Authors: Anna Daly-McCabe
They were on stage for just over two hours. And the crowd was still hungry for them. They gave their all in every show and they were loved for it.
As the lights went out and they left the stage, they heard their names been called. Jay shook his head. He went to his dressing room.
Banging the door behind him, he saw a box on the dressing table and a bigger box on the floor beside it.
He opened the box that was on the table. He took out a DVD and looked around and found a TV, he put it on and there he was banging Lisa hard against the window of the motel room.
Jay sat down as he watched himself doing Lisa from behind and beating her hard with the belt from her dress. She was screaming. She wanted more.
It was the day that he did coke with her the first time. He couldn’t bear to watch any more. He looked into the box, there were some photos. Jay picked them up. The first one was him in the Ferrari with Lenny, handing him a couple of grand as he took the coke. The other photos were more shocking.
They showed Sam sitting in their garden playing with Jaime. They were both smiling. The next photo showed Sam in the shower and the last two, showed he and Sam making love in the hot tub.
“Fuck.” He said. “Those fucking bastards.” He took the photos and the DVD and put them back into the box. He opened the door and called one of the roadies.
“There’s a box there, it’s very delicate, present for my fiancée, will you make sure it gets packed unopened in the amp crate.” He slapped the guy on the back and slipped him a sachet of coke. Winked at him and closed the door.
Back at the hotel, Jay knocked on the door of Steve’s room. Lisa opened it. He smiled at her and said:
“Hey beautiful!” She laughed and let him in. Steve was doing a line when Jay came in. Pete was drinking from a bottle of bourbon. He offered some to Jay. He shook his head, went over to the table and did a line with Steve.
Lisa was watching him. Jay knew she was high. He laughed and said:
“You guys had fun yet?” Pete Laughed and said between sips of bourbon.
“Before you came in, Lisa was going to give me some blow. Weren’t you baby?” She laughed and went over to him and got on her knees. They all roared laughing. Pete got up and went over to the bed and lay down. She got on her knees and took him in her mouth. As she was doing Pete, Steve came over and took her from behind. Jay opened a beer and picked up Steve’s camcorder and began to film it.
Seeing what he was doing they put on a hell of a performance. Lisa posed every way for the camcorder. Jay was laughing as he encouraged her.
An hour or so later, he got bored and left. He went back to his own room. He fell into bed, he was exhausted. But he couldn’t sleep. The cocaine had him wide awake. And he was horny as hell.
He picked up his jacket and went down to the bar. He ordered a soda and sat down. There were several people still there. A blonde girl walked up to the bar and smiled at him; she looked about eighteen or nineteen.
Jay smiled and said:
“Can I buy you a drink?” She giggled and came over to him. Two drinks later, she was in his hotel room and he was banging her hard.
*********
There was a delay at the airport. Jay was tired. Customs were all over the place. His bags went through and he put on his glasses. A customs officer called him aside. In his mind he was swearing.
“I wonder if you could sign an autograph for my son; he’s a big fan.” Jay didn’t remove his glasses but he smiled.
“What’s your son’s name?” The officer smiled and said:
“Wally, his name is Walter, we call him Wally.” Jay laughed and took the book from the officer.
“You say he’s a big fan! You tell Wally from me, next time we play this town, there’s a pair of tickets for him.” Jay signed the autograph and smiled at him.
“You’re a legend, GM Jay.” He waved and walked away.
Outside the sun was shining but it wasn’t nearly as warm as it had been when he was in Brazil.
He couldn’t wait to get home to see Sam and Jaime; he was looking forward to taking a vacation with them.
A few hours later, he was lying in bed with Sam, making love to her tenderly. The tour he had just done; forgotten.
Sam was packing a suitcase in the bedroom. Jaime was standing up, she was saying her favourite word,
daddy.
Sam couldn’t help but smile as she saw the small face looking up at her. She had Jay’s eyes and his mouth. Her hair colour was dark like his. She was so like him.
As she folded her silk nightie, she smiled to herself as she remembered the last time she had worn it. Pushing those thoughts aside she continued with her packing.
Jay had gone out earlier. He told her he would be back in a few hours and they would be ready to leave when he returned.
Sam knew that he was busy working on some new songs and that he was trying to put together the solo album. He was working way too hard. She worried that he was doing too much.
She had hired an assistant for the gallery when Jay was away on tour. She was making wedding plans for a December wedding. Jay wanted the wedding sooner but she wanted it to be special. And besides, she wanted Lisa to be feeling better and Sam figured that by December she would be.
