Unstoppable (Fierce) (30 page)

He reached out to touch my hair. “
I’ve seen the tapes. Do you honestly think I’ll let you off the hook until you show me the enthusiasm you show that freak of nature? You don’t get to just lay there like you’re doing me some goddamn favor. I want my old Jordi back, the one who would do anything I wanted just to make me happy.” I glared at him as he thoughtfully inspected my face, his gaze landing on my mouth. “I think maybe it’s time for you to show me all your special tricks,” he murmured, rubbing a thumb across my lips. “Get on your knees, Jordi.”

My eyes widened
as I realized what he was asking me. And he knew what he was asking of me too, I could tell by the look in his eyes. After everything he had done in the past year, had I really believed there were still lines he wouldn’t cross?

I shook my head so he stepped closer. “I said get on your knees.”

“I have to get ready for my set,” I said as I turned, but he grabbed me by the hair. He pulled me close.

“You have two minutes,” he countered. “Show me what keeps Jace and Vanni coming back for more. Do it nice and maybe I’ll keep you around for a
while.”

“I don’t want you to keep me around,” I gritted between tightly clenched teeth. “I want you to let me go.”

“I will. When I’m tired of you,” he said as he thrust me away. “Now go earn your keep.”

I escaped into the private bathroom to change, locking the door between us. My hands shook as I put on my
Tempestuous freebies to wear on stage, and even when I tried to apply my makeup. I ended up using a much heavier hand than usual, but in the mood I was in, I felt the punk look far more fitting than any kind of romantic Goth style I had sported in the past.

I was pissed off at the world. No sooner than I had a good day, with good people who loved me, I had to answer to the devil with encounters like the one I had with Eddie. Why couldn’t I be happy for more than five
fucking minutes?

I knew that I had
screwed up a lot in my life, but surely I had paid for my sins in full by now.

I took a deep breath as I swung open the door, ready to fight Eddie to my last breath before he forced me to do what Shane had forced me to do so many years before.

I’d bite his fucking dick off first.

Fortunately he
had wandered off, no doubt to find out what Shelby was up to, so I could make a clean getaway. I trotted to the stage just in time for the start of my set.

Randy grabbed his
Flying V electric guitar, a nod to his idol, as he prepared for our song. He gave me a thumbs up as he shuffled off into the shadows, and waited for his cue.

I kept repeating Vanni’s and Andy’s positive affirmations as I waited. Terrell gave me the signal and I let a scream rip.
“All aboard!”

Thunderous drums underscored my vocal as I exploded onto the stage. It was probably a little more aggressive than it needed to be, but I was struggling to find some hidden reserve of strength.

Unfortunately the more aggressive I got, the more disconnected I felt. The stage wasn’t a refuge, it was a battleground, and my vocals were long range missiles launched against an unseen enemy just beyond the edge of the floodlights.

Another stuffed pig sailed onstage.
It was maybe six inches long, but to me it took up the whole stage. The innocent pink toy had become an instrument of aggression and condescension, which meant that pig represented everything wrong in my life. I knew I should have ignored it, but the longer I stared at it, the madder I got. When Randy launched into his solo, I walked over to the pig and with a swift kick vaulted it back into the audience.

When the
first song was done I dropped the mic and walked off stage, leaving Terrell and his crew to scramble and fill the rest of my time. Shelby was ushered from her dressing room and thrust onstage to wild applause. The band cued up one of the seven songs she had performed during the tour as I pushed past every single person as I stomped back to my dressing room where Eddie waited, as angry as I had ever seen him.

Apparently he didn’t care much for the idea that his rich blow-up doll was no longer so easy to control.

“What the fuck was that?” he demanded.

“What do you care as long as you get my money?” I shot back.

He grabbed me by the arm. “You’re going to ruin everything, you stupid cunt.”

“Let me go, Eddie!” I hissed as I tried to push him away.

