Back-Up

by A. m Madden

  He moves away and lies on his back, staring up at the ceiling, folding his arms behind his head.

  “Hey, I was mad at you, and extremely jealous.” I grab his chin to turn his head towards mine. “How many have there been?” Do I really want to know this?

  “I don’t have an exact count.”

  “That bad, huh?” I laugh out yet Jack doesn’t look amused. “It doesn’t matter. Jack, I don’t care about your past, ok?” I bend to plant a tender kiss on his lips. He responds hesitantly, and then I slowly feel him coming around by the way his lips start moving over mine.

  “How many for you?”

  “Three, counting you.”

  Jack sits up in shock. “Three? Have you been living in a convent your entire adult life?”

  “No. I don’t sleep with men unless I care about them. There have only been two others.”

  Jack pushes his hand through his hair, sitting quietly, lost in thought. “Damn.”

  “So, you have a type?” I ask again trying to get his frame of mind back to where it was before I ruined it with my big mouth.

  “Yes, I do.” He repeats, turning on his side to look at me.

  “Is Lori your type?”

  “Lori?”

  “Yes. The first time you met, I was convinced you would be a couple.”

  “What?” Here goes my big mouth again.

  “Weren’t you into Lori?”

  “No and NO. I was being nice to Lori. That night, you captivated me. Your performance with Matt, watching you in your own environment surrounded by your friends, I couldn’t stop staring at you. Didn’t you feel it?”

  “No. I was so nervous you were there, I zoned out a lot that night. I was convinced you were flirting with Lori and invited us to your party to hook up with her.”

  Jack leans in and kisses me softly. “Leila, you couldn’t be more wrong.”

  “Am I your type?” I ask nervously.

  “Ugh, no, you I find repulsive.” He responds with a very serious face. Then he puts me on my back and dips to take my nipple in between his lips to emphasis his disgust.

  “Jerk.” I say while pushing him onto his back. He laughs and takes me with him, positioning me over his body. He then sits up so I can straddle his hips.

  “You are most definitely my type.” He says seriously. “Baby, I adore you.” He buries his hands into my hair and pulls me closer to kiss me sweetly on my lips.

  Oh my god…he adores me!

  Our kiss quickly turns into something else. We make love again, but this time it’s a bit more hurried and fervent.

  Exactly five minutes later, we are both physically exhausted, panting, lying flat on our backs trying to catch our breath. I can’t get enough of him. I want nothing more than to stay in this bed and having more mind-blowing sex, for the rest of our lives. He turns on his side to look at me. His hand instantly finds my breast, as he stares at me. My body is a magnet for his hands, as is his for mine.

  Still lying on my back, I am totally spent and fight desperately to keep my eyes open.

  I collide with a warm body as I turn mine, causing me to sit up in a confusion, looking around the room.

  “Hello there. You passed out on me.”

  “I did? How long was I out?”

  “Thirty minutes maybe?” He laughs when he sees my face.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “I fucked you unconscious.” He is very proud of himself, and it makes me laugh too.

  “Yes, it seems you did, rock star.” I lean over to kiss him for his accomplishment, and he tries to pull me closer.

  “What time is it? What if Hunter comes home?” I ask, starting to freak-out.

  I have no idea what time it is. During one of our love sessions, his phone buzzed a few times in the pocket of his jeans that were still lying in a lump where he removed them earlier. We both ignored it every time it buzzed.

  Another round of buzzing causes me to ask, “Don’t you think you should answer that?”

  “Nope.” He simply says while kissing my shoulder. He is behind me, my back flush to his chest. He has both arms are around me and our legs are intertwined.

  “Jack, maybe the guys are worried. Or worst yet, maybe it’s Jennifer.”

  “Whatever anyone wants, it can wait until tomorrow. It’s probably about the photo shoot Tuesday.”

  “Photo shoot?”

  “Oh, yeah. We have a photo shoot Tuesday for the album cover.” He says shrugging.

  “When were you going to tell me this?” I ask, my voice high and pitchy.

