Falling Down

Chapter Fourteen
Jesse
After a bout of mind-blowing sex with Lucy, I show her my closet. "Take whatever space you need."
"How can you only have that many clothes? It's not right that men can get away with that."
"I can't believe how many f*cking clothes you have."
She shrugs, hanging up a dress. "I can't go out wearing the same thing all the time. I find myself in magazines more often than I'd like so I have to be fashionable."
He shakes his head. "Chicks."
"You men have it made. You suck."
"Only when you ask nicely," I tell her with a grin and a wink. She leaves herself open for those all the time. I can't help myself.
I can't help myself with a lot of things when it comes to Lucy, it seems. I've never entertained the idea of having a woman live with me. Ever. I'm not sure what's going on with me. I'm all kinds of f*cked up. I mean, I'd even thought it through before I made the suggestion that they stay here and when I did I knew I wanted her in my bed.
It's not just that I haven't gotten enough of her yet (because I haven't, not even close), but I really like her being around. Watching her walk around my space, putting her clothes in my closet and in the dresser drawers I cleaned out for her, I feel good. I like it. Something's f*cking wrong with me.
"Thank God. Clothes are put away. Shoes are put away. Now…" she trails off and walks toward the bed with what looks like a black electronic tablet.
"What's that?"
"This?" she holds it up.
I nod.
"It's my Kindle."
I just give her a stare. I have no f*cking clue what a Kindle is.
She grins. "It's where I read and download books."
"Huh."
She brings it over and turns it on, showing me how she can hook straight to Amazon and one-click. She tells me about her one-click addiction. I just bet. If she's anywhere near as addicted to books as she is to clothes and shoes, I've no doubt she's got hundreds of books.
"How many books you got on there?"
She gives me a sidelong glance. She almost looks… guilty. She taps a button and shows me.
I let out a long whistle when I see she's got over fourteen-hundred books. "Yeah, I'd say you have a one-click addiction. How many of those have you read?"
"Um, let me see." She taps a few buttons and some reader page opens. "Five hundred-eighty-six."
"You'll never run out, that's for sure."
"Especially when Amazon is just a button away."
"Shopaholic. That's the only way to describe you."
"Not true. I think I only bought maybe one-fourth of the clothes and shoes I have. I'm content in shorts and a tank top or a sun dress and flip flops. My mom--"
I hold up a hand cutting her off. I've heard from Jace how her mom steamrolls her life.
"Enough said."
She nods, picking up a bag and heading to the bathroom.
"What's the plan for tonight?"
"Ben texted. We're going to order pizza and just hang out."
"That sounds good actually. Do you guys always do your own cooking or do you have someone to do that for you when you don't feel like it?"
"We cook a lot but not all the time. Mrs. Martinez is our main housekeeper and cook. She manages two other girls who basically run the household. Mr. Martinez is our gardener and fix-it guy if we can't do it ourselves."
"That's pretty cool."
I lean a shoulder against the doorjamb and tuck my hands in my pockets as she starts unpacking her toiletries.
"Yeah, they've been with us since the beginning. When we were able to, we hired them and got them out of the projects."
"How did you know them?"
"Xander's ex-girlfriend lived in that neighborhood and they took care of her. Her parents were crackheads."
"I see." With one hand in her bag she meets my gaze in the mirror. "Um, are you going to have problems with me putting my feminine products in your cabinet?" she asks holding up a box of tampons.
I shrug. I could give a shit, to be honest.
"I don't care. Have you forgotten that I have a mom and two sisters? When we were younger we only had two bathrooms. Besides," I tell her, walking up behind her and wrapping my arms around her waist, resting my chin on top of her head. "This is your space as much as mine, now."
See? What the f*ck is going on with me? Shit like that just keeps flying out of my mouth and the weird thing is, when I say it I mean it.
My phone chimes with a text. I kiss the top of her head and read it as she walks into the shower room.
"That was Ben. Pizza's here. They're all out on the patio."
"Let's go," she says pulling him through the door.
I can't help but chuckle. "You in a hurry?"
"I'm hungry."
"Jump on," I tell her and I carry her piggy-back to where the others are. I just want to feel her legs wrapped around me, even if it's not in a sexual way. Her touching me does something crazy to my insides. This woman has gotten under my skin.
