Cover Me: A Rock Star Romance (16 page)

I wasn’t sure if having Cover Me sampled on Adrian’s track would rejuvenate sales or make me into a has been whose songs get sampled. Everything was a crap shoot right now.

“If the collaboration on Adrian’s new single looks like it’ll go forward, I’ll get the word out in the right channels at the right time to have all eyes on the two of you,” Karen said, not realizing that Adrian’s eyes were already on her and had been since he sat down.

“I’m looking for a marketing and P.R. person,” Adrian said. “Got rid of my old one of those too.”

“Gee,” Karen said, eyeing him with a snide expression, “you sound like a peach to work for.”

“Why don’t I take you for a ride in my Porsche and we can talk it over.” He gave her an air kiss and she busted out laughing.

“Are you for real? You can’t be serious with that, right?” She looked over at Bess. “Did you see that?”

Adrian was laughing, too. I was starting to finally get this kid. He didn’t seem to be affected by anything negative and even when a woman laughed at him, he laughed at himself right along with her. He had confidence in spades, but what I’d thought of as arrogance was more a willingness to play the game—play the part of superstar and give people what they expected. I had a feeling the more I got to know him, the more I’d find he was smart as hell.

“I don’t think he was serious,” Bess said, smiling wide and looking back and forth between them. “But if he’s trying to scam my assistant, he better pay her better than I do.”

“That won’t be hard,” Karen said.

“Whatever you make now, double it,” Adrian said. “Plus bonuses, travel, and expense account. Whatever you want, Beautiful. We can talk about it. You need to prove you know your stuff though.”

“She has references,” Bess said.

“Are you
trying
to get rid of me?” Karen shot her an incredulous look.

Bess shrugged. “Honestly, Kay, being in charge of marketing and P.R. for Adrian? Yeah, you need to take that if he’s seriously offering.”

Karen shook her head. “Let me work on this collaboration and we’ll go from there, okay?” She turned her head from Bess to Adrian and back.

“Whatever you want, Babe,” Adrian said.

Bess sucked her lips in trying to keep a straight face. I had a feeling calling Karen beautiful and babe would only get Adrian a fat lip, but so far she was choosing to ignore it.

“So, what else?” I asked, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“There is this one other thing.” Adrian sat forward and clasped his hands between his knees. “Jack Stewart wants Unholy Union to do a few of his U.S. shows with him.”

“Fuck Jack Stewart,” I said. “Why would he even ask? He knows I think he’s a giant douche.” A giant douche that probably spent his free time on tour in Europe fucking my girlfriend.

“Profit? Business?” Adrian stood up and paced to the window. “Who cares why? It’s not personal.”

It was personal. I didn’t do business with people I’d rather take a piss on. “There is no Unholy Union, so why bring it up?”

Adrian turned and leaned against the window sill. “There can be an Unholy Union even if it’s for one track and a few tour dates with Stewart. You sing the sample live with me and we can call it done.” He held up his hands in plea. “Look. I need his audience to take Adrian to the next level. To take the training wheels off my fan base.”

“You can do it with him. You don’t need me.”

Bess up a hand on my thigh. “Think about it,” she said. “You don’t have to decide right this second.”

But I had decided. I didn’t want to be anywhere near Jack Stewart.

Ever since Adrian
swaggered into the room, Karen’s libido was on overdrive. A woman could always tell when her friend was ready to jump on a man’s lap. Adrian might be twenty, four years younger than Karen, but he had the world by the ass and if I knew my friend, which I did, she’d like him to have her by the ass, too.

“Do you two mind if I talk with Derek alone for a minute?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if there was something specific that went down between him and Jack or if he hated him on general purpose, but whatever the case, he needed to see the grand scheme behind partnering for a few shows with the guy. Even I could see that and I hated Jack more than anyone in the world.

Adrian held out a hand to Karen. “Looks like you’ll be taking that ride after all.”

She smacked his hand and stood. “I have my own car, but I have calls to make anyway. I’m going to step out back.”

Undaunted, he followed her through to the kitchen. “Make them quick. I want you on my payroll and we need to talk.”

