Blush (28 page)

Hurt crosses her features. Well, welcome to
the club, sister.

“Lucy—“

“Don't. Just go,“ I tell her, looking back to
Jesse as tears slip from my eyes. Betrayal, hard and sharp, fills
me and a sob bursts forth.

“Shhh,“ Jesse whispers, sliding up next to me
and pulling me into his side. Xander rubs the fingers of my casted
hand, well, not the broken two, but the rest.

“I just don't understand why it was a secret.
And now how can I trust that everything I've accomplished as an
actress and with Blush is even real and hasn't been staged? Would
we have gotten this contract if it wasn't Cage?“ I glance at
Meggie.

“We're fucking awesome. Cage or no Cage, we'd
be right here helping Falling Down sell out shows,“ she says with
conviction.

Trace steps forward and rests a hand on my
foot. “Your talent is unquestionable. Don't doubt yourself. Don't
start doubting Blush either.“

“I'm not doubting any of that. I know we're
fucking awesome. I'm doubting them and wondering what else they
lied about and manipulated in my life,“ I sigh.

“Does it matter?“ Trace asks. “In the end,
does it matter? You're here and you'd be here with or without
them.“

I tilt my head. “I guess.“

“Screw them,“ Kennedy steps up. “You are a
fantastic actress. We watched you as you went from commercials to
sitcoms to movies—“

I cut him off as I look to Jesse. “You
watched me?“

One side of his mouth kicks up in that grin
that turns me into a puddle of goo. “Of course I watched you. Did
you think you could make that kind of impression on me and I
wouldn't keep tabs on you?“

“But I didn't tell you my last name.“

He shakes his head and shrugs a shoulder. “I
saw you on that one show, the family one?“

I nod.

“After that, he was sunk,“ Ben teases. “We
watched every single show. He found everything you'd ever done and
we watched that too. I especially enjoyed that commercial for lip
balm.“

“Whatever. I was sixteen,“ I grin and Xander
manipulates the fingers of my casted hand and flips Ben off. “Thank
you, Xander.“

“You're most welcome. And I've got to say, I
enjoyed the sunscreen commercial. You had that tiny bikini—“

“Dude,“ Jesse scowls.

Xander laughs. “Every single time.“

“What?“

“Every time that commercial came on, I'd talk
about your ass or the bikini and he had that same reaction. Every
single time.“

I meet Jesse's gaze and he looks slightly
embarrassed. “So you watched me as much as I watched you?“

He nods. “After we met, yeah. And, baby, do
not doubt your talent. With each role, you proved yourself. Your
award is a justified win.“

I sniffle and Xander wipes my face with a
tissue. I'd wipe it myself but both men are holding my hands.

“I'm tired,“ I whisper to them. “There's just
been so much. I can only imagine the media.“

“Who cares, really?“ Ethan asks. “Who gives a
fuck what they say or what they're gossiping about now? Let them
speculate.“

“They'll find out enough shit when you get
sprung from this joint,“ Jesse adds.

“Which won't be for a bit,“ Misty tells me.
“You know they're going to hold you here for a good three days
minimum.“

“Yeah,“ I sigh. “I know. So be it.“

“Why don't you take a nap, babe. It's
probably best if you don't overdo it.“

I nod at Jesse.

“I could sleep,“ I murmur around a yawn.

“Do you need anything?“ Xander asks.

“Nope. Just you guys.“

He rubs circles on my fingers. “We're not
going anywhere.“

“Mmm, good. Sing me to sleep,“ I tell
them.

“Who?“ Meggie asks.

“All of you.“

There are snickers and chuckles.

“What do you want to hear?“ Jesse asks.

“Hmm. The Kill from Thirty Seconds To
Mars.“

“Jared Leto,“ Meggie says breathily.

“Mhmm.“

“Nice choice,“ Trace tells me.

“Thanks.“

Kennedy strums a chord and they all start
singing.

What if I wanted to break…

I drift off to sleep listening to my husband
sing a Jared Leto song. Yeah, you can bet that my smile is
huge.

