The popcorn was going to take a few minutes, so I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. There was a message from Jax, no wonder I didn’t hear it come through, with all the screaming.
How’s the girls night? Should my ears be burning?
I grinned and sent a reply Ha-ha no I think you’re safe, though I’m about to open some wine so maybe I’ll start answering their questions after a few glasses ;-)
I poured the popcorn into a bowl and took it in and put it on the coffee table.
“Anyone for wine?” I asked the girls.
“Yes.” They all shouted at once, Marcy downed the last bit of her cocktail and held out her glass to me, I took it to the kitchen and returned with a bottle of wine and four glasses.
We all settled down with our wine and watched a film, Marcy’s phone kept going off and she was smiling a lot, the texts must have been from Rick. It was nice to see her happy and being with one man. We had started a second movie and Marcy had just opened a second bottle of wine, when Danni turned to me asked; “So, Esme, what’s happening with you and Jackson?”
I held my glass out for Marcy to re-fill. “I really like him, we are taking things slowly as he hasn’t been split up with Cindy for long.”
Marcy chipped in; “He’s crazy about her, stop playing it down, Esme. What would you do if he asked you out?”
I was about to reply when there was a knock on the door.
“I’ll get it!” Marcy yelled as she jumped to her feet and ran to the door. We all leant forward and peered down the hallway to see who was at the door. It was Rick and as soon as the door was opened, he pulled her in for a kiss. I couldn’t help thinking that I wished that was me and Jax. As she turned around, we all giggled and fell back into the sofa. They walked into the front room and I said;
“Hey, Rick, what you doing here? Crashing girl’s night?”
He chuckled and said; “No, I’m here to take Marcy home.”
“Oh, that’s sweet.” Kate said, Marcy shot her a glare telling her to be quiet.
“You ready, Angel?” He asked her.
“Yep, let me just grab my stuff.” She told him and I mouthed to her behind his back; ‘Angel?’
She nodded her head and smiled, she seemed all giddy. She gulped down the rest of her wine and picked up her bag.
“What you been up to tonight, Rick? Apart from texting Marce, all evening?” I asked.
He chuckled again and said; “We have just been doing some song writing and stuff at my place.”
“Everyone ok?” I asked.
“Yep, everyone is fine.” Rick replied giving me a knowing smile.
“She means Jax.” Marcy said to him.
“Marce!” I exclaimed at her; “That’s not what I meant, I care about you all.” I explained to him.
He chuckled again and shook his head. “Jax is fine, though he has been checking his phone a lot tonight.”
“And Will, how’s Will?” Asked Danni, which earnt her a glare from Kate.
Rick looked at Marcy confused and said; “He’s fine.”
“I’m ready... Bye, girls. Coffee in the week?” Marcy asked us and we all nodded.
There was a round of hugs and saying goodbye, then they left. We settled down to watch the rest of the movie when I remembered Rick’s comment about Jax checking his phone. I took my phone out of my pocket to find four unread messages;
9:01pm Oh no, I know what you’re like after a few drinks ;-)
9:35pm Hoping the girls are being kind and not asking too many questions
10:10pm You have no idea how much I want to gate crash your girls night!
The last message was from Rick and it made me smile; Es for Gods sake reply to Jax messages, his phone is stuck to his hand and we can’t get any sense out of him to get these songs written
I smiled to myself and settled back into the sofa to watch the rest of the film with the girls.
Chapter 28
Esmeralda
The last few days had flown by, I had been working quite a lot and Jax had been busy with the band. Apart from a few occasional texts, we hadn’t had much contact. I had just got off the phone with the police; I needed to go to the station and go over my statement as the guy was going to be in court within the next month. Luckily, I didn’t have to testify. There were other girls that were testifying as it wasn’t the first time he had attempted this. I didn’t want to go by myself so I called Jax.
“Hi, Esme.” He answered. “You ok?” He sounded pleased to hear from me.
“Hey, yeah… Are you busy?”
“No, what’s up?”
“I have to go to the police station and check my statement and make sure I haven’t forgotten to add anything. That jerk is in court soon. I don’t want to go alone.”
“When do you need to go?”
“Now?”
“Ok, I will come with you. Give me five minutes and I will be there to pick you up.”
“Thanks, Jax.” I hung up the phone. I really didn’t want to go back to the police station and I definitely didn’t want to drag it all up again. I’d managed to put the attack to the back of my mind, that was where I preferred it to stay.
Five minutes later, I heard a car horn beeping from outside; it was Jax. I grabbed my coat and bag and made my way outside and got in his car.
“Are you ok?” He asked me, as he picked up my hand and kissed my knuckles.
I smiled at him; “I will be, once this is all over. Let’s get it over and done with.”
***
An hour and a half later and we were just getting back from the police station. Jax came in with me and we chilled out for a bit, watched some TV and chatted before my shift at The Archer.
“When is your next evening off?” Jax turned to me and asked.
“Um, tomorrow night. Why?”
“I want to take you out.” He smiled.
“Take me out? Where? Why?” I asked him confused.
“I want to take you out on a date, will you go with me?”
I got butterflies in my tummy and my heart rate picked up. I smiled at him and shyly said; “Yes.”
