Save Me From the Dark (10 page)

Since I found Bella and we really hit it off, I’ve deleted my profile. She’s all I need and want. No one else out there could be more to me than her. I just hope I can save her so we can truly enjoy what we have together.

Reluctantly, I pull away from her. Walking over to my closet, I strip off my pants and slide on a pair of windbreakers and a t-shirt, as well as the matching jacket. Normally, I’d just go out there with sweats and tank, but with Alexis coming… I mentally shudder. That woman gives me the creeps. The more clothing the better when it comes to her.

“Is it okay if I watch your sound check before I head off to the hotel?”

Turning, I look at her. “Of course you can. As my girlfriend, you have many perks. One of which is wherever I am, you are always welcome and never have to ask.”

Looking down at her hands, she says softly. “I don’t care about the perks. I just want to be with you.”

Walking over to her, I lift her head. “What’s wrong?”

“Are you going to tell her you’re dating someone?”

Her question catches me off guard. “Do you want me to?” I ask instead of answering.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure which way this was going to go. If it were up to me, I’d keep this quiet for now until she got used to being with me. Well, more to having someone care about her. If after that she wants to tell the world, I’ll be standing next to her screaming it.

“Honestly?” I nod my head. “I do, but I don’t. I don’t because I’m just getting my head wrapped around the idea that someone actually cares, but I do because…” she trails off as she sits on the bed.

Sitting down next to her, I take her hand in mine. “You want me to for you to believe that I’m truly in this like I say I am, that I’m not ashamed. Right?”

Nodding her head as she breathes, “Yes.”

With my hand, I tip her head up to look at me. “I’m not saying anything to her. Not because I’m not proud to have you as my girl, I am. Actually, I feel like the luckiest damn bastard out there. But because I don’t want to overload you with all that comes along with dating a celebrity. Eventually, it will come out, but right now… I want you for myself,” I smile at her before kissing her lips lightly.

Laughing softly, she leans into me. “That’s fine by me.”

“Good. Now let me show you how your man makes a complete fool of himself,” I laugh as I pull her to stand with me.

We make it to the door just as Gary opens it. “Oh good. They’re ready for you. Why don’t you head on in there. I want to talk to Bella a moment. Alexis is already here making her usual demands.”

Sighing, I lean down and kiss my girl. “See you soon, beautiful.”

Bella

Watching him walk to the building, I chuckle as he keeps looking behind him smiling. My heart is racing at the thought of the risk I am taking here. He is the only person that can truly hurt me. But by the same token, he’s the only one that can truly save me and help me live.

Right now, he’s worth the risk. I just hope I don’t regret it later. Turning my attention to Gary, I worry about what it is he wants to talk to me about.

“Listen, I won’t beat around the bush here. Alexis wants AJ. She has made no attempt in hiding that fact. So, I wanted to warn you that she will be throwing herself at him in some very obscene ways, but try not to think anything of it. He is truly in love with you. I’ve never seen him so happy. I guess there is really only one question to ask you. Do you trust him?”

Blinking up at him, I am in shock. My head is screaming at me to tell Gary that I trust no one. But my heart screams that I trust them. The question really was which do I listen to?

A clear thought forms shockingly quickly. “I trust him… and you,” I breathe.

The shock on Gary’s face makes me laugh. He’s just as shocked as I am. But the thing is, it’s the truth. I do trust them. Will it be easy to see her fawning all over him? No definitely not, but if she got out of hand, I’ll have to set her straight.

“Well, okay. Let’s get in here and hopefully save your man.”

We start walking in the direction of his sound check and I laugh. The sound of him being
my
man fills me with such excitement I almost start skipping. Gary grabs my elbow and pulls me to a stop.

“I want you to know that if you ever need me, you can contact me at any time of the day or night. I’ve already programmed my number into your phone.”

Without a second thought, I hug him. The kindness that Ace and Gary have shown me since yesterday is indescribable. In less than twenty-four hours, I went from having nothing to having everything.

“Thank you,” I sniffle.

We turn and walk toward the building. I see something out of the corner of my eye and my heart begins to race, but when I turn to look in that direction there’s nothing there. Shaking my head, I continue on into the building.

