Star Maker (11 page)

Kit
knocked back the last of her drink and ordered another. She followed Alexa’s
violet eyes to where Sully was, surrounded by doting females, looking like king
of the manor. “I’ve been kicking his ass for the last week. He’s been running
the star trail at Runyon with me every morning and then I make him do sets of
weight training at the gym plus one hundred push-ups, pull-ups, squats, and
crunches. He goes from his workouts to the rehearsal studio where he stays for
the remainder of the day singing, playing guitar, and writing.”

Alexa
giggled. “You certainly know what you’re doing. He actually looks like a rock
star. It’s like his charisma has been kicked up a notch and his sex appeal is
off the charts.”

She
giggled. “That’s exactly what I was looking to do. I’m going for rock god.”

Alexa
nodded. “Looks like you’re succeeding.”

Bryan
came up behind Kit and put his hands over her eyes as he grinned at Alexa.
“Guess who, beautiful.”

She
grinned. “Is that one of my favorite boys?”

Bryan
laughed and removed his hands. “It is!” He leaned over and kissed her on the
cheek. “Can I get you a drink?”

“Yes,
please.” He walked away to fetch her drink.

Alexa
watched him. “He’s a good guy too. Is he the shyest one?”

Kit
shook her head. “No, that’s Tony. Bryan plays shy, but he isn’t, that’s just
his game.”

Sully
walked up to the table. “Ladies, what can I get you?”

Kit
grinned. “Bryan’s already on it.”

As she
finished her sentence, he walked up, balancing all the drinks and setting them
on the table. He looked at Sully. “Hey, Sull.”

“Hey,
let me get a drink and I’ll join you guys.” He went over to the bar and
ordered his drink. He was about to head back when an attractive brunette
stopped him. He smiled and started talking to her.

Kit
glanced over and noticed him. She chuckled. “We’ve lost him. Sully’s not
coming back. It’s just us three. Cheers to Gypsy Tango.”

Bryan
and Alexa held their up glasses and yelled, “Cheers,” as they clinked glasses
with her.

CHAPTER 10

Kit did
the budget and was not pleased with her findings. She was relieved that she
and Sully had decided against exchanging Christmas presents. She barely had
enough to squeak by. She and Alexa started promoting a big show for Gypsy
Tango that was coming up in mid-January. They had taken out plenty of ads in
Rock City News
and the hype was
building, but it was a pay to play show.

Tony
fronted a good deal of the money since he was the only band member that had a
regular, decent paycheck. The money that Sully and Remo were making at a
Christmas tree lot in the Valley was barely enough to cover food and gas.
Bryan giving piano lessons didn’t amount to much and Jimmy was still struggling
to find session work.

She
wracked her brain on how to come up with the extra money. She didn’t want to
bring Joe into the picture. Her student loans did help out to an extent, but
she couldn’t leverage them any further. She sold her prized Porsche, opting
for a used economy car to get her around town. She didn’t want to admit that
starting her own management company plus expenses for Gypsy Tango and her other
bands were putting her in a serious amount of debt the likes she had never seen
in her life. It proved alarming as the five figures of debt continued to climb
and were now dangling over her head, robbing her of sleep at night and
increasing her stress levels.

She
knew the Scorcher deal was right around the corner about to close. She just
needed a thousand dollars. She rifled through her things and found one of her
handbags. It was a vintage, red, Chanel handbag she received from her grandmother
as a gift on her sixteenth birthday. It was one of her most treasured
possessions, but it was either this or hawking one of her guitars and that
wasn’t an option.

She
sadly grabbed the handbag and started to make her way to the front door. Sully
was on the sofa with his guitar, a pad of paper in front of him and a pencil in
his hand, writing a song.

He
looked up. “Hey, babe, why the long face?”

She
shook her head. “I’m maxed out, Sull. I need to go pawn this.”

He
frowned. “What is that?”

“It’s
an expensive handbag. It was given to me by my grandmother.” She shook her
head as tears welled up in her eyes. “We’re not gonna make it to January
unless I sell this thing.”

He saw
the pained expression on her face and immediately became worried. “No, you
can’t. It obviously means a lot to you. You’ll regret it. Kit, you already
gave up your car and despite what you tell me, I know it just about killed you.
That came from your grandmother too. You were heartbroken for weeks. Don’t
do this.”

“Sull,
I made you guys a promise and I’m gonna keep my word. Quitting is not an
option. This will get us through. There’s a consignment shop on Wilshire that
wants it. I’ll be back.”

