A Rock & Roll Romance (5 page)

             
I’d have to thank Brett later for sending her in here because it made my day.

“I’m not complaining. You can wake me up like that anytime.” I smiled.

She was so fucking cute first thing in the morning. She got all shy on me, and it was even sexier.

“I’m going to go get dressed.” She
scooted off the bed and hurried out of the room.

“I’ll come get you in a few then.”
I called after her.

I watched as she walked out of the room. I looked at her legs and groaned. She had bows tattooed on her upper thigh
right below her ass.
This girl is going to be the death of me.
My thoughts alone were going to send me to hell… I took an ice cold shower and dressed in a pair of jeans and a zip-up black hoodie. I spiked my jet black Mohawk and took one final look in the mirror. I chose to wear my black boots over sneakers since my options on the road were slim. It was days like today that I wished for anonymity. I wished that I could take Aubrey out somewhere nice and not be heckled by the media. I walked across the hallway to Aubrey’s room and actually knocked on her door this time.

“Hey, it’s me.”
I called.

“Come in.” I turned the knob and opened the door.

She was dressed in a black and white plaid skirt with fishnets, a black shirt and a short leather jacket. She only had a little bit of make-up on. She looked like a fucking temptress. I was going to have to look into hiring another bodyguard, especially if she was going to dress like this for the next three months.

“Lookin’ good.”
I managed to sound somewhat gentlemanly.

“You
too.” Her cheeks were turning pink. It was adorable.

“Aubrey
, are you blushing?” I goaded.

“No.” She said quickly and off
pitch.

I walked over and put my hand on her shoulder.
I realized I was making up any excuse that I could to touch her. I grabbed her hand and led her out to the living room.

“Morning, Brett.” She whispered
. She was still clearly embarrassed from what happened earlier, even though it wasn’t her fault.

“Good morning
, Miss Thompson.” She rolled her eyes at him. I noticed she did that a lot.

“Guys, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend
, Aubrey.”

“I’m not your girlfriend
, Jake.” She scolded.

“That’s what you say, b
ut you will be. That’s Blake and Derek, you kind of already met them, and that’s Kevin.” She nodded.

“Did you get your Google alert this morning?” Blake asked
obnoxiously.

I gave him a look to
shut the fuck up,
but it was too late.

“Google alert?”
Aubrey asked nervously and mumbled something that I couldn’t make out.

I cringed because s
he was going to freak out. Aubrey wasn’t the girl that was after fame or status. I pulled my phone from my pocket and reluctantly showed her the screen. She went pale as a ghost. Her bottom lip started to tremble, and I had a strong urge to kiss her. I probably would have tried, if the room wasn’t full.

“It’s okay. They do this
shit all the time. It will be old news by this afternoon.” I tried to reassure her. Though, it wasn’t always true. Derek snorted. “Will you guys get the fuck out for like fifteen minutes? She’s not used to this kind of thing, and you are not helping matters.”

Since we joked
around constantly, they knew by my tone that I was dead serious and not to fuck with me. The room cleared faster than when Blake had beer farts.

“They think I’m going to be the one to tame the famous Jake Parker.” She scoffed.

“I don’t need to be tamed.” She huffed and turned to walk away from me. “Aubrey, please listen to me.” She stopped and turned back slightly. “When I first got famous I was an ass. I’ll be the first one to admit it. I was also a twenty-one year old idiot. By the time we made it really big I was already out of that phase. I don’t go around screwing random girls. I don’t really drink anymore. I certainly don’t do drugs, and I like you alright. I like that you talk back to me. I like the way you look at me like I’m Jake Parker the person, not the rock star. So please don’t shut me out, that’s all everyone does. It’s what they’ve done my whole life. I know I’m an ass, and I will fuck up, but I promise you that I’ll make you happy. I know you’re not ready to be my girlfriend, but that’s what I want. So just give me a fucking chance and stop making me chase you. I-” I was going to keep rambling until she said something, but instead she crashed her lips to mine. That kiss lit my world on fire.

Aubrey

Ahhhh!
My brain was berating me for kissing him and his incredible lips. I pulled away when it was starting to get heavy. The sexual tension was still crackling between us. It had been two years since my last kiss, which was actually just a peck on the lips. His hand was rested on my cheek, refusing to pull away. I stepped back feeling slightly embarrassed by my brazen move. I wanted to say something, but it seemed that I was unable to formulate a coherent sentence. I smiled shyly and looked down at the floor. He put his finger under my chin and lifted my face. He pecked my lips lightly and told me that he needed to go talk to the guys about tonight. He left the room leaving me alone with Brett. My mind was racing.

“Aubrey,
” he said to get my attention. I looked at him and realized he just saw the whole thing go down. “I know it’s not quite my place or anything, but he meant what he said to you. He’s not who they make him out to be. In fact, he’s one of the best people that I’ve ever met. I have a daughter, Kayley, and he flies me home between sets so that I can spend time with her. He didn’t have the best home life growing up. His mom was a junkie, and he never knew his father so take it easy on him, okay?”

I nodded and went back to my room.

I pulled out my phone and called Piper. I stepped out onto the balcony and admired the view. I also delighted in the not so fresh city air. I lit up and listened to her shriek for the first five minutes when I told her where I was and who I was with. When she finally calmed down I went into the whole Jake Parker situation. Piper was life smart and always looked at the glass as being half-full. She knew my past and understood why I had the apprehension that I did.

“Bean, if it were up to me I’d rewrite history. I’d change everything that happened that night, but I can’t. You can’t go around thinking that every guy is like him. They’re not.”

