She grinned in satisfaction. “Yeah you did, rock star. And that broke the routine… you caught him off guard and he slipped up.”
She looked into my eyes and I could see overwhelming admiration shining in the blue pools. “You saved me, Parker.”
“You saved yourself,” I insisted.
She shook her head in disagreement. “If it weren’t for you…”
I didn’t even want to entertain the thought. I may not have been the one to actually save her, but clearly things had changed for her that night, and whether or not that was my doing didn’t matter. She’d got out.
“Don’t even think about it. It’s over, he’s gone and he’ll never hurt you again,” I promised her.
She pressed her face against my chest. “Thank you,” she murmured. “Just… thank you for caring about a stranger the way you did. You’re a good man.”
“I can’t believe that was you,” I murmured in disbelief.
“I can’t believe that you never figured it out… I was his girlfriend… you knew I’d been in a relationship with him around that time… I’m not sure why you never considered it.”
It was pretty stupid on my behalf, but when I looked at Charlotte, I didn’t see her as a victim, I saw a brave, beautiful woman that didn’t take any shit from anyone. I also never in a million years considered that the woman Stephen was treating like that was actually in a relationship with him. I’d naively let myself believe that she was just some girl he’d dragged along for the evening. Even when Charlotte had told me the time frames of her relationship, my slow, rocker brain still never made the connection.
And that’s not the girl I know…
“I don’t see you as the woman that dated a bastard, legs, I look at you and see my woman, the woman I love. You’ve got too much strength and sass to be that woman in the hallway, baby. You’re not her anymore.”
What I said must have been the right thing, because Charlotte cupped my face in her hands and kissed me softly.
“I’m sorry I didn’t make the connection,” I murmured against her mouth.
“It’s not important now,” she whispered back.
“If only I’d gone into that alcove and taken you away… I could have met you then…”
I could have had you all these years…
“That version of me couldn’t have handled you,” she teased as she kissed me again. “I was broken. I needed the time to become whole again.”
I knew what she was saying, but I still couldn’t shake the guilt.
If only…
I should have punched him harder.
I was so tightly wound right now. Making the discovery that it had been Charlotte that I’d heard being degraded like that made me feel like I needed to punch something all over again.
“You’ll watch her suck my dick…”
“…next time I give you the privilege…”
Bile rose in my throat as the thought hit me like a slap in the face.
Oh god… he didn’t… did he?
“Charlotte, babe, I need you to look at me.” I gently coaxed her chin up so she was looking into my eyes. “Did he ever… you know… force you to do anything?”
She shook her head gently and I felt a deep breath of relief exhale from my lungs.
I didn’t expect her to have anything more to say, so I was surprised when she spoke quietly.
“He never physically harmed me. He never hit me, or raped me or even touched me in any way that was inappropriate sexually… but he messed with my mind.” She sighed.
I could feel my hands shaking and I tried desperately to make them stop.
“He made me think I needed things that I didn’t, he could fool me into thinking he was genuine… that he was sorry… that things would be different…. and then he’d go back to treating me like shit right after he got what he wanted from me. So, no, he never forced me, but sometimes I think that the ability he had to somehow make me believe I wanted him, was nearly as bad.”
I held my girl close and made a promise to myself, that if I ever laid eyes on Stephen Miles again, I’d kill him.
“Legs?” I called into the bathroom where I could hear Charlotte brushing her teeth. I still couldn’t figure out why she brushed them before and after breakfast, but it was like what Jasper had told me – women were complex creatures, and sometimes it was best not to attempt to figure them out.
I heard her spit her toothpaste into the sink.
“Yeah?” she called back to me.
I fidgeted with my hands.
God I’m nervous.
I still don’t know what it was about Charlotte, but she had this unique ability to turn my insides to jelly.
She appeared in the doorway in her pyjama bottoms and a tank top.
“You’re sweating bullets.” She grinned triumphantly when she noticed how freaked out I was – she knew me like the back of her hand.
“I wanted to ask you something.” I patted the space beside me on the bed – indicating for her to join me. “If you could try not to give me shit for two minutes, I’d appreciate it.”
“I make no promises,” she teased as she sat down next to me.
I ran my hand through my hair. This was a big deal for me – it was a proper announcement to the world that she was mine and that she wasn’t going anywhere – even more than dragging her out on stage and singing to her.
“I wanted to know if… I dunno, I just thought it’d be cool if…” I rambled.
Charlotte blinked and waited patiently, apparently trying her hardest to refrain from giving me a hard time.
“Will you come to an interview with me today? It’s for some big shot magazine… I thought it’d be cool for the world to get a little insight into us… they’ll have their own photographer and everything...”
Charlotte smiled sweetly and squeezed my bicep – giving me my cue to stop rambling, if I had to guess.
“That’s so incredibly sweet, rock star, but I really don’t think that anybody cares about me or wants to see photos that I’m in – it’s all about you… you’re the one everybody wants a piece of.”
“I care,” I replied. “You’re important to me, I love you and I want everyone to know it.”
