Time Out (20 page)

Quickly standing up from bed, I turned to haul ass out of the room in the direction of the bathroom causing my mom to ask, “What is it? You haven’t even eaten your breakfast yet.”

“A complication—honestly.”
Backpedaling
a few steps, I decided to be truthful with her for once. “It’s Hawkins. He’s coming to the house because he thinks our lives are in danger.”

“I don’t care what he thinks,” my mom confessed in a rush of words when the doorbell suddenly rang.

Oh hell.

Well—it wasn’t like he hadn’t already seen me in sweats before I sighed as I headed down the steps. I swung the open the front door and asked rather harshly, “What is it?”

Just glad that I managed to get whatever attitude I could muster up out of my system before my eyes had a chance to catch up with my mouth. Sometimes I forgot how unbelievably handsome Hawkins was. Though I noticed his careless hair looked a bit wilder than usual, and I could tell he hadn’t shaved in days. Try as he might, the new haggard look couldn’t hide his model bone structure like his square jaw or his chiseled eyebrows. No amount of disarray could hide those simmering blue eyes either, that slowly looked me up in down as if I was something just as beautiful to behold, even dressed in my oversized hoodie.

I barely registered the paparazzi in the background anymore since they had become such a familiar sight, though I noticed they seemed to remember to stay off my lawn for once with the arrival of Hawkins security guards.

“I’ve been trying to reach you,” he mumbled a bit stupidly.

“Well—you’ve
reached
me.”

“Joie, please don’t be like that,” his voice softened.

“Be like what? …mad?” I asked mockingly. “Because you got rid of me like I was nothing to you.” I lifted my eyebrows prompting him.

“I only wanted to protect you, can you see that?” he asked earnestly.

“Well that didn’t work out either,” I said with a smirk. “Now are you done?”

When he bit his lip in anger, but couldn’t find the colorful words to explain, I said, “Nice talking to you.” I went to shut the door on him, but he blocked it off before I could.

“No, you don’t get to do this,” he said with edge; growing angrier by the second. “You are in danger here, and I know you have enough common sense in that hard head of yours to know it too. So
no
, I’m not leaving here without you,” he muttered.
“Whether you like it or not.”

“You have no right to speak to my daughter that way,” my mom said from behind me causing me to briefly close my eyes. I knew that Hawkins was right; I just didn’t know how I was going to explain it to my mom.

“Can you please just give us a second?” I nodded stiffly at his arm - which was keeping the door open - and he stepped back so I could close the door again.

“He’s just scared, mom,” I turned to explain to her in a whisper.

“Please tell me that you’re not really considering this,” she pleaded.

“I was tortured for
hours
last night, mom,” I shuddered at the memory. “And it’s not going to take them long before they put two and two together and then come here looking for me. So you’re going to have to trust me this time when I say this is the safest option for both of us.”

“But I’ll never hear from you again,” the panic in her eyes made me suddenly feel ashamed.

“It won’t be like that this time, I promise you.”

“He has said things about you,” she continued to resist. “That you’re riding on his coattails…and…and that you look like a grease monkey,” she grabbled for the exact wording from what I could only assume she had read about in the tabloids. 

“That was weeks ago, mom,” I murmured.

“Exactly, just weeks ago,” she stressed.

“And I said some pretty awful things about him too, but we are past that point in our relationship now.”

“Relationship…? What do you know of a relationship? You’re only eighteen.”

“Mom, he is not dad, and I am not you,” I said to her gently. “And I know that I’ve hurt you by lying to you and running away, but that’s not going to happen anymore. So you can stop reading those…
tabloids
,” I was careful not to undermine them before I continued, “Because I’ll be texting and calling you instead…okay? And I know you don’t think very highly of Hawkins, but Nicholas Johnson didn’t just call because he wanted your vote.”

I saw a flicker of surprise in her eyes before she nodded at the door. “Well—let’s not be impolite to our guest.”

“Let’s not let it go to his head either,” I quickly added.

I watched her begin to slowly nod before she caved, “Well—if you think its best, you better go before I have a chance to change my mind.”

Relief washed over me as I leaned forward to wrap my arms around her and we hugged.

“Remember, don’t hesitate to call the cops if you sense something’s off,” I told her once we finally broke apart. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about though—”

“And why’s that?” mom asked.

“Because it’s me they really want,” I admitted; knowing that I was a liability now. 

“And why would that make me worry any less, Joie?” she sighed at my senselessness. 

“Oh, yeah—sorry,” I rolled my eyes at myself before turning to leave.

I reopened the door, and watched Hawkins suddenly turn around, but I could tell by his expression that he had overheard the entire conversation, even though the valiant part of him tried to appear oblivious.

“Bye, mom, I love you,” I called over my shoulder. “And
you
,” I turned to Hawkins. “Stop looking so
damn
happy.”

I didn’t know how long I planned on punishing Hawkins for all the fear and pain I had gone through from being away from him, but unfortunately for him I was taking it one day at a time and
today
he was in the dog house.

Flashes of lights went off from across the street, where Hawkins’ team had managed to corral the gang of men, but I barely registered them now that I had him back by my side.

“A limo?”
I turned to ask him questionably once I saw what was parked in front of my house.