Jay had been a very bad addict and after six weeks in rehab he seemed to have done well, she was hoping she could convince Lisa to go and that she would be better too.
Jaime fell over and began to cry. Immediately Sam picked her up and said:
“There, there; it’s ok, princess.” But the child was inconsolable. There was a voice behind her, which made Sam jump but sent Jaime into shrieks of laughter.
“Princess, mommy being ignoring you?” It was Jay. He picked up his daughter and cuddled her. Sam laughed and said:
“You have made her a primadonna, you do know that.” He kissed Sam and laughed.
“She’s GM Jay’s daughter, what do you expect?” She giggled and went into the bathroom.
“Are you ready to go?” She asked coming back into the bedroom. He nodded and took Jaime down stairs. He put her in the car and then put the bags in.
Opening the door for Sam, he got in beside her and drove off. They would spend a week in a cabin in the mountains, away from all the pressures of fame and business.
This would be the first time they spent together as a family since Sam moved to LA.
The cabin was massive; Jay had bought it several years ago but rarely used it. There were eight rooms and a very wide verandah housing a hot tub. Sam teased him when she saw the tub. He laughed and slapped her bottom.
They had only been there a few hours and Sam felt as though she wanted to hide away here forever, with him.
He made dinner as she put Jaime to bed. When she came down, Jay handed her a glass of wine. She gratefully accepted it. It was chilled to perfection. Taking off her shoes she sat down at the big table.
“We should come up here for Christmas dinner.” Sam said as if to herself. Jay was grinding pepper over the sauce. “Why don’t you use it more?” He shook the pepper mill and put it on the counter.
“Too big just for one!” She smiled at him. He looked so good; she laughed but couldn’t hide what she was thinking. “If you want to come here for Christmas why not?” He took a sip from his glass. He joined her at the table and said earnestly. “Sam, you have made me the happiest man alive.” She reached out to touch his face. He was so handsome. It seemed unreal that he was going to be her husband. Sam couldn’t believe that this wonderful man was her fiancé.
She didn’t tell him what the reporter had tried to say to her, she knew that Jay was hotheaded. And thankfully he hadn’t bothered coming around after that.
Over dinner, they talked about the wedding plans. Sam told him how desperately she wanted to help Lisa. How badly she seemed to have taken the divorce.
“Sam, she’s a groupie, forget her. She’s not your problem babe.” Jay was always caring but she couldn’t understand why he was so cruel about Lisa.
“When you had your problem, Jay, how would you have felt, if everyone you knew turned their back on you?” He got up and brought over the bottle of wine. Refilled the glasses and kissed the top of her head.
“Sam, you care too much about other people.” She smiled and lifted the glass and said very seductively.
“To us and to the future.” He hit his glass off hers and they drank the wine.
Later, in front of the open log fire, they lay in each other’s arms naked, their legs wrapped around each other.
Jay had spent a fantastic week in the mountains with Sam and their daughter. He had built a swing for her using rope and some old tire’s that he had found in the shed behind the cabin. Jaime screeched with delight as he pushed her gently on the make shift swing.
Jay remembered the first time his father had brought him out into the woods, to go hunting. He was eight years old and he felt like he was back in the old Wild West. First time his father let him hold a gun he had said:
“James, keep the animal in your sight and gently squeeze on the trigger.” Of course when the moment came, he pulled back on the trigger, he fell backwards and his father went hysterical laughing.
Those were magical times; that he had spent with his father, then as he grew up and became a teenager and started playing in a band. His father couldn’t hide the disappointment he felt. None more than when he played a show and before he left the house, he had put on makeup; heavy eyeliner and mascara with pink eye shadow and lipstick. He had taken his mother’s earrings and bracelets.
His father had barred his way from leaving the house and shouted at him.
“Get that stuff off your face, are you a queer now?” Then he slapped him across the face and Jay pushed him to the floor and walked out.
That night after the show, Jay left with Nick and Steve and they went to California.
Closing out the memories of his early teen years, Jay looked around at all he had achieved in his life. He was about to turn forty. And he felt he had been luckier than most. He was rich, did a job he loved and he was famous. He had more women than even he could remember. And now, he was soon to be married to a woman who adored him. His family was perfect.
As he waited in the car park, he felt he could use a fix. But he was trying to kick it. The last thing he wanted to do was go back on coke hard and end up in rehab.