‘Okay, guys,’ Jed said quietly. ‘I think it’s time to go. We’ve still got to get through tomorrow morning.’
He stood up, offering his hand to Lillie. She took it and slid out from the booth, pressing herself into him for a hug. He pulled away as Kate came out from the booth and gave her a big cuddle before Kate turned to Lillie and they both burst into fresh tears, holding each other tightly.
‘See you in the morning, honey. Try to forget about it for tonight,’ Lillie whispered to Kate, leaning back from the hug to smile at her.
Kate smiled back sadly and said she would try, hugging Lillie once more before Johnny got hold of her, lifting her up into a big bear hug. There were kisses and hugs all round before everyone disappeared into their rooms.
Lillie lay on the bed as Jed cleaned his teeth in the bathroom, hastily wiping away tears as he came back into the bedroom. He didn’t say anything, laying down next to her and pulling her into his arms to stroke her back in long sweeping movements. Lillie relaxed into his embrace, taking deep breaths to stop the crying from starting again.
When she felt better, she got up to clean her own teeth and wash her face. She undressed and got into bed, laying her head on Jed’s chest, fiddling with the few dark chest hairs he had.
‘Do you think Chris’ll be okay?’ she asked him.
‘I don’t honestly know, Lil. If it was me – I’d be devastated. Thank God we’re playing New York first. He might be distracted by his family for a while.’
Lillie twisted her neck to look at him.
‘Do you really think so?’
He looked up at the ceiling and shrugged.
‘Maybe,’ he paused for a long time before finally looking at her, a sad smile on his face. ‘C’mon, let’s try to get some sleep. We’ll just deal with it as it comes,’ he said, kissing her again before instructing her to turn so they could spoon.
Lillie lay awake for a long time, listening to Jed’s breathing deepen and worrying about Kate. She couldn’t stand the thought of Kate flying home alone, going back to the empty apartment and getting back to work in the gallery whilst they toured the States, gigging and road tripping their way across America. Continuing her life without Chris or Lillie.
Her mind turned to thinking about how Chris would cope with Kate not being around. It was going to be so hard for him to see her and Jed together all the time, when Kate was a massive ocean away. She sighed and blinked back the tears that threatened to spill onto her cheeks. She felt so incredibly sad for them both.
‘Lil, stop thinking,’ Jed murmured, kissing her shoulder, ‘they’ll both be fine.’ He increased the tightness of his hug.
‘I know they will. I just feel terrible for them,’ Lillie whispered, snuggling into his arms, wanting to feel as much of him as possible against her.
‘I love you,’ she whispered. He brushed her ear with his lips, his warm breath caressing her skin.
‘I love you too, Lillie,’ he paused and dropped a soft kiss on her shoulder. ‘More than anything.’ Lillie smiled and kissed his hand, wrapped around her own.
‘Me too,’ she said, closing her eyes and focusing on the rise and fall of Jed’s chest against her back. Nothing would ever come close to the feeling of being in Jed’s embrace, she couldn’t imagine life without him. Not seeing him every day, not hearing his voice or his laugh or feeling his touch on her skin; she would shrivel up without him. She didn’t know how Kate was going to cope because to be forced apart from the person you loved most in the world? That was something she couldn’t imagine surviving.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
In her window seat, Lillie stared out at the tarmac, trying not to cry. Leaving Kate behind had been more upsetting than she could have ever imagined. She couldn’t stop thinking about Chris running back to kiss Kate one more time when they had finally parted ways. She choked back a sob and Jed squeezed her hand. She couldn’t look at him. She knew she would give in to the tears if she saw the concern in his eyes.
Up in the air, Jed ordered two neat Jack Daniels, putting them both on Lillie’s fold down table. It was ten o’clock in the morning. She downed them both and put on her eye mask.
Eventually, she fell asleep, Jed waking her up for lunch a couple of hours later. She ate automatically without tasting it, which was probably a good thing. Jed suggested she watch one of the comedy films but she didn’t want to be cheered up. Instead, she chose an intense sounding romantic tragedy so she could blame the crying on that.
