Jack
I THOUGHT KISSING her might make me able to let her go. It didn’t. It just made me want her more. I walked back to the guest house with all things Hadley on my mind. She obviously wasn’t going to make things easy for me.
The next morning, I made my way to the main house for a cup of coffee. My coffee maker was fully operational, but Roxie had a way with roasted beans that was truly unrivalled. More importantly, I was hoping to see Hadley before I headed to the studio. Coffee had become my drug of choice once I got sober, but I was currently jonesing for a fix of Hadley. As hoped, Roxie was in the kitchen doing her magic and Rex was sitting at the island with his iPad.
Unfortunately, Miss Simon was nowhere to be seen.
“Good morning.” Roxie grinned. How someone could be so happy this early in the day was beyond me. “Coffee?” she asked.
“Am I that predictable?” I mused.
“The last thing anyone would ever call you is predictable, Jackie boy,” Rex said without raising his eyes from his laptop.
“What are you looking at?” I asked.
“An email from Lucy. The last few tour dates have finally been locked down and she’s updated the website. We are on the verge of hitting the road, my friend, and the rock world is all a buzz.”
“I still can’t believe so many people care about this reunion… especially since you’ve been out there playing these songs for years.”
“You still don’t get it, do you?”
“What?”
“It’s not just the songs that connect with people. It’s the players as well. People have been dying for you and Robbie play these songs again. They want to see and hear the guys that wrote and recorded them. The fans missed you. We all did.”
Rex was right, I didn’t get it. I never thought of myself as anything special. I’m a drummer because I wanted to play drums, it’s just that simple. The fact that I happened to find success was almost irrelevant to me. It’s not that I don’t fully appreciate the love and support of our fans; it just simply never put fuel in my tank. I loved to play and create music with people I care about.
“I guess I never assumed anyone would listen, and I still find it very humbling that they did. I forget sometimes how big this band was.”
“You mean how big we are. I think you should prepare yourself for what’s coming Jack. Pacific is fully behind promoting the EP and the tour and almost every venue is sold out.” Rex raised an eyebrow and Roxie took a long, slow sip from her mug, a sly smile on her lips.
“I think I’m going to need another very strong cup to go please.”
* * *
Hadley
I heard voices downstairs and just couldn’t bring myself to walk down there. I was sure they’d know about the kiss and I wasn’t ready for that yet. I stared at myself in the mirror and let out a quiet squeak of frustration. This was my third outfit… a pair of leggings with a long sweater and knee-high boots.
It wasn’t quite what I wanted. I wanted sexy. But I wanted sexy that didn’t look like I was going for sexy… hence my dilemma. I was one of those unfortunate souls who couldn’t flirt. And, although I fully understood that flirting could be done several ways, I couldn’t even wink. I just managed to look like I was trying to get sunscreen out of my eyes whenever I tried. This had given me such a complex; I just couldn’t bring myself to go further on the flirting front.
I pulled off my sweater and went back into the closet. In the end, I chose a pleated skirt that ended just above my knees and looked just as cute with my boots. I grabbed my favorite off-the-shoulder sweater that I already knew Jack liked, and then brushed out my hair.
I was a little behind, but I waited until all was quiet before heading downstairs. I walked into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee and nearly jumped out of my skin when Roxie said, “Hey, Hadley.”
I didn’t see her sitting at the table by the window. “Morning.”
She nodded toward the coffee pot. “Just made a fresh batch.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
“How’d you sleep?”
“Really well,” I lied as I prepared my coffee with my back to her. I could feel the heat in my cheeks as I thought about my X-rated dreams. “That bed is amazing.”
“I’m glad,” she said.
After taking a few deep breaths, I faced her and smiled. “What are you up to today?”
“I have to shop,” she complained. “I hate shopping.”
“Then why do you do it?”
“Because I love my man.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m the only one he trusts when it comes to stocking him up for the road.”
“Oh, I absolutely get that,” I said. “Every single member of Roses wants something different, so I try to accommodate as much as possible, but sometimes they just have to suffer a little and go without.”
