by Abbi Glines
“You called him since we landed?” Mase asked as he leaned back and stretched his legs in front of him.
I quickly pulled out my phone and turned it on to call Daddy. It rang three times and went to voice mail again. “Still not answering,” I said.
“He’s an ass. I can’t believe we came out here to look for our forty-five-year-old father. This is ridiculous,” Mase grumbled.
I knew Mase didn’t respect Dad. He held him to the level of his stepfather and that was unfair. Dad was a rock star. He was a legend. His world was different. You had to take into account that if he wanted something, people fell all over themselves trying to give it to him.
“He’s still our father,” I said, trying not to get defensive. Grant reached over and squeezed my hand. It felt as if I had an ally. Someone who understood. No one really understood my life and choices, not even Mase. Just knowing that someone might felt . . . well, it felt freeing. As if I wasn’t alone.
“Yeah, he is. Lucky us,” Mase replied, staring out the window.
Grant’s hand tightened on me and he pulled me closer to him. I didn’t want to like this or need it. But right now I was giving in to it.
My phone rang, startling all of us, and I fumbled with it to see it was only Dean.
“Hello,” I said, hoping he was about to tell me Dad was back at the hotel.
“Have you landed?”
“Yes, we’re on our way to the hotel,” I replied.
“Has he answered any of your calls?”
There was something off in Dean’s voice. Did he know something?
“No . . . has he called you?” I asked.
Dean didn’t reply right away. I started to get worried.
“No, he hasn’t. But when you get here we need to talk about something before you go looking for him.”
That sounded as if he knew something. I didn’t like him being so secretive. It was only making me nervous. “Okay. I should be there in just a few minutes,” I replied, when I wanted to demand he tell me now what it was he knew.
“See you in a few, kid,” he said before he hung up.
I held the phone in my hand and stared at it a moment.
“You forgot to tell Dean you brought his other son with you,” Mase drawled.
I glared at him and Grant just chuckled. I was glad Mase wasn’t getting to Grant. That wasn’t something I wanted to think about right now. I was afraid I had a much bigger problem. The foreboding sound in Dean’s voice was all I could focus on at the moment. Something was wrong. He would tell me if something had happened to my daddy . . . wouldn’t he? I dropped the phone to my lap and placed a hand over my stomach. He had to be okay. He had to.
•
When we arrived at the Hard Rock, we were sent right up to the penthouse that Dean and Kiro always used. The rest of the band stayed in another one. Dean opened the door, a frown creasing his forehead. I studied him closely. He didn’t look like someone who was about to tell me my dad was dead. He just looked concerned.
“We need to talk,” he told me. I nodded, because I already knew this. I hadn’t said anything to Mase and Grant in the car because I wasn’t sure I could without choking up. I was scared. I hated to admit it but I was scared of losing Kiro.
Grant’s hand was suddenly in mine and Mase was at my other side, his hand holding my arm as if I needed support to stand.
“Is he alive?” Mase asked, and I realized he knew nothing but was reading the tension in the room, just like I was. Whatever it was, Dean needed to tell me, even if he didn’t want to.
Dean’s eyebrows shot up and then he realized how his words had sounded and an apologetic look crossed his face. “Hell, yes, he’s alive. I’m sorry, Harlow, I didn’t mean to scare you, sweetheart. Normally, when he does this and I know where he is, I don’t call you. I just deal with it. But when he ran this time I decided it was time you knew. You’re not a child anymore. Kiro still treats you like one but he needs you more than he realizes.” Dean paused and started pacing back and forth in front of us. He fisted and unfisted his hands at his side and stared at the floor.
Although I knew Dad was alive, I was now dealing with the fear of this big secret. Could he be sick? Was he hiding something like that from me?
“I don’t want to be the one to tell you—hell, he should have told you years ago. This isn’t right. But you need to know. I need you to know. I can’t deal with him anymore. I need help. You’re the only one that can help him, I’m afraid. It’s getting harder and harder to make him leave once he’s there.” Dean’s ramblings made no sense. He continued to pace the floor as if he could walk a hole through it to sink into. Whatever this secret was, it was bad. My knees started to feel weak.
