Ace of Spades (7 page)

         
“Tax withholdings… health and dental… retirement…” Mel was definitely going to
need lots of coffee if he intended to talk about every form in such a drawn out
manner.

         
Amid the blur of legal forms and blabbering attorney, a thought grabbed hold of
Melody and wouldn’t let go. The massive pile of paperwork told her something
about Jackson that he would probably never tell her himself. He hadn’t always
been a reckless mess. Somewhere, between prison, rehab, and the disaster he’d
become, he’d taken the time to put together a solid organization.

         
The thought gave her hope. Maybe he hadn’t hired her to seduce her. Maybe he
really thought she could save him and his music empire from his bad choices.

         
“And power of attorney…”

         
Mel shot bolt upright in her seat. “Excuse me?”

         
“Mr.
Blackner
insists you be granted power of
attorney on his behalf,”
Grimms
explained, studying
her curiously from beneath his bifocals.

         
Melody whipped her head around to gape at Jackson. “Are you insane? You haven’t
seen me in eight years and you want to give me the right to control everything
you own? I could take your money and run.”

         
“But you won’t,” Jackson countered softly. “I know you. I trust you. More than
I trust myself.”

         
“But---”

         
“No ‘buts.’ Just sign it.”

         
“This is crazy,” Mel argued.

         
“It’s a condition of employment. Accept the power of attorney or you don’t have
a job.”

         
“You
are
insane. I’ll sign it, but that’s only because I don’t believe
you’re in the right state of mind and someone has to make decisions that are in
your best interest.”

         
Jackson smirked.
“Exactly.”

         
Melody shook her head. She spent the next hour reading the paperwork,
discussing certain aspects with
Grimms
, and filling
out forms. As soon as Melody scrawled her signature on the last page,
Grimms
snapped the folder shut and rose to his feet. He
slid the file into his brief case, snapped the case shut, and gave Melody a
curt nod.

         
 “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be on my way. Should you require any legal
advisement or assistance in your duties, please don’t hesitate to contact me.”
He paused, tossing a disgusted look about the table at the other members of
Jackson’s staff. “Welcome to Ace of Spades, Miss Davis. And good luck. You’re
going to need it.”

         
Melody chuckled as the ornery old man bustled out the door. The remaining group
stayed to sip coffee, munch on breakfast pastries, and chat. With each passing
minute, Melody became more certain she would love her new ragtag team. They
were an oddly assorted bunch, but they seemed to genuinely care for one
another.

         
Daysia
disrupted the hum of their chatter, clapping
her hands and cheering, “Now that
Grimms
-the-buzz-kill
is gone, it’s present time. Jackson gives the best welcome kits ever.”

         
Melody glanced up from her coffee to find Lenny carrying a huge woven gift
basket. She was barely able to move her cup out of the way before Lenny plopped
the basket down in front of her and stepped back with a proud grin. Mel turned
to Jackson with a brow raised in question and he grinned back, shrugging his
typical Jackson-shrug.

         
A black satin ribbon tied off the shimmery cellophane wrapped around the
basket. Dangling from the ribbon was a card
with  ‘Welcome
to Ace of Spades,
Melly
-Belly. Love, Jackson’
scrawled in Jackson’s haphazard handwriting. Mel reassured
herself
that the ‘love’ was the kind with which most people signed cards, a friendly
affection and nothing more. Sure,
that
was it.

         
Loosening the ribbon, Mel peeled back the shimmering cellophane wrap to explore
the contents of the massive basket. Each item had a pink, hand written post-it
note attached to it.

         
A pool skimmer with a telescoping handle.
So you
can fish the ‘skanky panties’ out of my pool.
A roll of
black trash bags.
So you can take out the morning-after-trash
.
An epinephrine pen.
 So you can stab me if you ever
have to use the first two…
OR if I eat peanuts..
.

         
The strange assortment of welcome gifts continued, each tagged with a
suggestion for the particular item’s use... 
A giant
Toblerone
bar – her favorite.
So you don’t get
too cranky on the road
. A stretch-cotton black
tee
with the band’s burning spade logo.
So everyone will know you belong
. 
The newest Blackberry.
 
So I’m never more than
a touch away...

         
 
Her fingers tangled in the soft fabric of something, lacy,
black, and skimpy. Heat flooded Melody’s cheeks. This item, Melody shoved
toward the bottom of the basket without glancing at the post-it note, praying
nobody saw the slinky lingerie before she had it safely tucked out of sight.

         
Was Jackson insane?
He had no right to give her lingerie. She had a
boyfriend. She was his
employee.

         
Melody traced the edge of the much less threatening black box containing an
iPad
Air and tried to ignore the feel of Jackson heated
gaze on her. But those electric blue eyes burned into her with such intensity,
she caved and lifted her gaze to meet his. He grinned, his boyish, lopsided
smile adding fuel to the fire in her cheeks and adding to her insanity
theory.  He was shameless.

         
Now Melody understood why ‘present time,’ as
Daysia
had called, it had to wait until
Grimms
was gone. No
attorney in his right mind would let a client so blatantly sexually harass a
new employee. Not that Melody felt harassed by the inappropriate gift...  
Thrown off kilter? Yes.
Embarrassed and uncertain?
Of course
.
But, the gift basket was so
characteristically Jackson, direct and unabashed, thoughtful and clever, it
amused instead of offended her. He’d never been one to play by the rules.
Clearly that hadn’t changed in the last eight years.

