Seducing Wrath (12 page)

“Hey, sweetie. I checked and your uncle isn’t in a very helpful mood. Not sure what’s up his ass, I told him he needed to smoke some shit and chill out. Anyway, just tell them we’ll figure out a way to get it back.”

Seriously? She told her brother to get high? No wonder he wouldn’t help. It’s like she was stuck in some Grateful Dead Fantasy. Holy shit.

“Mom, not a good solution. They’re already suspicious of me. I’ll try to think of something. Thanks for trying.”

I realized I was rubbing the stone of my necklace, I guess Wrath was right. I wondered how often I’d done it since she’d given it to me. Weird. I was pulling up Roy’s text messages when there was a knock at the door. I left the phone on the table figuring it was Cynda.

Nope not Cynda. Holy shit. It was the saleswoman from the Bettie Page store and she had an armful of boxes and a couple of bags.

“Um, what’s all of this? I didn’t buy anything.”

“No but your boyfriend did. What a sweet man. He ordered all of this for you and I told him I’d drop it off on my way home.”

“Wrath bought all of this?”

“Yup, sure did. You’re one lucky woman.”

I didn’t know what to say. I nodded and thanked her. After she was gone I went through everything. Holy crap, he got almost everything I’d modeled for him. He must have spent at least a grand. I couldn’t accept it. No way.

Sitting on the sofa, I stared at the clothing spread all over the furniture, dresses, underwear, bras, skirts, shirts, you name it, a whole freakin’ wardrobe. Was this why he’d wanted me to stay behind?

I don’t know how long I sat there when the buzzing of my phone caught my attention. Mom again.

“I’m trying to find a place in Philly we can use as a drop off. Then it will only be a couple of hours to get it. I’ll text you when I have an answer.”

Finally, a good solution. I hoped she could come up with something soon.

“Thanks Mom. 3”

She might be weirder than anyone else’s mom, but I could never say she didn’t try. Sometimes she made it worse but she always tried. I knew I was lucky to have her in my life, if nothing else it taught me love and patience, lots of patience. What could I expect? The first time she baked brownies was for my first grade class and they were loaded with pot. What a mess. Lucky for her they believed her when she said she’d added alcohol thinking it would bake out.

Scrolling through my messages, I came to Roy’s. I wondered what he was going to ask for this time.

“I need more info. What you sent was good but not enough. We need to stir up interest for the story.”

Then a half hour later…

“I need more information from you by 5 p.m. If you can’t deliver we’ll find someone else who can.”

It was already after five p.m. Too bad, so sad for him. I wanted to write back and ask him why it wasn’t Rolling Stone tweeting the information but I didn’t think he’d tell me the truth. I didn’t know how I was going to find out who I was dealing with, at least not on my own. I did know one thing. I was going to get in touch with Rolling Stone. Hopefully someone who would actually listen to me.

Tears welled up in my eyes and the crack in my heart got a little bit bigger. I was so freaking stupid. Shit. I was like one of those ‘too stupid to live women’ in bad romance novels. So desperate to get close to Wrath again and prove to my mother I could make it as a journalist I didn’t think about the warning signs. It would be my own fault if he never spoke to me again.

Answering an ad in the New Jersey Star Record. Seriously, I should have known better. Rolling Stone Magazine wouldn’t advertise in a newspaper, they’d assign staff or post it on their site or in their magazine. I knew this. Anyone with common sense would know it. But nope, I’d been so focused on the chance to get near Wrath again I didn’t think about anything else. Yup, Mom was right. Now I had to fix this before it became an even bigger mess.

Pulling up Google I did what I should have a month ago, searched for Rolling Stone and their contact information but a knock at the door stopped my search. This time it was Cynda.

“Hey. You’re not dressed?”

“Oh shit. Sorry. I got distracted.” Cynda followed me back into the suite and saw all the clothing strewn all over.

“Holy crap. You bought this today?”

“No I didn’t, Wrath did. It was a surprise. The woman from the store dropped it all off. I was totally shocked.”

She looked at me, searching my face for something—I had no idea what. “Well, girl, let’s get you dressed. He obviously wants you to wear it tonight or he wouldn’t have bought it.”

