A Rock & Roll Romance (14 page)

Jake

Aubrey was still catatonic. I watched as the minutes ticked by like days. Being helpless has to be the worst fucking feeling in the world. I was trying to do anything that I could think of to make her come around. I was singing softly in her ear and rubbing lazy circles on her back and shoulders. Then I switched humming and saying little things hoping to try and make her feel better.
I leaned in and kissed her forehead and used my fingertips to brush her hair out of her face. Granny Jean retreated to the den after the gun incident. She said that she couldn’t stand to watch Aubrey like this again. I could only imagine how hard it must have been to watch her in pain after what that fucker did to her. After an hour, I finally thought that Aubrey was starting to come around. She tilted her head to look at me. I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest.

I wanted to go back and kill
him with my bare hands. What kind of sick and twisted asshole does something like that? There’s no way he didn’t know what he was doing, he knew damn well. Aubrey’s scars were much more than on the skin, they ran deep. I experienced a little bit when she had that night terror, but this was something entirely different. It was like a storm brewing inside her. Her eyes told me much more than her words ever could. There was nowhere for her to hide, so she hid in herself. I only hoped that I was doing something to offer her solace. Her bottom lip was trembling.

“Jake.
Sleep. Home” She stuttered.

“Yeah baby, I’ll take
you home.” I kissed the top of her head and scooped her up.

I called a goodbye to Granny and told her to behave.
I walked past her car and crossed the street. Looks like that pussy didn’t call the cops after all. Thankfully it looked like her parents had gone to bed for the night. I walked into her room and closed the door. I flicked on the light and placed her on the bed. I told her that I was going to take her shoes off. I knelt down on the floor and took her foot in my hand. I untied each shoe and gently pulled them off. I placed them next to the bed. She started struggling to take her shirt off. I put my hands in hers so that she was doing it, but I was able to help her from getting frustrated. She stood in front of me in just her bra and a tiny thong. It was easily the sexiest sight that I’ve ever seen, but I wasn’t even slightly turned on. Instead, I felt like I was going to have a breakdown. I hastily unzipped my suitcase. I pulled out a long sleeved thermal shirt and pulled it over her head. She dropped her bra to the floor. I helped her put her arms in the sleeves and pulled her to me. Watching her look so hurt and broken tore my heart right out of my chest. I wanted to take her pain, all of it. I started to cry. I quickly pulled myself together because I needed to be strong for her.

I
hastily took my jeans off and slid us both into bed. I pulled her as close to me as I could. I ran my fingers through her hair and started humming until I felt her breathing even out. I knew she was sleeping. I sat up for hours just watching her sleep. I didn’t want to risk falling asleep if she was going to have a bad dream. A little after three in the morning she rolled over and opened her eyes. She looked up at me.

“Jake?” She whispered.

“Yeah, baby? I’m right here.” I assured her.

“I was so scared
that you were going to leave me. I’m sorry. I’ll try not to do that anymore…” She cried.
What the hell?

“Stop.
Aubrey, I’m not going anywhere. I couldn’t leave even if I wanted to because you’re it for me. I love you. I’m here for as long as you’ll have me. I’m hoping that forever works for you. I know it seems really fast, but I know how I feel. But, it’s never going to change no matter what.”

I know
that I already said it on stage in front of thousands of people, but I never said it directly to her. I wished there was something that I could do to reassure her that I was here, and I wasn’t going anywhere.

“You love me?”
She asked incredulously as if it was questionable. I’d tattoo it to my forehead if that gave her the assurance that she wanted.

“More than I’ve ever loved anything. I don’t know what it is
about you, but it’s like you’re the sun in my universe. You came into my life and set my world on fire.” I kissed her nose. “I knew that you were something special as soon as I saw you. You looked at me like I was gum on your shoe and I knew you weren’t like the others. You make me feel alive. It’s like my life has been empty for so long, and you fill it. I’m not upset with you baby. I’m upset because it literally kills me to see you like this. You’re so strong Aubrey, and seeing you broken, it breaks me. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. I love you so fucking much baby.”

“I love you too.” She whispered.

It was barely audible.

“What?”
I wanted her to repeat it. I needed her to repeat it.

She looked at me. Her brown eyes burned with
intensity.

“I love you Jake Parker. I don’t know how to explain it
either. You make me feel whole.”

“Ditto, baby.
Now get some sleep. I have to run out in the morning. Record label stuff. If I’m not here in the morning when you get up, I promise you that I’m coming back.” I kissed her lightly.

She leaned her head on my chest right over my heart and closed her eyes. I managed to fall asleep with the girl I loved. I
woke up a couple hours later and quietly slid out of bed. I picked my jeans up off the floor and pulled them on. I grabbed a zip up hoodie from my bag and my shoes. I tip toed into the hallway. Aubrey’s dad was sitting on the couch drinking a cup of coffee. I pulled my sweatshirt on and walked to sit next to him so that I could put my shoes on.

“Morning.”
He said.

“Morning.
Hey Tim, can you do me a favor?” I asked nervously.

“Depends what it is.”
He said speculatively.

“
I don’t want to upset you, but I think that you deserve to know. I need to go down to the police station. We had a bit of a run in with Jeremy last night. Aubrey’s fine now, but I was kind of hoping that maybe my public profile might sway them to keep a better eye on their parolee’s.” I sneered. I still wanted to find Jeremy and give him a taste of his own medicine. Luckily, Ron taught me that two wrongs don’t make a right because I would love to make this right.

“He didn’t
get near her? I’ll kill him.” His neck muscles were bulging.

Tim was
bad-ass kind of scary. He looked like a guy that could rearrange your face if he wanted to.

