Hard Rock Unrehearsed (25 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

His lungs were going like a set of bellows as he tried to breathe through his climax.  Under him his woman writhed and gasped her pleasure as he pushed in tight against her then slowly slid out and pushed back in.  Her moan made him smile.

“I love you baby.”  He whispered against her lips as he leant down to kiss her.

“Love you too.”  Those gorgeous lips whispered against his.

Withdrawing from her made him shiver with sensitivity but he had to get rid of the fuckin’ condom.  He did what he had to do in the bathroom then walked back and slid into bed and drew his woman into his arms.  She settled against his chest and he sighed with how right it felt as he stroked his hand slowly up and down her back.  She belonged in his arms, in his life.

“When is your period due baby?”

His woman hid her face in his chest with a moan.  “Ugh!  I hate talking about this, it’s due on Tuesday.”

“Baby I love you, I love your body and your period is a part of you, the part that’s going to help me make my babies, so no embarrassment, no hiding it from me.  Hell, I’ll even fuck you when you’re having your period.  Never done it with anyone else but will do it with you, no fuckin’ problem.”

“Diego!”  His baby gasped and he grinned as he kept on stroking her.

She didn’t realise it but he was dead serious.  Nothing about her body or bodily functions put him off, it was all a part of the woman he loved.

“So by Tuesday we’ll know if we’re having a baby or not.  I know you’re going to be busy with your career and with Trace and the guys and that having a baby right now would not be ideal.  But I’d love to have a baby with you whether it’s now or in the future doesn’t matter, as long as we make one together.”

His woman placed a kiss over his heart and whispered the words that made him feel as if he had won the lottery.  “I love you Diego Delgado, so very much.”

Diego kissed her and whispered.  “Heart and soul baby, it’s all yours.”

Jade's insides were still jittery, so jittery she was nervous that Mel would notice and then she would want an explanation.  She could not explain last night to Mel!  She wanted to keep it close to her heart and savour it.  No one had ever spoken to her like that, absolutely no one!  Diego Delgado owned her heart and soul just as she owned his.  Shaking herself mentally she started paying attention to Mel where she was carefully unpacking her treasure trunk.  Now that she was paying attention she realised that she had never seen any of the things that was starting to accumulate on the wide bed she shared with Diego.

“What the hell are all these things Mel?”

Mel looked up from where she was bent over the treasure trunk.  “You need a stage persona that’s in your face sexy on the one hand and completely practical on the other.  I’ve got several options that I’ve quietly been working on for a while now.  Your usual tank top and shorts needs to go, you’re no longer that person Jay-Jay.  You’ve got a badass sex on a stick man and you need to look the part of his woman.  His sexy as sin rock star woman.”  Mel straightened and smiled softly at Jade.  “Sweetie it’s time to move on to the next part of your life, the part where you get to live the good life with a good man.  And even though it grates my last nerve, I now have to admit that Diego Delgado is that man.  You know I haven’t been a fan of the Delgados but I’ve changed my opinion about Diego.  He loves you and you know what they say.”

Jade frowned as Mel started sorting through the clothes.  Wasn’t she going to finish her sentence?

“No I don’t know what they say.  What do they say?”

Mel grinned as she looked up to meet Jade’s eyes.

“They say that once a player falls he falls hard, and that he will love his woman for the rest of his life.   And we both know that Diego Delgado used to be the biggest player we’ve ever heard about.”  Mel’s grin had disappeared to be replaced by a very serious face.  “He loves my girl more than Val ever did and that hurts my heart to say, but it’s true.  Your heart will be safe with Diego, even when he fucks up like with that Maya bitch.”  Mel gave a very creditable little growl.  “I still want to rip that bitch’s freaking fake extensions out of her head!”

“Whoa Mel!”  Jade laughed as she grabbed Mel’s hands.  “We now know what went down with that mix up, so calm down okay.”

Watching her friend swallow back her anger Jade pointed at the pile of clothes on the bed.  “Let’s rather concentrate on finding the most amazing outfit to wear for the after party.  I’m going to have to dress up to even be a blip on the radar in the room.  Astrid showed me the guest list and there are some seriously gorgeous women invited to the after party, some that my dog of a boyfriend has intimate knowledge of.  And you can bet my stinky drum shoes they are going to make a beeline for Diego.”  Jade snarled as she contemplated the coming party.  Mel’s sneaky laughter ripped her out of her thoughts.

“Game on girlfriend!  You leave it with Sally and me.  You have to get to the sound check right now anyway.  We’ll take care of getting a drool worthy outfit ready for you.”

Jade didn’t know if it was a wise thing to leave Mel in full control of her clothes or not but she had to get to sound check and she trusted Mel to at least not dress her like a rock slut.  At least not too much of a rock slut!

The stadium was a hive of activity.  A very large merchandise stand was set up right outside the main entrance to the stadium and the guys and girls were working feverishly to have it ready for the early arrivals that would come through the turnstiles hours before the show started.  There were food vendors, beverage vendors, all working to be ready for the crowds.  Jade took it all in as they swept over the stadium in a wide circle before coming down to land in the heavily secured area set aside for helicopters.  Theirs wouldn’t be the only one arriving tonight.

The sound check went down without any major problems.  Trace was happy with his sound and if he was happy the rest of the band was happy.  He was a pain in the ass perfectionist where the band’s sound was concerned which was why they used the same team at every single concert big or small.

Using the hours before they had to leave for the stadium to laze around the roof top pool would have been great if it wasn’t for the damn helicopters buzzing the building when they least expected it.

Astrid had them all gathered in the dining room an hour before they were due to leave.  She had organised a delicious spread that they nibbled on.  None of them overloaded on the food, they just nibbled.  Overloading would lead to sluggishness which would affect their performance.  All of them were filled with nervous energy as LA was an important gig for them.

