Phone Calls From a Rock Star (24 page)

I gave him a grateful smile and relaxed when
he took my hand and Matt draped a casual arm around my
shoulders.

Once we filled our trays, Ronnie’s and
Matt’s overflowing, I looked for an empty table.

“
This way,” Jake ordered
and the others followed. I had no choice but to trail behind them.
He plopped down next to Annie and Cammy with a huge smile. I
stifled a groan and sat next to him. The other guys lined up across
from me, eager to dig into their lunch.

“
Hey, ladies,” Jake
greeted. “Nice to see you both again.”

He proceeded to introduce the others and I
desperately wanted to see Cammy’s face but I focused my attention
on my tray instead. I knew what Jake was trying to do and I didn’t
like it one bit.

“
So Jake,” Annie said. “I
heard a nasty little rumor that you guys and Seth threatened Lance
and Dean last night in the Student Center. Tell me that’s
true.”

Jake shrugged. “I wanted to do a lot more
but I was afraid Iz would have a heart attack. Those little jerks
deserve it, too, for what they’ve put Iz through.”

Matt nodded in agreement, mouth stuffed to
capacity.

Annie leaned past Jake to frown at me. “I’ve
heard a few rumors but I honestly wasn’t aware anyone was giving
her any trouble—except for the twins hassling her a little
bit.”

They were speaking as if I wasn’t even there
and that grated on my nerves. But I wouldn’t speak up, not now. I
didn’t want Annie to reconcile with me only because she felt sorry
for all the stuff happening. I just wanted things to be like it
used to, even though I was beginning to understand it probably
never would.

“
We took care of all that
yesterday,” Jake said. An arrogant smirk flashed across his
face.

“
But you girls can let us
know if any of Lance’s sheep mess with her again,” Nick said with a
mouth full of food.

I heaved a disgusted sigh. “Chew, Nick”.

He opened his mouth wide to give me a better
look. Ugh. Thanks. He closed it again and winked. I glared fiercely
until he dropped his head in shame.

“
Sorry, Iz,” he
pouted.

“
So what are you guys
really doing here?” Annie asked. “You wouldn’t believe the rumors
circulating.”

“
Any of them any good?”
Matt asked.

“
Not really. My favorite is
that Jake and Bella eloped and you’re all here to move her to their
new house in town.”

Ronnie loved it. He laughed so hard tears
formed in his eyes.

“
Idiots,” he declared.
“Don’t they know we’d never move her? We’d hire someone to do
that.”

I rolled my eyes and rested
my forehead on Jake’s arm. He squeezed my hand under the table, and
I took that moment to discreetly scan the cafeteria. Lance and his
crowd were blatantly ignoring us while Kimberly, who’d been
attached to his hip last night, sat at a table across the room with
the twins. Most everyone else, who had mercilessly taunted me for
the past couple of weeks, suddenly tried to catch my eye to offer
me a smile. All they needed was a little encouragement and they’d
come rushing over so they could meet the band. Not that they’d get
it from me. Not at all. I’m not usually the type of person who
considers herself better than others but at that moment, I was
giddy over the power I felt when I’d suddenly become
the
person to
know.

When people began filtering out of the
cafeteria, I jumped to my feet and emptied my tray in the trash.
I’d hardly touched a thing and Jake noticed.

“
I thought you were going
to eat?” he asked, his beautiful eyes hard.

“
Jake,” I pleaded. “I can’t
eat right now. My stomach is nothing but a big ball of
nerves.”

He looked at me for a minute and sighed. He
rubbed my arms briskly. “Fine, but I’m taking you to dinner
tonight. Off campus. And you will eat.”

I stepped closer, wide smile on my face.
“Are you taking me to Burger Kastle?”

“
Nope,” he grinned. “I’ll
take you somewhere nice. It’ll be like a date. Our first date.
How’s that sound?”

I blushed at the thought while my heart
stirred. “Do we have to take Ronnie, Nick and Matt?”

He laughed and kissed my forehead. “No.
We’ll give them a pocket full of quarters and send them to the
arcade.”

