We don’t work with much of a system, but everybody still ends up at the front of the formation at least once, and we practice lifts. It’s a relief to have my mind distracted for a while.
An hour and a half later we’re done with rehearsal and on our way outside. “Now Saturday can come,” Bryce says cheerfully.
I smile at him. “Yeah, true.”
The day after tomorrow we’re doing the next show, and then on Sunday it’s off to Miami.
“Are we going, Bryce?” Byron asks him.
“Sure.” He turns to me. “See you on Saturday, Lane.” Then he gives me a hug.
I return it briefly and tell Byron good-bye as well. The others have already left, which surprises me, but I’m not bothered. They walk over to Bryce’s car and I approach mine, unlocking it and slipping in behind the wheel. As soon as I start the motor and shift to drive, I realize something’s wrong with Tiffy. “Ugh, what now?” I get out again and check the tires. “Oh, shit!” I curse as I notice that both tires on the right side are flat. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Sighing, I get out my phone, wondering who I should call. Pax or Gavin? I’ll have to call Pax, since I’m going to be towed. Gavin probably doesn’t have two extra tires on hand.
All right, I’ll call Pax first and then Gavin.
“Hey, Laney,” he greets me as he takes the call.
“Hi . . . Listen, um, I have two flat tires . . . Could you tow me?”
“You or Tiffy?”
I grin. “This isn’t the best time for joking, Pax.”
“I’ll be right there, and I’ll also order the spare tires right away so I can put them on this Saturday.”
“Thanks, you’re the best.”
“Are you still at the Dance Academy?”
“Yeah . . . see you soon, Pax.”
“On my way.” He hangs up and I type in Gavin’s number.
“Hey, babe,” he murmurs.
“Hi . . . Listen, I won’t be able to come.” I grit my teeth as I hear him inhale with a hiss.
“Why not?”
“Strangely enough I have two flat tires, and I suspect someone took a knife to them,” I answer.
“Who would do such a thing?” he wants to know.
“No idea, but never mind . . . What I need is somebody to pick me up and take me home.”
“Where are you exactly?”
“I’ll send you the address,” I reply as I sit down in my car, locking the doors.
“Fine. See ya later, babe.”
“Thanks, hon,” I reply, hanging up to the sound of his quiet chuckling. Then I send him the exact location of the Dance Academy so he can come pick me up.
I turn on the radio and wait for one of them to appear. If Pax is here first, I hope he’ll wait for Gavin with me. Meanwhile I read the Facebook notifications.
If you don’t leave Gavin alone, it won’t be just your car next time. This is the last warning! My eyes widen. This is getting really scary. Hi Madeleine. I just wanted to tell you that you’re a great dancer. You and Gavin are the best ones on the show, and I hope you win. Hugs, Stacey. This message makes me smile. “Good thing the world isn’t just made up of haters,” I murmur. Ugly bitch! Leave him alone! My God, what have I done to those people? I didn’t choose to dance with him.
I don’t even click on the other unfriendly, even hateful messages that I can see on my feed anymore. All they probably are is empty threats. It would be ridiculously easy to sue those people, but I just want it to stop. Brooke always said not to feed the trolls. I won’t let them get me down, I’ll just have to sit through it. Once the show is over I’ll be of little interest again.
There’s a knock on my window and I look outside. Pax is smiling at me. It seems to be becoming a habit that he knocks on my window. I get out and give him a hug. “Thank God.”
He puts his arms around me in a helpless gesture. “Jeez, what’s up with you?”
“I’m honestly getting scared by this.”
“Then you should contact the police, Laney.”
“All their help always comes too late.”
“But then at least you tried. You could ask Gavin to post something about the bullying attacks. I just don’t want you to keep doing this to yourself.”
“I don’t want to get him involved in this.”
“Those sick fans of his got him involved.”
“I know, but . . . I don’t want him to worry.”
“I’m pretty sure he loves you, so let him worry about you as much as possible. If Gavin has any feelings for you at all, he’ll get the two of you through this and stand by you!” Paxton replies imploringly.
