“Tess,” Ben waves me over to some dainty jewelry pieces, some have plain silver balls and other have little jewels.
My eyes meet a small and simple hoop ring, “Hey Ben, this would look hot on you as a nose piercing.” I can, I can picture him with a tightly snug ring in his nose. “It would look sexy as hell.”
He leans down and takes a look, “I do like that. And as you know I am a piercing virgin. I’ll do it, if you do it.” I assume he is kidding so I laugh at his idea, but the look in his eye tells me he is clearly not joking.
“Are you serious? I already have this,” I tap at my septum ring, “What else would I get?” He gives me his mischievous smile and his eyes travel to my breasts and then down to the apex of my thighs. I squeal, “Ouch! No way! Anything but those and the tongue.”
“What’s wrong with the tongue?” He nuzzles my neck and I feel his tongue dart to my earlobe and dip quickly in my ear, causing me to get the chills and my eyes close and I feel my knees weaken.
“Welcome! How can I…get you a room in the back?” A man comes around the corner from a closed off room. A young man follows him out thanking him and tells him no need for the aftercare speech and that he has it down pat at this point.
The man who works here, “This may be a family friendly establishment, but not "trying to make a family" friendly establishment.”
I tug away from Ben’s grasp and go red. Bright red. “Hi, yeah sorry about that,” I sputter out an apology.
He looks like a really friendly guy and he has the coolest look to him. He has long hair past his shoulders and he has on this shoulder piece that appears to be a scarf, but it has leather pieces with shells, stones and beading. It looks like it must weigh a ton. He has a really friendly smile and vibe about him that I instantly like, even though I am humiliated beyond recovery.
“I do realize you may have to be slightly more careful doing, whatever that was, after I pierce you for a while, interfering with your fun, but making up for future lost time on the couch won't help...” he continues on, but with a smile, I can only hope that he is messing with me at this point. I awkwardly smile and he tells me, “Ah, I am only messing around kids.” He offers his hand to Ben, “Welcome, welcome, I am Jason what brings you feisty kids in here?”
“A friend of mine back in Seattle highly suggested we stop by, while we are in town.” Ben smoothly answers Jason.
“Right on, right on. Well, I offer an array of services and pieces. Here is a list of what I do and prices. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I am going to clean up out back and be right back with you, besides using the couch to its capacity I'm the only one who gets to use penetration around here so you'll have to leave to get any further with your day...” He smiles and he’s around the corner.
I start to laugh and Ben opens the pamphlet and shares the large list, and he was right there are a lot of things he offers. Ear piercings to skin divers, which I have been interested in for some time, but I don’t want to have a shiner by my eye while working. “So, are you going to get your nose done?” I bump my shoulder into Ben’s arm.
“Why the fuck not? If you say it’ll look hot…”
Jason comes back out of the room, “So what can I do for you kids?”
Ben steps up, points to his nose “Can I get a silver capture hoops for my nostril?”
“Of course, my British friend. Anything for the pink lady?” He gives me a little friendly wink.
I quickly decide that I want my labret done. Another piercing I have always wanted. “Labret” I tell him. Ben eyes me and licks his lips. Oh, I think he likes this idea.
With a clap of his hands Jason says, “Paperwork!”
When we are done filling out the forms he asks who wants to go first. I tell Ben to go ahead and I ask if I can watch, Jason walks us into the room and assures me that watching is perfectly fine, as long as Ben is comfortable with it and I think he implied a little joke in there too.
Ben kisses me on the cheek and climbs up onto the table and folds his hands on his chest as he awaits the jabbing. Ben and Jason make small talk about our little trip here and how long we will be in town. Jason makes some location suggestions if we have the time. I am sitting on a bench in front of a large mirror.
"So, this is the way we do this, we're going to scrub the area, check out the anatomy, mark you for placement,” He marks on the back of his gloved hand to see if it works, “then we start scrubbing you up."
