“I will. When I’m tired of you,” he said as he thrust me away. “Now go earn your keep.”
I escaped into the private bathroom to change, locking the door between us. My hands shook as I put on my Tempestuous freebies to wear on stage, and even when I tried to apply my makeup. I ended up using a much heavier hand than usual, but in the mood I was in, I felt the punk look far more fitting than any kind of romantic Goth style I had sported in the past.
I was pissed off at the world. No sooner than I had a good day, with good people who loved me, I had to answer to the devil with encounters like the one I had with Eddie. Why couldn’t I be happy for more than five fucking minutes?
I knew that I had screwed up a lot in my life, but surely I had paid for my sins in full by now.
I took a deep breath as I swung open the door, ready to fight Eddie to my last breath before he forced me to do what Shane had forced me to do so many years before.
I’d bite his fucking dick off first.
Fortunately he had wandered off, no doubt to find out what Shelby was up to, so I could make a clean getaway. I trotted to the stage just in time for the start of my set.
Randy grabbed his Flying V electric guitar, a nod to his idol, as he prepared for our song. He gave me a thumbs up as he shuffled off into the shadows, and waited for his cue.
I kept repeating Vanni’s and Andy’s positive affirmations as I waited. Terrell gave me the signal and I let a scream rip. “All aboard!”
Thunderous drums underscored my vocal as I exploded onto the stage. It was probably a little more aggressive than it needed to be, but I was struggling to find some hidden reserve of strength.
Unfortunately the more aggressive I got, the more disconnected I felt. The stage wasn’t a refuge, it was a battleground, and my vocals were long range missiles launched against an unseen enemy just beyond the edge of the floodlights.
Another stuffed pig sailed onstage. It was maybe six inches long, but to me it took up the whole stage. The innocent pink toy had become an instrument of aggression and condescension, which meant that pig represented everything wrong in my life. I knew I should have ignored it, but the longer I stared at it, the madder I got. When Randy launched into his solo, I walked over to the pig and with a swift kick vaulted it back into the audience.
When the first song was done I dropped the mic and walked off stage, leaving Terrell and his crew to scramble and fill the rest of my time. Shelby was ushered from her dressing room and thrust onstage to wild applause. The band cued up one of the seven songs she had performed during the tour as I pushed past every single person as I stomped back to my dressing room where Eddie waited, as angry as I had ever seen him.
Apparently he didn’t care much for the idea that his rich blow-up doll was no longer so easy to control.
“What the fuck was that?” he demanded.
“What do you care as long as you get my money?” I shot back.
He grabbed me by the arm. “You’re going to ruin everything, you stupid cunt.”
“Let me go, Eddie!” I hissed as I tried to push him away.
“Oh, no,” he said with a maniacal grin. “I’m never letting you go. I thought I made that perfectly clear.”
He thrust me toward the makeup chair, but I lost my balance and I and the chair went down with a loud crash. I cowered as I watched him approach, his hand releasing the zipper on his jeans, but just before he could reach me he was yanked back by the shirt and thrown up against the opposite wall.
Jace stood, larger than life, squaring off against Eddie at last.
“What the fuck, Chief?” Eddie slurred as he straightened up.
“That’s what I’d like to know. Where do you get off putting your hands on her?”
“She’s my wife. I can do whatever I want.”
“I don’t think so,” Jace responded. “Chief.”
Eddie laughed. “Are you seriously squaring off on me, man?”
Jace spread his palms. “I’m not doing anything. But you lay another finger on her and watch what happens.”
“Big words, Bionic Boy,” Eddie sneered. “But do you really think you got the balls to back it up?”
Jace smiled. “Ask your wife.”
With a roar Eddie lunged at him, but Jace used the force of Eddie’s body weight to flip him up in the air before planting him right on his chest on the ground. He used his artificial leg on his shoulder to keep him down. “Let’s get one thing straight once and for all. You touch her, you answer to me. You got it?”