Charlotte blushed, the same way she did every time I gave her a compliment. The girl was seriously deluded when it came to seeing herself clearly.
“Please?” I begged, giving her the best puppy-dog expression I could. “It’d be the perfect distraction from all this shit we’ve got going on.”
“Alright,” she grumbled eventually. “But don’t expect me to get all chatty.”
I fist pumped the air.
I’m calling it a win.
“Let’s start with a nice easy one…” the reporter – Elizabeth, or Liz as she’d asked us to call her, began.
I glanced over my shoulder at Charlotte. She’d insisted upon lingering over by the window rather than sitting her sweet ass down on the seat that was set down right next to me – put there specifically for her.
She gestured with a smirk and a flick of her head that I should get back to my interview.
“She’s a little stubborn,” I told Liz with a grin, knowing full well that I’d get a rise out of Charlotte.
“That’s a bit rich coming from you,” Charlotte replied swiftly.
Liz smiled, her eyes flicking backwards and forwards between the two of us. “I’d love for you to join us, Charlotte… the whole world is dying to find out something, actually… anything about the woman who has finally tamed the untameable Parker,” she spoke across the room to Charlotte.
“No offence intended,” she added in my direction.
“None taken,” I assured her as I leaned back in my chair, crossing my feet at my ankles. There was no denying that Charlotte had been able to do what the world had decided was impossible. She’d sunk me.
There was no one out there that was like Charlotte. Heading to this very interview was the perfect example.
T
here had been a ton of paparazzi outside waiting for us when we’d pulled up. Sammy and several of his men had cleared us a path and held back the fifty or so fans that had also got wind of the appointment I had upstairs.
I’d expected Charlotte to shy away – put her head down and get it over with as quickly as possible – If she even got out of the car that was.
What I hadn’t expected was her to stop and talk to a few of the fans that had called her name – she’d even taken photos with a couple of them. And then when someone had played one of my songs on a portable speaker, I certainly hadn’t expected her to ask me to dance.
It was one of the most surreal moments of my life. I may have travelled nearly the entire world, and performed hundreds of times, but I’d never felt eyes on me the same way I had as Charlotte and I swayed in each other’s arms, in the centre of a footpath – surrounded by burly-looking security.
That was Charlotte for you – shy and reserved in one moment, and open and fearless in the next.
“I’ll buy you chocolate on the way home?” I bargained with her.
She narrowed her eyes at me as she weighed up her options.
“The good stuff with those little M&M things in it that I like?” she bartered.
I looked at her and then down at the seat. “Deal.”
“Your musical style isn’t really defined by one specific genre in the current market… how would you define your style?”
“Well, I’m not really sure… it’s just a bit of this and a bit of that. I just make music that I like.” I shrugged, knowing that my answer was a totally useless one.
Liz didn’t seem in the least bit deterred. “You’re right; you’ve shown us collaborations with rock, pop, folk, indie…”
“You know, it’s like what I told him once… he just doesn’t fit in any of the boxes,” Charlotte piped up helpfully, a shit-eating grin on her face.
I chuckled quietly but refrained from feeding her the same line I had a few months ago.
“Well I sure do my best to fit in your box, babe.”
Liz’s eyes flickered back and forth between us again, obviously aware that she was missing out on some private joke – I was waiting for her to begin her interrogation, like most of the reporters I’d ever dealt with would have, but to her credit she just smiled and looked back at her notes for the next question.
“Which musician would you describe as being your influences of this generation?”
“Personally, or musically?” I prompted.
“Whatever comes to mind,” she pressed.
I looked to Charlotte for help.
She eyed me up and down. “I’d say… you’re kind of an Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles, Adam Levine and Bruno Mars mash up.”
“Harry Styles?” I quizzed her.
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Definitely some Styles going on… he’s got that sexy rocker swag thing happening; especially now he’s out of 1D. And have you heard ‘Sweet Creature’? I think he might have channelled a bit of you for that one actually…” she mused.
“Well good for him,” I deadpanned. “But I don’t have ‘rocker swag’.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Well excuse me, Mr. Head-to-toe covered in tattoos.”
I chuckled.
“For a bit of old school, throw in some Van Morrison too,” she added in Liz’s direction.
“Love a bit of Van,” I agreed as I tapped out the beat to ‘Sweet Thing’ on my leg. I suddenly wished I had my guitar to strum the chords.
“Uh oh… you better start wrapping it up,” Charlotte told Liz. “He gets all twitchy when his hands aren’t busy.”
Liz laughed lightly and closed the folder in her lap. “I think I’m about done with you anyway, Mr. Sloan.”
“Parker,” I corrected her.
“Parker,” she amended with a satisfied smile.
She turned her attention to Charlotte. “If you don’t mind, I just have one question for you, Charlotte?”
“For me?” Charlotte balked. “What could you possibly want to know about me?”
“It’s actually a fan question… and well, they wanted me to ask Parker, but I think I’d rather hear your answer since you agreed to come,” Liz answered.
