Rock Hard Envy - Part 2 (3 page)

“Maybe we’ll all end up back at James’ nudie pool,” I said and regretted it almost immediately as Josie began to lose her mind.

“That would be fucking awesome!” she all but shouted. I put my hand on hers as our salads arrived.

“Down, girl,” I told her as the waitress set down our salads and gave us the eye as if she was a school teacher and we were her boisterous students. As she left, Josie and I burst out laughing and a few people at nearby tables turned to look at the two young girls having a giggle-fest and generally making asses of
themselves. That made us laugh even more.

~~~

By Saturday, I was longing to see James. I regretted leaving as I did and actually felt kind of childish for it. James was a rock star and I’d already seen women flirt with him when we were out. He wasn’t Brad Pitt and recognized everywhere we went, but even a heavy metal rocker got recognized…a lot. I did trust him. I knew how he felt about Sylvia. He loved her, or at least thought he did, at one time but that was a long time ago. He had moved on and Sylvia was part of his old life. I just wasn’t sure Sylvia felt the same way.

I almost chickened out and wore something less revealing. I’d found a sequined top that plunged between my breast and left my back bare. I didn’t have any cleavage to speak of with my small breasts, but it still felt like too much, or rather not enough. In addition to that, I wore a tight, clingy skirt but decided to forgo stockings instead wearing leather knee boots on four-inch heels to complete the outfit. I was able to wear panties, black satin, but the top left me braless. Josie was the only reason I finally went out like that.
She all but begged me and kept telling me how hot I looked.

For her part, Josie wore her tiny, stretchy white dress and rocked it. The neckline plunged down past her ample cleavage and her long, shapely legs were nearly completely exposed. She dared me to join her in going out sans panties, but I wasn’t that brave just yet. We’d spent the afternoon at the salon treating ourselves to manicures and getting our hair trimmed, but we styled our own hair and did our own makeup back at our apartment making it a girl’s afternoon. Just as we were finishing up, James showed up. Josie
answered the door, blushing and giggling, still not used to my rock star boyfriend showing up at her home.

“Well, don’t you look hot, Josie,” James told my roommate in his deep, resonate voice and then hugged Josie and kissed her cheek causing even more giggles. James looked up and smiled at me and I smiled back as Josie looked like she might faint. “And you, little girl, look absolutely stunning,” James said as he came to me, took me in his arms and bent me backwards. He held me there in his strong, tattooed arms for a moment and growled. Damn, that growl always made me wet. Then he kissed me, keeping his tongue to himself much to my dismay. When he pulled me back to my feet, Josie was watching us with stars in her eyes.

“That is so romantic,” she said and then sighed. James rolled his eyes and chuckled.

“C’mon, we’d better leave. The band’s probably already at the club,” James said as he gathered us up and led us out to his truck. Getting in was quite the adventure even with the power steps. Josie was rethinking her bright idea of not wearing panties but I knew better. Besides, panties never seemed to pose much of a barrier to James. Josie sat in the back seat and I was in front. James cranked the stereo and his massive tires barked as he sped out of our apartment complex. He was showing off his baby to my roommate, who was appropriately impressed, but the effect wasn’t lost on me either. Big men in big trucks made this small town girl swoon too.

I had to admit that I was feeling rather special sitting up front in James’ pickup. I wasn’t out to make Josie jealous, but I knew she was and I kind of enjoyed it. I was dating a rock star and it was pretty awesome. We found our way to the club, a kitschy place in Hollywood that catered to celebrities. James and the rest of Battery could likely get in anyway, but James knew the owner - he seemed to know everyone – so the band was always treated like VIPs. Lots of regular people got in to the club too, but they were screened at the door and only those deemed hip and/or beautiful enough made it through the doors.

