Chapter 29
It was five o’clock and the radio interview was over. John and Gennie sent their packages back in the car with Mike and Robby who had edged their way through the crowd that gathered on the sidewalk outside. Tony didn’t go with them though. “Sorry, guys. Looks like I’m with you this evening.”
“Man, c’mon, you’re not following us out there, are you?” John complained as he leaned around the corner assessing the crowd.
“’Fraid so,” Tony shrugged. “You guys are stuck with me.”
“But we’re just doin’ some shopping!” he whined in retaliation.
“Yeah. That would be some great stuff. People love to see that kind of shit!” he chuckled.
John was sick of having to beg off the camera whenever he wanted to do something. “You think it’ll be interesting, but you’re never gonna see it! And you know why you’ll never see it? Because it ain’t fuckin’ gonna happen! If you follow us out there with that damn camera, I won’t be able to do shit. I’ll have that fuckin’ crowd on my ass the whole damn time! Please, man, this is a security issue.” He implored him, “Look Tony, I can appreciate that you need to get your footage, but dammit, I have a life!”
Tony craned his head around the pillar behind which they were standing. He took a gander at the crowd, which had thinned very little after Mike and Robby left. Mostly they were waiting to see John. He realized that Johnny was right; those girls out there were nice enough, but they would never let him be. He had to empathize with the guy; he just wanted to spend the day with a girl who, even though he denied it, he was clearly crazy about. He gave in, “Ok,” he shook his head, “You’re right. It wouldn’t be in your best interest, I suppose.” He heaved a sigh, and then peeked at the front door again. “So are you goin’ out a back entrance?”
This time John was the one who peered around to see the crowd of females waiting to pounce on him. They hadn’t as yet noticed him standing here. He nodded at Tony. He truly loved his fans, but at times it seemed like they were suffocating him.
“Alright then. We’ll get you out the back, then I’ll come up here and tell them you’re gone. Hopefully throw them off your trail,” he smiled sympathetically.
“Rush Street. Tell them I’ve gone to Rush Street.”
“Rush Street. Got it.”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”
They hurried down the hall and found a security guard who let them out the back and gave them directions on where to go to avoid the crowd. He even offered to call the next store to get them to let them in the back entrance.
“Thank you,” Gennie shouted as they dashed out the door.
“No problem. Have fun you guys.”
They tore down the alley counting doors until they got to the one the guard mentioned. They rang the bell and they were let in at once. Gen wasn’t paying too much attention to where they were as they snaked through the storage area in back, but as they stepped out on to the sales floor she realized at once where she was. “Ooh, we’re at Tiffany’s!” she exclaimed.
John watched her, beguiled. “What? You like this place?” he teased her. “I wasn’t planning on buying anything. It’s a secured area,” he nodded toward the armed guards at the door, “so I was just gonna spend some time here until they’re off our scent,” he said referring to the crowd, which by now had hopefully disbanded. His smile was replaced by a mischievous grin, “But if ya wanna play…”
Glancing around at the sparkling cases, she felt like a kid in a candy store. “Let’s!” she cooed excitedly.
It was the answer he wanted to hear. “Then we’ll play. I’ll be the rock star and you can be my girlfriend.”
Gen squinted her eyes giddily as she grinned, “Ok!”
He took her hand and led her with authority to the case with the most expensive jewels. Marina, their sales consultant introduced herself. “Is there anything I can assist you with, sir?”
John put on the air of an arrogant rock star, a role that he played effortlessly. He pointed to the largest diamond necklace that either of them had ever seen, “That one right there. Let’s see that.”
Marina dutifully removed it from its display and held it with her fingertips using great care. It was made up of hundreds of diamonds arranged in a lace like pattern. It glittered like the sun shining through delicate ice in the trees. It was beautiful, but it looked like something only the Queen or Elizabeth Taylor could wear. “This is one of our finest pieces. It’s sure to look lovely on any lady who wears it,” she boasted.