“I got it,” Eddie mumbled against the floor. “Let me up, you freak.”
Jace stood back, and Eddie sprawled flat on his ass on the floor. Jace walked over to me. “Are you OK?”
I nodded. “I’m fine.”
Just as he reached for me, a table hit his back with a sickening crash. He collapsed to his knees and Eddie stood over him victoriously.
“Eddie!” I screamed.
“Stay out of it, whore,” he grimaced as he raised a piece of broken wood to pummel Jace. Before he could strike, Jace used his leg to sweep Eddie, bringing him down to the floor. The wood clattered onto the linoleum. He reached for Jace’s neck with both hands, but Jace used the back of his elbow to strike, nailing Eddie right in the nose.
“Motherfucker!” Eddie muttered before he sprang back to his feet. Before Jace could do likewise, Eddie targeted his artificial leg.
I lunged at Eddie. We crashed together onto the sofa just as Jace scrambled to his feet. Security guards rushed down the hall, but Jace shut the door and locked it. He turned to face Eddie. “Take your hands off of her,” he commanded in a deathly quiet voice.
“Or what?” Eddie wanted to know as he grabbed me between my legs. “She’s mine and there’s nothing you can do about it, you goddamn freak.”
Security beat on the door, nearly knocking it open. Jace pulled one of the heavy chairs over to barricade the door. His quiet intent must have scared Eddie because he let me go the minute Jace advanced toward the sofa. I scrambled to the corner of the couch.
“I’ve watched you kick her around like your own personal mutt for a year,” Jace said as he kicked clear any debris impeding his progress. “I let her handle it because she’s strong and she’s tough and she’s worth a hundred of you.”
Eddie braced his fists, waiting for the assault.
“But nobody, nobody,” Jace emphasized, “assaults a woman – any woman – in my presence.” He tossed another chair away easily. “You think you are some kind of alpha male because you can use and abuse women and get away with it. But I scraped pieces of shit like you off my shoes in Iraq. Your little free ride? It’s over.”
With that he swung on Eddie and punched him powerfully in the jaw. Eddie wiped blood from his mouth as he glared at Jace. “It’s on now, bitch,” he growled as he lunged at him again, but Jace was prepared. He sidestepped him, grabbed his elbow and slammed him easily into the wall. He staggered back away from Jace, re-evaluating his options as he glared at the other man. Jace was completely in control, and his cool composure was even more frightening than any bout of rage.
“Jordi!” Vanni yelled through the door. “Jordi, open up!”
I started toward the door and Jace turned to face me. “Don’t open that door.”
“Jace,” I pleaded. “He’s not worth it.”
“Fuck you,” Eddie spit my direction, and was met with another powerful punch right in the stomach, which nearly toppled him right to the floor.
“Stand up,” Jace commanded, and Eddie struggled back to his feet, blood flying from his cut lip as he panted to catch his breath. I thought the security detail would burst through the door any second with the commotion they were making.
“You let me out of here or I swear to Christ I will release every goddamn video of you fucking that fat piece of shit,” Eddie demanded, and it was met with an uppercut across the jaw. He slumped toward the floor, and Jace knelt down to face him with a smile.
“No, yo
u won’t,” he told him. He pointed toward the camera positioned in the corner of the room. “Because the second you do, I’ll release a video tape of my own. A tape that shows you for the con artist you are. You never loved Jordi. You wanted to leech off of her fame and diminish her light. But you couldn’t. Not for long. And not anymore.”
My eyes widened as I realized what he had done. It had all been a trap.
“Jace…?”
“I know about the bruises,” he said as he turned to me. “We had to do something before he really hurt you.” He walked over to the door and let Vanni and security into the room. “It was Vanni’s idea.”
Vanni and Andy burst into the room, and Andy rushed to my side. My mouth was hanging open in a silent stupor. She gave me a lopsided grin. “Let’s just say… we’ve done this before.”
