Tied Up In Heartstrings (17 page)

What did I ever ace when we hung out in college? I wasn’t successful then. Shit, when I finally made it to Nashville, I would have lived in my car had it not been for my parents making sure I always had a roof over my head. What is she talking about? “Sweetheart, I’m not sure that cleared it up for me. I wasn’t successful then.”

She just shakes her head.  “Garrett, do you really think you being a superstar is how I measured your success? I thought you were amazing way before then. I was happy when the world finally figured out what I already knew. But, Garrett, I watched your talent and dedication far before your first number one track. You totally aced the music thing. You were smart and had tons of friends. You were kind and had swarms of girls around you. And, even though, you were constantly surrounded by girls, and I was incredibly jealous at times, I don’t think they ever really understood you or saw your greatness the way I did.”

“I was proud and that was my way of telling you. I’m sorry it wasn’t clear to you back then. You aced life…music, friends, family, girls…you were amazing and it came easily to you, because you’re such a great person. I’m proud of you, always have been.”

Shit, she thinks I aced life. That couldn’t be further from the truth, but looking at the crap ass life she’s been dealt, I can imagine how it looks that way from her point of view. I feel like I’ve sacrificed so much for this life, and I’ve missed out.

“Baby, the only thing in this life I want to ace, is you and the little blond mini-you. I could give a rat’s ass about the rest of it. I want you, and I don’t want to screw it up. Please, don’t let me,” I say to her. I want to be worthy of this name she’s given me, but I want it to be for something meaningful. I want to ace loving her. I want to ace being a good family man for her.

I lift her to the side of me and kiss her forehead. “Let me clean you up, baby.” I carry her to the bathroom and place her on the vanity. I turn on the warm water, take a damp cloth and wipe her down. I see a bit of red on the cloth as I wipe her down. Is she hurt? “Damn, baby, did I hurt you?” Concerned, I ask.

She looks at the cloth and turns a bit pale. “Oh…I’m sorry, Garrett…It must be that time for me. I can never keep track, because the implant makes my time of the month erratic. Sometimes it never comes at all. Did I get blood on you?” She’s concerned about me, yet she’s bleeding.

I’ve never experience a monthly cycle with a girl. I’ve never kept them around that long. I’m concerned. What happens now? Does this hurt? I’ve heard from the guys that it’s torture. “Baby, I’m fine. Do you feel okay?”

She smiles to reassure me. “Yes, Garrett, I’m good. Can I use your shower and will you bring me my purse?” She says as she pushes away from my inspection.

“You can share my shower with me, lady. Together all damn day, I mean it.”

I run to the family room to get her purse. She’s started the shower by the time I get back to her. I watch her from the doorway, testing the water temperature. She’s smiling and humming along to a song. She’s happy, and that alone makes me feel like I’m on top of the damn world. I love her. She’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. I could sit and watch her do anything and feel incredibly entertained. But most of all I love watching her smile, sing, take care of Sierra, and fall apart in my arms at the end of every day. This girl has completed my life in a way I never thought I wanted, but now I would damn near kill for it.

I walk into the bathroom, placing her purse on the counter, and going directly to her, wrapping my hands around her hips, so that I can caress her
hip bones. I love them. I’m not really sure what it is about them, but touching them makes me feel a volt of electricity every time. She’s hot. Her little body is the best I’ve ever seen. It does things to my eyes every time I see her naked. I see stars, and it feels amazing.

I reach out and test the water myself, before sliding us into the warm stream. She’s careful not to wet her hair. “In you go, sweet cheeks,” I say, as I nuzzle the spot behind her ear. I put her directly under the stream so she doesn’t get cold. I can wait to be under the water, because being close to her makes me hot as hell. I take the clean cloth and lather it up with soap. I wash her body, massaging the lather into her skin, taking my time. I’m careful when I wash her between the legs. I’m not sure if she’s sore. Instinctively I check for more blood, but there’s none.

She looks a little embarrassed. “Garrett, stop. I’m fine. Women have dealt with this curse for centuries.”

