Deeper (22 page)

A
few weeks later we were almost finished with the current tour and were looking
forward to finally getting the break we all deserved. The guys’ manager Steve
had a huge argument with Stanley and Rick over how the band had been dragged
around so much that they were at the point of exhaustion so they loosened the
reigns and decided to give the guys some time off. The show in Cincinnati the
following week was the last show of the tour and it would be the first time in
God knows how long that we’d actually be off for more than a few months.
Hopefully the break would give Kris the chance to ask me the question that I’d
dreamed he’d ask since I was a little girl.

The
guys were playing a sold out show in Cleveland and I was watching them tearing
the roof off the arena with pride. It never failed to amaze me to watch them
playing to crowds and see their fans going crazy for them. Tonight the guys
seemed to be giving their show a little something extra and I couldn’t put my
finger on it. Ryder, Beau, and Jude all kept giving me strange looks and
smiling at me and Kris was unusually quiet. I knew it wasn’t my birthday or our
anniversary so I wondered all day what could be so important about this
particular show that would make everyone act off.

I
was standing next to Steve on the side of the stage, watching them playing the
next to last song and singing along. As they were finishing, Kris looked at me
and gave me a nervous smile followed by a wink. I blew him a kiss as he
finished the song and couldn’t shake the butterflies that were fluttering in my
stomach.

The
crowd was going completely crazy as Ryder placed his guitar down on a stand and
wiped his face with a towel before walking back to the microphone.

“How
we all fucking doing, Cleveland? Are you having a good time?” The roar of the
crowd was deafening. “I’m having a fucking
great
time tonight because as
I’m looking out at this crowd all I see is hot ass women!”

“Damn
right, brother,” Beau shouted into his mic. The female screams were ear
splitting and I chuckled to myself as I saw several women pulling their tops up
and flashing their breasts to the band.

“Well
speaking of hot ass women, I’m sure most of our fans know that all of us up
here on this stage have this amazing friend who happens to be one of the
hottest chicks around. This girl has been our friend for more than twenty years
and most of us love her like she was our sister. There is, however, one of us
that loves her just a bit more than that,” he said, turning to look at me.

I
started to feel the butterflies fluttering even more in my stomach…they never
talk about me on stage. What the hell was going on?

Holding
his arm out to me, he said, “Jess, can you come on stage for a minute? It’s
kind of important.” He was beaming at me and even though I didn’t want to go
out in front of all those people and be put in the spotlight, I figured that
there was a reason he was doing this so I decided to play along. I took a deep
breath and walked out onto the stage and was greeted by immediate applause and
screaming.

I
walked to him and hugged him around his waist. “Ryder, what’s going on?” I
whispered into his ear. He just winked at me and turned back to the crowd.

“You
all know Jessie Monroe, right? Everyone say hi to her because she seems nervous
right now.” The crowd screamed out their hellos to me and I waved my hand.
“Maybe our boy Kris can come out from behind his drum kit back there and calm
her down.”

I
turned to where Kris was sitting behind his drums and when he stood up the
crowd went crazy. He walked over to me and I moved from Ryder to hug him.
“Kris, will you please tell me what the hell is going on?” I softly said into
his ear.

He
pulled back and gently stroked my cheek before he took the microphone. “Sorry
to interrupt the show, everyone, but there’s been something on my mind for a
while and I just have to get it out.” I stared at him nervously as the crowd
continued to scream.

“You
know, I’ve tried a zillion ways to think of the perfect way to do this but
nothing ever felt right. Then I realized why not do it here, on the stage, the
one place you always knew I’d be destined to be?”

“Do
what, Kris?” I asked, like an idiot, and then it suddenly hit me. My heart
started pounding and my palms were sweating. As Kris dropped to one knee in
front of me, taking my left hand in his, I could feel the tears already burning
my eyes. The crowd went completely insane as camera lights started flashing
like crazy.

“I
could tell you how much I love you more and more each day until I’m blue in the
face, but no words can ever express how much you truly mean to me. It’s been
you and me for a long time, Jess, and I can’t go on another day without asking
you a pretty important question.”

“Oh
my God,” I whispered as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a black
velvet ring box. When he opened it, I gasped as my eyes fell on a beautiful
princess cut diamond ring.

He
held it up and simply asked, “Marry me, Jess?”

He
barely got the question out before I nodded quickly and said, “Yes!” The
screaming and applause were thunderous in response. His green eyes sparkled in
the stage lights as he slipped the ring on my finger. He stood up and wrapped
his arms around me and swung me around, pulling me into a hard, deep kiss.

He
took put the microphone up to his mouth once more and screamed, “She said yes!”
before tossing the mic to Ryder.

“Hell
fucking yeah!” Ryder yelled into the microphone. “Let’s hear it for this lucky
fucker snagging the sexiest girl in the whole fucking world!”

I
continued to kiss him like there was no one there…like we were the only two
people in the world. I was finally engaged to Kris. I was going to marry this
gorgeous, perfect, loving man…my best friend in the world.

“You
said yes,” he said, grinning like he’d just struck gold. “God I’m so fucking
lucky.”

“It’s
not luck, Kris. I just love you enough to never let you go.”

Once
the show was over, Kris and I made a quick exit and raced back to our hotel so
we could celebrate our engagement our way…naked in bed and relishing in each
other.

A
week later, the guys were waiting to take the stage for the last stop on our
tour…Cincinnati. Home. I always thought I hated this city but I couldn’t wait
to be able to go home and sleep in my own bed next to my handsome fiancée for
the first time in what felt like forever. It would be nice to have the time off
to start planning our wedding.

