by Tess Oliver
Begrudgingly, I climbed out from under the covers and walked over to my phone on the table. It was Duff. “Better be some kind of a big emergency,” I said.
“We need you to come back here. The band is going to have a meeting.”
I grunted. “Why another meeting? Tell Graham to ease up on the damn meetings.”
“This is without Graham. He went out to meet with some business acquaintances. Gives us an opportunity to talk without him. I think you’re going to want to be part of this one, Lennie.” There was a serious, almost grim, edge to his tone that made it clear I needed to get back to the beach house.
“Fine. I’ll be right there.”
Chapter 26
Dawson
Since Lenix had gotten called to a meeting, I decided to walk over and see how Megan was doing. I had a feeling she’d end up just being pissed at me about the whole thing. I met Aubrey just as she was walking out.
“Oh, I was just coming over to see you.”
“How’s Meg?”
She glanced back into the room but then stepped out and shut the door. “She’s been crying off and on. But to be honest, I think she’s sort of relieved. She told me there had been one or more incidences where she worried that Wyatt might become abusive. Better that she dropped him before things got ugly. It’s good you were there.”
“But what about when I’m not there? You work with the asshole.”
“Wyatt is top dog at the real estate firm. He’s not going to do anything to jeopardize that. We’ll be fine.” She patted my arm. “But Megan wants to drive back home tonight. Our apartment is just sixty miles away. She’s no longer in the vacation mode. I know you’ve got a few days before your plane leaves. I’d ask you to come home with us for those few days, but I know you’d go stir crazy in our apartment.” She paused and held back a big grin. “And then there’s this thing with Lenix Harlow. Holy moly, Dawson, when the heck did you meet her? And how the hell did someone like you end up seeing someone like her?”
“Thanks for your vote of confidence. We met on the plane. Actually, we met at the airport. Still trying to figure out how the hell it happened. But yeah, I think I’ll be sticking it out here for the last of my vacation. I’ll take a bus back to the airport.”
Aubrey shook her head. “My gosh, wait till they hear back home. Have you told anyone?”
“Nah. I think we’re kind of supposed to keep things under wraps. Her personal life gets too much attention as it is. We’re just having a good time getting to know each other.”
“I’ll bet.” She thumped me on the upper arm as if we were old beer drinking buddies. “You dawg, Dawz.”
“Cute. Hey, do you have any more food in there?” I patted my stomach and winked. “Worked up an appetite.”
“Ooh, yuck, as always—no details. Come on in. You can have the other half of my sandwich. But I’ll warn you, it’s on one of those healthy wheat rolls.”
Chapter 27
Lenix
I walked into the beach house. Axel was watching television. He pointed up the stairs without pulling his gaze from the screen. I headed up the steps and heard the guys talking in Brick’s bedroom.
I knocked. “It’s me.”
“Come in, Len, and shut the door.” Duff was still using that same steely tone, not unusual for Duff, but this one had a sharper edge. Something was up. I just hoped it didn’t have to do with me. I always seemed to be at the center of the meeting topics.
Rex and Brick were sitting on the edge of the bed, and Duff was across from them in a chair. I sat down on the second chair.
“Jeez, you guys look as if someone stole your bag of marbles. What’s up?”
Duff leaned forward and rested his forearms on his thighs. “We decided to meet because Graham had a business appointment in Los Angeles. It gives us a chance to talk without him hanging around. And Axel’s cool. He won’t mention the meeting. First of all, Rushton has been hyper-booking concerts for us all over the world. Looks like we’re spending winter in Europe. He doesn’t consult any of us at all anymore. He’s basically holding his thumb down on you, Lennie, as if he owns you.”
“You’re telling me everything that I already know. Now you guys are speaking up because he’s not here. Where were you last week when you were all pretending like I was the only person unhappy with the grueling schedule?”
Duff scrubbed his hair with his fingers. “We probably should have stuck up for you more. Our bad. But something new has come to our attention. Something that could eventually sever our ties with Rushton altogether.”
“Yeah, he’s been ripping us off,” Rex said angrily.
“What?” I looked at Duff. “How?”
“Boscoe, the accountant called me. He said he is worried that Rushton is siphoning money off the top, money that belongs to the band. He was supposed to be investing it in real estate and stocks, but Boscoe has some evidence that Graham’s been taking some cream off the top.”
“Is this for certain?”
Duff shook his head. “No, but Boscoe is looking into it. We’ll need evidence but—”
“We need to fire him,” Brick said sharply. “We need a new manager. We need to give Rushton the axe.”
It took me a second to find my voice, then it came out dry and shaky. “Maybe we’re being too rash about this. We don’t even know if he’s done anything wrong.”
Duff leaned back in the chair and looked at me. “Thought you’d be jumping around the room in a happy dance, Lennie. Instead you look a little freaked out. What the hell?”
“I’m not freaked. I’ll be relieved to see him go. It’s just—”
“Just what?” Brick asked. “Why does he have such a hold on you?”
Tears fell. None of the tears were for Graham, but the guys seemed to believe they were and I let them. For now. I’d never been honest with them, my only real friends and family. I’d never told them any details about the life I’d come from.