“I was right there. I punched him in the
face if it makes you feel any better. It didn’t make me feel an ounce better. She was pretty catatonic for most of the night. We went to your mom’s because she didn’t want you to see her like that. I’m going to talk to my security guy when we get to Pittsburgh. I want to see about bringing on another guard to be with her when I can’t.”

“That son of a bitch.
Let’s go.”

He was up off the couch and had his keys in hand.
I followed him out to his pick-up truck. It gave me another idea. We sped out the driveway and arrived at the police station five minutes later. An extremely, angry Timothy went right up to the empty front desk and started slamming his hand down on the bell.

“Morgan! Get your goddamn ass out here right now!” He yelled.

A heavy set, balding man in a uniform came out from an office in the back.

“What?”
He yelled.

“What? I’ll tell you what! Last night
while my daughter was out with her boyfriend, she was accosted by Jeremy Roberts! That’s what!” Tim bellowed.

The guy paled a little.

“Oh. He’s not supposed to be within 100 feet of her.” He stated matter of fact-ly.

“No shit, Sherlock. You need to
do a better job tracking that animal.” He roared.

I held my hand up.

“Sorry. Sheriff, this is Aubrey’s boyfriend Jake Parker. Jake, Sheriff Morgan.” Tim gestured.

“As in the lead singer of Battlescars Jake Parker?”

“The very same.”
I said slightly annoyed.

Hopefully
, it would get me my leverage.

“My daughter Megan has posters of
you covering every square inch of her room.”

“I’ll
sign something for you. I’ll take a picture. Whatever you want, but I want something in return. I want you to make sure that asshole doesn’t get near her again. He’s a monster. I grew up around people like him, and he’s not going to go away. She’s been through enough already.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” He said.

I got right in his face.

“You see Sheriff, that’s not going to work for me. I
want your word. I love this girl, and if something happens to her I won’t be held responsible for my actions. Got it?” I seethed.

He gulped and nodded.
That’s right motherfucker I can be a bad-ass too.
Tim looked at me with wide eyes. Shit, I had just said the L word in front of her dad. At least he didn’t look angry. He promised to have an officer trail him while we were in town. Tim and I left and climbed into the truck.

“Tim, about what I said in there.
I want you to know that even though it’s happened extremely fast I love your daughter, a lot. I know you probably think it’s crazy and kind of whirlwind, but I know what I feel.”

“I know, I could tell. Dads have
spidy-senses. If you hurt her, I’ll hunt you to the end of the earth. If I knew that I could get away with it, I would take Jeremy out of the picture. Permanently.”

“
She told me everything that happened
that
night. I want to help put her back together. He’s obviously still pining for her. While we were in New York, he sent her a disturbing message. He’s a loose cannon, so we’re just going to have to do our own security.”

“I’m actually
happy that the two of you found each other, Jake. She hasn’t let herself get close to a guy since that piece of shit. It’s been painful for her mother and me to watch, especially knowing that there wasn’t a damn thing we could do. Right after it happened, if anyone would try and touch her, even just to change a band-aid, she would scream bloody murder. She’s much stronger now, but deep down it’s always going to be there.”

“I know.
I understand exactly what I’m getting with Aubrey. I’ll do whatever I need to make her happy, which brings me to the other thing I want to do…
I want to buy her a car.”

“You what?”
He looked at me incredulously.

“I want to
buy her a car. Actually, a Mini Cooper, I think that she would like one of those. Her car has seen better days, and I don’t want her driving something that doesn’t have airbags.”

I knew her car probably had airbags, but it was the most justifiable reason I could think of at the time.

“I don’t know. I mean it’s really generous of you and all, but it makes me a little uncomfortable.”

“Tim
, I don’t want to sound conceited, but I made enough money to buy it last night while I was sleeping.”
I only slept for four hours.
“I’m going to buy it for her with or without your permission. Please, let’s just go do it.”

He reluctantly relented and
drove a half hour away to the nearest Mini dealer. They were just opening when I walked in. I told the sales guy exactly what I wanted. They had it in stock and were washing it and filling it with gas. I put the car in her name and paid for it. I wanted to laugh when he handed the receipt because it wasn’t much more than her ring. I’d keep that little tidbit to myself because chances are that would make good ole Tim really uncomfortable knowing his daughter was wearing a rock that cost more than his pickup truck. When they pulled it around, the sales guy handed me the keys. I grinned at Tim, who rolled his eyes.
Must be genetic.

I followed him
out of the dealership and back to Smithville. We pulled in the driveway at a little after nine. Chances are that Aubrey was still sleeping. I felt so giddy that I wanted to go jump on her and wake her up. It felt so nice to be able to do something nice for her after last night, especially since she had no idea and would never in a million years be able to guess. I headed inside and said good morning to Caroline who was at the stove making breakfast. I walked to Aubrey’s room and climbed back into bed. The little dip made her wake up. She turned over and wrapped her arms around me.

“Morning
, beautiful. It’s time to get up.” I said excitedly. “I got you a present.”

She shook her head no and squeezed
me tighter.

“I don’t want to move.” She whined sleepily.

“Don’t you want your present?” I cooed.

“You’re my present.”

“That’s sweet, but it’s something else.”

I threw the covers off of her
, and she pinched my rib. She stumbled out of bed and walked into the bathroom. Ten minutes later she came out looking much more awake. She slipped on a pair of leggings, but left my shirt on. I needed to keep Jake Junior under control because she looked smokin’. I took her hand and led her to the living room. Tim was grinning, pretending to read his paper. Ha! And he acted like he didn’t want to go along with my plan.