True for You(44)
“But why would you pretend be with her? Why would you do that to Violet, or to yourself for that matter?” She lays her hand on my arm. “Help me understand.”
“If I didn’t… if I hadn’t pretended, time after time, that all those other women were with me, then my mother would have killed herself, and it would be all my fault.” I look down at the floor. “She hurts herself, Bliss. With razors, with drinking too much, and with pills. I can’t be responsible for that.”
“You’re going to take the fall again, so your mom won’t hurt herself?”
I scrub a hand across my face. Of course, Everett wants me to play his game. It’s punishment, for leaving the tour. “I don’t know,” I mumble.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Her grip tightens on my arm, and I look at her. “Jackson, you can’t do this.”
“So I just let her kill herself?”
She puts her hands on her hips and lets out a snort. “She’s still alive today, isn’t she?”
“Excuse me?”
“Last night, your mother accused me of sleeping with her husband, of being his latest floozy. If she really wanted to hurt herself, then wouldn’t she have done it by now?” She blows out a breath of obvious exasperation when I don’t respond. “I’m not an expert, but I think she’s too selfish to do something that permanent.”
I stare at Bliss in amazement and disbelief.
“Why don’t you talk to someone about it, like a therapist?” she says.
The tension in the room swells, dips, and then swells again. “Like some head case? No thanks.”
Her lips smash together. “Then don’t expect me to feel sorry for you, or put up with you pretending to cheat on me.”
“Do you really think I’d do that to you?” I shout. But I know the truth, and I know my past. I’m weak, and I can’t take the chance that Kathy won’t try to kill herself. I have enough on my conscience.
“If you could do it to the girl you claimed you loved, the same one you spent months trying to get her to fall back in love with you, then what makes me so darn special?” she asks, her voice breaking.
“Give me some time, Bliss. Can you do that for me?” Answer a question with a question—that’s me. Actually, that’s the old me. “I know I don’t deserve it, but I’m begging you. Give me time.”
She sucks in one of her cheeks. “Okay, I’ll give you time.” Tears fall from the corners of her eyes, and she hiccups. “But I’m begging you. Please don’t hurt me anymore, not like this. My heart can’t take it.”
Slowly, I move closer to her, and closer still when she doesn’t back away. I take her in my arms, kissing her tears, her nose, her cheeks, and her sexy mouth. For the longest time, it’s just me kissing her, until she sighs one of her sighs and melts against me, arms wrapping around my neck
“Can I tell you my good news?” I ask between kisses. I’ll deal with Everett and his DVD later. Besides, I still have the flash drive, with the pictures of him with barely legal girls.
“Everyone wants you to sing for their label?”
“Something like that.” I nibble on the side of her jaw. “Want to help me celebrate?”
“With cake and ice cream?”
“Not a bad idea. I could put the ice cream on your nipples and lick it off.”
“Or I could put it on your nipples and lick it off.”
I lean back, holding the most perfect woman for me in my arms, and gaze into her eyes. “I swear I’ll fix this.”
“I’m holding you to that,” she says, her face all vulnerable.
I swing her up in my arms and carry her into the bedroom. “Baby, I’m going to love you so good, that there’s no way anyone could ever think I’d want any woman but you.”
*** *** ***
Bliss
Jackson lays me down on the bed, undressing me like I’m too helpless to do it myself. Then he takes off his clothes, until he’s standing there, sexy and nude. Grinning like the wicked man he is, he climbs on the bed and takes me in his arms once more.
“You are the sexist woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.” He trails his fingers down my neck and onto my collarbone, his tone and face all serious. “The sexist woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of touching.” He moves lower, taking a hard nipple into his mouth and letting it pop out. “Of kissing.” He places open-mouthed kisses down my stomach and abdomen. “Of licking.” My thighs tremble in anticipation. “Open up for me, beautiful girl.”
I part my legs, and he gives me a sexy smile right before he lowers his mouth and—