Falling Down(79)

"Now I know how to tell if she's mad."
"Oh yeah," Sera tells Ben. "She'll cuss you out."
"I'll be here with you every step of the way, Luce. I'll even go to the press conference with you if you want."
I look at him. "Are you for real?"
"Sure, why not? We've got nothing to hide, Lucy. We're adults who are involved. If we weren't celebrities no one would give a shit, but because we are everyone's up in our business. I understand. I hate when they f*ck with my privacy too."
I nod and lean into Jesse, throwing my arms around his neck. He pulls me onto his lap.
"God, Jesse. I'm whiny right now and I'm sorry but when you see that press conference you'll understand. Even before I lost the cards they were so mean. Asking questions that were invasive, intrusive, and just disgusting. Not something I would share."
"I know. We got this. Okay?"
I nod against his chest. Frank smiles and I breathe a sigh of relief.
"Paps at the gate."
"Stupid f*ckers. They can't get past here," Ben says.
"Good," I murmur.
As we near the mansion Sera whistles. "Whoa. I can totally see why you call this Casa Falling Down."
"I know, right?"
"Jesus," Jace says. "Do you get lost in here?"
"We did the first week," Ben says with a laugh.
We pull up to the front of the house and the guys grab the luggage from the trunk. When we enter the foyer, I see the rest of our luggage has already arrived.
"Excellent. All our stuff is here," Sera says.
"Good. Now let's get you set up. I'll show you where we're staying first. If you don't want to stay in that wing, you can stay in the one just across the way," Ben says leading Sera and Jace up the stairs. They take a right while Jesse and I take a left.
"Jesse--"
"This way."
"Um."
He punches his code in and opens his bedroom door then sets my two suitcases down. Ethan comes in behind and sets the last two down.
"Lucy," he says with a wink before he walks back out.
"You want me to stay in your room?"
Jesse rubs a hand across the back of his neck. "Yeah, unless you'd rather stay somewhere else."
Holy--. For real. He's serious. He wants to try this for real.
I start to pace, taking in the comforting green, black, and blue throughout the room. Jesse grabs my hand and pulls me toward him. He hooks his hands behind my lower back and looks down at me.
"Tell me."
I rest my hands on his chest and draw circles with my index fingers. I bite my lip and when Jesse makes a scolding noise, I stop. I nearly roll my eyes but instead I muster up all my courage and blurt out my feelings.
"I'm scared."
"I'm f*cking terrified."
I look up at him. "You don't do relationships."
"I know. What scares you most?"
"That once the novelty of me wears off and you get back on tour, the groupie whores will take over and I'll be kicked to the curb with a broken heart."
He nods. "I'm glad you're being honest and I can see that. I don't know how to do this, Lucy, but I want to see where this goes because I really like you. We have fun together, amazing sex, and we have so much in common. I promise not to just kick you to the curb like that, Lucy. I don't make many promises because I'm don't like to break them, but I know this is one I won't break. I won't ever purposefully hurt you."
I nod and sigh. "I have to be honest too. I haven't been in a real relationship since high school." I meet his gaze. "I was involved with someone a couple years ago but that didn't last long. We never lived together or anything like that."