I typed the name into the search engine and hit search.
“Oh shit,” I muttered.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit…
This was not good. Parker was literally going to hit the roof…
Shit the bed… throw alllll the toys out of the cot…
He was going to lose it big time.
“I’m not going to like it, am I?” he ground out through clenched teeth.
I shook my head and bit down on my lip.
I was scared to say the words – not because I feared Parker, but because I was terrified of his head exploding with all the rage.
“Take a deep breath,” I instructed. “And sit down.”
Somewhere along the line, he had jumped to his feet. His muscles were straining against his t-shirt and I couldn’t help but take a moment to appreciate just how damn fine this man really was.
I sighed, forgetting for a moment that we were in the middle of a semi-crisis.
“C’mon, Little Red, you can undress him later, tell us already,” Jasper drawled.
I blushed at being caught red handed and screwed up my nose – Parker still hadn’t sat back down.
“So, you know how you’ve had that shitty run with publicists…” I trailed off, leaving him to make the connection between the two things.
I saw the exact moment his brain put it together.
“Nelly?” Parker barked.
I nodded.
“That god damn bitch!” he roared. He flew across the room and into a rage. I was glad as hell that we were at my place and not his – if he were surrounded by his own shit right now, I had no doubt he’d be smashing it all up without a second thought.
At least he can’t do that here.
I sighed as my eyes followed his every step.
“I told him it was her,” Jasper stated as he watched Parker stomping around the room cursing and swearing.
“Oh Janelle… Nelly… I get it.” Hannah narrowed her eyes. “Man… what a biatch.”
“Doesn’t even cover it,” I seethed.
I leapt up off my chair when I saw Parker eyeing up the coffee table. He looked about ready to pick it up and throw it across the room.
“This isn’t an antique or anything, right?” he asked when I got closer.
“Don’t even think about it, rock star.”
He didn’t take his eyes off it, but he also made no move to toss it around either, so he’d obviously heard me.
He stood there, his breath heaving, his whole body near trembling with the exertion he was using to keep himself under control.
I approached him slowly – like he was some kind of wild animal I didn’t want to spook.
“Parker?” I asked quietly. “Are you okay?”
He laughed humourlessly. “That fucking bitch…” he muttered.
It was pretty clear he wasn’t up to talking just now, so instead, I wrapped my arms around him from behind and nuzzled my cheek against his back.
It took about ten minutes of standing silently with me holding him, for him to calm down and relax enough to speak.
He squeezed my hands. “Thank you,” he told me quietly as she turned in my arms and pulled me against him, holding me tight and breathing me in. “I just can’t believe she’d stoop that low,” he said after a few more moments of quiet contemplation.
“I can’t figure out why she would?” I wondered aloud.
He sighed. “I’m running the risk of sounding like an arrogant, cocky bastard here, but you’re aware I’m loaded, right? And famous and shit?”
I sniggered.
And he’s back…
Parker acted like a cocky bastard a lot in the public eye, but never with me – not unless he was doing it in that sexy way that he knew made me weak in the knees. But still, it was pretty sweet that he thought enough of it now to pre-warn me if he was about to say something douche-like.
“You think she’s after money?” I frowned. “But how would she get money from doing this?”
He thought about it for a moment. “Yeah I guess you’re right… unless someone paid her for the photo… but I don’t think Stephen would be that desperate…”
I huffed. “Stephen would be exactly that desperate.” I wiggled free of him and paced the room back and forth as I tried to think it through. “We’ve missed something… it just doesn’t add up – if she wanted money she would have come to you and demanded some kind of ransom for it, right?”
It just doesn’t make sense…
“I hate to say it, but I think we’ll need more help from Ty…”
“Maybe he heard we were dating?” Parker suggested. “He would hate that…”
It’s possible…
“But who is he out to get? Me or you?”
Truthfully, I didn’t give a shit anymore. Stephen’s life would be a mess by now – he’d got his karma. But Parker couldn’t let it go – I was quickly learning that he was a man that saw things through to the bitter end.
Parker growled deep in his throat and stalked over to where I was standing by the window. “Fuck him being out to get you, legs. He even takes a breath in the same air space as you and it’ll be his last.”
Goosebumps broke out on my skin at the sincerity of his vow.
I had no doubt whatsoever that he meant every word.
I blinked drowsily as I woke from a deep sleep. I reached for Parker, but he wasn’t there – the soft melody floating down the hall told me exactly where he’d got to.
I glanced around the darkened room, unsure of what exactly it was that had caused me to wake.
My mind drifted back to the dream I’d been having… right back to the statement Jasper had made earlier, and the end of the conversation I’d had with my brother.
There was something that had been nagging at my subconscious all evening, but I hadn’t been able to put my finger on it until now.
I lay in bed, listening to the soft strum of Parker’s guitar, he was singing quietly too – I couldn’t make out the words, but it sounded beautiful.
I swung my legs out of bed and threw on a sweatshirt of Parker’s that was draped over the chair in the corner. It came midway down my thighs so I decided to forgo pants.
