by Bev Dulson
‘Trine, T, we can fix this, it’s just a little fetish I’ve got, that’s all.’
‘You’ll be flying economy.’
She didn’t look back.
After walking out on Dean, Trina was in a yellow cab on her way to Logan International Music. Yet again she found herself completely oblivious to the world famous sites she was passing as the cab wound its way through the concrete forest. Dean would be in the air soon, on his way back home, wherever home now was. She certainly wasn’t prepared to live in the same house as him and she wasn’t the one in the wrong. He’d have to leave. What to tell the kids? What to tell their parents? They had been together for so long, nobody expected them not to be together, they were just Trina and Dean, Dean and Trine. OK, so things hadn’t been great between them, but she thought it was just a blip, you couldn’t spend twenty years with someone and expect it all to be hearts and flowers. This was more than a blip though, this was game over. He’d humiliated her, but she was damned if she was going to let him break her.
‘Here we are ma’am’.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Logan had called Magenta and Johnny to the office for an urgent meeting, he’d told them to go straight to the board room which was where he was waiting for them. This was a meeting that he wanted under the radar and certainly not in view of the rest of his office. He hoped he was doing the right thing; he couldn’t risk the safety of either of his star acts, both professionally and personally. He cared about them both, probably not the way some manager’s felt about their acts but he wasn’t like other managers.
Magenta was the first to arrive, along with Hunter. Logan didn’t mind Hunter being in on this, he could use his expertise and he also knew Hunter would never ever let anything happen to Magenta. In fact, Hunter was the secret weapon in all of this. The beefed up security would be visible but nobody would be expecting the skills Hunter had if they were stupid enough to try and take him on.
Placing her Kate Spade bag down on the shiny mahogany table, Magenta cut straight to the point. ‘What’s the emergency, Logan?’
‘Let’s just wait until Johnny gets here, I don’t want to be repeating myself.’
Glancing at her watch, she sighed. ‘We’ll be waiting all freakin’ day, this is still the middle of the night for our cock star and no doubt he’s busy with his cock.’
‘I’ve sent a car, he’s on his way.’
‘OK, whilst we’re waiting, what’s the latest on that Roxie girl, any closer to finding out how she got her hands on my song?’
‘I’ve got a PI on it. I’ll update you as soon as I know.’
‘You keep saying that, but nothing’s happening. Someone must know something.’
‘Relax babe,’ Hunter put his hand on her shoulder, massaging the tension out of it. ‘Logan will get to the bottom of it, some things just take time.’
She sighed again. ‘I know, it’s just pissin’ me off and messin’ with my vibe.’
Trina arrived next, laden down with Starbucks trays. ‘Not sure if anyone needed a drink, so I thought I’d just get a round in as there doesn’t seem to be any kettles around here.’
‘Magenta, that girl of yours is an absolute diamond; I might pinch her for myself.’
Magenta watched as Trina’s cheeks flushed pink. ‘Sorry, Logan, she’s been my best mate forever, she’s not going anywhere.’ She winked at Trine, she knew she must’ve had a rough night with Dean, she wanted to convey some solidarity to her friend.
Trine sat down at the large conference table and began passing the Starbucks cups out. ‘I got one for Johnny, but I imagine it’ll be cold before he gets here.’
‘Did I hear someone doubting my punctuality?’
Johnny’s presence filled the entire room. Trina was pretty sure, star quality was stamped on his arse, not that she wanted to check.
‘Unfashionably on time for a change, Johnny,’ Magenta began. ‘What happened, your latest conquest kick you out of bed.’
‘I was on my lonesome last night, I’m a reformed character. I’m looking for Miss Right.’
‘What, Miss Right now?’ Hunter couldn’t resist the dig; he was still annoyed with him for the stunt he’d pulled when he was on stage with Magenta.
‘Love isn’t just restricted to you two, despite what you think.’
‘Alright, you two, calm down, too much testosterone going on here,’ Magenta butted in.
