by J. Bengtsson
Catching sight of more snickering in the corner, I called Jake again. “Where are you now?”
“Two minutes away from the place I was when you called me last. I’m doing the best I can, Casey. The 10 freeway was shut down, and I’ve been taking side streets ever since. It’s not like I’m enjoying this urban jigsaw puzzle.”
“Okay, I’m sorry. It’s just, if you don’t show up soon, I’m going to need to change my pad.”
“What?”
“Never mind, inside joke. Just get here when you can.”
I hung up and checked the time. I should probably wait five minutes before calling him next time. It sounded like he was getting testy, and the last thing I needed was a grumpy guy in a peanut butter costume getting mouthy during my time of the month. Plus, it went without saying: I wanted Jake to make a good impression. Not that it would be too challenging to impress my coworkers. He was famous, so short of acting like a giant douchebag, he’d rock their world. Still, it was important to me that Jake be on top of his game, if only just so I could properly show him off.
Without looking up from the phone screen, I could hear my two giddy coworkers making their way over. I didn’t have to see their faces to know who was coming. I smiled before they even opened their mouths. Nat and Sandra, my best buds. Both worked in the back office with me. Nat was in her forties and was never without a smile on her face. Her hair was streaks of blond down to her shoulders, impeccably curled in big, bouncy twirls. She wore blue-rimmed glasses and colorful tops every day to work. Just seeing her in the mornings made me want to breathe in her fresh air. I was attracted to her like a flower to the sun. Not surprisingly, we hit it off instantly, and by my first afternoon in the office, we’d already planned our weekend outing together, even going so far as to pick the chick flick we’d be enjoying.
Sandra had taken longer to win over: twenty-eight floors, to be exact. Actually, it was more like fifteen, but who was counting? Yes, I was one of those people – the type who made friends in elevators. We’d started out chatting about the weather, which, let’s be honest people, it’s Los Angeles – ninety-five percent of the time the sun was shining. Not much to report there. Then we moved on to the restaurants in the area, both professing our love of Mexican food. By the time we’d reached the twenty-eighth floor, we were just finishing up an enthralling conversation about intelligent life on other planets.
Sandra flicked her fingers in front of my face to jolt my mind back into the present. “When we vote on costumes, my money’s on you. Sure, it’s a little nauseating, but you get extra points for originality.”
“Again, I’m jelly… blackberry jelly.”
“Right. You know, hon, if you took birth control pills, there’d be no need for such bulky protection,” Nat said, joining in the heckling.
Sandra dropped her voice as she carried a devilish grin on her face. “I have a tampon in my purse, if you prefer something more discreet.”
Unable to keep the amusement off my shamed face, I threw what I knew they wanted most, my husband, into their faces. “Sure, keep cackling, ladies, but when my creamy peanut butter shows up, we’ll just see who’s laughing.”
“If he shows up. My money’s still on you Photoshopping yourself into those wedding photos,” Nat said.
“Or,” Sandra added, speaking directly to Nat, “at the very least she should be providing proof in the form of a pair of his signed underwear – but nooo, that’s too much for the little princess here to share with us less fortunate souls.”
“You want proof? Look who’s walking through the door right as we speak!”
Both my coworkers spun around, tongues already dangling from their mouths like overheated dogs, but instead of feasting on my rocker hubby, they got an eyeful of Darrell, our version of Dwight from The Office. He was currently dressed like… well, himself… because there was no time for fun in his dismal world. The only reason he showed up at all was for the free food.
“Yuck, Casey,” Sandra groaned. “I can’t unsee that. Jake’s not coming, is he?”
“If you stick around long enough, maybe. He’s stuck in traffic.”
“Of course he is.” Nat grinned.
My phone rang, and I held my hand up to my friends. Please be him.
“Can you come to the lobby?” Jake asked, the frustration in his voice unmistakable. “They won’t let me up.”
“They won’t let you up? Why?”
