Stricken Unveiled (Stricken Rock #2) (31 page)

‘If you want it tonight, I’ll give you the
red light special all through the night.’

My phone sings in my pocket. I pull it
out.

“Hey baby.” I answer.

“Well… hello. I was calling to see what you
were up to and if you got my flowers?” Claire asks in her lovely
voice. It is such a bad time but they can wait.

“I loved the flowers Claire and the
chocolates were divine. But right now is not the best time to talk
babe.”

“Are you alright? You seem a little
jumpy.”

She is so damn sweet! Why can’t I be around
this woman all the time? That would be better than what I am
dealing with right now.

“I’m standing in a plane at LAX about to kill
five men who I found having a seven-woman orgy. James had to call
me in as backup and I had to rip a woman off of dumb fucks lap. She
was jacking him off and he was fingering another’s pussy. Don’t
worry you don’t have to tell me you ‘I told ya so.’ I think I got
the full view.”

“Oh god. Are you okay Emily? I can come if
you need me. She didn’t hurt you did she? What the fuck were they
thinking?” she asks almost frantic.

Damnit, I shouldn’t have worried my woman.
What was I thinking? Stupid Emily, real stupid!

“Babe calm down. I’m fine, the babies are
fine. I kicked the shit out of her. Well not literally. I yanked
her by her hair and threw her onto the ground and sat on her and
pounded on her a bit. But we’re all good. James was my back up. So
you know I was good. I don’t know what they were thinking. I will
get to that in a minute. So let me call you back later with the
four one one okay?”

“Okay be safe and kick there asses for me
too, okay?”

“Will do sweetie.”

And I click end.

“Okay you stupid fuckers what the hell were
you thinking? First off you don’t transport sluts from one city to
the next. Do your fuckin in the city you’re in. Leave the sluts
behind. That’s not that hard to get. Now they have to find a way
home because I’m not helping them.” I stand in the middle of the
room commanding attention. My hand on my hip and I am beyond
steaming pissed!

“Second… Jasmine.” I stare at her. “You. Are.
Fired!”

She looks at me and rears back her head. “You
can’t fire me, you don’t have the authority.” She blurts like she
thinks she has the upper hand.

“Yeah well I’ve got news for you sugarplum.
There’s a new mama in this motherfucking house and I am running
this show. Including your payroll so you’ve gotta go.” I point to
the door. Damn I sound like a black woman with an attitude. I’m
awesome! I should seriously watch some more
Poetic Justice
and
Set it Off
to get some more good ways to deal with these
jerks. And NO I’m not being racist. I’m envious if anything.

She scoffs a laugh. “Are you crazy? You have
no authority Emily. And I’m not leaving because I’m not fired. So
you better get on with your stupid lecture.” She waves her hand to
the rest of the men. Like I’m to get on with it.

I stare at Johnathan. “So dickwad cheater
face. Do I or do I not have the official authority to fire her
ass?” I point to the bitch that I’ve hated forever.

“Yes, you can do whatever you want as long as
you don’t leave me.” He says lowly, his face drooping.

“See Jasmine now get the fuck out.” I point
to the door again.

She stands and cusses a bunch and finally
Davis escorts her out of the plane leaving me with five very bad
men.

“Okay D, Price and Keith. You all know better
than to bring bitches back with you right?”

They all nod.

“We’re sorry Red. We all got drunk and stayed
up all night partying with these chicks and when it was time to
leave it took Davis a long time to get us into the cars to drive us
to the airport. We brought em with us. I know I fucked up. I’m
sorry.” D says.

Holy shit! He’s the first to actually
apologize. Who would have thought?

“You all realize that the bodyguards are to
PROTECT YOU, not to BABY SIT you. RIGHT? James had to call me to
take care of your asses because he couldn’t. I was at home in my
underwear, eating chocolate, watching Free Willy. You guys ruined
up my day pulling this shit.”

“Well if you would have answered my calls or
my texts this wouldn’t have happened.” Johnathan mumbles under his
breath but I catch it all clearly.

I stalk over to him and I slap him across the
face. The sound echoes in the plane and everyone’s eyes widen.

He grabs his face. “What the fuck?” he
barks

“Don’t you speak to me that way ever! You
cheated on me AGAIN!” I slap him again on the other cheek.