Johnny reached down and took the cup from Trina’s hand, noticing the Jon boy scrawled on the side he grinned. ‘Thanks, Scouse,’ he winked at her. Trina saw Magenta’s face cloud over.
‘So, I’ve called you here for something quite sensitive.’
‘Magenta’s nipples?’
‘Seriously, Johnny, I am gonna spoil that pretty boy face of yours if you don’t shut the fuck up,’ Magenta glared at him, her hand on Hunter’s thigh as she felt him ready to pounce.
‘Ah sorry, you know I never know when to stop.’
‘Johnny, you’re going to have to learn one day, there’s only so far that rock star charm will get you before you end up on the wrong end of someone’s fist,’ Trina spoke quietly but with conviction.
‘You’re right, I don’t know when to stop being a jerk. Guess I’m forgetting that I don’t have to be Johnny Kidd rock star 24 7.’
‘Shit, she is good, never seen anyone deal with Johnny like that before and get him back in his box,’ Logan grinned defusing the situation.
Johnny held his hands up, his dark hair falling over his eyes as he bowed his head in defeat. ‘Sorry, boss. I’m all ears.’
Logan stood up. ‘OK, we’ve had a number of threats made against you both.’
‘What kinda threats?’ Hunter leaned forward, his body language instantly changing as he switched on to what Logan was saying.
‘Nothing too specific at the moment, but enough for us to need to ramp up your security.’
‘That doesn’t make sense, if it’s not an exact threat, why react?’
‘Johnny, it’s enough for us to be concerned.’
‘We get cranks all the time, on social media and all that, what’s different this time?’ Magenta asked.
‘I don’t want to go into the nature of the contents of the letters, I want you both concentrating on your job and let us do our job.’
Hunter’s ears pricked up. ‘Letters?’
‘Yep, real old school.’
‘You’re gonna tell me that the wording is cut out of newspapers aren’t you?’
Logan nodded at Hunter again.
Magenta felt Hunter tense alongside her. She turned her head towards him. ‘Babe, what is it? What does that mean?’
‘It means Logan’s right, this person is serious. Like you said, you get load of dickheads on Twitter and stuff being keyboard warriors and thinking their opinion matters, but that’s the whole point, they are hidden behind their keyboard and five minutes later their trolling someone else. With letters like this, it takes time and effort it’s specific and it’s targeted.’
‘Should we be worried? You said they are about me too, just me or the band?’
‘Just you and Magenta, so far, Johnny. I’m hoping our beefed up security will be the visual we need to get this scumbag to crawl back under the rock he came from.’
‘That’s it? That’s your master plan?’ Hunter was not impressed.
Logan shook his head. ‘No, I’ve got a PI on it, trying to find the source,’ he turned to Magenta. ‘That’s why it’s taking so long to get the background on Roxie, I need all the focus on these letters…’
‘You’re really taking the threat seriously aren’t you?’
‘Magenta, not only are you and Johnny my top acts, you’re also my friends, I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to either of you and I hadn’t tried to prevent it.’
‘Logan, I’m gonna need to see those letters.’
He turned back to Hunter. ‘I thought you might say that, they’re just with a forensic team, called in anot
her favour at NYPD. Oh that’s the other point, I have alerted them too. Although your security will be handling everything, I wanted them to be aware in case they came across anything or had any suspects, y’know those diehard fans who become stalkers.’
‘You think it’s a fan?’ Johnny asked.
Logan sighed. ‘My gut says no...’
‘What about the interview tonight?’
‘That goes ahead, business as usual. I wanted to get together this morning so you could meet with the additional security team. These will be your personal bodyguards; they have the highest level of clearance and will be at your beck and call twenty four hours a day.’
‘Hold on, I am more than capable of being Magenta’s personal bodyguard.’
‘Yeah, think you kinda already are, GI Joe,’ Johnny laughed.
‘Hunter, I know that you would never let any harm come to Magenta, it’s just an extra layer of defence, if anyone manages to get through the bodyguard, then they’ll be off guard and won’t be expecting the particular set of skills you’ve got.’
