Chapter 7

"How the hell did she sucker you into this?" Jude said as she stood on the other side of the recording booth. She ripped off her headphones and went in the soundboard room and sat down on Tom's lap. She put her hands around his neck and touched their foreheads together.
"One whole day?" she wined.
"I know it sucks, but that night we slept here, she and I had plans…needless to say I didn't make it. She said I owe her this much. Its only one day baby…we can do this." Tom said as he ran his fingers along the smooth skin right above her jeans. Jude hung her head and pouted; he put his finger under her chin and made her look at him.
"I love you, and nothing is going to happen and it's ok…how about this, you can call me at 9 o'clock…I'll make an excuse to leave and I'll come spend the night with you ok?"
"Ok," she said standing up off his lap and getting her things together. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" she said with a disappointed look on her face. Tom pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. "Don't forget my heart belongs to you," he whispered into her ear. His hot breath sent chills down her spine and made her get Goosebumps. She stood there as she watched his retreating form. His button up shirt hung so nicely down his back and stopped right were she still had the perfect view of his ass that was hugged nicely by those jeans he wore…damn she was lucky she thought to her self and followed him out.

Bright light invaded Tommy sense's as he moved his arm up to cover his eyes. Next he jumped when his covers were thrown back and the cold air hit his skin. "What the hell?" he moaned out loud. Sadie, all smiles, jumped onto the bed. She landed on her knees at his side and stared down at him.
"Let's go have brunch!" she said to him. He fought to pull the covers back up but his efforts were useless.
"Awww are you cold?" she said to him as she stood up.
"Umm ya" he said annoyed.
"Then, get up, get in the shower, and let's go!" she said. When he stood up she went to him and hugged him.
"Thank you for this," she said letting go of him and starting to walk in the other room. His anger quickly changed from grumpy…to happy as he she walked away, obviously happy at the day ahead of them.
"Thank you for this," she said letting go of him and starting to walk in the other room. His anger quickly changed from grumpy…to happy as he she walked away, obviously happy at the day ahead of them.

They made it through brunch with no worries and sat there full and satisfied, wondering what to do with the day.
"Umm lets…" Sadie said letting her words drag out, not knowing what to say next.
"We can go for a drive?" Tom suggested. Sadie made a face and frowned, "Or we could go shopping?" she suggested. Boy did Tom know that was coming. But he just smiled and held her hand as they walked out of the restaurant.
"What ever you want to do is what I want to do."

After Sadie pulled him from store to store they ended up back at their apartment, it was almost dinner time by then and Sadie insisted on cooking. She made Tom go sit in his big chair in the living room and play video games on the new Xbox she picked up for him when they were out. He smiled when he heard her singing horribly off key in the kitchen as she started running water and clanking around pans. He heard a crash and a slight scream and he jumped from his seat.
"Baby? Sade you ok?" he asked as he turned the corner and saw her sitting on her butt with pans all around her. Her shoulders began to shake and he sank to one knee by her side. "Honey, are you hurt?" he asked in worry as he put his hand on her leg. At first he thought she was crying, and then he realized she was laughing.
"Oh my God…" she said covering her mouth with her hand to try and control her laughter. "I squatted down to get a pan out of the cabinet and I started to fall and the only thing I grabbed when I reached out to hold onto something was more pans…" Tom smiled and started to put the pans back in the cabinet. "I thought you hurt yourself," he told her. They finished and he stood and kissed her on the cheek. "If you need any help call me next time, don't go killing your self over spaghetti.

Sadie set the table and called Tom in to eat. She had candles lit and bread in a basket. Salad and spaghetti were already served on his plate, and it was still steaming.
"Babe, this looks…so, so good. Thank you."
"Your welcome, just eat up, your looking too skinny, maybe your working too hard," she mused as she took dainty bites of her salad.
"Hard work is what I do…if I'm not working hard, then I'm not happy, you should know that by now."
"So I have something I want to talk to you about…" she said.
"You have my attention"
"So I have a photo shoot coming up…for Vanity Fair, and I would really love it if you would consider coming with me…"
"I'll think about it…" he said with food in his mouth, "can't you go by yourself babe?"
"Well it's not that I can't, this is just a once in a lifetime trip, for both of us…to China." Tom almost choked on his food. China. That was far away. China….
"That's amazing Sadie, but do they allow guests to come on shoots like this?"
"Well I sort of asked already and they said they you could come along…maybe even use you in the shoot…"
Tom looked down at his food…how was he ever going to pull this one off. One of these girls he cared about was going to be very hurt, and he already could see which one it was.
"How long is this trip?" he said. He couldn't stand to look at Sadie, god she looked so happy and so excited. This was a major career move for her, and she wanted him, her husband to be there to share it with her. How could he turn that down?
"Two weeks. 3 days to travel there and get settled. 6 days to shoot, 2 days for us to sight see and then come home."
Tom swallowed hard, the words that he wanted to come from his mouth just wouldn't. Not with Sadie sitting on the other end of the table, with that expression on her face.
"Well?" she said looking at him. He finally was able to look up and meet her eyes. The smile on her face and the gleam in her eyes hurt him. But it was the look that Jude would have on her face when he told her he was leaving. She was going to get upset, she was going to ask why, and she was not going to understand.

Oh god

He rubbed over his face with his hands.

