Jerrica moaned softly and shifted in the bed. The steady beeping of
the heart rate monitor had kept Rio awake throughout the night, his
eyes fixated on her face that was paler than the coarse hospital
sheets she laid upon. He concentrated on the rhythmic rise and fall
of her chest, not realizing that he willed his body to breathe in
synchronicity with hers. Jerrica's face contorted in pain and her eyes
fluttered open. She took in her surroundings for a moment before her
gaze fell upon Rio. She opened her mouth to speak but her throat was
too dry.
"Jerrica, sweetheart." Rio said quietly. He held a cup of water with a
straw up to her lips and she drank gratefully. "How are you feeling?"
"Head...hurts." She said in a broken whisper.
He stood from his chair by the bed. "I'll get the nurse." Her hand
grabbed his wrist and she let out a whimper of pain. "No, don't go."
She croaked.
Rio sank back down into his chair. "Do you remember what happened?"
He asked as he offered her more water.
She nodded slightly. "Can you tell me what you remember?"
Jerrica sighed and closed her eyes. "I remember walking through the
corridors. I could hear music. I was hungry. I heard a noise and then
... a firework going off in my head and Riot screaming at me. I could
see his lips move but no sound coming out. Just a loud ringing in my
ears." Jerrica frowned and searched her mind. "His eyes." She trailed
off and scrunched her eyes more tightly, willing her mind to reveal
the mystery to her. Then her eyes popped open and grew wide. "It was
you." She whispered. The muscle in Rio's jaw flinched. Jerrica closed
her eyes again. "I know that doesn't make sense." She sighed. "It's
all so distorted and murky."
"It's okay, sweetheart. All that matters is you are going to be okay.
Don't think about it anymore."
"I'm just so tired." She said, her voice thick with unshed tears.
Rio kissed her forehead and ran his fingers lightly down her cheek. "Then rest."
She wanted to stay awake, to think about what happened, to make sense
of her jumbled memory but she didn't have the strength to argue. "Will
you stay?" She pleaded.
"Of course." Rio replied. "I'm not going anywhere." She held tight to
his hand as he shifted in the uncomfortable hospital chair. Rio
watched her until her breathing evened out and her hand went slack in
his. Then he laid his head down on the bed and fell asleep beside her.
He spent the next two days in much the same way at the hospital
sleeping in the uncomfortable chair at her bedside. He left only once
at Shana's insistence that he needed a hot shower and decent meal.
Rio, Aja, Shana and Kimber divided Jerrica's duties between them to
wrap up the end of the tour, reschedule the missed concert and get all
the stage set equipment, trucks and crew back to LA as efficiently as
they could. It wasn't lost on either of them that it took all four of
them to replace one Jerrica. Shana returned home to Starlight Mansion
to help Mrs. Bailey with the Starlight girls and calm their worries
until Jerrica could return to the city.
The Stingers' tour bus had left the parking lot as soon as the press
conference was handled.
With severe concussion, stitches, bandages and bruises, Jerrica was
discharged from the hospital to go home and fully recover. She would
need bed rest, low light, very little noise - things not easily come
by at Starlight Mansion with so many girls running about. Rio insisted
that Jerrica return home with him until she was well enough to take
over her duties at Starlight Music. Truth be known he just wanted her
close to his body. And he needed the time to screw up enough courage
to reveal his secret to her.
After spending two weeks at Rio's condo, Jerrica returned to Starlight
Mansion. Three more weeks passed as Jerrica slowly recovered under the
watchful eye of Rio and the Holograms, Mrs. Bailey and even the
Starlight girls. Eventually Jerrica felt she was well enough to resume
some of her duties as head of starlight music. Besides, Jem had
several interviews and appearances to make up from her 'un-scheduled
vacation'. She was still very tired and only able to do work for an
hour or two before needing a rest but her alter-ego had to keep up
appearances before too many more questions went unanswered.
On her first day back to the office, Rio picked her up so they could
arrive together.
"I'll drop you off at the front door before I go park in the
underground garage."
"Rio," Jerrica reached across and patted his hand on the steering
wheel. "I'm fine, really. You don't need to treat me like I'm going to
break."
Rio pulled up to the starlight music building and put the car in park.
"That's exactly what I'm worried about, Jerrica." Rio got out of the
car, walked around to her side and opened her door. He helped her out
of the car and into his embrace. "I don't want anything to happen to
you. You still haven't recovered one hundred percent and the tour
starts again in four weeks. I just want you to be well." Jerrica
leaned into his embrace. "I'll be in your office in four hours to take
you back home. That's enough work for today. "
"Rio I can't." She protested. "I have to oversee the interview with
LinZ Pierce this morning and I have a meeting scheduled this
afternoon."
