Chapter Two
"Botta bing! Botta bang! Botta boom!" Sly exclaimed happily as he entered the garage without knocking. He shook his rear end and snapped his fingernails together in tune to the little song he'd been singing since he was a kid. He grinned widely at Jake, who looked up irritabily from his bike.
Jake wiped his hands off on an oil rag and stood. The entire time, he kept his glare fixed on Sly and the two strumpets on his arms. The Dreams still had a few groupies left, and despite Sly's sliminess, those who could not get close to them gladly hung onto his every word. Some of the girls were so dirty themselves that Jake had often wondered if they truly overlooked Sly's sliminess simply because he was the only member of the Dreams who would still lower himself to their level or if they were perhaps pulled to him because he was as slimy as they.
Jake knew Sly had used the Dreams' reputation to make himself several orgy parties in the past, but as far as he knew, the Winkle dirtbag was the only one of their band to actually attend those parties. Jake knew Tiffani hadn't gone to them while they'd been together; what, or who, she did afterwards was really any one's guess. Although Mark would have easily fallen into Sly's trap when he had first come into the band, he now realized that he could choose his ladies and didn't have to just settle for the next pretty face and easy pair of legs. Tony and Sam had married a few years ago, and Jake knew that Tony looked nowhere else for pleasure but at his beloved Sam.
He sighed deeply. He envied his friends for their love. They had been happy together ever since high school, and despite the press and all that had happened to pull the Dreams apart, Tony and Sam had stayed as close together as they had been then. His lips quirked into a grin as he remembered the way they had been back in school. Even then, there had been times that they had acted like an old, married couple, still full of passion for each other but so comfortable with one another that Sam would right Tony's tie or he'd carry her stuff without a second's thought.
He'd been that happy once, Jake recalled, but never with Tiffani. He'd thought he'd loved Tiffani until she'd actually left him for a surfer dude. He shifted his leather jacket, moving his arms as he had always been apt to do when suddenly made uncomfortable. No one had ever left Jake Sommers before, but she had. He knew now that he should have left her, but he'd stayed with her for years, even after coming to the realization that she was not the true Queen of his heart that he'd thought her to be, for fear of what would happen to the Dreams if they split up.
Keeping their friendship had been trying enough the first time they'd parted ways, but the band had not suffered because of their relationship. The press this time, however, had made certain to make them suffer. They had all gotten to the point to where they could not do anything, even enjoy a simple meal from a teenage hangout, like Sharky's had been; take a stroll down the beach; or ride his bike, without beinng hounded by the press. Having their pictures taken at embarrassing moments and microphones thrust into their faces when they were already upset had at last taken its toll on them, but it wasn't just the reporters in person who had made their lives as celebrities so difficult to bear.
Reporters had the same moralities as Sly, which was none. Those who couldn't reach the Dreams in person made up the stories they thought would sell, and the dirtier the story, the more it flew off of the racks. It had been one such story that had caused his last fight with Tiffani. It had shown her kissing the man with whom she'd been surfing, and Jake had torn into her, furious that she would see some one behind his back. What he hadn't realized until it was too late was that Tiff hadn't actually even so much as dated the guy. She'd had feelings for him, but she'd kept them at bay and not acted on them until Jake had made an ass of himself.
He snorted at the memory. It was his fault, in a way, that she had left him, but it was those damn reporters who were really to blame. Regardless, that fight, his accusations, had ruined their friendship. Tiffani had left the band, and the band had crumpled without her. They could have tried to replace her, but none of them, save Winkle, had had the heart to do so. They had chosen to end the band instead, and now here he was, facing Sly, for the first time in months.
"Botta boom!" Sly hollered, and Jake winced as he was snapped back to the present and almost went for Sly's throat.
"What is it, Sly?" he snapped instead.
Sly shook his head at Jake. "You didn't hear a word I said, did you?"
"No," Jake admitted. "Why would I want to listen to a maggot like you, any way?"
Sly surveyed his friend, knowing he was upset and understanding the true reason why though he'd never dare to accuse Jake of the reality lest the biker slam his face into the nearest wall. He spread his arms wide. "Leave us," he commanded his chicks, and they flocked outside and, undoubtedly, back to his limo to wait for them.
"Jake, babe," Sly started again but stopped short and jumped backwards as Jake went for him.
"I told you never to call me that!" Jake snarled.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Sly squealed, throwing his hands up in the air to show how defenseless he was. "Look. I didn't mean to upset you, but I've got news I thought you'd want to hear."
"And you couldn't just call?"
"You didn't answer your phone."
Jake hushed. Sly had him there. He never answered his phone any more unless it was Tony or Mark. He didn't even spoken to Sam for far too often she mentioned the girls of his past, and as for Sly . . . Well, Sly had gone on to manage other bands, but the Dreams were still his favorite. The last time he'd spoken to Winkle, Sly had been trying to pull the Dreams back together and had three wayed him into a call with Tiffani before he even knew she was on the other line.