FOUR DAYS LATER and in a plush hotel suite, I wake up
to Xander singing and for the first time I regret coming out of the
coma. Why, you might wonder? Because what I hear is:

Baby, baby, baby oooh
Like baby, baby, baby oooh
Like baby, baby, baby oooh
I thought you'd always be mine… mine

“Xander Mackenzie, you have me reconsidering
whether life was the best option for me. How can you possibly
torture me to these depths?“ I tease.

“Aww, come on, Luce, you know you love some
Biebs. I know you're a Belieber,“ he snickers.

“Dork,“ I reply with a laugh. “Where is
everyone?“ The room's empty except for Xander.

“They all went to shower. Jesse went to get
the food on your list,“ Xander tells me with a raise of his
brow.

“Hey, I deserve all of that and more carrying
around a litter of Kingstons.“

Xander throws his head back and laughs.
“Litter of Kingstons,“ he shakes his head, still laughing. “That's
fucking awesome.“

I smile “Right? I'm pretty damn proud of that
one.“

“You should be. Epic. Beyond epic,“ he
agrees.

“I gotta pee,“ I announce and Xander helps me
up from the sofa I'm napping on.

“You alright?“ he asks. “Any dizziness?“ He
keeps his arm around my waist and walks me to the restroom.

I roll my eyes. “I'm fine. You are all so
fussy.“

“Luce. You could have died. Personally, I'm
thinking it was a pretty fucking close call and I don't want to
ever have that shit happen again,“ he tells me, straight-faced and
serious.

“I'll do my best. Now let me pee.“

I close the door and go about my business. It
took three washings with baby shampoo to get the blood out of my
hair. The doctor didn't want me to but I wasn't going for the caked
on blood look for a week or more. Spenser helped me and using baby
shampoo was the least-harsh shampoo he knew of.

I hear Xander singing
My Pony
by
Ginuwine and I snicker. That guy.

My hair, now, is up in a ponytail. There's a
huge bruise on the side of my head just above my temple that's
hideously multi-colored with black, purple, red, yellow, green, and
brown. I'm sure there are more in there but it makes me sick to
look at it. Less than a centimeter down and likely that ice chunk
would have killed me. As it is, on top of the bruises, I've got
multiple stitched up wounds. They're small, but still a pain in my
ass.

Each time I think about what happened I get
so angry and then I get frustrated because I can't remember the one
thing I know I need to. I just know there's something I need to
remember. I don't know how I know, only that I do. Wow, that's a
lot of “knows“. No wonder I've got a nonstop headache.

I wash my hands and dry them off on the bath
towel. I straighten my Avenged Sevenfold fitted tee and just as I'm
about to open the door I hear it. I burst out laughing, I can't
help myself.
Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy
by Big & Rich.
Xander. I have to see this.

I slowly and stealthily open the bathroom
door and tiptoe to the sitting area in the suite. I see Xander, his
phone in his hands, feet moving, hips a-grooving, as he sings out
loud. I can't help myself. I snort.

He looks up from his phone and a big grin
takes over his face as he continues singing and makes his way to
me, swiveling his hips as he does. I'm grinning like mad because
he's so fun and has no shame at all.

That song's nearly over when he lifts his
phone, wicked grin in place, and pushes a button. Moaning comes out
of the speakers and then the drums and I burst out laughing. When
he drops to his knees and starts lifting his hips in some stripper
move, I grab my own phone.

“I'm so recording this!“

He keeps singing
Cream
from Prince,
leaning forward, dry humping the floor and I laugh as I record
him.

“We'll switch it up a bit since I'm putting
on a show,“ he tells me with a wink. He lifts his hands over his
head, still on his knees, and rotates his hips in a circle. Xander
Mackenzie is seriously sexy and from the way he moves those hips, I
bet he's amazing in bed.