“I don’t know, Casey. They just said you had to come down here.”
“Weird. Okay, I’m coming.”
I hurried to the elevator, wondering who would prevent him from coming up. It wasn’t like we had tight security or anything. Hearing a swishing sound, I looked up to find a dinosaur bounding down the hallway. It was one of those blow-up kinds that swayed and bounced as it moved. So randomly ridiculous, I couldn’t help but laugh. The dinosaur stopped directly beside me, apparently never having received the company memo on sexual harassment and personal space. Neither one of us spoke as I focused on the lit up button on the elevator. I could feel him staring at me. Great, I had to get in the elevator with this thing.
“How’s it going, sweet stuff?” T-Rex finally spoke, and damned if he didn’t have just the right amount of prehistoric swagger.
“I’m good. Nice costume.”
He nodded, and his whole body moved with him. I shook my head, but there was no hiding my amusement. Dino took that as his cue to up his game by taking another side step toward me and trying to touch me with those stubby arms of his.
“Okay, let me stop you there, bud,” I said, moving away. “I’m a single species kind of girl.”
T-Rex laughed, and I jerked my head up, recognizing it instantly.
“Jake?”
Dino swamped me like he was in the middle of a mosh pit, those ridiculous stumps for arms everywhere as I squealed and dipped away. Loud kissing sounds accompanied the bobbing head against my neck and I was nearly screaming in laughter when several of my coworkers flooded into the hallway.
One guy looked ready to attack, so I pushed Jake off, still giggling, and said, “It’s okay. We’re married.”
There were all sorts of different reactions coming from my would-be saviors. First and foremost, relief. These were accountants, after all. The last thing any of them wanted was a chance to prove their manhood. Relief, however, was quickly replaced with surprise when those in the hallway realized just who was under the dinosaur costume.
“Sorry about the noise. He just surprised me. We’ll be in soon.”
As the crowd dispersed, I pulled Jake around the corner.
“Let me at them,” he joked, swinging his arms around helplessly.
“I can’t believe you,” I said, zipping him out of the costume. “You weren’t stuck in traffic at all, were you?”
“This is LA – of course I was stuck in traffic, just not for as long as I led you to believe,” Jake said, then stopped to look at my costume.
“What are you, anyway?”
“I’m the jelly to your peanut butter, remember?”
“Oh, Jesus, you look like a homicide victim who totally bled out.”
“I like that better than the other suggestions making the rounds.”
I pulled his peanut butter costume out of my bag and slipped it over his head. Still half in his dinosaur suit, Jake was a hilarious sight. He swiveled his hips in a strip tease move until the rest of the T-Rex fell to the ground.
“You know if you wanted to go as a dinosaur, Jake, you could’ve just asked.”
“Since when do I have to ask my wife’s permission to dress in prehistoric garb? I don’t remember that being in our vows.”
That face. His smirk. I grabbed him and planted a kiss on those delectable lips.
“It was in the fine print,” I said. “You might have missed it.”
“Uh-huh,” he said into the hollows of my open mouth as he kicked the kiss up a notch. Catching sight of the unmistakable fire in his eyes, I wrappe
d my arm around the back of his neck at the exact moment his tongue dipped between my lips. This was the way he’d been since arriving home a few days ago… randy as all hell. And despite what my costume suggested about my time of the month, I was clearly in heat. It took nothing but a sexy tilt of his head to turn me on; or in this case, a slice of bread slathered in peanut butter. There was just something about the way he wanted me, with such intensity and steam, that turned me into a quivering mess at the flip of a switch.
I tightened my grip on him as our mouths worked in unison. If I hadn’t already quit, this unprofessional bit of hallway PDA would certainly get me fired. Regaining my wits, I placed my hand on his chest and stepped back.
