In Bed with the Rockstar (With the Rockstar #2) (rockstar romance series) (7 page)

“No,” Mr. Cartwright said. “I just
wanted to be here on behalf of Richie when this happens...”

Slader watched as two men came into
the room. One in a suit and tie and one in a police uniform. Slader looked back
at Jerry.

“Don’t panic,” Jerry said. “Just...
go...”

“Go? Where?”

“To jail,” Mr. Cartwright said.
“For assault and battery. For what you did to Richie.”

“What I did?” Slader asked.

“You beat the hell out of him,” Mr.
Cartwright said.

“I’m sorry,” Slader said. “Are you
talking about when he showed up at my show, backstage, unauthorized? When he
started screaming, waving his hands, making threats? What about safety? My
manager? My band? The venue?”

“Should have called the police,”
Mr. Cartwright said.

“There wasn’t enough time,” Slader
said. “He was dangerous. I had to defend myself...”

The two men stepped towards Slader.
The police officer read him his rights and the other man in the suit began to
spout off information that Slader had no interest in. Instead, he looked at
Jessica. He saw the look on her face and in her eyes. These men were going to
take them apart again. The handcuffs on Slader now were real. Before, they were
there in spirit, always tearing them apart. Always hurting them.

“I won’t be long,” Slader whispered
as he walked by Jessica. “I won’t be long... not like last time...”

Slader left the cabin and took a
deep breath of the cold mountain air. His heart raced. And hurt. Emotion had
found a way back into his broken soul.

Capture me, take me, love me,
hate me, release me, find me, hold me, tell me, give me. Come to me, lie to me,
do it all again. I’ll take it, love it, hate it, release it, find it, hold it,
tell it, give it. I’ll come to you, lie to you, you do it all again. Capture
me, take me, love me, hate me, release me, find me, hold me, tell me, give me.
Come to me, lie to me, do it all again. I’ll take it, love it, hate it, release
it, find it, hold it, tell it, give it. I’ll come to you, lie to you, you do it
all again. Capture me, take me, love me, hate me, release me, find me, hold me,
tell me, give me. Come to me, lie to me, do it all again. I’ll take it, love
it, hate it, release it, find it, hold it, tell it, give it. I’ll come to you,
lie to you, you do it all again. Capture me, take me, love me, hate me, release
me, find me, hold me, tell me, give me. Come to me, lie to me, do it all again.
I’ll take it, love it, hate it, release it, find it, hold it, tell it, give it.
I’ll come to you, lie to you, you do it all again.

.10.

Carrie walked the street, corner to
corner, for the fourth time that night. She checked her cell phone and saw she
had another ten minutes to kill. She could have gone back to her car and relaxed
for those ten minutes, but her gut told her not to mess with John and the
contract anymore.

It was getting out of hand.

The contract clearly stated that
she needed to smell the night, look like the night, and beg for the money from
John.

To put it in simple terms, Carrie
was a hooker tonight.

It would continue until she fixed
what she had messed up in the contract. If she hadn’t frozen when she met
Slader, none of this would have been happening as it was. She could have been
sharing a bed with Slader and she could have fulfilled the contract with John.
She could have even been already falling in love with Slader. Maybe he’d whisk
her away somewhere. Maybe somewhere high above the world. Someplace hidden. Somewhere
meant for seduction, lust, and romance.

Carrie stopped at the corner and
leaned against a stop sign pole. She hated wearing the short skirt and the low
cut top. More than once that night people had driven by her slowly. She wasn’t
sure what she would have done if someone actually stopped, looking for a
prostitute. It made her feel dirty, used, and angry. If it wasn’t for Slader
she wouldn’t feel so angry. She hadn’t seen Jessica in over a full day now. It
drove Carrie crazy. She didn’t want to think about it. She hated thinking about
it, but the images kept coming to her over and over.

She pushed from the pole and began
another walk down the block. This would be her last one before turning into the
parking lot and walking to John’s apartment. John could see Carrie from his
window if he cared to. Knowing John, he probably did watch Carrie to ensure she
kept up with the contract and his orders.

Carrie walked slow, one foot in
front of the other. She tried to be seductive because that’s what John told her
a hooker, desperate to make a few bucks before going to bed that night. Carrie
hated him so much for things like this. It should have turned her on to role
play, but it felt wrong… so wrong. More so, the money John had was nothing
compared to what Alex Slader definitely had. Carrie hated to be so bitchy and
greedy , but her breaking point had come and gone. As strange as it was, it
seemed that Jessica had been the one to keep her grounded. She had lived a
simple, innocent life, and that simple, innocent life led her into the arms of
Slader.