Ben is just sitting there waiting. He doesn’t have any piercings and he is extremely calm about the whole thing. Sure I have my septum and I wasn’t that nervous when I got it done, but damn he looks like he is about to take a nap. Jason marks his nose and Ben stands up to take a look in the mirror behind me. Looking down at me he winks, “Look good?” he asks me.
I nod my head and he kisses my forehead. He climbs back up on the table and Jason has the needle in hand. “Alright, I want you to take a deep breath in when I tell you and exhale when I tell you to.”
“Alright.”
Jason moves over him and Ben reaches his hand out for me to take it. I instantly stand up and I take it in mine. He is always so calm and brave and this just shows me that he needs me just as much as I need him.
Jason lines up the shot, “Take a deep breath in for me,” Ben does and I feel the squeeze of his grip and the needle go through. “And let it out.”
Ben’s chest relaxes and before I know it he is done and the ring is in. “All done,” Jason chirps. He is examining his handy work and starts to go over the after care.
He hops down, turns and faces me, “So what do you think? Is it as sexy as you had imagined?” His eyes setting a deep wire inside of me.
“Though this may not seem like it will get in the way one is often surprised by the amount of contact the nose gets while "entertaining" ones partner... Even kissing, wait till that side gets intimate, with your face.” Jason informs us and I blush again.
Ben lifts his chin and replies, “Good thing I did a good job this afternoon huh, Punky?” He slyly smiles.
“Ben!” I smack his shoulder, then hiding behind my hands and shaking my head. I hear Jason laughing in the corner.
I step up on my toes so I can whisper in his ear, “Sexy as fuck and I didn’t think you could look any more bad ass of sexiness, I was wrong.” I press my chest up against his and his hand finds my hip.
“You’re turn baby.”
I look at the table, Ben offers his hand to help me step up. Jason has disposed of the materials from Ben’s piercing and fresh gloves, he is setting up new gear for my turn. He goes over the same instructions, marks me and everything.
Ben is holding my hand.
Right before the guy does anything and he is picking up the needle I feel her hand lose grip. “Tess?”
Jason is in front of her looking at her eyes, “And she's out can you help make sure she doesn't fall out of the chair and I'll get her head?"
I pull her feet together as he lays the back of the table down. How did she pass out? She’s done this before. Maybe her blood sugar is low? I knew we should have gotten something to eat before. Damn it!
“Tess, Tess? Baby?” I am holding her pale face and her lips have lost a little color too. A few moments have passed and Jason has gone and come back with a bottle of water. She is starting to come to.
“Hey, Tess, you passed for a few seconds there, are you feeling alright to sit up?” She nods a light nod and starts to try sitting herself up.
“Hold on, let us help you,” Jason grabs one arm and I the other. He hands her the water and she takes a few small sips. “I am going to suggest holding off on the piercing and recommend grabbing something eat. There are a few places here, but the sushi place around the corner to the left is pretty fucking awesome, if you’re into it.”
“Thanks, that does sound good and I really need to get her fed.” I pay him for my new piece and Tess walks with me out the door. I find a bench and I sit her down just out
side of the sushi joint. “Hey, how are you? You gave me a good scare in there.”
She stretches her neck out and takes a few deep breaths, “I am fine now. Thank you for taking care of me.”
“That’s why I am here love, do you really think I would have let you fall off of that table?” I know I may be over thinking her passing out, but shit, I mean all of the messed up crap that has already happened to her, I think I have that right.
She rests her head on my shoulder and looks up into my eyes, “Can we just get married already?”
I can’t tell if she is sad or happy. She look tired and worn out, “How about we get you something to eat and then we can talk wedding details.” As if on cue her stomach growls with hunger.
She giggles, “Yeah that might be a good idea. So are we going to check out the restaurant Jason suggested? Sushi right?”
I point to the store front in front of us, “That’s it right there, California Rolling.” Nice name for a sushi place.
