Hard Rock Unrehearsed (28 page)

Standing in the doorway to the bedroom she watched as he slowly walked over to her, took her hand and drew her to the table.  She opened her mouth to speak but he placed a finger over her mouth and she shut it.  Waiting for him to tell her what he had planned.

“Please sit baby.  I arranged a dinner for just the two of us.  Tag has the night off and has gone out.  He said to tell you that he will be back in the morning in time for your workout.”  Diego said softly.

Jade could do nothing but nod as she sat down in the chair that Diego held for her.  She watched him as he walked over to the serving trolley she had missed seeing and pushed it over to the table.  Placing one of the covered dishes in front of her he warned softly.  “Careful baby, it’s hot.”  Then lifted the lid and revealed one of her favourite dishes to her shocked eyes.  Chicken and dumplings!  It looked and smelt exactly the way it did when Letty made it.  Letty had made it for a house full of shocked and bereaved children and a man who had lost the woman who had made life worthwhile.  Already middle aged at the time Letty had retired when Jade was seventeen and lived in a small house on the vast Galloway estate, never far away if anyone needed her.  She filled the role of the Grandmother none of them had ever had.

“How did you know?”  She whispered as she looked up at her smiling man.

He shrugged.  “I called your Dad who told me to call Letty.  I did.”

Jade laughed.  “Babe no way would Letty just give you this recipe, she’s a dragon when it comes to her recipes.”

Laughter glinted in his eyes as he answered.  “I had to promise a bunch of stuff baby but it was no hardship to do.  I was onboard with most of it already.”

Riddles, the man was speaking in riddles!  Watching him as he sat down opposite her at the small table she breathed in deeply and the aroma of the food, the candles and flowers mingled as she drew it deep into her lungs.  Reaching across the table Diego took her hand in his, rubbing a thumb across the back as he looked at her.

“Eat baby.”

She fell on the food like a ravenous animal.  It tasted so good!  She was amazed when she cleaned her plate without any problems, she usually didn’t finish the food on her plate.  Diego cleared the table, setting the plates in the kitchen and returning with two small plates filled with huge slices of dark chocolate cake with swirly cream icing.  Heaven!  Diego pulled his chair right up next to hers, sat down and held her hand as they ate their cake.  His eyes were on her almost all the time, only glancing down when he forked up a piece of cake.  She wasn’t finished when he pushed both their plates to the centre of the table and held her hands in his looking deep into her eyes.  His beautiful eyes glittered in the candle light.

“Baby I don’t have a lot of flowery shit to say to you, only that I love you more than I ever thought it possible to love a woman.  I want to marry you and I want to make babies with you.”  He pulled one hand from hers, reached into his pocket and withdrew a little red velvet box.  With his thumb he flipped the lid open and a flash of light revealed the ring as he put it down on the table and pushed the little box towards her with his forefinger.  “I got you the dress, the shoes, the candles, the flowers, the dinner and lastly the ring, which I hope like fuck you like.  Marry me baby.”

Staring open mouthed down at the most beautiful ring she had ever seen Jade was speechless.  Silence stretched between them as she stared at the ring.  Diego’s voice brought her back.

“Baby?  Do you have an answer for me or are you going to sit there saying nothing for the rest of the fuckin’ night?”

Her man was getting a bit testy while waiting.  Reaching out she took the box and held it in the palm of her hand then she held it out to Diego.

“Put it on me please.”  She had hardly whispered the words when the box was out of her palm and the ring was on her finger.  It was a perfect fit and so beautiful.  Diego held her hand as she kept staring at her kickass ring.  The diamond was big, but not so big as to be ostentatious, it was set in a wide platinum band and flanked by two smaller baguette cut diamonds on either side.  The ring was so her!  No high rise knuckleduster in sight!  Her beautiful man was a genius.  Smiling up at her man she leant towards him put her palm to his cheek and kissed him softly.

“Yes babe, of course I’ll marry you.”  She whispered against his lips.

Diego yanked her out of her chair and onto his lap, kissing her deeply while her hands grabbed onto his shoulders then slid up into his hair.  Still kissing her he rose with her in his arms and walked them into their room laying her down in the middle of the bed and covering her body with his.

