Rocking Esme (The Rocking Series Book 1) (19 page)

Esmeralda

“Esme.” Marcy called from my front door, I walked out of the bathroom and almost bumped into her in the hallway.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“We’re going out.” Marcy stated, defiantly.

“What? Why? Where?.. I don’t wanna go out.”

I was feeling really tired and just wanted to sleep. I think more rest was what I needed to get over this virus, I needed to rest.

“We are just going to the cinema… You need cheering up.”

“Do I get a choice?”

She just shook her and said; “Nope. Danni and Kate are meeting us too.”

I really couldn’t see a way out of this, but at least it was only watching a film. That was a relaxing thing to do and I hoped that, by some miracle, it might take my mind off the fact that I still hadn’t heard from Jax.

“Ok, fine. Let me get dressed.” Marcy jumped up and down clapping her hands, she always loved it when she got her own way.
Fifteen minutes later and we were sitting in the cinema. The girls were trying their best to cheer me up -they had bought me popcorn, coke, maltesers and fruit pastilles. I seriously wasn’t going to eat all that. We were about to watch the new thriller that was out, I chose the film as I didn’t want to watch a romance or anything that would make me cry.

“So… There was this totally fit guy at the gym today… Muscles everywhere! He was very easy on the eyes.” Marcy started saying and Danni and Kate were giggling.

“I am so jealous of your job, seeing all those guys, especially the hot MMA fighters.” Danni said as she started day dreaming.

“Yeah, I’m not gonna lie, it’s definitely a plus side to the job.”

“What does Rick say about it?” Kate asked.

Marcy shrugged her shoulders and said; “He said it doesn’t bother him as long as the guys keep their hands to themselves, and they know they aren’t allowed to touch me, Daddy makes sure of that.”

“Maybe it’s time I joined the gym.” Danni mentioned.

“You, at the gym?” Marcy said laughing. “That would be fun to see.”

“What? I can go to the gym.”

“And get all hot and sweaty?” Marcy asked raising her eyebrows.

“Um… Yeah, maybe I can come and observe?”

“Not happening.” Marcy laughed.

“Esme, are you ok? You’re really quiet?” Kate asked me.

I just nodded and said; “Oh look, the film is starting.” I was relieved that I didn’t have to start answering their questions.

***

A couple of hours later and the lights came on in the cinema. It was a nice distraction, and I wasn’t thinking about Jax constantly.

“Are you ready to go?” Marcy turned to me and asked, continuing with “Oh my God, Esme did you eat all that food?”

I looked down at my lap and realised that I had eaten everything.
“I haven’t been eating properly, I must have been hungry.” I giggled and all the girls laughed with me. “I’m knackered… Take me home please, Marce.”

“Are you sure?.. Shall we go for a drink?” Marcy asked.

“Yeah.” Both Danni and Kate shouted together.

“No… I can’t… Please… I need to go home, I am so tired I need to rest to get over feeling like this.” I pleaded.

“Ok, fine… But I’m staying with you. I refuse to let you cry yourself to sleep and sleep in his t-shirt anymore.” Marcy told me.

I rolled my eyes at her and sighed “Fine.”

“Well, we are going to go out for a couple drinks. See you both later.” Danni said, hugging me and Marcy.

“Thanks for tonight, I had fun… I will be better company once I get over this virus.”
They both smiled at us and waved goodbye.

“Come on, hun, let’s get you home.” Marcy said, as she threaded her arm through mine and we walked back to her car.

Marcy

“Shall we meet at Luigi’s for dinner?” Rick asked me on the phone as I was putting my makeup on.

“Yeah that sounds good, are you not going to come and get me?”

“Of course I am, Angel, be there in ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes, I am only just putting my make up on!” I said, annoyed.

“You know you don’t need all that stuff, you are beautiful without it.”

“Thanks, babe, but it makes me feel better.”

“Ok, see you in a minute. Love you.”