“Well you’ve piqued my interest now, so let’s hear it.” Charlotte crossed one leg over the other.
“Well as I’m sure you’re aware, every second woman seems to want a piece of your boyfriend.”
Charlotte let out a snort laugh. “I hadn’t noticed,” she replied, her voice filled with light-hearted sarcasm.
“Don’t forget about the men,” I added with a wink.
Liz laughed. “Well the question is… why you out of all the women in the world?”
What?
I jumped to Charlotte’s rescue. “I don’t think that’s really an appropriate qu—”
Charlotte interrupted me with a swat to my arm. “Oh, don’t be precious, it’s a fair question.”
Since when is she into sharing?
She ignored my perplexed expression and gestured for Liz to carry on.
Liz cleared her throat, now seemingly unsure of herself.
“Go on,” Charlotte encouraged.
“Well… what is it about you that’s different from every other woman that’s been vying for his attention for the past five years?”
Charlotte smiled. “Well that’s exactly it.”
Liz frowned. “What’s it?”
Charlotte giggled and looked at me with a smile. “I wasn’t vying for his attention.”
“Understatement of the century,” I mumbled under my breath, which got another giggle from my girl.
“Why does anybody end up with the person they’re with?” Charlotte looked back at Liz with a shrug. “People meet and fall in love everyday… this is no different. He’s just a person, like everyone else… and I’ve never seen him as anything more than that.”
“You know, Liz…” I cut in as I slung my arm around the back of Charlotte’s seat. “I think it’d be just as valid to ask… when there are all these other men in the world, why would she choose me?”
Liz smiled widely at me and I almost got the feeling that this whole thing had been a test, and I’d just gotten myself an ‘A’.
“Move in with me.”
I froze. This wasn’t the first time he’d spoken those words, but for some reason this time seemed different.
I think he expects an answer this time.
I flicked my eyes up to meet his and was confronted with the most sincere expression I’d ever seen.
“All this bullshit is behind us now… I don’t want to be alone anymore, not when I could be with you instead.”
All this bullshit was behind us.
Finally.
I’d called Ty again, for Parker’s sake. I hated seeing him so worked up. He hadn’t been sleeping well – he said he couldn’t rest when he didn’t know who was out to get us and why… and I couldn’t sleep if he couldn’t sleep.
Ty had done what he did best and hacked into both Nelly and Stephen’s computers for another snoop around.
It was actually rather frightening hearing what he’d found on Stephen’s end when he’d delved a little deeper.
The man was obsessed. He was worse than a stalker. The evidence was all laid out in black and white. But the weirdest bit was that it wasn’t me he had been keeping tabs on for years… it was Parker.
Creepy…
With the details from my brother in hand, we’d eventually come to the conclusion that Stephen had been biding his time to try and find something that could ruin Parker’s reputation. Some of the information he had stored on his computer suggested that he had much bigger plans in mind for him… but perhaps when the opportunity had arisen to make a fool out of both me and him together, he just hadn’t been able to resist.
Two birds with one stone…
Nelly had provided him with that opportunity. She’d given him everything.
Parker was absolutely fuming
to find out that she had been reporting back to Stephen for close to a year – they had some kind of fucked up little relationship going on.
Gross.
It appeared that Stephen had sought her out when he’d discovered her working for Parker, and manipulated her into giving him what he wanted. I almost felt sorry for her – she was another of Stephen’s victims in a way, but she’d dug her own grave, that bitch was as backhanded and dodgy as they came and I knew that Parker was going to take great pleasure in making her pay for betraying him.
Jasper had just been walking around mumbling about how he knew it was her and how he’d never trusted her in the first place – that part of this whole drama was actually quite amusing to watch.
Jasper had put in a complaint with the local police and had been told that they were taking the allegations seriously. We’d all been interviewed within the day, and Nelly had been charged with defamation. I had to laugh at how quickly they’d acted on our information – even cops seemed to bow down to the power and social standing of the famous Parker Sloan.
Tyler had tried to talk us out of bothering with the authorities, he’d assured me that he knew people who could ‘handle these kinds of things’. I hadn’t asked what that meant. I figured the less I knew, the better.
Stephen wasn’t in the country so there was little the police could do with charging him, but I wasn’t bothered, I knew he’d get his dues, courtesy of my brother.
Whatever that might be…
What I did know, was that Tyler had left an anonymous message on Stephen’s phone, claiming responsibility for destroying his finances, reputation, business and marriage, and warning him that if he made any attempt to threaten either Parker or I, in any way, that he would make him really understand the meaning of being ‘ruined’.
Let’s hope the warning has been heeded.
For now at least, there was nothing but radio silence from my ex. Stephen appeared to have skulked off into the darkness with his tail between his legs.
Parker had finally relaxed, but apparently relaxing meant that he was back to hounding me about living with him.
I wanted to.
I really do…
But I was scared. The last time I lived with a man, things turned out very, very bad for me.
Paper, Scissors, Rock Page 20