Rampage (A Night Fire Novel Book 4) (8 page)

Me too.

“Are you driving?”

“Yes.”

“I see, uh.. where are you going?”

I could hear the hesitation in his voice.

“Las Vegas.”

“Why?”

“Because after our heated discussion last night, that's where he went. I spent most of the night on the kitchen floor drunk.”

“Right.”

“And now that I have sobered, I packed my stuff and left.”

There was silence for a brief moment, Devlin was probably trying to subdue the rising panic.

“Left as in?”

“Yet to be decided fully, I may still retain the house out of necessity. It all depends on Evan.”

“I see.”

He huffed, I could hear the chair creak.

“Well, have your conversation, ring me when it is done. I mean it Harmony, call me.”

“Yes.” I groaned softly.

“In the meantime I will have the contract changed to your married name and have it sent to you.”

“Thank you Devlin.”

“Sure.”

“Hey Devlin... you're a better manager than Bill. You listen to what I want.”

“Uh thanks.”

I ended the call and smiled, that had gone better than I had expected. Now all I had to do was fix things with Evan.

Chapter Eleven

I pulled into the driveway of what I hope is his house, the address is certainly matched what Jaxon wrote. But there is no sign of anything Evan. No car, no obvious indications. I grabbed his bag and took a deep breath, locked my car and made for the door. The house was very modern, sleek lines, it certainly seemed something he would like.

The land around was all desert, even the yard had been tended to in a way that was sympathetic to the land. Either the gardener was very smart or just used what was already here. Nah, this was intentional, too manicured to be laziness. I pressed the button and heard an almighty gong go off in the house.

The seconds ticked over as I nervously stood by the door, begging that it was the right place, that he was here and that everything went well. Then something struck me, the vision of the fan girls outside the mansion, the massive gates. I surveyed the house and yard. Sure it was large, almost a mini mansion but it wasn't the one from the news report.

There were no gates either. Shit. That and the fact that no one was coming to the door. What the hell Jaxon? I turned to step off the concrete pad to go back to the car. Maybe ring Jaxon and yell at him. The door squeaked open.

“Harmony?”

I turned and saw one rather tired and unkempt Evan standing at the door.

“What are you doing here?”

“I ran away.”

He said nothing as he folded his arms and leaned on the door.

“Got all my stuff packed... well most of it.” I passed his bag over to him. “And your stuff.”

My shoulders sagged as I sighed.

“Look, I'm sorry. I know I should have approached it better, I didn't want the scene. I told Devlin that you mean more to me than anything Hollywood had...”

“Honey, who is at the door?”

I frowned at him, his attention turned to a woman that approached, tall, blonde, green eyes, she was beautiful. He turned back to me, seeing my confused face.

“It's not what you think..”

“Really?” I began to back away.

“Harmony please, stop.”

“This was a mistake.” I whispered. “I'll leave you to it.”

As I turned to open the car door he grabbed my hand.

“My mother..” he stuttered out. “Shit Harmony. Stop. Please. This is my mother.”

Assessing the woman I shook my head. As if it was possible, she was far too young.

“She looks too young.”

“That's because she had me when she was fifteen. Please, come inside.”

He could see the hesitation.

“Do you want birth certificates or something? Come on girl, get inside before the press descend on us.”

I think that she was trying to hug me to death. This woman was near on unbearable. I guess as mothers-in-law went, I had struck gold. She liked me. In fact, I think she more than liked me. I had made her son happy and considering he was her baby, I thought I was lucky.

The horror stories of mothers and their overbearing nature especially if it was a son, yeah I had heard them all. I dreaded the loathsome thoughts of having a mother-in-law, but Lola Cooper was better than I could have hoped for. Once she had finished trying to crack the bones in my back with the death grip she called a hug, she left us to continue our conversation. Which was good because I suddenly remembered that I had to ring Devlin.

“Okay so, I told Devlin no love scene.”

He nodded quietly.

“He's making them redo the contract. What do you think?”