It wasn't that he blamed Tiffani, not really. The press were to blame for breaking them apart so soon, but it would have happened any way. Unlike Tony and Sam, they weren't meant to be together. Jake could never be the sappy romantic, surfer dude that Tiffani truly needed, and Tiff . . . Tiffani was a wonderful woman, but she wasn't the woman of Jake's dreams. She wasn't the one he loved.
"Get to the point, Winkle," Jake growled, wanting to silence the memories that Sly's presence brought, unbidden and seemingly almost unstoppable, to his mind.
"Okay." Sly nodded and punched a fist into the palm of his other hand. "It's like this, Jake." Then he started rattling off his explanation. "Remember that charity Sam talked us all into donating for a while back? We all donated an item. You let go of your leather jacket from high school."
"Yeah? What of it?"
"That leather jacket went for a million bucks."
Jake's mouth fell open. His dark eyes widened in surprise. "What?"
Sly grinned. He knew he had his full attention now! Jake waited, expecting to hear Sly hitting him up for more leather jackets to sell, but what Winkle said instead was quite possibly the last thing Jake had expected to hear. "That's not even the best part. The best part is who bought it." Sly grinned triumphantly up at Jake, his dark eyes shining with happy excitement. "Lorena DaCosta!"
"Lorena," Jake spoke her name in a hushed whisper. His hands fell to his sides; emotions crashed over his usually stony face. He hadn't heard her name, except from Sam, in years. He hadn't seen her since the last time she'd gone to one of their concerts. She'd sat in the front row that night, looking even more beautiful than he remembered, and it had taken every bit of his self control not to go down to that row, pick her up in his arms, tell her how sorry he was, and reclaim her mouth with his right there before the world.
He had left Lorena for Tiffani, and that had been the single, greatest mistake of his life. There hadn't been a day that had gone by since then that he hadn't regretted leaving Lorena, but he hadn't known how to get out of the mess in which he'd put himself. Lorena had seemed fine without him, and he hadn't wanted to break Tiffani's heart or risk breaking the band apart as had finally happened when he and Tiff had gone splitsville.
Lorena had paid a million dollars for his old leather jacket! No one paid that much money for a jacket! Okay, so money didn't matter much to Lorena. She'd always had bucket loads of it, but Lorena didn't wear leather or old clothes. She had always been the most fashionable person in all of Bayside, and though he hadn't seen in her years, he was quite sure she would not have changed that much.
"I have an address," Sly interjected into Jake's thoughts.
He blinked owlishly at him. "What?"
"I have an address," Sly repeated with uncharacteristic patience. He shrugged and gave a little grin. "If you want it, that is, of course." He waved a paper in front of Jake's face.
Jake dropped his oil rag and grabbed the paper, snapping, "Give me that." He glanced at the address, shoved it into his jacket pocket, and raced back for his bike. He tore immediately out of his garage, jumping the curb to avoid hitting Sly's limousine and leaving his former manager yelling behind him. "YOU'RE WELCOME!"
Left alone in the garage, Sly grinned. He knew Jake hadn't been the same since he'd left Lorena, and though he and Tiffani had tried to make a go of things, neither was right for the other. Their hearts were just too different. Tiffani had found what she needed; she was marrying him this weekend in a surfer's ceremony. Sly's heart stirred as he remembered when he had gone through that same ceremony with the pretty, little blonde. She was definitely a heartbreaker, but she couldn't break hearts that had never belonged to her. Jake's heart belonged to some one else, and Sly would see his old friend happy yet.
"Sly?" one of his many girls called, sticking her head around the corner of Jake's garage. She pouted seductively at him. "We're getting lonely," she said.
Sly grinned. "Well, we can't have that now, can we?" he asked. He opened his arms wide. "Come to Uncle Sly." He grasped her as she flew into his arms, reveling in the feel of the half naked girl who had once been a cheerleader who wouldn't have looked twice at him in high school. As he buried his mouth in her neck and his fingers in her long hair, he again thought of his friends. He was going to see them happy, he thought, grinning widely, and when they were happy again, he'd be able to pull the band back together! "Botta bing! Botta bang! Botta boom!"
His groupie giggled, and more of them rushed to join their coupling. "Botta boom me!" she cried happily.
"Oh, yeah," Sly answered, "you better believe I will!" He proceeded to do just that, though not without a hope that Jake still possessed enough sense to botta boom Lorena just right for he knew what they needed was definitely each other, and though his ultimate plan was to pull the band back together and make a bunch of money off of them once more, he truly did want his old friends to be happy again.
To Be Continued . . .