The Prince of Punk Rock (17 page)

Angel
cupped Tommy’s face in his hands.
 
“
Eres mi vida.
 
Te amo,
”
he whispered.
 
“
Bésame.”

There was
no need for a translation.
 
Body language
and the breathy tone of Angel’s voice conveyed his desire.

Tommy
eyes were glued to Angel’s full, slightly parted lips.
 
He couldn’t look away.
 
They held him prisoner.
 
Angel licked his lips and Tommy almost
collapsed. One kiss, he told himself. Just one kiss, then he’d stop, but he
knew he didn’t possess the power to stop once he tasted Angel’s deliciously
inviting mouth. There would be no going back once their lips met.
 
Their bodies would marry and fall to the
floor in a tangled mess of passion.
 
They
would pull at one another’s clothing and rip them off each other.
 
They would—

Angel leaned
in, with half closed lids.

Tommy
held his breath and braced his hand on Angel’s chest.
 
“I can’t,” he whispered.

Angel
wrinkled his forehead and his eyes saddened.
 
“Why not?”

A huge
lump of emotions blocked his throat and prevented him from speaking.

“You have
no idea how much I care about you, Tommy.
 
I want you so bad.
 
Don’t you want
me?
 
This isn’t a game.
 
You have feelings for me.
 
You can’t tell me you don’t.
 
It would be a lie.”

Tommy
took Angel’s hand and pressed it to his cheeks, then held it over his heart and
stared down at it.

“What is
it?” Angel asked.
 
“What’s stopping
you?
 
I know it’s not Jessi.
 
I know she’s OK with this.
 
I can read people, Tommy.
 
But, you . . . I don’t know.
 
You’re very complex.
 
There are a lot of layers to you that I can’t
figure out.”

Tommy’s
heart was racing.
 
It was more than just
his marriage he was worried about.
 
It
was his feelings for Angel that scared him. “I care about you, Angel, I really
do, but . . . I don’t know if I can go through with this.
 
I don’t want to rush into anything.
 
I don’t want to hurt Jessi.
 
I don’t want to hurt you.
 
My head’s in a daze 24/7.”
 
Fight or flight kicked in and Tommy was ready
to bolt, before he lost all self control and plundered into the wrong
decision.
 
“I’m sorry.
 
I gotta go.”
 
He brushed past Angel and flew out the door.

For once,
Jessi didn’t notice that he was upset.
 
Tommy came home from Angel’s apartment, made up an excuse that he needed
to work on something, and went straight upstairs.
 
He came down to get something to drink and,
as soon as he opened the refrigerator, the doorbell rang.

Tommy
knew it was Angel, but he couldn’t answer it.
 
He was frozen in place.
  
He
couldn’t move.
 
He stood there, motionless,
staring at the milk.

He heard
Jessi talking to Angel at the door.
 
He
heard Angel’s footsteps approaching, getting louder and closer, until he felt
Angel’s presence in the archway to the kitchen.
 
Tommy didn’t turn around.
 
He
couldn’t look at Angel.
 
He was too
ashamed about the way he ran out of his apartment.

“You
know,” a smile was prevalent in Angel’s voice, “proper etiquette dictates that
you greet someone when they enter your home.”

Tommy
laughed, and turned to face Angel with an embarrassed smile.

“Did you
forget something?” Angel held up Tommy’s shopping bags.

He took
them, but remained silent, still unsure of what to say.

“I wanted
to make sure you were alright.” Angel tilted his head down and his eyes
searched Tommy’s face.

“I’m OK.”

“Really?
 
You don’t look OK.
 
You look all weirded-out.
 
I don’t want things to be uncomfortable
between us.”

“Neither
do I.”

“Look,
Tommy.
 
I’ll wait until you make a
decision.
 
I know this is hard and you
have a lot to lose.
 
You’re worth waiting
for, but, I’m not going to wait forever.”

Chapter Seventeen

Kendall
was
loud.
 
Angel could hear her clear across
The Quadrangle.
 
He was trying to have a
conversation with Damien and two fans about the music industry, but her brash
voice in the background kept getting in the way.
 
