by Clara Bayard
The orgasm sent me flying to the clouds and I floated there for a long moment before returning to earth and the man in front of me.
“I wonder what people would say if they saw you like this,” I said playfully. “On your knees in front of me.”
“They’d say I was the luckiest bastard in the world.”
I bit my lip and smiled. “That was the exact right thing to say, Rick.”
“It’s true. Now get up.”
“I’m not sure if I can.”
“I’ll pick you up if I need to. But I’m not done with you. I need to be inside you immediately or I might die.”
I climbed to my feet and helped him up. He kissed me hard on the lips before leading me around the side of the chaise. “Where are we going?”
“Right here.” He positioned me against the glass wall. The inside was covered by a floor-length curtain, but the outside was just a flat pane. If anyone in the house walked by they’d see an empty balcony.
“Here I am. Now what?”
Rick tugged his shirt off and dropped it next to him before unbuttoning his pants. “Now I make you scream.”
I didn’t answer with words as his body came into view. Pure masculine perfection. Muscles and tanned skin.
He fished a condom out of his pocket before letting his pants pool around his ankles.
“Is it smart to get naked out here?”
Rick shrugged. “Probably not. I don’t give a shit.”
I grinned and then moaned as he came closer. His body was hard and hot against mine and I took a quick second to lift my dress off.
Completely naked together, we attacked in unison, fiercely. I grabbed his shoulders and lifted myself up, twining one leg around his waist.
At the same time, Rick held the back of my head with fingers tangled in my hair as he pressed me hard against the wall. The contrast of cool glass and hot man made my insides churn deliciously.
We kissed hard, biting and sucking desperately.
And then, when I thought it couldn’t get any better, he was nudging inside me.
“Oh god.”
“You like that, Jules?”
“You know I do.”
“Tell me.”
Feeling woozy with desire I stared at him blankly. “What?”
“Tell me what you want.”
I shut my eyes and pushed against him. “I want you to fuck me. Hard.”
“Excellent choice,” he said softly. “But are you sure? Don’t you want tender lovemaking?”
I growled and bit his neck. “Now, Rick.”
He chuckled. “That’s my girl.”
But I didn’t have time to react to those words because he pushed deep inside me with one powerful thrust. My mouth dropped open and I dug my nails into his skin. We moved against each other in a fast, violent rhythm. Rick’s hands cupped my ass, mine dug into the thick bunched muscles on his back.
Each deep stroke coiled things inside me tighter and tighter until I exploded. I crashed my mouth against his, needing a full body connection to tether me as I achieved the ultimate pleasure in waves over and over again.
As if on cue, Rick let out a low growl and clutched me harder as he reached his own climax. But instead of stopping, he opened his eyes and looked deep into mine. He kept up the exquisitely torturous pace, hammering me beautifully as our gazes locked together. I could have happily died right here. Nothing else existed in that moment but us. The perfection of our imperfections. In sex, the way our personalities clashed and butted against each other were wonderful. Passionate and all-consuming like nothing I’d ever experienced before and I never wanted it to end.
But then, a noise intruded on the moment. Over the distant roar of the party I heard something a lot closer. Someone was fiddling with the latch on the door. Rick and I both froze, panicked. It’s one thing in the moment to say you don’t care if you get caught screwing at a party, it’s another altogether when it actually happens.
“What do we do?” I hissed almost silently.
“Hell if I know.”
We both listened intently and eventually I could make out voices. Familiar ones.
“Shit. It’s the film crew.”
Rick rolled his eyes. “Of course it is.” He released me and set me back down on my feet. We both tried to get dressed as quietly as possible without moving around enough to call attention to ourselves. I didn’t have a plan for explaining why we were up here together alone, but it would be easier to come up with something plausible if we weren’t naked.
The door opened a tiny bit and the crew’s voices floated out, much clearer now.
“We can get some great shots of the hills from here, I think,” Vincent said. Someone else spoke but I couldn’t quite hear it. “Oh, yeah, good point. It’s probably going to be something we don’t want to miss. Let’s go see. We can do this later.”
And then, the greatest thing in the world happened. They left.
Rick and I stood there for a long time just staring at each other. If I looked even remotely as ridiculous as he did, I was impressed he didn’t laugh. His face was red and a hickey was rising on his neck. His short hair was disheveled and his hastily donned clothes were sticking to his chest due to the thin sheen of sweat that covered him.
I couldn’t suppress a soft giggle.
“What’s so funny?”
“They could put your picture in a dictionary next to the definition of ‘postcoital.’”
“Right back at you, sweetheart. Why don’t you go pick up your underwear so we can get out of here?”
That was too much. I burst out laughing so hard I had to hold onto his arm to keep from falling over. He stared at me like I was insane for a minute and then joined in and we dissolved into hysterics. Finally, gasping, I was able to speak. “Please tell me you know how we can sneak out of here.”
“Are you kidding? A giant party thrown for us with a million strangers, camera crew and who knows how many photographers? No problem.”