“Love you too, bye.”
I hung up the phone and finished putting my mascara on and started straightening my hair. Rick was picking me up for a quick dinner. I needed to talk to him about Esme; I was starting to get really worried about her now.
I had just finished changing and was putting my boots on. I looked up and Rick was standing in the doorway to my bedroom, he was quiet and smiling.

“Hey, babe, you ok?” I asked him, as I zipped up my boots, got up and walked over to him. He took me in his arms and went to kiss me when I pulled away and said; “No, you will ruin my makeup.”

“Seriously? You’re letting me take you out looking gorgeous and you won’t let me kiss you?”

“Yep, get used to it.” I said to him, smirking. As I walked past him he slapped me on my bum and I let out a little yelp.

“You better get used to that if you don’t behave yourself.” He said wiggling his eyebrows up and down. I let out a laugh, grabbed my coat and we made our way to his car.

Fifteen minutes later we were sat at a table in Luigi’s pizza place and it was quiet, which was nice. I wanted to be able to talk to Rick without any interruptions and we got that a lot when we were out together; people asking for his autograph. It was something I was getting used to but didn’t like it as I liked having all of his attention.

“I’m really worried, about Esme and Jax.” I said to Rick, whilst he was perusing the menu. He put it down grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it.

“I know, but there is really not a lot we can do, we can’t interfere, Marce.”

“What? Why can’t we? She is my best friend and she is miserable.”

“I know, Angel. Jax is miserable too, I have tried talking to him several times, but he says he needs to get things straight in his head.”

“Does he want to be with her? Now that all this Cindy stuff is out of the way?”

“Yeah, I am a hundred percent sure he does, it’s just…”

“Just what?”

“He mentioned the other day about trying to get Cindy into a rehab programme.”

“What? Is her drinking and drugs that bad?”

“Yeah, I saw her the other day and she was looking rough, she has lost lots of weight and looks spaced out.”

“He’s a good guy for wanting to help her.”

“They were a couple for a long time, he did love her once.” Rick said as the waitress came over to take our order. Rick ordered what we always had when we came here, a large hawaiin pizza and wedges.

“Now, what about Esme? She is constantly crying about Jax and she is so run down that her body is not healing. This virus is really taking it out of her.”

“I will get Es to meet me for coffee, maybe Saturday and then I can check to see if she is ok.”

“Good luck with that, she won’t even leave the house.”

“I’m sure she will for me.” He said, smirking at me. I leant over the table and slapped his arm as the waitress returned with our pizza.

We both dug in and Rick asked; “So, has it been busy at the gym?”

“Yeah, really busy. We had a new MMA fighter start this week.”

“Oh yeah, hope he kept his hands to himself.”

I laughed and said; “Yeah SHE did. Though she told me I was hot, but don’t worry I told her I had a sexy guitar playing rock star for a boyfriend.”

“A woman, huh?”

“Yeah, she seems really nice. She gets quite a few females come to watch her train. She has a fight coming up soon, we should go, see if Daddy can get us tickets.”

“Yeah, ok, sounds fun.”

“Great. How’s all the preparation going for the tour?” I didn’t really like to talk about it as it made me sad that he would be leaving me, but this was important to him and I would support him.

“Yeah, it’s going good. It’s a shame that Es and Jax aren’t talking because they wrote a duet and it would be amazing as part of the set. That girl sure can sing.”

“Esme wrote a song? Have you heard her sing?”

“Yeah, she sang in the bar last week.”

“She sang in the bar? Esme? How come I’m only now just hearing about this?”

“Oh, sorry, Angel. I helped her with the music and she wanted to sing to show Jax that she was sorry for not telling him about Cindy.”

“What happened?”

“He walked away, again.”

“No wonder she is suffering so much… Shall we make a move? You coming to mine?”

“That is a silly question, I’ve got to show that ass who is in charge in this relationship.”

I laughed at him and he helped me put my coat on and we made our way to his car and drove home to my place.

