Absolutely Unforgivable (26 page)

After Billy left I lay on the couch staring at the television, but not really watching what was on. I couldn’t get my mind off of what had happened earlier that day. I was still upset that Jeromy had cheated on me, but happy that I had finally given in to my desire for Billy. I loved Jeromy, I truly did and what he had done hurt, but being with Billy just felt right. Just thinking of him made me blush.

I jumped off of the couch and Vin’s eyes met mine. “What’s on your mind, little lady?”

“I want to go to Rowdy’s and see Billy.”

Vin looked at the large bruise on my face. “You sure that’s such a good idea?”

I put my hand to my face, almost forgetting about the mark that Jeromy had left on me. “I can cover it. You forget we girls have makeup that can cover almost anything.” Sadly there was no makeup in the world that was going to truly cover up that mess of a bruise on my face but I did my best.

By the time we got to the bar,
Jessie’s Girl
was already on stage. Billy was speaking to the crowd of fans that surrounded the stage.

“This song is for a special someone that I just can’t seem to get off of my mind. She couldn’t be here with us tonight. She’s at home right now but she’s on my mind every minute and this song is for her.”

At this point the crowd cheered loudly. Billy, I suppose, thought they were cheering about his talk about me. But what he didn’t know was that I was sneaking up behind him.

Bree and Mindy, who were standing next to a smiling Zander, started bouncing up and down excitedly. I shook my head no and put my finger to my lips and shushed them. I didn’t want them letting Billy know I was there yet. I glanced towards Travis and found even Darla and Starla were smiling back at me.

The cheers of the crowd were deafening. The band started playing but had I not been standing right there watching them play their instruments, I don’t know that I would have been able to hear them.

The way Billy sang, “Another day is going by. I'm thinking about you all the time. But you're not here. And I'm waiting all alone,” gave me goose bumps.

I stood off to the side of the stage mesmerized by his singing, waiting for the perfect moment to let him know I was here. I had always loved this song and probably heard him sing it fifty times but tonight I couldn't remember any of it. It was like my body had left my mind as I stood there just watching Billy onstage.

When the tempo picked up just a tiny bit, I took a step onto the stage, thinking that was a good time to join Billy, by his side. The crowd screamed in joy. Their cheers scared me and for a moment I froze. I took a step back, realizing now probably wasn’t that perfect time.

Billy was still oblivious to what was going on behind him. The song slowed down and he softly spoke into the microphone: “I close my eyes and all I see is you. My mind races and all I want is you.”

I knew the song was almost over so as he sang the last part, I made my way onto the stage. When the drums banged out the last part of the song, I put my hands around his waist. He whipped around, wondering who was touching him and a huge smile came over his face as he saw it was me.

The noise and jostling coming from the crowd at that point was getting out of control. I glanced down and wondered if they were going to rush the stage. Vin, Rocco, and Devin must have thought the same thing because they began to close in on me as I stood locked in Billy’s arms, kissing him passionately.

He pulled his head back, looked at me for just a moment, smiled and then picked me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist and laid my head on his chest. With all the noise around me I couldn’t hear his heartbeat but I could feel it.

With Vin, Rocco, and Devin clearing the way, Billy walked me to a room in the back of the bar. It was a locker room, where the waitresses stored their purses and personal belongings while they were working.

I glanced back as the door shut and saw that Vin, Rocco, and Devin had positioned themselves in front of it, standing guard. I didn’t really give them much thought though. I was too wrapped up in being there with Billy.

In the back of my mind I knew there were two hundred cheering fans in just the other room but at that moment, I didn’t really care. It was almost as if that made what we were doing all that more erotic. Those people out there were cheering for us. They were in love with our love and that was exciting.

He slid my dress up around my waist and ground his hips into mine while mine were coming up to meet his downward thrusts, each motion coordinated perfectly. The sensation was absolutely incredible.

Soon after we had finished, while Billy still held me tightly in his arms, there was a quiet tap on the door. Billy pulled away and I put my dress, which had been pushed up around my waist back down. Billy looked back at me and I shook my head no. I still couldn’t find my panties. After I did and quickly got them back on, he opened the door. It was Trista standing there with her trusty makeup bag in hand.

She didn’t say anything to Billy, just glared at him and then came over to me. “Here sit down and let me fix you. We can’t have you go back out there looking like a hot mess.”

She touched up my makeup and did her magic with my hair and then Billy led me by the hand back onstage with Vin, Devin, and Rocco walking around us, as if to block others from getting too close.

Since my first appearance on the stage nearly incited a riot, Vin didn’t feel comfortable with me being back onstage, at least not front and center, so instead he sat me off to the side on a bar stool, with a wall behind me, where he felt he had more control over my surroundings. He did let me have my tambourine to play with though, so at least that was something.

Billy’s first choice of songs when we returned probably wasn’t the best thought out. My entire body blushed as he sang, “Your love consumes me. Your heart, your passion, you desire to have me. I love the sound of your voice and the way we touch. Your love consumes me. Sometimes it’s all too much.”

I was so embarrassed. I knew it was just a song but still, it seemed so personal considering what we had done just moments ago in the back room. Did he really have to sing this song, of all songs, afterwards?

The crowd loved every minute of it. And Trista loved that because to her those whoops and hollers and deafening cheers meant more bookings and to her that is what all of this was about. If she could make this band huge, a worldwide sensation, she could hand pick any PR job she wanted with probably any company she desired. A fact she constantly reminded us of.

After playing a few more songs, their set was over and it was time for us to go home. I was hoping to stay for a bit and hang out with the gang but Vin wouldn’t hear of it. He had me by the arm and was dragging me out of the bar and back in the car before I knew what hit me.

