Chapter 16

Monday morning arrived more quickly than Richie would have liked. The alarm shrilled through his sensitive early morning ears until he managed to reach out and slam his hand over it to silence it. He rolled over and gathered Jasmine into him as close as he could;

“It’s morning already darlin’. Do we really have to go to work? Can’t we just stay here in our bubble?”

Jasmine moaned and opened her eyes a little so she could see Richie. When his words had sunk in she smiled sleepily and nodded,

“Afraid so Rock Star. Records can’t be made without the guitar player extraordinaire now can they?” She kissed him softly then pulled away from him.

Richie huffed when she left his arms and grumbled about life not being fair.

“Suck it up Rich, back to work honey. You know you love it.”

He could hardly deny it, of course he loved it, it was the best job in the world, but at that moment he would much rather have been able to stay in bed all day with Jasmine.

“You’re right. I’m up.”

“Good. I’m going to shower then I’ll start breakfast.”

“Don’t worry about it darlin’, we’ll get something on the way.” Richie said, snaking his arms around Jasmine’s waist as she bent over to get something out of the bottom of the wardrobe.

She stiffened at Richie’s statement about breakfast. The thought of going out in public, rather than a secluded beach, when she still looked like she’d done 10 rounds with Rocky, filled her with dread.

“Uh, I don’t know. I still look like hell. I’m ok with the guys but I don’t really want to go out looking like this.” She said gesturing to herself.

“I didn’t mean ‘out’ darlin’, I meant that we’d just get breakfast for all of us on our way. Don’t worry Jas, I’m not forcing you to go out before you’re ready, I know you don’t like the way you look right now. I wouldn’t ask you to go out if you didn’t want to.” Richie replied, squeezing her close to him and kissing her neck.

Jasmine turned in his arms to face him, 

“What did I do to deserve you? You get me even when I haven’t said anything. You’re amazing.” She said, holding his face in her hands and kissing him deeply. Richie shook his head as he kissed her back,

“No, you’re the amazing one, you’ve dealt with this so well. I’m in awe of you.”

Jasmine didn’t know what to say, his words had floored her and the tears had begun to flow down her cheeks. She wiped at them and shook her head,

“Ok, well if we’re finished with the mutual appreciation then we’d better get a move on or Jon won’t think either of us are all that great!”

Richie chuckled and let Jasmine go, slapping her gently on her ass as she headed for the bathroom.

An hour later they pulled up at the gates to Jon’s house and made their way to the studio, noting that they were the last to arrive. Jasmine grabbed the box of coffees and Richie carried the pastries that they had bought on the way in.

“HEY JAS!” David yelled from behind his piano at the front of the studio as he saw Jasmine and Richie enter from the back door. He jumped up from his seat and launched himself at Jasmine, stopping just short of knocking the coffees out of her hands.

“Hey yourself. We brought coffee, you want some?”

“Hell yeah I do, but first let me take a good look at you. Are you ok?” he said, looking her over with a quizzical eye.

“I’m great, honestly. Glad to be back at work. Here, take these to Jon would you?” she said, handing him the rest of the drinks. David took them in one hand and took Jasmine’s hand in his other, dragging her with him as he went to find Jon on the other side of the glass.

“Look who I found lurking.”

Jon smiled widely and hugged Jasmine tightly,

“Everything ok? You need anything, just holler,” he whispered so only Jasmine could hear him.

“Thanks Jon, but I think I’ll be fine.”

“I know you will be but just in case.”

Jasmine nodded her understanding then let the others greet her before telling them that they weren’t here to keep an eye on her and that the record would not get done if they stood around looking at her all day.

‘What’s wrong with that?’ Richie wondered as he began to tune up his guitars whilst listening as Jasmine berated them all.

Not much recording was done in the morning; instead the guys spent their time reacquainting themselves with what they had already done, and made some adjustments to the next few songs that were to be recorded. Richie sat in the middle of the studio on a plastic chair with his Martin on his knees, strumming a tune that was becoming familiar to Jasmine. Headphones were teetering precariously on the side of his head, only one of them covering one of his ears. He fiddled with the cushion under his ass and shifted in his seat, ‘damn, we need more comfortable chairs in here,’ he thought to himself.