“Oh, no,” he said with a maniacal grin. “I’m never letting you go. I thought I made that perfectly clear.”

He thrust me toward the makeup chair, but I lost my balance and I and the chair went down with a loud crash. I cowered as I watched him approach,
his hand releasing the zipper on his jeans, but just before he could reach me he was yanked back by the shirt and thrown up against the opposite wall.

Jace stood, larger than life, squaring off against Eddie at last.

“What the fuck, Chief?” Eddie slurred as he straightened up.

“That’s what I’d like to know. Where do you get off putting your hands on her?”

“She’s my wife. I can do whatever I want.”

“I don’t think so,” Jace responded.
“
Chief
.”

Eddie laughed. “Are you seriously squaring off on me, man?”

Jace spread his palms. “I’m not doing anything. But you lay another finger on her and watch what happens.”

“Big words, Bionic Boy,” Eddie sneered. “But do you really think you got the balls to back it up?”

Jace smiled. “Ask your wife.”

With a roar Eddie lunged at
him, but Jace used the force of Eddie’s body weight to flip him up in the air before planting him right on his chest on the ground. He used his artificial leg on his shoulder to keep him down. “Let’s get one thing straight once and for all. You touch her, you answer to me. You got it?”

“I got it,” Eddie mumbled against the floor.
“Let me up, you freak.”

Jace stood back, and Eddie sprawled flat on his ass on the floor. Jace walked over to me. “Are you OK?”

I nodded. “I’m fine.”

Just as he reached for me, a table hit his back with a sickening crash. He collapsed to his knees and Eddie stood over him victoriously.

“Eddie!” I screamed.

“Stay out of it,
whore,” he grimaced as he raised a piece of broken wood to pummel Jace. Before he could strike, Jace used his leg to sweep Eddie, bringing him down to the floor. The wood clattered onto the linoleum. He reached for Jace’s neck with both hands, but Jace used the back of his elbow to strike, nailing Eddie right in the nose.

“Motherfucker!”
Eddie muttered before he sprang back to his feet. Before Jace could do likewise, Eddie targeted his artificial leg.

I lunged at Eddie. We crashed together onto the sofa just as Jace scrambled to his feet. Security guards rushed down the hall, but Jace shut the door and locked it.
He turned to face Eddie. “Take your hands off of her,” he commanded in a deathly quiet voice.

“Or what?”
Eddie wanted to know as he grabbed me between my legs. “She’s mine and there’s nothing you can do about it, you goddamn freak.”

Security beat on the door, nearly knocking it open. Jace pulled one of the heavy chairs over to barricade the door. His quiet intent must have scared Eddie because he let me go the minute Jace advanced toward the sofa. I scrambled to the corner of the couch.

“I’ve watched you kick her around like your own personal mutt for a year,” Jace said as he kicked clear any debris impeding his progress. “I let her handle it because she’s strong and she’s tough and she’s worth a hundred of you.”

Eddie braced his fists, waiting for the assault.

“But nobody,
nobody
,” Jace emphasized, “assaults a woman – any woman – in my presence.” He tossed another chair away easily. “You think you are some kind of alpha male because you can use and abuse women and get away with it. But I scraped pieces of shit like you off my shoes in Iraq. Your little free ride? It’s over.”

With that he swung on Eddie and punched him powerfully in the jaw.
Eddie wiped blood from his mouth as he glared at Jace. “It’s on now, bitch,” he growled as he lunged at him again, but Jace was prepared. He sidestepped him, grabbed his elbow and slammed him easily into the wall. He staggered back away from Jace, re-evaluating his options as he glared at the other man. Jace was completely in control, and his cool composure was even more frightening than any bout of rage.

“Jordi!”
Vanni yelled through the door. “Jordi, open up!”

I started toward the door and Jace turned to face me. “Don’t open that door.”

“Jace,” I pleaded. “He’s not worth it.”