Billy was home less than an hour later. He had to stay and help pack up all of the equipment. I had been waiting for him on the couch, watching TV, but dozed off. When he got back he scooped me up in his arms and carried me to bed and held me tightly as I fell into a deep slumber.

When I woke up the next morning I could hear Billy and Vin talking to Trista. She had come over to discuss the night before. Trista was excited.

“That was so insane. We booked six new gigs out of that. I couldn’t have planned the whole thing better myself. We also got you an interview on
Good Morning Houston
in three weeks. Can you believe all of this? It’s really happening.”

Vin spoke next. He grunted. That meant he wasn’t happy. It was a sound I was very used to hearing. “I don’t know, Trista. The more we put Billy and Stacy out there, the more we put them at risk. She’s already had two stalkers, one that died in this very house.”

I grimaced at the memory. I had done my best to block out the thought of that crazy man, but hearing Vin talk about it brought all of those memories rushing back. I looked around the bedroom, almost in a panic.

Trista’s voice was louder now. She wasn’t happy at what Vin had said to her. “That
is
what we hired you for, Vin. If you do your job then we won’t have these problems to worry about.”

I didn’t want them fighting over me; so I sat up and softly called out for Billy and within seconds he was by my side. He tilted his head up and let out a sexy, “Hey.”

Trista and Vin followed behind him. Trista crawled into bed with me. “You are not going to believe the reaction to last night. It literally brought our web server down when Brick posted the video of you and Billy when you surprised him on stage.” She looked at me, waiting I guess for me to respond, but when I didn’t she continued. “You have another three thousand followers on twitter too! Can you believe it? Three thousand in one day! And the picture of you jumping in Billy’s arms has already been retweeted over four hundred and fifty times!”

Again she waited for me to respond. I knew she wanted me to say something, maybe even jump for joy like she was but I couldn’t think of the right words to say. I was happy for Billy’s success. I wanted his band to have all of the success in the world. But in the back of my mind there were still those lingering thoughts of that crazy man who had died upstairs.

“Anywho,” she continued. “In three weeks you and the band are going to be on
Good Morning Houston
. They want to do a sit down interview with you and Billy and then after the whole band will play one song. An original.”

That made me perk up. One of the greatest things about all of the attention Billy and I were getting was that more people wanted to hear their original songs, so they didn’t always have to do covers. Billy wrote some great songs and I was glad that at least in a small part thanks to me, more people were getting to hear them.

I looked over to Billy to ask what song they were going to perform. He just shrugged. “I haven’t talked to the band yet. Trista just told me about this a few minutes ago. Everyone is on their way over now.”

I was sitting there in just a t-shirt and my panties. “I guess I better get up then.”

“Actually, if you don’t mind, I’ve called someone over to do your hair and makeup. There is a photographer coming at noon and I want you to look your best.”

“What?” I tilted my head a bit trying to figure out what she was talking about.

“Oh, hon, don’t worry. It’s nothing really. We just need to get some head shots and new band posters printed up so you can sign them at the shows.”

By the time I got out of the shower, Trista had already laid the clothes out on the bed that she wanted me to wear. It was a dress Jeromy had gotten me when we first came to Houston with the feather top and white tulle skirt. I put my hand to my ears, remembering the diamond dangling earrings Jeromy had gotten me as well. I sighed as I wondered if it would be appropriate for me to wear them today. They did match the dress and shoes that went with this dress so perfectly. I took a deep breath and walked over to my jewelry box now sitting on top of Billy’s long dresser and pulled them out. I ran my fingers over the little diamond chips and thought about Jeromy and how horribly things had ended with us.

He was still calling me non-stop and sent me a large number of text messages, but I didn’t bother to answer any of them. There was no point. There was nothing left to say. It wasn’t just that he lied to me and cheated on me. I was with Billy now and that’s who I wanted to be with, who I wanted to be with for a while now.

I did my best to shake off my guilt about Jeromy and walk back over to the bed to look at my pretty white dress. I did love it and since that first night I hadn’t had the chance to wear it again.

I still wasn’t dressed and had just a towel wrapped around my body; I had only had time to put on my bra and panties before Trista came bursting into the room.

“Throw this t-shirt on and some shorts.” She made her way to my dresser as she looked for some shorts she approved while I looked at the t-shirt she had handed at me. She had printed up t-shirts with the band’s name on them.

It was a simple black t-shirt with the band’s name in red raised lettering, outlined in white, in grunge-type lettering. It was actually a really cute shirt. I put it on as she turned her head to go through my dresser drawers. She pulled out a pair of my white jean shorts. They were short and hung low off of my hips. I eyed Trista warily as she handed them to me to put on.
Trista may seem like she’s being nice and helping me get ready but I know her, I know she always has some other agenda.

“Hey listen. I know how you are and I know you are going to put on those huge white socks you like to wear around the house so at least these shorts will match.”

She was right. I did love wearing my comfy white Polo socks and as soon as I got my shorts on, I put my socks on next and made my way to the kitchen where the rest of the gang was waiting.

There was an annoying, all-knowing smirk on Travis' face. I really wanted to smack it off of him but I resisted the temptation. Instead I walked over to Billy and kissed him.

Billy handed me a bagel smeared with cream cheese. I put it in my mouth, loving every bite while Darla sniped, “How can you eat that thing? That’s just way too many carbs.” I didn’t listen.

In the living room Trista had large tables set up, and sent the girls in to sit at them to have our hair and makeup done. After our makeup was fully on, Brick came in with the camera. He staged various shots of the women putting our makeup on, as if they were just doing it, when in fact our faces were already fully made up.