I draw away. “I don’t want to burden him with this.”
He sighs in resignation. “You’re really giving me a hard time, but in that case, I’ll have a talk with him.”
I shake my head so quickly I get dizzy. “No. Please, Pax, I don’t want him to know about this. He’s already stressing over the shit-throwing monkeys who are turning my timeline into a jungle. I don’t want him to know about these messages.” I gaze at him imploringly. “Please don’t tell him.”
Pax is thinking hard, I can tell. He always gets that little wrinkle between his brows. He observes me with his green eyes. “All right. I won’t tell him anything if you promise me you’ll act. If it gets any worse you go to the police, you understand me?”
“Loud and clear,” I reply.
“Right, and now I’ll take care of Tiffy,” he says.
I take my bags and driver’s license out of the car. “Would you mind waiting for Gavin with me?”
“Not at all. I was going to ask you anyway if I should give you a lift, but I’ll wait here with you if he’s picking you up.”
“Thanks, Pax.”
I watch him winch Tiffy onto the tow truck, thinking about the weekend. When we go to Miami I should leave my phone here, and I won’t log in to Facebook during that time, either.
As soon as my car is safely on the tow truck, I lean against it and look out at the street. I hope Gavin comes soon, since I’m pretty tired.
“When do you think he’ll be here?”
“Soon, hopefully.”
Pax offers me a sip of his Pepsi, but I decline with a smile. I’m so done with this day, all I want to do is to snuggle up under my covers.
“I think that’s him,” he says, pointing at a Mercedes.
The car pulls over next to us, and Gavin, clad in a hoodie and sunglasses, gets out. “Hey, sorry, Azer wanted a ride, too, and that’s why it took so long.” He approaches me and gives me a hug. “You OK?”
I nod curtly. “Yeah, I guess.”
Pax snorts next to me. “Because a knife in the tires is such a fun situation.”
I give him a withering look, which makes him act as though he’s sealing his lips with a zipper.
“We should probably worry about those knifed tires, Madeleine,” Gavin says, turning to me.
“All I want right now is to get home,” I reply quietly.
“I’d rather have you at my place tonight so I know you’re fine.”
“What about your friends?” I remind him.
“Azer knows, and he’s vowed to remain silent, and the other three are out. They’re only coming home late tonight, and we’ll already be in bed by then.”
“I still need to pick up a few things from my place.”
“We’d better drive straight to my place, then nobody will see us, just like you wanted.” He bends down to look me in the eye. “I can send one of my security people to the next shop to buy you clothes and things.”
“All right,” I give in, sighing.
Gavin gives me an especially long kiss on the lips. Only the click of a shutter makes us jump apart. I look around. “What was that?” I want to know.
“A camera, I suppose,” Pax answers, looking around as well. The next thing we hear is squealing tires.
“Oh, fantastic . . . Now everyone will know,” I groan, slumping against Gavin.
“A kiss isn’t so bad, is it?” he says.
“Maybe it was just a squirrel in a tree. Young people like to drive too fast here. Anything’s possible,” Pax chimes in. “Besides, you can’t tell that Gavin is Gavin.”
I look up at him. He’s clean shaven, no sign of that five o’clock shadow I love so much, and the aviators he’s wearing hide his unique eyes. “I hope you’re right.”
“Anyhow, I’d like to get going,” Gavin says, letting me go so I can say good-bye to Pax.
I hug my ex-boyfriend, who is now once again a close friend, and tell him good-bye with a whispered thank you. Then we get in the car. I sit in the backseat behind Gavin.
“Hey, Madeleine,” Azer greets me.
“Hi,” I reply. “Thanks for driving him here.”
“No problem, I was pretty sure anyway that there was something going on between the two of you, but I’m impressed how long you’ve kept it a secret.” He grins.
“Come on, drive,” Gavin grumbles.
“Yes, sir,” Azer teases him. He always seems to be in a good mood if he isn’t having a meltdown. He takes off.