It grated on him like nails on a chalk
board.
 
When she wasn’t drunk, she was
tolerable, but that was a small window that closed shortly after she made an
entrance.

Angel
kept his distance from her.
 
He wanted as
little interaction with her as possible.
 
Jessi’s dislike for
Kendall
provided a
much needed buffer, but Jessi wasn’t with him.
 
He scanned the room hoping to spot her.
 
He shared some sort of unspoken telepathy with Jessi.
 
All he had to do was rest his eyes on her,
and she would feel the weight of his stare and turn to him.
 
She always recognized his deer-in-the-headlights
look and came to his aid.
 
But, he
couldn’t find her.
 
She must have gone
back to the merch table.

He could
hear
Kendall
’s voice getting louder, closer,
but he refused to look in her direction.
 
He was trying to wrap up his conversation so he could make a hasty exit,
but Damien kept dragging him back into it.
 
Angel was desperate.
 
He looked
around for those two sweet girls who had a crush on him, Kira and Audra.
 
He couldn’t find them either.
 
They must be outside, because they were never
more than four feet away from him.
 
They
were like silent bodyguards, watching his every move.
 
Like Jessi, they had an animosity for
Kendall
and didn’t let her get near him when they were
around.

Kendall
’s
voice was close, so he started rambling to the two guys he was with.
 
He was totally off topic, but he wanted
Kendall
to think he was involved in an in-depth
conversation.

He should
have known that she wouldn’t care if he was talking to the President.
 
If she wanted you to pay attention to her,
she did anything and everything until you noticed her.

Kendall
tried
to give him a sloppy kiss, but he turned his face away.
 
Her alcohol-laced lips fell on his cheek.

“You’re a
hard man to get a hold of, Angel.
 
If I
didn’t know better, I’d think you were avoiding me.
 
So how are you?
 
I feel like it’s been forever since we got a
chance to talk.”

“I’m just
busy.
 
Working hard on my music.”

“Let’s do
something when your show’s over tonight.
 
Let’s go someplace that’s not as crowded, so we can get some alone
time.”

“Um.
 
No.”
 
Angel fidgeted.
 
“I got to stick
around.
 
I got stuff to do.”

“Yeah,”
Damien interrupted.
 
“He’s busy.”

“Let me
help.”
 
Kendall
smiled flirtatiously at Angel, and gave a small provocative laugh.
 
“I’ll do anything you say.”

“No.
 
That’s OK.”
 
He wanted to get away from her.
 
He looked around for Jessi again.
 
“I better get ready for the show.”

Kendall
put
her arms around his waist and held him prisoner.
 
“Don’t go.
 
I never get to see you anymore.
 
Not since that stupid girl’s been around.”

“Stupid?”
 
Now, she struck a nerve.
 
He wasn’t only annoyed, he was
irritated.
 
He removed
Kendall
’s
hands from his waist and backed up to create space between them.
 
“If you’re referring to Jessi, she’s anything
but stupid.
 
She’s very smart and
intuitive.
 
And I don’t appreciate you
calling her names.”

“OK.
 
Don’t get mad.” She smiled at him.
 
“I’m sorry.”

Kira and
Audra came out of nowhere and positioned themselves between him and Kendall,
forming a protective barrier.

“Leave
him alone,” Audra told
Kendall
.
 
“You’re always bothering him.”

Kira
narrowed her eyes.
 
“Go away.”

Kendall
clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and snarled her lip at them,
before she turned and walked toward the bar.

Audra and
Kira stood in front of him, with their hands on their hips, until they were
sure
Kendall
wasn’t coming back.
 
They were his posse, and no one was getting
past them.
 
Once
Kendall
was out of sight, they simultaneously turned to him, full of smiles and
enthusiasm.

“I’m so
sorry we weren’t’ here sooner.
 
I hope
she wasn’t too obnoxious.”

“No.”
 
He lied.
 
“She wasn’t.”
 
He touched them both
on the shoulder.
 
“I really appreciate
your concern.”
  
But what he really
wanted to say was,
Thank God you got that psycho bitch away from me.
 
Don’t ever let her near me again.