Teacher: The Final Act (A Hollywood Rock n' Romance Trilogy #3) (16 page)

Then, I was in trouble. Danny made good on his promises. I could barely walk when I woke up.

The next morning Danny ordered a huge breakfast delivered to our room and everyone came over to eat. We all talked about the show and the day’s plans. The guys had sound check again and they needed to get their outfits lined up for the wedding. This morning would be the last time I saw Danny until the wedding the next day. My stomach was doing jackknives and three-sixties and all manner of extreme sports. I thought I was hiding it pretty well, but Danny pulled me aside before he left.

“Honey, you look terrified. Are you okay with all of this? I know, Bossypants and all that shit, I kinda forced the fucking issue.”

“I’m not going to lie. I’m scared to death. It has nothing to do with you. It’s more like, will I trip and fall on my face? Will I put the ring on the wrong finger? Am I even going to be able to speak coherently?” I gulped hard and spoke in a low voice. “Am I going to be able to make you happy? Keep you happy? Will I be enough for you?” I offered a weak smile.

Danny pulled me into his arms and kissed my hair, heaving a big sigh. “I worry about the same things. Will I be able to protect you? Will I be able to be everything you need? Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I’m sixty-four?”

I pinched his side. Hard. “OW! Fine, I’m just saying I know what you mean and I think the answer to all of those questions is yes. Yes, we’ll be happy. Yes, it’s going to be tough sometimes, as we’ve already seen plenty of, but we can make it. We will make it. I fucking love you, Jesse Martin Black, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving you.”

His gimme smile looked different to me this morning. He seemed different. It was like now that it was really happening, that we were in the place where we were going to be married and everything would be ready, he could finally relax. I think having the show tonight would help calm him down a bit. He really got into a zone when he performed. Maybe because he was in his element.

“You can’t call me that yet,” I teased. It drove him crazy every time I corrected him.

He rolled his eyes and kissed me once more. “Fine. But I’m going to say it over and over once we’re fucking married. Hell, I think I’ll even get it tattooed! Damn! That’s a great idea!

All I could do was shake my head as he shouted to Bronson that they needed to find a tattoo parlor after the show. “I’m getting my woman’s name tattooed on me.”

“Danny!”

It was useless. He was on a roll. About an hour later the guys cleared out to go take care of their stuff and it was time for Jane and I to go get fitted for our dresses. I had a picture of what I wanted and Patricia said she knew a private collector who would have the perfect dresses for us. Danny and I lingered in the doorway, just staring at each other.

“I know you’ll be at the show, but I’m going to miss being with you tonight. Do we really have to follow that rule?”

“Yes, we do. There’s enough unorthodox activity around us already. Let’s at least observe a few wedding do’s and don’ts, shall we?” 

He cursed wedding conventions under his breath before kissing me one last time. “I’ll meet you at the altar, baby,” he drawled, curling his lip just like Elvis.

“Have a great show. And a great party! You guys have fun!”

He hesitated for a minute. “You sure you okay with it? I could come back here… I’m sure I’d enjoy myself a helluva lot more.” His hands started getting frisky so I pushed him out into the hall.

“Go! I love you,” I said, holding my pendant to my chest.

He grabbed the leather cuff on his arm and said, “I fucking love you, Jesse.”

Eight hours later I dragged a groaning and moaning Jane back to the room. “I’m so glad this is going to be over tomorrow. No offense, but if Patricia made me try on one more dress I was going to throw up on her shoes!”

I tried not to giggle at her incessant complaints. I knew she hated shopping. At least she enjoyed the spa. “I know it was terrible for you, and I’m sorry you missed the Cirque du Soleil show, but I’m so grateful to have you as my Maid of Honor.”

She turned to look at me then from where she’d plopped on the couch and she beamed at me. “Thank you for asking me, Jesse. I love you.” I hurried over to her and we hugged for a long time. “Just don’t make me do this again. At least not for a while.”

She went into her room to get ready for the concert that night and I took a moment to calm my heart down. It had been pounding out of control all day from the moment I first saw myself in ‘The Dress.’ Oh, it was perfect! It was a replica of an actual dress Priscilla wore. It had a loud black and white floral pattern, an A-line hem that hit me incredibly high on the thigh, and a boatneck collar that I knew would show off my Teacher pendant just perfectly! I opted for knee high white go-go boots with a heel that would make me taller than Danny. I knew he wouldn’t mind. I couldn’t wait to see what he came up with for clothes. Him and the rest of the guys.