  “Um…now?”

  “Thanks.”

  He looks up at me and notices the panic on my face. “What?”

  “Why do I have to be on the album cover? Can’t you just have the band’s name or something?” I ask.

  “You’re gorgeous…why can’t you see that?” Rolling my eyes at him, his tone gets snippy. “You are going to be the best fucking thing on that album cover!”

  “Don’t yell at me.”

  He turns me around so we are facing each other. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. But I meant what I said.” Jack kisses his way from my lips to my ear to my exposed breast, pulling my nipple in between his lips, swirling his tongue around my peak. This always seems to be his method of choice to initiate more sex.

  “Um, what were we talking about?”

  Smiling against my skin, he kisses a path down my body. Just as he makes it to my stomach, it growls very loudly. He looks up revealing his beautiful CCDS smile.

  “It sounds like I need to feed you?”

  I personally could care less about food, especially now…but my stomach betrays me by growling again. I look down at him and shrug.

  He kisses it and says, “You are so freaking cute. We can go out. I can show you the merits of Brooklyn.”

  “Ok…I’m starving.” I admit. Also, I really fear Hunter walking in on us at any moment.

  ***

  It’s the middle of the night and I can smell him on my sheets. It’s such torture, causing me to toss and turn. I want him here with me and he isn’t. He’s in his own apartment in Brooklyn, and I miss him terribly.

  After we finally made it out of his bed, and out of his apartment, he took me to a quiet little place nearby for dinner. We talked about how difficult it was going to be now that we’ve started this. Well I talked about how difficult it was going to be, and he kept assuring me we could handle it. I admitted to him I was not a good actress and just thinking about pretending had my stomach in knots.

  He broke it down for me. We can avoid that and tell them. Otherwise, if we must keep it a secret, well Trey pays attention to anyone but himself so there is no need to worry about him. Scott is too shy and embarrassed to bring anything up so there is no need to worry about him. Hunter thinks what he thinks so there is nothing we can do about him.

  Makes sense…

  Jennifer is extremely intuitive. She, I worry about. Dylan is also going to be a challenge. Jack reluctantly admitted that I needed to act the same way with him. I never told Jack that he and I have had a few dinners together or that I feel that Dylan is interested in me. I don’t know why I kept it from Jack. I guess I worry he would do something stupid like show him we are together, just to stake his claim.

  Jack made me promise to call him when I got home. He kept me on the phone for a very long time. It helped to hear his voice, as he said all the things he wanted to do to me, but it was a poor substitute. We finally hung up around two am, after deciding to meet at the studio in the morning.

  I should have been able to fall fast asleep. But when I see daylight filtering through my curtains, I throw the covers off and get out of bed frustrated. It’s still way too early, but I can’t keep lying here thinking, and sleep is definitely not presenting itself. It’s not surprising, given all the things I have swirling in my head. Remembering intimate moments with Jack kept me up half the time. The other half was consumed by thoughts of Evan, and whether I should confide
in him.

  Normally I would without question, but I haven’t been completely honest with him regarding my attraction and feelings for Jack. I also feel it would be very selfish of me to dump my problems with all the crap he is dealing with at the moment. I know he has plans to see Lizzy this week, and I really hope they hit it off. Lizzy would be just what Evan needs right now.

  The only good thing about my insomnia is that I am able to catch up on the laundry and cleaning I neglected this past weekend. I’ve practically put in a full day’s work by most people’s standards, by the time I leave my apartment to drive to the studio.

  Since we have gotten so much done the first couple of weeks, the band’s starting hour has been getting later and later. On most days they stroll in around eleven. If Jennifer isn’t around, they’ll show up past noon. Jack cuts them slack, sometimes. Usually, he curses them out for a few minutes. It annoyed me having to wait around until the three princes graced us with their presence so Jack started texting me with an estimated time of arrival. Today’s text said to come at nine.

  It’s a little after nine, when I park my car in the lot. A new text message comes through on my phone as I walk to the studio.

  where r u?

  walking into the studio.

  good.

