In Bed with the Rockstar (With the Rockstar #2) (rockstar romance series) by Ana W. Fawkes

opened.
    Jessica saw Jerry walk in. She
hurried to stand, waiting for Slader to be right behind him. She stood for a
few seconds before the room spun. Jessica was forced to sit back down. Then she
had to endure the sight of the door closing... without Slader there.
    “No,” Jessica said.
    Jerry walked to her and took the
bottle from her hand. “This won’t help.”
    “You don’t know anything.”
    Jerry sat on the coffee table.
“You’re right. I don’t. I don’t know what the fuck Slader is thinking. All he
could talk about was you.”
    “Is he in trouble?”
    “He’s always in trouble,” Jerry
said. “I’m not worried.”
    “I am.”
    “He said you would be.”
    “He hurt someone?”
    “Someone that maybe deserved it.”
    “Maybe? Or did he?”
    Jerry paused. “If it were me, I
would have handled it differently. But it’s Slader. It’s what he does.”
    “Is he in jail?”
    “Something like that,” Jerry said.
“He’ll be home in the morning. Then it all goes to the lawyers.”
    “Lawyers?”
    “He’s being sued by the guitarist
he knocked around.”
    Jessica closed her eyes and shook
her head.
    “Listen, Jessica, I don’t know who
you are or where you came from, but Slader seems to have some kind of
connection with you. Like I’ve never seen before. For Christ’s sake, he’s never
brought a woman here.”
    Jessica opened her eyes. “Never?”
    “No,” Jerry said. “This is where he
comes to hide from the world. But he brought you.”
    “Why?”
    “That’s what I’m trying to figure out,”
Jerry said. “But I have to respect his orders.”
    “What are his orders?”
    “For you to stay right here. He
wanted to make sure you eat, sleep, and wait.”
    Jerry stood from the table and took
a few steps. He paused.
    “That’s it?” Jessica called to him.
    “Well. He doesn’t want me talking
to you. He doesn’t want Charles or anyone talking to you. He’s afraid you’re
going to leave him again... or he won’t find you again...”
    “Again?”
    “Have you ever... met Slader
before?”
    “Not unless you count looking at
pictures of him online,” Jessica said.
    Jerry nodded. He looked worried.
    “Okay,” Jerry said.
    “Why? What’s wrong?”
    “Just... nothing,” Jerry said.
“Just comply with Slader. Especially right now. He’s unstable. Very unstable
with all of this. The littlest thing can throw him off...”
    “I’m not leaving,” Jessica said.
“Not if he ordered me.”
    “Well, take that order and go back
upstairs.”
    Jerry walked away and Jessica
grabbed the bottle of whiskey. She stood from the couch and braced herself. She
let the room stop spinning so she could start walking. Somehow she made it
upstairs and back into the bedroom without tripping or falling. As she stared
at the bed, Jessica grew angry. What was wrong with the world? Didn’t they understand
Slader? Didn’t they know... anything?
    Jessica dropped the bottle of
whiskey to the bed. She made her way to the bathroom and considered taking a
long, hot shower. The shower she should have had with Slader. The one they
started and never finished. That was maybe all her body needed. The rush of hot
water, the peace of the bathroom. Not to mention the view of the mountains.
Jessica stood at the window and shook her head. Here she was, seeing something
not many saw. It was like looking at the world, or having the world, but to get
that, to see that view, she lost Slader.
    The view didn’t mean anything without
Slader. It felt as though Jessica were better off blind. She walked to the
shower and turned the water on. Her eyes widened at the sight of the five
shower heads turning on one by one. The shower itself was bigger than her
entire bathroom at the apartment. Jessica let the water warm up. She walked to
the long counter and stared at all the drawers. She opened one, then another,
then another. In Alex Slader’s bathroom nothing was out of the ordinary. That
was the intriguing part. Jessica