Table of Contents
Title Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
End notes
ROCK GOD
BOOK 3
Michael-Scott Earle
Chapter 1
I pulled up to Beth and Aimee’s house a few minutes before ten o’clock. It was amazingly quiet on top of the hill on which their house sat, and the day was beginning to get windy. It was a colder wind coming off the Pacific, and the endless sea of long thin grass that blanketed the estate grounds waved with each breath of breeze like ocean waves. I parked next to the beautiful fountain again and got out of my car with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.
“What am I doing here?” I asked myself while I stared at the koi fish statues in the fountain. I should have spent this day alone in my apartment with my guitars, or maybe even agreed to visit Kelly’s family. Instead, I was about to hang out with one of the richest families in all of Los Angeles and try to fend off the advances from their underage daughter while trying to figure out my exact relationship with their eldest.
Yeah. I shouldn’t be here.
Yet, here I was; staring at the water flowing out of the mouths of a dozen copper koi fish and debating whether I could just leave and stand up Beth again. She’d be mad, but maybe it would be mad enough for her to stop pursuing me once and for all. She’d go back to her life of being a model-artist-genius, and I could go back to not thinking about her.
If that was what I really wanted.
That still didn’t solve my problem with Aimee though. I didn’t even know where our relationship stood anymore. Two weeks ago, I’d been ready for her to dump Jack so I could date her. Or maybe she had me convinced that Jack and she weren’t really an item. If Beth hadn’t of interrupted us after the show, we would have been lovers. Did Aimee know that Beth had been coming over to my house? Had Aimee talked to Jack?
“Hi Eric!” Beth called out from the door of her house. I spun around from the fountain and saw the beautiful girl waving to me. She was wearing a bright-red sleeveless dress with a wide skirt that came down to a little above her knees. She was barefoot, and, once she saw me turn to her, she danced toward me onto the cobblestone driveway.
“I’m so happy you are here.” She stood in front of me and smiled. The expression was more cute than beautiful, and I noticed her hands were nervously entwined together.
“Thanks for inviting me.” I ran my left hand back through my hair like I did whenever I was nervous. Fuck, I shouldn’t be here.
Suddenly her arms were around my neck, and her lips, along with the front of her slender body, were pressed against me. It was a quick kiss, with no tongue, and I hadn’t even realized what happened until she pushed away. Then she giggled and spun away from me like a ballet dancer, complete with a pointed toe.
“Come inside. We are about to start on brunch and were just waiting for you.”
“Okay. Where is Aimee?” I realized that if Beth’s older sister had just seen her kiss me, then she might inflict some violence.
“She heard the buzzer at the gate for you and said she had to finish getting ready.” Beth grabbed my left hand with her right, and our fingers entwined. “I’m going to guess she’ll be down in a few minutes. Which is good, I get you all to myself.” Beth pulled me into the foyer of her massive house and then pointed to the shoe rack. I nodded at her and used the opportunity to free my hand from her grip so I could take off my shoes.
“My parents are this way.” Beth tried to grab my hand again, but I looked in the other direction, at some of her paintings on the wall, and stepped away so that she couldn’t reach me.
“I didn’t see these the first time.”
“They are new.”
“I like this one.” It was a series of green islands dotting a blue ocean. On one of the islands was a crumbling castle. A woman with a long, tattered white dress sat on a boulder and seemed to be watching the castle. I realized that it was as if Beth had caught the fortress in the middle of crumbling.
“I’m glad you do. We’ll have plenty of time to look at the rest of my stuff. I intend to take you on a tour of the house, but first I want you to meet my parents.” She tugged on the sleeve of my shirt, and I followed her through the long hallway toward the kitchen. Every step toward our destination made my heart beat a bit faster and my nerves become tenser. This was a bad idea, and I should have stayed home.
“This is Eric!” Beth declared happily as soon as we walked into the kitchen. Her parents were moving around the kitchen with Loretta, and the three of them stopped their cooking tasks to look at me.
“Hello Eric.” Beth’s handsome dad wiped off his hands with a towel and took the few steps toward me. He was a tall man, maybe six three, and looked to be in perfect health. He had darker-blonde hair and the same striking blue eyes that Beth and Aimee possessed. I saw other similarities between the man and his two daughters. Beth shared his cheekbones, Aimee had his nose, and when he smiled at me, it reminded me of both of the girls.
“Hello, sir. Nice to meet you. Happy Thanksgiving.” I shook his hand. He wore a light-blue polo shirt with pink stitching on the seams, and I noticed he had big biceps and a strong grip. The guy must have spent a lot of time working out. It was hard to tell his age since he was physically fit, his eyes looked young, and he had an energetic presence. But he had lines around his eyes, and I could see the gray hair on the muscular hand that shook mine.
“Nice to meet you. Call me John please. This is my wife Keiko.” John introduced me to the beautiful woman that filled in the missing pieces of Amy and Beth’s beauty.
Keiko was Asian, and I think Beth or Aimee had told me that she was Japanese. She looked like she might have been half, or maybe a quarter, but I couldn’t tell for sure. Her hair was long and lustrous. Like her daughters’. Her eyes were a beautiful light shade of brown. The woman moved smoothly across the tile floor, and I guessed this was where Beth and Aimee got their grace. She raised a delicate hand to shake mine, and I marveled and how smooth and perfect her hand looked.