“Fuck you,” Eddie spit my direction, and was met with another powerful punch right in the stomach, which nearly toppled him right to the floor.

“Stand up,” Jace commanded, and Eddie struggled back to his feet, blood flying from his cut lip as he panted to catch his breath. I thought the security detail would burst through the door any second with the commotion they were making.

“
You let me out of here or I swear to Christ I will release every goddamn video of you fucking that fat piece of shit,” Eddie demanded, and it was met with an uppercut across the jaw. He slumped toward the floor, and Jace knelt down to face him with a smile.

“No, you won’t,” he told him. He pointed toward the camera positioned in the corner of the room. “Because the second you do, I’ll release a video tape of my own. A tape that shows you for the
con artist you are. You never loved Jordi. You wanted to leech off of her fame and diminish her light. But you couldn’t. Not for long. And not anymore.”

My eyes widened as I realized what he had done.
It had all been a trap.

“Jace…?”

“I know about the bruises,” he said as he turned to me. “We had to do something before he really hurt you.” He walked over to the door and let Vanni and security into the room. “It was Vanni’s idea.”

Vanni and Andy burst into the room, and Andy rushed to my side.
My mouth was hanging open in a silent stupor. She gave me a lopsided grin. “Let’s just say… we’ve done this before.”

I was too flabbergasted to reply.
I watched the guards hoist Eddie up and march him out of the room. When Jace turned to me, Andy only needed to nudge a little bit before I ran into his arms. “Oh my God,” I breathed into his shoulder. “Is it truly over?”

His arms were strong and true.
“As soon as you can file for divorce.”

I was in tears as I nodded.

Vanni and Andy stood nearby. He finally, but gently, admonished me. “Why didn’t you tell us about the tape, Jordi? We could have helped you before things ever got this far.”

“I was scared it would ru
in everything for Jace,” I said from the safe refuge of Jace’s arms. He showed no sign of letting me go, and I was in no hurry to leave.

“Being without you is as ruined as I’m ever going to get,” Jace murmured against my forehead.

“Never again,” I promised as I held onto him for dear life. Andy nudged Vanni to leave us alone, but we had minutes only before he’d have to change and get out on stage for his set.

Instead he grabbed my hand and led me from the arena.

“What are you doing?”

“Something I should have done a long time ago,” he said. He led me to a hired car out front.

“People paid to see you, Jace. You can’t just leave.”

He smiled down at me. “I thought I already told you that you don’t get to make the rules. Tonight I have a command performance that has been postponed long enough already.”

I said nothing more. I followed him obediently from the building and allowed him to assist into the hired car.

The minute the door closed behind him I was in his arms and his mouth captured mine easily.
“I love you, Jace,” I managed between kisses, but he shushed me. He reached over to open the moon roof, and the driver discretely closed the privacy glass after Jace told him, “Take the long way.”

His strong arms felt like heaven around me. This was my home. This was everything I had always wanted and probably nothing I deserved.

Fortunately for me, love wasn’t about what you earn. It’s about what someone else decides to give you. And for some reason I had yet to understand, this wonderful, strong, honorable, amazing man had decided to love me. He loved me even when it came at great cost to him. It was truly the greatest gift life had ever given me.

When he eased me down against the seat, I allowed every kiss and every touch to erase the painful memories of Eddie.
Jace’s touch was feather light as he explored every bare inch of flesh while his mouth dominated my own.

I slid my hands up his shirt against that powerful chest. I felt the muscles ripple underneath my fingers. That night he had truly become my hero. He had saved me from the one person who made my life the most unbearable.

Myself.

He
pulled back so that I could lift the shirt from his body. Moonlight glinted off of his bright eyes as he peeled away my shirt as well. His eyes trailed across my body as he unveiled me inch by quivering inch. “My goddess,” he declared before his head lowered and his lips coaxed goose bumps from my skin. I watched the neon lights pass by overhead as he etched erotic tattoos into my flesh at the tip of his tongue.