“I understand that, Miriam. Everyone needs time to decompress. During a tour, I can’t wait for us to get to the next stop so I can get off the bus, go workout in the gym and get inside my own head without any other company for a while. However, I don’t think that’s a good idea in this instance.” Determined eyes collided with mine. “So I’m gonna have to overrule.”
“No.” I shook my head at him. “You’re not coming in. We’ve had a conversation like this before. You are not the boss of me. You don’t get to dictate every term.” I dug my bare feet into the floor, the previous urge to feel his touch becoming an onslaught of longing that I couldn’t allow myself to give in to. Did I really need to fall any further under his spell when I knew I had to leave soon? I swallowed, feeling the pressure of a fresh batch of tears building.
“I insist, Reina.” He pressed forward, entering the room and closing the door while I retreated deeper into it, yielding. “What just went down was pretty heavy.”
“Sure it was intense, but it’s the same tired old story. I disappoint her. She doesn’t understand me. She sees my choices as acting out for her attention. I’m done with all that shit. The last thing I need to do is talk more about it.” I backed up further as he came closer, his compelling presence overwhelming in the small space, his gorgeous eyes aglow, sparklers of empathy. “I’m fine,” I insisted, my hands fluttering in front of me. “Truly, fine. So, I got knocked down again. I can pick myself back up again. Dust my own self off and get on down the road.
“You could, but you don’t need to travel it alone anymore.” He opened his arms.
“I don’t need comforting.”
“You might not, but I do. I need to hold you.”
“Alright.” I stumbled toward him. How could I resist him? The tears I had been holding back spilled down my cheeks the moment I was enfolded in his strong arms.
“It’ll be ok. Your brother’s too protective and your mother just wants what she thinks is best for you. Old habits are hard to break, but they both love you.”
“If you love someone you should give them the freedom to make their own choices.”
“True. Very true.”
“She thinks I’m a slut.”
“You don’t really believe that.” He pressed me closer with the hand he had on my lower back and began stroking my hair just the way I had wanted him too. “You know she loves you,” he said gently. “You love her, too. You were both angry and aired a lot of shit today. You gave it to her pretty hard, but I believe she’ll come around.”
“I don’t know.”
“I do.”
“Maybe,” I allowed, the tears slowing as I reflected on his words and absorbed his comfort.
“A lot of things came out that you’ve been keeping inside. They needed saying no doubt, but she might have taken them a little better if you had been a bit more gentle.”
I nodded into his chest. He was right.
His hand stopped stroking. He curled a finger underneath my chin and lifted my head. I blinked up at him. “Because I care, I wouldn’t be a very good friend if I didn’t also point out that you didn’t apologize for lying to her. It might speed the reconciliation between you two if the next time you see her you led with that.”
Ouch. “You’re double right.”
“It happens on occasion.”
My lips curved slowly.
“Ah, very nice, my queen. A smile is much better than tears.” He traced the outline of lips with the pad of his thumb, then tugged to part them. “I think I’ll take a kiss from that pretty mouth of yours. Your king deserves his reward.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
King
“So,” Sager began, making eye contact with me before breaking the awkward silence that descended as Miriam and I entered the kitchen. “You were a stripper, huh?”
“Cállate.” I conked him on the side of the head before I sat down at the kitchen table and pulled Miriam onto my lap.
“Yeah.” She didn’t shy away from the question, though she did scoot off my lap into her own seat. “I prefer the term exotic dancer. But there is no were about it. It’s what I do. And I’m good at it. I’m not ashamed.”
Mi hermano and I exchanged a glance. Yeah, I may have given him the same impression I had given her brother. Apparently I didn’t have her completely on board with the idea of packing up and putting away her pasties forever, but I would. It was just a matter of persistence.
“No one’s judging you here,” Sager said. “It’s just surprising that’s all.”
“We’ve had enough surprises for one day.” Abuelita wheeled over to the table with a huge tray of tacos in her lap.
“Agreed,” Sager said, setting the delectable fare on the table.
“You’d agree with anything if it involves our mother’s food.”
He nodded. “And you’re for whatever gets you the largest amount of it.” He gestured at my plate where I had already stacked eight tacos.
“You gotta eat big to be big.” I pointed to myself and flexed my biceps, then to him and his much leaner frame. He shot me the finger.
“It smells delicious,” Melinda said, ignoring our banter and disappointing me just a little. I had hoped to make her smile. “I’m starving.”
“I’ll say the blessing so we can eat.” Abuelita put the brake on her chair.
“No, Abuelita.” Mi madre set the salsa bowl on the table. “Permíteme que lo diga,” she asked permission to speak the blessing. My mother reached for Miriam’s hand. She placed it into mine. A beautiful gesture and one that didn’t need a translation. I exchanged a side glance with Miriam. She got what my mom was saying. Her lip trembled. I translated as she began. “Bless us, O Lord, and these, thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.” She made the sign of the cross then hastily added. “And thank you for this family and my husband’s health.”