“I’m not as nice as I used to be. I don’t trust people or tell them my secrets. I know that I distance myself, but I only do it because I refuse to be used or hurt again. I can only depend on myself.” I said firmly.

“Listen to yourself! You’re
difficult and stubborn, but if you give people the chance I promise that they’ll see you’re worth it. I love you, Bean. Just try, for me. A little bit at a time, and no I’m not just saying this because it’s Jake Parker. I’m telling you this because it’s time. Let it go and move on.”

“And what happens when I
finally decide to let him in, and he tells me that he doesn’t feel the spark that I feel?”

“Then you
Taser him and ask him again when he wakes up.” She laughed.

“Oi!
What am I going to do with you?”

“You love me
, and you know it. I’m just telling you how it is. Now if you follow my advice and you’ll be good to go.” She said proudly.

“I’ll
talk to you soon. I love you Pipsqueak.”

“You
too, Bean. Call me if you need me.”

I hung up feeling a little better
. I decided that I was still going to keep him at arm’s length until I could get a better grasp on the situation. Though, my hormones had other ideas. I’ve never felt such a strong connection to someone before and it scared me. Mark texted me saying that he would be staying with his friends until we were scheduled to leave tomorrow afternoon. Brett yelled through the door that room service arrived. My stomach growled at the thought of food. I walked into the living room and made a plate. I picked out some French toast and bacon and took a seat at the table. My phone went off a handful of times. Looks like some of my old friends are into celebrity gossip. I was stuffing a piece of bread in my mouth when I looked down and saw the name that popped up. It was a name that I haven’t seen in two years.
Jeremy.
I wanted to run to the bathroom and throw up. My hands were already turning clammy. I clicked on the screen and opened the message.

Bre
-bre, saw you on the news this morning. Looks like you like banging rock-stars after all…

I got phantom pains as t
ears burned my eyes. Just as I was about to retreat to my room Jake walked back in with a huge smile on his face. It faltered the second he saw me about to burst into tears.

“Aubrey? Are you okay?”
He asked concerned.

NO!
My brain screamed. This was exactly what I was worried about when I saw his phone this morning. He was at my side in the blink of an eye. I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t trust myself to move a muscle. Normally, I was tough as nails, and I didn’t let anything bother me. Jeremy was another story. Jake kneeled in front of me and put his hand under my chin to make me look at him. I flinched. He immediately pulled away and I saw worry etched on his face. A couple tears escaped. I couldn’t do this. I needed to be alone. I got up and ran to my room locking the door behind me.

Jeremy Roberts was the reason I hated rock stars.

We met when I was a senior in high school. I was almost eighteen, and he was twenty. He played bass in a local band named Gigawatts. He was the bad boy rocker, and I was the punk rock girl, we clicked. It ended
very
badly, and I swore off his kind forever. 

CHAPTER THREE

Imperfect

Jake

As soon as I made it to their room they started ragging on me.

“Dude
, she’s so fucking hot!” Blake yelled. “I’m definitely not pissed at you for giving our room away. Though, I would have given it to us so that you could’ve hopped in the sack with her. That would have been the smart thing to do.”

“She can sit on my face anytime.” Derek chimed in.

“If either of you even look at her the wrong way again I’ll castrate you. She’s off limits!” I said seriously.

“Whoa, is Jake Parker actually serious about a girl?” Derek choked.

“I like her alright. She’s different, and I don’t need you assholes making her run for the hills by scaring her with your shenanigans.”

“She seems
nice, Jake. I hope it works out for you.” Kevin said genuinely.

“Thanks Kev.”

We were stoked about our show tonight at Terminal 22. It was sold out, and judging by our social media networks it was going to be an awesome crowd. I told them to get their asses in gear and not to be late for sound check. I hurried back to my room hoping to have some breakfast with Aubrey before sound check and pre-show stuff. I looked at her sitting at the table. At first I thought she looked content, but then I realized that she looked as if she was in pain. My automatic response was to hold her. I practically sprinted over to her. Her eyes were glassy with unshed tears. I wondered what could have happened in the fifteen minutes that I was gone. I couldn’t even get her to look at me. Was she having an anxiety attack? I had no idea what to do in situations like this. As soon as I touched her beautiful face she flinched and ran away.

I asked Brett if he knew what happened. He said
that he didn’t have a clue, but mentioned that she was on her phone. I picked it up and saw that it was locked. If someone was going to start shit with her because of me, they were going to have to deal with me. I felt guilty for invading her privacy, but it seemed more imperative to find out what the fuck happened. I tried her birthday, a little piece of info that I finagled out of her last night at dinner.
Bingo.
I scrolled through her texts. They mostly consisted of people saying that they saw our picture on the Internet, no biggie. Others wanted to know what our relationship was. I wasn’t surprised to see that she didn’t respond to any of them. The most recent one was from a Jeremy.

Bre
-bre, saw you on news this morning. Looks like you like banging rock-stars after all…

I was livid
. Whoever this was must have been who upset her. Even I could tell that Aubrey wasn’t that kind of girl. I wished that I could have reached through the phone and choked him. I decided that I needed to see if I could get her to talk to me. I needed to calm the fuck down first. I took a deep breath and focused on the task at hand. Once I had my composure back I slowly walked to her door and knocked.

“Aubrey,
it’s Jake. Can you open the door? I just want to make sure that you’re okay.” I pleaded softly.

I didn’t
get a response for a minute. I knocked again and was getting ready to break down the door when she finally came and unlocked the door. She went right back to the bed and buried her face in a pillow. I followed her over to the bed. She seemed so desolate. It was killing me.