  He must be here already. I plug in the lock combination code, and I notice lights on in the hall. As I lock the door behind me, warm lips attach to my neck and muscular arms wrap around my waist.

  “You’re late.” He walks us forward towards the studio.

  “No one else is here? Jennifer may show up any minute.” I say as he pulls me into the dark room. He flips the lights and closes the door behind him, then decides to lock the door and turn the lights back off.

  “She has to meet with the photographer today to review wardrobe.”

  “Wait, I didn’t have to be here at nine?”

  “No, I wanted you to be here at nine.”

  “Oh…”

  We are going to have sex in the studio? This is going to give me a visual I am sure to clench from every time I think about it.

  The only lights illuminating the room are the two EXIT signs above the doors. He pushes me into a corner, where nobody can see if they were to be at the door.

  Jack starts sucking on my neck as he pushes his hands under my shirt. “I can’t get enough of how you taste.” He says moving lips until they slant over mine. I love kissing Jack, and can make out with him for hours. Usually his kisses set my crotch on fire, so I haven’t been able to test that theory and even now I’m already reaching for the button of his jeans.

  “You missed me too, I see.” He unbuttons my shorts and slips his hand into my panties.

  The second his fingers reach me, I forget what I was doing prior. My hand is still on the zipper of his jeans, but I’m not able to move it. He traces a line through my sex and circles around my most sensitive spot. Throwing my head back, I clutch at his shirt while I pant from the sensations he is causing in my body. He slowly slips inside of me, bending to kiss me simultaneously. He mimics the same patterns his fingers are making below with his tongue in my mouth. I can do nothing but pant open-mouthed, while still clutching his shirt in my grip.

  He brings me to an intense orgasm. Having to break our kiss because I am gasping for air, he slowly pulls his hand out of my panties to suck on his fingers. “Like I said, I can’t get enough of how you taste.” His admission makes my body instantly throb and I forget the severe orgasm I just had.

  This man is going to kill me.

  I continue with what I was doing before he distracted me, and lower the zipper on his jeans. Firmly I take hold of him as he lowers my shorts down my legs. He lifts me and sits me on to a stool in the corner. Standing before me, he pushes in one inch at a time.

  “Jack…faster.” I say in between pants. He smiles and complies. It isn’t long until I feel another orgasm and I wrap my legs around his body to hold him inside of me. He buries his face in my neck and groans as I feel his release.

  “Fuck…fuck! You feel so good.” His voice is throaty and raw. “You are going to be the death of me.”

  “Death by orgasm…sign you up.” I gasp.

  He laughs and gives me a sweet kiss. “You’re right.”

  By the time the boys stroll in, Jack and I are sitting at a table having coffee and chatting. After the guys finish with their normal morning arguments of whatever the topic is for the day, we start recording our last few songs for the album. It becomes an exhausting day since Jack is being relentless in the amount of work he wants to get done. We still have a lot of time before our tour begins, but the engineers need to mix and cut each song, which will take some time.

  Jack acts totally normal and teases me as usual. I caught Hunter watching us a few times, but other than that I didn’t notice anyone else letting on they know what we have been up to.

  Our tryst is all I can think about the entire day. It fuels my performance and adds sensuality to our duets and my back-ups. Jack smiles knowingly when Jennifer says, “Well Leila, no need to re-record that one, you were spot on.”

  “Thank you.”

  At the end of our day Jennifer makes an announcement. “Make sure you are all at the photographers at nine sharp. I know this is the middle of the night for you guys but suck it up…especially you, Trey.”

  He gives Jennifer a look that clearly says, “Bite me.”

  Jack secretly told me the session doesn’t start until ten, but Jennifer made him promise to not let the boys know that small detail.

  As I’m gathering my things to get ready to leave, Scott says to Jack, “Let’s go to Granite. Trini has been asking for you.” I sneak a quick peek at Jack and he stiffens slightly.

  “Oh, I don’t know. I’m not in the mood.” He shoves sheet music into his bag.