* * *
Miriam
“Hey, Mike.” I clicked the front door closed and reentered the house. It was suddenly silent with everyone gone. “Sorry it took me so long to call you back.” After I had been symbolically adopted into the family, María’s gesture still making me teary just thinking about it, we all demolished the tacos, then went our separate ways. Abuelita and María set out for the hospital. Sager and Melinda headed for their hotel. King went to work out at my insistence. I hadn’t wanted him to change his routine for me. I had assured him I was fine by myself. Beyond sexy in a backwards ball cap, Aviator sunglasses shielding his eyes and a black hoodie with the sleeves cut off, those incredibly strong biceps of his had flexed enticingly when he had climbed into his Hummer and lifted a hand to wave goodbye to me before he had backed out of the driveway.
“It’s been hours, MJ. Either you and King have been rolling between the sheets all that time or the shit has hit the fan. If you’d bothered to read them, the first text I sent you was a heads up about the Mile High video going public. The second was to let you know that you’re trending on Facebook. The phone call was to alert you to the fact that when I Google your name it’s associated with an adult film by Campanella Productions.”
“Oh, no.”
“Oh, hell to the fucking yes. I’m sorry. I was afraid you didn’t know. I figured if you did you would have called me.”
“Is there anything else?” How could it possibly get any worse?
“Only that the film you’re supposedly starring in is already in production status. Do you want to know the name?”
“Not really.” I dropped my ass onto the sofa.
“Queenie does Vegas. Very original, huh?”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah, that’s in the description. I’ll read it to you: Miriam Jackson, sister of Tempest guitarist Bryan Jackson, has moved on from her Mile High hookup with King Acenado, the band’s drummer and now can be seen on pay per view fucking her way from one end of the Vegas strip to the other.”
“Charming,” I croaked. It would have b
een funny, it was so horrible, except that it was no joke. There was no punchline and after my mother found out about it there would be no chance for reconciliation between the two of us.
* * *
King
“Mr. Acenado.”
Oh, shit.
“Carter Besille. We’ve met. I’m sure you remember. Why don’t you slow up for a minute so we can chat about your Mile High hookup?” The seedy talk show host nodded to some grunt with him who switched on a professional video camera and turned the light directly into my eyes practically blinding me.
“No comment.” I sure as hell remembered the living breathing Ken doll unanimously hated by everyone in the band. Always sniffing around looking for controversy, Carter Besille was a parasite of the worst sort. I brushed past him. He might be universally revered by his fans but that was only because they had no fucking clue what a complete douche he was. I pressed the unlock button on my Hummer.
“I’ve taken numerous statements. Members of the Bruins offensive line were very forthcoming. She seems to like the big guys. They say she fucks like an animal. But how hot is she really?” I could barely hear him over the pissed off roar inside my ears. No way would he let this ridiculous footage make it to the air. No, he was just trying to provoke me. And it was working. I crushed the key fob in my grip. It was instant insanity for me to imagine anyone else with her.
“She can’t be as good as all that,” he continued. “C’mon talk to me. Give me the details. Set the record straight,” he coaxed, putting his hand on my shoulder. “She better than Raven?”
“Fucker.” I grabbed him by his shoulders and threw him into the side of the Hummer. “You should have kept your hands to yourself and your worthless mouth shut.” His eyes were wide. The skin beneath his fake tan turned paler than pale. “You hearing me?”
“Hey, hold on there just a minute. Do you understand who I am?”
“I don’t give a shit who you are.” I set him down so hard his teeth clattered. “You touch me again. You even come near me or Miriam, and the lawsuit my record label will file on my behalf will be the least of your worries. ¿Comprende?”
Chapter Thirty
King
I was so upset my hands shook as I wrapped them around the steering wheel. I squeezed the metal tight instead of getting back out of the car and strangling that motherfucker. I avoided picking up my cell though I was sorely tempted to open the browser to see if the things Besille had alluded to were really true. But I knew that was the path to madness. She’d had other guys. I’d been with other women. I had told her myself that the past didn’t rank. I stared at the chain link fence in front of me and concentrated on slowing my breathing. Miriam was mine now. Mine alone. Or she would be after I made things clear tonight.
I pulled out of the parking spot. Taking a moment to be a little evil, I spun the tires of the Hummer right at the talk show host and his cameraman, sending a kick up of loose gravel before letting off the gas enough to steer onto the street.
Hearing him curse my name made me feel slightly better. It had been totally classless of him to seek me out and ambush me with that bullshit. I set the vehicle toward home, toward Miriam while asking the voice recognition software on my cell to ring Sager.
“Hey, what’s up?” mi hermano answered after the third ring, his voice sounding like the gravel I had just slung at Besille.
“Did I wake you?” I glanced at the clock. Had my errands and workout taken longer than I had thought?
“Um, no. I’m in bed, but I’m not sleeping.” I heard a feminine giggle, and I got it.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“You didn’t. I mean, you would have if you had called a couple of minutes earlier.” The line went quiet but for a low murmur. “I’m totally ready to go again, but it seems that my pixie needs a breather.”
