A Rock & Roll Romance (19 page)

“I
t would throw my other plans off a little… but I would still be happy about it. And woman please, I’m hoping you’ll trap me so I can have you forever. Fuck it,” He reached over to the nightstand and pulled something out. “I had this whole smooth thing planned, but I don’t want to wait anymore. I got you replacement.”

He
pulled out a red Cartier box and dropped to one knee. He opened the lid and nestled in the cream colored velvet was an exact replica of the ring that was stolen.

“Aubrey Jean Thompson,
you are and will always be my better half. You’re my smart-ass, eye-rolling partner in crime. The day I met you, was the day I learned what it was like to breathe. You make everything in my world better, and I want nothing more than to spend my life being lost in you. I wish I could give you everything, but for now I hope this ring is enough. Will you marry me?”

I looked down at Jake and
was completely overcome with emotion. Here he was, pouring his heart out proposing and I was blubbering like an idiot. I threw my arms around him and knocked him on his ass.

“Yes!” I shrieked. “Yes, Jake Parker. I will
marry you.”

“
Thank God! I love you, baby.”

“I love you too.”

              He slid the ring on my finger, and we had round two.

CHAPTER NINE

Partner In Crime

I woke up the next morning with the sun shining through the windows. I looked down at my hand where my engagement ring was and smiled happily. I heard music coming from downstairs and went to go find Jake. I got out of bed and padded down the spiral staircase. The music was blaring. It was Lit’s ‘Partner in Crime.’
How fitting…
Jake was sitting at the dining room table on his laptop. He didn’t notice me, so I snuck around and yelled, “Boo!” He jumped, and I laughed. He put his arm out and kissed my ring.

“Good morning
, my beautiful fiancée.”

“Hey handsome.”

“Do you like dragons?”

“Random question, but yeah I guess they’re cute. Why?”

“’
Cause I’m gonna be dragging my balls across your face later. Get it?” He laughed.

I smacked him in the shoulder.

“That’s foul Jake Parker.” I scolded playfully.

“You love me anyway.”

“I love you with all my heart.” I feigned dramatically.

“I love every bone in your body, especially mine.” He winked.

“Yeah, well I want an Australian kiss. It’s like a French kiss, but down under.” I smirked.

“Nice!” He hooted.

“Someone woke up on the perverted side of the bed today.” I teased.

“It’s just
that we're engaged now and all that baby talk last night. Its got me excited. I’ve been up most of the morning doing research.”

“Jake
, I just said it was a possibility, not that we’re going to start actively trying.”

“What if I want to start actively trying? Are you ready? ‘Cause baby I was born
ready.” He smirked.

“Oh
great, I’ve created a monster! Let me just think about it, okay? I haven’t actually thought about anything other than the overall possibility.”

He stood up and kissed my nose. He looked
content and so fucking hot. I decided to go shower so we could go food shopping because if I stood there any longer we weren’t going to get anything done today. I dressed in jeans and a pink t-shirt that said, “Don’t cry, it’s only rock & roll.” Jake was standing at the island in the kitchen making a list. I loved his kitchen here and couldn’t wait to cook in it. He had all sleek, black cabinets with stainless steel appliances and pale, granite countertops. The walls were painted a bright green and he had these really neat vintage lights hanging from the ceiling. I looked at the list that he was compiling.

Milk

Bread

Juice

Prenatal Vitamins

Heaven help me!
I cocked an eyebrow, and he got all red. He grabbed my hand and led me to the garage. We headed to a black Range Rover. I noticed that there was a motorcycle next to it. He never mentioned a bike before. He told me it was a must living here, especially with the traffic. We got in the car and headed to the store. We called my parents on the way. My mom was ecstatic, and it turned out Jake had already asked my dad, so he knew it was coming.

“Did you tell her what I said when you asked me?” My dad asked.

“I haven’t had a chance yet.” He laughed.

“Well princess
when he came to me and asked for your hand I asked him what was wrong with the rest of you!”

             
I started cracking up. That line was very much my dad.

Next, w
e called Granny Jean. The first thing she asked is if I was knocked up. Jake said not yet, but hung up with the promise of making her a great-grandma sooner rather than later. We went into the store and loaded the cart with all sorts of stuff, including the damn vitamins. He protested on the way here that if I were indeed pregnant from last night it would be particularly beneficial for me to be getting folic acid. I argued that the chances were slim, but gave in to appease him. I found myself doing that a lot lately, which was very unlike my normal personality. We paid and headed to the car. The paparazzi were there snapping pictures. Jake wrapped his arm around me and threw them a bone.

“I would like to introduce you to my
fiancée
, Aubrey.” He beamed proudly.

He opened up the
car door and helped me inside. It was going to be a media circus once word spread. He called his publicist and told her to put out a press release. I listened while he was on the phone.

“
No, I want you to say, ‘Imagine finding someone who understood even the dustiest corners in your fucked up soul. That’s Aubrey.’” He looked at me and smiled. “I don’t care, that’s what I want it to say.” He hung up the phone. “I just want to go somewhere really high, and scream I love you at the top of my lungs.” He grinned excitedly.

I giggled like a stupid schoolgirl.
What was happening to me? We got back to the house and started putting groceries away. I was reaching up to put something in the pantry. He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me.

“My magic watch tells me you’re not wearing any panties.” He ran his fingers across the
hem of my pants. “Oh you are. I must be running fifteen minutes too fast.”

He tossed me over his shoulder and carried me upstairs.
He placed me down gently on the bed and leaned in to kiss me.

