Chapter 5
It was worse than Nick ever
imagined. Jeanie literally hadn’t spoken to him or anyone. She was devastated.
“Come on,” he lovingly tucked her
into bed. It was as if she had no fight or spirit left. She passively followed
instructions seemingly unaware of what was actually going on around her.
He sat with her in Madi’s room for
at least thirty minutes. By the time he went to talk to A.J. and Lindsay,
they’d already gone to bed. He wanted to find out if Kevin called, where the
hell he was, what the hell happened. Jeanie sure wasn’t talking…Nick sure as
hell didn’t want a confrontation with Kevin right now.
Nick sat in his boxers on the side
of the bed…Kevin’s bed. Part of him wanted to run away. He’d done stupid things
before, but never with consequences like this. He wasn’t trying to hurt Jeanie.
Of course, no one would believe that now. He was just in love…
He slipped into bed, boxers on,
and reached for her. She folded into his embrace, willingly letting him comfort
her. He pulled her up until her face was buried into the soft of his neck.
Every time she wiggled or nuzzled him the slightest bit, he could feel a
stirring inside. Even now, he wanted her. “May I kiss you?” he whispered. “Just
once?”
Jeanie pulled back a little to
look at him. He was her same sweet Nick…she planted a small delicate kiss on
his bottom lip then paused. She knew Nick well and could tell by his breathing
that he wanted more. She kissed him again, this time full on the mouth. It was
a kiss that lingered a little too long and she knew it.
She pulled away and he followed,
gently pushing her onto her back. Lying on his side, he lightly brushed his
lips and nose across her cheek until he found her mouth once again. He nibbled
and traced his tongue over the sensuous lines of her tiny mouth. “I’ve missed
you…” he murmured. Jeanie wasn’t really responding, but she also wasn’t
stopping him. Finally, when his large hand grazed her breasts and he began to
slowly and deliberately massage the flat of her belly she groaned, “Nick, no…”
He immediately stopped. He would
never force himself on her. “Shhh, okay, okay.” He rolled onto his back,
painful growing erection and all. “Come here, at least let me hold you…” He
reigned her to him once again. She was perfectly content to be comforted, but
wanted no part of sex. He understood. Nick held her tightly and rocked her back
and forth, not only for her benefit, but for his benefit as well. She had no
idea how scared he was right now. If she ever found out what he’d done, he’d
lose her. If Kevin ever found out what he’d done, Kevin would kill him. This
wasn’t supposed to happen… Back and forth…back and forth…until they both
slipped into peaceful sleep.
* * *
It was sometime around one in the
morning Dallas time when Kevin called. He deliberately stayed out until almost
three in the morning to insure that his mother was asleep when he returned
home. He wasn’t trying to avoid her. He just didn’t want to talk tonight. Maybe
after he got a good night’s sleep he could explain it to her.
He nervously dialed the private
line in his bedroom at home. The same number that “Tiffany” had called. It was
still a mystery to him how a fan found out that information…and a bigger
mystery how she got that phone number. Until he and Jeanie married, fewer than
ten people had that unlisted number. The only “new” people who had it were the
Boys and Kevin’s family and he trusted them with his life. They would never
give it out.
To his dismay, no one answered.
Kevin began to panic. What if something happened to Jeanie? Just before he and
Madi left she’d been crying so hard that she got a nosebleed… What if…
He quickly dialed Jessie’s number.
She answered right away.
“Jess? It’s Kev. You still up?”
“Duh? Yeah…”
Kevin tried to overlook her flip
attitude. “I called the line in the bedroom, but Jeanie didn’t answer. She
okay?”
“Peachy keen jelly bean…”
“Jess…”
“Oh for real? Dude…didn’t know you
really cared. Lemme see…is she okay,” Jessie paused. She’d probably be grounded
for life after this. Oh well, she only had a couple more years of high school.
As long as he didn’t take away her computer or her CD player, she could
survive. Besides, he deserved it.
“Knock it off, Jess.” Kevin
lowered his voice. He wasn’t in the mood for her smart mouth.
“Yes sir,” she snapped back
sarcastically.
“It she there?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Will you go wake her up and tell
her I need to talk to her?” He heard her lay the receiver down and could hear
faint, muffled strains of “I’ll Never Break Your Heart,” in the background. She
was gone for only a minute or so.
When she returned to her room, she
paused before getting back on line with Kevin, nervously chewing at the
cuticles around her nails on her right hand. “Ass hole deserves it…” she
grumbled to herself as she took a deep breath and picked the receiver back up.
“Kevin…she’s asleep. Call back
tomorrow.”
“Jess, wake her up okay. I think
she’d want to talk…” Kevin's tone of voice had gone from parental to resigned
and almost pleading. He didn’t want to fight with anyone anymore. He loved Jess…
“Ummm…seriously, Kev. Let her
sleep, okay?”
“Why? Is she okay? She didn’t take
sleeping pills or anything, did she? Is anyone else there? Jess?”
“Yeah, yeah. Umm, Linds and Bone
are here. Have been all night, but they’re sleeping now. Um, Lupe’s here, too.
No, she didn’t take nothin’. You know her, she’s so damn straight she’d break
if she tried to bend.”
“Then let me talk to her, baby.
I’m not gonna yell at her…”
“Umm…I-I can’t.”
“Why?”
“I-I tried.”
“What?”
“I-I tried to umm…you know…see if
she could come to the phone.”
“Jess, put A.J. on right now. It’s
too late for these games. I’m not mad at you. Just get A.J.”
“Look…I can, but he’s gonna tell
ya the same thing.”
“And that is…” He waited for what
seemed like an eternity before Jess finally answered.
“Nick won’t wake her up.”
“What?”
“I umm knocked and umm, Nick umm,
answered the door. I umm, said that Jeanie had a phone call and umm, he said,
umm…no…umm”
“Jess quit stalling! Quit saying
‘umm’…”
“Umm…okay. Umm, he umm said she
couldn’t take anymore crap. Let her sleep.”
Kevin closed his eyes. If he ever
thought that he couldn’t possibly have another ounce of rage built up inside,
this proved him wrong.
“You listen to me, young lady. Are
you telling me the truth?”
“Shit…yes!” Jessie suddenly
remembered why she’s scribbled all over Kevin’s pictures. For a minute, she
almost felt sorry for him.
“You’re telling me, Nick is there.
Nick is in my bedroom…with my wife. Is he sleeping in my bed?”
“I dunno…”
“What did he have on? Did he look
like you woke him up?”
“Umm, ummm…boxers. ummm, yeah. I
woke him up.”
“Thank you.” Kevin closed his eyes
and tried to get a grip. “Jess?”
“Yes, sir?”
“I love you, baby…”
“I love you, too, Kev. So does
Jeanie…”
She anxiously waited for a
response. Finally, Kevin murmured, “Yeah…right.”