“Did you really run away to be with me?”

“Did you want to see my stuff in the car?”

He grinned as he shook his head, Okay, so at least he believed me. I mean, it is kind of glaringly obvious, one look in the windows would say that.

“I told Devlin that I was coming here with my stuff. Whether I keep the house depends on what happens now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I don't want you to think that I haven't let go of LA because I haven't sold it, so I will. Unless you want to keep it, you know like a base for when we visit my parents.”

“Or when you do movies.”

His face was solemn but I wasn't going to accept it, just in case he was faking it to make me happy.

“Evan, I...”

“No it's okay, I get it. This is your career, just like music is mine. It's finding the happy medium. And I can't stop you from doing what you love, it's wrong. Mom made me see that. You know..” he shrugged one shoulder. “She said, what if she made you give up music, would you do it for her? And I was like, yeah of course but the thought still stung like hell. So, I'm okay with the movies so long as there’s no love scenes.”

“I'm glad you stood your ground.” I wrapped my arms around him.

He grinned as he pulled me onto his lap.

“So is Devlin.”

“Really?”

My phone rang from the depths of my bag. After finding it I cringed, it was Devlin.

“Speak of the devil....Hello, I know I said I'd ring.”

“That's alright Harmony, I have the contract but there's no one at Evan's place.”

“Oh, we're at his mother's. Wait, are you in Vegas?”

“I am, I have a few things to discuss with you.”

“Ah, hmm, hang on.”

I covered the speaker and looked at Evan who has managed to get himself rather comfortable on the lounge beneath me.

“Devlin's outside your house.”

“Okay we can go there now, be about five minutes.”

“See you in five.”

The five minutes was more like ten. Saying goodbye to his mother took up most of those ten minutes and the drive took about two. The house was very similar to his mothers, although his was on a grander scale. It was still the sleek minimalistic lines, very modern looking.

We sat in the lounge room as Devlin sorted through his bag, finding the documents he wanted. I had never met him before, my interactions were always with Bill. Devlin was tall, beach blonde hair that was perfectly brushed from one side to the other, chocolate brown eyes and tanned skin. He wasn't my type of guy but he was certainly good looking. And of course, he was all business, the dark blue double breasted suit, the white shirt and matching blue tie.

“Okay, so in the negotiations they suggested two courses ahead. They are very much interested in keeping you on this movie and happy so they hope that this will be what you like.”

“Go on.”

“Option one is scene cut, everything else as normal. Option two is scene intact and Evan playing the male lead.”

“Sorry?” I gasped as Evan choked on his beer.

I patted him on the back as Devlin flicked his fingers over the edge of the script.

“Harmony, you have to read the script to understand why it is important to them. The scene makes a world of difference to the whole movie.”

“How?”

“She gets pregnant. The whole movie revolves around it, the half cast child. They want to show the love between the human and the vampire that creates a child. Their reasoning is that you can't just have one scene, 'oh hey you're a hot chick let's go and have fun time under the sheets' and then the next is 'oops sorry the condom broke'. I know what we discussed...” he sighed. “And as I said to you I would prefer that this scene didn't happen either but I understand it now that I have read the script in its entirety. I understand where they are coming from. So as option two goes, this is how it sits. There is no nudity, that one I don't even need to discuss with you, that goes without saying. The next is that as it stood previously, this is only kissing under bed sheets, lights down low.” he waved his hand frowning at the script. “It says it all if you want to read it. Now it comes down to how desperate they are to have you and this scene.”

Devlin grinned as he pulled a piece of paper out from his briefcase.

“I have never seen anything like it.” he chuckled as he pulled out yet another document. “If you accept option two, they will double your earnings, they will match it for Evan and they will move production to here – in Vegas. It will be a closed set for the scene, it's final cut will have both of your approval before it goes to print. They will pay for all of the expenses associated with the junket. That's overseas too, for the both of you
and
as a final sweetener, Night Fire will be given first offer to record the entire soundtrack. Then as part of the press junket, they will have Night Fire tour with you, doing gigs and what not.”