He
sighed as the door shut behind her. He had to do something to fix this. He
jumped up and frantically searched for his other notebook. He found it and
flipped to one of the pages, finding the phone number he was looking for. He
hastily ran to the phone and dialed. When he heard a voice answer, he abruptly
asked for Alexa. She surfaced on the line seconds later. “Sully, hey. Happy
Christmas Eve. What’s up? Is everything ok?”

“No,
it’s not. Kit just left to go pawn some purse of hers that she loves. She
said she thinks she can get the money she needs for it.”

Alexa
sighed. “Is it red?”

“Yes.”

“Shit!
Sull, you have to stop her. That bag is worth good money and it has big time
sentimental value. It was passed down to her from her grandma.”

“I
can’t stop her Lex, she already left. I can find the shop, but I don’t have
the cash to buy it back.”

“Yes
you will. Give me your bank account number.”

“Bank
account? Huh?

She
growled, annoyed. “Nevermind. I’m going to wire five thousand dollars to
Western Union in Hollywood. Go pick it up and buy that bag back.”

“Lex…”

“Do it,
Sully. Five thousand should cover it. Do it now.”

“I
can’t afford this, Lex.”

“You
can pay me back when you’re a big rock star. Go! And not a word to Kit on how
you pulled this off. It’s our secret.”

Sully
hung up and looked at the clock. He had just enough time to swing by Western
Union and the consignment shop before heading out to the Valley to work his
shift at the Christmas tree lot.

Thirty
minutes later, he pulled up in front of the consignment shop. He walked in,
feeling awkward. Rockers weren’t exactly welcome in Beverly Hills. The woman
behind the counter glared at him. He didn’t care. He was on a mission and no
one would stop him. He noticed the bag sitting on a table behind the counter.
He walked up to her and pointed. “I wanna buy that bag.”

She
scowled this time. “You can’t afford that bag. It’s a vintage Chanel.”

He
chuckled, leaned his elbows on the glass display counter, and flashed his most
charming smile. “Oh really? Are you sure about that?” He pulled a wad of
hundred dollar bills from the inside pocket of his leather jacket. He set it
down neatly on the counter in front of her. “Looks like I can. What do you
think?”

She
stared at the money, her facial expression a mixture of embarrassment and
annoyance. “You probably don’t have enough. It’s three-thousand, two hundred
dollars.”

He
shrugged his shoulders and smiled again. “Ok.” He picked up the wad and counted
it out. “Here you go.”

“Plus
tax.”

He
giggled. He knew he would get nowhere throwing mean jabs back at her, so he
decided to take the high road and kill her with kindness. “Could you do me the
honor of officially ringing me up? And then gift wrapping it for me too? It’s
a Christmas present for someone very special to me.”

Her
face finally melted into a grin. Something about him was irresistible. She
rang him up and gave him the total. She then tilted her head to the side. “Are
you one of those Hollywood rock stars?” She started wrapping the purse for
him.

He
smiled and nodded. “Something like that.”

She handed
him a bag that now contained the purse, wrapped beautifully. “One more thing.”

He took
the bag from her. “It looks beautiful. You did a great job. She’ll love it.
What is it?”

She
smiled sheepishly. “Since you are a rock star, can I have your autograph?”

He
nodded. “Absolutely. What’s your name, honey?”

“Maryann.”

He
wrote out a personal message on the notepad that she pushed to him. He signed
his name with a flourish and handed it back to her. “There you go, Maryann.
Merry Christmas. Thanks for all your help.” He winked.

She
smiled and waved. “Thank you, Sully Foxx. I’m going to tell all my friends I
met you!”

He nodded, grinned, and waved as he walked out, giggling to himself.

Sully
walked through the door that night, hoisting a Christmas tree on his shoulder.
Kit looked over and laughed. “Wow! You weren’t kidding!”

He
chuckled. “Isn’t she a beaut? A big noble fir with a huge bald spot in the
back, but don’t tell her.”

“She is
beautiful even with the bald spot. I got a few things we can decorate her
with. I was able to sell that purse. The consignment shop called and said
someone bought it. I can pick up my money the day after Christmas.”

He
nodded. “Really. How do you feel about that?”

Her
eyes started to tear up again. Her heart ached thinking about it. “I’d really
rather not talk about that right now.”

“Ok,
got it. How about I make some dinner and then we can decorate the tree?”