‘Hold on a minute, this is starting to sound like some Liam Neeson film. So, Magenta gets Kevin Costner over here,’ Johnny jerked his thumb in Hunter’s direction. ‘And an extra protection guy and I just get a standard issue bodyguard?’
‘Maybe go and find yourself a Wonder Woman girlfriend,’ Hunter shot back at him.
Johnny’s eyes subconsciously flickered over to Trina, it was a fleeting moment, picked up only by Trina who had been glued to the interaction between them all. She bowed her head, suddenly becoming interested in her iPad. When she lifted it back up again Johnny’s attention was back on Logan.
‘So, when do we get to meet our superheroes then?’
Logan pressed a button on the phone. ‘Marsha, can you send in Tango and Romeo please?’
‘Tango and Romeo? Are you freakin’ kidding me? You want me to take this seriously and I’m gonna be protected by someone with a name like that?’ Johnny was up out of his seat.
‘Sit down, Johnny. That’s their call signs, we don’t want their real names getting out, we don’t want them becoming a target either.’
Before Johnny could protest further, the door to the conference room opened and was filled by two guys who looked like they could break a door down with the flick of a finger. He’d never seen bodyguards like that before.
‘Ex Army.’
At first Johnny thought Hunter was asking a question, but then he realised it was a statement.
‘Shit, this is real, isn’t it?’
Logan looked at Johnny and just nodded.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Magenta and Johnny had been booked onto the James Corden show who was in New York doing a week of special shows Live from Broadway. James loved to sing so he was hoping to do something special with them both. Magenta had been looking forward to it, she’d been a huge fan of Gavin and Stacey, something she’d watched a lot of when she was with Max and had felt particularly homesick. Max hated it, which only made her watch it even more.
However, the meeting with Logan before had knocked the wind out of her sails. She’d had threats before during her career, but it had never reached the point of beefing up security. It was dredging up memories of the last time she was in danger, people ended up dead. She didn’t want to admit to herself, let alone Hunter that she was feeling scared. She wasn’t the type of person who scared easily, but she also wasn’t used to seeing dead bodies and it still haunted her in her dark, quiet moments. She couldn’t shift the feeling that Logan was hiding something. She knew Hunter felt it too, as they left the office earlier Hunter had practically ordered Logan to get the letters to him as soon as possible. Hunter had kicked into soldier mode, it was like his senses had been heightened. His hand was still holding hers, but it had become more of a grip, he was scanning every room they went into with an intense gaze. He’d even turned the music down in the green room they were currently in so he could hear over it, not that she minded, the DJ had just played the ‘outstanding debut’ from Roxie Meyers. It was outstanding alright; it just wasn’t Roxie’s song.
She downed a second Bacardi and diet coke, her nerves were shot tonight. Normally a bit of down time before a show and before she needed to get ready would be spent either on, against or under Hunter, but neither of them had sex on their mind, which was unusual, yes there was tension between them, but it wasn’t the usual smouldering sexual heat that blazed between them. Magenta stood up and paced the small room. ‘Bloody hell, babe, I’m getting cabin fever in this room. There are no windows, I need some air.’ She flung open the door to be met with the athletic bulk of Tango, her own personal bodyguard. ‘Shit, I forgot about you,’ she jumped back.
‘Sorry ma’am, it’s certainly not in my job description to scare you, the opposite in fact.’
She wasn’t sure if he was supposed to smile or be all serious, but he gave her a small smile, probably to try and put her at her ease. She was glad Tango had been assigned to her, when they met the two bodyguards earlier, Romeo, despite his romantic call sign had given her the absolute creeps.
‘Hey, it’s OK. Guess, I just gotta get used to having you around.’
‘I’ll try not to make a nuisance of myself, ma’am.’
‘Look, if we’re going to be working closely together, you better call me Magenta, everyone else does.’
He nodded, the tree trunk of his neck, looking like it was made of steel made his movements seem slow. She hoped he was faster in the field, she hoped she never had to find out.