Rio tightened his hold around Jerrica's waist. "Reschedule the meeting
for another day." He said firmly. "I'm taking you home to rest at one
and if you try to do any work after that, I'll tie you to the bed."
"Mmmm." Jerrica raised an eyebrow. "Tie me to the bed? I thought you
said I was going to rest." She murmured suggestively. Rio let out a
low, husky laugh and kissed her mouth. "I'll see you in four hours. No
more." Jerrica nodded.
She walked through the glass front doors and into the elevator. Once
the doors closed, she touched her earrings. "Show time, Synergy."
The interview took too long. Too many people had too many questions
about the accident and the postponed tour date. Jem's head started to
hurt. The bright lights of the studio were making her squint and her
vision was becoming blurred. Rio was right. She wasn't ready to come
back to work. Shana noticed Jem starting to fade and tactfully
prompted LinZ to close the interview. They returned to Starlight Music
and Jem sought out the first quiet place she could think of to rest
her eyes for a moment. She leaned back on the overstuffed couch of an
empty recording studio and closed her eyes. She had only been there
for a moment when she heard the door open.
"Jem?" Rio's sultry voice penetrated the silence.
"Rio." Jem got up from the couch and went willingly into his arms.
"I'm glad you're here." She smiled and raised up on her toes to kiss
his lips. He turned away and her lips glanced off his cheek. His
expression gave nothing away as he steered her back towards the couch
and they both sat down. "Is something wrong?"
"Yes, Jem. This is wrong." He said as he gestured between them. "We are wrong."
"What do you mean?" She asked warily.
"Look." Rio started again, leaning his elbows on his knees. "I'm not
saying I don't care about you Jem, because I do. And I take full
responsibility for stringing you along without telling you where you
stand with me."
"Does this have something to do with Jerrica's accident?"
"No," Rio stated. "It has everything to do with Jerrica's accident."
Rio raked his hands impatiently through his hair. "I could have lost
her."
"But you didn't lose her." Jem reminded, not sure where this was leading.
Rio closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. "It shouldn't have taken
something like this for me to realize how much I love her. I can't be
with you anymore, Jem."
Tears sprung to Jem's eyes. Rio was finally making a choice and he was
choosing Jerrica! Her heart soared.
"I can't lie to Jerrica when she's been nothing but true to me." Rio
confessed.
And with that admission her heart dropped to her stomach.
She hadn't been true to him. She hadn't been honest or forthcoming.
She needed to tell him the truth. After this confession, he deserved
to know.
At one o'clock sharp Rio entered Jerrica's office. "Your chariot
awaits, my lady." He said with a deep bow and a saucy grin.
Jerrica flashed him a tired smile. "I seem to remember promises of a
nap." She said as she gathered her things into her messenger bag. "But
of course." Rio continued. "The lady shall have whatever she desires."
Jerrica emerged from behind her desk. Rio took her bag from her and
slipped an arm around her waist. She leaned on him for support "I'm so
tired of being so tired all the time." She complained as they made
their way to the lobby. When the elevator doors opened, Rio steered
Jerrica inside and pushed her up against the back wall. She pressed
herself closer to his body and closed her eyes as she inhaled deeply,
taking comfort in his masculine scent. "Tell me, this nap you have
promised. Is it clothing optional?" Rio gave a sexy laugh. "If the
lady so wishes."
"The lady does." Jerrica murmured sleepily.
But their ardour would have to wait. Jerrica was asleep in the
passenger seat before Rio could turn his car out of the parking lot.
Author's Note:
Ok I don't usually do Author's notes but I will just this once! I apologize for the delay between updates. I took a family vacation from December 1 to December 10. I know exactly where this story is going, I've thought it all through, I just have to get the words out of my head and onto paper (screen, whatever). Knowing I had 18 hours of flying time and a 7 hour layover in Vancouver (not as fun as it sounds) I planned to write and write and write. And guess what? I did write…but not for this story. I got this niggling little idea for a short one-shot about The Stingers and by the time I returned home it's now developed into a huge saga of at least two parts. My midnight editor is still going strong on that one and every morning I wake up with another chapter thought through. So here's the thing…I'm a full time mom of three busy kids, one workaholic husband, Christmas is coming up and dude, I am swamped! So I come back to you with a promise to finish this story first and foremost (I have to complete my very first NaNoWriMo project!). After that, I will then spend every minute that I have to spare between laundry, dishes, driving to school/karate/skating, cooking, cleaning, and all the other crap that Moms have to deal with, I will be busily writing that Stingers story out of my head. Totally looking forward to that. It's all I can think about these days.
Okay, that's it for my Author's note. Over and out.
