He roared a laugh as he shut the door, and I giggled to myself, feeling comfort with Jackson near me again.
We were able to get another quick round of therapy in that night, but I told him twice a day was not necessary anymore. His swelling remained minimal, his incision completely healed, and the compensating leg and back pain were under control. I felt great satisfaction with my job and his progress as we went to sleep. Now if only my love life could go this smoothly and according to plan.
Chapter 18
I was convinced we’d been in Ohio for an eternity when Saturday arrived. My excitement amplified, now that I felt like a real part of the tour group. Ric was right; too bad we couldn’t go ahead and add the song/dance into the show for Columbus. I didn’t leave the coach until Joe came to say Travis’s bus had departed for the arena to set up and rehearse. According to Johnny, Travis had tried to get to my bus that morning, requiring an escort to keep him away.
“He said he just wants to apologize,” Joe reported.
My jaw clenched in reaction, since I’d heard that before. I felt safe once we reached the arena because Joe stayed nearby, and there were people around constantly. I felt confident he wouldn’t make a scene if we did cross paths.
The stylists were back in town, and I hung out with the dancers while they got their makeup applied. Stacy and Annie had flown home during the week due to the long break and loved catching up on all the action they missed. They were in disbelief over the stories about Travis. Everyone had thought he was the saint of country music. I hushed the group and told them I didn’t want to get a bunch of rumors started, so we needed to keep it between us. Naturally, I knew there was no chance in hell of this, but I figured it was worth a try. At least I could ease my own guilt of talking behind his back.
Jackson knocked on the dressing room door close to show time. Annie let him in, astonishment on her face, because he’d never come to their room before a concert. I sat, swiveling in a makeup chair, with my knees tucked up to my chest when he strode in, looking dangerously handsome in a red button-down with black edging and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He leaned on the counter and set his crutch down as he wished everyone a good show, keeping his eyes on mine. They slowly cleared out of the room, as if it was his unspoken command.
When we were alone, he cocked his head. “Hey.”
I laughed at his casualness and mimicked, “Hey.”
“How are you? No sign of Travis, right?”
I nodded and he continued. “Well, I finally got a hold of upper management and told them Travis had some serious issues, and I would never work with him again. They claim since he’s not done anything punishable by law, they can’t pull him from the tour; he could sue them. I believe they think its silly drama, and of course, his manager testifies to his character. I agreed to let him finish out just the last show we have in two days in Cincinnati. Then he’s gone, anyway. Will you be okay with that?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I mean, the guy’s a creep, but people have to work with creeps all the time. We all know to keep our distance now.” I hated the subject, so I tried to rush on. “The better news: tomorrow is officially nine weeks post-op, and we get rid of your crutch. You can officially walk on two feet and have both arms free. You’ll still be in the boot, but, it’s going to feel awesome.”
He gave me The Grin and I relished the sight. “Yeah, a day to celebrate for sure. Well, I hear my cue,” he sighed as Travis’s last song ended and the sets began to change. “I figured I’d come in here for my good luck kiss so you wouldn’t have to be near the stage when he comes off.”
I pursed my lips at him. “Well, aren’t you presumptive … to believe I would give you a kiss before a show? Who do you take me for?”
I tried to keep a straight face but he chuckled at me. “It’s too late to be innocent now, Doc.” I blushed, because my mind immediately went to the night I so brazenly attacked him on my birthday.
I crossed the room to him and gently kissed his cheek. “Good luck kiss, Mr. Morgan. I’m going to lay low, but I’ll be watching.”
“Are you saying you actually enjoy my concert nowadays, Dr. Travis?”
“I most definitely do, Mr. Morgan. It’s barely recognizable from the show I first saw, for starters, but I’ve also become quite in awe of your talent.”
He was speechless for a moment, and then Joe banged on the door. He winked and headed out for his elevator ride into the spotlight, as I slumped back into my chair again. It didn’t escape me that our banter was oddly reminiscent of when we first started flirting and our friendship began to change.