Lifting his head to leave a tiny space between their lips he whispered.  “Soon baby, promise me it will be soon.”

Staring up into his eyes she whispered back.  “Okay babe.  When you get back from the tour we can set a date.”

But her man shook his head.  “Uh-uh, no baby, not waiting that long.  Tomorrow we set the date then you and Mel start planning the shit you need to plan.  You tell me where I have to be and I’ll be there.”

Grinning Jade teased.  “Babe I’ll need you to make some of the decisions with me.”

Her man shook his head while a tiny smile kicked up at the side of his mouth.

“Nope, not getting involved in that shit baby.  You have the vagina therefore you do all of that shit.  I told you, you tell me where you want me to be on the day and I’ll be there.  The only thing you will leave to me is the honeymoon, I’ve got that.”

“You telling me you aren’t going to get involved in any of the preparations?”

“Yip, that’s exactly what I’m telling you.”  Diego grinned.  “I’m a badass macho man baby, we don’t do wedding planning shit.”

Throwing her head back against the cushions Jade laughed so hard tears ran from her eyes.  But her man changed her laughter into gasps of pleasure as he proceeded to show her how much he loved her.

And he loved her one hell of a lot.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

A strange sense of emptiness swirled inside her as she stood in front of the mirrors in the dressing room realising that this would be the last time she would go out with Storm Front as their drummer.  Over the weeks the guys had become like family and she was going to miss them.  She would miss their jokes, their unswerving support when the shit hit the fan and the way they made it seem as if it wasn’t a big deal.  But it was making music with them that she was going to miss the most.  Pulling a face at herself in the mirror she turned away.  That was enough of that!  She would be working with them when they got back from Europe, so it was all good.

“You look hot tonight sweet thing.”  Mel teased.

“It’s all your doing.  If Diego has a shit fit about this I’m sending him straight to you.  At least my guava is safe from exposure.”  She laughed as Mel pretended to be shaking in her shoes.

“He’s not going to have a shit fit at all.  He will throw all of us out of the dressing room and bang you like a drum against the wall if he sees you before you go on.”  Sally smirked.

Jade grinned as she looked down at herself.  “That’s a distinct possibility.  The man likes my muscles.”  Looking back up at her friends she shook her head.  “I don’t know when his taste in women changed from tits and ass to muscled female drummers but I’m definitely not complaining.”

Mel made an impatient sound with her tongue.  “Don’t be stupid.  The man has always watched you like he wanted to gobble you up.  You just never noticed.”

Before she could answer the dressing room door opened and the man they had been discussing walked in, only to go rock solid as his eyes took her in.  Mel and Sally sneaked by him with knowing smirks, closing the door behind them.

“Baby, holy shit!”  He muttered softly as he moved towards her with blazing eyes.  He got right into her, melding their bodies together.  “If you didn’t have to get out there right now I would have had you up against the wall with your legs around my waist in a fuckin’ second.  But seeing as you have to get out there we’ll leave that for later.  I brought you something baby.”  He whispered, his voice rough and deep.

Only then did Jade notice the flat rectangular gift box in his hand.  He didn’t give her a chance to get a word out before he ripped the red ribbon from around the black box and opened it.  A platinum chain glittered against the black velvet, not so short as to be a choker, just a teensy bit longer, the chain wasn’t thick but it wasn’t thin either.  It was a chain worthy of a badass rock star.  Taking the chain Diego dropped the box on the counter behind her, took her left hand in his free hand then drew her ring from her finger.  He kissed her suddenly very naked finger slid the ring onto the chain and fastened it around her neck. Turning her towards the mirror he stood behind her with both arms wrapped around her, drawing her back against his chest.

“You don’t take it off baby, you play with it around your neck, later I’ll slide my ring back on your finger where it belongs.  My chain will stay around your neck.”

Jade lifted a hand to run a finger over the chain that kept her ring safe while she played.  Her man was a possessive badass but he was still the best!

“I love it babe.”  She whispered as she looked into his eyes in the mirror.

“Good.  I’ll see you later.”