“Behave,” I reprimanded him, but in all honesty, I needed a scolding too. The fact that we couldn’t keep our hands off each other was proof enough that I’d made the right decision to join him on tour. “Let’s go. And, Jake, it goes without saying that you’ll be on top of your game tonight. Remember, we’re going for ‘Wow.’”
And that’s just what he did. When it came to wowing, Jake was a natural. He didn’t have to do much more than open those luscious eyes of his to get the approval of the females, and a little chat about classic 80’s pop bands did the trick for the males. He’d even stolen a math joke off the Internet for the occasion: ‘Dear Math, I’m not a therapist, solve your own problems’ - which really slayed the crowd. We were a room full of accountants, after all.
By the time the party had wound down, Jake and I were arguably the most popular peanut butter and jelly sandwich this side of the San Andreas Fault. We were also the gauge by which the party ended. I’d noticed the phenomenon before at parties. No one ever left before Jake. It must have been a fame thing, like people were afraid of missing something cool. So as we moved toward the exit, so did everyone else.
Waiting for the elevator with Sandra and Nat and her husband, I embraced my friends and shared with them my news. It hadn’t come as a huge shock to them, since we’d talked about the possibility many times, but there were still sad faces to contend with.
“It’s all right, Casey. I get it. I’d do the same thing,” Nat said, encouragingly.
That was followed by Sandra’s stamp of approval. “Hell, I don’t know what took you so long.”
Then Darrell, the office asshole, pushed passed me and smugly tossed in his two cents. “You’ll never work in this town again.”
11
Casey: Heavy Heart
I stood on the sidelines, content to just be in the midst of the controlled chaos. A steady stream of people bustled around, each with a specific job to do. Occasionally a greeting or two was thrown my way, but typically I wasn’t paid more attention than any other person on Jake’s team. They’d long ago accepted me as one of them, and that’s what I loved about this blended family.
It had been a couple of months since I’d quit my job and joined Jake on the road, and truly it had been the right decision for me. Although the plan had been to work part-time doing freelance work for small companies, the jobs just kept coming in, and I found myself working nearly as many hours as I had been before. But at least now I wasn’t stealing and castrating small animals to satisfy my loneliness.
Being on the road with Jake and his crew felt like home, and it was just where I wanted to be.
Conrad, one of the equipment guys, passed by me, formed a pistol with his hand, and crudely pointed it at me.
“Two more days and you’re toast,” he said, smirking.
Oh, hell no. If he wanted to trash talk, I was prepared to fling it right back in his face. “That’s it, cupcake. You’re going down.”
“Ooh, big talker. I’ve seen you play video games, Casey. I’m not worried.”
“Right, but you forget I have your boss to hide behind.”
Conrad shook his head, good-naturedly dismissing me as he went on with the task at hand.
I might not have had an official job on the team, but I still served a purpose. On Jake’s Outlast World Tour, I was the self-ordained Fun Time Leader. And as such, I made it a point to find fun and exciting things along the way to engage the band and crew. Next up – Laser tag!
Turning my attention back toward the stage, I was surprised to see Jake strolling in my direction. Dang, he was a hunk. He was covered in a slick sheen, and I watched him swipe a towel off one of the speakers and mop his face with it. I nodded my approval, mesmerized, as always, by his glow. Catching me ogling him, Jake smiled his most seductive smile before beckoning me forward. Yeah, he was sexy, I’d give him that, but it wasn’t enough to persuade me to step foot out on that stage with him in front of thousands of his fans. I shook my head. Jake nodded his. Oh, lord, he was coming my way.
Um, hello, dude! You have a concert going on, with paying customers, I wanted to say, but Jake didn’t seem the least bit concerned that while he was seducing me, an unattended and unruly mob might break free from the barriers at any moment and storm the stage. No, his translucent eyes were fixed on one thing only: me. He sauntered over to me, playing up the sexy singer fantasy. It was an act that had starred in every woman’s dirty dreams since Elvis first stormed the stage all those years ago.