         
Mel cleared her throat and tried to act unaffected. “Um, thanks. Some of these
will be more useful than others.”

         
Jackson chuckled. “They better be.”

         
“Come on, J, we have to have some boundaries if this is going to work,” Melody
said quietly, trying to keep the conversation just between them.

         
Jackson shrugged. “Boundaries are overrated. But you go ahead and draw that
line in the sand, Mel. I won’t cross it.” A wicked smile twisted his lips. “But
I make no promises about what’ll happen when you do. “

         
Mel arched a brow at him, but didn’t bother arguing with his assumption that it
wasn’t a matter of
if
she
crossed
the line she’d
drawn between them, but
when
. If he expected her to throw herself at him
like the rest of the world, then he was in for a big surprise.

         
“I’m glad we’re clear then.”

         
“Crystal clear,” Jackson said, his grin undermining the finality of her
conclusion.

         
Time for a subject change
.
“So, when do I
start?”

         
Another shrug from Jackson.
“Today, I guess. I figure
you can work from home, handle issues as they arise, commute to LA for any
important meetings, and travel with the band when we tour. Unless, of course,
you want to move up to LA…” he suggested leadingly.

         
Mel scoffed. “Pass.”

         
“Oh, come on, Mel. It’s so much better up there in the City of Angels than it
is down here. We’ve got the Hollywood sign, loads of tourists, the Walk of
Fame, messed up celebrities, Rodeo Drive, and more crime than San Diego would
know what to do with.”

         
“Sounds like paradise,” Melody chuckled dryly.

         
“Well, the offer stands,” Jackson said with another shrug and a wry smile. “Most
of the crew will be down here until the tour kicks off in Las Vegas next week.
We’re playing a charity event this weekend to benefit children with learning
disabilities.”

         
The connection to his struggle with dyslexia wasn’t lost on Melody. Jackson
wanted to help children like him. The fact warmed her heart. That sweet boy was
still in there, hiding beneath the bad boy façade.

         
Melody bit back a smile. “Oh, that’s great. Mind if I bring a date? That way
you can meet Richard before we head out on tour.”

         
“Gee, I can’t wait,” Jackson said dryly. “Speaking of, how is Mr. Inadequate
handling the news that you’ll be on the road with me for the next eight months?”

         
Mel shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Well, we haven’t really talked about
that yet, but I looked at the tour dates and there are a few pretty good gaps
in the schedule where we might be able squeeze in a visit.”

         
“Want my advice?”

         
Melody chuckled. “Not really.”

         
“Ah, come on, Mel. You used to live for my advice.”

         
“Well, things have changed quite a bit since then.”

         
“But this hasn’t. You still have really bad taste in men.”

         
Mel smacked his shoulder. “I do not. How can you say that? You haven’t even met
Richard.”

         
“I’ve met you though. And I know you sell yourself short. I don’t need to meet
him to know he’s not good enough for you. But that’s beside the point. You may
as well break it off now. It’ll never last.”

         
“And why is that?” His presumptuous assumption heated her blood.
Who did he think
he was?
A lot had changed, but she didn’t remember him being such a
condescending ass-hat.

         
Jackson shrugged. “Because normal relationships are hard enough as is, but
touring makes them impossible.”

         
Mel narrowed her eyes at him.
“Maybe for
you
.
I
imagine it’s hard to remember the name of the girl you slept with the night
before when you’re doped up all the time, especially when the name and face
changes every night.”

         
“Hey.” Jackson held his hands out in front of him in a cease fire.  “Don’t
take my word for it. You’ll see soon enough.”

         
“Or you will,” Melody amended. “It’s easy to make a relationship work when you
love the person you’re in it with.”

         
“But you see, Mel? That’s the point.”

         
“What’s that?” Melody couldn’t believe she’d allowed Jackson to rope her into
this ridiculous argument about relationships.
With him, of
all people.
The man’s longest relationships had been with drugs and
correctional facilities, never with women.

         
He leaned in close until his lips brushed her ear, making the soft hairs of her
neck stand on edge. “You don’t love him,” he whispered softly.

         
His words, his nearness, and the tickle of his breath on the sensitive shell of
her ear made her heart flutter involuntarily.

         
“Oh yeah?” she asked, feeling breathless, as though his closeness stole the
oxygen she would’ve breathed. “What makes you think that?”

         
“Because you’re in love with someone else,” Jackson said, drawing back with a
knowing smile. “You just don’t know it yet.”

         
“Well that’s news to me,” Melody scoffed

         
Jackson shook his head. “No it’s not. You just need to be reminded.”

         
Her voice sounded
so
small to her own ears as she
spoke. “Why are you doing this, Jackson? Why now?
Why me?”

         
Jackson took Melody’s hand and slid it beneath the neckline of his shirt,
placing it against the left side of his chest, over the black inked symbol she’d
seen peeking out over the vee. The steady thrum of his heartbeat pulsed beneath
her open palm. His lips twisted into a rueful smile.

         
“Do you know what this is?”

         
Mel bit her lip and shook her head, struggling to ignore the mind-numbing affect
he had on her. All she could think about was his skin against hers and her
pulse beating in time with his.

         
“It’s the Japanese symbol for ‘melody,’ tattooed on my heart, just like you. It’s
always been you, Mel.”

         
Mel gaped at him like he’d lost his mind. For all she knew, he had.

         
“B-b-but, you pushed me away,” Melody protested, wrenching her hand from his
grasp.