At the parking lot, Carrie turned
and walked to the building. When she got to John’s apartment door, she knocked
three times, just like the standard directions in the contract. She waited and
John opened the door a little. He eyed her up and down.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“Here for you, baby,” Carrie said.

“Yeah. How much?”

“How much do you have?”

“More than you can ever earn. Show
me what you have.”

Carrie swallowed. She stepped back
without looking around because looking around would be a violation. She gripped
the bottom of her shirt and lifted it, along with her bra. She let her breasts
fall free and showed John. He smiled and nodded acting as though he’d never
seen Carrie’s chest before.

“Okay,” John said. He opened the
door more and gave Carrie a second to put her shirt and bra back down. “Come
with me.”

He put his hand out and Carrie took
it.

She followed him into his
apartment. John went straight to the couch and sat down. He looked at Carrie
and she stepped in front of him.

“Where do we start?” she asked.

“Your mouth, use it.”

Carrie slowly moved to her knees.
She did as told, opening John’s suit pants and pleasuring him with her mouth.
She was under his full submission, so when he put his hand to the back of her
head and forced her down, Carrie had to find a way to manage. She did so by
keeping her eyes shut and wishing it was Slader. Never before in her life had
someone become such an odd obsession.

She moved faster and faster on John
and when she felt him thrust, groan, and begin to come, she opened her eyes and
wondered if she fucked up again. She wasn’t sure if he was supposed to come in
her mouth or if they were supposed to have sex to finish up. She stayed with
John until he was finished. Then she slowly pulled off him, swallowing
everything in her mouth. She tucked John away and remained on her knees before
him.

“That was good,” he whispered.
“Just a start, but good enough for now.”

John reached into his pocket and
pulled out money. He threw it at Carrie and she collected it because that was
her job. This was the punishment that gave Carrie a glimpse at what her life
could possibly be like if John wasn’t in. The idea sickened her. Carrie’s life
before John was similar to what she had to become for this punishment.

“I have some news,” John said.

“Good news, baby?” Carrie asked.

“You can cut the routine for a
minute,” John said. He leaned forward and touched Carrie’s hair. “I’m an idiot
right now. Letting you suck me in.”

“Literally?”

John smiled. “Fuck, Carrie. You’re
beautiful. You just have to... just don’t fuck up.”

“I’m sorry.”

John nodded. He leaned back and
took a deep breath. “You have a chance to redeem yourself.”

“Oh?”

Carrie felt her body tingling
already. A chance to see Slader again? A chance to talk to him? Touch him?
Fuck him?

“It seems Slader is in jail right
now,” John said and laughed.

“Jail?”

“Well, not the normal jail you
probably think of. He was arrested earlier for beating the hell out of one of
his guitarists.”

Why did that sound so hot? Carrie
imagined Slader hitting another man and the thought, the image, really turned
her on. She could smell the sweat, the emotion, the blood.

What’s
wrong with me?
she asked herself.

“But, the thing is,” John
continued, “Slader isn’t going to be held for long. They arrested him and
charged him. The guitarist is suing, blah, blah, but that’s not the point here.
The point is, they’re letting him go.”

“Why arrest him then?”

“Because it’s Alex Slader. Everyone
wants to see him held back, even for a day. That, again, is not the point. The
point is, Carrie, he’s getting out in the morning.”

“Okay,” Carrie said.

“I want you there. I want you right
there, when he gets out. You let him look you in your eyes, Carrie, and you
make sure he remembers who you are. The girl from the hallway at his show. Imagine
how intrigued he’ll be when you show up again. It’ll connect with him. It’ll be
right there... right in his mind. He won’t be able to resist...”

Carrie smiled. Her panties were
soaked. She could feel herself already throbbing, wanting it. Wanting that
moment. Needing that moment.

John leaned forward and got as
close as he could to Carrie.

“You can’t fuck this up,” he
whispered.

“I won’t,” Carrie said.

“Make him need you. Make him need
everything from you. Whatever it takes...”

“Yes,” Carrie said. “Yes.”

Carrie’s body was so warm. She was
tender, ready. She looked at John and her lips started to quiver.

