”Yeah, Megan asked whether we wanted to go leather or velvet for the seating. What do you think?”

  I raised an eyebrow at him. ”Velvet. Definitely.”

  His eyes dropped to my mouth and he seemed to be on the same page.

  Megan assured us she would have the room done in time for a Halloween bash. I knew that would make Janey happy. Danny brainstormed all kinds of ideas to make Janey’s friends squeal. He planned to enlist ‘the guys’ to make a haunted house for the kids and then afterwards, have a grown-up costume party. I was excited, too. He wanted me to invite Cosmo and the boys and even mentioned having them play at the party.

  Having everyone over made me a little apprehensive. I couldn’t help but think back to the disasters that accompanied each of the gatherings we’d attended so far. The pool party, the wedding reception…I decided I’d have faith.

  Chapter - Six

  We stayed with the Mannings until a week before Halloween while the house was being worked on. I really had fun getting to know the brothers better and they were absolutely accommodating. They didn’t even bring random chicks home! Jane loved them and was having a lot of fun learning more about the early years of Blackened.

  One night at dinner, I put on a slideshow for Jane with some of the tamer pictures Bronson showed me. Danny buried his face in his hands and groaned the whole time. Jane acted as though she was watching a car wreck. She winced, she sucked in her breath, and finally said, “Oh, Daddy…No. Just no. These pictures need to go away.”

  Bronson and I high-fived.

  Danny moaned, “Touché.”

  School was going well for Jane, but I noticed she was spending a lot more time on her phone texting with her friends, I assumed, and she didn’t always look happy. We spent a lot of time together, especially on the nights we went to the dance studio together. She’d take her class and then hang out in the office that was attached to the studio doing her homework. We talked a lot on the drive to and from, and I loved getting to hear about school from her perspective. She had a teacher she really didn’t like and I had to bite my tongue when she shared stories about what happened in class. Part of the problem was that Jane wasn’t used to hearing ‘no’ and this teacher sounded very strict.

  Danny and ‘the guys’ finished the album a week or so before we moved back home and mixing took place then. I was able to go watch them, which was quite embarrassing. Danny chuckled at all my questions and my need to touch everything. I also got to watch him work with Cosmo and the rest of Greek Tragedy. He recorded four demos with them and had the same guys who were doing production on Blackened’s album finish fine-tuning the Tragedy.

  Going back to work was a challenge. Telling the story over and over could have been hard, but with every kid I told, I felt a little stronger and I used it as a teachable moment. I reminded them to be aware of their surroundings and encouraged them all to learn to protect themselves. I had a great idea that I could have Sandra come and do workshops at the school, so I got Gloria’s permission. Starting mid-October, the staff and many of the students spent Saturday mornings learning self-defense. Sandra brought in a few of her police buddies, which was a great way for the kids to interact with cops on a positive level. I even brought Jane. The first time she was able to take down one of the smaller cops, she whooped and hollered with delight!

  “See,” Sandra told her. “You don’t have to be bigger. It’s all about using their weight and size against them. It’s about keeping your head about you, like Jesse did, and not panicking when someone puts their hands on you.”

  Sandra became a great confidant for me during our weekly sessions. She let me vent and encouraged me to continue working out. ”Dancing is great for your flexibility and your treatments are good for your health, but building some muscle will really help you with your RA.”

  I agreed with her so Danny added some more free weights and exercise equipment to his order for the “gym,” which he wouldn’t let me step foot in until we officially moved in.

  “It’s a surprise,” he said. Little did he know I’d been working on a surprise for him, too. When the room was finally ready about a week before we moved in, he covered my eyes and walked me inside. ”Open your eyes, honey.”

  I gasped in shock! Danny had them turn the room into a dance studio! There were mats in one corner for our use, he’d had hardwood floors put in, and he’d had the walls covered with mirrors. There was even a warm-up bar along one wall. In another corner was a heavy bag and a weight bench with a free weight set and an assortment of foam rollers, balance balls, and medicine balls. It was perfect! I thanked him properly. Right there on the new floor.

  We’d all really missed Legs during this time, so the day after we moved in, Patricia brought her home and we all took turns cuddling with her. It turned out that she was very much an Irish Wolfhound mix. She was now already five months old and over 60 lbs! She’d been super spoiled at Patricia’s house because she slept with Patricia and her husband, Max.

  “Dad, she can sleep with me! There’s plenty of room.”

  Danny grumbled but allowed it, of course, once Jane put on the gimme face. Genetics. It was time, however, to do some real training with her. Danny was concerned that she’d be too much for Jane because of her size. Nora and Jane started taking her to training on Friday evenings. I was exhausted by that time of the week. Thankfully Nora assured me she had it under control.

  Plans for the Halloween party were finalized and we were ready to go for Friday night. Danny and the guys got wigs and costumes so they could dress like KISS. The haunted house utilized a lot of Danny’s props and he and his guys, along with Cosmo and the boys, had a blast scaring the pants off Janey’s middle school friends. They loved it! The kids took turns hanging on to each other for dear life and went through it again and again. A lot of their parents stayed and enjoyed the food we’d had catered. I hung out with Rebecca and Patricia for much of the night. We dressed as witches in coordinated costumes. They helped me keep things rolling since Danny had given Nora the weekend off. She wasn’t really into all the scary stuff, so she and Connie went on a three day cruise to Baja C
alifornia.

  The only trouble came when some of the boys were leaving. The kids were scheduled to leave by 8:00. Jane lingered talking to a tall, lanky kid with longish black hair who was dressed like… An emo band guy? At least I hoped it was a costume. Danny watched them with interest until the boy gave Jane an awkward hug. As he was walking towards the door, he said, “I’ll kick you,” with a bit of a smile. Danny tensed next to me and stalked towards the kid.

  “Did you just say-”

  Jane slid in front of Danny. “Daddy, this is Carson,” she said slowly like she was addressing a small child. “He’s a friend from school. He’s going to message me on Kik. It’s an app on the phone, remember? We talked about this? Ian, this is my dad.”

  The kid bravely held out a hand to Danny, who was doing his best to get himself under control. Bronson and Julian approached, followed by Alex. The four of them looming over this kid might have been scary under regular circumstances, but standing there in black spandex with giant wigs and boots on just made the situation laughable. Ian did a tremendous job of being respectful and not laughing right in their faces.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Black. Thank you for having us over.” Danny paused before shaking his hand. He grunted and walked away, at which point the boys all started murmuring excitedly and patting Ian on the back as they walked out the door.

  “Eddie Haskell-looking little fucker,” Danny said as he approached. I raised an eyebrow at him and was getting ready to scold him when he winked at me.

  Jane went home with Sasha and Ivana. We hugged and said goodnight, then got to work cleaning up the little mess left over from the kid party and setting up for phase two. I was at the sink doing some dishes when I felt Danny’s warm embrace from behind. ”Think anyone would notice if we snuck off together, pretty lady?”