Rock Star: The Song (Book 1 of a Bad Boy Romance) (9 page)

His eyes dropped to the floor.

“We had become pretty good at dodging the paparazzi. She would leave in one vehicle, I would leave in another. They were never the wiser. She never attended award ceremonies with me. Everything was kept on the low. She didn’t even tell her parents or friends. Can you imagine that? The lengths she went to be with me.”

I sat and listened intently.

“One night in September, the clerk in the hotel passed on word to the media that I was staying there. We were caught coming out of the hotel’s restaurant. Within half an hour the place was swarming. I had her leave the way she always had. I went in a separate car. We were going to meet up the following day. She never made it.”

“What?”

“They chased her vehicle, and…” his words broke up. He swallowed hard. “Her car crashed. She didn’t survive.”

“Chase. I’m so sorry.”

He nodded, lost in thought.

“That’s why I can’t do this. I can’t draw you into my world. I’ve spent the last two years trying to walk away from this life. Mia won’t let it happen.”

“It’s not up to her,” I said. “Hell, you’re Chase Bryan, you can do whatever the hell you want.”

“No. It’s because I’m Chase Bryan. I can’t. I’m under contract. Before I met Mia I signed a contract that was not in my favor. Now I am indebted to them to create numerous albums. If I don’t make those albums, if I don’t tour for the next few years, or generate X amount of sales, I don’t just get kicked off the label. They will take everything I have. I would be left with nothing.”

I sighed into my hands and rubbed them over my face. This morning had gone from bad to worse in the blink of an eye.

S
he meant a lot to me
. That was why I couldn’t do it again. I couldn’t play around with another girl’s life. She had a life here. To some it might not have been much. But it was more than I had. Oh sure, people thought my life was a bed of roses. Press following me at every corner, interviews, live award shows and playing to thousands. But did any of that matter? At one time I thought it did. I got into this to play music, I still loved playing music. But I just became another cog in the wheel of an industry that chewed you up and spat you out once you no longer lined their pockets. And now I had a girl’s life in my hands again.

“I’m sure Emily knew what she was getting into when she got involved with you.”

“But she wasn’t ready for my world. Only those who live it daily truly understand.”

“So what are you going to do, Chase?”

“The one thing I’m good at. Walk away.”

“You think that’s the answer?”

“What other option do I have?”

We sat for a moment before she spoke.

“We go and get that song recorded.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?”

“Spike.”

She bolted up and dashed out of the living room. I sat there waiting, wondering what she had in mind. It’s strange placing your future in the hands of others. So many musicians left labels, simply because they wanted to get back to their roots. They wanted to be in control of where they sang, what they sang and how they were marketed. I had resisted it for years. The thought of going it alone. Taking on the weight that the record companies carry. It was comfortable even if their expectations were high and left me anxious most days.

The door swung open and Spike and Meghan charged in.

“Strip.”

“What?”

“You are about the same height as Spike. We’re going to send him out. Hood up, face down. He’s going to bolt in one direction while we head out the back.”

I shook my head. Were they serious? I walked over to the window. By now their small-town street was filled up with numerous media vans with satellite dishes on the top. Paparazzi moved back and forth between her shop and their vans, probably yukking it up at my expense.

“You ready?”

I shook my head, unable to believe I was doing this. A few moments later Spike and I both of us stripped down to our underpants. We exchanged clothes. Once we were in each other’s clothes, I began to doubt the whole idea. Spike looked like the scene from the movie
BIG
, when Tom Hanks changes back to a kid but is still wearing adult clothes. I looked as if I was part of a bobsled team. His outfit was so tight, I thought it was liable to cut off my circulation. My balls were riding up so high they were starting to look like a pair of adolescent breasts.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Spike said as he looked at himself in a full-size mirror.

“OK, bad judgment. I thought you were about the same size. Obviously not. Listen, it’s not going to matter as you are going to be making a mad dash for it anyway.”

“That is, if I don’t trip up over my own clothing and face plant after a few steps.”

“You’ll be fine. Now put up your hood. Put on these shades and go get into place.”

Spike strolled away with all the enthusiasm of a kid being left to fend for himself on his first day at school.