We picked out an outfit and I quickly showered and dressed. Cynda did my make-up, ‘showing’ me how to tone it down and not look so skanky. She would hate me too when she found out what I’d done. My stomach turned over and I hoped I wouldn’t toss my cookies. I never thought I’d hurt anyone. It was supposed to be good for them, give them press. Right? Or had it always been just so I could get closer to Wrath and the gateway to my dream job? How freakin’ pathetic am I?

“What’s wrong? You look like you’re about to puke.”

“I’m okay. I’m just still shocked he bought all this stuff.”

“You should be. I can’t believe it either.” She was applying mascara and I had to look up but I didn’t want to look directly at her. I was worried what she’d see in my face.

“Okay, all done. What do you think?”

I had to admit she knew what she was doing. I looked pretty damn good, well considering I was a pathetic deceitful ass. “Thank you. I look amazing. I don’t think Wrath’ll recognize me.”

“You might be right. Good thing you’ll be with me. Oh and maybe you should stay away from Paddy tonight. It really pissed Wrath off last night.”

“Good idea. I’ll try.”

“Is there anything else you need? I’m sure the car is waiting for us so we should hurry.”

“Nope, I’m good.” Grabbing my phone, I tucked it into a pocket—who’d have figured a dress with pockets? I looked around the room at the chaos we were leaving behind and I wondered what he’d been thinking when he bought all the stuff.

We got to the arena in time to see them back stage before they went on. Chaos grabbed Cyn and kissed her like he hadn’t seen her in a year. I must have sighed out loud, because Wrath wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his chest.

“What’s wrong, Blue? Don’t you like your new clothes?”

“Oh my God. I love everything. You’re crazy though, it’s too much money.”

“Fuck that. I have more money than I know what to do with already. I don’t need a lot and you definitely needed clothes.”

“Thank you but I don’t know how I’ll pay you back.”

“You’re not going to.”

I started to answer when we heard the introduction and Joe was waving his arms at them. Wrath smiled and kissed me, quick and hard. When he pulled back, my red lipstick was all over him. I wanted to clean it but he said to leave it and ran out on stage.

Standing there, I watched them perform for the packed arena. The fans were on their feet for at least half the first set, singing along with most of the songs. I couldn’t even imagine how it must feel for them, knowing how hard they’d worked. Their story was wonderful and deserved to be written.

Paddy stayed away from me and I was glad. I had a feeling my time with Wrath was going to be over all too soon and I needed to make good memories to hold on to when I was alone in my bed, not memories of arguments.

My phone buzzed and I pulled it out. It was Mom, finally. She had an address to drop off the car, thank God. I’d be able to tell Joe now and it’d be one less thing to worry about. Before I had a chance to put the phone away, it buzzed again.

Damn, it was Roy.

“Maybe you didn’t get my messages. I need the outline for the article and more info to tweet. I’m not kidding, you either get us what we need or we’ll find someone else. We have deadlines.”

Oh yeah I’m sure he did, but it wasn’t for the magazine. I didn’t answer, just shoved the phone into my pocket. I needed to get in touch with Rolling Stone before anything else happened.

Chapter Eighteen

Wrath…

The show was fucking amazing, the crowd even better than last night. Go figure, Nashville freakin’ loved rock n’ roll music. We’d all thought it was stupid to perform here until we’d seen the crowds. Apparently Nashville wasn’t just a country music town. They liked it all and they’d proven it to us big time.

Blue looked great in her new dress, fuckin’ sophisticated, not the trampy skank I’d first met. Yeah she looked hot then too, but I liked her better this way. I still wondered about her real hair color. Cynda said it was probably light and that’s why the color stayed in so well. She seemed to know what she was talking about. What did I know about this shit? It didn’t matter really. She’d fuckin’ hooked me somehow. I hadn’t felt anything like this since high school, when the nerdy girl from the yearbook committee had followed me around. I’d finally told her I wasn’t interested, it’d been a lie, but it was for the best. I knew what kind of a life I wanted and there was no room for girls.

