What Now? (29 page)

Stop
Nick.

His
eyes snapped up to Shari, almost sure that she had spoken, but her eyes were
closed and she was still in the throes of passion, breathing heavily. At his
hesitation she opened her eyes, looking dazed.

You
know it’s wrong. Stop now.

He
knew that voice, or he used to. He sat up and held his hands in his head. Oh
God! He had come so close to losing control and betraying Shari’s trust.

“Nick,
what’s the matter?”

“Shari,
I’m sorry. You had a lot to drink and I know it’s the alcohol talking. 
Tomorrow you would hate me and yourself if I let this go any further. I love
you too much to risk that.” He pecked her on the cheek and left the room.

Shari
touched her cheek as tears flooded her eyes and spilled over. Nick truly loved
her.

Thank
you, Father, for intervening and for sending me a man who truly loves me. I’ve
been so weak but I know that you still love me in my weakness. Thank you.

Nick
dropped his suitcase in the big living room of his suite and went in search of
the kitchenette. He lived close enough that he could have driven to and from
the hotel every day, but Brad and Lily wanted them to stay on property. In fact,
that was how he had bought his house in Brentwood. He’d been leaving the
retreat a couple of years ago when he’d seen a For Sale sign on a property
whose tree-covered driveway had looked interesting from the road. He’d called
the number of the realtor who had been able to show him the place right away
and the rest was history.

He
wasn’t really looking forward to the retreat for more reasons than one. The
biggest one was that all he could think about was Shari and all he could see in
his mind was her lying on the bed with the straps of her dress down her arms
and her eyes glazed with passion. He groaned out loud. Why had he stopped? He
wouldn’t be in this agony now if he’d ignored that voice. Who was he fooling?
He would be in another type of agony because Shari would probably never have
anything to do with him again if he’d taken advantage of her wine-induced
seduction.

The
second reason was that he didn’t know what he wanted to do that year. He hadn’t
had the time to sit down and consider the options. They’d just come off a world
tour so he knew what he didn’t want to do. What would Brad and Lily say if he
announced that he was taking a year off? So many people depended on him for a
living that he couldn’t just take a year off. But he didn’t want to tour and he
didn’t want to record the music that he’d been given to listen to. What did he
want? Maybe he could start with the cause he’d told Shari about.

He
opened a mini bottle of vodka and poured it into a glass with some pink
lemonade that he had found in the fridge. He brought his drink back to the
living room and was about to sit on the couch to enjoy it when he heard a persistent
knocking at the door. Couldn’t Lily give him a few minutes to himself? He had
gotten there later than he’d planned, but they weren’t due to meet for another
hour. Reluctantly, he got to his feet and headed for the door.

Pulling
it open, he was prepared to blast Lily, but the words were cut off by his
surprise. Standing outside was the woman that he had thought about earlier that
week; the one he’d felt so badly about. Seeing her on the other side of his
door was so unexpected that he was speechless for a minute. What the hell was
she doing there?

“Hello,
Nick Badley. Remember me? I’m Angel Bell.”

He
wondered how to answer. Maybe she had a gun in her bag and had waited three
years to take him out.

“Uh,
yes.” He paused to let her explain why she was there.

“I
need to talk to you for a minute about what happened before. Can I come in?” Don’t,
Nick. “Please. I really need to get this off my chest.”

She
looked so distraught that he didn’t have the heart to say no. “Sure, although I’m
meeting with the band soon.”

“Thanks.”

He
stood back to let her precede him into the living room. He followed her, unable
to avoid the long legs that were in his line of vision. She wore a short,
flirty-looking dress. Her hair was longer than he remembered, almost to her
back, and she wore quite a lot of make-up.

“I
know that this may seem really weird for me to turn up after all of these years,
but I remembered that you guys meet here every year and I have a friend at the
hotel who I asked to let me know when you checked in. I know he’s not supposed
to do that, but he knew that I really needed to talk to you.”

“So,
what’s so urgent?” The woman had tracked him down to talk to him. Was she a
stalker?

