Dare to Rock (11 page)

“In blood,” Ella muttered.

Avery blew out a long breath, meant to be an agreement. “But we can do this.” It would take every bit of persistence and connections they had, but Avery had faith.

“We can,” Ella agreed. “So now that that’s settled, tell me about last night. Because I can’t remember the last time you didn’t come home. Or remember to text or call if you weren’t.” She folded her arms over her chest and pinned Avery with her best mom stare.

Avery winced. “I’m sorry if you were worried.”

“I knew you were with Grey, so I wasn’t worried. I am, however, curious.”

“It was … amazing,” Avery admitted, feeling her cheeks blush and her body flush with warmth.

“I’m really happy for you. I knew you two had unresolved feelings,” Ella said, sounding pleased with her powers of deduction.

“Yes, well, we’re working out those feelings.”

“In bed.” Ella grinned.

Avery rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’m just taking it one day at a time.”

“And that’s an improvement over the way you felt last time we spoke.” Ella glanced at her phone, reminding Avery she hadn’t checked hers since before the meeting.

She pulled her cell from her purse and realized she had six missed calls, some duplicates from various siblings. “So many missed calls,” she said, concerned something was wrong.

“Is everything okay?” Ella asked.

“I’m not sure. Maybe one of them left a text.” If not, she’d be calling them ASAP.

She opened her text messages, and Olivia’s name popped up first. She read out loud.
Click this link, then call me.

Avery clicked on a link to today’s local newspaper. And a photo of her and Grey leaving his apartment this morning showed up on her screen. She wore his too-long tee shirt and a pair of gym shorts, her dress and shoes from last night in her hands. And the headline screamed out at her in all capital letters …
REASON FOR TANGLED ROYAL BREAKUP!

“Oh my God,” she said as the blood rushed from her head.

“Whoa.” Ella led her to a set of chairs down the hall and eased her into the first seat. “Breathe,” she instructed.

Avery pulled in deep breaths, trying to calm down and not end up in a full-fledged panic.

“Let me see that.” Ella took Avery’s phone and stared at the screen. “Well, shit.”

“No wonder everyone’s been calling me.” Her siblings would see this article and know she’d immediately stress.

She was going to have to reassure them she was okay, even if her heart was racing, her hands were shaking, and she still had flashing spots in front of her eyes.

“This is from this morning. I didn’t even see anyone watching us.” Where had they been? How had she not known her photo had been taken? “How did they know to wait outside his building?” she asked Ella.

“I’m sure that’s standard operating procedure for the paparazzi,” her friend said, her hand still on Avery’s back.

How did Grey live like this? she wondered.

“How are you holding up?” Ella asked, concerned.

Avery swallowed hard. “Not well. I’m going to be a public pariah. The woman who broke up America’s favorite band.” She shivered at the very idea of that kind of awful publicity.

The fact that it was all lies didn’t matter. People believed what they read, she thought. And worse, the drama probably wasn’t over. This kind of publicity was part of Grey’s life. If their relationship continued, she’d be continually sucked into the drama and made the focus of media scrutiny, she thought, a sudden headache building behind her eyes.

“Hey. One problem at a time, right? Let’s get through this situation before we worry about what happens next. Come on. Let’s get you home.”

“Good idea.” She had a sudden yearning for the quiet of her apartment, where she could relax and think things through.

Avery rose to her feet and Ella followed. “I’ll be fine,” she said out loud, trying to convince herself. And she was, until she arrived at her apartment complex to find reporters waiting outside her building.

“Holy shit,” Ella muttered. “We’re going to make a run for it, okay?”

Stunned, Avery nodded.

They shouted questions at her as she and Ella rushed toward the entrance.

“Avery, how’s it feel to break up one of the biggest bands in the country?”

“Avery, any regrets about taking Grey away from the band and dragging him to Miami?”

“Avery, anything to say to the disappointed fans?”

Past memories mixed with the present. The men with cameras closed in on her as she made her way to the entrance. Ella grabbed the handle and pushed Avery inside, slamming the door shut behind her.

Avery breathed out a harsh breath.

“Assholes,” Ella muttered.

“Let’s get upstairs.”

Ella grabbed her hand and they ran for the elevator.

A few minutes later, Avery was safely inside her apartment. Her heart pounded and sweat dripped off her body. She ducked into the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face and cooled herself off. Calming down didn’t happen as easily, and she barely refrained from throwing up.

She didn’t know how to process what had just happened. Her worst nightmares about Grey had come to pass, and she didn’t know how to handle it.

*     *     *

After taking Avery home, Grey worked out in the gym of his building, opting for a hard-core treadmill run instead of going outside and dealing with fans stopping him along the way. Sweating and tired, he walked back into his apartment and picked up his cell to check messages. He wondered if Avery’s meeting had been successful, but he hadn’t heard from her, but he did have a shit ton of alerts.

He glanced at Lola’s text first.
Read and call me ASAP
. He clicked the accompanying link, took one look at the photo she’d sent from the local morning paper of Grey and Avery, and his blood pressure soared through the roof.

“Fuck!” He barely stopped himself from throwing his phone into the nearest wall. Just when things were falling into place with Avery, this happened. Publicity she didn’t want with a negative spin guaranteed to cause her trouble and pain.

His blood boiling, he scrolled through the rest of his texts, including one from Simon with a thumbs-up, way-to-go message.
All publicity is good publicity
.

“Asshole,” Grey muttered. The man made money off them any way he could and knew that any media attention sold music.

Grey looked at his email next, scrolling through until something that looked like fan mail stopped him cold. His email went through Simon’s agency. Always. Grey’s personal address was off-limits, and he went to great lengths to keep it that way.

