The Hottest Ticket in Town (12 page)

“Yeah, well, you did,” Trent said. “Worried me sick. You know this is going to take a bite out of your payday. Losing out on gigs...that's just bad business. You don't want to gain a reputation for being a flighty no-show because then you won't get booked again. Promoters have long memories, girl. Do you hear me? Long memories. And it's going to take a while to live this one down.”

“I said I was sorry,” she said, some of her fire returning. “Enough already.”

Trent smiled thinly. “Look at you—all country sass. Just remember what side your bread is buttered.”

“How could I forget when you're constantly reminding me?” she returned, not caring that she was being sassy and unaccountably rude to the man who'd made her a star. She could practically hear her daddy's voice chastising her, but she was tired, grouchy and already missing Kane, so her tongue was a little loose. As soon as they landed, she needed to call him and make sure he knew that she wasn't running away from him, that she still wanted to see him. “I want tickets made available to Kane Dalton for the show tomorrow,” she told Trent, not asking but telling.

“And who is this Kane Dalton, exactly?”

She hesitated, irritated that Trent was even questioning. Maybe Kane was right and Trent had forgotten which side
his
bread was buttered. “Don't worry about who he is. Just have the tickets ready.”

“Sure thing, sugar. Just curious, is all. It's my job to look out for your welfare, you know. Your daddy made me promise with his dying breath that I would always do what was best for you and I aim to keep that promise, even if you're being a right pill about it.”

She recognized manipulation when she saw it, but it was still hard to avoid falling into it when her daddy was involved because she knew it was true. Her daddy had thought Trent Blackstone was the be-all and end-all for her career and, she supposed, he'd been right, to a point, but she suspected that if he'd lived and could see how Trent was running her into the ground, he'd have something to say about that.

“So what favors exactly did you call in to find me?” she asked, curious.

“Does it matter?” he answered with a patronizing smile. He patted her leg and said, “You just focus on warming up that voice. Kelly Clarkson was the last country artist to sell out this venue and we don't want to appear as if you can't do the same. You have to show your fans that you're ready to perform, and nothing matters but giving the fans what they want.”

“What about what I want?” she muttered, but when Trent cut her a short look, she shook her head and returned her gaze to the view. She didn't want to be on a plane, she didn't want to be sitting next to Trent. She wanted...a small farmhouse with a wraparound porch, the smell of cattle and horses on the breeze, and Kane touching every inch of her body with his hands and mouth. A small, sad sigh escaped and that probably would've been the end of it, but Trent wanted his pound of flesh and started berating her.

“I can't believe what a pouty little girl you're turning into, Laci McCall. You're a damn star. Start acting like one. Playing house in the country isn't what you signed up for, remember? If that's all you wanted, you signed up with the wrong man, because I represent talented people with ambition. What happened to that hungry, driven girl with her eye on the prize? You done bumped your head if you think that acting the way you've been acting is going to get anywhere but the bottom faster than you can blink. To be frank, I almost washed my hands of you the minute you ran off. You're a grown-ass woman. Why am I chasing after you like a kid lost at the county fair? I haven't the faintest.”

“Because I make you a lot of money,” Laci answered with a yawn. “Leave me alone, Trent. You aren't the only manager out there. If you're not happy with me...you know where the door is.”

He barked an ugly, incredulous laugh. “Girl, you're just talking out of your pretty ass. Did your country boy screw your brains out? Think, girl! Think what you're saying and check yourself before you wreck yourself. I'll let that one slide on account of you being tired and all, but watch yourself.”

Laci cast a dark glower Trent's way but remained silent. She wasn't going to spend the entire plane ride bickering with her manager. But as she returned her gaze to the window, she knew without a doubt it was time to get new management. Kane was right; this guy didn't have her best interests at heart and probably never had. However, for the sake of a peaceful plane ride, Laci kept that decision to herself. That uncomfortable conversation could wait.

She closed her eyes and dreamed of Kane.