The crowd went nuts as James,
Josie and I got out of his truck and James handed the valet a hundred dollar bill. They snapped pictures and called James’ name as well as mine. It wasn’t a secret anymore that I was dating James. All the tabloids and websites had reported on our budding relationship. James prepared me for it but this was crazy. I waved nervously as the crowd treated me, and even Josie, as if we were famous in our own right. James laughed at my awkwardness but it was Josie that made us both laugh. She was posing for pictures and blowing kisses to the crowd. We grabbed her after a few moments and dragged her inside. I guess if you acted like a star in L.A., people would treat you like one.

We walked right in past the waiting crowd and I enjoyed the star treatment. Inside the club was loud and crowded but not to the point of being uncomfortable. The walls
were covered in beads and fabric, the floor in elaborate carpet. Instead of tables and chairs, the place was littered with short wooden tables surrounded by pillows and cushions. It was dark and moody with hallways that snaked into the darkness beyond to private rooms I assumed. The place looked more like an opium den, or at least how I would picture one, than a nightclub. Josie was already pointing out celebrities. The young pro golfer, the aging but still cool actor and his young wife, the pop star I wasn’t sure was old enough to be here and the woman Josie claimed was a porn star. How she knew that, I didn’t know and I’m not sure I wanted to.

However, overshadowing them all were the other three members of Battery lounging in a pile of pillows around a big round table. Tommy, the tall and lanky lead guitarist with the spiky black hair was indulging in the fondue. Chad, the bass player with the big black glasses and
bald head, was talking with his wife, Anna. He was the only member of the band who was married. Benny, the drummer with the wavy blond hair, broad chest and muscular arms, was chatting up one of the fans that had made it into the club, a pretty young girl wearing less than Josie but with the body of a teenage boy.

“You’re late, Jimmy boy,” Tommy called out as we approached. The others greeted us too and James introduced Josie. She was welcomed into the small group as if she’d always been a part of it, just as I was when James introduced me to the band in San Francisco. However, it was Tommy that seemed to take more than a passing interest in my roommate.

“Come sit next to me,” Tommy said to Josie who looked as if she was about to faint.

“Um, OK,” Josie said, unusually speechless.

“Josie’s a little star struck. She loves you guys,” I told them.

“We’re used to it,” Chad said and his wife nodded.

“I remember when I met Chad the first time. I think I almost wet my pants,” Anna told me. James and I laughed as he sat and pulled me down next to him on a pile of soft pillows and cushions behind the table so we could survey the club. Anna and Chad had been married since before James met Sylvia. I’d met Anna a couple of weeks back and she was amazingly grounded. James had told me she kept Chad in line and out of too much trouble. She was a pretty redhead with fair skin and bright green eyes. I really liked her.

“Simone hated me when we met,” James joked.

“I didn’t hate you. I didn’t like you very much but hate is a strong word,” I defended myself playfully.

“It didn’t last long though,
did it?” Anna observed. I smiled and begged James to drape his arm around me with my eyes.

“No, it didn’t,” I said as James hugged me close. We ordered drinks, Italian sparkling water for James and I, and white wine for Josie. We indulged in the finger foods that occupied the center of the table, chatted about life in general and enjoyed the warmth and atmosphere of the club. It was loud and crowded but somehow still intimate. I could get used to this. I’d never really experienced anything like this back home in
Idaho or when I was in school at USC. Sure, I went to clubs but nothing like this and never with celebrities. I could see how this could go to a girl’s head.

A few fans asked for autographs and the pro golfer, a young man from Ireland with bushy hair and a thick accent came over to say hello. James and the band all played golf and Tommy played especially well. The golfer, named Rory, loved Battery’s music. James promised him tickets to a show and the golfer invited the band to play a round with him on his home course in Florida when they were in the area. It was so familiar on one hand, a bunch of friends hanging out, talking and laughing, but on the other hand, it was so surreal to be casually chatting with people you might see on TV, the movies or on stage.
Even more so when Josie and Tommy started making out.

“You’re roommate is corrupting my lead guitarist,” James pointed out. I’d already been watching the show.

“I’d say that it was the other way around, but I doubt it. Josie’s a bad influence,” I said loud enough for her to hear.