With that he kissed her on both sides of her neck and like the ninja badass that he was he whooshed out of the dressing room between one blink of an eye and the next.

The stadium was in an uproar!  The fans were screaming for more but after four encores Storm Front was done.  They had given everything they had to give to their hometown fans and even though they were on an incredible high they were tired, worn out after the long weeks of being on the road.  They wanted to get to their dressing room, get cleaned up and meet with their family and friends at the after party.  With a final wave they left the stage.  Backstage was pandemonium with those who had passes mobbing them as they came off stage, thankfully Diego’s crew was there to get them through and into the dressing rooms.

Knowing that they would be sleeping in their own homes and that they didn’t have to get on another plane for the next three weeks had the guys ready to party hard and finding a woman and blowing off some steam would definitely make it even better.  They were looking forward to having Richie back but they would miss Jay.  With anyone else the weeks without Richie behind the drums would have been a painful experience.  With Jay filling his chair it had been a learning experience.  Working with her had been an unexpected pleasure.

The after party was rocking and looked to be a great success but Diego was having a hard time controlling his temper.  Looking over the laughing crowd from the doorway Diego found his woman standing next to Trace talking to someone who was far too interested in her.  He cursed his job tonight.  He had to keep circulating, checking in with Steele and his crew as they were battling to keep the party crashers out.  These fuckin’ women were relentless!  They wanted a piece of Storm Front ass and they would do anything to get it.  And when he said anything that’s exactly what he meant.  He could no longer count how many times he had been offered various sexual positions to let some woman into the party.  He was losing his patience.  He wanted to be standing next to his woman, not listening to some whacked out skank propositioning him so she could get into the party!  Jerking his head to one of his crew to remove the bitch in front of him he started to move around her when she grabbed his junk.

“What the fuck?”  Diego snarled as he ripped the woman’s hand off him and shoved her at Pete.  “Get this fuckin’ bitch out of here.  She gets put on the sidewalk and if anyone lets her in they are fired.”

Pete nodded and started dragging her away.

“Oh come on!  Your dick is hard.  You want what I’m offering.  I’ll give you anything you want, just get me to Trace.”  She begged while fighting against Pete dragging her out fluttering her black mascara caked eyelashes at him.  Good God she was hideous!

“Get a fuckin’ clue bitch.  My woman is inside looking like a fuckin’ wet dream which is the reason I’ve been hard as fuckin’ stone the whole fuckin’ night.  Your scrawny fuckin’ skank ass won’t even get a twitch so get the fuck out of here and if I see you again I’ll have you fuckin’ arrested.”  With that Diego had had enough and he stalked back into the venue where his woman waited.

He was collecting his woman and dragging her out of here.  They had yet to make the formal announcement of their engagement so she wasn’t wearing his ring on her finger.  Which led to every dick in the room hitting on her and it was driving him slowly out of his mind.  He wanted to let the fuckin’ world know that she belonged to him and the sooner he could get it done the better.  As he neared Trace and his woman his blood boiled as the asshole talking to them dared to lay a hand on his woman’s waist, trying to draw her to him.  He was going to fuckin’ kill him!  He lengthened his stride as Jade took the fuckers’ hand off her waist and turned to Trace with anger in her eyes.  The fucker didn’t back off and then Diego was next to him.

“Get your fuckin’ hand off my woman or lose it at the elbow.”  He hissed viciously.

The fucker backed off immediately and Diego slid an arm around Jade pulling her into his side.  She didn’t resist and came into him, softening into his side.  Bending his head he looked down at her, his woman looked up at him with a tiny smile curving one side of her mouth.

“Took you long enough to come and rescue me babe.”  Jade teased.

“First had to get rid of fuckloads of fuckin’ skanks promising to suck off anyone who would get them into the party.   Then I had to reorganise to get my own crew on the doors.   It kept me from being with my baby when that was all I wanted.”  Diego looked up and his eyes swept the room.  He saw Michael and Astrid talking to his parents and he immediately drew Jade away from Trace and his group to make their way over to them.  He wasn’t waiting another fuckin’ minute.  They had only told Tag, Mel and Sally their news as they would have noticed the ring that Jade had refused to take off until he had slid it onto the chain around her neck.

