She-Rox: A Rock & Roll Novel (29 page)

Sunday night, July 1, 2007

For nine straight days it was nothing but day jobs and evening rehearsals. But tonight, after rehearsal, Kai would be in L.A. and Eddie’s discomposure had become so apparent that Ginger stopped drumming, bringing the entire band to a halt. “Eddie, what’s wrong with you? Are you stoned or something?”

“No.”

“Dr. Strangelove has flown in to town,” Raven revealed.

“He can’t stay at the house,” Gretchen said.

“Oh, he knows. He got a hotel,” Eddie blurted.

“Ah, a
hotel, huh?”

“So, when do we get to meet Captain Fantastic?” Ginger asked.

“Yeah, we need to see if he’s everything he
thinks
he is,” Gretchen said.

“I just got a text from T.J.,” Eddie said. “He’s at the house right now.”

“You look like you’re going to your stepmom’s bridal shower, not meeting up for a tryst with a warm blooded stallion,” Raven said, and noting Eddie’s pasty white face, she added, “You’re more nervous than the Whiskey gig.”

“Yeah,” Eddie gulped.

Eddie spotted a late-model Escalade in the drive and assumed it was Kai’s rental car. She parked next to it, looked in her rearview mirror, and noted her worried expression. She purposely didn’t dress up for the occasion, hoping that her ultra-frayed jeans and plain white t-shirt were a message that spoke, “See, no Hollywood effect here.” She walked inside and barely heard his voice. He was downstairs with T.J.

“
Eddie?”
T.J. yelled.

“
Up here,
” Eddie replied. She set her guitar down in the piano room, and heard the two clomp up the stairs. Finally she laid eyes on Kai. He looked rested, happy and devastating.

Holding out his hand, he beckoned her into his arms. His smile shattered Eddie’s fear of rejection and clutching his hands she fell into him, clinging to him like a life preserver. Her hands wrapped around him tightly, as all her misgivings released inside. She breathed him in, smelled the scent of his skin, and tilting her head up, she felt his warm lips fall onto hers.

T.J. tried to make a stealth-like getaway, but the creak from the floorboard gave her away.

As the two turned to look, she whined, “I’m going, I’m going.”

“No, you’re fine,” Kai said. “I haven’t checked in to the hotel yet. I got the car and came straight here, so I’ll go do that now.”

“You’re
leaving?”
cried Eddie.

“Yes,” Kai said, and grabbing her hand, he said, “and you’re coming with me. T.J., will you be all right here for a while?”

“Yeah, I’ll hang out here . . .
alone,
” she groused, “but I’ve never been to Disneyland and I want you to take me before we have to go back home.”

“
Disneyland?-”
Kai questioned.

“Yes, Disneyland, Kai—I’ve never been and if Eddie’s going to be busy with rehearsals all the time, I want to go.”

“We’ll discuss it later, T.J. Disneyland talk is over.”

“You won’t be here alone for long,” Eddie promised, “the others should be on their way back.”

Kai deposited Eddie into the passenger seat of the black Escalade and buckling in, she commented, “This is quite the rental. Did they comp an upgrade or something?”

“Nope, I’m on vacation, and if I’m on vacation, I want a sweet ride to cruise L.A—can’t be chauffeuring my girl around in some cheap heap—the queen rides in style.”

“Well, this queen rides that hunk of junk right there,” Eddie said, pointing to her van.

Kai softly acknowledged, “I know and that’s a good thing.”

“Your whip versus my ghetto van is a good thing?”

Leaning over, he said, “It means you won’t get carjacked and that’s one less thing I have to worry about.”

“That’s very kind of you, Kai,”

“Hey, I got’ cher back, babe,” he said, knowing full well that any pride Eddie had for the material things in life had been burned at the stake. She had willingly torched it, lighting the fire herself as she watched her previous life of class, distinction and money go up in smoke. Her release of amenity and comfort had more than impressed Kai, it amazed him.

However, he wasn’t kidding when he made the remark about being “on vacation,” having checked into the Renaissance Hotel on Hollywood and Highland. Standing outside the door to his room, he shoved the keycard into the lock, and, watching the button turn green, opened the door to his room and wheeled the bag in. Finally, he was alone with Eddie. It had been seven long months, but it was now a reality. He turned to gaze at her, standing in the room.

“Come here,” he entreated, needing to once again feel her next to him.

And, willingly, she obeyed, allowing her fingertips to run themselves up his arms and around the back of his neck again, pulling herself as close as she could.

“I finally have you to myself,” he whispered in her ear before he kissed it.

His hot breath which grazed the tips of her ears evoked such a warm glow in Eddie’s body that it competed with the hammer that pounded in her chest, her blood pumping with anticipation.

He bent his head down, and his lips found hers again. His pent up energy devoured Eddie like fire in a dry summer field. Giving in to the sensation, she dove in to the all-consuming influence that overcame her when she was in Kai’s arms, feeling his open mouth and the force of nature it delivered. The mental rush came to her with a teeming speed that slammed into her brain, causing reason to shut down. His strong hands pressed against her and she welcomed the friction it brought.

“The bed, Eddie, the bed,” he mumbled. Not waiting for her assent, he picked her up off her feet and threw her onto the inviting bed.

Kai dropped his full bodyweight on top of hers, as she tugged and pulled, never getting close enough. The fire rose hotter as Kai’s hands found their way under her shirt, and, trying to push it up on his own, he whispered once again in her ear, ordering, “
You’ve got to take this off.”

