The Complete Groupie Trilogy (54 page)

One day he hoped it would serve to get her out of his blood as well, but one need was way more pressing at that moment.

He scoured the crowded boulevard until he saw someone who was the complete opposite of Andy. She was skinny and tall, with platinum hair and dangerously high hee
ls. He sidled up to the corner.

She turned when she heard the engine rev. With a grin she knelt down to the window. “Nice car,”
she said.

“Wa
nna go for a ride?” he offered.

“Sure,” she said as she opened the door and climbed in. He peeled away
from the curb and headed west.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Somewhere private,” he answered with a knowing wink.

“So what do you wa
nt?” she asked.

He reached for his wallet and pulled out a handful of hundred dollar bills. “Whatev
er that will give me,” he said.

She tucked them away, payment in advance. “It’ll get you pretty much whatever you want. You’re the boss, sugar.”

He liked the sound of that. He turned up the radio and unfastened his jeans.

Behind the tinted windows of his new car she teased and tantalized with her hands, then her mouth, as they drove past the speed limit toward the Hollywood Hills. He gasped as she took him in her mouth, and he grabbed a handful of that platinum hair spilling into his lap. The speedometer crept steadily higher as they squealed along the h
airpin curves and narrow roads.

She lifted up. “Maybe we better pull over,” she suggested.

He pushed her head back down. “Don’t stop,” he instructed. He needed the release so badly he couldn’t think of anything other than her mouth on his skin. His brain felt like it was under water from all the pills, the alcohol, and the pure intoxication that was Andy’s mouth. He closed his eyes to imagine her head in his lap around the time another car rounded the curve and hit that beautiful brand new sports car and its unsuspecting occupants head on.

Chapter Eight

August 22, 2010. Los Angeles.

Andy

Andy stayed at the office much later than she had ever intended. It took her a while to compose herself after her emotional confrontation with Vanni, and even longer to pick up the mess they had made of the office.

Every time she picked something off the floor or threw away something that had been broken she was reduced to a fresh batch of tears. She had to stop and go into the bathroom more than once just so no one would hear her cry. In the end she was forced to scrub her face free of any makeup she had dared to wear that day. She looked like what she felt like: a hot mess. So she lingered at the office, going through mail and sorting through Graham’s inbox just so she didn’t have to face any of his office staff. Her original plan was to wait it out until six o’clock, to ensure they’d all left first b
efore she dared leave the room.

Then she got Gwen’s phone call.

She practically ran over everyone in her path as she ran out of the office, toward the elevator and out of the lobby. She was surprised she didn’t have an accident or two of her own as she raced toward the hospital in Hollywood. All she could think about was just a few hours before he was so strong and warm and solidly in her arms. And now…

She
didn’t want to think about now.

If he was lucky he’d be alive enough that he could be arrested for driving under the influence. If she was lucky he was alive enough so she could kill him. His stupid behavior had her in the very same spot she was two months ago with Graham in Philadelphia. The big difference being Vanni cho
se to be an idiot.

But for the second time in one year she was frantic over whether or not she had lost someone she cared about.

In Vanni’s case, it was someone she loved so much she could barely breathe. And he seemed hell bent to give her one more grave to visit and one more relationship to bury.

Gwen was at the hospital in the lobby when Andy entered. “How is he?”

She shook her head. “They won’t tell me. They won’t even confirm that it’s Vanni.”

The story had broken courtesy of the parasitic celebrity gossip organization that had taken L.A. by storm, thanks mostly to its jumping on celebrity death reports. Legitimate news sources tended to wait until official confirmation, but PING didn’t seem to share that same level of journalism. Instead it relied on its own sources and ran with any tantalizing drop of gossip in th
e race to break celebrity news.

That superstar Giovanni Carnevale had been in a head-on collision while wasted and getting a blowjob from a hooker? That was a tasty little tidbit indeed.

  Andy’s mind raced. Who would get the call that he had been hurt? He had no family to speak of. His only real family was the band, but even then would he have been forward thinking enough to set up contacts for an emergency?

Her question was inadvertently answered when she saw Leo stomp through the lobby in his heavy biker boots. Even though he glared daggers her direct
ion she ran to him immediately.

“Leo! How’s Vanni?”

He shrugged her off as he gave her a dismissive once-over. “If he wanted you to know, you’d be his contact, wouldn’t you? Go home to your rich boyfriend and let me handle the heavy lifting, honey.”

She backed up in spite of herself. She didn’t know how to manage his obvious hatred of her when they were virtual strangers. But this wasn’t about her. It wasn’t about Leo. It was about Vanni. “If you think I’m
going anywhere, you’re crazy.”

He turned on her and advanced until he had her nearly backed up against the wall. “Haven’t you caused enough damage? It’s your fault he’s in there, you stupid cow. You knew he was wasted when he was at the office today. You know damn well he’s having trouble. But what was more important to you? Showing your old boyfriend how good you got it now by fucking with his career?”

That pissed Andy off. “Who are you to judge me?” she demanded as she advanced on him, gratified in some small way he backed up much the same way she had done. “I have been around since the beginning, when Vanni was a no-name singer in a bar. I’m the one who protected him through every scandal he’s been through.”

“Yeah, think about that, sweetheart,” he jeered. “You are the worst thing that happened to him. And I’ll do everything I can to make sure he knows it. If he never sees you again it’ll be too damn soon.”

