And why did he just think of Jace as an outsider? He was a part of the band just like the other guys. Just because he’d only been with the band two years…“Do we make you feel like an outsider?” Sed asked.Jace dropped his gaze to the table. After a long moment, he said, “Not exactly.”“If there’s anything I can do—”“Where’s your girlfriend?” he interrupted.“I left her back at the hotel. She pissed me off.” Actually, she’d hurt him, but it pissed him off that she could do it so easily.“You want a ride back?”Sed sighed, annoyed by his own weakness. He should just stay away from her. It would make things easier. He knew she’d lashed out at him because she was hurting. He wasn’t sure how to take that hurt away, but he had to try. “Yeah, if you don’t mind, but I need to do something first.”He pulled his lyrics journal from under the cushion of the bench seat and started to write. It would help to get these feelings out of his head, where they churned incessantly.He labeled the page:
“I heard that, Lionheart,” Trey said. Looking all gloaty, he said into his phone, “Yeah, okay, Dad. Whatever it takes to get me out of this place. The doctors here are quacks.”His physician shook his head and left the room.Jessica couldn’t believe how great Trey looked. His color was back. That spark of orneriness had returned to his emerald eyes. If it weren’t for the staples in the side of his head and the awkward way he held his hands, she could almost imagine he’d never been injured at all.“So is your dad going to get you out of here?” Sed asked, sinking into the chair next to Trey’s bed. He tugged Jessica down to sit on his knee.“Yeah. Thank God.”“You look better today,” Jessica said. “How are you feeling?”“Not bad. My head is sore.”“You’ve always been a sorehead,” Sed quipped.“Fuck you.”“See what I mean?” Sed chuckled. “How are your hands?”Jessica elbowed Sed in the ribs.Trey tucked his hands under the covers self-consciously, his smile fading into a scowl. “They’re g
“You don’t want to stay with me?” Sed asked.“I don’t want to be a pest. Or a mooch.”“You wouldn’t be a pest or a mooch. I want you to stay with me.” He lowered his head to whisper in her ear. “Lots of privacy plus plenty of space equals loads of sensational sex.”She grinned. “Well, if that’s what you have in mind, I’ll have to say yes, I’d like to stay with you in L.A. Well, until Trey recovers and we go back on tour.”Staying at Sed’s apartment was just temporary, so that didn’t mean they were living together. Right? Yeah. Temporary. She added rent money to the growing tab she owed him.“Excellent.” He hugged her and kissed the top of her head. “I can’t wait until you see the place. You’ll love it.”“Don’t get the wrong idea, Sed. This isn’t going to change our relationship. It doesn’t mean we’re serious.”“Being engaged isn’t serious?” Jace asked.Jessica turned to look at him. “What are you talking about?”Jace glanced at Sed and then lowered his gaze to the floor. “Never mind.”
“You’re so tense, baby,” she whispered, kissing his shoulder.Tense? He’d show her tense, but before he could drag her beneath him, she straddled his thighs and began to knead the muscles of his back with a firm, but gentle, massage. She soon had worked him over from shoulders to lower back, turning him into a puddle of flesh, his muscles like melted butter. His dick, squashed beneath him, protested its neglect by throbbing incessantly. God, he was hard, but her hands felt so good he didn’t want her to stop.She leaned over him, her long hair tickling the skin along his spine. She kissed and suckled paths over his back. He twitched and groaned, unsure how much more he could take.When she’d kissed her way to his neck, she whispered into his ear, “Do you want to make love?”He rolled over and tugged her on top of him, seeking her mouth for a feverish kiss. His hands moved to her ass, pressing her pelvis against his so she could feel for herself exactly how much he wanted to make love.
“Damn that’s sexy, baby. Does it feel good?”Her answer was a hoarse cry. She wriggled her finger inside until she stopped shuddering and then pulled it out, redistributing her weight on both hands again. He eased out of her body and she did a somersault off the bed, landing gracefully on her back on the carpeted floor.He climbed from the bed and tumbled her beneath him, kissing her skin tenderly from her lips to her breast. He drew her nipple into his mouth and sucked gently. She sighed, her fingers stroking his hair.He loved her so much. Was she ready to hear it yet? He feared she’d leave if he brought it up.“I’m completely satisfied,” she murmured. “You can let go inside me.”He lifted his head to look down at her. “You sure?”She nodded and spread her legs for him. He slid inside her again with no intention of letting go. This one would make five. She had six more orgasms to go. She worked him as he thrust into her, using those amazing muscles inside her body that thrilled his
Jace glanced around the room and spotted the acoustic sitting on a stand in the corner. He retrieved it and handed it to Eric. Eric tuned the guitar in Brian’s typical drop D, and then played a few bars of the riff. He didn’t have Brian’s innate soloing skill, but Eric could play. “Yep,” he said, shifting that score to his other knee. He read from the next score and played a few bars of a solo at half tempo. “We’ll make this the bridge.”“A solo for a bridge?” Jace asked.“It will work. Brian will love adding embellishments between stanzas. You know how he is.” Eric pulled a pen out of his pocket and scratched out a few lines of music, adding a couple of notes in their place.“Yeah.” Jace looked awestruck.Eric rearranged the sections several times and then nodded. “Okay, I’ve got the guitar music worked out. Now we need the bass line.” He glanced at Jace.Jace jumped to his feet and pulled his bass out of the case behind the leather sofa. Eric pulled two sets of drumsticks out of his
“I don’t question the grading methods of my professors. If she thought you deserved a failing grade, then you did.”“Can I take the course independent study? Or is there another instructor who teaches it?”“No and no,” Dr. Taylor said.She was beginning to think coming here was a waste of time. Maybe she could appeal to his sense of justice. He was a law professor first, a dean second. “Other students in my position are given a semester to bring up their grades before their scholarships are revoked. Why doesn’t that provision apply in my case?”“Other students attend their probation hearings.”“I didn’t know about it. I would have attended if I’d known.”His gaze moved from her eyes to her neck and settled on her chest. He cocked his head at her. “Did you enjoy your time working in Las Vegas?” His gaze shifted back to her face.Her eyes widened. “How did you know…” She reminded herself that she hadn’t been doing anything wrong. “I was there for a summer job.”“An internship at a law f
“Embarrassing and painful?”“Exactly.”Doing the sound check onstage, Jake strummed Brian’s guitar and played an intricate riff to ensure the instrument was tuned and responding to the amplifier. He earned a few cheers from the waiting crowd. Roadies loved to play rock star.Sed looked over his shoulder to where Jessica promised she’d stand and watch the performance. She smiled at him and waved. He waved back. The groupies who’d gotten backstage passes from the roadies glared at her.Sed glanced at Trey, who was limbering up his fingers. He still didn’t have full mobility, but he could play chords. Brian watched him, wincing when Trey attempted part of one of their dueling solos and missed every note. “If you can’t keep up tonight, just let me carry all the solos.”“I’m not a f**king invalid.” Trey scowled.“No one said that,” Brian said. “You’re pushing yourself too hard.”Trey glanced at Sed, who dropped his gaze to the floor. Yeah, that was mostly Sed’s fault and he knew it, but fa