Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
Jazz
Jazz has her secrets… but no worries, we will bring them to light. She can no longer be allowed to hide who she really is!
Jazz looked around at all the celebrities milling around waiting for their turn to be bombarded with questions by the reporters who had gathered for the press conference. So far from what she could tell, most of the questions had been pretty tame, mostly about what the artists had been doing over the past year and if they planned on debuting any new music during the concert.
Brad approached her and the guys letting them know that their time slot was coming up next. Michael laid his hand on her shoulder with a gentle squeeze. “You’ve got this,” he whispered in her ear and patted her behind. She could still feel the remnants of the stripes he’d laid on her with his belt the evening before, causing her to shudder. She looked around; nobody was paying them any attention.
“Michael,” she whined. “You can’t do that here.” She leaned her face into the crook of his neck, loving the smell that was his and his alone.
“Don’t tempt me,” he growled in her ear. “Get through this circus, so we can get home and finish what we started last night.”
Leave it to her man to have her thinking about sex before going out to face a room full of reporters to talk about her music. Of course, that was probably his plan all along to keep her mind off her anxiety, sneaky psychiatrist Dom.
“Next up we have the members of The Scarlet Letter joining us after a two-year retirement for one night only.” She heard the band being announced.
After taking a deep breath, Jazz and her band mates stepped out from behind the curtain and sat at the table provided. It was hard to see out from the stage with all the flashing lights, but that was something that she was used to after all the years on the road. She knew to just pick a point at the back of the room and concentrate on it.
The MC for the conference calmed the chaos and the questions started flying which she answered with ease. Yes, she was still writing, no she had never stopped. Yes, she enjoyed producing, and was loving spending time finding and developing new talent. Now, she was not sure if she would ever go back to recording her own music again, even though she loved performing.
They were wrapping up when a woman stood up in the back, but quickly made her way to the front. “Excuse me, but I have a question. When were you going to come clean with the public about your depraved private life?” she asked as she stepped up next to the stage, recording device in her hand.
“Excuse me?” Jazz asked, trying to take a deep breath. There was no way she had said what she thought she heard. The only place Michael and she played was at Black Light, and their NDA was airtight. Nobody would talk. It just didn’t happen.
“I asked when you were going to finally come clean about who you really are? Your dirty depraved sex life in that dungeon you go to with that boyfriend you live with? From what I’ve been able to gather, it involves being tied up and beat with whips and chains. Is that the kind of person we want America’s youth looking up to?”
Jazz couldn’t believe what was happening. Her biggest fear had been realized, and she was finding it hard to breathe. She stood from her chair, hearing the scrape, deafening across the floor. Looking around the room full of reporters while flashes from their cameras blinded her. The pain in her chest was the only thing letting her know that it wasn’t actually a nightmare, and it was indeed happening to her. Her breathing gained speed, and the room began to grow dark. As the darkness descended, she sensed herself falling, and the last thing she felt was landing in the arms of the man she loved.
Michael
Dammit , Michael saw what was happening, but he was almost too late. He took off in a dead sprint from the backstage area and barely made it in time to catch Jessica as she lost consciousness in front of a room full of reporters and not a single one of them thought to help. They were too busy continuing to yell out questions and take photos of the woman he loved.
He reached down, hooked her knees, and carried her from the stage while the crowd continued to pepper them with questions. He continued until he reached their car.
Setting her in her seat, Jessica started to come aware. Once her eyes were open, tears started to flow down her face. “Oh my God, Michael what am I going to do,” she asked, and he could see her start to close in on herself.
He rounded the car as quickly as he could and sat behind the steering wheel. He grabbed her hand. “Jessica, look at me,” he ordered.
“I can’t. Please I just can’t.” She continued to sob.
“We are going home, then we will figure out how to fix this mess.” He was already thinking of how he could take care of her.
Michael turned down their street, and as he approached their house, there were already people gathering outside of their gated driveway. How did they get here so fast?
He honked as he turned trying to get them to move out of the way. “Jazz, Jazz, look over here.” He heard their muffled yells through his closed windows.
He pushed the controller for the gate and as it swung open, he made their way through it, and had it closed as quickly as he could, feeling murderous for the way these people had hurt his woman.
After pulling into the garage, he turned off the car and turned toward Jessica. She continued to sob, having trouble catching her breath as she did. He climbed from the car and went to her door, and after he released her seatbelt, he pulled her from the seat. Her arms snaked around his neck, and she buried her head against his skin.
He carried her through the house and to their bedroom. He gently laid her on the bed. “I promise, I will take care of you. This may feel like the end of the world, but it will blow over.”
She didn’t answer, turning on her side and crying into her pillow as if he hadn’t spoken. This was not how his Jessica responded to him, and part of him couldn’t understand her reaction. Sure, she never wanted the world to know about their lifestyle, but he’d been surprised by the level of panic he’d seen on her face. He couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to the story than he understood. When the time was right, he would have to get her to tell him what was behind her reaction. He would get his answers, even if he had to beat them out of her.
Michael knew he was going to have to get her out of there, and it needed to be somewhere she wouldn’t have to face the reporters until she was ready, so he called the only person he could think of.
“Jaxson, I need your help.”
“Hey, Michael. I saw the press conference. How is Jazz holding up?” he asked.