Meghan turned to me and tried to stifle a laugh. “OK, we good?”

“I’m thinking this is the meaning of blue balls.”

She laughed. “OK, let’s go to the back.”

I followed her out of her apartment. The same stairwell led down to a corridor where a storage room was. It was filled with food and boxes of coffee. A large red exit sign at the far end awaited us. We stood there for a moment, our bodies close to each other. I studied her as she texted Spike. If only last night had gone better, I could have awoken to her naked body.

“Right, now.”

She banged on the thick metal bar that unlocked the door and daylight burned my eyes. My head was still pounding from the night before and with this additional stress it was building with each passing second. The back of the café was hedged in by thick brick walls, and a gate at the far end. There was no way anyone could have taken photos over the top, unless they climbed over. I wouldn’t have put it past the photographers. They were like vermin. Many a time I had found them hiding in trees, cars and back alleys. Each of them knew that one decent photo of me could pay their bills for several months.

As we ran out the gate, and disappeared into the tree line, I thought back to when I got into the business. I never resented them, in many ways they helped my career climb. It was a strange relationship that celebrities had with the media. As much as they were to blame for the downfall of the elite, they were also the ones that raised us up to heights that made normal folk think we were gods. It was unnatural but, so was the kind of money I was paid for singing.

One hit, and I was raking in more money than most hard-working people were bringing in over twenty years. The rewards were plenty, but losing your anonymity far outweighed those rewards. So many in the business became recluses. Locking themselves away behind closed doors. Others retreating to islands they had purchased. Just to get a moment of peace. Just so they could step outside without someone snapping a picture, or dashing up to them for an autograph.

Dashing through the forest that surrounded the town, I felt like a deer being pursued by its predator. I imagined at any moment a group of photographers would pounce on us and bleed us dry. Meghan was a sweet girl and she didn’t deserve this. If anything, trying to help her break through the gatekeepers that guarded the way to our celebrity world was wrong. I could only be doing her a disservice. Sure, there were those who managed to deal with the snarky remarks on every social network, the lies that filled tabloid covers and the constant demands from a faceless corporation. But they were few.

We stopped for a few seconds, while Meghan placed her hands on her legs and tried to catch her breath.

“Are you OK?”

I couldn’t help but feel responsible. She didn’t need to be doing this. Running had become my way of life. Hiding, ducking in the shadows and watching everything I said and did. But it was exhausting. The years were catching up with me, and my desire to do it had all but left me. If I could only get out from underneath the burden that had been placed on me, I would. She had no idea what she was getting herself into. It was probably all just an escape to her.

“Yeah, we’re close. When we get to the bar, let me go out and grab the truck. I’ll have you wait on the main highway. No one will see you.”

I laughed.

“What?” she said with a smirk on her face.

“You. You’re like Ethan Hunt from
Mission Impossible
. You are loving this. This is serious, you know that?”

She offered back a strong smile. “It’s kind of hard to take any of this seriously when you are wearing those clothes.”

“True. True.”

“Let’s keep moving.”

Despite it being serious, I had to admit, I had enjoyed every single minute of the ride with her. She was lighthearted, kind and sexy. Yeah, definitely sexy. She made me remember who I was before I had made a name for myself. She had the same drive, hunger and love for music. It was contagious and beautiful. She was beautiful. I didn’t want to walk away from her. I didn’t want to send her back to a life without me. I wanted to know her. She had all the makings of something great buried deep inside. I could tell she didn’t quite realize it. Or at least, she didn’t want to admit it.

Maybe that was it. Maybe we are all the same. Full of potential that is unrealized unless someone comes along and shows us. Helps us to see how that small spark can be a flame that burns and spreads love and life to others.

“OK. I’m going to head over there. Keep following this tree line for about another half mile, you will see a sign for Ashton Falls. Just wait there. I will be by there in a couple of minutes.”

She turned toward the parking lot. I grabbed her wrist. Swinging back around I smashed my lips against hers and ran my hand down to the small of her back so I could pull her in close.

“What was that for?”