And when he arrived at me in all his glory and planted a wet, slippery kiss on my lips, I knew I would follow him anywhere… and Jake was taking me for a ride. His hands cradling my face and lips still locked on mine, he walked the two of us backward onto the stage and in clear view of the roaring crowd. I should have been mortified by this very public display of affection, but that would have required full control over my highly aroused body and soul, and such control was not possible while Jake was tempting me with his wildly sexy self.
In fact, I’d nearly forgotten we had an audience until every red-blooded woman in the crowd screamed her approval as I wrapped my legs around Jake’s waist in response to him lifting me off the ground. I dipped my head forward onto his shoulder as his lips caressed the prickled skin of my neck. We needed to stop this before being slapped with a misdemeanor charge for lewd conduct in public. As it was, our impromptu make-out session was probably already trending on Twitter.
Jake seemed to come to his senses at the exact time I did, and he carried me back to the side of the stage, keeping his mouth on me the entire way. How he kept from tripping on all the ground wiring was a testament to his exceptional skills of seduction. Arriving back into the shadows, Jake set me down on my shaking legs. We stared feverishly at one another, soaking in the raw chemistry we produced by just being in the vicinity of each other. Neither of us had any excuse for our sizzling sideshow other than that we were newlyweds and couldn’t keep our hands off each other. I had no doubt if Jake weren’t in the middle of working he would have carried me off like a caveman and ravished me in some rocky grotto… or in this case, his high-end luxury bus. Same principle.
“You’re crazy.” I laughed, immensely enjoying the absurdity of him interrupting his entire set just to make out with me. It was moments like this that I applauded my decision to join my very sexy husband on tour. “Go!”
Thankfully, Jake was a seasoned professional and managed to jump right back into his set with ease. I was still a bit of an amateur myself, so it took a little hand fanning to cool my jets. Of course, I was counting on getting some action later tonight, so I didn’t want the flames to go out entirely.
A few songs later, Malik, one of Jake’s crew, nudged me. His lips moved, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. Holding up my finger, I removed the special earplugs that canceled out some of the harshest sounds on stage.
“You need to call your brother,” he said.
“My brother?” I repeated, not understanding how he would know this.
“He’s been trying to get in touch with you.”
I instantly pulled out my phone and saw numerous missed calls and messages from Luke. Fear cycled through me. It was not normal for him to call me in the first place, but this many messages? Something wasn’t right. Hurrying away fr
om the side stage to Jake’s dressing room, I dialed Luke’s number with shaking hands.
“Casey?” he said, his voice cracking with emotion.
My bones chilled, and instantly I feared the worst. “Yes. It’s me. Is Mom okay? Dad?”
Luke broke down, and that in turn upped my terror.
“Luke,” I screamed into the receiver. “What happened?”
“It’s Miles and Darcy. There was an accident.” Luke broke off his sentence and unintelligible sobs came from the other line.
“Luke! What happened?” I repeated.
“They didn’t make it.”
“What do you mean, they didn’t make it?” My voice was shrill with anger. How dare he play such a horrible trick on me?
“Their car was hit head on. Darcy died on impact and… and Miles… he… he made it to the hospital, but… Casey… he just passed away.”
A chill barreled through my body, blanketing my insides with ice. My teeth began to chatter as I tried to make sense of the words Luke was speaking. There had to be some mistake. Why was it so cold?
“Casey, are you still there? I’m so sorry. I… I didn’t want to be the one to tell you, but neither Mom nor Dad could do it.”
Luke broke down again, and while I listened to his heavy sorrow, the reality began to seep in. My fingers had frozen over, and the grip they had on my phone was crushing. Gone. No. It couldn’t be. And then the most horrible realization hit me.
“Sydney and Riley?” I screamed out, now shaking so violently that nausea was taking hold.
“They’re safe. It was Miles and Darcy’s anniversary. They went out to dinner. The kids were safe with Mom and Dad when it happened.”