I was too flabbergasted to reply. I watched the guards hoist Eddie up and march him out of the room. When Jace turned to me, Andy only needed to nudge a little bit before I ran into his arms. “Oh my God,” I breathed into his shoulder. “Is it truly over?”
His arms were strong and true. “As soon as you can file for divorce.”
I was in tears as I nodded.
Vanni and Andy stood nearby. He finally, but gently, admonished me. “Why didn’t you tell us about the tape, Jordi? We could have helped you before things ever got this far.”
“I was scared it would ruin everything for Jace,” I said from the safe refuge of Jace’s arms. He showed no sign of letting me go, and I was in no hurry to leave.
“Being without you is as ruined as I’m ever going to get,” Jace murmured against my forehead.
“Never again,” I promised as I held onto him for dear life. Andy nudged Vanni to leave us alone, but we had minutes only before he’d have to change and get out on stage for his set.
Instead he grabbed my hand and led me from the arena.
“What are you doing?”
“Something I should have done a long time ago,” he said. He led me to a hired car out front.
“People paid to see you, Jace. You can’t just leave.”
He smiled down at me. “I thought I already told you that you don’t get to make the rules. Tonight I have a command performance that has been postponed long enough already.”
I said nothing more. I followed him obediently from the building and allowed him to assist into the hired car.
The minute the door closed behind him I was in his arms and his mouth captured mine easily. “I love you, Jace,” I managed between kisses, but he shushed me. He reached over to open the moon roof, and the driver discretely closed the privacy glass after Jace told him, “Take the long way.”
His strong arms felt like heaven around me. This was my home. This was everything I had always wanted and probably nothing I deserved.
Fortunately for me, love wasn’t about what you earn. It’s about what someone else decides to give you. And for some reason I had yet to understand, this wonderful, strong, honorable, amazing man had decided to love me. He loved me even when it came at great cost to him. It was truly the greatest gift life had ever given me.
When he eased me down against the seat, I allowed every kiss and every touch to erase the painful memories of Eddie. Jace’s touch was feather light as he explored every bare inch of flesh while his mouth dominated my own.
I slid my hands up his shirt against that powerful chest. I felt the muscles ripple underneath my fingers. That night he had truly become my hero. He had saved me from the one person who made my life the most unbearable.
Myself.
He pulled back so that I could lift the shirt from his body. Moonlight glinted off of his bright eyes as he peeled away my shirt as well. His eyes trailed across my body as he unveiled me inch by quivering inch. “My goddess,” he declared before his head lowered and his lips coaxed goose bumps from my skin. I watched the neon lights pass by overhead as he etched erotic tattoos into my flesh at the tip of his tongue.
His fingers were tender as they reclaimed the flesh that had always been meant to be his. I responded with soft gasps and moans that encouraged him to venture lower. He eased my black jeans over my hips, baring me under the colorful skyline passing overhead. The light danced along my skin, highlighting the faded bruises. Jace placed gentle kisses along each old wound. “Never again,” he murmured.
I grasped the armrests as his hot breath parted my very core. His tongue was firm and nimble as it slid easily along the slippery skin, making my thighs tremble from all the sensations spreading throughout my body. His mouth clamped down on me as he threaded two fingers together to enter my body where I ached for him the most. “Jace,” I groaned. “I need you.”
He lifted his head as his fingers touched that hidden spot deep inside. “You have me, baby,” he murmured softly. “Always.”
His eyes never left my face as his fingers toyed with me until I dissolved into a quivering mess underneath him. I couldn’t help myself as I cried out, even though the world raced on in fast forward just outside of the car.
I pulled him up my body, tearing his jeans away with one impatient hand. He sprang forward, full and hard, into my fingers, and gasped when my hand closed around him.
I was too crazed to tease him. It had been too long. I needed him inside of me or else I felt I might shatter into a million pieces.