I
had been planning on attending their final show but I was feeling beat down and
tired and Kris definitely noticed. He insisted that I go ahead and go take the
day for myself to do whatever I wanted. Even though I wanted to be there for
the last show, I was happy to have some alone time.

After
kissing him goodbye and wishing the guys good luck, I took all of my things off
the bus and drove home. As I pulled in the driveway, I was happy to be there
but a little sad that I was walking inside alone without Kris. I didn’t want to
be there without him so without even shutting off the engine, I put the car in
reverse and pulled back out of the driveway.

I
spent the day just as he wanted me to; I went shopping and bought things I
didn’t need with a credit card that had barely been used. I had always been a
pretty simple girl and didn’t need much and even though it made me a little
uncomfortable, but I knew it would make Kris happy to see me spending a ton of
money on myself. By the time I was done at the clothing stores I’d stopped in,
I had bought almost an entire new wardrobe for myself, complete with some sexy
new dresses, a bunch of cute matching bra and panty sets, and some expensive
lingerie that was guaranteed to make Kris drool. I never wore much more than
jeans and tee shirts and now that we were finally going to be home for a while
and could do more things as a couple, I wanted to be able to get dressed up and
look sexy for him.

After
I spent the rest of the afternoon getting all prettied up at a salon, I headed home
to get ready for the evening. Beau was throwing a huge post-tour party at his
house that night and I planned on surprising Kris with my new look once he got
there. I ran into my house and quickly changed into a body-hugging red dress
that showed off my long legs and black suede heels that I would be lucky to not
fall and break my neck in.

Just
as soon as I finished putting on my earrings, I glanced at the clock on the
wall and noticed that it was after ten o’clock and that meant the guys were already
half way into their show. I wanted to make sure that everything was ready for
Beau’s party when they all got there so I drove over to his house and used the
spare key to get inside. I made all the calls and got everything situated for
the party so by the time the concert was over all the guys had to do was just
show up. Thank God these guys had me to handle things…only Beau would throw a
party without planning an actual party.

I
was telling a delivery guy where to put the last few cases of beer when my cell
phone rang. I looked at the display and saw that Kris was calling me. Smiling,
I picked up the phone on the second ring.

“Hey
baby,” I answered sweetly into the phone. “How was your show?”

“It
was great but I will admit I did miss having you there.”

“I
missed being there too but I’ll see you soon,” I said as I signed a paper the
delivery guy handed me. “So what’s going on? Are you all getting ready to head
to Beau’s?”

“Yeah,
just as soon as he stops making out with a cute little blonde and Ryder stops
drooling all over her friend.”

“Figures
they’d be tied up with girls,” I laughed.

“I
don’t know, Jess. I’ve never seen Ryder act like this over a girl.”

“Really?
How is he acting?”

“Well
he’s being himself but it’s like he’s trying too hard, you know what I mean?
He’s throwing game left and right and this girl is just not impressed at all,”
he replied, humor in his tone. “It’s actually pretty entertaining to watch.”

I
smiled and said, “Well, it sounds like he’s met his match. I like her already.”

“Me
too. She seems nice.”

“Well
if she’s got Ryder’s attention I definitely want to meet her. Will she be at
the party?”

“No,
I don’t think so. I just saw her and her friend walk out the door.”

“Aw,
bummer. Well if he’s really into her he’ll find a way to see her again.”

“I
hope you’re right, baby.”

“So,
should I expect you guys to show up soon? Beau didn’t plan a damn thing for
this party so I had to scramble to get food and liquor in this house.”

“Well
I’m on my way and I’m sure everyone’s going to follow.”

“Good
because I can’t wait to see you. I have a little surprise for you.”

“Oh
yeah?” he asked. “What’s that?”

“Get
here and find out, handsome,” I said seductively.

I
heard him groan through the phone and he replied, “I’ll be there in five
minutes.”

Giggling,
I answered, “Don’t wreck your car. Love you.”

“Love
you too,” Kris said and then hung up the phone. I smiled to myself as I popped
the top off a beer and drank it down while I waited for my fiancée to find me
all dressed up and sexified. If things went my way (and they usually did when
it came to Kris and sex) I wouldn’t be wearing this dress for very long after
he showed up.

People
started pouring into the house and the party was officially underway. Most of
the first guests that arrived were road crew members and groupies that had been
given the go ahead from Jude, Ryder, or Beau. As I watched the scantily clad
women coming into the house one by one I remembered back to my time away from
Kris and the fact that this had been his life for a year and a half; parties with
half naked girls that were willing to do anything he wanted and him taking
advantage to be able to sink himself into a warm body to forget the pain he was
in.

My
trip down memory lane was beginning to kill my buzz so I decided to have another
drink to distract my mind. I took a long drink of my beer and turned around,
resting against the counter. My eyes roamed the room and when they landed on
the sexiest man I’d ever known, I grinned when I saw the look on his face.

Kris
was staring at me with his jaw hanging open and I almost thought for a minute
that he was actually going to drool. I set my beer down on the counter and did
a little curtsy for him, silently asking him if he liked my dress. He nodded
dumbly and jerked his head toward the stairs. I bit my lip and smiled as I
walked to him.

“Upstairs.
Now,” he growled as he took my hand and quickly led me up the stairs and into
one of the spare bedrooms. As soon as we reached the top of the stairs, he
gently pressed me against the wall and kissed me so hard that I thought my lips
might bruise. “You look so fucking sexy,” he muttered against my lips as he
pulled down the top of my dress, exposing my breasts. I gasped as he moved his
lips down and sucked one of my nipples into his hot, sexy mouth.