“Great, nothing like keeping a man waiting.” He said laughing.
“Oh, shut up, you knew I wouldn’t turn you down.”
“Oh, really? Did I?” He said with a gleam in his eye. He leant towards me and started tickling me. I was extremely ticklish. My legs were kicking around and I was trying to push him away with my hands to try and get him to stop.
“Jax, stop. Don’t... Please.” I begged, laughing.
“Oh, just because you asked so nicely.” He said smiling at me. Then he leant over me and gave me a quick kiss on the lips, just a peck. He got up and told me that he had better get going as he needed to get ready for the show tonight.
“Ok, well I will see you later.” I said to him.
Just as he was about to say bye to me, his phone went off. He pulled it out of his jeans pocket, looked at it and rolled his eyes.
“Everything ok?” I asked.
“Yep, fine. See you later. Bye.”
He walked out of the front door as he was tapping away on his phone. I stood in the doorway and watched him unlock his car. He was about to open the door when he looked up at me with a confused look on his face. He walked back to the front door; “I forgot something.” He said.
Before I could ask what, he leant forward and kissed me. After a few seconds, he pulled away and seemed to study my face for a second or two, I felt like there was something he wanted to say. He pulled me into a hug and buried his face into my hair.
“You smell good… You have no idea what you’re doing to me.” He kissed me again on the lips before making his way back to his car. I went inside closed the front door and leant against it, smiling.
Jackson
I was so happy when Esme agreed to go on a date with me, and I had already planned it in my head; where we were going to go and everything. I just had to put it all together now. I just
hoped I could keep up this gentleman act on our date as keeping my hands off of her was getting harder and harder. I just wanted her to realise that she meant more to me than just sex. My phone started beeping as I was getting ready to leave Esme’s. It was Cindy, again.
Baby, please talk to me.
You know you miss me.
Just think of all the fun we could be having together right now
I was getting really fed up of her constantly calling and texting me, then to get all three texts at once. There was only one response I had, so I used it.
Leave me alone, I don’t want you, I don’t love you.
Hopefully that would get the message across. Now to start planning my date with Esme.
Chapter 29
Jackson
It was the day of my date with Esme, I had planned exactly what I’d wanted to do, where to go and everything. I just needed to make sure she was still up for it. I was feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing.
I will pick you up at 7pm, that ok?
Within a few seconds, I had a reply saying;
Sounds good, looking forward to it.
I wanted to jump up and down and do a fist pump in the air but I managed to restrain myself. I was currently sat in Rick’s apartment in the front room, chatting to him and Marcy.
“You’re taking Esme out on a date tonight, aren’t you?” Marcy asked me as she was staring at her phone.
“What? How did you know?” I asked her and her reply was holding up her phone.
I smiled and was quite pleased that Esme had already told Marcy, that must be a good thing.
“What did she say?” I asked her.
“She wants me to help her get ready. She sounds very excited.”
“See, man, told you to go for it.” Rick said to me.
“Where you taking her?” Marcy asked.
I just shook my head at her and said; “Nope, not telling you, don’t want you spilling the beans.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.
“Angel, he is not going to tell you. Stubborn, this one is, once he gets an idea in his head.” Rick told Marcy.
“Fine, anyway, I’d better make my way over there. See you later, babe.” She said to Rick as she leant over and kissed him goodbye.
Esmeralda
“Honey, I’m home.” Marcy yelled as she walked in my front door.
“In the bedroom.” I called back to her. She walked in and stopped in my door way, I had clothes thrown about everywhere.
“Whoa, what happened here?” she asked me, stepping over my clothes.
“I’ve got nothing to wear.” I told her as I slumped down on the edge of my bed. I wanted to look hot for Jax.
“You have lots of nice clothes, what do you wanna wear?”
“I don’t know... Help me.”
Marcy began sorting through my clothes and what she didn’t think was right she handed back to me to put away.
“Put away these...” She told me as she handed me more clothes.
“No, I will just do it tomorrow. I need to find something to wear, do my hair and make-up.”
“What if he wants to come back here tonight? Do you want him seeing a messy room?”
“Oh God, I didn’t even think about that! What am I going to do, Marce?” I probably sounded hysterical but I hadn’t thought this through.
“You do whatever feels right, he is not going to push you into anything.”
I nodded my head and relaxed slightly, I knew he wouldn’t force me, but what if I wanted him, I couldn’t be doing that on a first date.
“This is perfect.” Marcy said as she handed me a light yellow summer dress. “You can wear your white shrug in case you get cold and your white flats.”
“I want to wear heels, they make my legs look longer.” I told her.
“Ok, how about this dress?” She then held up my black halter neck dress with sequins around the neck line. “You can wear your silver heels?”
“Yes, much better. Wait, I don’t know where I’m going. How to dress?” I told her, feeling panicked.
“This will be perfect, you don’t want to dress up anymore as we both know he’s gonna turn up in a pair of jeans.”
“Yeah, true. Thanks, Marce. You’re the best.” I said as I hugged her.
She then helped me with my make-up and we curled my hair loosely, just to give it a bit of volume.