Gary and I stood off in the back as I watch in awe as Ace sings and dances on the stage. He is gorgeous and he is mine.
Oh my gosh! He’s mine!

Just as his song,
Lost in You
wraps up, I watch as a perky, pencil thin blonde walks toward the stage. It’s no doubt this is the woman that wants my man. Glaring as I watch her get up on the stage and touch Ace’s arm.

“Oh Ace, baby, you get better and better every time I hear you. You spoil me with these private performances,” she gushes.

Turning, I look up at Gary and roll my eyes mouthing ‘oh palease’ at him. Gary laughs. Looking back at the stage, Ace skirts around her and down toward the first row of seating. She follows behind him. When he sits down in a chair, she practically sits on top of him. When he moves another chair over, she follows.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” I mutter as I watch her open a few of the buttons on her shirt and finger the opening.

She is asking him questions and licking her lips constantly both during and in between each question. I could see the uncomfortable look on his face. Time to take action.

Touching Gary’s arm, I smirk at him. “It’s time to save my man. Start walking over there and play along. I’m going to hide over there and come out in a minute. Okay?”

“Okay,” he says, drawing the word out.

Waiting until he is only a few feet from them, I push the door open and let is slam shut. Standing there, I stare toward them in faux shock. Then I let a huge fangirl scream leave my lungs as I start running toward them.

“Oh my God! It’s really you! I’m meeting Ace Jergens,” I scream hurrying toward them.

Gary steps in front of me with a smile on his face, stopping me from reaching Ace.

“I’m your biggest fan,” I squeal. “Eeekkk!”

Gary is trying hard not to laugh and when my eyes met Ace’s I could see the same look on his face. He stands from his chair and takes a couple steps in my direction.

“I’m sorry, but it’s time for my meet and greet. Have a good day, Alexis,” he says politely.

“But what about
our
time, baby,” she practically whines as she looks at me.

“You need to stop calling me that. We are not together. As far as the
interview
goes, you’ve asked plenty of questions. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he turns and walks the rest of the way toward me.

“It’s okay, Gare, I’ll be okay. Why don’t you show Ms. Harver out?”

“Yes, Sir,” Gary says in such a manner that I have to cough in order to cover up my laughter.

Alexis huffs, but turns and walks with Gary. I sigh in relief, but we have to keep up this charade until Alexis is gone.

“Ace, I’ve listened to your album so many times I’ve got all the songs memorized.”

He laughs. “That’s good. I’m glad you like the songs. Why don’t we walk this way the luncheon should be ready,” he says as he steers me toward the door.

We walk across the lot keeping up the act. But once he closes the trailer door behind him, he seals his mouth over mine. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I return the hungry kiss. When we break from the kiss, we are both breathless. Ace rests his forehead against mine.

“Thank you so much baby. I can’t stand being around that woman.”

“I have to say, I don’t like you around her either. Can’t someone else interview you?”

He pulls back and tightens his arms around my waist. “Gary thinks with the way she acts that she’d cause problems if I ever requested that she no longer interview me. So I just deal and when things start getting out of hand, Gary steps in so I don’t have to be mean and give her something to gossip about in her article.”

Nodding my head, I look up at him, smiling. “Thank you, Ace. This has been the best birthday, I ever dared dream about.”

“When I first saw your profile, something inside me came to life. When we started talking, my heart began to beat again. When I saw you from the stage, I knew then and there you’re my everything. I know this is all fast because we only just met face to face yesterday, but we have been talking for six months and…”

Putting my finger over his mouth to shut him up, I lean up and kiss his mouth softly. Pulling back, smiling, I lean in and kiss him again. The kiss quickly turns into another hungry kiss. Lifting me up, he sits me on the peninsula of the counter pulling me tighter to him as he stands between my legs.

“I’m surprised you held off this long,” Gary jokes as he enters the trailer.

Ace pulls away smiling. “I’m shocked too,” he winks at me.

“Well, she’s gone. You need to get back to work.”

Ace turns his attention back to me. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay for another performance?”