When we get to the patio, I take a seat then pull Lucy into my lap. Ben gives me a look and I just shake my head. I have no f*cking idea. Xander smirks and I give him the finger.
"What kind of pizza did you get? Oh my God, Sera, are you seriously eating supreme?" Lucy says.
"Damn straight," she mumbles around her pizza. "No more modeling means I can put on those ten pounds they made me lose for modeling."
"You could stand to gain at least twenty," Ben says. She really could but I wouldn't have told her that. Ben's got no filter when it comes to that woman.
Sera sends him a glare. "Did I ask you?"
He shrugs. "You're too skinny. You look sick. People probably think you're anorexic or some shit."
She's still glaring. "They might think that about me but I'm positive they know you're a dick."
He throws his head back and laughs.
Lucy leans down and whispers, "What's going on?"
I shrug. "No clue. Sexual tension?"
She raises a brow then takes a bite of the sausage and mushroom pizza slice she snagged while I, on the other hand, inhale pizza loaded with tons of meat and cheese. F*cking manly pizza.
"Ethan, can you please pass me a soda?" Lucy asks him.
"Want me to mix you up a Captain and diet?"
"Oh my God, would you? That'd be so amazing."
He nods and walks behind the bar. "Sera? Want anything?"
"Captain and diet sounds good for me too."
"On it."
"What did Irene and Cage have to say about the press conference?" Sera asks and Lucy sighs.
She'd been stressed and freaking out when she conferenced them and when she hung up, she started pacing. That's when I grabbed her, stripped her naked, and made a feast out of her p-ssy. The woman tastes like the best kind of dessert. With the sluts that were around, I don't usually go down on them unless they're ones I've arranged to hook up with when we hit that city. Having a few regulars is f*cking cool. I don't have to worry about being exploited and the chick knows what to expect which is basically me f*cking the hell out of her and then moving on.
But with Lucy, she's Lucy. Classy and beautiful and once I tasted her, I couldn't get enough. It's hot as hell how easily I can get her to come and I gave her two orgasms that had her back bowing up off the bed. F*ck yeah. I'm getting hard just thinking about it.
Then when I slipped inside of her, fuuuuck. Heaven. She's so incredibly tight that it's actually hard for me to get inside her. I'm so afraid I'm going to hurt her when I first push my dick inside her that I let her make the moves on how much she can take. But when I'm fully buried inside her, balls deep, that's when I'm back in control. I love watching her eyes half closed, her lips parted, her face and chest flushed with arousal. It's the prettiest sight I've ever seen other than when she comes. When she comes… I mentally shake my head. It's unlike anything I've ever seen or felt. Her face is completely calm, trusting, and giving. Her p-ssy clenches me so tight it's hard to move inside her, but I do and when her p-ssy spasms, she milks every last drop of cum from me. Maybe what's going on is I'm addicted to her p-ssy. I wish it was that simple. I know it's not and it's f*cking scary as hell.
When Lucy fell asleep in the Jacuzzi the first night she was here, after I dried her off and tucked her in, I headed to where Ben and the guys were. I told them she was different and if any one of those f*ckers made her feel cheap or used in any way, I'd cut their nuts off. Yeah, none of them knew what to do with that at first. Don't get me wrong, they knew that Lucy's different, but I'd gone all caveman (as Lucy would say) in a way they'd never seen before.
All I said was, "She matters," and they all nodded, accepting it just like that. It's not something any of us are used to but it is what it is.
"Did you have to go there while I was eating?" Lucy asks Sera. "You couldn't have waited until I was on my second drink?"
What were they talking about again? Oh yeah. Press conference.
Sera rolls her eyes. "No, I couldn't. If I have to be there, I need to know what the hell is going on."
"Fine," Lucy sets her pizza down on her napkin. "We're holding a press conference tomorrow at Nichols Records, where they usually hold theirs?" She looks at me and I nod.
"I know where that is."
"This is good."
I just grunt and take another bite of pizza. I'm hungry and distracted by her ass wiggling on my cock.
Ethan hands her a drink and she gulps half of the glass. She coughs twice and I smirk.