Roxie giggled. “Rex doesn’t ‘go without.’”
I glanced around the room. “No, I don’t suppose he does.”
“You meeting Lucy today?”
“Yes.” I glanced at my watch. “Sully’s actually supposed―”
“Miss Simon,” Sully said from the doorway of the kitchen.
I gasped nearly spilling my coffee and Roxie grinned. “Yeah, he’s stealth like that.”
“I’m ready,” I said, rinsing my coffee cup out and putting it in the dishwasher.
“Mr. Haddon said you’ll need transportation later,” Sully said to Roxie.
“Yes. Maybe in an hour?”
“That’ll be fine. I’ll be here.”
“Perfect,” she said. “I’ll see you later, Hadley.”
“Sounds good.” I grabbed my bag and followed Sully out to the car.
* * *
Jack
Rex and I arrived at the studio a little past 10:00am. The first part of our musical life together had been almost completely nocturnal, so it was still a bit strange for me to play music with Rex and Robbie during daylight hours. Like most rock bands, we’d always rehearsed, traveled, played, partied and did whatever else at night. The day time was for sleeping or radio interviews, and we didn’t do radio interviews. In fact, after we started dealing with stalkers and paparazzi, we tried our best to stay away from the media as much as possible.
I scanned the parking lot for Hadley’s car, but to no avail.
“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath.
“What?” Rex asked
“Oh, nothing, I just realized I forgot my watch on my night stand.” I hated lying to Rex, but if there was any way I was going to be with Hadley, I knew I had to keep this under very tight wraps.
As we walked into the studio, I fell back so I could slide the watch I’d just lied about off my wrist and shove it into my jeans pocket.
Most of the day was spent tightening up the set list for the tour. We’d released seven albums, so there was much material to comb through. At this point, we’d probably played through two thirds of our catalogue over the past few weeks, and were getting close to having a final song order down. The reality that I was about to be thrust back into my former life was starting to set in. It was now merely days until the madness would truly begin and I wasn’t sure I was ready. My mind was swimming, and I could barely concentrate.
Where the hell is Hadley?
“Earth to Jack,” Robbie’s voice snapped me back to attention.
“Sorry, what?” I asked.
“What do you think of closing with Song for Steven?”
“Oh, um sure, whatever you guys think.”
“Rex likes the idea, but I think it’s too slow, so we need you to weigh in here. You okay?”
“Yeah, sorry, I was just someplace else for a minute. I think I agree with you, it’s a little slow.”
“Okay then, let’s move Song for Steven to the middle of the set and close with Pages. We can leave the encores as wild cards and pick ’em each night like we used to.”
“Sounds great—”
My words stopped then and there as I saw Hadley enter the control room. I immediately rose from my drum throne and made my way for the door. Rex and Robbie had their backs to the glass, so they didn’t see her enter.
“Sorry guys, I need to take a quick break and get some fresh air.” I rushed out of the space before my band could even respond. I entered the control room and nearly passed out. Hadley was wearing the sweater that made me want to fuck her… and a skirt that made me want to fuck her, and goddammit, she wore knee-high boots that made me want to fuck her. I’d never seen her curves so perfectly on display and it drove me crazy. Vic was sitting at the console, his back to us with headphones on. I assumed he was listening to the rough mixes of the new songs we’d been recording.
“Hey there. I missed you at the house this morning,” I said.
“You were looking for me?” she asked with a shy smile.
“Well, I happened to be in house, grabbing some coffee…”
“Your coffee maker on the fritz?”
“No, I was just…”
“Looking for me,” she said, in a soft low rasp.
“Yes.”
“And now that you’ve found me, do you like what you see?”
My already hardening cock stiffened to the point of pain. At that very moment, I wasn’t sure if I had ever been more physically attracted to someone. I wasn’t just turned on. Fucking Hadley was no longer a desire, it was a need.