“I’ve
been doing some soul searching recently.” You and me both, thought Nick. “And I
know there are areas of my life that I need healing and closure in if I’m to
move on. I feel that I’ve been attracting a lot of negativity because of a lot
of negative energy in my life. Some of that is because of that incident with
you.” 

Nick
almost squirmed as he remembered it. He saw himself shouting at her to leave
him the hell alone and to find some other celebrity to –.  He couldn’t even
bring himself to repeat the vile and insulting word he’d used.

“I’m
really sorry about that,” he began.

“No.
I’m the one that’s sorry. I want to ask you to forgive me because I’ve hated you
for what you said for years. Now I realize that all that negative energy is
stopping the flow of positive things that the universe wants to send my way.”

“I
should be the one asking for your forgiveness, not the other way around.”

“I’ve
forgiven you and I need you to forgive me to complete the circle of forgiveness
so that I can begin to emit positive energy.”

Nick
didn’t know what she was on about, but he nodded and assured her that he had
forgiven her. To add to the discomfort he was already feeling, she grabbed his
hand and started to cry, thanking him for his compassion and his forgiveness.
He gently pulled his hand away and stood, encouraging her to do the same. Her
mascara had run all down her cheeks and the rest of her make-up was smeared.

“Thank
you so much. Do you mind if I wash my face before I go?”

“Sure,
there’s an in suite bathroom in the bedroom.”

She
pulled the strap of her bag back to her shoulder and headed for the bedroom
that was visible from the living room. Nick picked up his drink that she’d
interrupted to finish it. This was the weirdest thing ever.

Within
minutes she returned with her face freshly made up and wearing a bright red
lipstick.

“Thanks
so much for giving me your time. I know that you’re really famous now and
everything, but you’re a lot nicer than you were back then. You’ve obviously
changed as well. Can I give you a thank you hug?”

“Sure,
why not?” Nick opened his arms to Angel and invited hell into his life.

He
gave her a quick hug and pulled back to take her to the door. He was surprised
for the second time when she reached up and pulled his head down and kissed
him. Revulsion rose in him at her forced kiss and he pushed her away. She used
the opportunity to rip the top buttons of her dress open and ran to the door
which she yanked open and ran into the hallway screaming “Help!”

Nick
was shocked into immobility for a moment until he snapped back to reality and
ran after her.

“What
the hell are you doing?” He shouted at her as she grasped at an elderly man who
was waiting by the elevator.

“Help
me,” she begged the man. “He tried to rape me.”

Both Nick
and the man looked dazed; Nick, because he couldn’t believe what was happening;
and the man, because he found himself caught up in the drama.

The
lift opened and the man helped her in, glaring at Nick accusingly. Nick stood
there, not sure if to follow her or go back to his room and call Brad. In the
end, he decided to go back to his room.

He
was on the phone to Brad trying to explain what had happened when he was
interrupted by a sharp knock at the door. He wasn’t about to answer it in case
it was the psycho woman again. The words “Open up! This is the police.” caused
his heart to stop and restart at a dangerous speed.

“Brad,
you better get to my room. The police are at my door.”

“How
did they get there so fast? Don’t say anything, Nick, or it could be used against
you in a court of law.”

“Brad,
you’ve been watching too much TV. I’m not being arrested.”

Nick
opened the door to find two police officers and Angel Bell on the other side.

“The
cops are here,” he said into the phone before disconnecting the call.

“Are
you Nick Badley?”

“Yes.”

“This
woman has accused you of attempted rape.”

“What?
That’s absurd!”

“Was
she in your room earlier?”

“Yes,
but that was because –” he stopped, remembering what Brad had said.

“Have
you been drinking?” Where did that come from?

“I had
one drink when I got here.”

“We
understand that you have drugs here.”

“Drugs?”
His eyes swung to Angel Bell, who had the same vacant look that Shari had had
when Tim tried to rape her. For a split second he wondered if he’d had a black
out and really tried to rape her; she looked so convincing. Then he remembered
that she was an actress.