He was in no position to argue. I knew he ached for me from the deep moans in his throat as I guided him where I needed him to be. He plunged inside of me with a decisive grunt. “Jordi,” he said as he buried his face in my neck. “God, it’s always been you. There’s never been anyone who even came close. Tell me you believe that.”
“I believe you,” I whispered. “And it’s always been you, too,” I assured him. “No matter what.”
He nodded as he began to stroke. He touched my lips with his finger, before bending for another deep kiss. I closed my ankles around his hips, urging him deeper.
He looked deep in my eyes as he watched my face, as if carving this very moment onto his memory. I could barely breathe as I lost myself in the intensity of his gaze. “I love feeling you all around me,” he murmured. “You were made for me. I knew it the first moment I touched you.”
I clutched him closer. “I knew it, too,” I confessed. “I was just afraid to believe someone like you could love someone like me.”
He traced my face as he softly began to sing. “She doesn’t know, she can’t believe… she’d find the person that would never leave. She hangs onto the past and every ghost, all lies that hide who loves her most. She’s beautiful but she can’t see just how perfect she is to me.”
My eyes widened. It was the song Vanni sang to me in New York. What other surprises did this man have in store for me?
“It’s my song, Jordi,” he confessed softly. “And you’re the reason I sing.”
I pulled him down for another kiss. I knew in that moment I could never love anyone the way I loved Jace Riga.
My lover. My hero.
My heart.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Denver, Colorado
April 8, 2012
Jace’s absence that first night in Vegas was explained away as a family emergency, which – surprisingly – most folks bought without a fuss. I knew PING had to be scrambling, digging for extra dirt, but so far no one was talking – probably on pain of death from Vanni.
And, despite my greatest fear, I didn’t wake up to a leaked sex tape and more scandal by morning. It seemed, for now, Eddie’s threat had been nullified by all the leverage that secret security cam in my dressing room gave us.
Andy and Vanni definitely believed in fighting fire with fire. It made me even sorrier I didn’t open up to them sooner in what was going on. I also got a video conference lecture from Graham, who, along with Maggie, reiterated that I could come to them at any time about anything, that we were a family now and that I could trust them to take care of me.
How could I tell them I simply wasn’t used to anyone lo
oking after me? All my life I had been emotionally on my own.
Having them neatly sweep up the mess I had made was a completely new experience.
But I knew our reprieve would be short lived. Jace stated his intent clearly: we were a couple now, and the whole world was about to know it. Once I filed for divorce, it would all be common knowledge anyway, and he was intent that I do that as soon as we made it back to California. Jace had even researched how to do it, keeping this information in his pocket until such time as it was needed.
He had waited long enough, he said. He was ready to show me off to the world, damn what the press or anyone else had to say about it.
That included Eddie himself. And though he hadn’t contacted anyone yet, I knew better than to trust his absence from my life entirely. No doubt Eddie would want spousal support, though who knew if he’d have the cajones to ask for it after the beat down he had received courtesy of “Bionic Boy.”
I was just thankful we never had property together or had any kids. I was willing to throw as much money at the problem as necessary to get the wheels in motion. The proceedings would begin by the end of the tour, and then I would finally be free of Eddie Nix.
And I was totally ready to be rid of him. After we had our reunion in the limo, Jace moved all his things into my hotel room for the rest of our stay in Vegas. It was only for a day, and we worked practically from sun up to midnight, but it still felt like a long overdue honeymoon.
Our biggest challenge had been deciding when to tell Shelby the details about what had happened. It had to be soon, because Jace and I would be traveling together the remaining weeks of the tour. It was only right to be open and honest with her before the rumor mill finally caught up to us.
I had wanted to do it together, but Jace felt the blow would be softer coming from him alone. He knew that the ambiguous way he had to keep her close had ultimately led her on, and he felt like a shit about it. He never encouraged her feelings beyond friendship, but he hated having to lie to her at any point about anything. That just wasn’t the kind of guy he was.
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