Battle of the Bands (MaryGold x lxngdon)

j a c e
​
"Okay."

Jace wanted to know what secret she was hiding, and also why she was hiding it. He didn't think it was bad -- she was so beautiful and amazing and perfect in his eyes that he hardly thought she was even capable of doing anything bad. He sat quietly as she fed Luna, who was still holding her father's hand in her small fist as she suckled away.

He couldn't help his imagination running wild. What secret could she be keeping? Was she pregnant again? Did she have an idea for a song? Were her parents moving in? The last option filled him with horror so he banished the thought from his brain. He'd just have to wait and see what she wanted to tell him.

"You go rest," he said when Luna had finished feeding. He took the baby from her mother's arms and cradled her to his chest so she could burp. "I'll put her back to sleep."
 
E M B R Y
​
Embry stood up from her chair and quietly agreed to go rest. She was still feeling tired from the shoot earlier and needed her rest. So, she kissed Luna's forehead, rubbing her back soothingly and stepped on her toes to kiss Jace's cheek tenderly, brushing her fingers against his arm momentarily

"I love you." She reminded him affectionately. She could say it over a hundred times in one day without an issue and mean it every time. She loved and Luna and the family they had built.

She glanced at Luna and kissed her again because she could no resist. The baby was adorable, but she noticed her eyes drooping, so, she kept her voice low as she spoke her next words. "I love you too, Luna."

And then she left, calling it in for the day, sinking into her soft bed and pillows and crawling under her comforter. It made her uneasy to leave her much important conversation undisclosed with him tonight, but she left it. There was tomorrow and they could talk then, what could go wrong?
 
j a c e
​
Apparently, a lot could go wrong.

When Jace woke up the next morning most everything was alright. It was a bit chilly but he simply put on the heater and carefully slipped out of bed, making sure not to wake up Embry as he went into Luna's room to pick up the crying infant. He carefully carried her downstairs and held her to his chest as he microwaved her a bottle. He sunk into the couch finally and fed her carefully so she didn't wake up his sleeping wife.

When Luna was fed, burped and resting in her rocker, Jace opened his phone to routinely check his social medias. Immediately, he frowned at all the Twitter mentions he was receiving, from his fans who apparently had always thought Embry didn't deserve him. What? What had happened?

He was incredibly confused until he found a Tweet from Erin Monreau, and Jace did not like what it read.

It contained an image of Embry from the photoshoot the day before that was clearly taken accidentally as she looked rather tired and grumpy, as if it had been taken between poses when she was angry about having to work with her ex. The actual image didn't make Jace angry, it was the caption.

Hm ... reminds me of when she was high all the time. Good times. #not
 
E M B R Y
​
Embry woke up feeling rather poorly, so, she washed and dried her face in the bathroom before heading down the stairs to find husband and child. She figured the living room was where both Jace and Luna would be when she first noticed the vacant spot on their bed. And that was exactly where she found them.

"Good morning." She greeted, smiling softly and considerably more rejuvenated than the day before. There was still one unpleasant thing she knew she'd have to trudge through today, talking to Jace about her undisclosed old issue. That was the last thing she wanted to do, but she wasn't going to postpone it any longer. No, not she promised him and herself they'd talk.

But right now, she tried not to think of that. She wanted to have a good morning in contrast of her day yesterday. The blonde woman knelt down in front of Luna and kissed the infant's little forehead. She was such a happy baby when she wasn't hungry.

And then Embry joined Jace on the couch."What are you looking at?"She leaned over to get a look of what he was viewing.

It barely took her a minute to react when she read. Erin. That fucking bastard. Clearly furious she almost voiced her thoughts until she quickly came to remember who all was in the room. She paled and hollowed, now more apprehensive than anything.

"Do you believe it?"
 
j a c e
​
Jace didn't acknowledge Embry when she came into the room -- he was reading the replies to the Tweet until she saw what he was looking at and asked him that question. Jace locked his phone, tossed it onto the couch beside him and stood up, his arms crossed over his chest as he paced to the other side of the room. He couldn't look at her.

"Well ... what you said last night makes sense now. This is what you wanted to tell me?" Jace's voice was incredulous. He couldn't believe she hadn't told him before.

Jace was very much against illegal drugs -- he had no problems with legal prescriptions and medicinal marijuana but he couldn't stand people who just used those substances for recreational purposes. Did they have nothing else to do? Did they think about how it affected their bodies, and the people they loved? Jace shook his head and finally turned around to look at his wife.

"What drugs?" he asked, in a voice that indicated he wasn't happy whatsoever. "What were you taking?"
 
