Between a Rock and a Hard Place (7 page)

Alyssa glanced up at Jessi.  She swore there was enjoyment behind the sadistic smile Alyssa gave her and it made her more nervous.  “I don’t know about this.  How much does it hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt at all.”

Jessi didn’t believe that for a minute.

With her supplies in order, Alyssa turned her attention to the bottle of 1800.  She unscrewed the cap, carried it further into the kitchen and stopped in front of the long row of cabinets.  “Why the hell do you have so many kitchen cabinets?  Which one has the shot glasses?”

“Because Angel’s neurotic.”  He needed a cabinet for everything.  He had an additional set of cabinets installed right after they bought the house to hold his culinary gadgets and supplies.  She didn’t know how he lived in their old house with that tiny kitchen.  No wonder he was intent on buying this enormous place as soon as they came into some money.

“Glasses?”  Alyssa waived the bottle at her.

“Oh.  The narrow cabinet on the end.”

Alyssa set two shot glasses on the breakfast bar, filled them to the top with the tequila and handed one to Jessi.

“Aren’t you going to have one?”  Jessi asked, when Alyssa made no attempt to touch her drink.

“I’ll have mine when I’m done with your piercing.”

Jessi took a deep breath and threw back the shot of tequila.  The harsh alcohol burned her throat but it tasted good.  “I’m ready.  What do I have to do?”

After Alyssa donned a pair of black plastic gloves, she made Jessi stick her tongue out and marked it.  She fastened the small rubber band onto the end of the forceps in order to keep them closed and clamped it onto the end of Jessi’s tongue.

It felt weird and awkward and Jessi fidgeted on the barstool.  She should have taken a few more shots of the tequila, because she was losing her nerve.  Her eyes darted to the long needle in Alyssa’s hand.

“Are you ready?”

Jessi clamped her eyes shut. The sensation of the needle puncturing her tongue was foreign and uncomfortable, but it was quick and relatively painless.  Seconds later it was over, and she had a tongue stud.

“How does it feel?  And don’t clang it against your teeth.”

Jessi rolled it around in her mouth like a piece of hard candy stationed in the center of her tongue. “It feels wike I’m gonna swawwow it.”  Her fingertips flew to her lips.  “I can’t twawk!”

Alyssa laughed.  “It just takes a little getting used to.  Tomorrow you’ll be fine.”  She ripped off her gloves and held up her shot of tequila.  “To Damien.”

“Thamien?”

“Yep.  Being married to a recovered alcoholic and drug addict makes you walk a very narrow line.  I can’t shoot tequila around him.  I can barely sip a glass of wine when we’re out to dinner once in a while.  I need to show Damien that I support him.  I rarely get a chance to have a couple of drinks.”  She tossed back the shot of tequila and poured another one.  “Tonight I’m going to enjoy myself.”

Jessi still wasn’t used to the metal bar and ball inside her mouth.  Instinct was to rub it against the roof of her mouth.  She had to make a conscious effort not to do it, and she still had trouble speaking.  “Thell me about Thamien.”

“What about him?”

“How can he stay sober with drugs and alcohol around all the thime?”

“He has no choice if he wants to stay married to me.  I don’t care how much I love him, I won’t put up with that shit.  I’ll kick his butt and throw his ass out.”  She pursed her dark red lips together and poured another shot. “Damien had a hard life before I met him.  He basically grew up on the streets.  It’s a really ugly story.  Maybe one day I’ll get into it, but it’s too fucked up to talk about tonight.  We’re supposed to be having a good time.”

After a few more shots of tequila and a pizza delivery, Jessi’s eyes started to close.  She looked at the time on her phone and wondered why Tommy hadn’t called yet. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.  “I’m going to bed.  Are you all settled in the guest room?”

“Yep.  You’re talking better.  I told you that you’d get used to it.”

Jessi set the house alarm and ascended the long staircase up to the second floor.  She stuck her tongue out in front of the mirror in the master bathroom.  It looked funny and a little swollen.  She worried that Tommy would be mad she didn’t discuss it with him first, until she brought him to blow job heaven.

She climbed into the oversized bed and pulled the lush down comforter over her legs.  It was a vast empty space without Tommy and Angel.

The familiar ring tone of an Immoral Angel song announced Tommy’s long awaited call.  She jumped to a sitting position and pressed the answer button.  “Hi, baby, I miss you!”

“I miss you too, hon.  I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner, but we got dragged into a press conference as soon as we landed.  We needed an interpreter!  It’s been crazy over here.”  He was excited and he was rambling.  “We’re constantly getting mobbed by fans.  It’s so bad that we needed to take security with us when we went to dinner.  I crashed as soon I got back to the hotel room, then we had an early morning interview.  I haven’t stopped running around since we got off the plane.”

His enthusiasm brought a smile to her lips and the sound of his voice made her weak.  It was hard to believe how much she missed him, but she forced herself to sound upbeat.  “I’m glad you’re having a good time. How was the flight?”

“It was long and noisy.  How are you?  Is everything OK at home?”

“Everything here is fine.  I just miss you like crazy.”

“I miss you too. Don’t forget to set the alarm and call the police if you hear anything suspicious.  I worry about you alone in that big house without me or Angel.”