“Yeah, right,” I heard her say and also heard a muffled whack that sounded like his palm slapping her bare ass.
“Do not put any clothes on, woman. This is only a reprieve for you. But I’m far from finished, I assure you.”
Another giggle.
“Sager,” I called.
“Yo, bro.”
“Focus.”
“Hard to do, man.”
“I get it. I totally do. But I need your advice about Miriam.”
“You got it. What is it?” The teasing tone disappeared from his voice. “What’s going on?”
“I just got ambushed by Carter Besille at the gym.”
“That sucks.”
It did. “He’s bringing up her past. Other guys she’s been with. Shit that makes me feel homicidal.”
“You’re jealous.”
“Fuck yeah, I’m jealous.”
“You wanna kill anyone who has ever touched her. Anyone you think might consider touching her. She’s on your mind constantly. She’s all you can think about. You probably have the Hummer gas pedal to the floorboard right this very minute so you can get back to her faster. You want her on your cock now. You want her on it twenty-four seven. And you want to keep her in your bed for at least a week. And even then you know it won’t be enough. That it will never be enough.”
“Sager,” I heard Melinda chastise. “Way too much.”
“Am I right?” He ignored her reproof.
“You’re right.”
“Damn.” There was a definite smile in his voice.
I felt like a damned man at the moment. Too many things were uncertain between Miriam and me.
“Oh how the mighty have fallen.” He chuckled.
“Go ahead, mi hermano,” I grumbled. “Get it all out of your system.” I had given him plenty of shit. I was getting my due.
“No more fiestas for you, my friend.”
“Oh, I’ll continue to have them alright. Only they’ll be naked parties for only two.”
“I hear ya. But have you told Miriam how it’s going to be?”
“She’s not exactly the kind of woman you tell things.”
“Yeah, neither is Bluebelle. You’re gonna have to use some finesse.”
“In other words, I’m fucked.”
“No, just feeling it, like we all have, all the guys in the band, at one time or another. The timing sure sucks with our father in the hospital, her family drama and the media stuff and all. If I were you I’d get her away from all of that. Take her somewhere private to talk.”
“I was going to take her out to dinner.”
“Yeah, a decent plan, but too public with guys like Besille lurking around. I’d go for somewhere more intimate. Somewhere where it’s just you two. Somewhere you can say exactly what’s on your heart without interruption. On second thought, don’t worry about finesse. Don’t worry about the past. That’s not gonna matter for shit. Nothing will, once you give her the words that are inside of you.”
* * *
Miriam
“Ann! Holy shit!” I exclaimed when I saw her. “I wasn’t expecting you.” I flung the front door wide and reached for her.
“I’m surprised you remember me.” She was stiff in my arms as I hugged her. When I pulled back I could see that her eyes were emerald flames beneath her creased brows.
Oh, fuck. More family fun forthcoming.
“You wanna come inside before you lay into me like everyone else?”
She flinched.
“C’mon.” I waved her into the house. “But close the door after you enter. It’s Southside. You know how it is. Best to keep domestic issues behind closed doors unless you want the ever-present cops getting involved.” When I reached the middle of the living room, I turned back around to face her. “Go ahead.” Stomach cinched tight, I lifted my chin, pretending her disapproval didn’t hurt. “Cut me down to size like Bryan and Mom already have.”
“I would. I truly would.” The flames washed out as her eyes filled. “Only I know exactly how it feels to be alone.” She sniffed. “How could you do this to me? Lie? Shut me out? Keep everything from me? Why?” Tea
rs once free, spilled down her cheeks one after another.
“Because.” I crossed to her, eliminating the space between us when reason cautioned against it. Let her hate me. It would have been better, safer for her to not be on Campanella’s radar. But I couldn’t let her suffer.
She didn’t fight me. She didn’t reject my embrace. Relieved, tears of my own escaped. “I didn’t want mom to find out,” I explained. Suppressed emotions broke loose from the tangle inside my chest. “Because I’m selfish. Because I needed your love. I’m so sorry Ann.”
“Miriam, I’m your my sister. I’ll always love you no matter what.” She sniffed again and leaned back to look at my face. “What do I have to say? What do I have to do for you to truly believe it?”
“I don’t know. I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” We were both sobbing now. Hot tears tracked down my cheeks.
“There’s nothing wrong with you. That you continue to insist there is upsets me the most.” She stared at me a long beat, her gaze steady. I noticed changes I had missed since I had last seen her. Her brown hair was lighter like polished copper. Her eyes seemed a deeper green. Her features were more mature. A pretty girl had become a stunningly beautiful woman. That realization hurt, too. She would change more. She would keep growing, and I would miss out on it all again, only this go-round for nobler reasons, though she might never know them.
“There’s no fatal flaw inside of you that makes you unlovable.” She put her hands on my shoulders and squeezed. “You only believe that there is.”
“Let’s count my flaws, shall we, Ann? I’m self-centered. Prideful. Dishonest.”
Scandalous Beat (The Tempest Rock Star series Book 6) Page 18