Chapter 22

Things I'd Rather Not See

Two women each received a large bouquet of long stemmed red roses in identical cut crystal vases in their hotel rooms. The first woman brought the perfect blooms to her nose and inhaling deeply the delicate perfume, believed that this was evidence that he still cared. The second woman eyed the beautiful arrangement warily, her fingers touching the velvet soft petals only once before moving away from the flowers. She had never experienced this before, but she knew what it meant. The first woman's words echoed in her ears. Traditional Quincy guilt gift. She hadn't felt this particular mix of emotions in a long time. The song she had written back then to express those feelings fit just as well now. Jude picked up her acoustic guitar and settled on the couch to start the opening chords.

Tommy walked in as she started the second verse. The sound amazed him as she sang her heart out, her voice dripping with emotion. The acoustic was a perfect backdrop to this song and he wondered why she never did it this way in her concerts. He just stood there watching the back of her head, listening to the painful words. He was glad this song had not been written because of him, but wondered even more now than ever before who it was about.

Oh my permission to sin

You might have started my reckoning

I've got a reason now to bury this alive

Another little white lie

As she finished the final verse, he walked around the couch to sit down beside her. She looked over at him in surprise, her eyes unguarded for a split second and he could see the confusion and hurt them. When she blinked they was gone, making him question if he had seen them at all.

"Hey..." She said softly. No matter what, seeing him always made her heart skip.

"Hey big eyes. You okay?" He touched the back of hand to her cheek and she closed her eyes leaning her head against him. "Was Skin written about a boyfriend?" He asked knowing jealousy when he felt it now. Had someone else meant that much to her that they could hurt her that badly. Her eyes opened and a hint of amusement was evident in them in response to his tone.

"It was about a guy..." He frowned. "But not the way you're thinking. I caught my dad fooling around on my mom in our living room a couple of years ago. Apparently it had been going on for a while too." He winced. "The worst part was he wanted me and Sadie to lie about it for him. I told him he had to tell her. She kicked him out as soon as she found out. He destroyed our family." Tommy took her hand stroked the soft skin with his. "That's why I didn't want to get together with you..."

"Jude..." His eyes softened, as he looked at her. He hadn't realized how hard their relationship had been for her, even at the beginning.

"Don't worry it's been a longtime. So what about you? Are your parents still together?" He explained that his dad had died when he was really young and his mother had been the one to raise him. He had found himself telling her things he had hidden from almost everyone else. She felt lucky that she had had a good family life for as long as she had as she heard how much harder his life had been. Tommy had never really had that, his Dad had died when he was so young. She felt herself feeling sorry for the little boy he had been. It made sense now why he usually didn't open up to anyone. He told her how he wound up with Boyz Attack after getting in trouble. She understood why he was having a hard time letting Portia and the band go now.

"So why don't you do Skin acoustically for your show? It's so powerful like that."

"That's why. It's too much for me sometimes. The only time I've done it acoustically was the first time I debuted it when I sang it to my father." He nodded and leaned over to rest his forehead against hers.

Their lips met in an unhurried open mouthed kiss and he angled his head to deepen it. He pressed her down onto the couch and they took their time kissing. He pulled himself off of her and they each got undressed their eyes locked. He looked down at her creamy skin and bent his head to kiss her neck Her hands pulled him down, until he was pressed against, her thighs cradling him. His kisses were what made her get into this mess in this first place, she thought with amusement. Neither of them needed much foreplay, with the powerful emotions that had been running through them diverted into passion. He reached for his wallet and pulled out a condom, putting it on quickly. Her hands grabbed his ass, pulling him close again as he entered her swiftly. She was so tight, and warm and wet, he groaned. Their bodies moved together so perfectly, none of it took any effort.

He pulled almost completely out of her and started short quick thrusts that hit her G- Spot just right, making her cry out. Her short nails dug into his upper arms as she kept her legs wide open for him. As the ripples of her inner muscles started, signaling her pending release, he pushed into her hard, making the strokes long and fast. She came on a small cry, as his lips found hers. She drank his mouth in as his own pleasure overwhelmed him. His weight was nice, as he fell on top of her. She held him against her, their heartbeats in sync. The roses were forgotten to the whispers of love he placed against her ear.

Unexpected Friends

The tour was ending soon and things had not changed. Tommy spent time as much time as he could with Jude and enough with Portia to keep her if not satisfied, unable to complain too much. Jude's heart grew heavier as the days passed more quickly. Tommy wanted her to go to Asia with the tour, but she knew she couldn't, not with the things the way they were now. She was walking through the arena hallways when Chaz stopped her. They exchanged greetings and stood there for a moment in companionable silence.

"So the tour's almost over. Can I call you when you get back to Toronto?" Jude bit her bottom lip. She and Chaz had fallen into an easy almost friendship after their double date, stopped by full friendship only because they didn't spend much time together with the bad blood between him and Tommy. Chaz had stopped coming on to her and she actually found she liked his company.

"I don't know if that's really a good idea. You and I never really got along..."

"Fair enough." She started to walk away.

"You'll always be the one though." He called after her. She stopped and turned her head to look back at him. He had a cute grin on his face.

"The one what?" She said unable to resist the bait or a returning smile.

"The one that got away." She had to give a laugh at that and just shook her head, as she continued her exit. She called her cell phone number over her shoulder, not caring if he caught it.

Boys and Their Toys

Tomorrow would be the last day of their tour and they were currently 1 and 1/2 hours from Vancouver, the Boyz Attack home base. Tommy walked around the stage area impatiently, wondering where his friend was. The dealership he had placed an order with right before the start of the tour had finally received his brand new car from Italy. He had loved the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizone ever since he had seen it in a car magazine. There had been one more rehearsal scheduled that day so he was unable to go pick it up himself from Vancouver sending Kwest in his place. He needed this, the ability to drive off, to forget about his job.

Things with him and Jude had grown tenser by small degrees and he was convinced they both needed to get away from it all for a while. Of course the need to show his girl his newest toy was high on his list of priorities too. He finally spotted Kwest who was grinning from ear to ear as he walked over to Tommy. He threw Tommy the keys and shook his head.

"That was freaking amazing." Tommy gave him a suspicious look. "She's fine. I didn't go that fast." Kwest lied easily. Tommy just rolled his eyes not believing his friend for a second and started to turn.

"Thanks man." He called over his shoulder as he went to find Jude.

"What's the hurry?" Kwest called after him.

"I'm taking my girl for a spin." Kwest knew who he meant and frowned. He didn't like the way Tommy was treating either woman and he could feel things were going to get worse real soon.

Jude was busy with SME working out some new tunes for her next album, when Tommy found her. She was reluctant when he asked her to go for a ride with him, but she never could seem to say no to him. He looked so cute and so excited to show her his new toy. He grabbed a hold of her hand and pulled her out of the room as she turned to give SME an apologetic look.

The news of the arrival of the car had already made its rounds among the crew members, including Portia. He had told her last night Kwest was going to get it for him. She was excited for Tommy, remembering how much he wanted it when he had ordered it all those months ago. She started looking for him, and froze when she saw him, walking out the back door of the arena, not alone, tugging a blond behind him. Portia had been the one to listen to him talk about the car nonstop after he had seen it in that magazine. He had had to pull some major strings to get it as quickly as possible and it actually hadn't been released in North America yet. Portia felt a nugget of hurt growing in her belly, but she told herself she only had to hang on a little while longer. The tour was over tomorrow and she was pretty sure Jude would not be joining them in Japan in a few weeks.