“Are you going to deny it?”
Brian thought she was a gold-digger like her mother? Like her mother? Jessica couldn’t breathe, much less speak in her own defense.
“That’s what I thought.” He jerked his arm out of her grasp and headed toward the bathroom.
“No! That’s not why I left.” She stood and trailed after him. Brian paused outside the bathroom door. “I left because he said he wouldn’t marry me if I went to law school. I was paying for it, but he forbade me to go. That’s why I left. I didn’t want him to control my life. He had no right to make me choose between what I love and who I love.”
Brian turned and stared at her reflectively until she began to fidget under his intense brown-eyed gaze. “Now that, I believe. He did the exact same thing to Eric twelve years ago.”
“Not the exact same thing,” Eric said from his bunk, where he was lounging reading a titty magazine. “I could have left the band. Switching to drums wasn’t so bad. I like them.” He scratched behind his ear. “I mean, now I do. Back then? Not so much.”
“Sed thinks he knows what’s best for everyone,” Brian said.
“The infuriating thing is, he usually does,” Eric said.
“Sorry I judged you so harshly, Jessica,” Brian said. “I’m glad you stood up to him. I’m not sure why you’re giving him this second chance. He probably doesn’t deserve it. But he’ll change for you. Do anything to make things right. He loves you that much.”
Sed loved her? She didn’t believe that. Maybe he loved the way she looked. Or the way she gave his body pleasure and took pleasure from his. But who she was on the inside? She doubted he could pick her out in a police lineup if it came to identifying her by who she really was.
“Go!” Sed’s voice boomed outside the bus.
“I don’t want to.” There was something familiar about that whiny female voice. Jessica was sure she’d heard it in a recent nightmare.
“Either you go inside and do it or you can do it in front of everyone out here in the parking lot.”
Jessica’s brow furrowed. He’d gone to pick up some groupie? What exactly was he forcing the poor woman to do? Jessica started toward the bus steps to intervene.
“Fine.” The young woman trudged up the stairs with Sed behind her.
Jessica paused in mid-step the instant she recognized Sed’s companion. It was the attendant from the Eiffel Tower. What was he thinking, bringing the little video-taping bitch here? Did he want her murder on his hands? Jessica was definitely ready to commit the crime.
“Go ahead,” Sed prompted.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled at Jessica’s feet.
“I don’t think she heard you,” Sed said. “And look at her when you say it.”
The girl lifted her head. Her face was streaked with tears. “I’m sorry, okay. I’m sorry. I only did it because I was jealous. Because I want him. And all he wants is you. All he ever wants is you. You don’t deserve him.” Her hands clenched into fists. “But I am sorry I recorded that video. And I am sorry I posted it. I’m sorry because he’ll always think of me as the bitch who hurt you. I really wish you would drop dead, you f**king whore.”
Well, that was the worst apology Jessica had ever received, but it was an apology. She lifted her gaze to Sed. He looked entirely perplexed by his fangirl’s tirade.
“You hunted her down and brought her here to apologize to me?” Jessica asked.
“She wasn’t supposed to say it like that.” He nudged the girl on the shoulder. “You weren’t supposed to say it like that. We rehearsed—”
The young woman covered her face with both hands, her body quaking with sobs. “Don’t make me say it again. Please.”
Sed nudged her again. “Hey, you promised me.”
“It’s okay, Sed,” Jessica said. “She doesn’t have to apologize if she doesn’t want to. I’m satisfied knowing I have something she wants but will never have. She’ll always wonder if things might have turned out differently if she hadn’t been such a vindictive little bitch.”
“I was picturing more groveling and begging for your forgiveness, but if you’re satisfied…” Sed shrugged. He took the girl by the elbow and led her toward the exit. “Out you go.”
“Wait, Sed. Please, don’t hate me. I can’t stand thinking that you hate me. Please, Sed. Please. I’m so sorry.” The young woman continued to wail all the way down the stairs.
“That’s the kind of apology you owe Jessica, not me.”
But Jessica didn’t need the girl’s apology. Sed had gone out of his way to try to make her feel better. It was a truly nice thing for him to do. She was touched despite herself.
“His methods are completely unorthodox,” Myrna said, “but you know he means well, don’t you?”
Jessica smiled and nodded. He was trying to fix things. It was what he did.
Sed slammed the door. “Let’s go, Dave,” he shouted, “before she tries to cling to the side of the bus.”
Dave started the bus and eased forward, while Sed peered anxiously out a tinted window.
Jessica stepped behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Thank you.”
He glanced over his shoulder to look at her. “I thought maybe if she apologized, you’d feel better. I mean, I know it doesn’t fix much, but—”
She lifted her hand to cover his lips. “It helped. I do feel better.”
Both dimples showed as he grinned against her fingertips. “Then it was worth Brian’s favorite guitar.”
“What?” Brian bellowed. “You gave her my guitar?”
Sed laughed. “Kidding.” He turned to face Jessica, his expression turning serious. “You’re going to stay with me in L.A., aren’t you?”
She hadn’t really considered what she’d do once they got back to L.A. “Are you sure the guys won’t mind?”
He glanced at his band mates in confusion. “Why would they care?”
“It’s pretty crowded, isn’t it?”
“Why would it be crowded?”
“The loft over that dry-cleaning business isn’t very big.”
“Oh God, you don’t really think we all still live there, do you? That was unbearable. I have a condo on the beach now.”
“Nice,” she murmured. He’d managed to become rich since the last time they’d shared living quarters. She scowled at the thought. “I could stay with my parents.” Her scowl deepened. Beth, who stayed with her family in the summer, wouldn’t be back in town yet, and Myrna hadn’t paid Jessica yet, so her options were limited.