The Prince of Punk Rock (54 page)

The three
of them looked at her with surprise and mouths agape.

“It
wasn’t genius,” Angel said. “It was real.”

After the television interview, the
band’s popularity skyrocketed.
 
The fans
embraced their relationship and enjoyed the play between Angel and Tommy on
stage.
  
And Jessi became some sort of heroine
to the fans.
 
They screamed for her, and
she was enamored by the attention.

Closed-minded bigotry still
persisted and hawked one of their concerts with a picket line.
 
Fans, ready to fight and defend their rock
idols, nearly caused a riot and scared away the protesters.
 
It made the headlines and the local
news.
 
Videos surfaced on social media
sites.
 
Luckily, support from the general
public was strong, and the controversy intensified and broadened their fan base
even more.

Chapter Forty-Three

Shortly after the band’s initial
tour ended, their first single hit number one, and the money started pouring
in.
 
The first thing Tommy and Jessi did,
were buy flashy new cars, but Angel was happy with his Lexus.
 
It wasn’t the latest model, but it sufficed.
 
He had larger plans in store for his
money.
 
He wanted the big house, with the
full recording studio that he dreamed about since he was a teenager.

He pulled a flyer from the open
house out of his pocket, and unfolded it.
 
It didn’t take long for the realtor to find what he was looking
for.
 
The modern five bedroom house was
perfect.
 
It had an attached three car
garage, with a long driveway and large entry gate for privacy – in case they
ever got famous enough to need it.
 
The
house had a full finished basement that he planned on converting into his
studio, but the state of the art kitchen was what really sold him.
 
It had Wolf appliances, marble countertops
and a substantial sized breakfast bar.
 
The over-sized Sub Zero refrigerator could hold enough food to last a
year.

The location was incredible.
 
It was in a town called
Long
Beach
, on
Long Island
, and the
property was on the water.
 
Small bars
and clubs inhabited the area, offering a variety of local music.
 
There was as much, or as little, night life
as you wanted to enjoy.

Angel loved Tommy and Jessi’s
house, but it was small, and the kitchen didn’t afford him the space he needed
to properly prepare a grand meal for their families when he invited everyone
for a holiday dinner.
 
The new house was
enormous and offered them plenty of room to entertain, especially since the
band would be over frequently to utilize the new recording studio.
 
It didn’t matter that the label paid for
studio time, now.
 
It was a luxury, not a
necessity.

Tommy and Jessi had no idea he was
house hunting.
 
It would be a
surprise.
 
He found them at the kitchen
table and put the flyer down in front of them.
 
“What do you think of this house?”

Jessi picked it up right away and
studied it for a long time.
 
Her eyes
were glued to the photo of the grand entrance foyer that accentuated the
cathedral ceiling and crystal chandelier.
 
“It’s gorgeous.”
 
She smiled up at
him.
 
“Why do you have this?”

“Because, I want to buy it for us.”

Tommy grabbed the flyer out of
Jessi’s hand and immediately shook his head.
 
“No.
 
It’s too much money.
 
It’s too expensive.”

That was the precise reaction Angel
expected.
 
Tommy was the responsible one
when it came to finances.
 
“Stop worrying
about money.
 
I can afford it.
 
I have some savings put aside.”

“I don’t care how much extra money
the label throws at you.”
 
Tommy tossed
the flyer on the table.
 
“That’s a big
note for the three of us to carry. I don’t want to get backed into a
corner.
 
I’m sorry, A.
 
It’s a generous offer, but it isn’t a good
idea.”

“Well, I was thinking
 
. . . we got that big check for the interview
we did about our relationship.
 
If we use
that, plus the money I have saved, it would be a nice down payment.
 
The mortgage would still be high, but I think
we could afford it.”

Jessi, who had been silently
watching the banter between Angel and Tommy, stood up from her chair.
 
“We could sell this house, combine all the
money and have an affordable mortgage!”

“I wasn’t suggesting you sell this
house, Jessi.
 
That wasn’t my intention
at all.”

“Why not?
 
It’s a great idea.”

“Because this is your house.
 
Your’s and Tommy’s.
 
You built a life here.
 
Selling this house is a decision that’s
between you two.
 
I don’t want to have
anything to do with it.”

Jessi jumped in Tommy’s lap.
 
She put her arms around his neck and folded
her legs over the arm of the chair.
 
“Please, Tommy.
  
You can have
that studio you and Angel always talked about.
 
What do you say, baby?”

The corners of Tommy’s mouth curled
up.
 
“OK.
 
It’ll be nice not to have to fight you and Angel for the bathroom all
the time.”

Angel knew that Tommy would cave as
soon as Jessi was on board.
 
He never
could say no to her, and Angel wouldn’t buy the house without Tommy’s
consent.
 
It needed to be a unanimous
decision.
 
He didn’t want to force them
from their home.

Jessi picked up the flyer
again.
 
“I can’t imagine living in a
house this big.
 
Can we go see it? We
need to put a bid in before someone else snatches it out from under us.”

“I already did.
 
We just need to sign the paperwork.”

Chapter Forty-Four

It took less than two months to
sell Tommy and Jessi’s house and move into the new one.
 
Jessi fell in love with it right away and
Tommy was in awe of the studio they had built in the basement.
 
And they finally got a custom made bed, large
enough to fit the three of them comfortably.
 
It was the width of three twin size beds, but they still gravitated
toward the center and smothered poor Tommy.
 
Angel got very sentimental about leaving the old house.
 
It held a lot of memories for him.
 
Some of the happiest moments of his life were
spent in that house with Tommy when they first got together.
 
But, the new house was fresh and waiting to
be filled with new memories.
 
In time, it
would know the love they shared, first hand.
 
It would hear and contain every intimate thought and secret that
transpired within its walls.
 
It would be
their safe haven.
 
It would be their
home.

Jessi
watched Tommy and Angel, asleep in each other’s arms, on the first night in
their new home.
 
Content showed brightly
in the blissful curl of their lips.
 
She
loved to watch them sleep.
 
She stroked
both their cheeks and kissed them each lightly on the lips.
 
Neither stirred.
 
She clasped her fingers around Tommy’s hand
and brought it to her breast, and then to her lips.
 
Her eyes were drawn back to Angel.
 
Her body ached to be next to his, but she
didn’t know how to seduce him.
 
She felt
Tommy’s hand tighten around hers, and he pulled her down next to him.