Finally, they were touching down. Lillie switched on her phone as soon as the plane stopped and a text from Kate came straight through. Lillie smiled through a haze of tears and texted her right back, blinking rapidly. She was glad that Kate’s parents had picked her up from the aiport, taking her back to their house for a big lunch made up of all her favourite foods. Kate wouldn’t have time to think about Chris when all her extended family were vying for her attention.
As they came out into the arrivals area, Lillie smiled as an attractive, dark-haired, slightly plump woman ducked under the rope and ran towards Jed, shouting his name loudly. Lillie watched as Jed dropped the hand luggage on the floor and lifted her up into a hug that swept her feet off the floor.
‘Hey Mom! It’s so good to be home,’ he said, kissing her cheek as Lillie hung back, unsure what she was supposed to do.
The woman turned to look at her, a big grin on her face, not too dissimilar to her son’s.
‘You must be Lillie! I’m Jed’s mom, Sandra,’ she exclaimed, holding out her arms.
Lillie stepped into her embrace and Sandra squeezed her tightly before stepping back to look at her properly. Turning to Jed, she said,
‘She sure is a pretty little thing. I take it you’ve got it all sorted out with - ’
Jed didn’t give her time to finish her sentence, slinging an arm around each of them and telling her not be embarrassing.
They left the airport and made their way to where Jed’s dad, Martin, waited with a huge minivan. Shaking his hand, she noticed how unlike him Jed was. Martin, although tall and well-built like his son, was fair haired and had hazel eyes hidden behind tortoise shell glasses. He looked a serious sort of man and Lillie remembered Jed telling her that he was a professor of English at Columbia University.
The drive to Jed’s parents’ house was loud and overwhelming. Everyone except Martin and Eddie talked at once and Lillie couldn’t keep track of any of the five conversations going on. She sat back and let it all wash over her, texting her parents to let them know she had arrived and then Kate and Tess to tell them about Jed’s parents and their surprise pick up at the airport.
It took about forty-five minutes to get to the house, a large American timber-built home, painted a soft mint green, with a large, immaculately manicured front garden, bordered with beautiful, bright flowers in a variety of sizes and shapes.
Lillie raised an eyebrow at Jed who grinned back at her before jumping down from the van and lifting her out. A huge hand-painted ‘Welcome Home’ banner hung across the porch with black and silver balloons strewn from the porch beams.
‘This is the third time we’ve had that banner out,’ Sandra said to Lillie, passing out the smaller bags to her. ‘I guess there’ll be plenty more times too.’
‘Your house is beautiful,’ Lillie said, still shocked at the size of it. She had thought that Jed came from a more modest background but, looking at the house, it was obvious his parents were pretty comfortable. The nagging thought that they didn’t know much about each other flitted through her head before she squashed it back down and followed Sandra into the house, dumping the bags in the spacious hall and taking in the paintings crowding the walls.
‘Wow, these are fantastic,’ she said, staring at a large, aggressively vivd painting that dominated the stairs wall. ‘God, this one is so - ’ She struggled for the right word. ‘Intense.’ It didn’t do it
justice but she couldn’t think of a better word. It was incredibly vibrant with strong, broad brushstrokes and radiated hope, happiness and an almost desperate feeling of love.
Jed came to stand next to her.
‘That one’s mine,’ he said. ‘I did it in art school. It was one of my final pieces.’ He turned around, gesturing at the others. ‘Most of the others are Mom’s but there are some more of mine too.’ He started pointing out some smaller paintings.
‘I didn’t know you painted,’ Lillie said, staring at the collection. The majority of Jed’s were dark, melancholy pieces apart from the big one.
‘Yeah, well, I used to. I don’t really do it anymore.’
‘Why not? These are really great,’ she said, thinking that if she could paint like that, she would do it all the time.
‘I guess I don’t really have the time anymore. Plus, I didn’t really feel like it for a long time.’ He avoided Lillie’s eyes, taking her hand and leading her down the hall to the kitchen. ‘C’mon. Let’s get something to eat. Aren’t you hungry after the flight?’