I didn’t feel good about this. The last time I had been in this situation was with Emily. We were meant to meet up. We never imagined it would turn into a high-speed chase that would end in her life being taken. Just the inkling of Meghan being hurt, pained me now. I wanted to protect her.

“Maybe I drive, you meet me.”

“No, these guys are everywhere.”

“I don’t have to remind you, they know who you are.”

“Right. But most of them are probably on the west side of town, chasing after a man in baggy pants.”

I laughed.

“How do you do that?”

“What?” Her lip curled up.

“Be astonishingly sexy, and yet so down to earth.”

Her eyebrow went up. “I’ll remind you of that the next time you’re being a dick.”

I kissed her again and she double-timed it across the parking lot. I watched her until she reached the truck, before I turned and headed in the direction she had given.

* * *

M
y heart was beating
a thousand miles an hour. My chest was up in my throat. I was out of breath and worried that if I was caught I would be in trouble. It was very odd. This wasn’t what happens, not in this town and not to me.

Upon reaching the truck, I began fumbling with the keys. The automatic lock device had given up the ghost a few months ago, despite Spike’s attempt to rewire the damn thing. Honestly, the guy thought he could fix anything.

I turned my head from side to side checking that no one was coming or in any way would recognize me. There were a few trucks in the parking lot, but none that I had paid any close attention to. They all became a blur as I ran towards mine. I was so lost in fumbling with the keys that I didn’t hear them come up behind me.

“Call them. Here she is.”

I swirled around to find myself face-to-face with Kyle.

Kyle had been a constant pain in my side. The kind of guy that never gave up easily. He never took a hint, despite me turning down his advances all through high school. He, like many of the other knucklehead jocks, had worked his way through an endless line of girls by the time he had graduated. Each one was like a notch on their bedpost. I heard through the grapevine. Spike mainly. That they had a little bet that was going on among a group of them. They rated the women. Those who would go down on them, those who slept with them and those that would let them do anything.

Not everyone gave into their constant demands for a date. And that only became even fewer once I created a flyer and posted it in various places around the school. If those limp dicks thought they were going to fuck everyone, I was going to make damn sure they didn’t fuck with me.

I don’t think he ever had got over that. Hell, it had been almost eight years since we had graduated and he still thought he could work his way into my panties. At least once a week, he would swing by the café with his entourage and try sweet-talking me into a date. He said he wasn’t the same person. I knew that was just more bullshit.

Time was a good indicator of a man, my father would say. If they wanted you, not just sex, they would wait. If you wanted them to wait, that was the key. It wasn’t about them acting all holier than thou around you. It was about respect. When you were good and ready, they would get to enjoy you. But until then it was hands off.

He wasn’t a heavily religious man, my father, and I wasn’t one for exactly being a good girl. But that was one thing I did listen to him about. He had my best interests at heart and so far it hadn’t done me wrong.

“Get off, Kyle.”

“Where’s your boyfriend?”

I tried to push back against him but he was far too strong. He had shown up with two others. They must have been waiting in one of the trucks. No doubt, they expected us to show up again to get the truck.

“He’s already gone.”

He laughed. “You are awful at lying.”

“I’m going to call the cops on you, if you don’t let me go.”

“You really think they are going to believe a skank like you? My father is the mayor. He has more inroads with the police, and a huge dislike for your father. Oh, how is Mr. Sullivan?”

He knew all too well that he had died.

“Bastard.”

He leaned in close, while pinning my arms behind me, and sniffed up the side of my face.

“It is going to be a joy to get inside of you.”

Fear didn’t creep. It overtook me in an instant.

“Kyle. There’s people coming.”

He lingered there for a moment, running his tongue up the side of my face.

“God, you taste good.”

Spotting a couple returning to their vehicle, I knew this was my only chance to get away from him. I didn’t think twice that he wouldn’t rape me. Word had spread that he and his crew had used the date-rape drug GHB back when they were in high school. No one could prove it. With his father as the mayor, he’d always had a way of managing to stay out from the crosshairs of the police. But I knew he was one sick individual. That had only got worse since he’d lost his job. Since then he’d been bumming around town, living off his father and spending more time drunk than sober.