Gavin reaches over and caresses my leg. “Who do you think did that to your tires?”
“I have a suspicion, but after all that happened I might just as well be wrong.” Although, after getting that message about how the next time it “won’t just be my car,” I’m probably right.
Azer clears his throat. “Might be the same people who started those shit-storms.”
“I do suspect them, but how should those people know where I rehearse?” I wonder.
“You wouldn’t believe how quickly someone obsessed can find that out,” he replies.
“Have you had similar experiences before?” I ask.
“Linden and Alexis have, the two of us and Mike luckily haven’t,” Gavin says.
A strange queasiness spreads through me. I feel like I want to throw up, but I can absolutely not give in to the urge. What if these people are hiding somewhere, waiting for us and wanting to go at it one on one? “Oh my God,” I murmur, hopefully too quietly for the others to hear.
“Maybe we should let Lane have one of our bodyguards,” Azer, who is sitting at the wheel, muses.
I raise one eyebrow skeptically. “Wouldn’t that be too much?”
“If those people have the audacity to tamper with your car, I’m sure it won’t be long before they attack you, babe,” Gavin answers grumpily.
“Would they do that?” My voice nearly cracks. OK, if I was scared before, I’m now having a legitimate panic attack.
As Azer pulls up at a red light, he gives Gavin a look. “Would you stop trying to scare your girlfriend like that?”
Gavin turns around to face me and looks past his seat. “You OK, babe?”
I nod hectically, even though nothing is OK, but I want to eliminate any worries they have for me before they can get any bigger. And to calm him, I give him a smile. I hope to God that he doesn’t notice how fake it is.
Gavin looks back at Azer. “See, she’s fine, but I’m honestly thinking about letting you have one of the bodyguards, Lane.”
I slide to the middle of the bench seat and lean forward so my face is between their seats. “That really isn’t necessary . . . They’ll leave me alone, and if they don’t, I’ll call the police.”
“They only help when it’s too late,” Azer grumbles. “The same thing happened with Madison.”
“Who’s . . . ?”
“My ex-girlfriend. She left me because my fans threatened and stalked her. They even broke into her apartment.”
“Oh my God.” I slump back and shut my eyes.
“Lane, if it were up to me, I wouldn’t let you out on the street alone anymore,” Gavin tells me.
“It’s going to be OK. Once we’re in Miami we’ll have our peace, and once we come back I’ll be staying in the city with Macey. Nobody’s going to find me here so quickly. The legal notice of my website and my Facebook page goes through my agency, which means nobody can just find my address like that,” I explain, slightly breathless.
“What if they follow you after a show or a rehearsal?” Azer presses.
“I take a taxi?”
“Which can be followed,” he says drily.
“Guys, I’m about to have a full-scale panic attack here. You’d think I couldn’t even get out of the car anymore because somebody’s pointing a rocket launcher at me.” I try to cover up my insecurity with a giggle. I find it sweet how much they’re worried for me, but I somehow doubt that those nut jobs who wrote to me would actually do something serious. It’s just a feeling, and my intuition has hardly ever failed me.
Now I’m sitting in Gavin’s bedroom, waiting for him to come back with the clothes one of his employees went to pick up for me. Because I’ve already taken a shower in the meantime, I’m wearing sweats that are way too big for me and a shirt I could probably fit in three times. His clothes smell like him even though he only just got them out of the closet. The shirt is funny. Princess Peach and Princess Daisy from the Super Mario Bros. games are on it, holding a green mushroom. Over the picture, there’s print reading 2 Girls, 1 Up! I sink back onto the bed and look up at the ceiling. I’ve never been in this room before, but it looks extremely kitschy. The interior designer was definitely female. One hundred percent. Everything is kept in pastel nuances, the ceiling is decorated with stucco, and the furniture looks like it just fell out of a fairy tale. You can tell this is definitely not the permanent residence of a boyband.
Chapter 13
“Come on, Lane. You don’t have to be scared,” Gavin encourages me as we approach the private jet.