“Alyssa’s here.”  The sadistic vision of Alyssa with the needle in her hand made Jessi giggle.  “I don’t think anyone wants to mess with her.  Are you all set for tomorrow?”

“What’s tomorrow?”

“Your first show in Hong Kong.”

“Oh, yeah.  Audra is going to videotape it for you.  I’m going to look right into the camera when we play
Without You
, so you know that I’m thinking about you.  I’m always thinking about you, Jessi.”

It was quiet on the other end.  She listened to the silence and the rush of his breath into the phone.  She realized she was going to miss Immortal Angel take the stage for the first time in another country.  It was another blow to her bruised heart.  It was a milestone in his life and she wasn’t part of it.  She had worked almost as hard as he did to get to this point in his career and she was 8000 miles away, relegated to view his performance on a two inch video screen after it was over.  Her vision blurred and she took a deep breath to keep the tears of disappointment from falling.

“I’m homesick.”  Tommy’s sad, low voice filled the gap.

It made her insides collapse to hear him so despondent, but she knew she needed to be strong.  “We’ll be together soon.”

“I know.  I’ll call as much as I can.  I love you, hon.”

“I love you, too, baby.”

“Angel wants to say hello.”

“OK.  Put him on.”

“Hello, sweetheart.”  Angel sang into the phone, and his melodic voice lifted her spirits.  A little bit, anyway.

“How’s Hong Kong?”

“Exactly like you see on TV.  The stores are fabulous, but I haven’t had a chance to visit any.  As soon as we get five minutes of free time I’m going to buy you some presents.”

“Buy me one of everything.”  She smiled into the phone.  Angel was always thoughtful, and he instinctively knew her taste. Tommy was more of the flowers-and-candy type, but Angel could buy her a pair of shoes or a top that she would have bought for herself.  “Do you have everything ready for tomorrow?”

“Yes.  I think so.  Tommy helped me unpack my outfit for the show, but you know I’ll forget something last minute and go scrambling through my suitcases.”

“Did Audra give you an updated schedule?”

“Yeah.”  The sound of papers rustled in the background.  “It’s right here.  I’m taping it to the mirror.”

“What’s your room like?”

“I’m sorry.  I forgot to send you a video.  I’ll do it as soon as we hang up.  The room is amazing! I know Audra was responsible for booking us a gorgeous suite.”

“Did you expect anything less from your number one groupie?”

“I thought you were my number one groupie?”  There was a smile in his voice.

“You’re right.”  A small laugh floated from her throat.  “I’m your number one fan.”

“What were you and Alyssa up to today?”

She rubbed the metal ball in her tongue on the roof of her mouth.  “We stayed home and drank tequila and ate pizza.”  Alyssa ate pizza.  She couldn’t even eat applesauce.

“Alyssa drank?” She could hear the concern in Angel’s voice.

“Yeah, but not much.  Don’t tell Damien.”

“Of course not.  I just can’t remember the last time I saw her take a drink.  Those days were a long time ago.  But now that you mentioned it,” he teased her, “you’re slurring your speech a little bit.”

It was the tongue ring, and she thought she was doing a good job of speaking clearly.  “I might have had the lion’s share of the bottle.”

“You drank the whole bottle?  I knew leaving you two girls alone would spell trouble.”

“We’ll try to stay out of jail.”

Angel laughed.  “I hope so.  You sound tired, sweetheart.  Get some rest.”

She suppressed a yawn and it hurt her tongue.  “Let me talk to Tommy one more time.”

“OK.  Sweet dreams.  Love you.”

“Night, Angel.  Love you, too.”

“Couldn’t sleep without giving me a goodnight kiss?”  Tommy sounded happier.  The depressed damper in his voice now took on his usual teasing tone.

“Never.”  She cradled the phone in her hand and pressed a long kiss into it.  “Try to get some rest before the show tomorrow night.  Don’t run yourself into the ground.  And don’t let Angel visit every boutique in Hong Kong.  You’ll never make it to the show.  Give him a kiss for me.”

“Will do, hon.  I love you.  Goodnight.”

“I love you, too.  Night.”

She held the phone to her chest and lay back down on the bed.  Its emptiness engulfed her once again and the sadness crept back into her heart.  At least Tommy and Angel had each other.  She was alone.

Her phone buzzed announcing a text message from Angel.  It was the video of their hotel room that he promised to send.  She watched it with tired eyes and fell asleep, comforted by the glimpse of the two of them on the screen before it clicked off.

Chapter Seven

Angel was nervous for the first show in Hong Kong and paced around the dressing room.  Even though they received an overwhelming reception at the airport, the culture was different.  They needed a translator most of the time when they spoke to the press.  He didn’t know if the audience would understand him when he spoke to them.

He searched for the set list to see how much time was allotted for banter.  If he needed to cut out the chitchat between songs because the fans didn’t understand English, the show would fall short.

“Look who wants to wish you luck for tonight’s show!”  Audra escorted Kira into the dressing room.

“Kira!  What are you doing here?”

She ambushed Angel with a hug.  “I couldn’t miss Immortal Angel’s first show in another country.”