REVIEW OF ROUGH RHYTHM
James and Lita have had a rocky relationship for years and things are only getting worse. The drummer of Old News does everything she can to cause trouble to get the bands manager James to pay attention to her and get over his guilt. In her latest attempted to force their issues to come to a head Lita goes a step to far and ends up making James leave as manager in the hopes it will allow Lita to have the freedom she “needs.”
James’s leaving and disappearance is the last thing Lita wants. She wants him to stop feeling guilty over their first and only sexual encounter. And if she has her way she wants to do it again.
James, however, can’t forget the rough sex and the “monster” that lives inside him. Because what else would cause him to enjoy the fantasies he has of taking her without consent, yet with consent. What that means, sex would be consensual but the fantasy makes it seem as if consent was not given. These desires remind James to much of his past for his liking. So what can he do but suppress his desires and leave. He leaves the woman he loves so she will find the relationship that will be “good” for her.
Rough Rhythm is what happens when two smart people do stupid things in the hope to do what they think the other needs. It’s also a learning experience, about oneself and the person they love.
Even though Lita went about forcing James to get over his guilt her heart was in the right place. She just needed to think outside box. James, not wanting to hurt Lita, is noble, yet he couldn’t see that his dominate side would never hurt her. However he had to learn the hard way that sometimes fantasies when consensual don’t make one a monster. And when the right person they can be better then he ever thought possible
So let Tessa take you through the Rough Rhythm with James and Lita as you step back into the world of Made in Jersey you’ll be glad you did.
EXCERPT:
This time she would finally crack him.
Ignoring stares from her cellmates, Lita jogged in place, preparing for the confrontation with James, her band manager. This was her ritual before shows, too. It loosened the limbs, shook out the demons. She took her role as drummer for Old News seriously, same way she considered riling up James a form of art. For four freaking years, they’d been repeating this song and dance—and Lita was over it. Today was the day James lost his cool. The way he’d lost it the night they met.
Remembering the state she’d been in when James found her, Lita jogged a little faster. At twenty-three, she wasn’t that scrawny, starving girl now. Not in most ways, anyway. The memory of what took place that night still had the ability to steal her breath, make her restless. But unlike the girl she’d been at nineteen, Lita didn’t wait for fate to wave its magical hand. No. She grabbed fate’s wrist and shook, shook, until the pieces fell into an acceptable pattern. That modus operandi is what had landed her inside a musky, Wilshire division holding cell of LA County’s jail system.
Lita didn’t have a head for numbers, but was pretty damn sure today would mark the twenty-first time James had bailed her out of a jail-type situation. Looking after the interests of Old News’s members was his job. Their relationship, however, fell outside the parameters of a typical musician-manager arrangement. Not that he would ever admit it. No, James simply continued to show up when Lita got into trouble, lecturing her about proper behavior on the way to dropping her off. And leaving. He left every time, that distinguished jaw of his firmly set, sunglasses hiding the guilt she knew lurked in his eyes four years later.
Not this time. Last night, Lita had gone above and beyond to ensure this morning wrought one of two outcomes: James quitting, giving up on her like everyone else did eventually, or his control finally slipped. One way or another, she wouldn’t be in limbo come tonight. She’d been there too long.
Lita stopped jogging when she heard the jingling of the guard’s keys. James was right on time, as usual. Her cellmates craned their necks, some coming to their feet in the hopes they were being released. Lita stowed a pang of sympathy and whipped her hair into a quick ponytail. The guard cast a tired-eyed glance in her direction and unlocked the door. “Lita Regina, your bail has been posted.”
ABOUT TESSA BAILEY
Tessa Bailey is originally from Carlsbad, California. The day after high school graduation, she packed her yearbook, ripped jeans and laptop, driving cross-country to New York City in under four days. Her most valuable life experiences were learned thereafter while waitressing at K-Dees, a Manhattan pub owned by her uncle. Inside those four walls, she met her husband, best friend and discovered the magic of classic rock, managing to put herself through Kingsborough Community College and the English program at Pace University at the same time. Several stunted attempts to enter the work force as a journalist followed, but romance writing continued to demand her attention. She now lives in Long Island, New York with her husband of eight years and four-year-old daughter. Although she is severely sleep-deprived, she is incredibly happy to be living her dream of writing about people falling in love.
