Hard Rock Unrehearsed (5 page)

“Please tell me that your girls are single and are going to be coming by to see you play!”  Jimmy begged with puppy dog eyes.

“Why?  You think you can supply a force ten?”  Jay laughed.

“Hell yeah!  I’m a force ten just waiting to happen baby!”  Jimmy grinned lasciviously.

“What the hell are you guys talking about?”  Luis snapped as he came back into the dressing room.

“Nothing Papa Luis, just talking music.”  Jade covered quickly and Trace burst out laughing as she made wide eyes behind Luis’s back at all of them.

“Yeah Luis, we just rated our playing tonight to a force ten hurricane.”  Trace grinned at Luis who frowned at all of them before shaking his head as if they were crazy.

“Okay, we have a meet and greet to get to so get cleaned up, your fans are waiting.  Jay you make sure you stay with the guys and keep it nice and cool.  If they come on to you, as they are going to do, just smile and move on.”  Luis gave her hard eyes.

“I understand, no hitting the horny fans.”  Jade smiled innocently as the guys sniggered.

“Promise me Jay!”

“Fine, I promise I won’t hit the fans even if they deserve it.”  Jade gave an exaggerated sigh.

“Good.  Get in the shower, you stink.”  Luis said as he turned a spluttering Jay towards the bathroom.  “Mel hung your clothes bag behind the door.”

Muttering darkly Jay went into the bathroom and slammed the door.

As soon as the door was closed the smile left Luis’s face and Trace knew something unpleasant was coming.

“Marcella Vincent and her posse of sluts are outside and none of you are going to go anywhere near them.  You need to get laid tonight you find a fan girl or use a hand but you stay away from those women.”  Luis growled.

“
We
didn’t invite them Luis.”  Trace growled back.  “We gave you our list of invites and I know for a fact none of us invited them.  Richie was the one who hung out with them after Jennie left.  They were one of the reasons why she fuckin’ left!”

“Let me enlighten you all a little bit about Jay.  She’s fiercely loyal and very possessive and she hates Marcella Vincent with a passion, and for a damned good reason.  You don’t need to know why and you won’t ask either, it’s her business, but, if you guys want to hang with Marcella and her sluts it’s going to cause problems in the band.  Problems like Jay walking away and leaving us hanging.  Problems that I’d rather we didn’t have.  So if you have to get laid, please God, find someone other than those sluts!”

“Like Trace said Luis, Richie was the one who hung out with those women.  I like my girls a little less used and I know I’m speaking for the rest of the guys as well.” Givens pulled his sweaty shirt over his head and dropped it on the couch as he spoke.  “I’m going to shower ‘cause I stink and that’s not going to get me laid.”  He made his way over to the other bathroom and disappeared inside, leaving the door open.  “Hey guys this is one of those communal showers, neat!”

“Okay, then we understand each other.”  Luis said as he sank down onto the couch and took out his ipad.

Trace watched the guys all go into the showers and turned to Luis.  “We’ve got this Luis.  We’re not going to ruin it by banging some skank and upsetting our drummer.  She is more important than some random pussy.”

Luis nodded and bent his attention to the ipad he had on his lap.  His fingers were flying and Trace knew he was either updating their fan page or answering e-mails or something.  Shaking his head he went to join the guys laughing in the showers.

Jade hissed as she stepped into the hot shower.  But even as the heat of the water permeated her sweaty flesh rage ate at her control.  She wanted to kick Diego Delgado in the balls so badly she could feel it in her toes.  Her first night on stage and he has to ruin it by bringing that slut!  Why the hell hadn’t she made a list of people that she didn’t want to see backstage?  Her first night out in front of the fans and Diego brought along his fuck buddy!  Didn’t that just tell her exactly where she stood with him.  Nowhere!  Fucking nowhere!

“I’m stronger than this shit.”  Jade growled out loud as she turned the water off and got out of the shower.  She towelled off unzipped the clothes bag and then she had to grin.  Mel so had her back!  Sexy underwear yay!  Because she had to wear very functional stuff while she played it made wearing something sexy extra special.

Dressed in tight faded black jeans and a black racer back tank with the Storm Front logo down one side Jade dried her hair into the rough look the stylist had created for her.  They had dyed her hair a deep vibrant red with a wide streak of bright blue on the one side, an almost Cookie Monster blue!  She had to admit it looked cool.  She hardly had to touch up her make-up.  Cat had been right, it didn’t run at all!  It took hardly anytime at all to get ready, the last thing she did was pull on her black cowboy boots, shove her black Storm Front beanie into her back pocket and hook her beat-up black leather biker jacket over her shoulder.  A jacket she’s had since she was fifteen years old, a gift from her Uncle Patrick, or Rick as they all called him, to piss her Dad off.  Damn, she missed her ‘Uncle’ Rick, he understood her so well.  Grinning into the mirror she arranged her boobs in the sexy bra that gave her cleavage to die for then froze as she touched the rings on the chain around her neck.  It was time to put them away, time to let Val go, kissing the rings she lifted the chain over her head unzipped her backpack put the rings away then zipped it up again.  She stood with her hand on top of the pack for a few seconds then turned away.  Sighing heavily she opened the door and walked out, ready to face the world.