Joe came to get me when Travis was secure in his dressing room, where he would stay until he joined Jack for the last song of the night. I found a spot hidden from view in the curtains with Andy, and we watched the show, both gazing out at people we adored. His face turned rosy red as he told me he and Kate had finally had a first kiss after their date at Luna. I was so happy for the two of them, I wanted to cry—or maybe I was just overemotional from a crazy week.
They played “This Love” again for the select song of the night, and it was now a polished, toe-tapping hit ready for release on the radio. I didn’t stay to hear the whole thing so I could hide in the lounge and miss Travis. The room began to fill up with crew, security, and VIPs, and then the band and dancers as well. I had staked out a couch with a bottle of wine for the girls, and we hung out while the crew drooled over a group of co-eds in mini-skirts. Travis appeared with a few of his band mates, but he remained near the door and didn’t attempt to come near me, so I nodded to Joe that it was okay. I did catch him staring at me several times with an eerie type of blank look. A glare would have been easier to accept.
He exited after an hour and Joe reported that Travis’s bus left for the RV park. The rest of us planned to stay on our buses at the arena overnight and leave for Cincinnati in the morning. I felt a release of tension as I realized he would be far away for the rest of the night. It called for two extra glasses of wine, and I soon felt a little too woozy. It was midnight when I wobbled over to Jackson. Even though a buxom redhead was vying for his attention, I leaned right over her and told him I was heading to the bus. He pulled me down to sit on his other side and turned his back to the now-fuming woman.
“Are you sure about once-a-day therapy, or should I come back with you for a session?” he asked in a serious tone.
I waved him off. “You’re doing so well, we can wait ‘til morning. We’ll have time on the drive, plus I’ll show you how to walk again.” I giggled at how silly it sounded.
“You’re tipsy, Doc.”
I nodded in agreement. “Yup, but, I’m fine. Just ready for bed. Have fun, just not too much.” I looked past him to the girl who was puffing with her arms crossed. I stood and swayed but steadied myself. “See you in the morning.”
He looked doubtful. “Alright, but Joe will walk you there.”
I tried to ease his mind. “Travis is gone for the night, and the bus is right out back.”
He still frowned and motioned to Joe, who walked me out two sets of doors and to the loading dock. The stage bus was parked closest, then the gray bus, and then the black, just behind it.
“I can see the bus, Joe, and I have my key right here.” I dangled it in front of him, where it hooked onto my VIP lanyard. “Go on back in.”
He shook his head and held my elbow to guide me down the steps, but then we heard a huge commotion inside and glass smashing. His eyebrows lifted in alarm, his movements conflicted. I literally pushed him back toward the door.
“Go!” I yelled, thinking Jack may need his help.
He ran back toward the lounge. I sighed and walked down eight steps to the ground and past the Dumpster, fumbling with the name card around my neck so I could detach the bus key. The sky was pitch black, and it vaguely occurred to me it must be overcast, because I couldn’t see a single star or the moon. The lights at the loading dock doors faded to a glow when I passed the gray bus. Th
e lanyard was stuck in my hair as I tried to pull it over my head, and I cursed the tangle of waves that captured it.
That’s when I heard a deep, ominous chuckle. I spun around, trying to find the source in the dark, while yanking at my pass, still hopelessly tangled. Travis stepped into the dim light between the gray and black buses.
Chapter 19
He stood partially hidden by shadows behind the large coach, and obscured from view of the loading dock. I gasped at the unexpected sight of him, and he laughed darkly again.
“Well, hello there, Ms. Travis. You would not believe the lengths I’ve had to go to, just to see you. You sicced your guard dogs on me after you trashed my reputation. I never got a chance to work things out face to face.” He glowered at me, unlike the blank stare from the lounge. The look exuded hatred and made me shrink away. The wine slowed my reaction, and it took me a minute too long to realize the kind of danger he presented.
He stepped closer but realized he would be in view of the dock, along with me, if he took another step, so he suddenly grabbed me and pulled me back into the shadows with him. It happened so fast, I never saw his movement coming until I was jerked off my feet.