I stared down at my hands, which were now trembling. “You guys all have family. I have you guys and Graham and the big guy downstairs. And that’s it. It’ll just take some time to get used to the idea. Just give me some time.”
Rex leaned back on his elbows. “Not the reaction I expected.”
I got up. Suddenly, I needed to get out in the fresh air to clear my head and decide what to do. I knew I was going to have to work up the courage to tell the guys. If they fired Graham, the story, my dirty secret, would be in every headline.
“I’m going for a walk. I need to get my thoughts straight.” I headed quickly toward the door.
“Your thoughts straight or your panties?” Brick asked.
I turned around.
Brick crossed his arms importantly. “We all know you’ve been sneaking around with that guy from the airplane. Did you have that whole rendezvous planned, or did you just decide picking up some random guy on an airplane would be a wise decision?”
“This coming from the man who invites girls up to his room after a concert before even knowing how old they are,” I shot back.
“Yeah, Brick, shut up,” Duff snapped. “Lennie, go ahead and take your walk. If what the accountant suspects is true, then Graham is gone no matter what your thoughts are.”
I nodded and walked out. Axel looked up. “Where are you going?”
“On a walk. Alone,” I added before shutting the door behind me.
The late afternoon sky was dotted with puffy clouds. Most of the beach was empty. I walked onto the path and saw Jergen, the odd, little man, who followed me around with his camera like an annoying insect. Even on a news day like today, when everyone else had boarded planes to the east coast to cover the Hangar Four story, little Jergen was still there waiting to get a glimpse of Lenix Harlow. In truth, I felt sort of sorry for the man. He always looked nervous and underfed and ready to jump out of his skin. He’d seen me step onto the path and made a silly and pathetic dash around the corner of a house so that I wouldn’t see him.
> I tried to hold back a smile and pretend to be completely unaware of him as I strolled past.
Today’s news about Graham changed everything. It seemed certain that the guys were ready to cut ties with him. Once he no longer had to worry about the band’s success, he would quickly sell my story to the tabloid or entertainment show with the most lucrative offer.
I had to stop him. I needed to get a jump on the whole thing. Then we could fire Graham and move on with our careers. It would be up to the fans to decide if it mattered or not. It wouldn’t be easy telling the guys or telling Dawson, which I would have to do and soon. I wouldn’t want him to read it in a paper. With the horrible murder that had happened this week, my story would hopefully just be a blip on the entertainment radar. It was the right time for it.
I looked back. Jergen’s eyes popped open, and he slipped behind the house again. I turned and walked toward him. When he saw me coming, he started to scurry away.
“Hey, Jergen, wait. I just want to talk to you.”
He froze and turned around, holding his camera tightly as if I might snatch it away and break it. He was younger up close, with a tuft of red hair that matched mine in color. His nose had gotten a bad sunburn from hanging out on the beach.
I put out my hand. “Lenix Harlow, nice to finally talk to you.”
He stared nervously down at my hand, apparently trying to decide if my handshake was a trick. Reluctantly, he took my hand. For a man who had been watching me from behind a camera lens for a long time, he had a heck of a time looking me in the eye. I supposed he was waiting for me to chew him out.
“Would you mind walking with me, Jergen? Or what should I call you?”
“Parker,” he said quickly. “That’s my first name.”
“Great, and you can call me Lennie. That’s what friends call me, and we’ve been together for so long, I think we fall in the friend category.”
He nodded. It was easy to see that he was holding back a grin, only it was edged with a lot of nerves. He was, no doubt, still trying to figure out my motives.
“Parker, now from what I know about you, you are a freelance photographer but you write too. Is that right?”
“Yes, when I can get a scoop on something that interests the entertainment news world, then I write the article. Unfortunately, those scoops don’t come too easily for a freelancer like myself. Still trying to prove myself, I guess.”
“Well, Parker, I think I’ve got a scoop for you. It’ll be an exclusive story, so, if done right, this will be a chance to prove yourself.”
His eyes flickered with uncertainty. He glanced around as if he was still waiting for Axel to lumber out from behind a house and smash his camera.
“This is no joke, Parker. Are you up for it?”
He swallowed hard and clutched his camera in his hand. “Yes.”
“Great. Do you have a laptop nearby?”
“In my car.”
“Perfect. Let’s get started.”
Chapter 28
Dawson
Megan and Aubrey had not wasted any time packing up and leaving. If it hadn’t been for Lenix, I probably would have changed my flight too. I practically pounced on the door when Lenix knocked. Her earlier text had said that she had something kind of major happening, and she was bringing a bottle of wine so she could get plenty drunk and tell me all about it.
I opened the door. She lifted up a bottle of wine and in the other hand she held up a six pack of beer. “There is not a darn thing about you that says wine sipper,” she said as she brushed past me. “So I snatched a six pack from the fridge.”
She put the drinks on the table, turned around and pressed herself into my arms. It wasn’t her usual jump and cling and kiss-like-crazy greeting. There was an air of sadness around her. She stayed tucked against me for a long time without saying a word.
“Everything all right?”