I padded down the hallway; a soft light from Parker’s studio glowing ahead of me.
I approached slowly, hoping to have the chance to listen to him before he spotted me, or sensed me, or whatever it was that he did that seemed to make him aware of me whenever I was near.
My heart skipped a beat as I realized he was singing one of my songs – not the one he’d serenaded me with on stage, but another that he’d written around the same time. I knew I was the only person in the entire world that had heard this song. Even with his expert sneaking skills, Jasper still hadn’t managed to get his hands on it.
I slipped into the doorway and leant my head against the door frame as I took in the sight in front of me.
Parker was wearing only a pair of grey sweat pants, slung low on his hips – his back to the door where I stood. His head was bent low as his calloused fingers strummed at the familiar strings.
His voice glided effortlessly over the verse as he sung about me being the light in his darkened room.
Goosebumps broke out on my skin.
I’ll never get used to this.
I knew she was there the moment she stepped into the doorway. She hadn’t even made a sound, but I could tell she was watching me. For one thing, I could smell her – her perfume… her shampoo… whatever that smell that followed her everywhere was, it was just her, and I knew I’d recognise it anywhere.
But it was more than just the smell, I had this awareness of her – the connection we shared was something I’d never experienced before.
I finished the verse and stilled my hands. I sat silently for a moment – reworking a section in my mind.
When I was satisfied, I sat my guitar down. “Can’t sleep, legs?” I asked her without turning around.
I heard the whoosh o
f fabric as she padded lightly into the room. She came up behind me and wrapped her tiny arms around me, resting her chin on my shoulder.
“How’d you know I was there?” she murmured against my neck.
“My built-in ‘Charlotte radar’ buzzed.”
She giggled and the vibration of her laugh against the back of my body gave me tingles up and down my spine.
I loosened her arms and turned around on the stool I was sitting on to face her.
God she’s beautiful.
I’d never really understood the obsession some men had with seeing a woman wearing their shirt, or some other item of their clothing.
But now I get it.
Holy hell, did I understand it now. The sweatshirt of mine that Charlotte was wearing was more like a dress on her, and it was in no way a revealing outfit, but it was undoubtedly the sexiest I’d ever seen her look. Her hair was loose and wild, just the way I liked it, and her lips were pouty and full, swollen from the hours of attention I’d given them earlier tonight.
Sexy as hell.
I tugged her forward so she was seated in my lap, her legs straddling me. “You okay, baby? It’s not like you to be up at this hour.”
Where I could function off a few short hours sleep each night, Charlotte was like a grizzly bear if she got less than a solid seven. It wasn’t an exaggeration on my behalf either; both Charlotte and Hannah were sleepers. And for such a tiny little woman, my girl could be damn terrifying if anyone messed with her beauty rest.
“Well… there actually is something bothering me…” she confessed, as she nibbled on her bottom lip – what I’d quickly learned to be her nervous tell.
My heart sped up in my chest – my sense of panic rising in an instant. There was nothing in this world that scared me more than seeing uncertainty in her eyes.
She knew me well already. “It’s nothing bad,” she reassured me quickly, running her hands through my hair in calming strokes. “I probably should have realised sooner, but I didn’t…”
I looked into her beautiful blue eyes and waited as patiently as I could for whatever the question was that had caused the centre of my universe to lose sleep.
“Stephen.” She stated his name, her tone laced with repulsion. “You two have a history that has nothing to do with me… don’t you?”
I couldn’t help the small growl that escaped my lips at the mention of that bastard’s name.
I’d never told Charlotte about my encounter with her ex-boyfriend. I hadn’t wanted to upset her, and it wasn’t like it really mattered now anyway – she already knew he was a prick, so rehashing the past wasn’t going to achieve anything. He’d hurt her so much already, I hadn’t wanted to inflict any more pain by telling her about what I knew.
But here she was, asking me outright, when she knew I’d never ever lie to her. I’d made that very clear to her – that even when she asked difficult questions; I’d always give her my honesty.
I swept her hair back from her face and pushed it out of the way behind her shoulders.
“Yeah… we do,” I confirmed. “Do you want me to tell you about it?” I asked the question with warning in my tone – a not so subtle hint that she wouldn’t like what I was going to tell her.
She searched my eyes for a minute, squared her shoulders and nodded. “I want to know.”
Well alright…
I launched straight into it.
No point beating around the bush.
“It was about two, maybe three years ago,” I began. “There was this awards event; I was nominated for a few things, as were a ton of people in the industry. I took this model as my date, Casey, and she wanted to introduce me to the new photographer she’d been working with – I could tell she worshipped the ground he walked on, and by the time she finally got hold of him and introduced us, it was pretty obvious to me that she wanted a piece of him.”
“It was Stephen?” Charlotte questioned.
I nodded. “So, I shook his hand, watched him eye fuck my date, and then I headed for the bar... Casey stayed talking to him. I can clearly remember sipping on my scotch and watching them flirting from across the room.”