“Stop it Emily.” He snaps angry.

I slap him again. “Stop what asshole? Stop
loving you? Nope. Stop caring? That’s not going to happen even if I
prayed all night long for a fucking month. What are you going to
do?” I slap him again.

“That is enough!” he yells.

“What’s enough?” I smack him again.

“Don’t you fucking smack me again or I’ll… or
I’ll.” He growls his face his red from my hand and from being
pissed off. His hands are clinched on the arm of the chair, his jaw
tightened. He looks tense as hell.

“Or you’ll what, asshole? Hit me? Break my
heart? Cheat on me? Knock me up? Ruin me? Fuck with my head? Sorry
to break it to ya dick wad you’ve already done all those. So what’s
next? Killing our children? That’s all I’ve got left that you can
take.” I say angrily under my breath.

I can feel myself breaking down. The
adrenalin is draining and I know soon I will be a big crying heap
on the floor. I have to keep it together just a little longer. I
can’t believe him! It’s one thing, after another, after another.
And he can’t lie his way out of this one. I saw it all. Every
single bit of it.

James comes up and wraps his arms around me
tugging me to his chest. He knows I’m about to lose it. I know I’m
about to lose it. What the fuck is wrong with Johnathan? He needs
help. Bad!

“Don’t you fucking touch her James! Get your
hands off her!” Johnathan yells and jerks up out of his seat.

Johnathan grabs my arm and I can smell the
whiskey on his breath.

“Let go of her arm Johnathan.” James
warns.

“She’s my fucking woman you stop holding her
and I will let go of her fucking arm asshole.” He yells and holds
onto me tighter, it hurts. He’s drunk. I wince trying to tug away
from his grip.

“I’m going to warn you one more time
Johnathan and if you don’t YOU WILL be sorry. Let go of Emily.”
James warns with a darker deeper voice this time. Sometimes I don’t
know what I’d do without him.

Deacon walks up. “J man, I know you’re drunk
but you don’t want to go hurting your girl because your being an
asshole. Let her go. You’ve fucked with her enough today.
Seriously.” D says nicely and puts his hand on J’s arm. The one
that’s holding onto me.

Johnathan looks at D and back at me and drops
his hand. My arm is bright red. He sees what he’s done to me again
and he falls back into his chair and covers his face, instantly
breaking into tears.

“I’m so sorry baby! I’m so sorry! Fuck!” he
sobs.

“Do you want to leave?” James asks still
holding onto me. His hands tucked around my lower back with my arms
under his, cupping his shoulder blades.

“Yeah I’ll deal with them all later after I
get back to normal and they all sober up.” I say as calmly as I can
as I gaze into his lovely eyes.

James escorts me from the plane with a
sobbing drunken Johnathan and the rest of the inebriated band left
to sleep off their drunkenness so they can finally go home.

It’s officially Monday and I know the men
have had time to sleep off their drunkenness. Not that it matters
because I’m still hurt. Trust me there are a lot of things in the
world that are painful. Like stubbing your toe, getting a tattoo,
eating too much wasabi or cutting your finger with a knife. But
when you hit the emotional pain wall it climbs to a whole different
level. I can’t go on and on about how much crazy Johnathan has put
me through. It’s been exactly a week since he’s been out of rehab
and it’s already piling up.

I think the conclusion that I have come to is
that he needs help. No one is this destructive without serious
mental problems. I knew he had the addiction issue but the rest is
worse than being doped up on coke. We have two shows left of this
tour and I can’t wait for them to be over and done with. I am going
to go on a serious anti-Stricken vacation afterwards. Which of
course James will have to attend and I will be dipping into my
savings to go on. But it’s mandatory to keep my sanity.

The main question I have been asking myself
is how do you move past this problem in life? How do you move
forward without taking a step back? Where do I want to go? What do
I want to do? Does my future include Claire? Does it include
Johnathan? Or Stacy? There are few things that I know for sure.
One: I am going to be a mom. Two: I have James as my bodyguard
who’s always going to have my back. Three: I have the best parents
in the world. Four: I have the best lesbian girlfriend ever. And
five: I have to fix this problem with Stacy, or try to at the very
least.