He stalked off, leaving Andy at the mercy of the hospital staff. The only thing she had to go on was that he was a contracted artist for their label and right now she was a representative of that label. That was the tactic she chose when she faced off with the hospital administrator, who seemed quite reluctant to give any information whatsoever until she had documentation faxed over from the office.

Andy paced in the emergency waiting room for nearly an hour before a doctor finally c
ame to find her. “Miss Foster?”

She rushed over to him. “Yes.”

He motioned for her to follow him out of the waiting room. “Mr. Carnevale was indeed injured in an automobile accident this afternoon,” he confirmed. “He just regained consciousness and began asking for you specifically.”

“Is he okay?”

“It was a serious accident, Miss Foster. He broke a half a dozen bones in the crash and has numerous contusions and lacerations. Then there was the added complication of his condition.”

She gulped hard. She knew exactly what condition he was in when he left the office. Leo’s hateful accusations still rang in her ears.

“His companion suffered the worst of it, I’m afraid,” the doctor went on.

She gulped. So it was true. “How is she?” Andy asked softly.

The doctor hesitated. “I think you should probably speak to the authorities about that.”

Her heart sank somewhere around her colon. She nodded and then followed him through the curtain to find Vanni laying on the gurney.

His beautiful face was marred by black and purple bruises across his cheek, forehead and over the bridge of his broken nose. One eye was puffed up with a violent red gash across it. The other looked like he had been hit in the face by a prize fighter. One leg was elevated and one arm was secured in a sling. His bare chest was wrapped mummy style with bandages cover from his navel up toward his shoulder. She took a deep breath and walked over to where he lay.

“You came,” he whispered as he squinted at her
through partially opened eyes.

“Of course I came,” she choked as she stroked his hair, still caked with blood and debris from where they pul
led him from the brush.

He tried to nod but then squinted in pain. Though his own dumbass decisions had landed him in this predicament she still felt her heart go out to him. He didn’t deserve this. No one did. She took his hand in hers. “I’m sorry if I upset you earlier,” she said softly. Like with what happened to Graham she harbored enormous guilt that she was somewhat responsib
le for the condition he was in.

He shook his head. “My fault,” he mumbled. “Always my fault.”

In his now sober state she wondered if he was aware of the dire nature of these consequences. She wanted to say a number of things but the timing just didn’t seem right. He looked like he had beaten himself up quite a bit as it was. “We don’t have to think about that now,” she said as she squeezed his hand. “The important thing is that you’re okay.”

His eyes met hers. “Did they tell you what happened to the… girl who was riding with me?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. Why don’t you tell me instead?”

He gulped hard. “I’ve been so stupid, Andy. Stupid and angry and feeling sorry for myself. Today,” he started but then looked away. “I just wanted to forget. Forget about you,” he added for clarification. “I keep trying to get you out of my head. I thought I was playing it smart… these women don’t give a shit if I never call again. They just do what I want whenever I want. It’s been very convenient.”

She said nothing. It wasn’t even a matter of his sleeping with anyone else that bothered her. She could hardly ask him to be faithful while living in the house of another man. And this was typical Vanni. Only instead of juggling dynamite with a throng of groupies he stepped up to professionals. “It’s not very convenient now, is it?” she asked softly.

He shook his head. He understood he was either going to get busted for manslaughter or he was going to pay out the ass for taking care of her medical bills from this day forward. These were big mistakes. They came with expensive price tags.

“I’m sorry,” he finally said. “For all of it. The drinking, the prostitutes… trying to force you to take me back. I’ve been a selfish asshole.”

She smiled as she touched his hair with her free hand. “It’s okay. I’m used to it.”

He laughed a little and then grimaced from the pain. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Andy,” he confessed with a deep sigh.

“We’ll figure it out,” she promised with a squeeze of his hand.

His hopeful eyes met hers. “Does that mean you haven’t given up on me?”

She leaned down to loo
k him in the eye. “Have I yet?”

A tear squeezed from his swollen eye. She captured it on one finger and wiped it away.

A police officer came in shortly after to take Vanni’s statement. The hooker had been banged up pretty bad and was still in a coma with a head injury. With the force of the impact she nearly snapped her neck, but most of the trauma was to her skull. It was iffy if she’d pull through at all, much less what kind of shape she’d be in if she did regain consciousness.

When Andy got to speak to the officer alone he advised her that Vanni would need an attorney. Charges would be filed but they were in a holding pattern waiting to see if the woman was going to make it. Andy spent the rest of the evening coordinating attorneys not only to take care of Vanni’s likely DWI case but also setting up his medical directives in the future. This accident brought it home to him that he was truly alone in the world, much like the young prostitute fighting for her life on one of the upper floors of the hospital. He couldn’t pretend he was invincible anymore. He knew he needed to have someone legally able to make decisions when he couldn’t, so he named her power of attorney. He knew he’d catch hell from Leo for making this choice, especially since Leo had been gunning to step into a more responsible role in his professional life, but honestly Vanni trusted no one more than Andy.

He stopped just short of asking her to stay for the night and she stopped just short of offering. She hadn’t called Graham yet, but she did speak to Maggie. As such she already knew he was extremely agitated that she had once again been summoned to save Vanni’s ass from his own foolish and self-centered behavior. She didn’t want to make that worse by staying out all night.

After all Graham needed her too.

By the time she left his hospital room she and Vanni had reached a truce in their relationship. They didn’t talk about the future, there were too many variables standing in the way of any kind of happily ever after. But they knew that what they shared went far too deep to ever really be over.