“Sounds
good. The guys called. They’re all going to the Strip tonight. They wanted
to know if we’re gonna be there too.”

He
raised his eyebrows. “I wasn’t planning on it. I don’t know, I guess I’m
kinda old fashioned. I like to hang out at home for Christmas Eve, rather than
go out and get hammered, y’know?”

She
nodded. “Yeah, me too. I was planning on watching ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ A
movie and hot cocoa sound more my speed tonight.”

He
smiled. “Me too. Mind if I join you?”

She
chuckled. “Of course not. You live here, remember?”

Kit and
Sully cuddled up on the sofa together under a blanket complete with popcorn and
hot cocoa. They were about to hit play on the VCR to start the movie when the
phone rang.

She
rolled her eyes. “Ugh. Complete buzz kill. Hold on.” She got up and ran
over to the phone. She answered and heard Seth’s voice on the other end. He
was wishing her Merry Christmas from the East Coast now that it was past
midnight there. Kit was slightly perturbed by how she saw his call as a
nuisance. She wanted to get back to her time with Sully. Rather than mull over
an obvious red flag realization, she stayed present on the call speaking with
her boyfriend, Seth, briefly. She wished him Merry Christmas, told him she
loved him, and hung up. She ran back over to the sofa and got back under the
blanket.

She
shot Sully a look. “You didn’t sneak any popcorn did you?”

He
laughed. “No. I’m no cheater. I told you I wouldn’t touch it and I didn’t.
I keep my word, Kit-Kat.”

She
giggled. “Just checking.”

He hit
play and they started watching the movie. At one point, she looked around the
room and took it all in. It seemed almost magical to her—the dark room
being illuminated by the glow of the Christmas lights and the flicker of the TV
set. The movie, the hot cocoa, and the popcorn, all of it seemed more vibrant,
more alive than it ever was in previous years. She couldn’t mistake the
feeling that she finally felt like she had found home and part of her wondered
if Sully had something to do with it. The thought frightened her.

She
glanced over at Sully who was completely transfixed on the movie, shoving
handfuls of popcorn into his mouth one at a time, stopping only to take a sip
of his hot cocoa. She noticed his cute profile and grinned. She could have
never imagined that he would have ended up as one of her best friends months
ago when she met him. She had come to a new city with Joe, one of her best
friends who she was feeling more distant from these days. She was grateful for
Sully. She couldn’t imagine her life without him in it or without the band.

She
came alive with that band, more than she ever had with any other act she had
managed or even bands she had been in. She felt like the sixth member of the
band in many ways. She hoped she wouldn’t be kicked to the curb when they got
signed and the politics of the record company took over. She shivered at the
thought. She decided to put her focus back on the movie. Angels getting their
wings seemed much more comforting.

Kit had
drifted off to sleep, cuddled up to Sully, her head resting on his shoulder.
He looked down at her and grinned. She looked so peaceful. He didn’t want to
wake her up. He grabbed the remote and started flipping through the channels.

She
roused and looked up at him. “How long was I asleep?”

He
shook his head. “Not long. You missed the end of the movie, but I think
you’ve probably seen it enough times to know how it ends.”

She
chuckled. “Yes. I know the ending all too well. Didn’t realize how tired I
was.”

He
looked over at her and found himself getting drawn into her sleepy green eyes.
He chuckled, glancing down at her mouth, where she had a faint trace of hot
cocoa. “It’s cute, but let me wipe that off for you.” He grinned and gently
wiped the remnants of cocoa away from the side of her mouth.

She
giggled. “Oops. I guess it’s better than drool. I’m glad I didn’t drool on
you when I was sleeping.”

He
giggled, finding himself drawn into her eyes again like a tractor beam. They
looked happy and inviting to him. “Lucky me.”

She
giggled again, but this time felt pulled into his intoxicating blue-eyed gaze.
She felt the invisible butterflies in her stomach start to go crazy as he moved
inches closer. She didn’t have the strength or the willingness to stop him. A
second later, his lips were on hers.

Her
conscience got the best of her and halfway through what she recognized to be
one of the best kisses of her life, she stopped him and pushed him back. She
felt a mixture of emotions ranging from resistance to longing, excitement to
disappointment, anxiety to relief. She was beyond confused.

She
sighed, keeping her eyes closed. “Sull, don’t. Stop. I can’t do this.” She
opened her eyes and gazed into his. “It’s not fair to you, it’s not fair to
Seth. It’s wrong. I’ve got a boyfriend. I can’t. I’m sorry.”