Page 12 of Hot Shot Rock Star
“When I’m not busy banging my hockey boy,” she says. I suck in a breath and Kodi freezes for a beat and then breaks out into a massive cackle of laughter, forcing everyone around the table to stare at him. Jazzy waves a hand to take responsibility for the joke.
Shaking my head, I lean in and roll with the outrageous behavior because I can’t lecture it out of her, but I can kiss it out of her. So I do. Cupping a hand under her chin, I turn her face to mine and give her a deep, plunging kiss that shouts lust and love and full ownership of all the sexy crazy she has. The hoots and hollers and whistles at the PDA bring even more attention to our table and we end up signing some autographs and taking a few pictures with fans.
Kodi absorbs most of the attention, but when his trio of puck bunnies insists on their share of the camera time, one of them gives Tasha their phone and demands that I be included, nudging Jazzy out of the way. I roll my eyes for her eyes only and mouth the words “be patient” to her, and she doesn’t say a word and instead bites her lip. We’re surrounded by the three girls, who hang off us like X-rated hockey fan Christmas tree decorations gone wrong, and I have to clamp my hand down on girl number three’s wrist as she makes herself at home wandering around under my shirt and heading to my pants.
Tasha snaps the pictures and I extricate myself from the display, wondering if it would be rude to grab the phone and delete them all before they get into the questionable hands of girl number three.
“It’s been fun,” I say, half ironically. Kodi catches my meaning and gets serious long enough to look sheepish.
“You leaving? Sorry about Lily—”
“No problem.” I lower my voice for his ears only, though I know Jazzy is listening. “You sure you want these girls taking photos like that? Can we trust them?” Jazzy’s eyes widen and Kodi takes a couple beats to consider the possible problems. I hope.
“You’re right. I’ll delete them before they’re all over social media and they get misinterpreted.”
“Good man.” I fist-bump him. “We’re out of here. It’s been fun, but I’m not used to late nights these days.”
“We’ll have to get you out more often then. Get you back into shape. Nice meeting you, Jazzy. Let me know when you’re performing around town.”
“She’s got a gig in Boston tomorrow night that I’m going to, and I could use the company if you’re up for it. We can take a shuttle from JFK to Boston. My girl is opening for Foals.” I wrap an arm around Jazzy and hug her into me. She leans, her body conforming to mine, warming me.
“What a good idea,” she says, and I’m not sure if she’s being sarcastic, but I give her the benefit of the doubt.
“It is a good idea,” Kodi says. “You’re on. Book me a flight and text me with the deets, and we can have a Boston adventure.”
“Don’t get any crazy ideas,” Jazzy says. “You’re only going to keep my Bennie company. No puck bunnies allowed.”
“You’re a hard woman,” Kodi says, but he’s smiling. “And I admire that.” He gives her a little tap on the arm and she doesn’t flinch.
* * *
When Jazzy goes on,the seats at the Garden are still half empty, and we sit in the front row on the left aisle. And just as she always does, she captures me with her singing, floors me with her essence, her heart and soul so completely exposed and beautiful, deep and bleeding. But there’s a hint of hope in her words and her voice now that hadn’t been there before, and it makes my heart crack wide open with joy to know I might have had even a small part in her healing. But I don’t have a big enough head that I can’t acknowledge it’s mostly been her bravery that’s got her past her demons.
So the leastI can do is tolerate the aftershocks we run into here and there, right? As she wraps up her set, I know I need to be more patient with her, but I fear my capacity for patience may be close to tapped out. It’s been a long road for both of us.
After she’s done, the crowd thickens, and I head backstage with Kodi to find her. All I want to do is wrap her in my arms and hold her and tell her how unbelievably amazing she is.