‘Yes, ma’am...Magenta,’ now he flashed her a real smile. ‘About tonight, I’ll be with you the whole way, I’ll escort you to the stage and I’ll be at the side of the stage. I will be in direct eye contact with you and at any time you feel uncomfortable or you want to get off the stage, just give me the signal,’ he lifted his hand to his right ear lobe and rubbed it. ‘I’ll be on that stage and have you out of there before you even know it.’
‘Thanks, I appreciate that.’
She felt Hunter’s presence behind her. ‘Obviously, you’re aware that I’m ex-Army too, so I’ll be right by her side too.’
Tango nodded. ‘Of course, Sir.’
Hunter didn’t correct him and ask him to call him Hunter, right now he had this weird feeling of possessiveness towards Mags. She was his, he was hers, they looked out for each other, they didn’t need anyone else. He tried to push this feeling to one side. If there was a real threat to Magenta’s life, he should be grateful for any extra help. It took him back to the last time Magenta was in danger; he’d managed that situation on his own. He’d already explored that avenue, it might be the same person looking to finish what they started. He was fairly certain lightening wasn’t going to strike twice with that particular person.
Magenta reached for the Bacardi bottle and poured out the last few drops of the clear liquid. She held the bottle above her head. ‘Shit, it’s empty. I’ll need another one for after the show. Where the hell is Trina, I need her to find more Bacardi,’ she swung the bottle down by her legs, her other hand pushing her mane of rustic hair away from her face. ‘Ah fuck, I’m sounding like a right diva. This isn’t me. Hunter, what the hell’s happening to me?’
He took her in his arms, his strong grip providing a temporary shield to the world. He kissed the top of her head, the smell of her tropical shampoo invading his senses. ‘It’ll be OK, la, I promise. It’s just a shit time that’s all. You get on that stage tonight and be your usual sparkly self that everyone loves and show them that Magenta Valentina takes no shit.’
Unaware of her best friends’ diva strop, Trina was in Johnny’s green room. She hadn’t intended on being in here, but he’d hijacked her as she was on the way to Magenta’s room with more bottles of Bacardi and Fizz.
‘Hey, Scouse, I wanted to see if you were OK, y’know after all that shit with your husband?’
Trina was very aware of Romeo standing behind Johnny. She knew these bodyguards were
supposed to be looking out for Johnny and Magenta, but this one made her feel uncomfortable.
‘Err, I’d rather not talk about it in the hall.’
‘No probs,’ he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the green room, closing the door behind them. ‘Sorry, he’s a bit intense that Romeo dude, isn’t he? Kinda wish I’d got the other guy.’
Trina was on the back foot, she wasn’t expecting to be alone with Johnny. He acted like they were mates, and whilst she’d been grateful for him being a shoulder to lean on in at the hotel bar, it wasn’t about him. She’d just needed someone, anyone and he just happened to be there. She still couldn’t shake her initial thoughts that he was...what was he? Maybe that’s what troubled her, a rock star with an ego the size of a mountain and yet he could be incredibly caring and also someone who made her laugh, it didn’t match up. Who was he really?
‘Scouse, you look miles away? What happened?’
She felt his hand on her shoulder, it steadied her, her legs felt like she was all at sea. It grounded her, brought her back into the room.
‘Sorry, Johnny. It’s just been a long day...long night too.’
‘Please tell me you kicked that ass of a husband out, I know it’s not my place to say, but he doesn’t deserve you, Scouse.’
She swallowed hard. ‘Please don’t be kind to me, I’m struggling to hold it together as it is and Mags needs me to be on my game, especially with all this weird letter thing going on...and you don’t need to listen to my problems. I’m not being very professional am I?’
His hand had travelled down her arm and loosely squeezed her hand before he let go. ‘You don’t work for me, you can be whoever you want with me.’
She tilted her head to one side, her eyes scrutinising his face, taking in the rock star jet black hair, eyes the colour of a grey stormy sea and just as dangerous, she imagined some people thought…she pushed those thoughts far from her mind. ‘What about you, Johnny?’