Chills traveled through him as he read:

Dear Lover,

You betrayed me. You know we are meant to be together, but you are fucking that whore. I saw her leave your apartment this morning. That should be me. It will be me. I tried to be nice, to send her messages on her blog, but she isn’t getting the hint to leave you alone. Don’t worry. I will take care of things so we can finally be together.

Love, now and forever,

Emerald

Emerald. Emerald. He racked his brain for a connection, and suddenly he remembered one. At the fan event Simon had arranged before their last few concerts in Miami, Grey had been in a particularly good mood since their touring days were coming to an end. He’d had his game face on, flirting with female fans, keeping them happy and engaged.

A woman had approached him wearing a sparkling green shirt, extremely low cut, her red hair sprayed hard. She’d leaned over the table, getting too close as she’d asked for an autograph. Marco had stepped forward, and Grey had known he had to get the woman out of there fast.

He’d winked at her and asked, “What’s your name, or should I just call you Emerald, to match your shirt … and your eyes.” Corny but she’d eaten it up.

Unfortunately he’d had to sign her chest and not a photo, after which she’d deliberately flashed not just her tit but also her nipple before Marco had grabbed her elbow and escorted her to the next guard at the exit. It wasn’t a sight Grey wanted to remember, and he’d put it and her out of his mind almost immediately. But clearly
she
recalled the meeting much differently and put much more meaning into it. Now all the crazy in his life was invading Avery’s.

Grey swore out loud. Could this fucking day get any worse? It was like the universe was conspiring to keep them apart, placing every potential obstacle in their path. This Emerald chick had been stalking and sabotaging Avery’s blog, and to make matters even worse, the media had painted a target on her back by accusing her of breaking up the band. The exact kind of publicity she sought to avoid.

He didn’t know if she’d seen the article yet. If not, he wanted to tell her in person. If so, he needed to get over to her place and exercise some damage control as soon as possible.

*     *     *

While Ella showered and finished packing in preparation for overseeing a two-week photo shoot on a Caribbean island, Avery returned concerned phone calls. When disaster and insanity struck, the Dare family banded together … well, all of them except her father. Apparently he only surfaced when he needed Avery’s help for his other kids. Checking on her after she became front-page news must not be a priority for him, she thought, pushing the painful reality away. She didn’t need him. She had the rest of her clan circling the wagons. Even her half siblings checked in, Alex threatening to kick Grey’s ass—an act she didn’t need or want—and Jason, Samantha, and Sienna had all offered her a place to hide out if things became too much.

Olivia and her mother had left messages for Avery on her cell and at home. She’d already called them back and promised she was dealing well with the publicity on her end. They didn’t have to know she’d already had a mini-panic attack and taken her pills, or that crazy photographers were still camped outside her apartment. They’d just worry, and her mother had a wedding to plan, and her sister was pregnant. Neither needed added stress.

She’d called her brothers back too, reaching Ian and Scott but not Tyler. And that scared her because there was a very good chance Tyler would take one look at the article and, when he couldn’t immediately reach Avery on her cell, head right over.

A loud knock sounded on the door. “Avery, open up. It’s Tyler.”

“And right on time,” she muttered, letting her brother in.

“Jesus, there’s a massive group of paparazzi out there. Is this what being with that asshole is doing to your life?”

Tyler stood in the doorway, looking less than pleased and ready to take over, something she would not let happen. “If you want to talk to me, back off Grey. That’s not going to help matters.”

“Who’s causing all the racket?” Ella asked.

Avery turned. Ella had joined them wearing a short silk bathrobe, towel drying her hair as she walked. “Tyler!” she stopped short and stared in shock. Her hand slowly lowered, and the towel dropped to the floor.

“Yes,” Avery said. “My bossy brother’s here to—”

“Check up on you,” Tyler said to Avery … but his gaze never wavered from Ella, whose cheeks turned a rosy shade of pink.

“You, go put some clothes on,” Tyler ordered her.

“Tyler!” Avery called him out for bossing Ella around in her own apartment.

Ella, meanwhile, frowned at him, then bent to retrieve her towel. Her robe gaped open, exposing her breasts, something she didn’t realize until a low growl came from Tyler’s throat.

Ella rose and glanced down. “Shit.” She spun around and stormed out of the room.

“What was
that
all about?” Avery asked her brother. “Are you trying to be an asshole today? Oh, wait, it just comes naturally.”

Tyler blew out a frustrated breath. “Don’t change the subject. I’m here to talk about you.”

Avery shook her head, feeling like she was missing something. Ella knew Tyler, just like she knew the rest of Avery’s siblings, from the two weeks every summer and occasional holidays she’d spent visiting. Had this just been embarrassment? Or something more?

“Avery, I’m worried about you,” he said, his voice softening. “You have a history of anxiety—”

“And I’m on daily medication.” And had Xanax for emergencies like today. “I’m fine.” Or she had been until Grey’s life had exploded around her. But she didn’t want her brother to worry. “I’m not nine years old anymore,” she added as a means of reassuring them both.

Tyler ran a hand through his dark hair. “Between the picture in the paper, the nasty insinuation about breaking up the band, and now the photographers stalking your apartment, you’re in the center of the storm. And considering I do security for a living, I should know.”

Another loud knock sounded on her door.

“Ask who it is.”

Avery shot Tyler a disgusted look. Did he really think she didn’t know how to take care of herself?

Instead of asking, she looked through the peephole and groaned. “It’s Grey,” she said to Tyler and winced inwardly.

The very last thing she needed was a confrontation between Grey and her overprotective brother. But it seemed that was exactly what she was about to get.

Chapter Six