Rock Hard (Sinners on Tour 2)

“I heard that, Lionheart,” Trey said. Looking all gloaty, he said into his phone, “Yeah, okay, Dad. Whatever it takes to get me out of this place. The doctors here are quacks.”

His physician shook his head and left the room.

Jessica couldn’t believe how great Trey looked. His color was back. That spark of orneriness had returned to his emerald eyes. If it weren’t for the staples in the side of his head and the awkward way he held his hands, she could almost imagine he’d never been injured at all.

“So is your dad going to get you out of here?” Sed asked, sinking into the chair next to Trey’s bed. He tugged Jessica down to sit on his knee.

“Yeah. Thank God.”

“You look better today,” Jessica said. “How are you feeling?”

“Not bad. My head is sore.”

“You’ve always been a sorehead,” Sed quipped.

“Fuck you.”

“See what I mean?” Sed chuckled. “How are your hands?”

Jessica elbowed Sed in the ribs.

Trey tucked his hands under the covers self-consciously, his smile fading into a scowl. “They’re getting better, I think.”

“That’s good. We need to get back on the road as soon as possible.”

Jessica elbowed Sed in the ribs again. The man was so oblivious of his insensitivity at times.

Sed scrunched his brows together. “What?”

She ignored him. She didn’t want to make Trey feel worse by spelling out Sed’s stupidity.

“Are you going to stay with your parents while you recover?” Jessica asked, hoping to change the subject.

Trey wrinkled his nose. “It’s the only way I could get Dad to agree to get me out of here. At least they have a pool.”

“I guess we can work in the studio while we’re waiting for you to get better,” Sed said, off in his own little future-planning world. “We can probably get everything recorded in a couple of weeks. Except your parts, Trey. Unless you want Brian to record the rhythm guitar sections for you.”

Trey looked like someone had ripped his still-beating heart from his chest, tossed it on the linoleum, and stomped on it.

“He doesn’t mean that, Trey.” Jessica climbed off Sed’s knee and grabbed his nipple, twisting and pulling hard to coax him to his feet.

“Ouch! Jesus Christ, woman. What are you doing?” Sed protested as he rose from the chair.

“I need to speak to you in the hall for a moment,” she said between clenched teeth. “Now!” She released his nipple and stalked toward the door.

“What did I do?” Sed asked, trailing after her.

When they were out of earshot of Trey’s open door, she turned to confront him. “How can you be so callous, Sed? Did you see the look on his face?”

Sed’s expression read clueless. “Huh?”

“Trey, you idiot. You hurt him. He’s been conscious for a day and you already have Brian taking over his work as rhythm guitarist on the new album. What are you thinking?”

“I didn’t mean permanently. Just for the recording.”

“The album will wait until he’s better.”

“So we’re just supposed to sit around and twiddle our thumbs while he recovers? We can’t tour without him.” He got a reflective look on his face. “Unless we can find someone to fill in for him.”

Jessica punched him in the chest. “I cannot believe you just said that!”

“It’s nothing personal against Trey. If we stop now, we’ll lose our momentum. We’re finally where we want to be as a band, and wham, this happens.”

She knew she couldn’t talk down his drive to succeed, so she changed tactics. “Do you really think Brian will agree to play without Trey? You know they work as a unit. Are you going to replace Brian, too?”

He sighed loudly. “I’m sorry I hurt him. I’m just worried. A lot of people depend on us for a paycheck, you know?”

So he wasn’t just thinking of himself as she’d first suspected. Now she felt bad for yelling at him. “It will work out. I guarantee it.”

He grinned. “Can I get that in writing?”

“Sure. Why not?”

He lifted his shirt, revealing red marks around his left nipple. “And I think you owe this guy an apology.”

She rolled her eyes at him and walked towards Trey’s room.

“Jessica,” he called. “Can I book an appointment for make-up sex in two hours?”

Several people walking the corridor stopped to gawk at them.

She paused and glanced over her shoulder at him, her eyebrows drawn together in an angry scowl. “Sedric!”

“What?” He shrugged and started after her.

“You don’t need an appointment.”

He laughed and wrapped his arms around her waist as he careened into her. He lifted her feet off the ground and carried her into Trey’s room. They found him in a frustrated rage, repeatedly smashing his under-responsive hand with the television remote control.

Chapter 22

Jessica glanced up from the computer screen at Brian. Myrna had just dumped a huge backlog of data on her lap and Jessica was eagerly entering it, ready to prove she was worth her inflated salary.

“Where’s Sed?” Brian asked. “We’re supposed to be leaving for L.A. right now.”

Trey had left with his parents in their BMW the day before. The other tour bus and equipment truck were already on the road. As soon as Sed turned up, they could leave too.

“He said he had to go do something real quick. I thought he’d be back by now.”

“He didn’t tell you where he was going?”

Jessica shook her head. “I’m not his lord and master.”

“Heh. Could’ve fooled me.” Brian rolled his eyes and started to walk away, but Jessica grabbed his arm.

“Honestly, Brian, I don’t understand why you have such a problem with me. You didn’t used to be so hurtful.”

“Maybe it has something to do with what you did to Sed.”

“What I did to Sed? What exactly do you think I did to him?”

“You destroyed him when you left him for no reason.”

“No reason? You have no idea why I left him, do you?”

“He told us all about it. You left because he couldn’t afford to put you through law school.”

Jessica’s jaw dropped.

“You’re just a gold-digging—”

“That’s what he told you?” she sputtered.