"Of course Sadie, I'll come with you. This is amazing for you honey," Tom said. He stood up and walked over to Sadie. She stood and hugged him; he wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. "I'm so happy for you," he whispered into her neck. Sadie pulled back and looked at him. She leaned in slowly, their lips met softly and tentatively. Almost as if she was afraid, like kissing him was something so familiar but yet so foreign. She kissed him for a second and pulled back.
"What's wrong?" She questioned.
"Nothing, why would you ask that?" he said back to her. But he knew something was wrong and she knew it too. His kiss was different, his passion was misplaced. His care was there, but care didn't drive lust. He brought his hand up and stroked her hair.
"You're just, you seem different" she said to him.
"No it's nothing" he said, this time him initiating the kiss. Sadie nibbled on his lip as she tilted her head, trying to get him to kiss her deeper. He obliged, his tongue meeting hers as he ran his hands up underneath her shirt. He felt her start to mess with the button on his pants…

But when his cell phone began ringing in his back pocket he silently thanked god, the angels, and every other saint he could think of, it was just getting awkward for him. When he reached for his back pocket Sadie pulled away and looked at him annoyed.
"Can't you stop being producer for like, one night, and just be mine?" she asked him. He flipped open the phone, shot her his best 'I'm sorry' look and walked out of the room.

"Are you coming over now, I'm dying without you!" Jude said into the phone.
"I'll be there as soon as I can, ok?"
"Good because I have a surprise for you…" she said. Tommy's eyebrows lifted and he smiled.
"Surprise? What kind of surprise?"
"A sexy surprise, I'm waiting for you,"
Jude hung up the phone and Tommy walked back into the dining room.
"I'm sorry, I've got to go. Kwest and Jude are at the studio freaking out. They lost a track we recorded the other day, I need to be there." Sadie stood and put her hands on her hips. "I thought this day was about us?" she said with a nasty tone. Tom kept his cool and walked over to her.
"Don't ruin the day, it's over already ok? I love you," he said as he kissed her forehead. "I'll be home as soon as I can; I'll bring us some Ben and Jerry's." Sadie's frown turned into a half smile. "I'll be waiting in bed."
Tom smiled at her weekly, grabbed his jacket and walked out.

Jude heard a knock at her door as she closed her robe around her tighter but not before looking down at her sexy bra and panties first. She smiled; Tom was going to love it after being with the wife all day. She opened the door, and the sight of him in front of her was like…a drug. Like some wonderful drug was just shot up her veins and went straight to her heart. The warm and fuzzy thing? Ya it really happens
"Hi baby!" she squealed as she jumped on him. He caught her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He wasted no time in kissing her deeply and threading his fingers into her hair. He pulled back and looked at her. The smile was wid on his face as he looked into her eyes. His eyes shone, as if he had so much for her that he couldn't contain it all.
"You…you are so…" he said not finishing the sentence.
"So what?" she asked.
"Refreshing"
Jude smiled and kissed him one last time before jumping down.
"Come into my room, I'll give you my surprise." She said wiggling her eyebrows.
"Wait baby, we need to talk," he said as he walked to the couch and sat down.
"You sure know how to ruin a mood," she said sarcastically. She sat down next to him and he went to hold her hand, but stopped. Jude was worried, he was acting strange…
"Exactly what did Sadie do to you today?"
"Umm suckered me into something else maybe? But Jude I mean even you wouldn't turn this down…" It was hard for him to say this; he fumbled his words even more as he tried to explain first.
"Spit it out" she said unmercifully. Her tone was short and he knew she was not pleased.
"China Jude, Sadie is um, she has a photo shoot and they want me to go be in it…"
She was being silent and that was bad, he didn't dare say anything though, knowing the temper that he was messing with. More so the emotions he was disrupting and the feelings he was hurting.
"And you agreed?!" she suddenly screamed at him.
"What could I do Jude?" he said raising his voice somewhat too.
"Don't! Don't try to explain or make me understand. I understand one thing. You, leaving with her. THAT'S IT! Doesn't matter where it's to, or how long or who else is going or WHY! I don't care about any of it…" Jude stood and started pacing the floor in front of Tom.
"Baby sit, please, lets talk about this," he said watching her. She started crying out of frustration and hurt, and plopped down on the couch next to him. He reached out to wrap his arm around her but she pulled back.
"Do not touch me," She said bitterly to him. He quickly retraced his hand and looked at her. He wanted to cry as well, she had that same look on her face as she did the day of his wedding. He just watched her for a second more, and reached for her again, this time she allowed it, and he pulled her close to him.
"I'm sorry Jude, I'm so sorry. If I had known-"
"If you had known?" she cried to him, "How could you not have known I would act this way? Do you think I tell you how much I love you because it's good for my health?" She paused and took a breath; her voice was high and strained as she tried not to seriously break down again. "No! I really love you! And now you're leaving with someone else. If you can't tell her 'no' for a stupid trip, how can you tell her you don't want to be with her?" Tommy kissed the side of her head and wrapped his arms around her tighter.
"Jude I love you, and today made me realize that, that much more today. I care for Sadie, and I'd be lying to you if I told you today was awful and horrible. But it wasn't, did I like being without you? No I thought about you every second, but it's…I just, I don't know Jude, I'm trying to handle it the right way."
"I know," she whispered into his chest.
"I love you Jude" he told her strongly and assuring.
"I know," she said crying, " That I love you more…"