“
Well then I
accept.”

He dipped his head and captured my lips with
his. He planted a lingering, pulse-pounding kiss on me that drowned
out the entire world around me. Cammy finally came out of her
stupor.

“
I knew it! I knew they
would hook up someday,” she exclaimed.

Jake smiled against my lips and pulled away
slowly. His eyes remained on me as he spoke. “It took her awhile
but she’s so worth the wait.”

We finished the tour with the Arts building,
and the guys climbed all over the stage, checked out the seating
and inspected the sound system.

“
We need to bring our sound
guys in here,” Nick said, furrowing his brow in concentration. “But
it looks cool. It could work.”

“
Hang on,” I said holding
up my hands. “Are you really going to do a concert
here?”

Jake leaned against the stage and smiled at
me. “Of course.”

“
You mean, you didn’t make
that whole thing up just to come down here and threaten
Lance?”

“
Nope,” Ronnie said as he
jumped off the stage. “Well, it started out that way, but we
decided why not? It’ll be fun. Our first charity thing.”

“
This is so cool,” I
muttered. Jake grabbed my arm and tugged me to his body. I kissed
him lightly on the lips, afraid for much more. I still hadn’t
recovered from the kiss he’d laid on me in the
cafeteria.

“
If this tour is over, we
need to get back to the Admin building,” Jake said, rubbing my
back. “Fletcher said you could take us to town this afternoon, but
I want to make sure he’ll let me have you for the
evening.”

“
When are you guys
leaving?” I asked, not really wanting to hear the
answer.

“
The bus is picking us up
at six in the morning,” Jake muttered in my hair.

I swallowed back my tears and nodded, afraid
to speak for a moment. “Um, well, I’ll take you back to Admin and
change my clothes. I’ll meet you in the parking lot.”

As we left the building, Jake squeezed my
hand and leaned close to my ear. “Hey, how about a quick bite to
eat and then a movie? I…um…didn’t bring anything appropriate to
wear to take you somewhere fancy.”

“
Perfect,” I smiled. My
heart fluttered frantically, and I couldn’t wait to be all alone
with him again.

I caught up with them in the parking lot
where they were sitting on my car, Nick drumming on the roof. I
tossed Jake the keys and climbed inside. I directed them to the
hotel, and after they checked in, I went with Jake to drop his
stuff in his room.

His cell rang and I explored his room while
he spoke quietly to his manager. There wasn’t much to see as the
hotel wasn’t exactly fancy, so I crawled on the bed while I waited
for him to finish his call. I sighed and wished I could spend the
night curled up in his arms.

“
You okay, Iz?” he asked
when he ended his call.

“
Yeah. I was just trying to
figure out a way to stay the night with you. I miss sleeping with
you.” My cheeks burned the whole time I spoke, but I didn’t really
care.

Jake sat next to me and wrapped an arm
around my shoulders. “I miss it, too.”

Turning to him, I hurled my body at him,
flinging my arms around his neck. I crashed my lips with his and
straddled him. He gripped my hips tightly, his lips moving under
mine, and somehow managed to flip us so that he was hovering over
me. I moved my hands to his shirt and unbuttoned it with my
trembling fingers. His chest was beautiful, strong and hard, and I
couldn’t keep my hands off of it.

His mouth left mine to trail kisses down my
chin and throat. Every inch of skin he touched burned, and I
shuddered. I held him tighter and urged his lips back to mine. He
complied and kissed me enthusiastically, fingers tangling in my
hair. I had to disengage my mouth to gasp for air as did he, and we
stared into each other eyes. His breath was as ragged and as uneven
as mine and I reached for him again.

But he pulled away.

“
What’s wrong?” I
asked.

He sat up and ran his hands through his
hair. “Nothing, Iz. We just need to stop.”

I scooted next to him, heart still hammering
wildly in my chest. “Jake, why do you keep putting me off? Don’t
you want me?”

He cupped my cheek and smiled softly. “I’m
not putting you off, and I do want you. Very much. But I don’t want
it to happen in some cheesy hotel room. I’d rather it happen when
we have plenty of time, when we’re totally alone and you can spend
the entire night with me.”