“Why
would I have drugs?”

“Are
you prepared to let us search the place?”

“If
you have a warrant.”

The
elevator opened to let out a harassed-looking Brad who sped down the hallway to
join the group at Nick’s door. He’d taken longer than he’d planned because he
had stopped to call their lawyer whose office was nearby. He said that he’d be
over as soon as possible.

“What’s
going on here?” demanded Brad.

“Who
are you, sir?”

“I’m
Nick Badley’s manager. What the hell is this about?”

“He
tried to rape me.” Angel spoke up for the first time since she’d come back.

“That’s
crap,” said Brad without hesitation.

“And
I saw drugs in his room.”

“What?”
Brad and Nick spoke at the same time.

“That’s
a lie!” Nick exclaimed. “Look for yourself. Brad, you know that I don’t do
drugs.”

“Nick
–” Brad started to caution him. Too late. The officers pushed their way in and headed
towards the bedroom followed by Angel, Nick and Brad.

“Do
you have a warrant?” Brad asked as the officers began to open drawers.  “Can’t
you see that the room hasn’t even been slept in yet?”

One
of the officers went into the bathroom and came out seconds later holding a small
packet of a white substance.

Nick
stared at it in disbelief. Not that it had been found, but that he had
foolishly allowed them to search his room without a warrant because he didn’t
consider that Angel Bell could have planted the cocaine to set him up.

“This
is a set up.”

“That’s
for your lawyer to prove. You have the right to remain silent…” Nick’s ears blocked
out the officer’s voice. “Stunned” was not the word to describe how he felt. “Numb”
might be more applicable.

The
officers escorted him down in the elevator, keeping him separated from his
accuser. It was probably just as well, before he added murder to the other
charges. Brad stayed behind to call their lawyer to say not to come but to arrange
bail instead.

When
they stepped out of the lift, people stared at him with blatant curiosity,
making him feel like a criminal. The automatic doors slid back and a barrage of
reporters began to snap photos and throw questions at him.

“Nick,
what happened?”

“Have
you been arrested?”

“Was
it drugs?”

“We
heard that you tried to rape the lady.”

Where
had they heard that and how did they get here so fast? In that moment Tim’s
words dropped into his head like a bomb: “If I’m going down, I’m taking you
with me.” He hadn’t taken him seriously even though Shari had told him not to
underestimate him.

Shari!
His parents! Hayley! He closed his eyes as the officer opened the door to put
him in the back of the police car and the reality of his situation set in.
Meanwhile, cameras snapped every single image of his downfall.

Nick
would never forget the humiliation of being photographed and charged at the police
station. He was in a state of shock and barely heard the words “possession of
cocaine and attempted rape”. His watch and wallet had been taken away and he
was shown to a cell. Officers passed by and looked in often as if he was on
display. He guessed it wasn’t often that a rock star got thrown into jail. He
felt angry and helpless. He hoped that Brad and their lawyer would soon get
there and get him out of that cell.

He
couldn’t believe that Tim would do this; after all, they’d played together in
the band for years. He’d noticed the change in him when the label decided to
drop the name of the band and promote him, but it wasn’t as if anyone earned
less money. If anything, they all began to really rake it in. Had he somehow
caused Tim to resent him? He wasn’t a saint. Hell, none of them were, but he
wasn’t a prima donna either. He didn’t insist on the best suites or anything.
If that was how it turned out, it wasn’t his doing.

He
ran his hands through his hair and stood up to pace. He couldn’t stand the
inactivity. He hoped that he wouldn’t have to spend the night in the cell. His
heart leapt in hope when he heard Brad’s voice and his lawyer’s in the
corridor.

“Hi,
Nick. How’re you doing? I’m here to arrange for bail.”

“Thanks,
Mike. I would really appreciate if I don’t have to spend the night in here.”

“He’s
a flight risk. They’re not going to go with bail.” That was from the arresting
officer who accompanied them.