I shrug my shoulders. “But I’ve never dealt with it with a woman, let alone the woman I love,” I say with a bit of chagrin. She kisses me, slides around, and then pushes me forward so that I’m under the stream.

She gets another cloth and takes her sweet, precious time rubbing me down with soap and rinsing my body. When she reaches my cock and feels how hot I am for her she drops to her knees in front of me saying, “Garrett, are you hard for me again?”

Shit... she’s suffering and bleeding, she can’t do this now. I should be taking care of her.  “Baby, no, you don’t need to do that now. But, I’m always hard for you. I can’t help it. Let’s try that when you’re feeling better.”

“Shut up, Garrett, I feel fine and I want to suck your cock right now. Are you really going to deprive me of satisfying my man?”

Well, when she puts it that way, hell no!

“I’m here to please you, lady. Have it your way.”

She smiles, as she pumps my length in her hand, dropping to her knees and licking the tip of my cock. “Shit…” I say moving my hips forward. She opens her lips and my cock slides into her mouth. Her tongue is licking the underside of my length. I’m holding the back of her head and pumping into her mouth, as she wraps one of her little hands around the base of me. The other one is massaging my boys. It feels too good, and I’m going to lose my load, again. I can feel the back of her throat on the head of my cock “Baby, I’m gonna go…back up.” But she doesn’t let go. Damn… Did she not hear me? I can’t hold it much longer. I try and guide her head back, but she takes me deeper into her throat. “FUCK ME…” I explode down her sweet little throat, pulsating in her mouth. “I love you so much!” I say, almost yelling.

She’s giggling, as I find my way back to earth, looking down to her eyes. “Damn, babe. That was amazing,” I’m telling her, as I lift her up and she wraps her legs around me. My girl loves being held. I take the towel and wrap it round her, taking her back to the bed to lay her down. I’m smothering her with kisses and tickling her.

“We can’t sit around here all day. We need to get you packed up, and go back to my place to pack, if you want to make that trip tonight.”

She’s right, but I really wish we could just lay around naked all day. She pops up, taking the towel with her and wrapping it around her body. She picks up her clothes and walks to the bathroom. I get up to follow her, when she turns looking at me. “No, Garrett, stay there. A girl needs privacy sometimes.”

I poke out my bottom lip, pouting. “I want to help you get dressed, baby.”

She looks at me, smiling, “Another time. Go get ready, so I can go home and pack. It takes me forever to get our things together.”

We leave my parents’ house with all my stuff. I didn’t really have a lot, but I’m taking it all with me in hopes of not returning to this house when we get home from Nashville.

“Sweetheart, can Sierra miss a few days of school? I want to keep you guys in Nashville for a few days and show you around. I’m also hoping Courtney will spit out that kiddo while we’re there.”

She shrugs. “I don’t see why not. I know that I don’t want to come back without you,” she says, and it makes me so happy that we’re on the same page about that. I know for sure I’d never be able to put the two of them on a plane to come home with me knowing I’ll be leaving for the tour in eleven days. I’m dreading that. But I’ll be spending the next eleven days giving them my undivided attention.

We say good-bye to my parents. They make us promise to visit and bring Sierra when we get back from Nashville. They know that this girl has captured my heart and is a permanent fixture. They couldn’t be happier.

On the car ride back to her house Alexis is checking her emails and trying to respond. “Ugh…why now? I’ve had enough.”

I hear her talking to her phone under her breath. “Sweetheart, everything okay?”

She looks at me, remaining silent for a minute, and then nods her head. “Yeah. It’s fine. I’ll deal with it,” she says, clearly frustrated.

“Baby, I don’t want you to deal with anything on your own. I want you to talk to me. Tell me what’s upsetting you,” I implore, but she just shakes her head no. “
Grrr…Lex. What the hell is it? I’m going to be worried sick until you tell me.” I’m not asking anymore. I want to know what the hell’s upsetting my girl. I don’t want or need anymore more crap getting in the way of her ‘Happy Ever After’.