Jasmine switched on the two way speaker to let Richie know that they were ready for him to do his thing but was stopped in her tracks as she heard the tune come through into the recording booth. She cleared her throat, which made Richie jump, 

“Sorry Rich, didn’t mean to startle you. We’re ready when you are.”

Richie winked at her and replied, “I’m always ready darlin’. Count me in.”

Jasmine counted him in and Richie nailed his solo first time, making Jasmine grin from ear to ear.

“Perfect. You ready for some lunch?”

“Always.”

They headed up to the house together, talking and laughing. Richie had his hand resting on the small of Jasmine’s back as he guided her up the uneven path, his hand subconsciously rubbing where her bruise was hidden by her clothes. Lunch was a raucous affair, the guys sharing their news from their unexpected week off, and talking about the upcoming awards ceremony that they were meant to be playing at.

The diet of coffee and Coke that Jasmine had consumed since she arrived earlier in the day began to play havoc with her so she made her excuses and headed towards the bathroom. On her way back she met Richie in the hallway. Their smiles could have lit up New York City for a year as they reached for each other’s hand as they passed. Richie pulled her to him and she gasped,

“NOT here, you’re taking a big risk,” she whispered,

“Don’t care. I need to touch you,” he whispered back before pressing his lips firmly down on hers. Jasmine had no choice but to reciprocate, the power of all reasonable thought leaving her as soon as Richie laid his hand on her. Eventually she pulled away, shook her head at him and slapped him lightly,

“Go on, before we get caught.” She nodded towards the kitchen. They came back into the kitchen together but neither of them saw the knowing looks being passed around the table, and they certainly didn’t see Jon kick David under the table in warning to keep his wisecracks to himself.

For the next few hours they toiled away on two songs that they thought they had already finished. Evidently Jon thought otherwise, which frustrated the others, and they spent two hours rerecording parts until Jon was satisfied. Jasmine sat in the sound booth with Obie and Jon as Richie, David and Tico sat with their instruments behind the glass. Each time Jon grumbled about things not being quite right, Richie made eye contact with Jasmine and rolled his eyes. Jasmine tried hard not to laugh but once or twice was given the stink eye and Richie admonished himself for being a ‘shit for brains’. 

“What’s up with him today? Dot withholding marital privileges again?” David asked as they waited for Jon to return from the toilet.

“No idea man but if he keeps it up I’m going to batter him senseless,” Richie replied, making fighting movements to emphasize his point.

“That’s a bit strong isn’t it? Anything wrong?”

Richie sighed. He couldn’t tell David what was really going through his head; that having Jasmine so close yet not being able to touch her was killing him, that every time she walked past him the scent of her perfume made him hard and that what he wanted most right then was to feel her bare, sweaty skin on his. 

“I just think he’s working Jasmine a little hard, it’s only her first day back.”

“She looks fine to me, in fact if she smiles much more I’m going to start thinking you’re feeding her happy pills.”

“She still needs to take it easy, the doc said so.”

David nodded and looked sympathetically at his friend, “She’ll be fine Rich, we’ll make sure she stops when she’s tired.”

They finished just before seven; Jasmine barely had time to say goodbye to everyone before Richie was pulling her out of the door insisting she needed to have an early night and rest. She rolled her eyes and shrugged at Tico, who looked on with amusement as Richie manhandled Jasmine out of the studio.

Jon waited until he heard Richie’s car start up the path before he spoke,

“There is SO something going on with those two. Did you see the way he dragged her out just now?”

“I thought her arm was going to fall off he was pulling so hard,” David grinned.

“Don’t you think we should put them out of their misery and tell them that we know there is something going on and its ok?” Tico asked.

Jon and David both shook their heads at the same time, “No way. This will be too much fun.” David said, grinning madly.