I’ve been lying in James’s bed that I have
officially taken over since I woke up three hours ago. I haven’t
left the room and James is off dealing with Stricken errands. I
gave him the go-ahead to keep busy. It’s not like I have much going
on in terms of things to do, other than wallow in self-pity and
sadness. Which sounds pretty good right now. I’ve gotten a bunch
more texts from Johnathan which is typical after he screws up and
all I can think about is texting Stacy. But it’s Monday and I know
he’s going to be at work doing his thing to keep this band the
hottest around.

Beep Beep Beep – More texts. My phone keeps
going off every five minutes or so with new ones. I haven’t checked
them in about two hours for obvious reasons.

I roll over and retrieve my phone from the
log nightstand. I should probably get up and eat after this. I
haven’t fed the lemons today and my tummy is growling.

I slide my phone screen to come on and I’ve
got twenty six messages… three from Claire, two from James, and one
from Stacy. Holy cow Stacy texted me. I think we might have some
ESP. I was just thinking about him and the rest are all from
Johnathan of course. No wait there’s two from D.

Claire-
Miss you babe hope you’re doing
okay today. Johnathan is stupid to cheat on you. XOXOXOXO

Claire-
Sending over a present should
arrive around two hope your home to sign for it. Many
kisses.

Claire-
Let me know you’re okay when you
get the chance. Tell Anna I miss her a lot. I can’t stop thinking
about her today or you of course. I’ll be in the office until late.
But text me anytime I’ll be in meetings till four
.

Oh my Claire, my sweet-sweet Claire. Could a
woman be any more perfect? I don’t think so. It’s a little after
one so my gift will be arriving in the next hour. I wonder what
she’s sending me? I still have the flowers which I left in the
living room. And last night after James brought me back I ate all
the chocolate while I cried and watched 27 Dresses on TV. I love
that movie. Total chick flick and believe it or not James sat and
cuddled and watched it with me too. He’s such a sap and a
sweetheart. I love him.

I guess it’s time to let Claire know that
Anna misses her too. I have no want or need to be horny today. I
hope the pounding in my core stays away for a few days. That would
be nice. But I don’t see it happening. Although thinking about
Claire it makes the wetness seem okay. It washes away the thoughts
of the man I love having his ten inch cock stroked by another
woman. That above all else will be imprinted in my brain
forever.

Me to Claire-
You shouldn’t be sending me
gifts. Keep the money for yourself beautiful. Thank you though.
Anna misses you too. She always does. I think she needs kisses to
make her feel better. As for me, I’m alright. I think I’m going to
spend the day in bed and mope. Don’t worry though I’ll eat and the
babies are fine. I think I’ve gained weight even since yesterday.
Those chocolates were delicious sweetie. Sending you lots of hugs
and sloppy pussy kisses. XOXO.

Moving down the line in my phone.

James-
I won’t be home until late. Sorry.
If you need something call and I will come home ASAP. Also, let me
know if those babies are craving anything and I’ll pick them up
before I come home tonight. If you’re asleep when I get back I’ll
try not to wake you.

James-
Haven’t heard back from you. Hope
that means you’re sleeping and not having a meltdown. Get back to
me Em, so I know you’re okay. I hate being away this long.

James my bodyguard best friend. Who’s old
enough to be my dad but too hot to think of that way. Talk about a
total mind fuck when you spend your night cuddling watching a chick
flick with probably thee nicest man on the planet. Who could have
birthed you into existence and the whole time you’re thinking about
how any woman would be lucky to have him. His niceness and
sweetness is out of this world. Stacy’s always been nice too but
he’s also forward and bitchy in his own way. But he’s also loving
and wonderful. Man, I miss him. But James isn’t bitchy. He’s
patient and super loving and soft as a bear. He’s my teddy bear
that smells like cedar and has stinky feet. Which by the way since
I’ve lived with him he hasn’t once freaked out about taking his
boots off around me. I’m not going to say he hasn’t changed socks
as soon as he does, but he’s a work in progress.

Me to James- I’m
fine don’t worry. It’s
okay if you’tr home late I’m spending the day in our bed. Going to
read and grab a bite to eat soon from the kitchen. Don’t worry the
babies aren’t craving any foods today. Maybe a teddy bear to cuddle
with by the name of
James though. So make sure if I’m asleep
when you crawl into bed wake me. I want some thermal, soft skin
time. Be safe and don’t stress too much. C-ya later
alligator.