We are seated at a booth, sipping on some hot tea, which I am hoping will perk her up a little bit, maybe bring some color back to her face. Normally I have her blushing, but it’s not showing yet. We order our food and wait.
It’s not long before we are served, I mean its raw fish so… I take a bite out of my first piece and it is delicious. The guy was true to his word, it is pretty fucking awesome. “Aren’t you going to eat?” I ask Tess, she is just looking at her plate of their signature BLT rolls.
She scrunches her eyebrows, picks up a piece and put it between her lips. Then she is up and out of her seat running for the restroom. I stand and go after her, I push open the door and yell in, “Are you alright?”
I can hear her vomiting, so I close the door and give her a moment to herself. As I am waiting outside the ladies room a waitress asks me if she is alright and if I want her to go in a and check on her, “If you wouldn’t mind?” She goes in and returns to tell me that she is alright, she is cooling herself down with a wet paper towel. A minute later she is walking out the door. “Are you okay? Did something smell off?” I wonder if the fish was bad.
“I don’t know I just don’t feel well. I think I am just exhausted. Maybe just some crackers and ginger ale will do.” She looks pale and I agree that we should get going. I slap money down on the table and help her out.
Outside I know we have a little walk ahead of us to get back to the venue. “Hop on.” I squat to the ground and tap my shoulders.
She crosses her arms across her chest and doesn’t look amused. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, I am serious. I am not going to have you walk all the way back, while not feeling well. So drop the ‘tude and just climb on.” Making my voice stern and hard.
“Fine.” She throws her arms to her side and climbs on my back. I stand up and start back to the venue. She has seemed a little short all day and I don’t understand it. She is normally bright and bubbly. Something is off.
I am not leaving until I know she is fine. Work will just have to fucking deal, because I know her well enough that she will not come home until this tour is done.
While the show is going on in the place I was finally able to convince Tess to lay down and fall asleep early. I told her that I wasn’t going home until I knew she was well enough. She fought me pretty hard too.
But what I am happy about, is that I was able to get her to eat some scrambled eggs I managed to make in this tin can of a bus. Once she had something warm in her belly she relaxed. Note to self, feed Punky or feel the wrath of her hunger.
I sat next to her bunk until she dozed off. I played with her hair, which relaxed her and hummed to her. Once she fell into a deep sleep I went out to the front of the bus to stretch out. I am on my iPad going over some business stuff for Chatz and it’s only about ten pm, when I get a bing alerting me of a new email.
There is no name attached to the sender, and the subject reads: Game Over. Curious, I click open.
My heart sinks. My vision goes red.
I look down the hall to where Tess is sleeping and I throw my iPad to the side. I pushy my way out the door, make my way across the lot to the building where the show is going down. I stride past the security and right into the back stage area. I am all adrenaline when I find him.
“You fucking ass hole! I am going to fucking rip your head off and shove it up your mother fucking ass!” I have Towers by the shirt and slamming him against the wall.
He throws his hands up in defense, “Whoa, whoa! What is going on?”
“Like you don’t fucking know! Did you think that I wouldn’t find out? Huh!” I am nose to nose with him. My chest heaving and my knuckles are going white with the tight grip I have on his collar.
He lets go of a large breath and rolls his eyes, “So she told you huh?”
“She didn’t have to! She has been acting odd all day and I couldn’t figure out why. Now I do! Did you force her?” I am seething. I don’t know how to stop. I want to run his head through this brick wall.
“Force? What? No! Man, we didn’t do anything! I was being stupid! I was drinking and I kissed her! She pulled away and yelled at me!” He looks relieved that I thought there was more. I don’t know if I can believe him.
I pull out my cell and I bring up the photo that was sent to me. I flash it in his face. It’s a photo of him laying on top of Tess and he has his mouth on hers. “This!” I snap at him.
He leans in and examines the photo closer in detail. “Man, this was just a kiss. Like I told you she pushed me right off, like two fucking seconds after this was taken…” He looks away and goes quiet.