I showed my mother when they came to pick us up for dinner and she laughed. “You’re getting married in that crazy thing?”

“It’s perfect, don’t you think? You have met my fiancé, haven’t you?”

She rolled her eyes. She had been concerned about Danny in the beginning, but learned to love him like everyone else in his life. She just worried about me. I don’t think she completely trusted him, and that was hard. I trusted him as much as is humanly possible. We’d been through so much together. I had to trust him. To not trust him would mean living a miserable life worrying about what he might be doing when I wasn’t with him, which could be a lot of the time.

I had to admit, while I was lonely without him when he was on the road, having that peaceful time to myself without the insanity he brought into our lives was kind of a reprieve. I didn’t prefer it to the monster that was Danny, but it was necessary for my well-being. Like the trust.

We ordered room service again because Jane was so tired she’d fallen asleep for a bit. When she woke, she just wanted something quick. It was weird for me to be spending this kind of money and charging it to the room, but I figured I’d let Danny have his fun for this whole wedding gig. When we got home, I’d start being difficult again.

Watching the show from the luxury box was even more surreal than being backstage. It was hard to accept the fact that I was going to be marrying the guy on stage. My heart was still racing, and it didn’t help watching him strut around the stage. A few times he slung his guitar back and moved about the stage interacting with the crowd. The screaming was so loud, the women so crazy for him… Could I really handle this?  As they wrapped up the show, I asked my parents if they’d take Jane back to the room for me.

“I just need to see him,” I said to my mom.

She smiled, a knowing look on her face. Jane was yawning so big. I knew she wouldn’t complain. I made my way to the entrance backstage and showed my VIP badge. They let me back without questioning me and I prayed I could find the area where we met up with the band the previous night. As I turned a corner, I saw Danny leaning against a wall talking to a woman. He was leaning in close and smiling that handsome smile. I couldn’t see her hands. I kind of saw red for a moment and lost control of my feet, which marched me right up to the two of them.

“Honey,” Danny said, grabbing me around the waist and yanking me to his side for a sloppy, sweaty kiss. He smelled like beer. Guess they were starting the party early.

“I just…” I ran out of steam. I stared at him like an idiot and couldn’t say anything.

He gave me a confused look and then turned us around. “I was just talking about you. Jesse, this is Sammara Gunderson. Sammara is from Feedback Magazine. She’s the reporter I told you about that’s going to do the feature on me. Sammara, this is my fiancée.”

I looked down on this curvy woman. She was about my age with short, black hair in a stylish bob, and pale skin. Her eyes were kind of spooky, like she could see things. Danny squeezed my side, hinting that I should actually take the hand of the woman in front of me.

“I’m sorry. Hi. It’s nice to meet you,” I got out, feeling like a complete heel.

“No problem. I know you guys have a lot going on. Danny, I’m going to find Patricia and set up our dates, okay? Thanks for the show. You guys sound even better than on your last tour, and I didn’t think you could top that. Glad the surgery worked out.”

He shook hands with her and she said goodbye to us. “Goddamn, that was sexy.  You came storming up here like you were ready to throw down and protect your fucking property. I fucking love that, honey.”

I pushed away from him, embarrassed by my behavior. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“You saw me with another woman. I get it. Don’t you think I want to break the legs of every guy I see you talking to? Do you know how hard it is to watch Cosmo put his hands on you? Fuck, Jesse. I totally trust you, but you’re so fucking beautiful. It’s rough, man. I’ll tell you that.” He approached me slowly, sliding his hands around my waist.

“I just…Wow. I’m such an idiot. I know you would never—”

He shut me up with a passionate kiss, the kind that made me want to wrap my legs around him and never let go. He turned my back to the wall and deepened the kiss, so much so that I was ready to tell the guys to go fuck themselves, that I was taking my man back to the room with me. But Danny pulled away.