She certainly was and as they neared the kitchen, she could hear music and the hubbub of chatter. Loud barking greeted them as they opened the door, and Lillie was rushed by two giant dogs as soon as she stepped into the crowded kitchen. She had time to take in the fact that there were about three times more people in the room than she had expected, before the dogs were all over her, fighting for paw space on her shoulders and trying to lick her face. Jed pushed them off and Sandra shouted at them to get into their beds. As the dogs slunk off, Lillie realised that everyone was staring at her. She blushed and looked at Jed, edging nearer to him.
‘Mom,’ he admonished Sandra quietly and she widened her eyes at him. ‘Lillie, this is, well, everyone. Pretty much all the families of the band and a few extras. Everyone, this is Lillie.’
Lillie forced a smile as they all chorused hellos, some of them coming forwards for hugs and handshakes. If she’d thought the drive here had been overwhelming, then she didn’t have words for the evening that followed.
There must have been forty people in the house and they all stayed for a massive barbeque in the back garden, which was even bigger than the front garden, with a lake at the bottom of it. The evening was one big drunken party, where Lillie was subjected to the curiosity of the band’s various family members. She must have told the story of how she met Jed and became a member of the band at least twenty times. She rather wished that Jed had had his mum type it up and distribute it to the entire neighbourhood.
She couldn’t remember any names apart from Chris’s sister, Marie, and Johnny’s parents, Hal and Denise, who were some of the loveliest people she had ever met. Denise introduced herself and immediately began giving her tips on how to handle Johnny, most of which were hilarious. His father was just like him, in looks and personality minus the tattoos. Lillie loved them instantly. They were completely non-judgmental and accepting of all their son’s choices.
Marie was just like Chris, funny and easygoing. She was a music journalist and gave Lillie a lot of handy advice about what to say and, more importantly, what not to say in interviews.
The only person missing was Jed’s sister, Kristen, who was in LA and had promised Jed she would take time off work to spend with them when the tour got to the West coast.
By midnight, Lillie was exhausted and went to find Jed to ask him where she was sleeping.
He took her up to his childhood room, still crowded with leftovers from his teenage years. Band posters were still blue-tacked to three of the walls with the remaining one completely covered in doodles, lyrics, quotes and messages. Lillie was too tired to read it all but promised herself she would have a thorough look at it tomorrow. She gratefully climbed under Doom Patrol sheets and fell asleep quickly, hoping that tomorrow would be a quieter day.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
When Lillie woke up, Jed was gone. She rolled over in the big, half-empty bed and stared up at the ceiling for a while before reaching for her phone to text Kate. Her eyes widened in shock as she realised it was only half past seven. Why was Jed up so early? She sent a quick text to check in with Kate and had just dragged herself upright when the door opened and Jed appeared with a tray.
‘Hey, you’re awake,’ he said. ‘I brought you breakfast in bed. Actually, it was Mom’s idea. She thought you might want some quiet after yesterday,’ he said, putting the tray down on the bed and sitting carefully beside it.
‘Oh my God, pancakes!’ Lillie pulled the tray over to her and began cutting up the stack of pancakes, drenched in maple syrup.
Jed smiled and reached out to pick up the other set of cutlery on the tray. Lillie half-jokingly smacked his hand away. ‘No way,’ she said through a mouthful of pancake, ‘these are mine. Did your mum make them?’
‘Lil! There’s at least twenty pancakes there and, yes, my mom did make them. For us.’ He reached for the extra knife and fork again.
Lillie raised her eyebrows at him and pushed his hand away again. He sighed as she hauled the tray onto her lap and passed him a mug of coffee.
‘Oh, thanks a lot.’
‘I’ll leave you some,’ she said, shoving another mouthful in. ‘Man, these are so good.’
‘Yeah, I bet they are,’ Jed muttered, edging closer to her.