“Yeah, well when Riley told me that you got sick on the airplane ride home, I thought we’d drive the rest of the way back to Cincinnati.”

“Oh—” I tried my hardest to think of something smart to say in reply, but the gesture secretly meant a lot to me. “I’m just glad that
someone
was there on the flight,” I added, finally finding the only fault I could as he held open the door to let me in. I saw him shake his head again as I slid over in the back seat. 

Inside the limo were sleek black leather seats that lined either side. A mini bar was positioned behind the wall that separated us from the driver. I noticed a bucket of ice with a bottle of Champagne in it. 

“I would have gone with you,” he sat down next to me and continued to explain, “If you hadn’t insisted on leaving so
quickly
.” 

“
Pfft
—and what’s up with the Champagne? You really thought I’d be in the mood for a drink?” 

“No, I thought I would be,” he smirked.

I could tell that a piece of him was enjoying my little tantrum. Maybe ‘enjoy’ was the not the right word, but I could tell that he had come prepared for a fight.

It was a six hour drive from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, but that didn’t stop me from giving it to Hawkins the
entire
time.

“And you wouldn’t believe what the paparazzi has been putting us through,” I said as Hawkins tipped the limo driver what had to be over ten one hundred dollar bills.

“Sorry,” Hawkins apologized to the driver that looked a bit overwhelmed from everything he must have overheard. 

Once I was out of earshot of the driver, I picked up right where we left off by asking, “Why are you apologizing to
him
?”

“Joie,” he sighed as we climbed the steps to his tour bus again. “What am I going to do with you?”

“What—you want to get rid of me again, already?”

“
Enough
,” he hissed, like a parental figure that had put up with disobedient child for too long. His blue eyes simmered as they locked with mine. “Do you think you’re the only one who’s been hurting?
Really
?” he gave me a look, but I suddenly couldn’t find the words.

“You think that you’re the only one who’s invested in this relationship?” he asked.

“Clearly you do,” he answered for me. “But I’ve been out of my mind! Worried sick for you because I thought -” he suddenly looked overcome with emotion. “- I
thought
I was protecting you, not making you more vulnerable. I had just lost a close friend and I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you too. You mean everything to me.” His blue eyes pleaded for me to understand.

I could tell that he had been hurting just as much as I had by the confession. This experience had torn him up too, but I couldn’t see how talking about it was going to make either one of us feel better. I went to pass by him in an attempt to lead him back to his bedroom, but he must have misunderstood my body language, because he intercepted me by outstretching his arm across to the fridge. He lowered his head and said, “No, I need you, Joie.

“I need to know that your arms,” his fingers grazed down my arm to my hand igniting a trail of goose bumps as he went. “And every part of your body is exactly how I left it,” he leaned in with soft kisses placed here and there from my cheek down to the nape of my neck like he was taking in every inch of me. The touch of his lips made my pulse race; how long had it really been since I had felt him like this?

I must have passed Hawkins’ examination, because it wasn’t long before the soft gentle kissing turned into my back colliding into the fridge and then staggering back with a thrilling thrash of being lifted onto the top of the table. 

I couldn’t free myself from my hoodie any faster than I did; stopping Hawkins long enough to take in the sight of me dressed in only my hot pink Victoria’s Secret bra and panties.

“Is it exactly how you left it?” I asked coyly as I propped myself up by my elbow.

He wrapped his hands around the soft spot underneath my knees and pulled me closer to him; knocking me back against the table with an exhilarated laugh.

With my legs wrapped around his hips he lifted me off the table, causing me to let out a gasp as we pressed against each other. Being intimate with Hawkins meant a lot more to me than taking off my clothes. I finally felt safe again. I finally felt okay to let a tear escape. No one could hurt me now; I was in his arms.

“Joie, what’s wrong?” Hawkins looked up at me as I sniffed.

I smiled down at him as I went to wipe the tear away, and confessed, “
Absolutely
nothing.”

Chapter
Fifteen

I texted Riley and Lizzie, letting them know that I was back, and that we should meet up around the picnic tables outside the pavilion seating area where Hawkins and the band were getting ready for sound check. Since I had arrived first, I ordered a cheesy fry from one of the nearby vendors and was just about to sit down when I saw Riley through the corner of my eye coming down the stage’s side stairwell. He must have been up there going over the lights with Harlow.

At first, when I saw him in his neon yellow t-shirt, I thought that he’d finally got his official crew shirt. Though I knew the color was usually reserved for the venue crew and I couldn’t remember anyone from the band’s crew wearing them because their neck passes clearly stated who they were. So when I did a double take and read the words ‘Team Joie’ in black bold print across his chest I laughed as I rush into his arms.

“How long have you been wearing that?”

“After I got back,” he explained. “It was really Lizzie’s idea. I can’t take all of the credit. You know how she is when she’s on a mission,” he grinned.

“Ah yes, and what does Gwyneth think of them?”

“Oh—it’s definitely sent a message,” he assured me. “Harlow even wore a matching one the other day.”

“He what?!”
I bugged my eyes out in surprise; trying to picture it. I couldn’t believe that anyone on the staff was routing for me, especially Rob Harlow.

“Yeah well—he gets the real story from me.”

Riley grinned, causing me to run into his arms again and squeal, “I’m so glad to be back!”