“We can hear you, you know,” she said as she finally stopped kissing on Tommy and turned to look at us. Tommy looked star struck now, his eyes glazed over with a stupid smile on his face.

“Yep, Josie corrupted him,” I said agreeing with James. Tommy laughed.

“I like your friend,
Sim,” Tommy said. He called almost everyone by a nickname and hardly ever the same one twice.

“I can see that,” I replied but Tommy’s goofy grin turned to a frown suddenly.

“Here comes trouble,” Tommy said and Josie and I turned to see Sylvia walking towards us in a red sequined halter top, black leather hot pants and red stilettos.

“Sylvia?” Josie asked me as James’ ex-wife approached. I nodded as I watched Sylvia wedge herself next to James and smile at me with an evil look in her eyes.

“Fancy meeting all of you here,” the bitch said as she called the hostess over to order herself a drink.

~4~

The whole mood immediately went into the dumps when Sylvia showed. Anna must’ve seen the way I reacted and she nodded towards the bathroom. We excused ourselves but instead Anna led me to a private room down one of the twisting hallways. “What the hell is she doing here?” I asked as soon as we were alone.

“That’s typical Sylvia. You need to get her away from James,” Anna told me.

“So I’m not just imagining things?” I asked wondering if my worries about James’ ex-wife were legitimate.

“No! Sylvia isn’t
all bad, but she’s never gotten over James. Technically, Sylvia left James but he wasn’t happy anymore. He effectively left her behind when he stopped drinking. She’s never gotten over that. She keeps her distance most of the time, but I suspect that her sudden appearance isn’t a coincidence. It’s common knowledge that you and James are a couple. I’d bet she’s here to break you and James up,” Anna explained. That’s exactly the feeling I got when I met her. She seemed to be trying to get under my skin and cause me to doubt myself. Beyond screwing with me personally, I wondered if she was going after James too.

“I don’t know what to do. I can’t insist James kick her out. It’s his house and they’re friends. I don’t want to alienate him. The worst part is, I think she knows that and she’s using it against me,” I told Anna.

“You bet your ass she knows. She’s not the devil, though you might disagree, but she’s always been a troublemaker. She encouraged James to drink and party even though we all knew he had a problem. She tried to talk him out of rehab. She’s bad news and if she can manage it, you’ll look like the unreasonable one,” Anna said. I slouched as if I was already defeated but Anna had some good news.

“Hey, James really cares for you. He’s over Sylvia. James isn’t going
to just fall for her tricks so you’ve got the upper hand here. Don’t get depressed. You’re young and hot and I can see the way James looks at you. Use that. Beat that bitch at her own game,” Anna said. I looked at myself. I did look pretty hot. I didn’t have the stripper’s body Sylvia did, but my body was all mine.

“You’re right. I’m going to make sure James remembers why he likes me so much,” I said. Anna smiled.

“We’ll take care of Josie if you want to kidnap your boyfriend,” Anna offered. I did want to get James alone and away from Sylvia. Josie was the least of my concerns.

“Something tells me she’s already got a ride,” I replied and Anna giggled. Josie and Tommy were going at it when we left and I had a feeling she was going home with him, or maybe he was going home with her. In any case, Josie wasn’t a worry. I hugged Anna and we went back to the party. Sylvia was hanging all over James. Why was he letting her do that? I wanted to take him aside and scold him for being so insensitive but Anna was right. I needed to use
more positive reinforcement to wrest James from her clutches. If I looked like the insecure, jealous girlfriend, Sylvia would use it against me.

Anna stopped by the bar before she joined us. A moment later, the hostess came over and whispered in Sylvia’s ear. Sylvia screeched, “What do you mean my credit card was denied?”

“Sorry, you’ll have to come to the bar to take care of it. I’m so very sorry,” the woman said. Sylvia huffed and got to her feet. “Right this way,” the hostess said, then turned and winked at Anna who then gave me the thumbs up. Being the wife of a famous rock star apparently had its privileges. I settled next to James and leaned close drawing little circles with my index finger on the black t-shirt stretched over his broad chest.