Charlotte frowned and I could tell she was trying to recall something in her mind.
“Anyway, next thing I see Stephen walk off towards the bathrooms, and no more than thirty seconds later, Casey glances around, before following after him.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes.
“Yeah… there were no prizes for guessing what they were going to get up to. And I wasn’t having it. I was pretty arrogant and full of myself back then, and having my date go off with another man was not something that was happening on my watch.”
Charlotte gasped in mock shock. “You? Arrogant? No… surely not.” She feigned surprise.
I chuckled.
“So, you followed?” Charlotte prompted, obviously keen to hear the rest of the story.
“You bet your ass I did.”
“And you fought over some model?” she asked with an eyebrow raised.
I shook my head.
I wish that was all it was.
“It took me a little while to find where they’d gone, and when I did, somebody else had already stumbled upon them. I’ll never forget what I heard that night, legs. I hadn’t realised before that moment, but he’d brought his own date with him that night.”
I shuddered at the thought of that poor girl, and also for Charlotte – no doubt Stephen had treated her just as poorly as he had treated his date.
“From what I can gather, she must have been coming back from the bathroom and she had stumbled across him getting his dick sucked by the stupid bimbo I’d brought along.”
I felt Charlotte tense in my arms.
“It was so fucked up, Charlotte. I heard him instruct Casey to carry on and he made his date watch.”
I was looking at the ground as I spoke. I was so ashamed of myself for not stepping in earlier than I had that night.
“I’ll never forget the way he spoke to that woman – his date… he told her—”
“You’ll watch her suck my dick and then maybe next time I give you the privilege, you’ll do a better job,” Charlotte cut in.
My eyes flicked up to meet hers in disbelief. Her beautiful eyes were full of tears. My blood ran cold.
It was her…
My mind flashed back to the moment, all those years ago. The minute I’d realized what the hell was happening, I’d snapped.
I’d screamed at Casey to get off her knees, and the tone of my voice must have told her I wasn’t messing around. She’d skulked out from the dark alcove, her face flushed red with embarrassment.
She’d tried to speak to me, but I’d silenced her with one look.
Stephen had stepped out a moment later, still zipping his fly like the arrogant fucker he was. He’d glanced back into the alcove and commanded the woman, who I now assumed had been Charlotte, to ‘stay’, like he was talking to some kind of dog.
I’d seen red. I couldn’t believe after what I’d just heard that he was still in control of her, and that she – whoever she was, was still listening to him and following his orders.
I couldn’t remember exactly what followed after that, I did remember calling out to the woman in hiding, telling her that I’d help her, and then I remembered punching the bastard when he’d lunged for me.
That was when Sammy arrived and damage control kicked in. I never got to see the woman and I’d accepted that I never would.
I looked at my girl and felt sick to my stomach.
“Oh fuck, Charlotte, please tell me that wasn’t you?”
She didn’t answer, but just burst into tears, giving me her answer without words.
I’ll kill him.
The rage I’d felt at the time was nothing compared to the all-consuming fury I felt right now, knowing that he’d treated this incredible woman like dirt.
The woman I love.
He was a bastard of the worst kind.
&nb
sp; I pulled her in close and rocked her. “Oh, babe, I’m so, so sorry,” I repeated the words over and over until her sobs slowed and stopped.
“Oh my god, it was you.” She looked up at me suddenly with wide eyes. “You’re the one who tried to save me.”
I nodded slowly, shame creeping in.
I should have saved her.
I could have done more that night… I should have gone back for her… and if I had, I would have met Charlotte then.
“You punched him in the face… you broke his nose.” She smiled. “You were my hero that night, Parker, even though I never saw your face… I didn’t know who it was that had tried to help me, but it gave me a confidence boost I desperately needed.”
“I can’t believe he didn’t tell you who it was,” I muttered in disbelief. I was sure he would have told anyone who’d listen what he thought of me.
She shook her head slowly. “He didn’t speak about it again. I think he was horrified that someone knew his dirty little secret.” She took a deep, steadying breath. “The next day he was so flustered that when he went to the hospital to get his nose looked at, he forgot to start up the security system like he normally did if he left me in the apartment alone. That was the day I finally got away, Parker… I called Hannah and she helped me get out.”
What. The. Fuck.
“He watched you on a security system?” I hissed, totally outraged.
She laughed humourlessly. “Of course he did. He had alerts set up on his phone so he’d know if I left a particular room, let alone attempted to leave the whole building,” she replied quietly. “It wasn’t that I was never allowed to leave, but he always made sure that he knew where I was going and when I’d be back – I never went anywhere unless him or his driver took me.”
Charlotte had talked to me about her time with Stephen before, but never to this extent – she’d clearly sheltered me from the whole truth, I had no idea things had been this bad for her.
If I had to guess, I would say she’d probably never told anybody absolutely everything that went on between them, and she probably never would.
“But you broke the pattern.” She smiled.
“Nah, I just broke his nose.” I smirked.
Paper, Scissors, Rock Page 19