E M B R Y
​
"I don't know," Was her automatic answer, not missing a beat. That, of course, was a boldface lie, she knew what exactly. How could she not when she had been so depended and desperate and addicted for it. And that was her defensive answer to shield herself, but there was no need anymore. She wasn't going to lie to Jace, but she also did not want to go into full detail.

Embry licked her lips and ran her fingers through her hair. Be honest, she told herself as she bowed her head and bit deeply into her bottom lip. After taking a deep breath, she answered. "Cannabis and Ecstasy, mostly with a glass of booze. But that's it!" She stood from her seat as well, though, she was having difficulty looking him in the face. She glanced at him once before staring at the was behind him.

This, none of this, wasn't supposed to be how it went. Seeing his reaction and response to it now made her wonder if he would have been just as upset, if not more if she had told him herself. Probably so, and that had only disheartened her immensely. Yet, she knew he had every right to be angry.

"I - I know its bad, but I just needed it at the time, I guess. I would have told you before, but ... things got in the way." She tried to explain, with her shaky voice she wasn't very convincing.
 
j a c e
​
"You're lying to me."

Jace's voice was barely above a whisper. Unlike his spouse, he was staring directly at Embry, closely analysing every detail of her face and picking up on the cues everyone had. She was lying, and that upset him more than this new piece of knowledge did. He could handle that -- he couldn't handle her being dishonest as she was being to him. It just reminded him of Alexa.

"If it was just a hit with a glass of alcohol then you wouldn't be so nervous right now," Jace said quietly. He crossed his arms over his chest and pursed his lips. "Erin wouldn't be making a big deal out of it and neither would you."

Luna made a yawning noise and Jace picked her up, leaving the room to lay the child down in her bassinet and kissing her on the forehead. He then closed the door and went back downstairs to Embry, so they could figure this out. Luna didn't need to be in the room.

"Be honest with me," Jace said, sitting down in an armchair, propping his elbows on his knees and looking up at her expectantly. "Just be honest with me. Please, that's all I want from you."
 
E M B R Y
​
Embry picked at her nails, looking to the floor. The honest truth? Yes, he deserved that, well, he deserved more than this, better than this. And she felt beyond awful to be having this conversation with him at all. Still, she felt more horrid for lying and so blatantly too. She couldn't dare look him in the eye after that, but she forced herself to so truth would no.d oytbeasier.

Somehow, it made bit harder. "I - it wasn't just one hit." Embry said slowly, forcing herself to talk, it was a difficult subject. She thought to sit on the couch, but she wouldn't be able to stay still."It did start during my relationship with Erin and lasted afterward."

She swallowed hard, saying her next words softly and carefully, her voice still shook, however. "I was addicted." It had taken her forever before she was able to admit that one thing. "For three years. On Cannabis and Ecstasy."

She wanted to end it there, but she knew it had to be said. And somehow it would be dug back up, just like the whole topic had been by Erin. "I only relapsed shortly when things got really difficult. When Hayden our original drummer was kicked from the band, when Orion joined, when Isaac dumped me."

She ran her fingers through her help after mentioning the instances. "But I don't do it anymore. I haven't for a long time."
 
j a c e
​
Jace listened quietly. His eyes never left his wife, and his body never moved. He was perfectly still has he listened to her obviously reluctant confession. It was clear that she was ashamed, from her body language and her tone, and that she was nervous, probably that she was going to lose him. Sure, Jace was quite unhappy about this ordeal but he wasn't going to divorce her. He still loved her.

But he was hurt.

He had obviously missed out on a huge chunk of her life and it had taken her a long time for her to confess her previous habits to him. He had told her countless times that she could tell him anything, and yet, she had kept this crushing secret from him. Why? Didn't she trust him? Did she think he would leave her? Was she just trying to suppress the whole thing?

Jace sighed through his nose, ran his hand through his short hair and looked back up at his wife.

"I'm not mad," he said truthfully. "I'm not mad that you did it, or that you relapsed. I'm not mad at all. I'm just ... disappointed, because you didn't tell me, when you know how I feel about the topic of illegal drugs. You could have just told me and I'd have gotten over it, Embry, I love you. I don't care what you did in the past."
 
E M B R Y
​
"Jace ... "

He wasn't mad, but disappointed. Somehow that proved to make her feel more shameful with how she dealt with problem and everything in general. Withholding it, lying about it and all the while knowing how he felt about the topic. She was such a god damn idiot. Yet, he still loved her for some reason and to top it off he didn't care about she did in the past. She seriously didn't deserve it or him.

Embry teared up and lowered herself onto the couch. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She quickly wiped away her tears for only more to come. She didn't have the right to cry, and she knew it.