“Help!” I screamed one time before his vice-like grip covered my mouth with bruising force.
“Shut up!” he seethed. “I just wanted to talk, to straighten this out. Now I can see it won’t work that way. You’re a bitch, just like my mother. All of the women in my life, all worthless. You make me sick!” He was spitting now as he lost control. His eyes turned wild as he grabbed my hair and made me look him in the face, just a few inches from mine.
I whimpered under his hand, and his mouth formed a cruel smile. “What? Am I hurting you?” He yanked on the lanyard, and I gave a smothered scream as a chunk of my hair tore loose along with the rope. He wound the thin rope around his hand so it pulled tight across my throat like a collar.
Oh my God, I had underestimated him. He was truly insane and he would kill me. Correction—he would try to kill me. Tears streamed down my face from the biting pain of the rope on my neck, the stinging in my scalp, and the pressure of his hand.
“What, the powerful Lexie is going to cry? I thought you called all the shots? You have everyone around here at your beck and call. You made all the girls believe I’m crazy, you made Jack try to fire me, and you have those big gorilla security guards following you as if you’re the star. But, you are not the star. I am the star. You should treat me like the god that I am! You should be flattered to have me making decisions for you on a date. You should be honored I wasted a single second of my life with you, but instead, you keep brushing me off, running from me. The nerve you have, you stupid whore.”
My eyes betrayed my fear, but I kept them trained on him as I struggled to think about my options to get away. He had such a hold on the rope, every way I tried to move, it dug into me with biting pain. Would it break if I fought hard enough, or would it strangle me? He shook me then, like a rag doll, and I tripped over my feet. Then, he picked me up off the ground and slammed my back into the gray bus. It knocked the breath out of me, and I gasped for air, flailing my arms so he had to let go of the either the rope or my mouth to defend himself. He chose my mouth, and as he grabbed my wrists into one of his big hands, I screamed bloody murder.
Now, he had to drop the rope and cover my mouth again as I violently swung my head side to side to elude him. As his hand got closer, I bit as hard as I could and tasted blood. He yelped loudly. I tried to scream again, but my breath was gone and only a faint sound came out.
He glared at me as he examined the bite and squeezed my fighting wrists harder, making me cry out. “Now you’ve asked for it, you little tease,” he yelled in whisper.
He reared back his bloody hand, and I fought to move, but was held against the bus with nowhere to go. It smashed against my cheek. An explosion of pain rippled through my cheek and eye. I tasted blood in my mouth and saw black for a moment. I had to focus to keep from fading away.
I could only see out of my right eye when I regained vision. He sneered at me with satisfaction. He kept my wrists prisoner with one hand, grabbed the lanyard again with the other, and pulled tight against my neck. He stood proudly over me, seemingly twice my size as he spit on the ground.
“Oh, what will you do now, Miss High and Mighty?”
He slammed my back against the bus with all of his force again, hitting my head with a sickening thud that made me gasp for air. I let my head roll down to my chest, trying to buy time, letting him think I was near passing out. In a stance of dominance, he stood with his feet spread far apart. I tried to gather strength from my battered body, knowing I had one chance.
We both heard voices, two men so far away they sounded like murmurs. The door to the dock slammed, and I prayed someone was walking this direction. It was just enough of a distraction to make him glance away, and I focused my strength. I planted on my left foot and drove my right knee up as fast and forcefully as I could to hit him square in the groin. With an anguished cry, he immediately let go of me as he doubled over.
I lunged away, trying to see in the dark with only one eye and pounding in my head. I heard a sound indicate someone was indeed moving toward us. My knees buckled as I tried to run from the shadows, and Travis grabbed my left ankle. We were both on the ground, and he panted for air but had a death grip on my leg. I kicked as hard as I could, trying to scoot back. My voice was barely a whisper, my lungs constricted, as I tried to scream for help over and over.
“What the hell?” There was a horrified yell and a huge object flew at Travis, tumbling to the ground.