We waited a few more minutes to make sure the crew was gone and then snuck back inside, peeking around doorways and corners like a pair of idiots. But we did manage to find a back staircase and make it to the driveway through the kitchen without being seen by anyone but waitstaff who couldn’t have possibly cared less. The party was louder than before and as we headed outside I heard more than one expensive-sounding crash.
We hopped into one of the cars reserved for the bands and headed back to the hotel. During the drive I let my head fall onto Rick’s shoulder and closed my eyes. “Nice party, huh?”
He stroked my arm. “Best one I can remember in a while.”
I smiled and breathed deeply, feeling content and more than a little sleepy.
Rick tugged on a lock of my hair. “Tired?”
“Kinda.”
“Well, rest up. I want round two when we get home.”
I groaned. “Fine, but you have to do all the work.”
“How is that different from always?”
I slapped his leg without opening my eyes. “Shut up.”
Rick chuckled and fell silent. By the time we got back to the hotel we were both half-awake and ready for nothing more than a good night’s sleep. Pulling close to the hotel and out of the inexplicably endless LA traffic, the driver spoke for the first time since we got in the car.
“Excuse me, but is this your final destination for the evening?”
“Yes,” I said, leaning forward. “Why?”
“Got a message for another pickup from your group. It’s going to take a while to get to the airport, so I wanted to make sure you won’t need me anymore tonight.”
“Oh, okay. Yeah, no. We’re good.”
“Excellent. Thank you.” He drove up to the entrance and hurried to open my door. Rick climbed out behind me and we slowly made our way towards the door.
But what we saw when we got there woke us both up like a bucket of cold water over the head.
Joe was standing just inside the door of the hotel. He had
two suitcases next to him and was talking on the phone.
“What the fuck?” Rick asked.
I shook my head. “Where’s he going?”
“I have no idea.” His jaw clenched, furious. “But I’m about to find out.” He strode inside quickly and I had to rush to catch up.
Joe spotted us as the doors opened to let us in, and his face fell.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Rick asked, voice raised, angry.
“Fuck off, Rick. This is none of your business.”
“The hell it isn’t.” Rick walked up close to Joe and I was struck by how much bigger he was than the singer. “Tell me where you’re going.”
“To the airport,” Joe replied, chin raised in defiance.
“Why? It only takes a few hours to drive to San Diego and we have the whole day off tomorrow. Why are you in such a hurry?”
I put my hand on Rick’s arm, but he shrugged out of my grasp.
“Rick, calm down,” I said. “Why don’t we all go inside and talk about this.”
The driver and a few other people were gathered around, watching the tense scene. I didn’t want thing to escalate, especially not in front of so many strangers.
“Julia, you should go to bed. This doesn’t concern you.” Rick’s voice was cold and distant.
“Don’t do this,” I pleaded. “Don’t make a scene and don’t shut me out. Not now.”
“Get out of here,” he said without looking at me.
“No, you stay,” Joe added, picking up his bags. “I’m going.”
“Like hell you are.” Rick put his hand on Joe’s chest and my heart jumped into my throat.
“Get off me, man. Right now.”
They stared each other down for a long moment but then Rick relented. Joe stepped around us wordlessly and handed one bag to the driver. He carried the other to the back of the car himself, dropped it and then climbed inside.
“Damn it,” Rick spat, balling his hands into fists.
I looked at him for a moment and decided to leave him alone. His fury was poisoning the air around us and I knew nothing good could come from getting into it with him again. So, I did something useful. I grabbed my phone and called Becca.
It rang for a while before she answered. From the background noise I could tell she was still at the party.
“Hello? Julia?”
“Hi, Becca. Do you have a minute?”
“Of course. Hang on.” The sounds were muffled for a few seconds and then faded away. “Okay, sorry. Had to get into another room. Couldn’t hear anything.”
“Sounds like the party is still raging.”
“Sure is. It’s a shame I’m the only one who does have to work tomorrow. Wait, are you not here?”
“No. I…uh, left a little while ago.”
“Oh, well, you’re missing out. Someone was just humping an ice sculpture.”
“Sounds great. Look, I need to tell you something.”
She cleared her throat. “That sounds serious.”
“It might be,” I admitted. “I’m at the hotel and I just saw Joe leaving. He was headed to the airport. He’s not flying to San Diego, is he?”
“Um, not that I know of. I can’t imagine… Hold on a sec.”
While I waited, I snuck a glance at Rick. He was standing stock-still, red-faced with anger and I could practically see the steam coming out his ears.
“I don’t have any messages about this,” Becca said. “Can you ask Joe where he’s going?”
“He’s already on the way.”
“Oh. This is bad.”
“I know.”
“Okay, let me make a few calls and I’ll get back to you.”
“All right.”
“Oh, and Julia? Thanks for telling me. The girl I met in Vegas would have minded her own business and not said anything.”
“Things have changed.” And they really had. The old Julia would have just gone to bed, ignored Rick and tried to forget about all the drama. But I wasn’t her anymore. And no matter how mad he was or how much he tried to push me away, I knew this was terrifying Rick and I wouldn’t let him go through it alone.
After I hung up the phone I took a deep breath before saying anything to him.