Of course, he’d seen the shit show of a conference. As one of the owners of Black Light, he seemed to know everything that was going on with all of his club members.
“She’s not. I tucked her into bed to get some rest, but she had a panic attack in front of the reporters, so it now seems to be a feeding frenzy and I need to get her out of town. Do you have any suggestions? I’m worried if I keep her here, she will fall apart.”
“Actually, how do you feel about going to the country?” Jaxson asked.
But maybe he’d lost his mind. Since when did Jaxson, the ultimate city boy know anything about the country?
“Excuse me? What on earth are you talking about?” Michael asked unable to keep the confusion out of his voice.
“One of my oldest friends runs a ranch in Montana. It would be the perfect place to let this all die down. You might even find that Jazz will enjoy the peace and quiet that comes from getting out of the city.”
Michael thought about that for a moment. “Is this a working ranch, because I can’t see my woman mucking out stables or milking cows.”
“Actually, it’s a place for people in the lifestyle to go. You would be surrounded by like-minded people who could understand how she is feeling about everything. If nothing else, maybe submitting to you will help her find her center again and at the very least you two will be able to have lots of sex.” Jaxson laughed.
“How hard is it to get reservations?” Michael asked. The thought of making his Pixie wait even another day longer made Michael angry.
“I will call Derek now to see what we can work out. Hold tight and I’ll call you back.” Jaxson disconnected the call, and Michael made his way back to the master bedroom to check on Jazz who was sleeping fitfully in the bed exactly where he’d left her.
Michael knew that this situation was Pixie’s worst nightmare, but he didn’t quite understand why. Sure, as a celebrity, keeping her personal life private was important in order to have any privacy at all, but her reaction seemed a bit of an overkill if that was the only reason. There had to be more to it than he knew, and he was going to make it his mission to find out what that was.
He left her sleeping and went to the bar to pour himself a glass of his favorite scotch. He usually kept the Glenfiddich for special occasions, but tonight he couldn’t bring himself to care. He needed a decent drink to help calm his nerves.
When his cell rang, be answered it without looking, assuming it would be Jaxson calling back.
“What the hell happened?” Jamie screeched. “I saw Jazz freaking out on the news. They were replaying the end of the press conference. Now tell me what the fuck happened.”
Jazz’s best friend was losing his mind. It had been a long time since Michael had seen Jamie in such a state, and he knew that his partner, Dom, couldn’t be far away.
“There was a reporter who apparently has been stalking her and found out about our private life. She called out Jazz’s secrets for all to hear and, well, let’s just say she did not handle it well,” Michael explained.
“Holy shit,” Jamie whispered. “Let me talk to her,” he demanded.
“That isn’t going to happen,” Michael answered. “She’s asleep, and I’m going to let her rest. But I know there are things she hasn’t told me about her past that you obviously know about, and I need you to tell me now. I can’t help her if I don’t know what is going on.”
“If there are things she hasn’t shared with you, then it’s up to her to tell you. I’m sorry, but I won’t betray her confidence like that,” he answered.
“Jamie, you saw what happened. She had a full-blown panic attack on live television. I need to know what is going on so that I can help her through it.” These two had grown up together and had shared their lives together before Jazz and Michael met. They shared a bond that he could never begin to understand, but he respected it and never wanted to get in the middle of it. However, he would do anything to protect the woman he loved.
“I understand, but if I were to break her confidence then she would never trust me again. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to talk to her about this one yourself. In fact, I’m surprised you guys haven’t talked about her childhood before. Let her know that I called and have her call me when she gets up.”
Of course, Jamie wouldn’t share anything that would help him get to the bottom of what was going on. The two of them had been best friends since they were kids, and though he was Jazz’s Dom, it didn’t seem to matter. She’d been hiding too much, and he’d let her, happy to stay in their bubble, but that was no longer an option.
“I’m taking her out of town for a while until things die down around here. I need you and Dom to keep an eye on the house for us if you don’t mind. There is no telling what these paparazzi are willing to do to get what they want if they think we are still here.”
“You know we got your back, just take care of our girl.”
While he waited to hear back from Jaxson, Michael messaged a friend from med school to see if he could take over his practice for the foreseeable future. He was also in the lifestyle, so he would be a perfect fit, and had recently moved back to California but had not set up his own practice yet. He also messaged Troy to let him know what was happening as well as his secretary because there was no way he was going to be able to be in the office on Monday.
Once all of that was done, he poured another glass of scotch. Jaxson called to let him know the arrangements were made. “Our pilot will have the Gulfstream fueled up and waiting for you at Van Nuys. It should allow for more privacy that way. Once you are on the ground in Missoula, we will have a helicopter waiting to take you to the ranch. I will text you all the details, but you need to get packed, because you need to be ready to leave tomorrow. Do you think you can do that?”
Everything was coming together so quickly. Of course, Jaxson would make it happen. There was no way he would let his people suffer if there was something he could do to help fix it.
“I can’t thank you enough for this. If there is ever anything I can do for you or yours all you ever have to do is say and it is done.”
“Don’t mention it. Just take care of your woman. When the time is right, let her know that we are all here for her. Meanwhile, I plan to find out where that reporter got her information and make them pay.”
“Thank you for that.”
“No need to thank me, this one is absolutely my pleasure. Just take care of that sweet girl, and we will talk soon.”