“I... I need...”

“Tell me,” John said. “Tell me.”

“I need you to fuck me,” Carrie
said. “Right now. I can’t...”

John put a hand over Carrie’s
mouth. He shook his head. “Remember, you’re still being punished. Stand up and
leave. Take your fucking money and leave. Come back in an hour in a different
change of clothes and look as desperate as you do right now.”

Carrie shivered and stood. John
stared at her with a look of disappointment. Carrie knew that look. She grew up
living with that look her entire life.

She left the apartment and rushed outside.
She collapsed back to the building and began to weep again. It seemed that
whenever it came to Slader, emotion got to her. John made her feel so worthless
and Slader gave her hope... yet both men, quite honestly, probably had no
interest in her at all.

There’s a whisper in the stars,
a mark we can catch through the night. Shine, twinkle, burn, die. They’re all
forgotten, just like us. We spin and watch it. If I could just have this
moment, if I could just lock this... where did you go?

.11.

Jessica had a hoodie on and she
hugged herself. She stood in front of the massive stone fireplace and was still
cold. The feeling inside her wouldn’t be cured by the heat from a fire or the
warmth from clothing. Not even the heat from the sun itself could fix this.
Jessica couldn’t believe that Slader had been taken away in handcuffs. And
there was nothing he could have done about it. To make matters worse, Slader’s
manager, Jerry, stormed out of the cabin a second after Slader was taken away.
The other man, Charles, offered Jessica food and drink because it was his job
to do so.

The bottom line was that Jessica
would have to wait to see if Slader came back, or at the very least, his
manager. Eventually Jessica would need a way from the mountain back home,
right? Or maybe Slader’s strict command was to keep her there. Maybe he knew
something was going to happen. If what he was accused of was true, it seemed
pretty serious.

The fire continued to burn and
Jessica continued to stare at it. Somehow an hour went by. The fire was down to
glowing embers and nothing else. Jessica had no urge to move, no urge to even
try to keep the fire going. Part of her wanted it to die. She wanted to watch
it die and cry over it. Part of her wanted to feel the cold air from the
outside and make her shiver into nothing.

It was a voice from behind her that
made her snap out of her trance and jump.

“I’m so sorry,” Charles said. “I
didn’t mean...”

“It’s fine,” Jessica said. “My mind
is racing. Did you hear anything?”

“No. And I wouldn’t. It’s not my
business. May I tend this fire?”

Jessica backed up. The man began to
bring the fire to life. Jessica appreciated it. All it took was poking at the
embers for them to light up and find some wood to burn. From there, Charles put
a few small logs on the fire. They caught and in the matter of a minute the
fire was back to life, jumping, crackling, satisfied.

“There,” Charles said. “I hope this
makes you comfortable.”

“It doesn’t,” Jessica said. She
didn’t care how harsh it sounded. She didn’t even look at Charles.

“Ma’am, if you need anything. Food
or drink...”

“Does he have whiskey?”

“Mr. Slader is a rockstar...”

Jessica looked at Charles and had
the strange urge to hit him. She just stared at Charles until he walked away.
When he returned a minute later with a bottle of whiskey, Jessica took it and
started to drink.

Sip after burning sip was like
liquid fire.

Jessica plopped down to a soft
couch and felt herself melt into it. Her eyes were heavy, but she wasn’t going
to sleep. She would drink and wait for Slader.

After a few more sips, she started
to feel the whiskey rolling through her veins. The thing about whiskey was that
it matched the mood. It felt good but it brought out the deepest pain and fear
in Jessica. She found herself on the verge of tears as the front door to the
cabin opened.

Jessica saw Jerry walk in. She
hurried to stand, waiting for Slader to be right behind him. She stood for a
few seconds before the room spun. Jessica was forced to sit back down. Then she
had to endure the sight of the door closing... without Slader there.

“No,” Jessica said.

Jerry walked to her and took the
bottle from her hand. “This won’t help.”

“You don’t know anything.”

Jerry sat on the coffee table.
“You’re right. I don’t. I don’t know what the fuck Slader is thinking. All he
could talk about was you.”

“Is he in trouble?”

“He’s always in trouble,” Jerry
said. “I’m not worried.”

“I am.”

“He said you would be.”

“He hurt someone?”

“Someone that maybe deserved it.”

“Maybe? Or did he?”