Esmeralda

A few days later, on the Saturday morning, I was laying on the sofa reading my kindle, feeling a bit sorry for myself. I hadn’t been to work all week and the girls were getting fed up with my refusal to leave the house. I got up to make myself a drink when my phone pinged, it was Rick;

Fancy a coffee? x

Yes, that will be nice. When? x

Now? x

On my way. Coffee Bean? x

Where else? See you soon x

It would do me good to get out of the house and I was looking forward to seeing Rick. We had not seen a lot of each other recently and I didn’t want him to feel awkward with everything going on between Jax and I. Although, I was secretly hoping that he would bring him up over coffee.

Ten minutes later, I walked into The Coffee Bean and saw that Rick was sat in the corner and he was on the phone. I heard him say; ‘yeah she is here now, speak to you later,’ and I wondered who he was talking to but I wasn’t going to be nosey and ask. As I approached the table, he got up and gave me a big hug and I just sank into him, it felt nice, he was such a good friend and I’d missed him.

“How are you?” He asked.

I shrugged my shoulders and said; “Ok, I guess… You ok?”

“Yeah, really good.” He said with a smile and then the waitress approached; “What do you want, Es?”

“Can I have a hot chocolate please? And a slice of the chocolate fudge cake?”

“Sure… Rick?”

“I will have coffee and some chocolate cake sounds good.”

She smiled at him and walked away. I looked at him with my eyebrows raised and he said, “I guess I come in here too often now.” We both laughed and I said;

“I’m not sure Marce would like that.” He laughed as he shook his head.

“I can handle her.”

“Ha ha, really?”

“I have my ways.” He said, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.
The waitress arrived with our drinks and cake and all of a sudden I realised I was starving.

“How come you’re not drinking coffee?” He asked me.

“It’s not been agreeing with me lately… I am so fed up of this virus now. I just wanna feel better.”

“Yeah, I bet.” He paused as if he was finding it difficult to speak. He reached across and put his hand over mine. “I wanted to talk to you about Jax.”

I felt myself stiffen and my stomach somersaulted, I stopped eating as I instantly felt sick and said; “What about him? Is he ok?”

“He had a situation with Cindy.”

“I thought they were back together, I saw them together.”

“No, Es, no they aren’t together… She told him she was pregnant and that the baby was his.”

“Oh, I guess they will be stuck together for a long time then.” Just that news made me feel sad, I really felt like I definitely had no chance of us being together now, I knew Jax and I knew he would be there for her.

“No, Es, she isn’t pregnant, she made it up to try and get him back.”

“So, is he still mad at me for knowing Cindy cheated?”

“I don’t know, he needs to get his head around all of this, don’t give up on him, Es.”

I sighed and said; “I think it may be too late… It might not have been if I’d heard from him at least once.”

“He’s an idiot!” Rick said angrily. “I heard Marce wouldn’t leave you alone the other night, because she was so worried about you?”

I shook my head, laughed and said; “She’s crazy… She said she wouldn’t let me cry over him anymore, because it wasn’t helping me get better.”

“You could text him you know.” Rick suggested.

“No, Rick, he was the one that walked away, he should be the one to make the first move. He has gone out of his way to avoid me and if I text him and he doesn’t reply I end up getting hurt again.” My eyes were filling up with tears. “Can we have a subject change? How are things with you and Marce?”

“She’s really something… I’ve never met anyone like her… I don’t know how I will cope when we go on tour. I hate being away from her and she is being stubborn and refusing to come with us.”

“Ha, you know what she’s like, stubborn isn’t the word.” We both laughed and Rick looked at his watch and said;

“Ah, I have to go, that time went really fast. Do you want a lift home?”

“No, the fresh air will be good for me.” I stood up and put my coat on. “Will see you soon.” I hugged him goodbye and made my way home. On the way home I thought about what Rick had said, but I couldn’t bring myself to text Jax. He knew where to find me if he wanted to talk.