“
I can figure out a way to
stay with you tonight,” I whispered hoarsely.

He chuckled and kissed me. “I think they’d
notice when you don’t return to school—especially because you left
with four guys.”

“
Fine,” I mumbled, jutting
my lower lip.

He squeezed me to his side as he kissed the
top of my head. “You ready to go?”

“
Jake, can we just stay
here, order room service and watch a movie?” I asked, loving the
brilliant idea that just came to me. He eyed me suspiciously. “I
promise to keep my hands to myself.”

His face relaxed, and he pressed his lips to
my temple. “You don’t have to keep your hands totally to yourself.
But if you’d rather hang out here with me, then yeah, we’ll do
that.”

We ordered food, and I ate every bite under
Jake’s watchful eye, then flipped through the pay-per-view movie
menu until we found something we both liked. Jake propped up the
pillows near the headboard and I snuggled into his arms, resting my
cheek on his chest, as we watched the movie.

All too soon, 9:30 approached and Jake held
my coat for me. “You have to be back by ten, and I don’t want you
to be late.”

I reluctantly allowed Jake to help me with
my coat and escort me to my car. “I don’t think I’ll get to see you
until after the tour ends in three weeks.”

My heart fell.

“
And then what?” I
whispered.

He held my chin while a slow smile spread
across his face. “Then I’ll be in Chicago for a while, and I’d like
it if you came and spent a weekend with me. I want you to meet my
dad and my sister.”

My heart flew to the moon and back.

“
I’d like that,” I
said.

He dipped his head and pressed his lips to
mine. I grabbed his jacket as my eyes fluttered shut.

“
Goodnight, Iz,” he
whispered, pecking me on the cheek. “Be good and call me if you
need anything.”

I drove back to school, convincing the tears
in my eyes not to fall—I’d see him soon. After I checked in with
Admin, I trudged back to my room and gasped as I stood in the
doorway.

“
Hey, Bella,” Cammy said
from her position on my bed. Annie looked up and smiled, grabbing a
handful of popcorn from the bowl between them. She turned her
attention back to the movie and left me speechless.

To use my newly acquired, still developing
potty mouth, what the hell?

Chapter Eighteen

“
Um…” I stammered, closing
the door, my befuddled mind trying to grasp the scene before me.
“What’s up?”

“
We thought we’d watch a
movie,” Annie said, eyes on the TV. “Want to join us?”

“
Sure,” I shrugged, still
too freaked out to do much else. I hung up my coat and dragged my
desk chair next to the bed. They were watching
Prisoner of Azkaban
, which was one
of my favorites, and it was nearly over. I sat quietly as the
melodramatic scene played out before my eyes, though I hardly took
heed. I tried to gauge their moods; read their body language. They
had the pillows propped against the headboard, giant bowl of
popcorn between them. Their legs were stretched out on the bed and
crossed at the ankles.

When the credits rolled across the screen,
Annie turned the television off and faced me.

“
I’m really sorry I didn’t
realize what was going on with you, Bella.”

I jumped to my feet and shook my head, my
ponytail swinging left and right. “No, Annie. Don’t you dare
reconcile with me out of pity. I said some awful things and treated
you both like crap. I don’t deserve an easy forgiveness.”

Annie crawled off the bed and stood in front
of me. “Maybe, but we certainly didn’t do much when you were with
Lance and partying too much. We’re to blame also.”

“
I am responsible for my
own actions. I realize how stupid I was and how I let Lance talk me
into stuff,” I said as I hung my head. “You tried to tell me but I
didn’t listen.”

“
Yes, you are responsible
for your own actions. But any good friend would have tried
harder.”

“
Yeah, but…”

“
Oh, stop it,” Cammy
ordered. She crept to the end of the bed and glared at us both.
“Stop it right now. We’re all to blame so can we just apologize and
forgive each other?”

Annie and I both gazed at each other and
nodded. Smiling, Cammy clapped before springing from the bed to hug
us both. “Oh, this is so much better!”