“It’s my mom. She emailed. She wants money. I’m not going to deal with it. Jason will, but she doesn’t usually contact me. It’s just frustrating because she always picks the times in my life when things are going well to walk in a screw everything up.”

Shit. No way am I letting that woman, who mistreated Lex for so long, anywhere near her. I’ll handle it once and for all. “Send me her info, Lex. I’ll handle it,” I say, but she screams at me.

“HELL NO GARRETT! You stay the hell out of this. This is between Jason and me. It’s not anything for you to handle. If you even think about it…EVER…
It’ll be a deal breaker!”

Well, to hell with that. I’m not promising anything if
Lex isn’t safe. She can’t put those kinds of restraints on me. “Lex, I’ll let Jason handle it, as long as that woman poses no threat to you or Sierra. If that changes, deal breaker or not, I’m stepping in. Got it, lady?” She’s looking at me with that little pissed off, hot tempered face, but I’ve got one to match, so it doesn’t really affect me. “Call your brother, now,” I order.

By the time we make it back to
Lex’s house she’s called Jason, and he’s agreed to handle the mother situation. I’ll call his little ass tomorrow and verify it’s done. I can’t have crap like this upsetting Lex. She’s been through enough, but I’m sure he’ll agree.

We head right upstairs to start packing. I know we’re running a bit behind because of our little after breakfast escapades and
Lex’s temper tantrum in the car. She’s looking a little stressed and rushing.

“Sweetheart, you’re looking stressed, still. What can I do?” I ask.

“Garrett, I have to pick up Sierra in an hour and a half, and we need to be packed before then, because we’ll have to go straight to the airport from there.”

“No, sweetheart. We have more than enough time. I’ll go get Sierra. Relax. The plane won’t leave without us. I promise. What can I help you with?”

Still looking stressed, but trying to relax a little she says, “Can you get the luggage out of my closet? I’ll gather clothes for Sierra.”

It does take a lot more time than I expected for
Lex to pack, but it’s because there’s so much to gather for Sierra – a bag of things for the airplane to keep her busy (electronics, and stuff), a bag of clothes, her special blanket and favorite stuffed animal, a small bag of toys and things for Sierra to play with at my house. Then, Lex has a bag of clothes, a bag of toiletries, and her backpack with her laptop and stuff. I can’t believe how much is needed for these girls to travel for one week. Not that I really care. I’d move the whole damn house to keep her with me for this week if she wanted.

I’ve called a limo service to drive us to dinner and the airport. I want to get my girls a nice dinner before the flight, because it’ll be after Sierra’s bedtime when we arrive. I know
Lex likes to feed her early.

We leave the luggage by the door when we finish packing, with time to spare for a few kisses, and then we rush off to get Sierra. I’m excited to pick her up from school. I love that she wants to show me off. I’ve never wanted to be paraded around more. I love my little princess.

When we get to the school, Lex tells me to pull up in the line with the other parents, but I ignore her and go for a parking spot. “Garrett, we don’t need to meet her at the classroom. They’ll bring her out. Just go to the line.”  Again, I ignore her. Parking and turning off the car, I climb out of the Jeep and walk around to the passenger side and help my girl out. She’s glaring at me. “You’re going to spoil her, and she’ll expect this sort of treatment all the time. Please, just stick with our usual routine. We both like it this way,” she says with a snarky attitude.

“Shut up,
Lex, you’re ruining my moment. I want to get my princess from her class. It’s only my first day on the job. I’ve missed her,” I say. Her glare dissipates and is replaced with a glassy eyed smile. “No tears, Lex. We’re all happy here, lady,” I say, before kissing her senseless. Then we walk hand in hand through the school to wait in front of Sierra’s class.

I keep looking into the window, trying to steal a peek. What’s taking them so long? I see my little blond haired beauty gathering her things and marching to the door. When she looks up at the window and sees me, her face lights up. She’s waving, pointing, and jumping up and down all at the same time. I wave back and hold one finger up, willing her to be patient, before she speeds out the door and into my arms. She’s trying hard, blowing me kisses and mouthing something that I don’t understand.