Dean motioned to the sofa and waved his hand at it before running a hand through his hair. “You need to sit down,” he said.
Different scenarios began running through my head. My dad was in rehab, or he had a secret family I didn’t know about, or he was terminally ill. I let go of Grant’s hand and walked over to the sofa and sat down, never taking my eyes off Dean. Grant was right beside me. I wasn’t sure if I wanted anyone near me now. I started to feel smothered. Or my nerves were just making it hard for me to breathe.
“Didn’t expect to see you, Grant,” Dean said, acknowledging Grant.
I could see the look in Dean’s eyes, and I realized he knew exactly what had happened with those phone calls I never received. He didn’t approve of me and Grant, and that surprised me.
“Tell her whatever it is, Dean. She needs to hear it,” Grant replied.
Dean started to sit down then stood back up and ran his hands through his hair. “Damn, this ain’t gonna be easy,” he muttered and looked over at Mase.
“Get to it, Dean,” Mase demanded, taking a seat across from me. I was thankful he hadn’t sat down on the other side of me. I was having a hard time getting air.
Dean nodded, then looked at me. “You know the story of how your mother was in a car accident when you were a baby?”
I nodded. It was how she died. She had left me with Dad and gone to the store. A truck had run a red light and hit her. She died instantly. My grandmama had told me the story one day when I was old enough to ask. She never wanted to talk about it, though. She wouldn’t even look at me when she told me. I knew it was because losing her daughter had to hurt her. So I never asked her again. The fact that he was asking about my mother only made my anxiety worse. I gripped the edge of the sofa and tried to calm myself.
“She didn’t die in that car accident, honey. She was in a coma. For five years. Your dad refused to take her off life support, and one day she woke up. Except she didn’t remember anything. Not you, Kiro, or even her own name. She also couldn’t eat or drink or speak. And . . . she was paralyzed. The doctors soon realized she hadn’t just suffered memory loss; her brain was traumatized. She was no longer mentally complete. She would never be able to relearn simple things again. She would be stuck in this state for the rest of her life. She got very agitated when your dad tried to bring her home, and the doctors warned him that if he did take her the trauma could send her back into a coma, and she might never wake up. So he had to leave her there.”
I shot up off the sofa and walked away from everyone to the other side of the room. I couldn’t breathe. This wasn’t true. This was not true. It couldn’t be true. My grandmama would never lie to me. She wouldn’t do that. My mother was dead.
Grant was immediately beside me, his arm around my waist.
“I don’t believe you,” I said angrily, glaring at Dean. He was a liar. Why was he trying to hurt me like this?
“Holy shit,” Mase said, standing up and swinging his gaze from Dean to me. I could see it in his eyes. He believed Dean. Didn’t he know this was a lie?
“It’s time you saw her. I think you’re going to have to be the one to get him. He hates going on tour because he can’t see her when he wants to. She’s in the finest facility available in L.A. When we come to Vegas, he’s close enou
gh to run back and check on her. We have to leave the States from here and hit the U.K. He doesn’t want to leave her. He’s gonna need you to get him. We can’t go without him, and seeing her only upsets him more.”
I jerked away from Grant’s arm. I didn’t want anyone to touch me. I needed space to breathe. Once I managed to force oxygen into my lungs, I put both of my hands on the wall and closed my eyes. Could this be true? Mase thought it was. He didn’t have to say anything—it was all over his face. And Grant wasn’t calling Dean a liar. He had been there to comfort me.
How could that be hidden from me all my life? Wouldn’t my grandmama want to visit her daughter? There was no way. This made no sense. I didn’t look at Dean. I didn’t look at anyone. I stared at the wall in front of me and took a deep breath. “This isn’t possible. I would have figured it out. My grandmama would have wanted to visit her only child.” I wanted to yell at him and throw things, but I balled my hands into fists and focused on calming down. Let him explain that. Let him tell me my grandmama had gone the rest of her life without visiting her only daughter.