“Nice to meet you ma’am.” I shook the beautiful woman’s hand. She looked only a few years older than her daughters, and I imagined that men more than half her age would have been thunderstruck by her timeless beauty.
“Nice to meet you too, Eric. I am very happy that my beautiful Beth has made a friend. And Aimee tells me you are best friends with Jack also?” I nodded my head and tried not to think of what Aimee and I had done in John’s Ferrari.
“That is good. He is a nice young man.”
“We were just helping Loretta prepare brunch,” John said.
“Hello Eric.” Loretta waved to me from behind the counter. She smiled at me and then went back to cutting something behind to counter.
“You two can sit at the counter here and keep us company until we are ready to eat.” John gestured to the stools at the counter with a smile. I nodded and then walked over to the seats with Beth.
Beth’s parents returned to the kitchen counter. They worked like a well-oiled machine in the kitchen, with Loretta taking command and asking her employers politely to attend to different cutting, retrieving, and prep tasks. The kitchen already smelled of bacon, sausage, and eggs when I entered, so I guessed that the massive stainless steel ovens were at work cooking.
Beth’s parents asked where I went to school, what I was studying, and where I grew up. They were the usual questi
ons a parent would ask someone dating their daughter, and I answered them as honestly as I could. Both John and Keiko nodded at my words and seemed to busy themselves with the work of the food. Beth was strangely silent during their questions, and I realized that she probably didn’t know the answers to most of them either. Her sister knew me much better.
“Hello family! Hello Eric! Happy Thanksgiving!” Aimee called out as soon as I thought of her. She entered the giant kitchen from the side opposite where I had entered, and I stood out of my seat to greet her.
The beautiful girl wore a lilac dress that hugged her form tightly and descended to the middle of her shapely thighs. It was a soft material that looked like felt. Sewn onto the dress were half a dozen butterflies roughly the size of my thumb. They were made of the same dress material and were of matching color, so they kind of gave the impression that they were printed on the dress. Until I got closer.
“Great to see you.” She opened her arms to hug me, and I smelled the scent of lilacs on her hair. She pulled me close with the embrace, and I felt her warm breath on my neck. “I missed you. Thanks for coming,” she whispered in my ear. We parted from our hug, and my eyes were drawn to the pearl necklace that she wore around her smooth neck.
“Brunch is almost ready.” Keiko said from behind the kitchen counter. “Can you all grab some plates?” John and Loretta were taking trays of steaming meat out of the oven, and Keiko smiled at me and pointed to a long dish covered with smoked salmon, cuts of lemon, soft cheeses, onions, and capers.
Beth grabbed a plate of bagels, and Aimee grabbed a tray of cut fruit. I didn’t really know where in the house we were eating, but the two sisters did, so I followed them out of the kitchen and into the large dining room. As I recalled, the mansion had two dining rooms. One was Japanese style, with one of those tables that was low to the floor and a bunch of pillows to sit on while the party ate. This was the more traditional room and in its center was a long, dark red-table. I couldn’t figure out what kind of wood it was, but I guessed it probably cost twice as much as my car. There were already place settings at each seat, and the dishes were a calm green with pink Japanese cherry blossoms on the design. There were also a dozen paintings in the room. I guessed that Beth had done all of them, and I figured I could ask about them during brunch if the conversation began to lull.
“Too bad we couldn’t eat outside. It’s a bit too cold,” Aimee said to us after we set the food down.
“I invited a snuggle buddy to keep me warm.” Beth smiled at me.
“Stop Beth. You said we would play nice today.” Aimee crossed her arms over the butterflies on her dress and glared at her younger sister.
“I did. I will. Soooo-rreeee.” She pouted and then shrugged at Aimee.
“I don’t want to get in the middle of anything.”
“It’s fine,” they both said at the same time and looked at me. Then they both smiled, and it became strikingly obvious that the two were sisters. Aimee was an inch shorter and had lighter, wavier hair, but they were both extremely beautiful.
And dangerous. Fortunately, the talk with their parents had calmed my nerves a bit, so I didn’t jump when John, Keiko, and Loretta walked in carrying trays of eggs, bacon, sausage, rice, and potatoes.
“This is a feast!” Aimee smiled at the food and helped her mother with one of the trays. I grabbed a bowl of white rice from Loretta and then set it down on the table in front of me. Soon, all the food was placed, and the three left the dining room to get drinks.
“Your parents help out a lot,” I observed.
“If they are home and aren’t busy, then they will help Loretta cook. She was really uncomfortable with it at first, but then she got used to it. My dad says that it ‘keeps him balanced,’ and Mom said it reminds her of when they were first married,” Aimee said.
“Can I serve you?” Beth said from beside me. I realized I had sat between the two sisters, or maybe they had flanked my position strategically.
“Should we wait till they come back?”
“We are back,” Keiko said when they walked back into the dining room. John held a bottle of Champagne in an ice bucket, and the women carried jugs of water and juice and a giant French press filled with coffee. They set down the drinks and began to scoop food for the girls and me.
