Chapter 7
Maddy
Mickie finally convinces me to drag my butt down to the wrap party, and I’m starting to feel better after I ditch the champagne for a Jameson on ice.
I am hugging and thanking producers, lighting directors, and stunt coordinators in the gigantic, blue-lit ballroom, when I feel goosebumps climbing up my arms and down the backs of my legs.
I whip around to check behind me, but no one’s standing there, and I quickly realize it’s not something I felt causing the chill, it’s something I heard, someone I’m hearing right now.
“Jett?” a half whisper, half gasp escapes my glittery gloss-covered lips as I inspect the band playing on the big stage in the corner.
The musicians are all wearing cream colored, gold-accented Venetian masks that cover about three-fourths of their faces.
I realize my feet are moving without my permission until I’m standing right in front of the source of my goosebumps.
Tattooed fingers, now covered with silver rings that might even be Dad’s, are wrapped around an old-fashioned microphone.
Seafoam green eyes glow at me through the eye holes of the mask.
Jett has been an integral part of my family for the last four years, especially since I had to leave home for six months.
My initial, sassy annoyance at the rockstar had dissolved completely and morphed into an indebted gratitude that I feel like tonight would be the perfect time to express.
I feel the warmth of knowing how Jett has stepped up in my absence to be there for my parents when I couldn’t be, and suddenly wish I could explain my appreciation to him.
But he’s literally in the middle of a song, and not just any song.
He’s singing Fade Into You by Mazzy Star, one of my favorite songs since I was five.
The song I would play on repeat while dreaming of being whisked around to it on a dance floor a lot like this one, by a man that, in my head, looked a lot like Ace Archer.
“Mickie!” I yelp as she floats over to me. I lower my voice, “What’s Jett doing here? I know you had something to do with this!”
She grins, “Surprise! Isn’t he dreamy? Isn’t this song?”
“Mickie! Details, please!” Even though we’ve spent plenty of time together as some sort of strange family unit, and I’m ready to admit how wonderful Jett has been to us, I’m not sure I’m ready to call him – the high-energy clown I’ve known for so long – dreamy, yet.
But I will say this is the calmest I've ever seen him.
“Donna was planning this event, got a bit stressed, and asked me to take over the entertainment. You know I’ve been listening to Jett’s new album on repeat, and he was the first person to pop into my head.
Imagine my shock when I sent him the date and he said he would already be in the area for his gran’s birthday and wouldn’t miss our big party for the world. Isn’t he sweet?”
I turn back to Jett, and it’s odd, like Mickie disappears completely, and all I can see is Jett, who croons in frankly the prettiest way I’ve ever heard him sing.
As he locks eyes with me again, the oddest thing happens.
I start to shake and shiver. There’s no grit and growl in his vocals tonight.
I’m not used to this, but really, they’re smooth as butter, and I get lost in the sweetness of his sound, his stony eye contact.
He leans the microphone towards me, and I feel nearly hypnotized by him singing this song like that, like he’s calling me, pulling me into some sort of trance.
I jump as I feel cool fingers touch my bare shoulder. I whip around immediately to see Mick did wander off and there's someone devastatingly handsome in her place. “Ace!”
“Hello, Maddy. Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I was wondering if you might … care to dance?”
The meticulously styled, smoothed to the side hair and trim tux are so very Ace, and the way he says dance makes me want to say yes to everything he asks for, for the rest of time.
“Of course,” I say, turning back to flash Jett a two-handed heart sign before letting Ace whisk me around the dance floor.
I swoon so hard I almost forget the event photographer is following our every move. I ask him the same stupid thing I’ve asked him about a dozen other times. “Are you sure you’re not a real prince?”
He smiles and counters, “Are you sure you’re not a real princess? Princess Matilda of the Morningstar line?”
I blush and say, “Maybe.”
“You sure you have to hop on the first plane home tomorrow? I’m going to miss you, you know.”
I did not know, and my heart explodes in my chest. “Um, of course I’ll miss you, Ace, just need a little family time with how long I’ve been away.”
He nods, “I understand … it’s just … are you sure you don’t want company? I’d quite like to meet them.”
I feel like passing out is a real possibility right now. I mumble things that aren’t even words for longer than I’d like to, and then finally, “You would?”
“Yes, I want to meet them, and I’d like you to meet mine; Is that quite all right?”
My knees give out, and he holds me up. “Y-yeah, more than all right, Ace.” He kisses my hand and smiles so sweetly that it takes me a moment to notice the band has stopped for a break. “There’s one family member right over there, actually. Care to meet Jett?”
Ace follows me towards the stage. “Jett Raven, you mentioned him. What’s his relation exactly? Blood?”
“Rock and roll,” I grin, leaving Ace thoroughly confused.
“My Mads!” Jett jumps off the stage and wraps me in his arms, mask resting atop his dark hair peppered with platinum, as he hugs and rocks me back and forth.
It’s somehow ten times more comforting than when Kel did it upstairs, and the feeling of home washes over me as I melt into his embrace.
“We’ve missed you so much at home, Baby!
Beverly Hills is so boring without you.”
Ace’s eyebrows jolt up when Jett calls me that, but I don’t have time to explain it away. Clearly I enjoyed leaving my immature nickname and the infantile way I’m treated back home in America.
“Jett, you have no idea how much it means that you’ve been keeping Mum and Dad company while I’ve been here!” I drop a kiss on his temple, “Thank you!”
“Anything for my Morningstars! Mads, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, AnnaBella.”
“It’s so good to meet you.” I smile at her and give her a quick hug.
She smiles back, but it doesn’t quite reach her sharp, baby blue eyes.
Her mask glimmers on her head, and her long, blonde hair streams down to her waist. I realize she was playing drums for him.
Duh.“You guys sound absolutely incredible!”
“Jett doesn’t stop talking about you and your parents, Matilda! Are you sure Jett and your dad haven’t been working up adoption papers while you’ve been away?”
“That wouldn’t surprise me at all! Jett, AnnaBella, this is Ace.” I pull Mr. Princely towards them, and he shakes their hands stiffly. “My…”
The word co-star can’t come out of my mouth because Ace says, “Boyfriend,” rather matter-of-factly instead.
Jett’s face is unreadable for a second before he leans in to slap Ace on the shoulder. “No fuckin’ way, mate! Congrats, man. Baby, you finally met your prince?”
I try to take a steadying breath, but my voice still shakes. I didn’t, not for a second, expect that word to have flown out of his princely little lips. “Yes, yes, I have!”