The guys were standing around waiting for her and she smiled at their badass rock star outfits.  Their jeans were well worn and faded, some with holes on the knees, some with holes on the ass!  Tees ranging from black to white, all with Storm Front somewhere on it.  Trace wore cowboy boots like her but the others all wore Converse in different colours.  Givens’s hair was gelled into a bad boy bed head, RJ’s long hair was still damp from his shower and was negligently brushed back from his face and over his shoulders while Jimmie’s hair that was buzzed short on the sides and left long on top fell in unruly strands over his forehead.  Trace’s hair was buzzed short and required the least care, his was a truly wash and go style!

“Let’s get this show on the road folks!”  Trace joked as he brushed his fingers over his goatee, pulled a black Storm Front beanie on and made for the door.  Jade followed his lead and pulled her own beanie on over her still damp hair.  Yay for not having to worry about hat hair!

Jade didn’t know how it happened but she ended up in the middle of the guys, two in front and two at the back of her.  And then they were talking to the fans, shaking hands and signing autographs, laughing and joking.  Jade was pleasantly surprised at the reception she got from the fans as she posed for some pictures and signed some autographs.  A lot of the guys wanted photos with her and she gave in gracefully as she signed yet another t-shirt.  All the while Tag stayed close and watched with an eagle eye.

“Do you have a boyfriend Jay?”  The question came from a well built good looking guy she had just given an autograph.

“Nope I’m too busy at the moment.”  She smiled at the looker.

“You let me come to the hotel with you and by tomorrow you will have a boyfriend.”  He said with a wink and a grin.

Jade laughed and shook her head.  “Sorry man, even though it’s a really tempting offer I’ve got to say no.  Right now work comes first and everything else last.”  As she spoke RJ leant over to look the guy up and down then grinned.  She just knew he was going to say something outrageous.

“What do you think Jay, do you think he can manage a force ten?”

It took everything not to blush!

“What’s a force ten?”  The looker asked.

“Orgasms my man.”  RJ laughed.  “Jay rates them from a gentle breeze through to a force ten hurricane.”

Jade punched RJ in the arm as he laughed like a drain and jumped away from her.

“Don’t listen to him he’s an ass!”  Jay tried to cover.

“I guarantee you a force ten Jay, just try me.”  The looker growled at her in a growly sexy voice.

But Jade had had enough and she moved away to a new spot to avoid RJ and the fans who had overheard.  She knew by the seat of her pants that her rating orgasms were going to make it onto some sites and tabloids by the morning.  Bloody RJ and his big mouth!

The party was big and rowdy.  Family and friends of the band filled the room with some invited members of the media and the bar did a brisk trade.  Jade circulated with Tag right behind her watching her and the room.  She met so many people that the names were starting the run together and she was starting to droop, the high slowly starting to fade as the night wore on.  All she wanted was a massage, a cup of hot chocolate, the gunk off her face and a warm bed.  Still, it was a small price to pay for the support she had received from everyone.  Everyone that is except Diego, he had disappeared after the show and hadn’t been seen since.  Most probably in his room fucking that slut!  Rage boiled in her gut and she quickly cut off her train of thought.  It wasn’t healthy to obsess about things she could not change.  Not too long now and she would be able to slip out, get her massage and hot chocolate and go to bed.  Thank God for Tag!

Diego's anger at himself roiled in his gut.  He had put himself in an unenviable position, a position that put him right in the firing line of his dad’s anger and he didn’t even want to think about what Jade was going to do.  He didn’t know she had history with Marcella!  Hell, he wished he had said no when she called him.  He understood Marcella and he knew she understood him, that they used each other for sex and nothing else.  It had never been any different.  Marcella had been hanging around Killing Fields when he met her and they had hit it off.  He enjoyed her snarky humour and she was great in bed.  What more could a guy want from an easy fuck?  Shit!  She was going to have a shit fit when he told her she wasn’t welcome at the after party.

“I’m sorry Marcella but you and the girls aren’t invited to the after party, it’s for family and friends only.”  Diego braced as rage washed over her pretty face.

