Private Affair (The Private Series) (27 page)

Ben is just sitting there waiting. He doesn’t have any piercings and he is extremely calm about the whole thing. Sure I have my septum and I wasn’t that nervous when I got it done, but damn he looks like he is about to take a nap. Jason marks his nose and Ben stands up to take a look in the mirror behind me. Looking down at me he winks, “Look good?” he asks me.

I nod my head and he kisses my forehead. He climbs back up on the table and Jason has the needle in hand. “Alright, I want you to take a deep breath in when I tell you and exhale when I tell you to.”

“Alright.”

Jason moves over him and Ben reaches his hand out for me to take it. I instantly stand up and I take it in mine. He is always so calm and brave and this just shows me that he needs me just as much as I need him.

Jason lines up the shot, “Take a deep breath in for me,” Ben does and I feel the squeeze of his grip and the needle go through. “And let it out.”

Ben’s chest relaxes and before I know it he is done and the ring is in. “All done,” Jason chirps. He is examining his handy work and starts to go over the after care.

He hops down, turns and faces me, “So what do you think? Is it as sexy as you had imagined?” His eyes setting a deep wire inside of me.

“Though this may not seem like it will get in the way one is often surprised by the amount of contact the nose gets while "entertaining" ones partner... Even kissing, wait till that side gets intimate, with your face.” Jason informs us and I blush again.

Ben lifts his chin and replies, “Good thing I did a good job this afternoon huh, Punky?” He slyly smiles.

“Ben!” I smack his shoulder, then hiding behind my hands and shaking my head. I hear Jason laughing in the corner.

I step up on my toes so I can whisper in his ear, “Sexy as fuck and I didn’t think you could look any more bad ass of sexiness, I was wrong.” I press my chest up against his and his hand finds my hip.

“You’re turn baby.”

I look at the table, Ben offers his hand to help me step up. Jason has disposed of the materials from Ben’s piercing and fresh gloves, he is setting up new gear for my turn. He goes over the same instructions, marks me and everything.

Ben is holding my hand.

Right before the guy does anything and he is picking up the needle I feel her hand lose grip. “Tess?”

Jason is in front of her looking at her eyes, “And she's out can you help make sure she doesn't fall out of the chair and I'll get her head?"

I pull her feet together as he lays the back of the table down. How did she pass out? She’s done this before. Maybe her blood sugar is low? I knew we should have gotten something to eat before. Damn it!

“Tess, Tess? Baby?” I am holding her pale face and her lips have lost a little color too. A few moments have passed and Jason has gone and come back with a bottle of water. She is starting to come to.

“Hey, Tess, you passed for a few seconds there, are you feeling alright to sit up?” She nods a light nod and starts to try sitting herself up.

“Hold on, let us help you,” Jason grabs one arm and I the other. He hands her the water and she takes a few small sips. “I am going to suggest holding off on the piercing and recommend grabbing something eat. There are a few places here, but the sushi place around the corner to the left is pretty fucking awesome, if you’re into it.”

“Thanks, that does sound good and I really need to get her fed.” I pay him for my new piece and Tess walks with me out the door. I find a bench and I sit her down just outside of the sushi joint. “Hey, how are you? You gave me a good scare in there.”

She stretches her neck out and takes a few deep breaths, “I am fine now. Thank you for taking care of me.”

“That’s why I am here love, do you really think I would have let you fall off of that table?” I know I may be over thinking her passing out, but shit, I mean all of the messed up crap that has already happened to her, I think I have that right.

She rests her head on my shoulder and looks up into my eyes, “Can we just get married already?”

I can’t tell if she is sad or happy. She look tired and worn out, “How about we get you something to eat and then we can talk wedding details.” As if on cue her stomach growls with hunger.

She giggles, “Yeah that might be a good idea. So are we going to check out the restaurant Jason suggested? Sushi right?”

I point to the store front in front of us, “That’s it right there, California Rolling.” Nice name for a sushi place.

We are seated at a booth, sipping on some hot tea, which I am hoping will perk her up a little bit, maybe bring some color back to her face. Normally I have her blushing, but it’s not showing yet. We order our food and wait.

It’s not long before we are served, I mean its raw fish so… I take a bite out of my first piece and it is delicious. The guy was true to his word, it is pretty fucking awesome. “Aren’t you going to eat?” I ask Tess, she is just looking at her plate of their signature BLT rolls.

She scrunches her eyebrows, picks up a piece and put it between her lips. Then she is up and out of her seat running for the restroom. I stand and go after her, I push open the door and yell in, “Are you alright?”

I can hear her vomiting, so I close the door and give her a moment to herself. As I am waiting outside the ladies room a waitress asks me if she is alright and if I want her to go in a and check on her, “If you wouldn’t mind?” She goes in and returns to tell me that she is alright, she is cooling herself down with a wet paper towel. A minute later she is walking out the door. “Are you okay? Did something smell off?” I wonder if the fish was bad.