When he pushes the button on his phone and
Freak Me
from Silk starts playing, I lift a brow. He stands
up and grabs a pen from the table and uses it as a faux mic. I
snort as he lip syncs the song until he gets to the chorus, of
course, where he sings:

Let me lick you up and down till you say stop
Let me play with your body, baby, make you real hot
Let me do all the things you want me to do
'Cause tonight, baby, I wanna get freaky with you

Xander looks to his phone. How do you top
that? I mean, it's quite the song, right? Well, no worries.
Xander's got it under control.
Sexual Healing
by Marvin
Gaye. He pulled out the big guns there.

I hold up the phone, following him around the
room as he sings and dances.

“Alright, alright,“ he says, raising a hand
to stop. “I know what we need next but you gotta dance with me,
Luce.“

I grin and lift a brow.

“He's one of your favorites.“

“Oh God, I hope it's not one of my
embarrassing ones because this video is going on the BFD blog,“ I
murmur.

“It's not.“ He holds out a hand for me and I
take it. “I'll record you while you record me and we'll put them
both up. Deal?“

“Okay, but I gotta take it easy.“

He rolls his eyes. “Woman, do you think I'm
going to let you go all crazy?“

I laugh. “I guess not!“

Rock Your Body
from Justin Timberlake
comes on and I grin. JT! We both start dancing and laughing when
the door to the suite opens up. I turn my camera to capture Jesse's
expression of incredulity then the smirk before he shakes his head,
carrying in some bags of groceries.

“What's going on in—“ Ben asks, then laughs
when he sees me and Xander. By now Xander's taken my scarf I had by
my pillow and tied it around his head like a headband. The scarf
has Powerpuff Girls on it. I snort.

He twirls the end of the scarf and does the
hip thrust, step, hip thrust, step thing all the way over to Ben
and then starts humping up on Ben's leg.

“Get the fuck out of here, dude,“ Ben says
with a shove of his shoulder—his hands are full of grocery bags
too.

“Move your ass, man,“ Kennedy chides Ben,
then sees what's going on and shakes his head. “Fuckin' Xander. I
shoulda known.“ He sees Xander eyeing him up and his gaze narrows.
“You try fucking on me, man, and I'll beat your ass.“

Xander wiggles his eyebrows. “You know I like
it rough,“ he teases and thrusts against Kennedy's ass. Kennedy
pushes Ben out of the way and rushes into the kitchen area.

I see Ethan lingering in the hall, laughing
his ass off next to Jace.

When
Got Your Money
by Ol' Dirty
Bastard comes on, Jace makes his way into the room singing and
starts dancing with us. In comes Meggie and, I stiffen a bit when
Sera dances her way in but keep dancing and recording. Trace trails
behind them all, avoiding the craziness.

My grandpa walks in, eyebrows raised as we
all dance, but now I'm taking a break in the chair, knowing better
than to overdo it. He makes his way over to where I'm sitting,
leans in and kisses my cheek, then takes a seat in the chair next
to mine.

“These are quite some friends you have,
Luciana,“ he begins.

I nod. “They are. They're not just friends,
though, Gampy. They're family.“

He nods in return. “You realize I'm allowing
you to call me that because you've been critically wounded.“

I grin.

“I likely won't allow that to continue,“ he
murmurs.

I continue to grin.

He lets out a sigh and I know I've won
without even saying a thing.

“You may call me that as long as you like,“
he tells me and I meet his gaze. He smirks a bit. “Truth be told, I
missed it.“

“I won't tell,“ I whisper to him with a wink,
then go back to singing as Cage and Damian make their way into the
room, both shaking their heads when Xander follows them, trying to
hump them. I snicker out loud.

“So, this is our family?“ he asks as Janalee
walks in. I nod and he returns the nod.

“They're all safe.“ It's a flat statement but
one I know to be completely true. He's done whatever he needed to
do to make sure that was true before he said it.

I walk over to him, sit on his lap and hug
him close. “Thank you, Gampy.“

“Ah, Luciana. I love you,
piccola
.“

“I love you too, Gampy.“

“You got here on your own.“

I meet his gaze head on and nod. “Thank
you.“