“What!  Since when aren’t we friends of the band?  We’ve always been invited!”  Her face turned ugly as she snarled at him.  “It’s that fuckin’ Jay Gallado isn’t it?  She always thought she was fuckin’ better than fuckin’ everyone else!  She’s the one who had us fuckin’ kicked out!”

Diego had never heard her swear this much in all the years that he had known her and it showed him a side of Marcella he hadn’t been aware of.

“You’re wrong Marcella, it’s my Dad who doesn’t want you at the party.  He doesn’t want any of you near the band and it’s my job to see that what he wants he gets.”  Diego didn’t get why Marcella immediately blamed Jade.

“He’s as fuckin’ sucked in by her as what fuckin’ Val was!  She’s a fuckin’ evil skank!”  Marcella raged.

With that she crossed the line, a line even he didn’t know that he had.

“Shut the fuck up Marcella!  You know nothing about Val and Jay, leave it alone!  Maybe further into the tour I can get you and the girls in but it’s not going to be tonight.  Deal with it!”

With that Diego had enough and he turned to walk away.

“I’m sorry Diego.”  Marcella latched onto his arm as he started walking away her voice soft and cajoling as she rubbed her tits against him.  “I’m just angry, please forgive me.”  She pleaded while pouting her lips at him.  What the hell?

“Fine.  Just get out of here before my Dad has you thrown out Marcella.  I’ll call you.”  With that Diego walked away and into the stadium.  He had to put some distance between him, his Dad and Jade.  Why the hell had he allowed this to spiral so far out of control?  Why did he let Marcella use him to get to the band?  Was he so deep into Jade that he would subconsciously sabotage every safeguard they had put into place for the band and allow a woman to play him?  Fuck!  Fuck!  Diego felt like hitting something as he made his rounds.  Checking and re-checking as the crew broke down the set and packed up the trucks.  He stayed with them until the early hours of the morning before he made his way back to the hotel to get some sleep.  He felt like shit that he had avoided Jade after her first night out with Storm Front but he didn’t want her to be uncomfortable with him there.

He had fucked up her special night.

CHAPTER FIVE

For Jade the weeks seemed to fly by and before she knew it they were two weeks into the tour with four remaining.  The joy of being in a group like Storm Front filled the empty spaces in her heart and Jade fell deeply in love with the group of people she worked with.  There were tough times because crap about her constantly hit the tabloids.  Luckily the guys stood one hundred percent behind her and faced the media alongside her to refute the stories that seemed to only get worse and worse.  Diego had a task team out trying to find the source of the stories but so far had had no luck.  The tabloid press kept their mouths shut as to who was supplying them with the shit.

Some of it hit pretty close to home though.  It was hinted that she had had a relationship with a famous rock star and that she had used him and cast him aside once she got what she wanted.  If they only knew!  Val had been the centre of her universe, the one person she had been totally honest with and who had understood her fucked up family dynamic.  Some nights Jade felt like grabbing a bottle of Vodka and letting the world go to shit!  Instinctively she knew this was how Richie had felt and how he had gotten onto the road he had travelled.  Thinking of Richie strengthened her and she gritted her teeth and faced the shit head on.  And Diego treating her like his little sister didn’t make it any easier either.  Every time she saw him tingles started in secret places!  That was until she remembered the Vincent slut and it quickly disappeared to be replaced by rage.

Insomnia started to haunt her nights and she paced the hotel rooms and then the corridors.  Tag sat on the floor outside their rooms as she paced and watched her as she slowly spiralled into the place she had been in after Val had been killed.  She was again pacing like a caged animal when he had had enough and dragged her into the lift and took them down to the foyer.  He made her wait in the dark as he spoke to the night manger and then he was leading her into a small room with a piano.

“If you’re going to keep us both awake you should at least supply the music.”  He griped as he plonked her down on the seat then lay down on the floor next to the piano with a put upon sigh.  She grinned down at him as she started to play.

That became their routine when she couldn’t sleep.  As soon as they arrived Tag made arrangements for her to use the piano in which ever hotel they were in.  She found that if she played for a few hours she was tired enough to attempt to sleep.  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, when it didn’t she paced.  Luckily her sleeplessness didn’t impact her playing and the band was never aware of her battle with the sleep demon.

They were at the end of the third week when Jade’s carefully constructed world received a hit that caused it to wobble on its foundation.  Her pacing had become so consuming that she had started to use both the floors the band and crew were on in the hotel to walk herself into a stupor so that she could sleep.

She was coming down the corridor when Diego’s door opened, he and Marcella ‘the slut’ Vincent stood in the open door kissing as if they wanted to slide down into each other’s throats.  Diego had one hand on her ass the other was holding her shoulder while Marcella’s hand was blatantly curved around his junk.  Neither of them realised that they had an audience until Tag cleared his throat loudly.  They slowly moved apart and Diego’s eyes widened slightly as he realised that Jade and Tag had been there ever since he had opened the door.  The shock and disgust in Jade’s eyes ripped through him and he attacked.