“If I don’t stop…Jesus, honey. I want you so fucking bad right now. That’s just going to make it that much sweeter tomorrow night. Look,” he said, pulling out his phone. “It’s eleven thirty. We’re getting married at two o’clock tomorrow. That’s just fourteen-and-a-half hours from now. I can wait if you can.” He leaned down a little to make eye contact with me. 

He was so… He was everything to me. And we were getting married.

“That much sweeter,” I whispered. My heart finally calmed. This was happening. We were getting married. “Okay. You go have fun with your boys. I’m going to get some sleep before the beauty brigade shows up in the morning. I’ll see you at two o’clock.”

“It can’t get here fast enough,” he said against my lips before pulling away.

We watched each other as he backed down the hall away from me. I gave him a finger wave and he clutched his chest in mock pain. When I couldn’t see him anymore, I finally turned to head back to the room. I figured as wrung out emotionally as I was at that point, I could sleep like the dead.

Incessant knocking at the door woke me the next morning. Shit! It was after ten! I’d totally overslept! I pulled on a robe and ran for the outer door to the suite.

“Finally,” the woman said as she pushed past me with her roller bags. “First Patricia doesn’t answer her phone, then you make me wait in the hall.”

I had one pissed off hairdresser in front of me and no Patricia. “I’m sorry. I thought Patricia would be here. Please excuse me for a minute,” I said, feeling out of sorts. I saw there was fresh breakfast laid out so I figured she’d been here. I frowned. “Help yourself to some food,” I slurred, then walked over to Jane’s room.

“Janey, sweetie. Wake up. We overslept.” Jane sat up with a start. Her red hair was all over the place.

“Where’s Patricia? I thought she was coming to wake us up.”

I was already headed out to find my phone. I picked it up and skimmed through the “I fucking love you” texts from Danny that seemed to get drunker and drunker as they went on. But no messages from Patricia. I called, straight to voicemail. I texted. Nothing.

“Young lady, I need to get going on that hair of yours or there will be no wedding! Get that dress on. You’re not pulling it over my ‘do!”

I did what Francine ordered, mostly out of fear, and prayed Patricia would walk through the door soon. I took a quick shower, keeping my hair from getting wet, then I dressed in my black satin undergarments I wore the night of the dinner party at Danny’s parent’s house, figuring he’d finally get to appreciate them. I left the garter belt off, but I’d picked up a black garter. It was barely covered by my dress when I walked. No hope in hell when I sat down.

Maxine raked the brush through my hair, then proceeded to tease the shit out of it until it was about nine times its normal volume. She used so much hairspray I thought I’d have a chemical burn. Her assistant rolled in shortly after and got to work on my makeup. Dramatic black eyeliner and false eyelashes were applied after some thick foundation. Pale pink shimmery shadow and matching frosted lipstick finished off the look. Jane stumbled out and gasped when she saw me.

“Holy… Wow! Is that really what women looked like back then? Because OH MY GOD is my dad going to shit a brick—UH! Sorry. I mean he’s going to be so surprised.”

She and I cracked up, but Maxine wasn’t about to let us start having fun. It bothered me that Patricia still hadn’t called or showed up so I walked over to the room phone and called her room. Finally, someone picked up.

“Max! Hi, it’s Jesse—”

“She’s gone,” he said, cutting me off. “She, um, she came in and found… She’s gone. I don’t know where.” He slammed the phone down.

“What the hell?” I instructed the hairdresser to get started on Jane and then called my mom. “Patricia is missing. Can you come sit with Jane and then you can go next? I need to find her?”

She said she and Dad would be right over. I texted Danny what was going on. I threw my flip-flops on and was out the door with just my phone in my hand.

I searched the hotel from top to bottom when finally she called.  “Jesse,” she croaked. “Jesse, I’m sorry. I can’t do this.” She sounded terrible!

“Do what? Sweetie, where are you?”  I stopped in the middle of the casino floor and looked around. Where the hell could she be?

“I left last night. That bastard. After ten years… Ten years! And he does this? I didn’t need to see that.”

“Patricia,” I was starting to lose her to tears again. “Please tell me where you are. I’m coming to you.”

She sobbed some ugly sobs on the other end of the line, and then pulled herself together. “I’m on the Strip. Bally’s. I’m getting drunk and then I’m going to blow all of his fucking money on craps, and NO ONE IS GOING TO STOP ME!” She hung up on me.