They were surrounded by security as they made their way from the helicopter to the stadium and down to the dressing rooms.  They were one floor below the stadium where access could be ruthlessly controlled.  Steele and Diego’s security were very visible everywhere.

Trace grabbed Jade’s ponytail as she followed Tag towards her dressing room stopping her in her tracks.

“Hey!”

“Be ready to blow them away Jay, we’re not taking any prisoners tonight.”  Trace rumbled in that rock voice of his that sent shivers down a girl’s spine as he leant over kissed her cheek then followed the guys into their dressing room.

Her dressing room was a hive of activity.  Mel and Sally were there along with two assistants.  Jade decided to ignore the huge ass butterflies doing some kind of aerial acrobatics in her tummy and sipped the ice cold mineral water one of the assistants had shoved into her hand as soon as she stepped through the door.

“Strip.”  Mel ordered in the voice she had copied from her badass dad, the Colonel.

She stripped.

Jade’s eyes were wide as she looked at herself in the full length mirror.  Her outfit was stunning, more than stunning, it was outrageous.  Mel had found a fabric that simulated leather but wasn’t anything like real leather.  The outfit consisted of pants designed to look like jeans but so tight they fitted like a second skin all the way down to her ankles and they were high cut so no chance of her crack or guava making an unannounced appearance.  The top was as tight and came to her midriff, leaving a band of skin visible.  It looked like a variation on a halter neck nineteen fifties bikini top, only it wasn’t a halter neck.  Straps crisscrossed her back and fastened down both sides with silver buckles, keeping the fabric tight against her body, leaving most of her back bare.  The buckles ran down both sides of her back far enough away from her arms that she wouldn’t scrape against them while playing.  She wasn’t wearing her usual bra because Mel had it built into the top and it was amazingly comfortable.  She did some bends and stretches and grinned when nothing slipped out or moved, even when she jumped around.

She also had new boots.  They were still calf length and flat but they were now fringed and studded to the max.  She was still admiring them when Mel pushed her into a chair in front of the mirror to give Sally a turn.  One of the assistants took her hands and buffed her short nails to a healthy shine while Sally got busy on her face.  Her make-up was heavier than usual and Sally had done something to her ponytail that made it look different as well as trimming the hair floating around her face.  She grinned as Astrid slipped into the dressing room and whistled softly.

“There, I’m all done, now you look like a rock star ready to knock the whole world on its ass.”  Sally grinned.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”  She looked around at the five women who smiled back at her.  “I would not have been able to get through tonight without your support and my new kickass clothes.”

“I’ll just go see if they are ready for us.”  Astrid said and walked out the door.

Jade frowned at a grinning Mel.  “If who is ready for us?”

“Now don’t get pissy Jay-Jay but your Dad wants photographs of the band tonight and he brought in Jacques Peltierre.”  Mel was immediately on the defensive.

“Dad brought in Jake to photograph the band?  Tonight?  Why?  Richie needs to be in the photo, not me.”  Jade was puzzled.

“Part of damage control I suppose.”  Mel shrugged as if it didn’t matter.

Jade sighed and slunk down in the chair.  “I wish this was all over and I was back in the studio with Max.  At least his shit has nothing to do with me.”

Mel didn’t answer, she just fiddled with a black garment bag that Jade had noticed hanging on a hook in the dressing room.

“What’s in the bag?”

“Clothes for the after party.”  Mel mumbled.

Jade had no time to question her as right then the door to the dressing room swung open and Astrid ushered her out and into the other dressing room which was way bigger than hers.  They had couches!

“Holy shit look at you!”  Jimmy prowled around her checking out her new look.

“Damn woman how the hell did you get that shit on?”  RJ asked with raised eyebrows.

“I suspect with help.”  Trace grinned evilly.  “Can we help you take it off later?”

“Not if you like living.”  Jade grinned back as evilly as what he did.

Trace was suddenly dead serious.  “Yeah, I do like living, especially right now.”

The photo session went down easily enough.  Jake was an easy going photographer and had them all laughing as he took his photographs.  He had them lounging on the couches and over each other as he snapped away.  It all faded away for her when Diego stepped into the room, smiling at her as he stood behind Jake, watching him work.  She didn’t expect it but she should have.

“Jake I want some shots of my princess and Diego as well please.”  Her father ordered, and of course they all complied.

Jake didn’t want them on the couch.  He posed them standing together, Diego with an arm around her shoulders and a hand resting on her hip, looking down at Jade as she stood with both her arms around his waist.  Jimmy made some horrid comment and Jade laughed so hard she threw her head back against Diego’s arm that he had tightened around her neck as he smiled devastatingly down at her.  She just heard Jake’s muttered ‘perfect’ as the shutter whirred away on his camera.

And then it was show time.

Nerves skittered through Jade as she made her way across the dark stage, climbing onto the drum stage with Diego and Tag’s help and settling behind the drums.  The crowd roared out there in the gloom as only low lighting lit up the stadium, leaving the stage pitch dark.  As her eyes got used to the dark she could make out RJ, Giv and Jimmy taking their places.

She pushed her foot down hard on the bass drum pedal and the sound reverberated around the stadium, deep and addictive.  She kept up a steady rhythm and the crowd picked it up, clapping, screaming and shouting encouragement.  She suddenly stopped, the stadium went silent as she silently counted then started playing.  She played the first two bars alone and then the guitars were there with her, filling the empty spaces with crashing sound that they built up and up to an impossible high.  Preparing for Trace who ran out as strobe lights lit up the stage.  His voice filled the stadium as he launched straight into their first number with a deep growl.

The song came to an end with the stadium going wild.