The demand shocked her back to life as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped down her back. She winced, “Stop for a second.”

Rolling on his side, Kai groaned, “
Eddie, you can’t.”
With a long agitated sigh and smoke pouring out his ears, he complained to the bed covers, “You can’t keep doing this
.
”

He pulled his face off the bed and propped himself up on his elbows. He was met with eyes full of doubt. Any man could see she wasn’t ready.

Sitting up and leaning against the headboard, he waved her back over. “I promise I’ll be good.”

She moved over, put her arms around his waist and laid her face in his lap.

Kai touched the outline of her face. “To the rest of the world you may look like a live wire in high heels, but you still have the heart of a child.” He felt her soft skin. “It’s peculiar, you know? —Your guitar, this band and all the other garbage that comes with it. You’re down here, living in a grown up world and doing such outrageous things. It throws me off.”

“My guitar playing has nothing to do with me and you.”

“Your guitar playing has
everything
to do with me and you. It’s your guitar playing that’s made me travel four hundred miles to see you. You’re the one who left San Francisco, not me.” Kai stopped. He felt himself getting edgy. Bringing his tone down, he said, “Eddie, we’ve got to get past this—
I’ve
got to get past this.”

He wriggled himself out of her arms and got off the bed to get a glass of water. “Couples,” he said, “they fight and make up, fight and make up. It means they care.”

“We fight because we care?”

“A perfect irony we will find ourselves in time and time again. Believe me when I tell you that I got no problem looking at four hot babes in micro bikinis. I
love
the female form. I like looking at it, I like observing it, I like watching it walk, and I
especially
like touching it. I like it so much I spend all day studying the human animal. But when it’s
you,
” he emphasized, pacing the floor, “splashed across those pages, then I got a problem. Then I care. I care a whole lot.” He cried, “My eyes see red, my ears ring and my head pounds . . . and I have to take a seat on the sidelines and watch it happen.”

Eddie frowned. “I don’t want to talk about the magazine.”

“What’s the mud wrestler’s name?”

“Bebe?”

“Do you think Slade cares about how unbelievably used she is? When she’s in the ring slugging it out with another female? Don’t you find it the least bit odd that he gets a thrill off drunken men in a bar getting jacked up over her? One night, after she’s got the entire club in a lather, she’s going to be walking to her car alone and some whack job’s gonna nail her good. If something like that ever happens, do you think Mr. Rock-God is going to worry about her, nurse her back to health, pay her doctor bills, not to mention the
years
of psychotherapy she’s going to need?”

“Are you trying to scare me or something?”

“I’m trying to tell you that you need to be very careful out there. You’re living alone in a house with three other girls. Your band profile is now in the public eye gaining momentum and getting lots of attention. It’s only going to snowball and get bigger. The bigger and faster your life gets, the more I’m going to worry.

“Eddie, life is full of commodities. There are superior commodities and inferior ones of all kinds —candy, plasma screens, automobiles, paper shredders, music CDs, even sex. Most guys will take any old job, skip college and consume cheap mass produced sex which is freely dispensed by The Bebe’s of the world. Women like her are all over the place and easy enough to come by. Men like me set their sights on the superior things in life, bypassing the mundane and going for the brass ring. I want it in my profession and I want it in my women. I want my equal. I don’t want a Bebe . . . I want an Eddie.”

Kai stopped his pacing. “And I really don’t want some Hollywood slime bag pimping you out to line his pockets.” Pausing, he placed his hands on his hips and sternly said, “Eddie, your talent and the way you play? Your fingers are trained to pound away on a piano playing some of the most difficult music ever composed. People would kill to have a talent like that. Why do you think your parents cut you off? They’re hurt and angry that you dumped a prestigious career of classical music, opting to throw yourself overboard into a sea of mediocrity playing heavy metal guitar.”

“I can’t help it,” she croaked out, “I love it.”

“I know you do,” soothed Kai, “that’s what makes you so unique. Everybody is going to want a piece of you, and like I said, I can only stand by and watch.”

“I’m not a quitter, Kai.
We
aren’t quitters.”

“Okay,” Kai agreed, staring out the window at the lights below. He had said enough for one night. He had thoroughly made his point and turning away from the window, he remembered, “I have something for you.” He threw his bag on the hotel dresser and unzipped the top. “Actually, it’s not from me, it’s from T.J. She forgot to pack it.” Digging into the case, he pulled out what appeared to be a garment wrapped in a dry cleaning bag. He threw it on the bed, then simply stated, “Here.”

“What is it?” Eddie tore off the plastic. “It’s my
Pink Floyd
t-shirt!”

Holding it up, she could see that T.J. had fashioned it into a tank top with lace on the shoulder straps. It was retro-hippie chic at its finest. “Turn around,” Eddie bid, “I want to try it on.”

“And miss out? Forget it.”

“Fine, I don’t care.” Taking off the white t-shirt that Kai failed to procure earlier, the dog tags jangled, giving Kai a five second glance. Seeing her reflection in a mirror above the dresser, she said, “I knew she’d do a good job. Isn’t this cool?”

Wrinkling his nose, Kai answered, “Your bra straps are hanging out all over the place. It’s just a little too trailer park for me.”

“Trailer park, huh?” Putting her hand behind her back, she unhooked the bra, pulling it off in one swift move. “Tah-dah,” she sang. Stuffing the bra into her purse, she tucked the top into her jeans, exposing even more of her tempting cleavage, and pulling the tags from between her breasts, she let them hang down in front, telling the world she was taken, promised, bound.