Now it was Lillie’s turn to sigh. She cut some more pancake and held the fork up to his mouth. He gave her a look but leant forward to eat it anyway. Lillie fed Jed rationed forkfuls until she felt sick and couldn’t eat anymore. She relinquished the tray and lay back on the bed, rubbing her stomach and moaning about how full up she felt.
Jed didn’t have any sympathy for her, quickly eating the rest of the pancakes before she changed her mind about not having room for them. When he was finished, he took over the rubbing of her belly for a while, both of them silent until he slipped his hand lower. Lillie pulled it out of her pyjama bottoms with a quiet yelp and placed it back onto her stomach. He resumed stroking for a couple of minutes before trying his luck again, this time gliding his hand up her top.
‘Jed, no!’ Lillie grabbed his hand again and put it back on her stomach.
‘What? It’s been two days, Lil,’ he moaned.
‘I am not having sex with you in your parents house,’ Lillie hissed, stopping his hand from creeping down again.
‘Are you serious?’ Jed said, eyes wide with horror. ‘But we’re here for another two nights!’
‘We are?’ Lillie said, thinking it would have been nice to have been consulted on these plans.
‘Yeah, we’ve got some time off for a few days, you know, grab some R&R, see our families.’ Jed took advantage of Lillie’s momentary lapse in concentration to slip his hand low enough for his fingers to connect with her clitoris. Her hand shot out to grasp his wrist but he continued regardless, leaning in to kiss her neck.
Her resolve was undone as his fingers deftly caressed her to an orgasm before he pulled her pyjamas off and rolled her to face him, swiftly sliding himself into her. Lillie wrapped her top leg around him, pushing him in deeper as he kissed her, her moans of pleasure echoing in his mouth. They clung to each other as their hips crashed together and Jed came with a shudder, suppressing his usual groans.
‘You’re a very naughty boy,’ said Lillie, tipping her head up for a kiss.
‘Hmmm, maybe you’ll punish me later then?’ he suggested, giving her a kiss.
Lillie rolled away and got out of bed, giving him a dark look.
‘I told you, not in your parents’ house. What happened just now? That was a one-off.’
‘Fine, how about in a boat on the lake?’
Lillie rolled her eyes and went into his en-suite bathroom for a shower.
‘What if they’re not in?’ he shouted out. She switched on the shower and shouted back that maybe that would be okay.
‘Well,
that can be arranged,’ she heard him say as she got under the hot water.
Two minutes later, the door slid open and he was there, crowding her in the shower cubicle, body pressed up against hers, even though the space was big enough for three people.
‘You are incorrigible,’ she said, laughing.
‘I know,’ he replied, a condom packet between his teeth. He poured some shower gel into his hands, lathering it up and rubbing his soapy hands over her breasts, fingers lingering over her nipples before dipping down between her legs. Lillie pressed herself back against him, parting her legs to allow him better access and bracing her arms against the opposite wall. She briefly marvelled at how he managed to get hard again so quickly as he guided himself into her, hands on her hips to hold her still. She tried to push back further as he slid in and out with exquisite slowness but he held her firm. When he seemed sure she wouldn’t move, he let go of her hips and wound her hair around one hand, tugging her head back and reaching for her breast with the other hand, rolling and tweaking her nipple as he slowly, teasingly plunged himself into her. Her knees trembled with desire and she fought the urge to move her own hips, even though she was impatient for him to increase the speed of his thrusts. She knew if she moved, he would pull out completely, teasing her to the very brink of desperation. She let out a tiny groan of frustration.
‘Jed? Are you in there?’
Lillie froze and looked at Jed in horror.
‘Oh my God, it’s your mum,’ she hissed, pulling away from him. ‘Say something before she comes in,’ she said, moving to stand behind him.
‘Hey, Mom. What’s up?’ Jed shouted out.
‘I was just wondering if you and Lillie wanted any more coffee? And also, Johnny’s on the phone.’ There was a pause. ‘Shall I tell him you’re busy?’ she added, a smile evident in her voice.
Lillie widened her eyes at Jed as the inevitable blush crept up her entire body. Jed laughed,
How to Catch a (Rock) Star: A Story of Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll Page 15