John plucked it out of her hands with a confidence that said he bought jewels like this everyday. He eyed it for a moment then looked at Gennie. “Turn around,” he said in a gentle, yet commanding tone.
She complied and bent her head forward as he passed the delicate necklace over her head and fastened it at the nape of her neck. It was surprisingly heavy for the daintiness of the piece. Marina brought a mirror to Gennie. “Oh, Johnny! It’s beautiful,” she cried. She ran her fingers over the delicate setting; it was truly remarkable. It felt exquisite.
She was stunning. He wanted so badly to grant her a wish, but Johnny Rzeznik didn’t have the riches that Johnny Rockstar acted as though he had. A hundred dollar toy truck was nothing, but a $750,000 diamond necklace was way beyond his means.
“Will this be for a special occasion? On TV perhaps?” Marina was trying to figure out who these two people were. She guessed from his look and the fact that he had to be let in the back to avoid a crowd that he was probably a musician. “We have some beautiful tiaras that would look striking with that piece. They’re making a come back, you know. Any lady wearing one is sure to be noticed.”
John looked to her and nodded his head and just that quickly, an assistant appeared carrying a beautiful petite tiara. This time Marina stepped around the counter to fasten it on Gennie’s head. She pinned her hair up with hairpins she’d seemingly produced from thin air. “Very Audrey,” she gushed.
Gennie gazed back in the mirror. She really felt like a princess. She wore her most regal looking smile as she turned to John. The moment their eyes met she knew what he was thinking. He was imagining her wearing nothing but these diamonds. It was an outfit she would love to try on for him. She smiled in acknowledgement of his intentions. The look was all she needed to satisfy her. “May I see something with some color?” she asked of Marina.
“Why certainly!” She looked to John, he had a commanding presence here and she wanted to make sure it was fine with him. “Would you care for rubies, emeralds, sapphires?”
“Something purple,” he declared, his eyes never leaving his girlfriend.
As soon as Marina had stepped away, he grabbed a bejeweled Gennie and kissed her impulsively, taking her completely by surprise. It wasn’t exactly something John Rzeznik would do, but it worked for Johnny Rockstar. “Wow!” she exclaimed, “I never expected that.”
“Rock stars can do these things,”
“I can’t wait to see what else they can do,” she teased, then turned around to let him undo the clasp on the necklace. He removed some hairpins freeing the tiara. Gen started to remove the rest of the pins that held her hair up in a do that, considering the haste with which it was arranged, looked surprisingly good.
“No, don’t,” he whispered.
Moments later, Marina returned bearing a very unusual item. “This one is lovely. It’s an amethyst piece, a bit more modern than the previous one,” she said as she handed the necklace to John.
He took it from her and placed it around Gennie’s neck. It was beautiful and he knew Gennie would love it. It consisted of a loose twirl of smooth white gold that coiled around the base of her neck. Sumptuous dark purple teardrop shaped stones dangled intermittently from its length all along her collarbone. He did the clasp and she moved back to the mirror. She gasped, “It’s beautiful! I love the color. It’s so me!”
As she admired her reflection some more, John glanced at Marina. ‘How much?’ he mouthed silently. He watched Gen gush over the piece for a few more moments, then cut short the game. He kissed her softly on the lips and turned her around to remove the necklace. “Help me pick out something for my sister. Her birthday is coming up too, so I may as well buy her something while I’m here.”
“What does she like?”
“I don’t know, how about one of those vases over there?” He led her to a display of very beautiful, but reasonably priced porcelain pieces.
“How about the one with the pink tulips? Would she like that?”
“I don’t see why not.” He turned back to Marina who was still standing at the counter where they’d left her. “We’d like one of these. Would you put it in a gift box for me?”
“Certainly, sir.”
While Gen busied herself by checking out the stuff she could actually afford, John went to pay. They emerged from the store with the distinctive blue parcel in tow.
“That was fun!” Gen exclaimed.
“I’m not done yet. There’s one more place I want to go.”
They hiked up the block to the North Beach Leather store.