“No, I’m not sure, but I know I need to leave. It could draw attention if I’m here for yet another one. You know?”

He nods with a frown on his face. “Okay.”

Reaching up, I touch his face with my hands. “Will you be coming to the hotel?”

Kissing me lightly, he whispers against my lips. “Try and stop me.”

A few minutes later, we are walking out to the car and I notice that Ethan and Heath climb into the front seat of the car. My stomach turns. Maybe tonight I should tell Ace that I don’t like Ethan.

Ace kisses me soundly right there in the middle of the parking lot, pushing me against the side of the limo. Breaking apart, he kisses my lips lightly one more time.

“Relax until I get there and then we can do something together.”

Nodding my head, I gaze up at him dazed. “Okay,” I say distractedly.

Kissing me one more time, he opens my door. Looking down at me, something crosses his face that causes my stomach to tighten. Sighing, he closes the door and hits the top. Soon we are driving away.

Turning, I watch as he stands there watching the limo disappear and I watch as he does. This almost feels as though I am saying goodbye to him. It almost feels as though I won’t see him again. Turning back around, I sigh.

“Everything okay, Ms. Bella?” Heath asks.

“Yes, but no, if that makes sense.”

“He’ll meet you at the hotel before you know it.” He smiles sadly at me.

Nodding my head, I turn and look out the window. If things were different, this whole thing would be different. There’d be no need for security, for me anyway. The need to constantly look over my shoulder would be gone too.

When I met Ace all those months ago, I never thought it’d last at first. But I definitely never imagined him to say he loves me.
Wow, he loves me!
No one loves me. I’m just not a loveable person.

The drive is short. We soon pull up in front of this lavish hotel. It is the kind of hotel that I’d never even dream of stepping into in a million years. The car pulls around into an underground parking garage. Ethan steps out and opens my door when we pull up to a door.

“Come on Ms. Bella. We’re here.”

Stepping out, I look around. “Where are we?”

“The
Sky Homes
, Ma’am.”

“Oh, uh, okay…” I say nervously as we walk into an elevator.

Ethan slides a card into a slot on the elevator panel and presses the button to the top floor. Soon the elevator is moving. The awkwardness that I feel around Ethan only serves to increase the tension and make it seem even smaller in here. Stepping to the corner, I take a deep breath and try to keep the gasping from being audible.

Every so often, I can feel Ethan looking at me. I’m sure he’s thinking I’m a freak or using Ace. At some point, I need to reassure him that is not what I’m doing, but frankly, I’m not comfortable enough around him to do that. Would I ever be? I just don’t know, but something didn’t seem right to me.

The elevator dings the arrival on the top floor. Once I step out into the hall, I take another breath and rest my hand on the wall. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ethan’s quizzical look. Shaking my head, I square my shoulders and look at him. He stares at me for a minute or two longer then turns and walks down the hall.

Following behind him, I notice only one other door on this floor. I’ve never been in this place before so I am not even sure if these were rooms or those apartment deals that I’ve seen on television before.

He stops at the end of the long hallway, slides the key in the door, and pushes it open. Looking at me quizzically, he motions for me to walk in. Swallowing hard, I walk into the room. My mouth drops open as I walk down this entry hall and into the living space. This is one of those apartment deal things.

The living area is all open to each room. As I’m spinning in a slow circle, I can see Ethan moving around.

“Ace should be here in a couple of hours. He said to tell you to relax and maybe take a nap. He wants to spend time with you when he gets here before you have to leave.”

Nodding my head, he nods back and leaves the room. Spinning in another circle, I try hard to take in what I’m looking at. Tentatively, I take small steps toward the stairs as I continue to take in the extravagant surroundings. The marble floors, the shiny black surfaces, the fancy white furniture the huge windows, all of it seems so far over the top.

Walking down to the end of a short hall, there are double doors. Pushing them open, my breath leaves my lungs. The size of the bed in this room is bigger than anything I’ve ever saw before.

The bedding looks fluffy and far too comfortable to ignore. In a total childish moment, I run across the room and jump onto the bed. Giggling, I burrow myself deeper into the comfort. Before I know it, I’m falling asleep.