Bayou Stix Series: Bayou Stix Limited Edition Box Set (3 page)

My back is to the door. The shop is busy for a Wednesday night. Almost every couch and chair is filled and there’s a nice line of people at the counter waiting to order their coffee or pick up a sweet treat from our bakery display racks. John Mayer is playing over the speakers low enough not to bother anyone working, but loud enough that you can hear the music.

Suddenly, the hair on the back of my neck stands up as if I’ve just been shocked. Bradi is facing the door and her eyes go wide. “Oh my God… Oh my God…
OH MY GOD
!”

I slowly turn around, as if pulled by an imaginary cord, but I already know what I’ll see. My mind sees everything as if in slow motion. My eyes travel the length of a slim, but cut, 6’1 body, taking everything in, from the tips of his black boots to the top of his spiked dirty blond purple tipped hair. I notice all of the tattoos and the scruff that looks as if it’s a permanent part of a chiseled face.

“Oh
FUCK ME
!” I gasp out.

I feel faint. My hands start to sweat, my stomach starts to clench, and my panties start to moisten. It’s instinctual. My eyes move back down a smidge and rest on the clear, hard, hazel eyes of the one and only Jude Delecroix, lead singer of Bayou Stix, and he’s staring right back at me.

I unconsciously start to shake and forget that I’m still holding onto Bradi. Only now I’m squeezing her as if she’s a lifeline. I feel her move to where she’s looking into my face, but I can’t move. I can’t speak. I cannot break the all consuming hold of the hazel eyes across the room. Those eyes that still haunt my dreams… every night.

Jude

I’m staring into the whiskey golden eyes across the room and I can’t stop. It’s almost as if I’m frozen. Rooted to the floor. My hands clench and unclench and I have to grit my teeth. The urge to run across the room and kiss those moist red lips or to scream into that beautiful, perfect face for still affecting me is almost too much to handle.

Alexia Sloane… here, in front of me. This is what I wanted. This is what I needed. But now that I’m here, everything I’ve ever thought this moment would be, the way it would play out, goes out of the window. My head is suddenly blank, but I can’t stop looking into those eyes. Those eyes, that I once thought could see into my soul. The eyes that every night when I close my eyes, I still see, no matter what I do to banish them… no matter how many women I take into my bed. My heart is empty. Dead. But those eyes… those fucking gorgeous eyes. They haunt me.

Lexi

B
radi is pulling on my arm. I can feel her, sort of. It’s as if I’m in a tunnel, me on one end and Jude on the other. Everyone and everything else is covered in fog. Nothing else exists. It’s only him and me.

Our eyes stay locked. I’m stunned, frozen in time. I thought I’d do this differently. I knew there was going to come a time when we would be in the same room together again, but I’m not ready. Not now. I’m not ready! I need more time.

“Lexi. Lexi. What the fuck Lexi?
LEXI?
”

Finally I’m able to tear my eyes away from Jude and focus on my friend.

Shaking my head to clear it, I look at her. I see the concern and confusion on her face. I’m finally able to comprehend that she’s talking to me, though I can’t yet understand what she’s saying. “What?”

“Lexi!
WHAT THE FUCK?
Why are you and Jude Delecroix…
‘Jude Fucking Delecroix’
, eye fucking and strangling each other from across the room? Do you know him? Lexi, tell me now!
DO. YOU. KNOW. HIM?
” Bradi is squeezing my hands now; I never even noticed she’d grabbed them.

I sigh and look into her eyes, before glancing back at him. He’s still staring and I can see the rage on his face and in his eyes. The rage directed at me. I tear my eyes away from Jude and look back at my confused best friend. Suddenly I feel defeated. “Yeah.” I sigh. “Yeah you could say that. There was a time when we knew each other very well. A time when we ripped each other’s clothes off at every available opportunity and fucked like rabbits. A time when the only way I was me, was with him. So yeah… you could say I know him. Or I guess I knew him.” My voice fades in and out as I talk. My voice is flat, monotone, as if I have no emotions.

Bradi’s mouth is opening and closing like a fish and her eyes are wide, like saucers in her head, as if she can’t form a coherent sentence. She’s looking from me to Jude and back, like she simply cannot believe it. Finally, she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before looking into mine. “The fuck you say? You… you and Jude Delecroix?
THAT
Jude Delecroix?” She points at him. “The
ROCK STAR
! The one I talk about non stop? Are you
fucking serious
? How? Why? Oh my God… I don’t understand this.”