“You can talk all you want,” she said, sliding the glass door to the patio open. “Doesn’t mean I’ll listen.”

Derek turned his eyes on me when Adrian followed her out and shut the door. “She wants him,” he said.

“Bad. Think he knows?”

“Hard to tell. I can’t figure him out.”

“I don’t think he’s a robot anymore.” I leaned back trying to see through the kitchen out the glass door.

“No. He’s a master of hiding his feelings.”

I looked back at Derek. “Maybe you should try to be a bit more like him in that respect.”

His face flushed except for a ring around his mouth from the tightness of pressing his lips together. His eyes narrowed to a piercing stare. “You want me to hide my feelings, huh? For you? For my music? What part of my life should I give a shit about, Bess? Any of it?”

He whacked the cushion from the back of the couch, knocking it to the floor as he stood and stormed out the front door.

Damn it. That wasn’t what I meant. Talk about overreaction.

I followed him out to the front porch. “All I meant was that sometimes having a poker face in
business
isn’t a terrible thing.” He leaned against the wrought iron railing on one side of the porch and I leaned against the other side. It reminded me of leaning in the door jamb of the master suite in his L.A. mansion. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

“I don’t lie and I don’t hide. How long have you known me? Have I ever been able to disguise how I feel?” He gripped the railing and looked out at the street.

I let him cool down for a couple minutes before saying what I knew to be true. “This is about Jack Stewart. What happened with him?”

His head snapped forward and he pinned me with a hard stare. “Why don’t you tell me?” He took a step and crossed the small porch to stand in front of me. “Was he inside you? Is this something else I get to compete with him for?”

My hand itched to slap his face again. “Do
not
speak to me that way. I don’t care how upset you are, I’ve done nothing wrong.”

He gripped my upper arms and pulled me against him. “Was. He. Inside. You?” His lips brushed my ear as he spoke the words in a deep, gruff voice.

“What if he was? You won’t even tell me how many women you’ve been with! I’m not sure you even know!” I pushed him away, but he wouldn’t let go of my arms. “So what if he was one of the big, whopping four men I’ve been with. It wasn’t like it lasted or meant anything life-altering.”

“I knew it,” he said, putting his hands to his head as he spun away from me. “I knew you fucked him.”

My temper got the best of me and I kicked him. Square in the ass. “What the fuck?” he said, grabbing his butt and turning back to me.

My clenched fists at my sides shook with rage. “Yes,” I screamed. “I fucked Jack Stewart! What do you want me to say? I can’t take it back and trust me—I would. You can’t take back the hundreds of women you’ve been with. I think you can give me
one
even if he is your least favorite person on the planet!”

He groaned and sat on the top step. “Jesus. Anyone but him.” He rubbed his palms over his thighs. “How am I supposed to look at him knowing he’s been inside you? How am I going to not want to kill him.” He looked up at me.

“Easy.” I sat beside him. “It was over a year ago and he made me regret every second I was with him.”

He turned to me, his forehead creased and brows tilted. “He hurt you? What happened?”

I sighed and leaned back on my hands, looking up into the branches of the maple tree in the front yard. “We were in Europe. It was exciting to be on tour with the band and covering my first long-term series for The Scene. It was a whirlwind. Then one day we went site seeing, just the two of us, and that night it happened.”

The sun shot through the maple leaves in hazy beams that caught bugs flying through, lighting up their wings. “Was I thinking it was something more? I guess I probably was, but I didn’t even know him. I never did know him. What I wanted was someone to be close with, intimate with. Not physically. Any man will do if it’s only sex. I wanted more. That wasn’t what went down with Jack. We went out a few times, had sex a handful of times and then I saw him with his mouth and hands all over some groupie skank.” I shrugged. “That’s all I was to him—another woman to stick his dick in.”

Derek blew out a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I mean, I’m not sorry that it didn’t work out or I wouldn’t be here with you, but I’m sorry it took me so long to find you again and you got hurt.” He put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me to him, tucking my head down to kiss the top. “If I would’ve been there for you, you wouldn’t have had to be with him at all. And I’m sorry I spoke to you the way I did. I deserved that kick in the ass.”