“Coffee, Eric?” Aimee and Beth’s beautiful mother asked.
“Yes please. Thank you.” She poured the dark liquid into a Japanese-style cup, and I placed it by my plate.
“Is there any food you don’t want, Eric? I can just give you some of everything.” Loretta had grabbed my plate and looked over to me with kind eyes.
“I’ll eat it all. Thank you.” She nodded and began to put breakfast food on my plate.
“Mimosa?” John asked as he thumbed off the cork with a soft pop.
“He’d love one,” Aimee answered for me quickly. “I want one as well.”
“Beth?” John looked at his youngest daughter. I was actually surprised he was asking her, since she was under age, but I recalled that they had lived and traveled all over the world. Couldn’t you drink when you were like ten years old in most of Europe?
“Hmmmm?” I turned away from John and saw the blue-eyed girl staring at me with a glazed expression on her face.
“Do you want a mimosa?” John asked her again.
“Oh, I supposed I should indulge as much as I can today.” She stared at me and didn’t even glance in her father’s direction. I felt my face begin to redden, and I turned down to my food. Then I glanced up to John, but the handsome man didn’t even seem to notice his daughter ogling me.
The table we sat at was massive and could probably seat thirty people, but the six of us occupied the corner closest to the kitchen, with Loretta sitting nearest the hallway. John and Keiko sat on the other side of the El Salvadorian woman after the food was dished and the mimosas set.
“Cheers,” John raised his glass. I was too far away to touch mine to anyone’s other than Beth’s and Aimee’s. The older sister gave me a wink when our glasses clinked together.
We began to eat, and the food was delicious. I already knew Loretta was an amazing cook, but the eggs, bacon, sausage, and coffee was so good that I had trouble restraining myself from scarfing it down. To pace myself, I made sure to count my chews and then take a sip of coffee or mimosa between bites.
“You’re a business major, Eric?” John asked me after a few minutes of silence at the table. Oh boy. Here we go. The father interrogation.
“Yes sir. At Northridge,” I answered.
“That is a good school. One of my VPs is from there. Are you a senior?”
“My schedule is a bit mixed up. I switched majors and lost some credits. I’m taking six classes now, and if I can get a class during this summer, I should be able to graduate the following June.”
“Good. Class of ‘07. What are your plans after school?” He took a bite of egg and fixed me with the piercing stare that his daughters’ shared.
“I have an internship at a small financial advisor firm now, so I planned on staying with that after school.”
“He works for Patrick’s dad,” Aimee said.
“That is a good company,” her dad said with a nod.
“What did you study before business?” Keiko asked.
“Music,” I answered.
“That seems like quite a change of direction,” the woman said with a slight smile.
Aimee cleared her throat loudly, and her mother’s eyes shifted toward the sound.
“It’s okay, Aimee.” I smiled at her before turning back to Keiko and John. “My parents were killed in a car accident. Kind of messed me up for a while. I didn’t want to play music anymore because it reminded me too much of them.”
“That is terrible,” Keiko said with a gasp.
“I told you not to ask him about school, mom.” Aimee sighed and set down her fork with a loud clang.
“He’s fine. He worked through it the other night when I was at h
is apartment,” Beth said casually, leaning back in her chair. Beth’s gorgeous face looked bored, and her eyes were fixated on one of the paintings.
“You were at his apartment?” Aimee’s voice curled a bit at the end of the sentence.
“He played his guitar for me.” Beth turned her head slowly to the right and looked past me to her sister. There was still no emotion on her face, and it was impossible to tell if she was intentionally trying to make Aimee angry.
“Why were you at his apartment?” Aimee looked at me, and her eyes turned into ice lasers.
“Daddy, can we retire to the music room after breakfast? Maybe you, mom, and Eric can play some songs together?” Beth asked her parents.
“That is a good idea.” John was sipping on his coffee and glancing between the three of us. He didn’t seem angry or suspicious of anything. Or even surprised by Aimee’s outburst.
“Can you answer my question?” Aimee leaned over to look at Beth, but the younger sister took a fork full of food. “Eric?” Aimee looked at me and raised an eyebrow.
“Beth came over one night after one of her shows. She fell asleep on my couch, and I had to run to school the next morning.” I felt my heart skip a beat, but I didn’t know what else to say when Aimee locked onto me with her glare.
“Then I came over a few nights later to cook you dinner, but you had to kick me out because Kelly was coming over.” Beth sighed and took a sip from her mimosa absently. “I just can’t catch a break with him.”
“Kelly?” Aimee’s voice was a growl.
“She’s like your Jack!” Beth laughed gleefully. “Do you know what I mean, Sis?”
“Girls.” John’s voice rang out, and Aimee closed her mouth and cut off the reply she intended for Beth. “If this becomes a problem, then I will have to ask Eric to leave.” The man looked at me with a soft smile.
“Fine.” Aimee leaned back in her chair. Beth said nothing else, but resumed eating.
“So, you play guitar?” Keiko asked.
“Yes ma’am. I started when I was around ten.”
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