I sigh long and loud. My heart is still racing. I cannot believe he’s here. He’s
here
. In my shop and in
my
space. It’s hard for me to breathe and I feel as if I’m going to throw up, but I can see the confusion and a hint of betrayal on Bradi’s face. I know I owe her some sort of explanation. “We grew up together. You know he’s from here. We were inseparable. The three of us were inseparable, Erik, Jude, and me.” I swallow and close my eyes so I can continue. “You know the guy I told you about? The guy I said I lost myself in? The guy who broke me… well… there you go. That’s him. It was Jude.” I’m flapping my hand in his direction as I talk.

Looking at her and waiting for her reaction, time stands still. I don’t know what I’ll do if she walks away. With Jude here, with my emotions all over the place, with my heart in my throat and fear consuming me, I just wait… and wait.

She takes another deep breath and she looks at me, really looks at me. It feels like an hour has passed, but I guess it’s really only been a few seconds.

“Ok. Ok then. You and Jude Delecroix. Ok. It’s perfectly fine. But wait, no. No, you know what? It’s not ok! You and Jude Delecroix! You and Jude and you never told me?!?! Why didn’t you ever tell me Lexi? I’m your best friend! You should have told me!”

Suddenly we realize the coffee shop is no longer quiet. We both look around. Girls are screaming. Laptops are left on tables and couches as Jude is completely surrounded. Hands are all over him, people are in his face, thrusting things at him to sign. He meets my eyes one last time and then it’s as if a switch is flipped. He turns away from me, dismissing me, and turns towards his fans. He’s instantly smiling, signing things, shaking hands. He’s no longer the boy I once knew. The boy I can’t get out of my head. He’s in his element; he’s Jude Delecroix… the rock star.

I grab Bradi’s arm and pull her into the back, towards my office. I have to get away, away from Jude, away from his fans, away from the chaos in my beloved shop, I
need
to get away!

Jude

I look up from my fans. My fans, the people who love me. Guys who want to be me. Girls who want to be with me. I notice that Lexi is running from the room as if the hounds of hell are on her heels, dragging the blonde bombshell with her.

I smile. I take photos. I shake hands and sign whatever is thrust at me. I’m going through the motions. I can do this in my sleep, but my mind continues to focus on the redhead who just tipped my world on its axis, again, and then fled. Leaving me and racing from the room as if she can’t get away from me fast enough.

I don’t know why I’m surprised. It’s Lexi, and that’s what she does. It’s what she’s good at. At least with me.

I come to a conclusion as a busty brunette rubs intimately against me and slips me her phone number and address on a Java and Sweeties napkin. I give the brunette a sexy smirk, place the napkin in my pocket and use her hand to pat it. Then I gently squeeze her ass, as I look in the direction Lexi just fled.

Lexi can run, but she and I have unfinished business. And it’s past time she gets the fuck out of my head.

Lexi

I
fall against the desk in my office. Bradi is as breathless as me, and is still looking at me like she’s never seen me before. I cannot breathe. Like at all. I feel like there’s not enough oxygen in the room. Dammit, I will not let him do this to me. He’s just a guy. A guy I used to know better than I knew myself,
I thought,
but still he’s just a guy.

I try to take deep breaths and calm my racing heart. Finally, I am able to see straight and as I look into the shell shocked face of my best friend I realize he’s
not
just a guy. He’s Jude. He was
my
Jude. My life. He’s back. And I’m totally and completely fucked.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you, Bradi. I don’t talk about him. I can’t talk about him. I just… can’t.”

I’m biting down so hard on my lip, I taste blood.

As Bradi looks at me, she takes in my wild, glazed eyes, my erratic breaths, my lip biting, and her face softens. She walks over and sits next to me on the desk, taking my shaking hands in hers. “Lexi, it’s ok. I don’t really understand what just happened, but I get it. I’m not mad. Honestly I am shocked though. You’re my best friend. We’ve been best friends for seven years, since sophomore year of college, and you’re always so put together. The Lexi I know hates rock stars, so the thought that you’ve gotten jiggy with one of the hottest rock stars on the planet is a lot to take in, ok? But it’s cool. I love you.” She sighs softly. “Are you going to be ok? What are you going to do?”

Breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, I look at her and shrug. “I have no idea. What
can
I do? He’s
here
. I don’t know why he’s here or why he came into my shop, but he’s here! Fuck me.”

There’s a knock at the office door and it slowly opens. Erik pops his head in. “Hey love, you ok?” He looks at me with concern. “That was… well shit, that was intense. I’m sorry it happened. I shut the place down for the night.”

Nodding my head yes, I drop Bradi’s hand and look at Erik. “Yeah… is he gone?”

“Yeah babe, he’s gone and his fan club along with him. Now tell me the truth. Are you ok? Remember I know you, so I know when you lie. And I know that was hard for you.” He throws his arm around me and I lay my head on his muscled chest and squeeze his jean-clad thigh.