“Texas, Harlow. Your grandmother took you to Texas to stay with Mase,” Dean said quietly. His words were gentle, yet it felt like he had slammed his fist into my gut.
She . . . she was going to see my mother. Oh my god. I doubled over from the pain. She had never stayed in Texas with me. How could she lie to me? Why? Why? Didn’t they want me to see her, too? She was my mother.
I heard Mase and Grant both say my name but I shook my head. I didn’t want them to try and soothe me. There was no way to ease this pain. I turned to see them both moving toward me, and a scream bubbling to the surface broke free. “NO!” I didn’t want them near me. I held out both hands to keep them back. They both froze. I didn’t focus on the pain in Grant’s eyes and the sadness in Mase’s. This wasn’t about them. This was mine to deal with. Alone.
“Where is she?” I asked Dean, looking back at him. The fury and betrayal building inside me were solely focused on that man at the moment. He was the only one around that I could lash out at. He had known, yet he had let them lie to me.
“The limo will take you to her. Your father took it to L.A. The driver knows where to go,” Dean said, dropping his head and letting out a sigh. He hadn’t wanted to tell me. I should be thankful he had. But right now I had no room for thankfulness in my heart.
Grant started to walk toward me and so did Mase. “Stop. Both of you. Don’t come near me. I need to be alone. I want to go alone. Just stay,” I demanded. I didn’t wait for their response. I turned and headed for the door.
I had to get to that limo. If this was true, then it changed everything. My father had lied to me my entire life, and my grandmama. How could I trust anyone?
How could they keep my mother from me?
Grant
Ihad never felt this helpless. The door slammed behind Harlow as she fled the suite. She didn’t want me with her. She didn’t want Mase. She was just going alone. How the fuck was she supposed to deal with this alone?
I glared back at Dean. “I can’t believe this shit!” I roared, wanting to throw something. “You just blurted out that her mother was alive and in a special home with no preparation? What the fuck were you thinking?”
“What he said,” Mase said in an angry growl.
Dean sank down onto the chair behind him. “What was I supposed to do? Kiro won’t leave. When it finally dawned on me where he might be, I called the place and sure enough he was there. He said he wasn’t going on tour. He wasn’t leaving her that long. She gets anxious and difficult if too many days go by and he doesn’t come to see her. The doctors say she expects it. If she doesn’t see him then she gets upset.”
Fuck me.
I walked over to the windows overlooking Vegas. How did he survive this? Seeing the woman he obviously still loved, knowing she would never talk to him again? It seemed almost worse than death.
“Someone should have told her before now. She’s twenty years old! She’s been robbed of knowing her mother her entire life!” Mase sounded as if he was ready to put his fist through a wall.
“Kiro was afraid seeing her like that would upset Harlow, and Harlow would, in return, upset her mother. He does everything he can to protect Emily. The media have never gotten ahold of this story. No one knows about her but us. To everyone else, she’s simply dead. Kiro loves Harlow, but when it comes to protecting her mother he will do anything and everything. No matter the cost. Even denying Harlow the opportunity to see her. But you’re right. It’s past time someone told her. Kiro should have told her.”
I couldn’t just stand here and wait on her. I couldn’t be left to wonder if she was okay after meeting her mother for the first time. I looked back at both men. “I’m going.”
“What? You’re just leaving? What happens when she comes back? You not ready to face that?” Mase asked, glaring at me.
“I’m going to her. I’m not leaving her. Someone needs to be there when she meets her mother.”
Mase’s angry expression changed to one of respect. He nodded. “Good.”
I didn’t ask if he wanted to come. I didn’t want him to. Three was a fucking crowd.
Harlow
When I walked into the large white home, which could only be described as a mansion, I was met at the door by a lady in a nurse’s uniform. “Can I help you, Miss?” she asked, not allowing me to enter the building.