“I
wanna get lost in you.” He whispered.

We spent the entire afternoon
‘getting lost’. When it was close to dinnertime, I decided to cook something. Chances are we’ll end up ravishing each other, and it will get burned, but it’s the thought that counts. I was sprinkling the mozzarella cheese over the ziti to put it in the oven when my phone rang. It was Piper.

Shit, I forgot to call her!

“H
ey Pipsqueak.” I said putting dinner in the oven.

“Don’t P
ipsqueak me. Holy crap, you’re freaking engaged!”

“I know. I’m sorry I didn’t call. We’ve been, um, busy
… Yeah, busy.”

“Busy my ass. The only thing you’ve been
busy at is screwing each other’s brains out.”

“Maybe.”
I teased.

“I’m happy for you Bean.
After everything that fuckwad did to you, it’s about time that you found happiness. It doesn’t hurt that it’s with Jake Parker either. On an off subject did you hear Jeremy moved to LA?”

“No.” I gasped.

“Your dad didn’t say anything? I’m pretty sure even Jake knows.”

I felt my heart rate start to speed up.

“Let me call you back.” I clicked off without saying goodbye. I went to go
find Jake. He was sitting out on the patio on his laptop. He was scrolling through all the news surrounding our engagement. He looked up, and I glared angrily at him.

“What’s the matter baby?”
He asked suspiciously.

“Don’t baby me.
You’ve been talking to my dad about Jeremy? He moved to LA!” I yelled.

“Yeah?
I’ve been trying to keep a closer eye on things with him. I know he’s in LA. He’s on the other side, and my address isn’t listed.” He defended.

“And you didn’t think I was privy to this information?”
I roared.

“Baby
, it brings up bad memories. So, to answer your question, no.” He said calmly.

I was so angry
he kept something like that from me. I stormed off. Obviously, they saw Jeremy as more of a threat than I originally thought. I grabbed his keys from the bowl on the counter and headed to the garage. I started the car and threw it into reverse and hit the button for the gate. I drove it like I stole it. I didn’t have a clue where I was going, and I didn’t care either. I drove around aimlessly until I came to an overlook. I pulled in and got out to sit on the hood of the car. I pulled my knees to my chest and watched as the sun was starting to set. The lights of the city illuminated the sky. I heard a loud noise off in the distance. It grew closer and closer. A black bike pulled next to the Range Rover. I knew it was Jake.

“I have GPS tracking on all my
vehicles.” He smirked.

“That’s nice. I don’t want to see you right now.” I snapped.

“Come on, don’t be like this.” He pleaded.

“Like what? It should have been my choice to say whether or not I wanted to know.” I yelled.

I looked at him and knew that I was going to have a hard time keeping my resolve. He had on a black motorcycle jacket, and his full-face helmet was resting on the top of his head. He looked hot as hell. I huffed and jumped off the hood so I could turn away from him. I was still seething. I hated being treated like a victim. I was a survivor and life goes on. He came up behind me and ran his tongue across my neck. I shivered.

“I love you. I just wanted to
protect you. That’s what husbands do.”

“You’re not my husband yet and if you keep acting like this you won’t be.”

He gently bit his way along my shoulder blade. I was melting into a puddle.

“Come on baby
, let’s go home.” He whispered, running his nose along my ear.

“Fine.”
I threw my hands up in the air in exasperation.

He mumbled something like ‘that was easier than I thought’ and clim
bed back on the bike. I got into the car and followed him home since I had no clue where I was. I was actually kind of glad he found me. I probably would have ended up in Mexico trying to get back. I pulled in through the gate and parked in the garage. The house smelled like burned food.
The ziti!
I ran into the kitchen and pulled our blackened dinner out of the oven.

“Cereal it is
.” He smirked pulling a box of Lucky Charms from the cabinet.

He pulled out two bowls and poured the cereal and milk. He handed me a spoon
, and I ate. The marshmallow goodness reminded me of being a little kid. I felt my mood lighten slightly. After dinner, Jake pulled out a guitar and took my hand. He led me out to the patio and started a small fire in the fire pit. He started singing Rod Stewart’s ‘Reason to Believe.’ I laughed remembering the conversation we had in Virginia after he was scrolling through my iPod.

“You like Rod Stewart?”
Jake looked at me like I was crazy.

“Sure, what’s not to like? My mom always listened to him while I was growing up. It reminds me of happy times.” I confessed
.

“It just seems weird to go from bands like Battlescars and Three Days Grace to Rod Stewart and James Taylor.”

“What can I say, I have eclectic taste.” I teased grabbing my iPod back.

He sinfully crooned
out the lyrics. It was weird how much I liked them better live than on their records. I asked him once why he never played an instrument on stage. He said he didn’t think he was good enough. He also liked to have the freedom to move across the stage and playing made that more difficult. He broke into another song. I watched him skillfully move his fingers along the guitar neck. I decided he was forgiven. Especially, after he broke out the supplies to make s’mores.

The next day he was on the phone arguing with the record label.
It turns out that they added one last stop on the tour, which ended here in LA. They were thrown onto another large venue with Blood to Bleed, and Jake didn’t want to play with Ian again. He was furious. I knew they didn’t like each other, but his reaction seemed a little over the top. It had something to do with when Jake was starting out. Ian screwed him over and tried to set Jake up for failure. It obviously didn’t work since they sold out every show and were pretty much a staple for any rock and roll fan. I didn’t care for Ian either, but it was mostly because he was an arrogant asshole. Jake threw his phone against the wall. It fell to the ground with a crash.