"You might want to take it easy on those," Kennedy says. "Ethan usually makes his drinks three-quarters alcohol and one-quarter soda."
"Perfect."
"You don't want to be hungover for the press conference," I remind her opening the beer Ben passes me.
"It's not until three in the afternoon so I can sleep in a bit. They want everyone there, from both bands, so I had to call Trace and Meggie. Trace wasn't at all surprised and Meggie can't wait to be photographed."
"She's so weird," Jace says.
"Nothing new."
"True."
It's cool there's four of them in Blush who knew each other growing up. It's like me, Ben and the guys. We've known each other since grade school, we're as close as brothers, and I'd trust them with my life. That's what I'd been hoping for for Lucy and I'm pretty sure that's what she's got. Trace is a kick ass guy. Reliable and f*cking insane on those drums. It was a stroke of luck that they'd been able to snag him for the interview. He'd just left his band days before and Xander only knew because he'd seen Trace in Nichols Records the day of the parting.
"After facing the wrath of the media, Trace and Meggie want to look through some of the songs we have and I want to look through theirs too. Cage reminded me we could use his studio and office space but Jesse offered the use of theirs instead," Lucy continues.
Wrath of the media. I nearly chuckle, but I don't. Honestly she gets so riled up about it, I wish I could step in and do it for her.
"Cool," Jace says.
She shrugs and picks up her pizza to take another bite. "I'm seriously dreading that damn press conference. I don't want to make an ass of myself again and I just know I'm going to," she whispers to me then lets out a sigh.
I rub my hand up and down her back. "We got this," I say with conviction as she meets my gaze. She pauses for a few seconds then nods.
The rest of the guys murmur their agreement and while I feel a bit of relief knowing they're going to be up there with me, I know she's going to have to answer their questions and that means she's going to be put on the spot which means she's not going to react well.
"Thanks you guys."
"So," Sera says. Lucy shifts and raises a brow. "You're staying in Jesse's room?"
"Um…"
I just chuckle. "Relax, Luce. It's only Sera, not the press."
"I just… I'm not sure how much…?" I trail off.
"How much to tell her? Everything. It's family."
I shrug. "Yeah, she's staying in my room so really it's our room now."
Ben whistles. "Damn bro."
"No shit," Ethan says with a shake of his head.
Kennedy's mouth is hanging open.
"Dude, close your mouth. I don't want to see your chewed up f*cking pizza."
Jace snorts. "I've gotta say, it seems so unreal, you know?"
"What do you mean?" Ethan asks.
"Just last week I was working in accounting wearing a f*cking suit and tie and today I'm sitting on the patio of Casa Falling Down with the best f*cking band ever and Lucy's sitting on the lap of the guy she majorly crushed on since she was twelve."
"Well, f*ck," Ben says. "When you put it that way. But we're just guys who worked our asses off to get where we are. We caught a lucky break with Cage just as you all did."
"Mostly Lucy worked her ass off to get us here," Sera says.
"No thanks to her mom," Jace replies.
I squeeze her hip and she sighs. "It wasn't what I wanted to do, we all know this, but I did it. It wasn't exactly a hard job. I got on the set and pretended to be someone else and got paid a butt load of money to do it."
"But--" Sera starts.
Lucy cuts her off. "Stop. We've been through this a million times. Mom got her way from sixteen to now, but now it's us. Let's let the past stay there and be grateful because if we hadn't met Cage, like Ben said, we wouldn't be here."
Sera snickers. "You wouldn't be sitting on Jesse Kingston's lap and sleeping in his bed."
"Uh-uh. Our bed," I correct.
"Yeah, that," Sera says with a sigh.
"I gotta pee," Lucy says. I pull her down for a quick kiss before she heads inside.
"You know this is a dream come true for her, right?" Sera asks.
I shrug. Talking about the crush thing makes me uncomfortable. I don't mind being a crush or whatever chicks turn me into in their fantasies, but I don't want to be that for Lucy. Not anymore.
"I guess."
"Could be for him too," Ethan says.
Sera nods.
"She's definitely a dream," Xander says winking at me.
"Shut up, f*cker." I throw my bottle cap at him.