"At first, I thought I could bury it, forget, pretend it never happened. But it did happen and I couldn't forget and clearly I couldn't bury it." A wet scoff escaped her lips as she rolled her eyes at her own foolishness. How could she possibly have thought she could bury it when the main person who knew about was her spiteful ex. The reason she started an continued.

"I did come to plan to tell you, though. Before now, but, then, Luna came and everything changed. I am so sorry."
 
j a c e
​
It killed Jace to see Embry cry. He had to bite his own tongue to stop himself from crying as well but he held it together, he didn't need to be weak and emotional in this moment. He had absolutely no idea what to do in this moment. He loved Embry so much, more than he could ever describe.

But ... he was hurt. She had kept such a huge chunk of information from him and he didn't know what to do.

"Embry ... I just wish you'd told me before," he said quietly. Jace rubbed his forehead and pushed his hand through his soft hair, before standing up and stretching his long arms and tattooed back.

"Look ... I need to go to the studio," he said. He and Jasper and the others had been working on a new song and it was time to record it. "I love you. That's never going to change. I just ... I don't know what I'm meant to do now."
 
E M B R Y
​
Embry swallowed down the lump and quickly dried her wet face and watery eyes, hurried to pull herself together. She stood back up as well and hugged her middle. It was difficult for her to find the right words to say and she hadn't exactly said anything right in at the start. She reached and grabbed but there was nothing, it only proceeded to make her tear up.

Again, she rubbed away her the moisture in her eyes. Imagining herself in his position, there wasn't anything good she could think to do or say. She felt defeated. She was defeated, crushed really. There wasn't more she could say or do about it. She had said all that she could.

But, it didn't change the fact that she had hurt him.

"Honestly, Jace ... " She cleared her throat, shrugging her dainty shoulders. It hurt. "I don't know either."

She blinked her eyes slowly, sighing."But I love you, too. So, so much." She moved to kiss his cheek but decided against it. "You should go, I'm going to check on Luna."

She turned around and began to march, but paused to pick up her phone and checking the same tweet by Erin. She licked her lips and frowned. What an ass? She needed to say something's to him face to face.
 
j a c e
​
Jace cried on the way to the studio.

He got there, recorded their song methodically and the end product was wonderful. He couldn't even enjoy the end product, though, because he was so distraught over the Embry thing that he could hardly concentrate on anything else. Jasper consistently asked him if he was okay and he consistently lied when he said he was, indeed, okay. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to proceed from this.

Jace came home later with McDonald's for dinner because he didn't feel like cooking, but also a bottle of vodka, which was incredibly uncharacteristic of him because he hardly ever drank. But, regardless, he poured himself a glass of vodka and Coke, added some ice and drank it down, wincing at the taste, before going upstairs and locating Embry. "I got your favourite," he mumbled, handing her her bag before returning to the kitchen and pouring himself another drink.

He ate his own dinner alone, washed it down with more alcohol and when he was tipsy, he leaned his forehead against the bench and closed his eyes.
 
E M B R Y
​
Embry spent the entirety of her day looking after Luna, writing a song, of course that was difficult to do with a baby in hand, but she mostly looked at the clock, awaiting Jace's return. And when he did return, dropped of her dinner and retreated, it didn't make her feel better at all. She didn't dare touch her dinner, she hadn't even ate the other meals of the day.

How could she eat anything at all when riddled with sadness and guilt for hurting the one she loved most in the world? The one she promised herself to and didn't bother opening up about something so heavily important she went through. It would be sick to indulge in anything good when he was suffering. Still, he thought to bring her something when he didn't have to at all. And that made her feel like the absolute worst.

She was horrible wife and maybe person in general.

After putting Luna to bed, she slowly creaked down the stairs to check on Jace. She immediately came to notice the practically empty bottle of vodka. Her shoulders dropped. When confused and in pain, one had to resort to something numbing, just like she had with the drugs.

Embry pushed the bottle away from him to the other side of the bench and gently tapped his shoulder.

"Are you awake?"
 
j a c e
​
The only reason Jace had even entertained the idea of purchasing the vodka was because he was not an aggressive drunk. If he had been, he wouldn't have purchased the alcohol because as distraught as he was about the whole Embry thing, he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he hurt her. He loved her, even if he was upset. And he would always love her. They just needed to work around this obstacle.

He wasn't an aggressive drunk, or a sad one, or even a happy one. He was just ... lethargic. When Embry appeared, it took him a solid seven seconds to sit up, straighten his head up and rub the sleep out of his eyes. "Huh?" he groaned, pressing his hand against his forehead. "Oh, yeah, I'm awake."