“Leather?” she posed a simple question, rolling the word around in her mouth like melting chocolate.
He eyed her seductively. “We haven’t finished playing yet.”
“Are you buying some pants?” she purred in breathless anticipation. “You know what that does to me.”
They walked up to Michael who was to be their sales person. “I want to see her in something sexy,” John announced shamelessly. The words sent tingles to Gen’s spine among other places. He was really winding her up.
Michael looked her over. “Size six?”
She nodded.
He disappeared for a few moments while John perused a near by rack. When he returned bearing several outfits, John took them, selected three and handed the rest back. Johnny handed the three chosen garments to Gen. “Now you’ll see what it does to me.”
A week ago, she would have found this arrogant rock star act to be extremely irritating, but right now, it was as sexy as hell! How was it that the best seductions occurred in such public places? It made it so much harder to get down to business when the mood struck, but she guessed that was just part of the appeal. She was enjoying this game of seduction. It was like public foreplay and she was eating it up! She couldn’t wait to get him back to the hotel.
She closed herself off in the dressing room and chose the first item. It was a form fitting sleeveless dress, black, of course, and it was actually quite elegant. It had an empire waistline; a low cut v-neckline in front and back and came to just above the knees. It was a beautiful dress, one that would look equally nice in silk or velvet. She adjusted it on her frame and stepped out to present herself to the rock star who had taken a seat facing her dressing room. “It’s really pretty, don’t you think?” she said running her hands over the soft smooth leather as she admired it in the mirror. “But I think it could benefit from some shoes,” she giggled, wiggling her purple painted toes. She looked over at him, but he said not a word. He rotated his finger, instructing her to turn around. She held out her arms and did as he requested.
“Try the next one.”
She returned to the dressing room. Outfit number two was a pair of tight black pants and a halter style top that had a silver safety pin holding it together in front. The leather was buttery soft. So soft, in fact, that she stood there for a minute just feeling of it. It was nice on her, but not really a look she felt comfortable in. She returned to Johnny for inspection.
“Looks good,”
She rubbed her hands along her thighs, more to feel its softness than to be sexy. “It’s nice.”
“Turn around.”
She started to do a full 360, but he told her to stop half way round. She looked over her shoulder to find him checking her out. It felt a little strange to be ogled by him in public, but it was kinda fun.
“Next one.”
She put on the last item. It was another dress, this one much shorter and tighter. It had narrow straps, a plunging square neckline and the same buttery soft black leather. The bodice laced up the front exposing a slender ribbon of naked flesh beneath the laces. It fit like a glove and she looked fabulous in it! It wasn’t something she’d buy, much less wear ordinarily, but she loved it! The feeling of the warm soft leather against her skin was almost unbearable. She wasn’t sure which would be more fun, putting it on, or taking it off. She stepped out of the dressing room and was instantly met by his approving eyes; a sexy smile emblazoned on his face.
He crooked a finger in Michael’s direction, calling him back. “She needs shoes.”
Michael looked at her questioningly. “Nine,” she said.
He returned seconds later with a box bearing a pair of high heels. Two skinny black straps held the shoe on her foot…almost like being barefoot. When she slipped them on her feet, she became a good inch or two taller than John; a fact which seemed to titillate him all the more.
He walked a small, slow circle around her, deliberately taking her in, as he looked her up and down. “Do you like it?”
She cocked an eyebrow, “It’s…inspiring.”
“It is.” He paused and kissed her tenderly on the ear as he whispered, “If you want it, it’s yours.”
At the sound of his voice, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I thought we were just playing.”
“We are. This is the best part.”
She smiled. “It’s very expensive.”
“I’ve already gotten my money’s worth. But you’ve got to wear it tonight. Now.”
She swallowed hard, she was already breathing rapidly. “I’ll need a bag for my things.”
While John paid, she returned to the dressing room to pick up her discarded clothing and stuff it in the bag…shoes…shirt…shorts…bra. She looked around quickly to make sure he wouldn’t notice, then did a little wiggling maneuver…panties.