18

I
N
SPITE
OF
her lack of enthusiasm to get back onstage right away, Laci was happy to see Audrey and Simone, who were clearly very happy to see her, as well.

“Girl, did you have a mental breakdown or something? Why did you leave the hospital?” Audrey asked once they were on the tour bus in her private section. “Man, you should've seen Trent. I thought he was going to pop a vein.”

“I'm sorry to have worried you,” Laci said. She tried to come up with an explanation for her behavior, if only to assuage the pinch to her conscience for worrying her team. “When Trent told me he had rebooked the tour, I just lost it. I was so tired, so mentally undone, that I couldn't fathom getting back on that stage. If he had even given me a week to recover, I think I could've sucked it up and carried on, but I just broke when he said that.”

Audrey nodded with understanding, saying with an angry glint in her eye, “That no-good rat. I told him you were exhausted but he doesn't listen. He threatened to fire Simone when he found out you were gone.”

“What?”

Simone nodded, confirming Audrey's statement. “But he's a blowhard. I didn't take him serious. I knew once you came back you'd fix it. We were just worried you weren't coming back, not that we'd blame you. Trent's been a bit of a Nazi with your scheduling. Trust me, we're tired, too.” Simone lifted her fingers, showing off the cuts and bruises from sewing countless sequins after every show. “If I see another sequin, I'm about to run off, myself. Have you considered maybe jeans and a T-shirt?” she joked half-seriously.

Laci chuckled ruefully, though the idea held merit. She liked the idea of dressing things down, but Trent wouldn't hear of it. He always said people paid top dollar to see a star, not a honky-tonk weekend wannabe. “Let's modify the costuming a bit. I always feel like a disco ball anyway with all those sequins,” she suggested to Simone, who, judging by her relieved smile, agreed with the idea.

“So, are you going to tell us where you went?” Audrey asked. Laci's smile was wistful as she pictured the Bradford ranch, and a warm, happy feeling followed that was hard to hide. Audrey whistled low and said, “Okay, now I totally need details, girl. Dish!”

“Okay, okay, I don't usually kiss and tell, but...I went back to a place I used to spend my summers at called Bradford ranch. The older couple who live there were like grandparents to me and I thought I could use a little country air to detox and get back to my roots. But when I got there, they were gone, and watching over the place was...you're not going to believe this...my first love.”

Simone's eyes bugged and she gasped. “Are you kidding me? Did you just step out of the pages of a Nicholas Sparks book? Who does that happen to? That's crazy.”

“It's only a Nicholas Sparks book if the love of her life died in some crazy farming accident while she was there,” Audrey quipped, and they all giggled. “Okay, in all seriousness...what happened? Did you connect? Relive old times? Where is he now?”

“Whoa, whoa, too many questions at once,” Laci said, holding up her hands. “The truth is, things were going really good until Trent showed up and I felt obligated to come back.”

“Why didn't he just come with you?” Simone asked, confused.

“Because that's not how Kane Dalton rolls,” Laci answered drily, but felt she ought to add, “However, I didn't give him much opportunity to tag along. I just, sort of, panicked and left with Trent. I don't know. It was like reality had intruded on my little fantasy and I didn't know how to reconcile the two. I think if I'd been smart, I would've just talked it out with him, but...lately, I've been doing all sorts of things that fall in the ‘not smart' category.”

“Don't be so hard on yourself,” Simone admonished, instantly making Laci feel marginally better. “Invite him to the show. Does he like your music?”

“Aside from my daddy, he was my biggest fan when we were kids,” Laci answered, nodding. “But so much has changed. He's already said he's not cut out to follow me around and I understand that. I just wish things were different. I think, no...I know, that I never stopped loving him. He's the sexiest, most handsome man I've ever laid eyes on and that body—” she fanned herself “—you can't even imagine! Thank God there were chores to be done. Otherwise, I might not be able to walk still.”