“Look, I know you’re pissed. And you have every right to be. But we have no idea what’s happening. And we should find out before jumping to conclusions.”
“Are you shitting me? You saw him. He’s gone. He left. No explanation or discussion. I don’t think it’s hard to see what’s going on.”
I held up a hand. “I know, I know. It’s not good. But don’t freak out. Becca is on the case and if anyone can fix this, she can. Right?”
He nodded curtly. “She’s just the pushy busybody for the job.”
“Um, that’s not how I would have put it, but, yes.”
“So what am I supposed to do? Go to bed not knowing if my band has a front man anymore?”
“No. But standing here isn’t going to solve the problem either. Let’s go upstairs and we can try to figure something out.”
He frowned for a long time but finally agreed. “Okay, but I’m going to need a lot of liquor.”
“That I can do.”
We went inside and upstairs to my room. The silly, sexy fun of the party seemed days away as we sat on my bed together, not speaking.
Finally, Rick got up to raid the minibar and said something. “Why are you doing this, Julia?”
“What?”
“Helping. Or, trying to help. Not yelling at me for being a dick downstairs.”
“Because we’re past all that. Or, I hope we are. I’m worried too. And I want to do anything I can to help you guys. Help you.”
“Oh.” He sat back down and chugged a tiny bottle of vodka. It was going to be a long night, and not in the way I’d hoped or expected.
EIGHT
After a few hours of fitful sleep my alarm blared. I groaned and shut it off, almost falling out of bed in the process. I was still wearing my dress from last night and could feel that my hair was a mess.
I sat up, blinked, and looked around, trying to remember everything that had happened. Rick’s t-shirt was on the floor next to the bed, but he was nowhere to be found. Grabbing my phone, I checked and there weren’t any messages. But I had three missed calls from Becca.
Taking a minute to go to the bathroom and wash my face, I called her back while getting dressed.
“Good morning, Julia,” she said, sounding exhausted.
“Hey. What’s going on, any news?”
“Sadly, no. No one seems to know where Joe went or why. I’m trying to keep this quiet in in case it’s nothing, but I am starting to worry.”
I sighed. “Same here. Listen, thanks for keeping us updated last night. I appreciated it.”
“No problem. If it wasn’t for you and Rick I’d have no idea this happened.” She paused. “Is he okay?”
“Not really. Well, at least he wasn’t when I fell asleep. He’s gone now.”
“Oh. Crap, hold on a sec, I’ve got another call coming in on my other cell. It’s Ryan.”
“That’s okay. Look, go ahead. I’ll see you down by the buses in a bit.”
“Okay. Later.”
I hung up and then picked up the hotel phone to order a giant pot of coffee. I was going to need it. While I waited for it I finished getting dressed and started packing up my things.
By the time I completed that task and drank my coffee, I headed downstairs to meet the others. I thought about calling Rick but figured he needed some time alone and would be able to talk to him before we hit the road.
After putting my bags in the pile to be loaded in I said hello to everyone milling around, keeping an eye out for Rick.
Matthew was standing off by himself, typing at lightning speed on his phone when I walked over.
“Hey.”
He looked up and smiled. “Good morning.”
“Is it?”
“Morning? Defin
itely. Good? Maybe not. How are you?”
“Fine, but that was my line. How are you?”
He shrugged. “Okay, I guess. Trying not to stress too much.”
“That’s good.” I glanced around. “Rick still sleeping?”
Matthew cleared his throat and looked at me with something like panic in his eyes. “Uh, no.”
“Uh-oh. What happened?”
“He, uh, left.”
“What?” I asked way too loudly.
“Not like that. He showed up at my room in the middle of the night. Said he needed to clear his head. So he rented a car and drove down on his own.”
“That motherfucker.” I blinked back tears and turned away, not wanting him to see how hurt I was. Rick hadn’t told me about this. I thought we’d turned a corner in our relationship – whatever it was. But apparently I was wrong.
Matthew grabbed my arm before I could run away. “Julia, wait.”
“I gotta go.”
“No. Please, listen.”
“What?”
“I’m pretty sure I know where he’s going to be. And when we get into town you need to go find him.”
“Why?”
Matthew looked so sad. “He’s going to need you. And you need to understand him. This will help. I’ll text you the address.”
“Why are you being so cryptic?”
He sighed. “None of this is my story to tell. But everything else is falling apart and I don’t want that to happen to you two.”
The obvious pain and honestly in his words hit me and I nodded. “Okay, I’ll trust you.”
The drive down to San Diego took forever. I was nervous and restless. Normally I would have hung out with Janine and the rest of my backing band, but she apparently had had a bad night too, and was hiding in the back room.
So, I just sat up front, tuning out the guys and the movie they were watching. On the way I called my mother and asked her to handle getting my stuff to my room so I wouldn’t have to wait.
As soon as the bus stopped I ran to the front of the hotel and got in a taxi. I gave the driver the address Matthew had sent me and watched anxiously as we drove through the city. The cab wound through a rather rundown residential neighborhood. He stopped in front of a vacant lot. It looked like the house that had once been there had been torn down years ago, judging by the weeds.