“What?” I ask.
“Dude, did you stop to think how this was taken? Or who sent it?” He puts a hand on my shoulder.
No. No, I didn’t. “What the fuck is going on?” I feel my rage start to build again.
“Look, I didn’t mean to kiss her, like I said it was a mistake and I didn’t mean any harm or disrespect. But really there’s only one person I can think of who could have snapped this picture.”
I look out to the open room of the back stage and I see her. I let go of Towers and I make my way through a group of guys talking her up. “What the fuck Jenn?”
All the guys look at me and some even puff out their scrawny chests, trying to look tough … if they only knew what I was capable of at the moment. “Ben! What’s up?”
“What’s up? I need to speak with you right fucking now.”
One of the guys didn’t like that too much and goes toe to toe with me. “What did you say to her Brit boy?”
I look him square in the eye, “This doesn’t concern you.”
“Oh, I think it does. One does not speak to a lady like that.” He cracks his neck. Yeah, total fucking douche nozzle.
“Well she’s not much of a lady and I’m sure you wouldn’t treat her like one, once you learned how many piss holes like you she has fucked. Or what they have passed on to her.”
“Hey!” Jennifer snaps, “What the fuck Ben?” She pulls me away before I hand douche nozzle here his ass.
“This!” I hold up my phone in her face.
“Oh…” Her eyes shift to the side. And she is fidgeting with her hands and avoiding eye contact with me.
“Did you do this, because I turned you down? Because I am with Tess? Why Jenn?”
She mutters something under her breath that I can’t hear from all the noise going on. “No, it wasn’t because of that. I mean yeah you’re fucking hot and any girl would love to get it on with you. But, I know you’re with Tess for the long haul. It’s just…”
“Just what?” I am tired of all this shit! All this fucking bloody crap from the beginning. People two timing one another to get what they want and all the lying. “What!” I yell.
“Because someone asked me to!”
“What? Someone asked you to take shots like this? Why? Who?” I growl the last part.
“Some woman contacted me. She said she was with some tabloid site and they wante
d to reveal Tony as a womanizer or player, even though he is a totally nice guy, but they want him to look like the typical sleaze rocker.”
Towers is at my side listening to her explain as well, “Seriously Jennifer?” He seems hurt, but I just want my fucking answers and could give two shits.
I put my hand up, stopping him from talking, “Shut the fuck up and let her get on with it. Jenn, why?”
“Because I have bills to pay okay? I needed some extra cash and this woman offered me a five hundred for a good shot. So, when I saw Tony and Tess I thought that would be a money maker.”
“And you didn’t think it would hurt Tess or Tony? You could fuck up their careers with this kind of shit. If Tess gets fired or looked at badly for this I swear to fucking God…” I am balling my fists.
Towers steps in closer to Jenn, “I thought you were different…”
Her face drops and her eyes start to well, “Fuck! I didn’t want to tell anyone this, I have a kid. I needed the money because her dead beat father won’t pay child support. I saw it as only money, I didn’t mean to hurt anyone I didn’t, but fucking Christ, I had to do what needed to be done.”
“A kid?” Both Towers and I ask, in shock. She only nods.
“We are getting off topic here, what was the woman’s name?” I ask.
She is searching for the name in her head when she snaps her fingers, “Nicole, Nicole…”
“Fuck!” I growl. I turn and walk away. As I am passing through a door way I throw my fist through it. Shredding my knuckles and I could care less. “I’m done!” I yell. I reach the back door and I see Tess stepping off the bus, stretching her arms up over her head.
She has a sleepy smile on her adorable little face, “Where did you run off to?” She asks me.
“We need to talk.” I gesture for her to get back on the bus.
I explain everything that had just happened, and Tess is livid and saddened. When she is looking down trying to absorb how awful people can truly be, her eyes shoot open. “When did you get that picture?”
Private Affair (The Private Series) Page 17