Audrey and Simone both
awwwwwed
and crowded her with fierce hugs before Audrey decided, “Well, it's settled then, you have to get him here. Just because I'm single and dateless doesn't mean you have to be, especially when your man—who just happens to be your soul mate, right?—is just waiting for you to claim him.”

“I wouldn't say he's waiting on me,” Laci said with a sinking heart. “Kane is the kind of man who doesn't pine for the attentions of a woman. Not even me. He's not coming after me. Besides, he's busy with the ranch, he can't just pick up and leave. Plus, I wouldn't want him to. He's helping out the Bradfords when they need it the most and that's exactly what he should be doing. I just wish things were different for everyone.”

Both women seemed to understand and gave Laci a beat of silence before Simone said, “Well, if the show must go on, we'd better take a look at your costume and see what needs changing. You up for it?”

Laci sighed. “Yeah, though I should warn you, I've been doing nothing but eating pie and potatoes, so I'm probably fatter than a summer tick on a whitetail right now.”

“I'm sure I can make it work, don't you worry,” Simone said, waving away Laci's concern. “Besides, a man likes a little meat on his woman's bones, right?”

Laci grinned, immediately thinking of the way Kane worshipped her curves, his hands roaming her hips and his tongue tracing each lush valley, and she shivered with a weighty exhale. “I miss him already,” she murmured and the girls dissolved into envious laughter.

Kane...I wish you were here.

* * *

K
ANE
HAD
EXPECTED
a phone call, but since Laci had hightailed it out of there with that jerk-off manager of hers, it'd been radio silence. He didn't know her cell phone number—not that he would call—but he supposed his ego had been bruised that she'd just split and apparently left him behind.

What had he expected? He knew she was out there singing her tail off again. He'd broken down and scoured the internet for news of her concert in Texas and even caught a few screenshots fans had posted. She looked amazing—no, better than amazing, downright sizzling—and then he'd felt worse off than before. Time to stop moping around for a woman who had never truly been his. They'd been playing around, reliving old times, not building for a future. He got that. But damn, if it didn't hurt just the same.

He rubbed at his chest as if he could massage out the phantom pain digging right below his rib cage and went to the front porch to watch the last of the light die out on the horizon. He had to admit the ranch wasn't so bad. Hell, even Woodsville wasn't the hellhole he'd remembered it to be. There was a quiet charm to the old town, and the ranch soothed his soul in a way that he hadn't expected. He liked the simplicity of tending to the animals, getting the chores done and sitting down to a meal that stuck to his ribs. Although since Laci had split, he'd just made a big pot of beans and rice, which he shoved down his throat with a tortilla he warmed up on the stove and slathered with butter. Still, he hadn't realized how much he'd needed a little downtime until he'd been forced to get some by circumstance.

Just as the last rays of light sank into the horizon, gulped by the greedy landscape, the old phone in the house rang shrilly, cutting the serene quiet and interrupting the building cricket cacophony.

Kane caught the ringing phone just before it went to the answering machine, hoping it was Laci. But when it was Warren, he immediately tensed for fear of bad news.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Not so good, boy,” Warren admitted, his voice watery. “Not so good at all.”

Kane checked his watch, concerned. “It's pretty late out there. Cora okay?”

“She's gone,” Warren said, his voice breaking. “My girl is gone. She just couldn't take no more and slipped away when I went to get some coffee. I think she knew, too, because she kept pestering me to go eat something when I wouldn't leave her side. And then, dadgum it, the minute I do—” he drew a sad, shaky breath “—she left me behind.”

Stunned, Kane's butt found the nearest chair. “Oh, man” was all he could say because the news hit him that hard. He didn't know how to follow it up because his heart was breaking alongside Warren's. “I'm...I'm out of words,” he said, his voice choking. “What happened?”

“The treatment was too late. The cancer was too spread out, the doc said. She tried to tell me, but I wouldn't listen. Cora...she's a tough one but not tougher than the Big C, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. Man, I can't...” He wiped at his eyes, unable to believe Cora was gone. That feisty, yet interminably sweet, woman had earned a spot in his heart the minute she'd made it her mission to “fatten him up” all those years ago. She'd seen his thin arms and hungry eyes and she'd stuffed him full of love in the form of good old-fashioned cooking.