“Yeah, you did.” I closed my eyes and breathed him in. Sometimes I wondered if he really did keep any of himself back, or if everyone got the entire package. I secretly hoped there was a piece of him reserved for my eyes only.

“You fucked Jack Stewart!” Karen said, strolling around the side of the house with Adrian.

“We heard. So did the entire neighborhood.” Adrian smirked. “Now I know why Bast is dead set against doing shows with him.”

“I’ll think about it,” Derek said, standing up and tucking his hands in his pockets. “That’s all I can promise for now.”

“Right.” Adrian glanced at Karen then back to Derek. “I’ll get to work tomorrow and with your blessing on using your Cover Me sample, we’ll reinvent Unholy Union the way it should be.”

“Sounds good.” He clasped hands with Adrian and they did the guy back pat thing.

“I’m heading out,” Karen said, her eyes flitting to the ground, her car and Adrian.

“She’s coming for that ride with me back to L.A.” he gestured to his Porsche. I knew the lure of him and that car would be too much for her to resist. “I’ll have someone pick up her car tonight.”

“I’ll start looking for a new assistant,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Hey, he’s willing to put up the dough to have me,” she said, trying to maintain an aloof attitude. She would’ve gone to work for Adrian for free and she and I both knew it.

“It was nice meeting you,” I said, and shook Adrian’s hand.

“I’m sure we’ll see each other around more now.” He gave Derek one last lift of his chin before escorting Karen to his car.

Derek and I watched as he fired up the engine and gunned it out of the driveway. Karen’s face glowed with laughter.

“That guy always gets what he wants,” Derek said, grinning and shaking his head.

“I wonder if he knows what he’s in for.” I couldn’t help but smile thinking of how hard Adrian would have to work to get anywhere with Bess. “She’s a master at Hard-To-Get.”

“I’m sure he’s a master at hurtling over anything a woman puts in his way.” He winked at me. “I prefer to run straight for it and try to crush it to the ground.”

“I know, my dear. Subtlety isn’t your strong suit.”

I looped my arm in his and headed back up the steps to the front door. We were almost inside when a white van pulled over on the street in front of the house and a couple paparazzi jumped out and started snapping pictures. “Hey, Bast! What’s with shacking up with the owner of The Scene?” one of them called out. “Trading some action for a retraction?” The group jeered and cackled.

I tensed as Derek shoved me inside and slammed the door. “Fuck,” he muttered. “They must’ve got a lead on Adrian.” We stared at each other as the taunts shouted from the front yard grew louder and an S.U.V. pulled up. “And so it begins,” he said, hugging me to his chest.

It was like turning the corner and running smack into your worst fear. I didn’t have to worry about going back to L.A. to face reality. Reality found us.

Derek

“M
om, don’t come
over here. Stay inside.”

The last thing I needed was my mother in full-on panic mode next door.

“I’m calling the police,” she said. “They can’t just sit out there all night.”

“The police won’t do anything.”

“I’m going out there,” my father said in the background.

“Your father’s going out there.”

“I heard.” I laid my head on the kitchen table and gave up the fight. “I’ll call you back.”

I hung up and put the phone on the table beside my face. Having cameras on every sidewalk in L.A. is normal. Having them swarming my parents’ house and Bess’s was a mess. The people in this neighborhood wouldn’t appreciate it. They were kind enough to give me my privacy when I came home, which was a rare event up until now, and wouldn’t welcome this intrusion.

Bess’s cell rang. “It’s my mom,” she said. “I’ve been wondering when she’d call.”

“Isn’t it like one in the morning there?” I said as she answered.

“Yes, I know there are vans full of people with cameras outside and hello to you, too. I’m guessing Emmy told you I was here?” She strode down the hall into her bedroom and closed the door.

I got up and headed to the front window. A peek outside showed the street full of people. A few I recognized—the younger couple with their dog who live on the other side of my parents. They moved in after I was gone. Mrs. Gomez from down the street who was looking extremely unpleasant. My dad, hands waving around in a fury as he yelled and the paps took pictures of him. He’d end up in the tabloids tomorrow. If I didn’t know that Mom would get a kick out of seeing him on the front of some rag mag at the grocery store, I’d try to stop him.