“We have news.”  Diego growled as he stopped next to Michael.

The air around the group went electric as they all glanced down at Jade’s belly.

“Not that people, jeez!”  Jade whispered while glancing furtively around.

Dropping his hand into the high collar of her shirt Diego drew the chain slowly from its hiding place, exposing his ring to the four people watching before settling it back down into his woman’s shirt.  Diego had to grin at the way Michael snatched his baby girl out of his arms.  He enfolded her in his arms whispering in her ear as he hugged her.  He had scarcely let her go when Luis was there and did the same followed by hugs from Astrid and Carina.  He saw that the hugging and kisses were drawing the attention of some of the invited journalists and he warned them off with a heavy frown.  No one would be allowed near his family right now, it was their moment to have.

“Have you set a date princess?”  Michael asked softly.

“No, we’ll do that tomorrow when we can sit down and compare schedules.  Diego leaves for Europe with Storm Front in three weeks time and I have about a week before I start recording again.  So all we know at this time is that it will most probably happen when Diego gets back from Europe.”

Suddenly Carina got all excited babbling to Luis and Diego in Italian.  Diego was shaking his head but his mother rattled on.  Then shushing both of them she turned to Jade with a big smile.  “You marry in Italy, at my family home.  It will be beautiful.  I know that the tour finishes in London so when everyone flies home to America Luis and Diego fly to Italy and we have a wedding.  A beautiful wedding in my family’s chapel.  Diego is the only grandson and it will make my father very happy to have him marry at his home.”

“Wow!  I’m not sure what else to say.  Can we talk about this tomorrow?” His woman asked softly.  “Dad can you delay your flight until tomorrow evening?  I’d like you to be there.”

Michael Galloway smiled down at his princess and nodded.  “We’ll be there princess.  You’re going to need Astrid to help you plan this shindig anyway.”

“Great!   So let’s say lunch tomorrow.”

With that Diego had had enough.  Drawing Jade tighter into him he dipped his head at his father who grinned at his impatience.  “We’re leaving.  We’ll say our goodbyes to the others on our way out.”

“What about the security Diego?”  Luis asked with a teasing glint in his eyes.

“Steele’s in charge.  Anything you need talk to him or Pete.”

With that he drew his woman away and led her towards the exit.  He had already organised a car and security to wait for them at the back of the hotel.  He wasn’t taking any chances.

He only relaxed once he had his woman in the back of the Hummer behind darkened windows safe from the paparazzi’s lenses.  He knew that this would be his life from now on but he didn’t care.  He was proud of her, she had an enormous talent and he wanted her to explore that talent fully.  What he hated about it was the fact that they would always have to be vigilant, on their guard against those who would want to exploit their relationship for their own five minutes of fame.

The one thing that set him at ease was that he was in the business of keeping celebrities safe and this one celebrity had now become his company’s top priority.  She would be safe.  He knew she was going to get pissed off about the extra security but he didn’t care.  Tag would not be her sole protector while he was away travelling with the guys in Europe.  He’d already tagged two of his crew to report to Tag in the morning.

Drawing his woman against his chest he felt her go boneless as she fell asleep in his arms.  It had been a very long and very physical night for her.  All he had wanted at the end of the night was to get her home, showered and into bed, which he had managed without one complaint from his woman.  His impatient cock could wait until morning when he could look down into his baby's eyes and see no tiredness marring the brightness of those beautiful eyes.  God he loved her, more than he had ever realised and he knew that love would grow to rule the way he lived his life, and he didn't care.

The most important part of him was right here in his arms and he finally felt complete.  Grimacing at that fucked up sissy thought he closed his eyes and clasped his woman to his chest where she belonged.

Where she had always belonged and where she would be for the rest of their lives.

Right there against his heart.

*****

Thank you for reading the first novel in the
Hard Rock
series.  If you'd like to post a review I would appreciate it.  Your reviews help other readers know if they might enjoy the story.  The second book in the series
will be available soon.  Thanks again.

René Van Dalen