“Hah, that’s what you think,” I gasp. I have a fear of flying, a pretty bad case, and I don’t want to get in this big metal contraption. I would have preferred to just stay here, but Gavin insisted I come with him and the guys. He wants to rehearse some more while we’re in Miami this coming week, in Coral Gables, to be exact. Linden has a house and a lot of friends there who were Thalia’s friends to begin with.
As we reach the plane, I stop short, refusing to let him drag me up the steps. “I seriously can’t get in there,” I whine.
“Babe,” he murmurs, laying both of his hands on my arms. “I promise nothing will happen to you. You get in there now, put on that seat belt, and immediately take your anxiety medication, all right? Everything is going to be fine.” Then he gives me a tender kiss.
I return it desperately, clinging to him. Gavin takes the chance and lifts me up into his arms, then he looks into my eyes. “If you won’t walk yourself, I’ll have to carry you in.”
“They’re going to notice,” I warn him.
“I’ve carried a few women into this plane, they won’t care,” he says, smiling at me.
I regard him with a pang of jealousy. “If you say so.” Unfortunately I can’t quite keep a bitchy tone out of my voice.
“Lane, I had a life before I met you and girlfriends before you, too, you have to deal with that.”
“I am,” I snap at him.
As we reach the door, he sets me down on my feet and looks at me emphatically. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I disappear into the plane and walk toward one of the window seats. Mike is in the one across from me.
“Bad mood?” he asks carefully.
“No, I’m just worried about letting this machine carry us to Miami,” I tell him.
“I haven’t had a chance to congratulate you for your great results yesterday.” He smiles.
Yesterday we got thirty-nine out of a possible total of forty points. The only flaw was that Gavin forgot a step once and stopped while I was turning. “Thanks, but that means now we have to work pretty hard to keep up the good score.”
“Oh, Gavin is going to work hard.”
“At what?” Gavin asks, turning up next to us and looking at Mike darkly.
“At keeping up your good scores from yesterday’s show.”
I
regard Mike. He’s nice, very good looking like the others, but a very quiet person. His hair is blond, sort of long—not long enough for a ponytail, though—and his eyes are a steely gray. His body is also muscular, but not as much as Gavin’s. Of all his friends, Gavin is the fittest by a long shot. He has wide shoulders, muscular arms, and abs to make any girl kneel.
I lean back and fasten my seat belt to demonstrate to him that I won’t be moving anytime soon. I’ll stay here with Mike and wait until my anger, or rather jealousy, boils down a little.
As the jet takes off half an hour later, I grip the armrests, squeezing my eyes tightly shut.
“Are you afraid of flying?” Mike suddenly asks, putting a hand on my knee.
I nod hectically, and I’m breathing so heavily that I can’t reply.
“Did you take your meds?” he inquires.
This time I shake my head. “No.”
“Shit!” There’s a short pause, and then he calls out, “Gavin!”
“What’s up?” he replies.
“Lane’s about to start hyperventilating.”
“Dammit!” Gavin curses, coming over to my side. He doesn’t seem to care that we haven’t reached thirty thousand feet yet. “Are you all right, Lane?”
I repeat the shake of my head. “No, and you . . . shouldn’t be . . . moving around yet.” My stammering escapes my mouth like shallow breathing.
“We’re at cruising altitude, the lamps turned off right before Mike called me.”
“Right.”
“I’ll bring you to one of the bunks, and there you can take a pill and try to sleep a little, OK?”
“OK,” I repeat after him.
He opens my seat belt and helps me up.
“You guys OK over there?” Alexis calls.
“Yeah, we’re fine!” Gavin replies as he carries me to the back of the plane. He brings me into a separate room and puts me down on the bed, but I refuse to let go of him. “All right?” he asks with worry in his voice.
“I think so,” I whisper.
“You need to let go of me if I’m supposed to look for your medication.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Should I lie down with you for a bit?”
Gavin: Pure Passion (Hamptons Book 1) Page 19