“I don’t know I just don’t feel well. I think I am just exhausted. Maybe just some crackers and ginger ale will do.” She looks pale and I agree that we should get going. I slap money down on the table and help her out.

Outside I know we have a little walk ahead of us to get back to the venue. “Hop on.” I squat to the ground and tap my shoulders.

She crosses her arms across her chest and doesn’t look amused. “Are you serious?”

“Yes, I am serious. I am not going to have you walk all the way back, while not feeling well. So drop the ‘tude and just climb on.” Making my voice stern and hard.

“Fine.” She throws her arms to her side and climbs on my back. I stand up and start back to the venue. She has seemed a little short all day and I don’t understand it. She is normally bright and bubbly. Something is off.

I am not leaving until I know she is fine. Work will just have to fucking deal, because I know her well enough that she will not come home until this tour is done.

While the show is going on in the place I was finally able to convince Tess to lay down and fall asleep early. I told her that I wasn’t going home until I knew she was well enough. She fought me pretty hard too.

But what I am happy about, is that I was able to get her to eat some scrambled eggs I managed to make in this tin can of a bus. Once she had something warm in her belly she relaxed. Note to self, feed Punky or feel the wrath of her hunger.

I sat next to her bunk until she dozed off. I played with her hair, which relaxed her and hummed to her. Once she fell into a deep sleep I went out to the front of the bus to stretch out. I am on my iPad going over some business stuff for Chatz and it’s only about ten pm, when I get a
bing
alerting me of a new email.

There is no name attached to the sender, and the subject reads: Game Over. Curious, I click open.

My heart sinks. My vision goes red.

I look down the hall to where Tess is sleeping and I throw my iPad to the side. I pushy my way out the door, make my way across the lot to the building where the show is going down. I stride past the security and right into the back stage area. I am all adrenaline when I find him.

“You fucking ass hole! I am going to fucking rip your head off and shove it up your mother fucking ass!” I have Towers by the shirt and slamming him against the wall.

He throws his hands up in defense, “Whoa, whoa! What is going on?”

“Like you don’t fucking know! Did you think that I wouldn’t find out? Huh!” I am nose to nose with him. My chest heaving and my knuckles are going white with the tight grip I have on his collar.

He lets go of a large breath and rolls his eyes, “So she told you huh?”

“She didn’t have to! She has been acting odd all day and I couldn’t figure out why. Now I do! Did you force her?” I am seething. I don’t know how to stop. I want to run his head through this brick wall.

“Force? What? No! Man, we didn’t do anything! I was being stupid! I was drinking and I kissed her! She pulled away and yelled at me!” He looks relieved that I thought there was more. I don’t know if I can believe him.

I pull out my cell and I bring up the photo that was sent to me. I flash it in his face. It’s a photo of him laying on top of Tess and he has his mouth on hers. “This!” I snap at him.

He leans in and examines the photo closer in detail. “Man, this was just a kiss. Like I told you she pushed me right off, like two fucking seconds after this was taken…” He looks away and goes quiet.

“What?” I ask.

“Dude, did you stop to think how this was taken? Or who sent it?” He puts a hand on my shoulder.

No. No, I didn’t. “What the fuck is going on?” I feel my rage start to build again.

“Look, I didn’t mean to kiss her, like I said it was a mistake and I didn’t mean any harm or disrespect. But really there’s only one person I can think of who could have snapped this picture.”

I look out to the open room of the back stage and I see her. I let go of Towers and I make my way through a group of guys talking her up. “What the fuck Jenn?”

All the guys look at me and some even puff out their scrawny chests, trying to look tough … if they only knew what I was capable of at the moment. “Ben! What’s up?”

“What’s up? I need to speak with you right fucking now.”

One of the guys didn’t like that too much and goes toe to toe with me. “What did you say to her Brit boy?”

I look him square in the eye, “This doesn’t concern you.”

“Oh, I think it does. One does not speak to a lady like that.” He cracks his neck. Yeah, total fucking douche nozzle.

“Well she’s not much of a lady and I’m sure you wouldn’t treat her like one, once you learned how many piss holes like you she has fucked. Or what they have passed on to her.”

“Hey!” Jennifer snaps, “What the fuck Ben?” She pulls me away before I hand douche nozzle here his ass.

“This!” I hold up my phone in her face.

“Oh…” Her eyes shift to the side. And she is fidgeting with her hands and avoiding eye contact with me.

“Did you do this, because I turned you down? Because I am with Tess? Why Jenn?”

She mutters something under her breath that I can’t hear from all the noise going on. “No, it wasn’t because of that. I mean yeah you’re fucking hot and any girl would love to get it on with you. But, I know you’re with Tess for the long haul. It’s just…”

“Just what?” I am tired of all this shit! All this fucking bloody crap from the beginning. People two timing one another to get what they want and all the lying. “What!” I yell.