“I guess. The world is just a little more lopsided than it was this morning. But I’m hoping it will right itself again. I came over because there’s a story that will probably be in the news soon, and I wanted to tell you first. However you feel about me afterward, I will completely understand. Just know, that I had the best darn time of my life with you.”
I reached for a beer. “I think I’m going to need this.”
She reached in her pocket and pulled out a corkscrew. “Kind of figured you wouldn’t have one handy. But could you open it? All I manage to do is obliterate the cork into tiny chunks without ever actually getting it free from the bottle.”
I worked at opening the bottle, and she settled on the end of the bed. “Are your sisters gone already?”
“Yeah. They took off about an hour ago. Megan seemed as if she was feeling all right. She’s better off without him. That’s for damn sure.”
“I’m glad she’s feeling better.”
I handed her a plastic cup of wine and sat down next to her on the bed with my beer.
Lenix leaned her head against my shoulder. “God, you have dreamy shoulders.” She sighed. “Dreamy everything.”
“Lennie, what’s going on? You know if there’s anything you need, anyone you need me to—”
“To scare off? Like Wyatt?” She lifted her head from my shoulder and peered up at me with those unforgettable jewel-toned eyes. “Trust me, that scene would not have ended as well if you hadn’t been standing there glowering at the guy. I almost had to give him kudos for staying with it so long.”
“Thought the same thing. Maybe he was stupider than he looked.”
She sipped her wine. “I don’t have any Wyatt types hanging around. Although I’ve dated my share of assholes. But that’s a whole other story. I came here tonight to tell you some stuff about my past, stuff that doesn’t exactly put a glowing halo around my head. It’s sordid enough that it might just affect the popularity of the band. Or, at least in my mind, it is. It’s always hard to know how the fans will react. I’ve relayed my story to a reporter to get a jump on Graham doing it.”
I scooted around to face her. “If you’re worried how it will affect my feelings about you, then there isn’t a damn thing you could tell me that would make me stop feeling the way I do.”
She reached up and fingered the stubble on my chin. “And how do you feel about me?”
“Let’s just say, I pace this stupid, fucking room like a caged animal when you’re not here. You’re all I can think about.”
“A caged animal?” She wrapped her arm around mine. “That probably shouldn’t turn me on, but it does. I can’t stop thinking about you either, Dawson. Just in case you were wondering.”
She kicked off her shoes. We scooted back on the bed and leaned against the propped up pillows. Lenix slugged back the last drops of wine and put the cup on the nightstand. I did the same with my beer. Outside the window, the blue sky was dulling to a gray dusk. The only sounds were the seagulls screeching overhead and the rolling waves.
“When I went back to the house,” Lenix started, “the guys were having a meeting. They’ve decided it’s time to get rid of Graham Rushton, our manager.”
“Is that good or bad?”
“Both, I guess. Graham has become somewhat of a controlling tyrant. Then there are some other concerns, but I won’t bore you with those. Graham and I go way back, before the band. He’s the one who introduced me to Brick, Rex and Duff. He’d heard me sing and thought I’d be a good match for the band.”
“He was definitely right. So, you feel a certain loyalty to him?”
She scooted closer and wrapped her arm around mine. “Yes, but that’s not why it’s hard to let him go. He’s changed a lot since then. He’s lost a lot of my trust and affection. But Graham pulled me from the depths of hell, for lack of a better phrase. He is the only person who knows just how far I’d sunk before I started with the band. And he’s used that knowledge to control me.”
“Blackmail?”
She nodded. “Yep, never thought of it in that term, but it was absolutely ment
al blackmail. I wanted nothing more than to forget about the past, but he was always there to remind me. He uses it to control me. If I don’t do as he asks, then he threatens to make sure my ugly past comes back to bite me in the butt.”
“Just can’t imagine how an amazing, beautiful, talented woman like you could have done anything that ugly.”
She fell silent and eyed the wine bottle across the way.
“Want me to pour you another glass?”
She took a long breath. “No, I just need to be out with it. It’s strange. It’s harder than I thought to tell you. Your opinion of me matters a lot. I told the guys earlier, and it was easier. And it is something that could affect their lives, the band.”
“How did they take it?”
“They were pretty understanding. They all knew I came from a less than desirable childhood.” She laughed softly. “Once they realized that Graham had been blackmailing me with the knowledge the whole time, they were really ready to send him packing. All along, I knew Graham wouldn’t tell anyone because he would never do anything to hurt the reputation of the band, his band. But when the guys told me they were going to fire him as manager, I knew I had to get it out there before him. I decided I’d be able to tell it from a personal perspective and that it might not sound as awful. Actually—” She hopped off the bed, walked over to the table and picked up the wine bottle. She took a few more sips and then scurried back to the bed.
She sat down next to me and took hold of my hand. “I told you about the day my mom died. As crappy as we had been living, never having enough money to eat or stay in a place for long, at least I had her. Until I didn’t. Her parents had kicked her out as soon as they’d discovered she was pregnant, and I never knew my father. Not even sure if my mom knew his name. I was completely alone after her death. I spent the next ten years bouncing around foster homes, just trying to survive the shitty hand I’d been dealt. Then, at sixteen, I ran away, no longer wanting to be part of a system that just didn’t seem to care about me.”