I motioned to Vic and then to the door, and we exited out into the lobby where we were alone.
“Yes, I very much like what I see and I think you know that,” I said, still careful to keep my voice down. “Does this mean, you’ve thought of a time and place for us?”
“Working on that.” Her gorgeous smile lit up her face. Her breasts were heaving underneath the tight fabric. I wanted them in my hands. I wanted them in my mouth. I wanted to feel my hard cock between them.
“Work faster. I can’t last much longer and now you’re just teasing me.”
“Speaking of working, isn’t there someplace you should be right now?”
“Besides between your thighs?” I leaned in for a quick kiss.
“Ohmigod, stop it.” She stepped out of reach. “Someone’ll see us! Besides, I have to get going. I only stopped by to drop off some documents for Rex to sign and then I have other work to tend to all day.”
“Are you sure that’s the only reason you stopped by?” I challenged.
“Okay, maybe not the only reason, but I really do have to get these to Rex, and get going.”
“Will you meet me back here later tonight? Everyone will still be around, but we could have a coffee together or something.”
“I’ll see what I can do. I’ll text you later and let you know how my schedule looks.”
“Just have your people contact my people.”
She smiled. “I’m not sure how that’ll work since Lucy is your ‘people’ and I’m Roses for Anna’s ‘people,’”
“That does pose a dilemma. Alright then, text me and I hope to see you later.”
I guided her gently to the back wall and kissed her… taking my time. She smelled amazing, and I felt her heart racing as I held her to my chest.
She pushed me away and took a wobbly footed step around me. “You have to stop doing that!”
“I’ll stop doing it when you stop getting all hot and bothered by it.”
She licked her lips and handed me a manila envelope. “Give this to Rex, please.”
“When do you need it back?”
“Tonight would be good.”
I grinned, nodding slowly. “An excuse to come back.”
“Jack,” she admonished.
“Yeah, baby?”
She jabbed a finger toward me and shook her head. “Stop it.”
I chuckled and she gave me a lingering look before walking out the door. I turned around and headed back into the control room. Vic looked like he hadn’t moved an inch from his spot and Robbie and Rex were still in the tracking room pouring over the show details. Even though we were keeping our staging, lights and video production relatively simple, there were still many last-minute items to iron out. I knew the last thing my band needed was for their drummer to be distracted by a woman, but it was all I could do to keep my thoughts from her.
“Hadley dropped this by,” I said as I walked back into the room.
Rex took the envelope and ripped it open. “Cool. When does she need ’em back?”
“Tonight.”
“I’ll look at them when we break for dinner. You ready to get back at it?”
“Sure thing. Let’s run through the first three songs and get all the transitions as tight as possible,” I said. I grabbed my sticks and sat down behind my kit, staring blankly into space.
“There he goes again.” Robbie said.
“You okay, Jackie? You seem a little distracted again today. Everything alright?” Rex asked.
“Sorry. I haven’t been getting much sleep. Guess it’s nerves or something.”
“Roxie and I thought we heard you down in the kitchen last night.”
“Yeah, I was. I… uh… was grabbing some of that tea she buys for me.”
Rex studied me for a moment. This was not good. Rex Haddon had the best bullshit meter of anyone I’d ever known. If I wasn’t very careful I was going to blow this thing (whatever it was) with Hadley.
Rex nodded. “Good, I’m glad it worked. God knows you’re going to need some rest before we hit the road.”
Rest was the farthest thing from my mind right now. I didn’t know what the fuck was wrong with me. I was about to embark on the first tour in what felt like forever, and I was secretly running around chasing tail. The only thoughts scarier than the ones about the tour ahead of me, were the ones I had about Hadley. Pam was the last, and only, woman that had ever made me feel like this and she was the love of my life. There was no way in hell I could or would ever entertain thoughts of love, but I knew I wanted her more than anyone since Pam, and that thought alone was driving me insane.
“If you ladies are done with your little cozy time tea chat, can we please get back to playing some fucking music?”
The boys chuckled and we got back to it.