“Are these people nuts?”

“I know right?” he laughed again. “Take it tonight, read it, both of you. Tomorrow we should meet for lunch, I'm staying at the Bellagio, so we can meet in the restaurant. Now, I will leave both of the options to read, there is a few things I might have missed. Anyway, read over it, I will see you two at twelve tomorrow.”

Devlin was ready to see himself out but Evan quickly followed, leaving me a little stunned as I sat on the lounge staring at the mountain of documents and scripts in front of me.

Ten minutes after Devlin left the doorbell went off. I frowned, wondering if he had left something behind. Evan was on the phone to someone so I wandered to the door and opened it. A tall, pregnant woman stood in front of me. Her long black hair was pulled back into a pony tail, two young children at her feet. The youngest was a boy with the same black hair as her, the girl had large ringlets of brown. Both of them seemed to be close in age.

“Hey, not interrupting am I?”

And then she pushed the door open and wandered into the house. The children followed quietly and I stood at the doorway rather stunned.

“Sorry, who are you?”

“Eden.”

I wanted to say that wasn't nearly enough for an answer but Evan appeared with a mighty grin on his face.

“Hey there little rockers.”

He scooped them up into his arms and I couldn't help but wonder if I was faced with an ex-wife and two of his kids, maybe the next one on its way.

“How come you're here?”

“Really?” she asked, her tone rather dry. “You've been ignoring my calls for the entire weekend Evan. Don't you think that I deserve at least one call or maybe a message? Have we not had the discussion about keeping in contact before?”

“Yes.” he groaned.

I watched the conversation as it moved back and forth. The boy struggled out of his arms but the girl was content to stay where she was. He walked around the room, stopping by a glass cabinet.

“Hudson.”

The child turned to Evan's direct tone, offering a cute grin that said that he wasn't really up to no good.

“Daddy said you're not to touch glass.” the girl said.

Well that settles it then. Not sure why he didn't tell me he had kids. Or that he was still so accountable to the ex.

The woman walked over to the child to pick him up, allowing me a moment to question Evan.

“Are these kids yours?”

“What?” he grinned with a crinkled smile.

I pointed to the one in his arms, she had been resting her head on his shoulder. Suddenly she sat up with a bright smile.

“Daddy.”

Her arms went out to the man behind me, I almost gasped at the ominous presence he held. The man took her into his arms and walked into the entry. He looked vaguely familiar and then it dawned on me. Band member. Wow, talk about getting it really wrong.

With the little girl in his arms, I could see the serious resemblance. Both had lush brown hair and pale brown eyes.

“Okay so I guess I should uh.. you know.” Evan cleared his throat. “Harmony this is Fraser and his wife Eden and their kids Sahara, Hudson and yet to be decided.”

His fingers waggled at her stomach, the mound was rather large. Considering the size of her husband, I could understand why. The poor thing probably birthed monster sized children.

“Thanks for the wedding invite jack ass.” Fraser grumbled.

“We were drunk.”

“Your mother was pissed.”

Evan scoffed at Eden's statement.

“She was not. She's cool with it.”

Her eyes narrowed at him, a cold stare directed solely at him.

“No Evan, she wasn't. I had to listen to her as she cried because you are so god damned selfish that you forgot about the woman that raised you by herself. It's one thing to forget about your friends but to forget about your own mother and blaming alcohol is pathetic.”

She handed Hudson to Fraser.

“Take them to the car, we're going to be late as it is.”

He nodded and said nothing more as he walked out of the house. Eden watched as he walked away then turned back to Evan.

“You know how much family means to certain people, how loudly their needs resonate. I expected better from you. I expected you to be considerate of others but I guess I expected too much. Make this right Evan, fix this. I've worked too damned hard to get his life on track to have you fuck it over in a weekend. There's a compulsory meeting in half an hour. Don't be late or I'll find something blunt to impale you with.”