"What? I could've said wet dream, but I was respectful," he says, putting his hand over his heart.
I can see it, he's thinking about her, trying to imagine my woman naked.
"Knock it the f*ck off or I'll beat your ass."
Xander laughs. "I can strip her down in my head anytime I want to."
I nod. "You can, but you don't know what it really looks like under those clothes and it's so much more than your imagination."
"Well, f*ck," he says and takes a drink of his beer. I smirk.
Lucy comes back out and slides back onto my lap. I kiss the side of her neck and she smiles. She slams down the other half of her drink and holds out her empty glass to Ethan who grins and takes it to make another.
"Wow, Lucy," Sera says. "Who would have thought?"
"Right?"
"I mean, all from a crush."
"Seriously."
"Then the chance meeting."
"Mhmm."
"Then the video."
"Yeah."
"Toss in a weekend of fabulous sex and now you're living together."
"Yup," she says around my bite of pizza then takes the drink Ethan hands her.
"But he's not just a crush," she tells Sera and I pull her back for a kiss.
"Oh, I know it," Sera says with a wink. "Trust me, I know."
I'm trying very hard not to hyperventilate right now with the phrase "living together" that Sera just used. I prefer "sharing a room" to "living together". It sounds less serious. It may have been my idea, but f*ck if I know what the hell I'm doing.
Lucy takes a gulp of her drink and I'm pretty sure she's feeling the same way I am right now. I pull her close with one arm in a kind of open hug.
"Don't freak her out, Sera."
She just grins. "Why not? It's so fun. Look at her face."
I watch as Lucy purposefully wipes all expression from her face as she picks up another slice of pizza. She raises a brow. I think she's starting to feel a buzz from the very lethal Ethan drink. Lucy flips Sera the bird.
"F*cking actress," Ben says with a wink and Lucy grins.
I take a drink of my beer as she takes another drink of her rum (may as well call it what it is). Lucy burps really f*cking loud and murmurs, "Excuse me," and pops the last bite of pizza in her mouth.
I freeze with my beer half way to my lips. When I look up everyone's staring at her.
"What? I said excuse me," she says.
"How can something so loud come from such a small body?" Xander asks with a laugh.
She shrugs. "It's a gift and not one I share very often. That one kind of slipped out," she says with a blush, looking at me.
I chuckle. "Don't even worry about it, Luce. It's good to know you're human." And it really is because she's so f*cking perfect in every way it's nice to see a bit of imperfection in her.
She nods. "Very human and very, very full." She leans back into my lap as I continue to eat my pizza.
"Make me a drink, bitches!" Meggie shouts as she comes walking out on the patio and I chuckle. This girl is nuts with her turquoise and pink colored hair, nose and lip rings, more ear piercings than I can count, and really kick ass tattoos.
"Dude," Trace says as he takes a seat. "Meat lovers plus." He reaches over and fist bumps me.
"Mrs. Martinez let you in?"
"Yeah," Meggie answers. "She's really kick ass. I like her."
"Me too," I say with a chuckle.
"Cage coming?" Lucy asks Sera who shrugs.
"I didn't even know these two were coming."
"Did you expect us not to party on the night Blush is formed? Get the f*ck on with yourselves, bitches!" Ethan hands her a drink and passes a beer to Trace. They murmur their thanks.
I watch and Meggie takes a big gulp of her drink. "Holy f*ck, Ethan. You're my favorite bartender ever. You're f*cking hired!"
Lucy laughs. "Just like old times."
"No," Jace says. "Much better."
"True that," Sera says and raises her glass. We all raise our bottles and glasses. "To Blush, may we rock their asses off and to Falling Down for inspiring us to follow our passion."
"Here, here," Lucy says and taps her glass to my bottle. "Jesse," she whispers.
"Hmm?"
"I'm a little drunk I think," she slurs and flops back onto my chest.
"It's not surprising seeing as Ethan's drinks contain the equivalent of five or six shots and you've downed two of them in less than two hours."
She nods. "I like Ethan's drinks."
"Happy to serve," Ethan says chuckling.
"She's a light-weight," Sera says.
"Well, she's so tiny and weighs next to nothing."