“What the fuck are you doing in the corridor this time of the night?”  He snarled at her.

Jade ignored him, ignored the slut and walked away down the corridor.

“Jay I asked you a question!”  He called out.

“Fuck you Delgado!  You’re not my keeper!”  She shouted back over her shoulder as she threw him a double middle finger salute and disappeared up the stairway.

“You fucked up Delgado.  Broke the rules.  Again.”  Tag snarled softly as he pushed past him and stalked off after Jade.

As Diego swung around he caught the self-satisfied smirk on Marcella’s face and the rage he felt at himself he turned loose on her.

“Why the fuck did you come here tonight?  I told you I would let you know if I could get you and the girls onto the list!”

“Don’t be a dick Diego!  You wanted to get laid as much as I did even though you said no.  I wanted to see you.  I want you but you keep on pushing me away.  Is it because you have the hots for her yourself?  Just like your brother used to have.”

Diego cursed viciously.  “Keep my brother out of this Marcella. Let’s go.  I’ll take you downstairs and put you in a taxi to take you back to your hotel.”

Diego marched her to the lift and out into the foyer.  He waited with her until her taxi arrived and while they waited she was all over him.  Only when the taxi pulled away did he allow himself the luxury of contemplating the shit load of trouble he was in.  He was supposed to be in charge of security and he had fuckin’ broken his own rules.  Making his way back upstairs he stood in front of Jade’s room with his hand lifted to knock when sanity intervened and he dropped his hand.  It was better this way.  Better that Jade was under the impression that he was fucking Marcella, a woman she hated.  She could never feel anything for him anyway.  She still loved Val, still carried his ring around her neck.  Dropping his head he turned and walked away, never noticing RJ watching him through the door he had opened to a small crack.

Over the next few days Diego realised he was slowly but surely being moved out of the inner circle of the band.  The guys weren’t nasty or anything, in fact they were incredibly polite as they made it clear that he was no longer welcome to hang out with them.  Jade or Tag must have talked.  He was pissed but could do nothing about it, as he was guilty of breaking the rules.  He knew his dad had noticed the latest developments and it was just a matter of time before he would want an explanation as to what was going on.  Shit would hit the fan when he found out.  His life sucked and it was his own fault.

Jade avoided him as if he had the plague.  She spoke to him only if she had to, but mostly she left it to Tag to communicate for her.  He missed her.

Even if she hated him he watched over her like a hawk.  Nothing was going to get to her on his watch.

But he didn’t know about her insomnia or the way she tried to combat it.

Jade’s insomnia had caused one good thing to happen.  She had started writing music again.  Now she no longer paced.  She spent her nights in front of a piano composing, writing lyrics and music that came from deep inside of her.  The only thing missing was someone to share it with.  Not that she didn’t share it with Tag, she did!  But she would have liked to have another muso listen to what she had been working on and give her an opinion.  She was going to have to call Cat.

The pace of the tour was hellish.  They were almost five weeks into it, one city after another flew by and the hotel rooms started to look the same.  There was never time enough to take in the sights or even go out to just buy a hotdog!  Not while the paps were rabidly after her.  The food started to taste like cardboard and Jade had trouble eating the stuff.  She forced herself to though because she needed the energy to keep her strength up.  Tag kept her going with energy bars, fruit and special treats he would go out and buy.  The breaks between tour dates felt as if they were getting shorter and shorter and Jade’s temper was starting to fray.  She constantly had to watch her tongue so as to not say stuff she would regret.  She knew it wasn’t only the hectic pace and totally unnatural life they were living but also her silent war with Diego.

He wasn’t letting her cut him out of her life.  He forced her to talk to him by addressing her directly and she wanted to spit snakes it made her so furious!  She was also starting to feel guilty.  He didn’t know why she hated the slut so much and she couldn’t blame him if he didn’t understand her resentment.  Diego had always been there for her and she missed the easy way they had always had with each other.  She knew that she would have to talk to him at some stage but she wanted the time to be right.  It troubled her that she kept her identity a secret from the band, it became more and more difficult to keep from blurting out things from her past that would make it obvious she hadn’t been honest with them.  When they all relaxed together talking about when they had started playing and how they got their first break it was a minefield she had to take care to negotiate.

She wanted to be open and honest with the guys.  She wanted to tell them who she really was.  She would have asked Luis’s opinion but he had flown out to LA to talk with the executives at the band’s label and she didn’t know when he would be back.  Therefore she had to make the decision on her own.  She was going to do it, the guys deserved the truth.  She just had to choose the time carefully.