The Prince of Punk Rock (37 page)

Kendall
knew he was trying to divert her attention away from Tommy and she snarled her
lip at him.
 
“I haven’t decided yet.”

Jessi got off her barstool and
positioned herself between Angel and Kendall. Her stance was confrontational,
with a balled fist on her hip and her chin jutting forward.

“Where do you play,
Kendall
?
 
I don’t
think I’ve met anyone who knows your band.
 
I would really like to check them out sometime.”

“We play a lot of places.
 
You probably don’t know any of them.
 
The band’s probably not your style anyway.”

“Who’s your manager?”

“I don’t have a manager.
 
I’m not as successful as Angel.”
 
Kendall
put
her shoulders back and held her head up. “But one day, I will be.”

“You’re not going to get anywhere
without a manager.
 
And if you want to be
a star, dress like one.
 
Ditch that
shabby trash can look and wear something current.
  
Something rock and roll.
 
Fix your makeup and run a brush through your
hair once in a while, for God’s sake.”

Anxiety suffocated Angel.
 
The last thing he needed was for Jessi to
make enemies with
Kendall
.
  
He had enough problems with her already.

“We weren’t all born with a silver
spoon in our mouth like you, Princess.”
Kendall
eyed Jessi with bitter resentment.
 
“Some
of us have to scrape the bottom of the barrel and claw our way out to get ahead
in life.”

“A silver spoon?
 
Princess
?”
 
Jessi raised her voice.
 
She was indignant, and her hands started
flying all over the place. “I have a full time job.
 
I work ten hours a day sometimes.
 
I come home and design clothing for the band
and pound fuckin’ studs into leather guitar straps. I bust my fuckin’ ass off
promoting the band.
 
I always did, even
before Angel, when it was just me and Tommy struggling to get by.
 
Nothing was ever handed to us.
 
We both worked hard—”

“That’s enough!”
 
The situation was getting out of control, and
Angel needed to put an end to it.
 
He
pulled Tommy and Jessi out of the bar.
 
Luckily, a taxi was waiting out front.
 
He jumped into it, and dragged Tommy and Jessi with him.

“What are you doing?” Jessi pulled
out of his grasp.
 
“Why didn’t you let me
finish telling her off?”

“We got to go back. I gotta get my
Les Paul.
  
I’m not leaving it there all
night.
 
Why did we have to run out of
there so fast?”

“I didn’t want the situation with
Kendall
to explode.
 
You know where it was going.
 
I
didn’t want a cat fight.
 
The bouncers
don’t take kindly to that and I didn’t want Jessi involved.”

“We’re still going back.
 
I need my Les Paul.
 
Driver, turn around.
 
Right now.”

Jessi leaned forward so she could
see Angel around Tommy.
 
“Why do you act
like you’re afraid of her?
 
I’m not going
to let her push you around.
 
And I’m damn
well not going to let her leer at Tommy like that or try to intimidate me.”

“Please, Jessi, let it go.
 
Didn’t you ever hear the expression, befriend
the enemy?
 
She’s got a bad
reputation.
 
I don’t’ need trouble from
her, especially with the
Battle
of the Bands coming up.
 
It’s too
important.”

“Don’t you know my wife by now? She
doesn’t let anything go.
 
Not when it
comes to the people she loves.
 
She’ll
defend you, just as quick and just as hard as she’ll defend me.”

“Damn fuckin’ straight.”

That’s exactly what Angel was
afraid of.
 
He had a bad feeling in his
gut about
Kendall
and he wondered if she
didn’t have a hidden agenda.
 
He wondered
if her infatuation with him was a ploy to get close to him.
 
Maybe she was trying to undermine him so she
could steal the win at the
Battle
of the Bands.
 
He couldn’t quite put his
finger on it, but he had the feeling that
Kendall
was playing with him, seeing how far she could push him.
 
But
Kendall
didn’t count on Jessi.

Jessi was cute and fun and amicable
on the outside, but she had a backbone of steel.
 
No one could ever manipulate her or back her
into a corner.
 
She would fight to the
death for him, for Tommy and for the band.
 
If
Kendall
was planning something, she
wouldn’t stand a chance.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Now that Tommy and Angel were no longer hiding their relationship, the
three of them were under the glaring eye of the public.
 
They walked arm in arm, or hand in hand, with
Tommy being the main attraction.
 
It was
easy to see the joy that the simple act of slinging his arm over Tommy’s
shoulder, or placing an affectionate kiss on his cheek, brought into Angel’s
heart.
 
Jessi loved to watch them
together, freely showing their love for one another, even though Tommy was
still a little self-conscious.