Except now we had Cyn, Sweets, and Candy around all the time. Fuckin’ women everywhere. I’d thought about Teresa on and off over the years, the one who got away and shit, I guess. I bet she was married and had a kid or two by now anyway—shit it'd been about four years since I’d seen her. She’d been my major fantasy and caused a shitload of wet dreams all through high school. I’d watch her when she wasn’t looking, and wonder what it would be like kiss her and feel her tits. Before Blue, she was the only girl I’d jacked off thinking about.

Tomorrow we were heading to Chicago. Joe told us he’d made arrangements for one of our shows to be a benefit for Breast Cancer Awareness, and all the proceeds were going to the Susan B. Komen Foundation. He and Cynda had worked it all out. Her mom and his wife had died of breast cancer and we were happy to do this in their memory and for all the other women fighting the fight.

Chicago also meant Blue would be leaving soon. She’d never mentioned following us on the whole tour and we were heading out to the West Coast for the next leg of the tour: Seattle, Oregon, California, and Arizona. After that we’d spend a month or so back in the studio and then head overseas. We’d given up control of the next year of our lives when we started the tour. None of us cared, it’d been our dream and we were now living it.

I didn’t want to fuckin’ think about life without her—didn’t want to admit even to myself how she’d gotten to me. It was stupid since everything pointed to her being the “leak” no matter how much I didn’t want to freakin’ believe it. It was fucking me up, I wanted to trust her, to ask her to stay and at the same time if it turned out she really was the one, I’d want to kick her ass all the way back to Philly.
What the hell
. If this was love, it fucking sucked.

During the concert I’d looked over and saw her texting. I really wanted to believe it was with her mother, and I knew if I fucking asked her it’s what she’d tell me—but would it be the truth? Thinking about the look on her face when Joe said he wanted to talk to me, and how she got sick when he pressed her for her home address proved to me that something was fuckin’ going on, but what? If I was going to find out I didn’t have much time—basically three days. I had to get her to open up to me and get the answers we needed. It was going to suck, and would change everything. Love, hate, or want to kill her, I wondered how it would end.

The suite backstage was packed but I wanted to stay and party for a while, I really needed a scotch or three. I kept my eye on Blue and luckily the guys stayed away, but without her near me the groupies were swarming like fucking locusts. Looking at them I wondered what I’d been thinking. Keeping away from relationships had been the plan, but looking at them, they were either road worn or too young to be out without their parents. Being with Blue had opened my eyes to a lot of things I’d been ignoring, but was it a good thing or a freakin’ disaster?

As we all headed back to the hotel I wanted to roll back time. We’d had a great afternoon. It had been fan-fucking-tastic, but it ended too soon. Reality sucked. Her new clothes were all over the living room and I kinda wished I’d been there to see her tearing through the packages.

“Were you surprised?”

“Shit yeah. You’re crazy. You spent way too much money, I don’t know how I’ll pay you back.”

“I already told you. You’re not paying me back.”

“Like hell I’m not. It may take me ten years but I’ll find a way.”

Shaking my head, I pulled her into my arms. “Blue, I did it because you needed new clothes. You looked fucking awesome and I wanted to see you smile. I have more than enough money, I don’t need any of yours.”

She struggled at first, but then leaned her head against my chest. She was confusing, one minute she was all loving and let’s fuck, and the next minute she was full of morals, stubborn then shy. I couldn’t keep up. I swear I needed a goddamn handbook.

Taking her hand I pulled her toward the bedroom. I wanted her but I didn’t want a repeat of last night. Standing behind her I unzipped the dress, pulling it off her shoulders and letting it drop to the floor. I was fuckin’ stoked to see her wearing the new bra and lace panties I bought. I helped her step over the dress then laid her on the bed.

“Wait my heels…”

“Leave them,” I murmured, just loud enough for her to hear. “You look so damn sexy.” I watched her skin turn pink, starting across her chest and moving up her cheeks, it made her look even sexier. Shedding my clothes I climbed onto the bed next to her.

She turned her big baby blues toward me and opened her mouth, but I silenced her with my lips. I wanted to crush her against me, bite her lips, pound into her with my cock, but I was determined to go slow. It was out of character, I fucked hard and dirty then was done, not that there was anything wrong with it. The truth was, being around her made me want to be gentle, to show her love and tenderness and not just hot sweaty sex.