  Scott asks, “Do you have other plans with the brunette from…”

  “You don’t know her.” Jack cuts Scott off before he can finish his sentence. He looks at me and adds, “I’ll see you guys at the shoot tomorrow. Don’t be late.” Then he strolls out of the studio.

  Scott turns to Hunter. “He’s such a dog.”

  Hunter nods and looks over at me. He catches me biting on my lip and I quickly turn my back to grab my bag.

  A few minutes later I say my own good-bye. The guys respond, which I barely hear. I can’t get out of the studio fast enough.

  Was Jack serious? I’m a little stunned at what I just heard and it stings more than I’d like to admit. He has a date tonight? What the fuck? I get that he has to act normal in front of the guys because it was my idea after all, but he could have warned me that we would be continuing with our private lives. He never claimed to be exclusive. Even so, there is no way I’ll be ok with him sleeping around while he’s sleeping with me.

  I take a deep breath and walk to the lot where my car is parked. As I approach Bessie, I see Jack leaning against the driver’s side door and it catches me off guard.

  “Hey.” I say, slowly walking towards him.

  “Hey.” He grabs my bag from my hand.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Um, I packed some things. I didn’t know if today would work as I planned, but since it has, I’d like to come home with you tonight.”

  “You’re a good actor. You had me convinced you had plans.”

  He pushes my hair off my shoulder and touches my ear lobe. “You should have known it was an act.” When he kisses me, I drop my car keys.

  Laughing, he picks them up and says, “I’ll drive.”

  Chapter 22- Jack

  “Damn woman, this is delicious.” I point out as I scoff down my third helping of penne with vodka sauce.

  “I don’t cook a lot but I can make this well.” She answers with a smile. “I’ve had a lot of practice since the guys love this dish. It’s all they want me to make for them.”

  “It’s really good. I’m stuffed.” I push my plate away. “I’ll clean up.”

 
She looks at me suspiciously. “You’ll clean up? Why do I feel this is gonna cost me?”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about.” I grab our plates to bring them to the kitchen. She follows and watches me like I’m crazy.

  “What?”

  “Do you know you have to use soap, rock star?” She says as she grabs a dishtowel to dry.

  “Smartass.” I say as I flick water at her. Giggling, she hides behind her dishtowel. Not being able to resist, I turn the sink hose on her full blast. Her screams make her that much more endearing as she hides in the corner.

  “I love the sound of your laugh.” I also love the way she looks down when she is embarrassed. I love the way she wrinkles her nose when she doesn’t like something I say. I love the way she mumbles in her sleep. She has said my name a couple of times already, and I have to stop myself from waking her up to devour her.

  I want nothing more than to do that right now. As she stands in her kitchen, her t-shirt clinging to her breasts, leaving nothing to the imagination, I am throbbing with need. I lean forward, tugging her towards me by her wet t-shirt and bringing her wet body up against mine.

  “Jack, I’m drenched!”

  “Just the way I like you.”

  Her heated gaze focuses on my lips. In a flash we are manically remove each other clothing and literally try to consume each other. I can’t get enough of her; she’s like a drug to me. Just one hit causes me to spiral out of control.

  I lift her and carry her to her bed, devouring her mouth on the way.

  Wasting no time, I drag finger up her leg and straight to her clit. The process causes her to shiver. My fingers stroke and caress her slowly as I take her nipple into my mouth. I mimic the motion of my tongue on her nipple with my fingers below and I sense her building. Her hands holding my wrist in place as she moves against it.

  “No… not yet.” I say removing my hand.

  “Jack, please.”

  I slowly kiss my way down her body and she grabs my shoulders to pull me up. Shaking my head, I continue my path. “I need to taste you.” She surrenders and lies back allowing me to reach where I need to be.

  I bend her knees and open her up to me. I place a single kiss on her, causing her to inhale sharply. She’s so smooth, so soft. Dragging my tongue over her, I taste her like it’s the first time. She fists the blanket beneath her hands as I try to consume her savagely.