Jessi was sure that the people they saw on a regular basis, like their
steady waiter at their favorite restaurant, and the salesgirl at the local
deli, speculated about the dynamic of their relationship in the past.
 
Now that it was no longer an enigma, people’s
initial reactions ranged from indifference to mild shock.

Most of the time, Jessi found it amusing, but she was overprotective of
Tommy’s feelings.
 
He was still a little
uncomfortable when people stared, so when the barista at the coffee house
gawked at them like they were freaks in a sideshow, she told him to fuck off.

Her outburst caused other patrons to look in their direction, and she
apologized to Tommy for making a scene.
 
Meanwhile, Angel grabbed their coffee cups and whisked them away to a
table.

A woman stepped in front of Angel and blocked his path.
 
He paused for a second before recognition
spread across his face.
 
“Courtney!
 
What are you doing here?”

Angel put down their tray of coffee cups and kissed the woman on both
cheeks. Jessi inspected her from head to toe.
 
She was very tall, and had a gorgeous pair of legs that would make Tina
Turner jealous.
 
They went from the floor
straight up to her chin.
 
She had
beautiful long blond hair, pulled back into a neat pony tail, and her short top
showcased a set of washboard abs.

Angel put his hand on the woman’s stomach and felt her abs. “You’re as
gorgeous as ever.
 
Still hard as a rock.”

While Jessi waited for an introduction, she wondered how Angel knew
this beautiful woman.

“I want you to meet my boyfriend,” Angel put his arm around Tommy, “and
this is his wife, Jessi.”

Jessi waited for the usual negative reaction people had to their
relationship, but Courtney never flinched.
 
She was nice.
 
She was polite and
she was cordial, to both Jessi and Tommy.

They talked for a few more minutes, before Courtney said she had to
leave for the airport, to make the second leg of her layover.
  
Angel was blatantly disappointed that they
wouldn’t be able to spend more time together.
 
He gave Courtney a long hug and kissed her on the lips.

Jessi never saw Angel kiss a woman on the lips before.
  
Even though it was a small, closed-mouth
kiss, nothing more than a peck, really, she was surprised that it bothered her
as much as it did.
   
She wasn’t going to
say anything, but when they got home, she asked Angel how he knew Courtney.

“She’s a dancer.
 
She’s on tour
as a backup dancer for Pink.”

Jessi was so impressed that she momentarily forgot why she brought up
Courtney’s name.
 
She still contemplated
brushing off the kiss that somehow made her feel disrespected, but when
something bothered Jessi, she needed to get it out in the open.

“Angel, don’t get mad.
 
I’m not
trying to blow this out of proportion, and you know I put my cards on the
table, right?”

He answered slowly, wearily. “Ye-ah.”

She tried to sound as matter-of-fact as possible.
 
“I really didn’t like that you kissed her on
the lips.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, I’m serious.”
  
His
irreverence hurt her feelings.
 
“Tommy
doesn’t kiss other women on the lips.”

“Yeah, but
he’s
you’re husband.
 
Not me.”

They shared a bed.
 
She thought
they shared their life.
 
“Is that all I
am to you, Tommy’s wife?
 
I thought we
were a lot more to each other.
 
I think
of you as my other husband.
 
I thought
you at least felt some kind of obligation to me. Some kind of devotion.”

“I do, but what does that have to do with Courtney? I’m not cheating on
you, Jessi.”

“It’s not about Courtney anymore.”
 
She threw her hand down.
 
He was
clueless.
 
He had no idea how much she
cared about him.
 
That’s why she was hurt
by his indifference.
 
She turned away
from him, so he couldn’t see the tears that stung her eyes.

Angel turned to Tommy for an explanation. “Why is she acting like
this?”

“You hurt her feelings.
 
She
cares about you.
 
She wants to mean more
to you than just my wife.”

“You know I care about you, sweetheart.”
 
Angel ran his hand down the length of her
arm.

“You care about me?”

“Of course.”

“Well,” she swallowed and wiped at her eyes.
 
“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“No.
 
I
love
you,
Angel.
 
Somewhere, in the middle of this
crazy, three-way relationship, I fell in love with you.”

“What?”
Tommy’s
face drooped with sadness and his mouth bowed down into a heartbreaking
frown.
 
“You’re in love with Angel?”

Jessi felt sick to her stomach.
 
She swore she wouldn’t reveal her feelings about Angel.
 
She vowed to keep them to herself, but she
was too caught up with emotion and they came pouring out of her mouth without
thinking.
 
A piece of her heart died
inside of her as she absorbed the hurt and betrayed look on Tommy’s face.
 
“I’m so sorry, baby.”
 
She reached out to him, but he backed away.