"I'd take some of Sera's tallness if I could. Being short isn't fun sometimes, 'specially when you're acting and you have to stand on a stool when you kiss the hero."
Trace busts out laughing. "Really?"
She nods. "It's really shitty. We have to stop filming, someone brings in a stool, I get up on it, then the cameras start rolling again, the hero walks toward me and then we kiss. Then when the kiss is over, cut!, remove the stool, and carry on about our business."
I chuckle. I don't know if she's telling the truth or making this up but it's funny as hell. "With everyone you acted with?"
"The ones over six feet. I'm only five-three so it's really difficult for the guy to kiss me without having to bend down, and when they bend down, the camera shot is skewed and they don't get both of us in the shot correctly. When I'm more even with the hero's mouth, they get the money shot of our lips pressing together, you know what I mean?"
I growl. I don't want to think about her kissing some other f*cking guy, acting or not.
"Oh Jesse," she says patting my face. "You're the best kisser ever. Oh my God, Sera." Lucy shakes her head. "You just can't know."
"I could--" Sera says with a smirk.
"Try it and die," Lucy slurs pointing at Sera.
"Jesse..." she whispers.
"What's up, Cupcake?"
She sighs. "Do you think I'm too judgmental? I mean, I feel kinda bad for how I feel about the groupie whores. Some of them are probably very nice ladies and girls. And they might have reasons for being the way they are, you know? Looking for love in all the wrong places--as the song goes," she says with a snort. "I think maybe I'm being too harsh."
"Lucy," Kennedy says. "You can feel any way you like about people. It everyone's right, and just knowing you're taking their reasoning into consideration, well, it just shows everyone you're thinking outside your comfort zone which tells us all you're trying to be fair."
Her jaw drops. "I think that's the most he's ever spoke."
"Probably," I laugh.
"Well, I'm glad to know that you don't think I'm a judgmental bitch. I'd hate that you know? You're all so great and I love you guys."
"She's a chatty drunk," Meggie interjects.
"She is that," Jace agrees.
"Makes for a fun time," Xander says with a grin that says he's up to no good. "Hey Lucy?"
"What's up Xan my man?" she snorts and I can't help but laugh. She's so f*cking cute.
"What's the one thing about Jesse that you like the most?" he asks her.
"Hmm. If you'd asked me this when I was twelve or even seventeen I'd have said his looks or his body because, hello! he's hella hot."
"You said it girl," Meggie cheers.
"And now?" Xander asks.
"I like that he's more than what everyone thinks he is."
"What do you mean?" Ben asks.
"Well," she flits a hand and sits up straight, "watching him in videos or on TV doing interviews or even on stage he seems kind of superficial, you know? I understand it's part of who he is, he keeps his private self private. He lets you see how kind and fun he is, but he hides a lot. But being able to see more of who he is has shown how deep and complex he is. He's a good guy. A manwhore, but a good guy."
"Awww, Cupcake, you had me up until 'manwhore' and you went and ruined it," I say laughing with everyone else.
She pegged me straight on. She doesn't know everything about me yet. She may change her mind as she finds out.
I take another beer from Ethan and Lucy takes a bottled water.
"Thanks man."
Ethan nods and smiles at Lucy then shakes his head.
Yeah, she's definitely something else. I've got a feeling there's much more to Lucy than I've seen this past week. We've already seen her crumble at the thought of the press conference, a vulnerability and task that she hates with a passion. I'm really looking forward to seeing just who she is under that cool exterior now that I'm not on the outside looking in.
"Jesse," Lucy whispers loudly and Trace chuckles next to me.
"Yeah, babe."
"I'm getting sleepy."
"Okay." I stand up with Lucy. "It's ni-ni time for Lucy."
"Good, she needs to sleep that off or Irene will kick her ass," Sera says.
"Whatever," Lucy says flitting a hand, nearly smacking me in the face. I chuckle and watch her nearly fall down.
"Come here, woman." I pick her up and she wraps her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist.
"You're so tall and strong. You're just so sexy, Jesse," she says before kissing my nose.
I grin.
"She's a cute drunk," Xander says with a smile.
"That she is."
"You really should keep her."
"I plan to. Goodnight everyone."