Apparently The Manor in the Hills was harder to get into than a military base. I had shown the man at the gate my ID and Social Security card. It had taken him ten minutes to make a phone call and discuss my information before opening the tall iron gates that surrounded the place.
“I’m Harlow Manning. My father is here . . . and . . . my mother,” I replied. Saying that my mother was here felt strange. I’d had plenty of time during the ride to process all of this. Part of me understood why Dad and Grandmama had done this, but the other part of me hated them for it. It was like being robbed of something you could never get back.
The lady used the mini iPad in her hand to type in something. I assumed it was my name. “I will need to see your ID, please.”
Again? Really? I pulled my wallet out of my purse and handed her my driver’s license. She looked from me to the picture several times then typed in the info from my card and waited. After what seemed like forever she finally stepped back.
“Regina,” she called for one of the ladies behind the desk. “Please take her to Mrs. Manning’s room. Mr. Manning is in there and he’s expecting her arrival.”
So my dad knew I was here. Good.
I followed Regina through an area that looked like the lobby of a five-star hotel. We stopped at the elevator and she pressed in a code. The doors opened and we stepped inside.
Regina then put in another code before locking her gaze on me. “Whatever you do, do not upset Mrs. Manning. Mr. Manning’s presence keeps her calm, but if at any time she feels threatened, she gets very agitated and we have to sedate her. Mr. Manning hates that.”
My heart was beating rapidly in my chest. I was nervous. I hadn’t been nervous until now. Knowing I was about to see my mother and that she would be this . . . person . . . not like the smiling woman in the pictures . . . unresponsive . . . Was I ready for this?
And my dad. The way everyone described him with her didn’t sound like him at all. Kiro Manning did not get emotional. He screwed girls my age and he drank too much. He didn’t sit by a woman’s bedside and take care of her. It was as if I had walked into another life.
The doors opened and I followed Regina into the hallway. There was only one door on this floor. I wasn’t surprised. Dad didn’t do normal. Regina walked up to the door and knocked twice, then waited.
When the door opened I saw my father standing there. His hair hadn’t been brushed in what looked like days, and he also hadn’t shaved. He was wearing one of his tight T-shirts and a pair of jeans that were too tight for the average forty-five-year-old man.
But he was Kiro. It was expected of him.
“Thank you, Regina. You may leave us,” he said in a defeated tone.
I just stood there and stared at him. I didn’t know this man. He looked like my dad but he also looked broken. I had never seen him look broken.
“I told her you were coming. I tell her about you every time I visit, so she knows about you. I think she’s excited to see you but I need you to be calm. Do not show emotion; it will upset her. Do not discuss this shit in front of her; she will get upset and I don’t want her fucking upset. I hate it when I can’t calm her. I hate those motherfuckers and their damn needles getting near her. So you stay calm. You keep your questions to yourself and we will talk where she can’t hear us. I know you’re angry; I can see it in your eyes. But understand me: no one upsets Emmy. No one. Not even you. I won’t allow it.”
The fierce, protective look in his eyes was something I had never seen. The emotion in my chest wasn’t something I wanted to examine right now. This was a side of my father I had never known.
“Okay,” I said simply.
He nodded and stepped back. I walked into the room and it was as elaborate as the rest of the place. A chandelier hung in the entrance. Tall windows straight ahead were framed with elaborate crown molding.
“This way,” he said as we walked past a tall, marble fireplace and white leather-tufted sofas that set off a seating area. We entered another room, and this time my attention wasn’t on the décor; my eyes fell on a sheet of long, dark hair, which looked as if it had just been brushed. It draped over the back of what I assumed was a wheelchair, though it was unlike any I’d ever seen; it was made of soft, tufted leather, though the wheels were unmistakable. It faced tall picture windows, which looked out over rolling hills and a stream that ran nearby.
My father walked over to her and picked up a brush that was sitting on a chair beside her. Had he been brushing her hair before I arrived?
“Emmy, sweetheart, remember I told you that Harlow was coming to visit? She’s a big girl now. She’s very excited to see you. I’ve brushed your hair and you look beautiful.”