The air turned into grunts and cussing sounds. I struggled to sit and saw Jackson had thrown himself onto Travis and now had him pinned to the ground, pummeling his face.
”I will kill you,” he screamed.
Travis moaned and tried to protect himself, barely muttering, “Screw that bitch.”
Enraged, Jackson stood and kicked Travis in his ribs with his cowboy boot repeatedly.
I fought shock as I registered this happening and called out weakly, “Jackson st—” He couldn’t hear me, so I crawled toward him on my knees, unable to stand. “Jack—” I cried, losing my voice again.
He suddenly turned to me. “Oh, God, Lexie. Are you okay? I was carried away, I left you there. Oh, God.” He ran the few steps to me and knelt down, pulling me onto his lap and tilting my face up. “Holy shit, he’s a dead man,” he said softly and then yelled back over toward Travis, who was writhing on the ground. “You’re a dead man!”
More voices filled the air, and the arena doors slammed shut. Jackson yelled, “I need help over here!”
A flurry of footsteps came toward us as Joe and Andy skidded to a halt. “Get his ass restrained,” Jack yelled to Joe and then to Andy, “Get the arena paramedics.”
I tried to protest that I was okay, but the black was taking over slowly with the throbbing in my head. Then it was all gone.
Chapter 20
First, there were voices, then a chill in the air. The ground was hard under my back. Slowly, the world came back to me as I struggled to open my eyes. My right eye succeeded, and I blinked up into a bright light and blurry faces around me. One voice sounded warm and familiar, like home. I focused on where it came from, ignoring the tight feeling around my left arm, and finally saw Jackson’s face. I tried to call to him but a pain stabbed me with the movement of my lips.
Jackson’s frown deepened as he leaned closer and gripped my right hand. “Lexie, can you hear me?”
The tightness released my left arm, and I reached up to brush my hand along his face. I cupped his cheek and ran my thumb over where his dimple should be. You’re here. I’m safe now.
I didn’t realize I actually said it aloud until he softly replied, “Of course I’m here; and not going anywhere. I’m so sorry.” His voice broke, and I saw the wetness in his eyes and felt mine well up in response.
“I’m okay, really,” I tried to say in
a stronger voice, wanting to ease his guilt. “Just a bit of headache—and what’s on my arm?”
“The paramedic took your blood pressure. You’re really banged up, baby. The ambulance is on its way.”
He said baby.
“No! I’m fine, really.”
I struggled to sit while a slew of voices urged me to lie back down. I looked around, noticing two young paramedics to my left, one male and one female. Andy was just behind Jackson with Charlie. I could hear Kate and Trina nearby in the crowd, where Joe and Johnny were demanding space. I shrugged them off and sat straight, pulling my knees up to my chest to balance. Everything hurt, from my head, cheek, eye, and lip, to my neck, my wrists, my back, and my right knee. The knee was the only part I could see, and it was a bloody mess where I scraped a layer of skin off when I fell.
I looked to the paramedics and asked them if I checked out okay. The guy gave a hesitant nod. “Your vitals are fine, but you have a nasty bump on your head and could use some x-rays.”
The girl promptly broke an ice pack and leaned over to hold it against the back of my head. It hurt like hell, and I tried not to flinch. Jackson knew my brave act and continued to rant that I would, of course, go to the hospital, and Travis would be hauled away in cuffs soon, too.
My eyes widened and I shook my head, wincing again. “Please, no big scenes. Please. I …we—I mean, what will happen to him? Jackson, it may just be my word against his.”
His anger rose and he seethed. “No way! Look at you. It’s pretty obvious what happened here. He can’t deny he hurt you like this. He needs to pay for this, Lexie.”
My head swam, but I felt like we needed to move slower, think about the situation. “You beat the crap out of him; he could press charges against you, too. What if he makes up a big lie? I don’t know. I just don’t want this to come back to hurt you. I sure don’t want to be in the papers and a courtroom for years to come.” I buried my head in my hands, unable to think of all the consequences that could arise in the future.
Muse: ( Groupie Volume 2 of 2) Page 11