Jerry paused. “If it were me, I
would have handled it differently. But it’s Slader. It’s what he does.”

“Is he in jail?”

“Something like that,” Jerry said.
“He’ll be home in the morning. Then it all goes to the lawyers.”

“Lawyers?”

“He’s being sued by the guitarist
he knocked around.”

Jessica closed her eyes and shook
her head.

“Listen, Jessica, I don’t know who
you are or where you came from, but Slader seems to have some kind of
connection with you. Like I’ve never seen before. For Christ’s sake, he’s never
brought a woman here.”

Jessica opened her eyes. “Never?”

“No,” Jerry said. “This is where he
comes to hide from the world. But he brought you.”

“Why?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,”
Jerry said. “But I have to respect his orders.”

“What are his orders?”

“For you to stay right here. He
wanted to make sure you eat, sleep, and wait.”

Jerry stood from the table and took
a few steps. He paused.

“That’s it?” Jessica called to him.

“Well. He doesn’t want me talking
to you. He doesn’t want Charles or anyone talking to you. He’s afraid you’re
going to leave him again... or he won’t find you again...”

“Again?”

“Have you ever... met Slader
before?”

“Not unless you count looking at
pictures of him online,” Jessica said.

Jerry nodded. He looked worried.

“Okay,” Jerry said.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Just... nothing,” Jerry said.
“Just comply with Slader. Especially right now. He’s unstable. Very unstable
with all of this. The littlest thing can throw him off...”

“I’m not leaving,” Jessica said.
“Not if he ordered me.”

“Well, take that order and go back
upstairs.”

Jerry walked away and Jessica
grabbed the bottle of whiskey. She stood from the couch and braced herself. She
let the room stop spinning so she could start walking. Somehow she made it
upstairs and back into the bedroom without tripping or falling. As she stared
at the bed, Jessica grew angry. What was wrong with the world? Didn’t they understand
Slader? Didn’t they know... anything?

Jessica dropped the bottle of
whiskey to the bed. She made her way to the bathroom and considered taking a
long, hot shower. The shower she should have had with Slader. The one they
started and never finished. That was maybe all her body needed. The rush of hot
water, the peace of the bathroom. Not to mention the view of the mountains.
Jessica stood at the window and shook her head. Here she was, seeing something
not many saw. It was like looking at the world, or having the world, but to get
that, to see that view, she lost Slader.

The view didn’t mean anything without
Slader. It felt as though Jessica were better off blind. She walked to the
shower and turned the water on. Her eyes widened at the sight of the five
shower heads turning on one by one. The shower itself was bigger than her
entire bathroom at the apartment. Jessica let the water warm up. She walked to
the long counter and stared at all the drawers. She opened one, then another,
then another. In Alex Slader’s bathroom nothing was out of the ordinary. That
was the intriguing part. Jessica wasn’t sure what she was looking for but she
just assumed something would be different about his bathroom. When she got to
the last drawer, she was right.

A cell phone.

Why did Slader have a cell phone in
the bathroom?

Jessica took the phone and pressed
a button, turning it on. She opened the screen and clicked on the messages. She
knew none of it was her business but she had to know. She had to know more
about Slader. Who he was. Why he felt the way he did about her. There was just
too much to think about. To ask. Too much racing through her mind at the same
time.

When the messages came up, Jessica
gasped. The screen fogged over with steam and she had to rub the phone against her
shirt. The steam smeared, but the screen cleared enough for Jessica to see the
messages she had sent to Carrie were on this phone.

For a split second the only thing
that made sense was that Slader had Carrie hidden somewhere. But then Jessica
remembered that there had been replies to her text messages. They said they
were from Carrie but they somehow came from the phone in her hand. The phone in
Slader’s bathroom. That meant Slader must have configured to the phones to
receive the texts and replies.

Jessica began to shake. The steam
fogged up the screen again and this time Jessica let it go. The mirrors in
front of her were thick with fog. Jessica placed the phone back in the drawer
and slowly backed up until she sat on the couch in the bathroom.

Her mind raced.

She really had feelings for Slader.
But what had he done? Why had he done it?

Jessica told herself she wouldn’t
cry. Not right then, not ever. Not because of Alex Slader. It was all still a
dream and always would be. He was a rockstar. A billionaire rockstar which
meant he did things differently than the rest of the world.

But Jessica had fallen for him,
flaws and all.

She put her head down and started
to cry.