God bless it! More tears followed as he listened to Warren share the details of Cora's last days and, when it was all said and done, Kane knew that perhaps it'd been a blessing she'd gone in her sleep. Cora deserved a peaceful exit, not some drawn-out painful end. “What's the plan, you coming home soon, then?” he asked, wiping his nose and trying to dry his eyes with his shirtsleeve.

“I've got details to deal with here and then I'm having Cora brought home for a proper funeral. She'd want it that way. Is Laci still there?”

A lump formed in his throat and Kane answered stiffly, “She left. Her manager came and collected her last week. Haven't heard from her since.”

“Well, you go find her. Cora would've wanted her at the funeral. I don't care what you have to do to get her there.”

“Yes, sir.” He made the commitment, but frankly, he wasn't sure he wanted to see Laci. It felt right stingy of him, but he was double hurting now that Cora was gone, and maybe if Laci hadn't been in such an all-fired hurry to leave, she would've been here to get the news herself. But he couldn't refuse Warren and said dutifully, “I'll see what I can do.”

“Good boy,” Warren said in a tired voice. “I'll be in touch in a few days.”

Warren clicked off and Kane sat staring at the floor for a long moment. He should've taken the time to visit more often. The random phone calls weren't enough. Guilt for not squeezing more time in with the people who mattered in his life kicked him swiftly in the ass, but there was no fixing what had been done, as Cora used to tell him. Now he had to find a way to get a hold of Laci.

He picked up his cell and called Rian.

Rian answered with an “I was just about to call you” and Kane broke in to deliver the bad news. Rian, just as stunned, took a long moment to recover. “Shit,” he muttered, his voice breaking. “I had a feeling this was going to go this way.”

“Yeah, I think in the back of my mind, I did, too, but I was hoping for something different. I thought maybe this treatment... I don't know, I guess I was hoping for a miracle.”

“Me, too.”

Kane relayed Warren's request and then also shared how conflicted he was about it. “Am I being a selfish prick?” he asked his brother.

“Naw, you're just hurting, man. That's all. But I think I can help you there. I have Laci's number.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I figured it might be a good idea to hold on to it. You never know when it might come in handy that you know a country-music star.”

He wasn't sure how well it sat with him that Rian had been holding on to Laci's number, but he had bigger fish to fry. “Give it to me,” he grumbled, and his cell phone chimed as the contact came through. “Funeral is sometime next week. Warren is busy taking care of the details of, you know, bringing her home.”

“God, that's rough. Okay, I'll clear my schedule.” He paused a beat, then asked, “You want me to call Laci and tell her the news?”

Kane scowled. Hell no. If the news would come from anyone, it would come from him. “I got this. You just handle your end. Have you found anything on that manager of hers?”

“Not really. I mean, aside from the fact that he's a dick. Not well liked in certain circles, but he seems to have a knack for turning out stars.”

That wasn't the news he'd been hoping for, but then, what had he expected Rian to find? That the guy was a wanted terrorist, living under an assumed name? “All right. Keep looking, you never know what might pop up. Hell, maybe he cheats on his taxes or something.”

Rian chuckled ruefully. “Yeah, okay. I'll see you in a few days.”

Kane clicked off and he stared at the text message with Laci's contact number. He supposed he ought to keep it short and sweet. Maybe he'd just send a text and let her decide whether or not she wanted to call back. But sending a text for something so personal seemed chickenshit, so in the end, he just punched in the numbers and held his breath.

One ring, two rings, three rings—voice mail.

Well, hell. He didn't want to leave that kind of message, either, so he clicked off. He'd try again later.

He yawned and pocketed his phone before turning off the lights in the house and climbing into bed.

The only good thing about working his ass off was that sleep came easily even if his brain didn't want to shut off.

He just didn't have a choice.

Thank God for small favors.