Jace stretched and stumbled to his feet. He needed to grip the edge of the kitchen bench to keep himself from falling over at first, but he quickly regained his balance and made his way around the bench to pour himself a glass of water, which he sipped slowly, before slumping against the stove. "Did you eat?"
 
Last edited by a moderator:
E M B R Y
​
"Not yet," Embry confessed, watching his every drunken movement. It pleasing to see him drink water, it would surely come to help him sober up some, if only a little. She could already tell from his weak balance he'd have a hangover to confront the next day.

"I was preoccupied." That was simply one way of putting it. She picked at her fingernails, chewing on her bottom lip. Asking him if he was"okay" would be the stupidest thing she could think to say. But she was concerned and was unsure how to express it now.

Instead, she went on with something else. "Do you want to come to bed? I think you should lay down." She said to him, rubbing her arm awkwardly. Maybe in bed things would come to be a little more casual between them again, less painful and confusing.
 
Last edited:
j a c e
​
"Bed?" Jace repeated with a frown, staring at the microwave as if pondering what a bed was and how he could attain it. "Oh ... no, I was going to go downstairs and work on a song ..."

He trailed off, not knowing that in his incredibly intoxicated state, writing a song would be almost impossible and the noise would probably just contribute further to the migraine he was most definitely going to have tomorrow. Jace had a very low alcohol tolerance so he was pretty much as drunk as you could get right now. He finished the rest of his glass of water and went back around to Embry's side of the bench, to kiss her somewhat sloppily on the cheek and touch her waist gently.

"I'll come up later," he said as he made his way towards the stairs that lead to the basement, and therefore the music room. "Make sure you eat --"

Jace cut off as he stumbled down two steps and then lost his balance, lurching forward and falling down the rest. He cried out in pain as he hit his elbow and felt something break, and then his head hit the last step and everything went black.
 
E M B R Y
​
Embry hadn't seen his fall coming but maybe she should have. He was drunk and unbalanced and he fell as soon as he fell she rushed to the basement doorway in hopes of preventing it in some way. The panic already coursing through her entire body. Though, when she got there, he was at the bottom of the steps. And then came the fear.

"Jace?!" She raced down the stairs, the panic and fear in her was not a good mix, it was potent. Her heart hammering against her ribcage, the goosebumps on her skin and unexplainable tears threatening to fall.

Embry got her knees and shook his body vigorously when she saw his shut eyes. He had hit his head. That was when she really started to freak. Head injuries could kill!

"Jace, babe, wake up! Now! Get UP!" She shook him again, even smacked his face some. It was hopeless and she was freaking out.

But, hearing Luna's faint wailing from upstairs snapped her out of it. There was an order to these things. Phone. Ambulance. Help. And she did it in that exact order as fast as she possibly could. When the helped arrived, she rode in the back of the truck with Luna, it was impossible to put her back to sleep with all the commotion going on and she was obviously hungry.

As soon as they entered the hospital, she called Jasper.
 
j a c e
​
When Jace woke up, he felt like death. His head was aching, as was his left arm, and it felt like there was a blanket over him, which he recognise, after a couple of minutes of struggling against it, was the aftermath of anaesthetic. Wait, anaesthetic?

Jace groggily sat up, holding himself up with his right hand against the bars of the -- of the hospital bed. He looked around and saw that he was, indeed, in a hospital room. He was the only one in the room, indicating that he was in a private hospital, and his left arm was in a brace. He was also attached to several tubes and beeping machines, and he reached up to pull the tubes out of his nose.

"Oi, don't touch those, you dickhead."

Jace looked to his right to see Jasper sitting in the chair beside his bed, and he wore a slightly anxious, but mostly amused expression, on his face.

"What happened?" Jace croaked. "Where's Embry?"

"She's outside. Would you like me to fetch her?"

"What happened?"

"You got drunk and fell down the stairs," Jasper laughed, before standing up and sticking his head out of the door. "Your dickhead husband is awake."
 
E M B R Y
​
At once, Embry marched inside the room, almost glaring at Jace despite being overwhelmingly relieved to see him awake. She remained silent as she made her way over to his bed and took the remote in her hands to elevate the back of the bed. That way he could sit up and still rest against the cushions.

"You should have just gone to bed like I asked," She huffed, frustrated with the entire situation, with him and with herself too. "You're so lucky there wasn't any major head trauma." Because honest to God, that was what really terrifying.

Her narrowed eyes slowly softened and vanished as well as her fussing. She was seriously too happy to see he was awake to keep it going. Not to mention, he looked too weak for her to even stay mad.

She hated hospitals and having to be admitted into one. But she hated seeing him in the hospital even more.

"How are you feeling?"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back