Just as I was putting my heels on there was a knock at my door. I looked up at Marcy with a worried look on my face. She said to me; “Don’t worry, I will get it. Take a deep breath. Take your time.”
She then walked out of the bedroom to answer the door.
Jackson
I took a deep breath as we waited for Esme to answer the door.
“Calm down, mate, I’ve never seen you act like this.” Rick said to me. He came with me as he decided to take Marcy out tonight as well, though he was surprising her.
We heard the door handle go and I held my breath due to excitement and nerves and exhaled as I saw Marcy at the door.
“Hey, babe, what are you doing here?” Marcy asked Rick, as he pulled her in for a kiss and handed her a bunch of tulips.
“Thought I would come take you out.” He told her.
“Oh, babe, that’s so sweet, of course. Come in.” She held the door open wider and we walked in, I looked around and to my disappointment, I couldn’t see Esme.
“She is just finishing getting ready.” Marcy whispered to me as she passed me to go and get Esme.
I was sat on a stool at Esme’s breakfast bar, when I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up; it always did that when she was in the same room as me or if she was watching me. I turned around and saw Esme walking towards me. I got off the stool and walked over to her. I leant down to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek, told her she looked beautiful and handed her the flowers I’d got her.
“Oh, Jax, they’re lovely. Sunflowers are my favourite. How did you know?” She asked as she walked past me to put them into some water.
“Just some advice from a good friend.” I told her, winking at Marcy. “Ready to go?” She nodded her head, grabbed her coat and bag and we all left at the same time.
Esmeralda
I was really excited to be going out on a date with Jax, I never thought this day would come.
“Where are we going?” I asked him, as he concentrated on the roads whilst we travelled in his car.
“It’s a surprise.” He told me as he grinned.
“Oh, how long will it take to get there?”
“Not long.” Just as he was saying that, he was slowing down and we were heading into a car park of the local park. I wondered what we were doing here. I was just about to get out of the car when my car door opened and Jax offered me his hand.
“Thanks.” I said to him shyly.
“You really are beautiful. Come on, this way.” We started heading down a path and when we rounded the corner, I saw a woman; I didn’t recognise her.
“Thanks, Saskia.” Jax said to the woman as he kissed her cheek.
“Babe, this is Saskia, Rick’s sister. She helped me out with a few things.” He said as he pointed over his shoulder. My eyes followed where he was pointing and I saw fairy lights hooked around a large tree, and a blanket laid out on the grass with a picnic.
“Wow, it looks amazing.” I gushed at them both, grinning from ear to ear.
“Enjoy.” Saskia smiled as she walked away.
Jax grabbed my hand and led me over to the blanket. We sat down and he pulled me close to him for a cuddle and then kissed me. When he pulled away, I was a little breathless and could feel my body craving his touch.
“Shall we eat? Champagne?” He asked.
I nodded my head and said; “This is lovely. Who gave you this idea Mr. Rockstar?”
He covered his hand over his heart, claiming I’d hurt him and said; “All my idea, babe. I wanted to do this for you. We can look at the stars, enjoy a lovely eveni
ng together and get to know each other.”
I smiled at him and sipped my champagne, the bubbles went up my nose and made my eyes water. I cleared my throat just as Jax offered a strawberry up to my lips, I smiled and took a bit. I moaned as the taste erupted on my tongue. We ate for a little while and talked about everyday things, when Jax said to me;
“So, Esme, tell me about your family.” I instantly stiffened and twisted my hands together in my lap. I felt his hand on my hands, untwisting them and he said; “You don’t have to.”
I shook my head at him and said; “No, I want to. It’s just painful memories that’s all.”
He didn’t say anything, he just sat in silence, giving me all the time I needed.
“Well, my only family is my brother, Jonathan, he is older than me. He’s twenty seven. He lives in Kestonne, that’s where I grew up.” I paused taking a breath before I told him the rest.
“What’s he like? Is he over-protective? Do I have to worry about him?”
I laughed and said; “Yeah, he can be over-protective, especially since my parents aren’t here.”
“Where are they?”
I swallowed, looked to the ground and said; “They died.”
“Esme, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” I looked up at him and he didn’t look at me with sorrow in his eyes, he looked worried.
“It’s ok, I want to tell you… They died four years ago. It was their anniversary, they’d been married twenty five years. They went out to celebrate... When they were on their way home, they got... They got.” A sob rose up my throat, I tried to push it down but it wouldn’t move. Jax moved closer to me, wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into him. “They got hit by a drunk driver, they died on impact.” I began to sob, I didn’t want our date to be like this, so I swallowed it down, pushed away from Jax and grabbed my champagne to drink. I wiped at my eyes and said “My brother got parental responsibility of me, I was only fifteen, still in school. I struggled for a while, but I had Marcy, she took care of me too. I stayed with her quite a bit. Once school had finished, Marcy moved here for college. I came here about six months ago, I couldn’t bear to be in that town anymore, knowing that was where they were taken away from me.” I breathed a sigh of relief that I had told him; the only people that knew about my parents were Marcy, Danni and Kate. He stayed silent so I finished off my story.
Rocking Esme (The Rocking Series Book 1) Page 12
