“My God …” Allexxiss whispered.
“Where did those come from?” Tabitha asked, shocked.
“They came from not sleeping for weeks on end,” Jordan answered from behind them.
Tabitha turned to see Jordan getting up from her chair. Her gold eyes were on Allexxiss.
“They came from drinking himself unconscious most nights,” Jordan continued, her eyes narrowing at Allexxiss. “They came from him not caring about his own well-being anymore,” Jordan said, her tone deepening in disgust.
“Jordan …” Tabitha said, shocked at the way the other woman was acting, and wanting to disagree with what she was saying. “I didn’t know any of this.”
“No,” Jordan said, shaking her head, her gold eyes falling on Tabitha, “because your dad hid it from you, just like he hid the depression for years. BJ’s real good at hiding things, he only lets you see what he wants you to see,” she said, her smile derisive. “It’s the artist in him.”
Allexxiss said nothing, knowing that Jordan was blaming her for Brenden’s condition, and unable to argue with the woman. Jordan looked at Allexxiss again, her eyes narrowing.
“You nailed him good,” Jordan said. “I’ll give you that.”
Allexxiss didn’t reply, unable to think of anything to say, other than that she was sorry, but she knew Jordan wouldn’t care. She could see it in the other woman’s eyes. She swallowed convulsively, then nodded, lowering her eyes from Jordan’s.
Jordan nodded, as if accepting Allexxiss surrender. Then she looked at Tabitha again.
“I’m going to go get some air,” Jordan told Tabitha, her tone indicating that the air in the room was foul now.
Tabitha nodded, not sure what to say right then either. She knew that Jordan loved her father, and that was the reason she was willing to attack Allexxiss. She couldn’t defend what her mother had done, but she wouldn’t join in the attack either. She respected that Jordan had a right to feel the way she did, knowing that she herself had felt that way for a while too.
Jordan left the room, closing the door quietly.
Allexxiss expelled her breath, shaking her head. “Not making any friends here, am I?”
“Jordan’s one of dad’s best friends,” Tabitha explained.
Allexxiss nodded. “And she’s saying this is my fault,” she said, “and she may be right.”
Tabitha nodded. “He was pretty hurt when you left.”
Allexxiss nodded again. “Believe me, Tabitha, I had no choice.”
“Why?” Tabitha asked.
Before Allexxiss could answer, Brenden stirred. Tabitha moved to his side, as Allexxiss stepped back, not wanting to upset him.
“Daddy?” Tabitha said, her eyes searching his face.
Brenden opened his eyes, staring straight ahead, obviously trying to correlate where he was. Then he looked at Tabitha.
“What happened?” he asked, his voice a hoarse whisper.
“You collapsed, Daddy,” she said, “you’re in the hospital.”
Brenden nodded slowly. It was obvious that even talking was making him tired.
“Rest, Daddy,” Tabitha said, brushing his hair back off his forehead. “I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
Brenden nodded wearily and closed his eyes again. He was asleep moments later.
Outside, Jordan walked down the hallway, meeting up with Devlin. He could see she was agitated.
“What’s up?” he asked.
Jordan shook her head. “I know she’s Tabbie’s mother and all,” she said, “but I’m sorry, I don’t want her here.”
“He loves her, Jord,” Devlin said.
“Yeah, but she’s no good for him, Dev,” she replied. “I’m not going to watch him self-destruct over her.”
“Maybe he won’t,” Devlin ventured.
“And maybe he will, Dev,” Jordan countered, narrowing her eyes at him. “You want to be the one to have to pick up the pieces? It will shatter Tabitha.”
Devlin grimaced. He knew she was right, but he also felt like Brenden had a right to a chance at being happy.
“Give it a chance, Jordan,” Devlin said.
“Do I have a choice?” she asked sourly, making a face. “She’s already here.”
Devlin grinned. “I want Beege to be happy, okay? So sue me.”
“Why can’t he fall for Pam Anderson, like all the other rockers in the world?” Jordan asked stubbornly.
Devlin wrinkled up his nose. “Would you want to deal with her?”
“Not really, no,” Jordan said.
“Besides, she’s not his type,” Devlin said, grinning. “He likes them with a brain.”
Jordan laughed shaking her head. “You are bad!” She grew serious then. “She’s going to hurt him again, Dev,” she said, her tone sure.
“And when she does, we’ll be there to pick him back up,” Devlin said, spreading his hands plaintively. “That’s what friends do.”
Jordan sighed, shaking her head. “One of these days, Devlin, one of us won’t be there to catch him when he falls. That scares me to death.”
Devlin nodded, his face grim. Then he looked at her. “Well, you could make a real go at a relationship with Beege,” he said.
Jordan stared at him for a long moment, shocked that he’d suggested such a thing.
She gave him a sour look. “You know it’s not that easy,” she told him.
“I know,” Devlin said, “so our option is that we’re there for him when he needs us.”
Jordan nodded, not looking happy about it.
Brenden opened his eyes slowly. His vision was hazy at first, then it cleared. He was stunned to see Allexxiss sitting in the chair next to his bed. He stared at her for a long moment before she even realized that he was awake. Looking down at him, she could read the suspicion in his light blue-green eyes.
So she wasn’t altogether surprised when he growled, “What are you doing here?”
She hesitated, not sure how to answer him.
“I was worried,” she said softly.
He looked back at her for a long moment, then gave a short sarcastic laugh, shaking his head, his lips twisted in a sardonic grin.
“You’re worried now?” he bit out.
She nodded, unable to come up with a reply.
“You should have been worried when you fuckin’ walked out on me, Allex. That just about did me in, this is nothing by comparison.”
Allex swallowed against the tears clogging her throat, she knew he might react this way. She knew that she’d hurt him by running off and leaving him. Now she was paying for that.
“Brenden, please, I’m sorry, you just have to know that I did what was best for you,” she said, her eyes begging him to understand without her having to explain.
“So why are you here now?” he asked, ignoring her words.
She hesitated then sighed. “Because I wanted to be here,” she answered simply.
“But even this isn’t for good, is it?” Brenden asked, his eyes narrowed.
Allexxiss swallowed convulsively, shaking her head slowly.
“Get out,” Brenden said quietly.
“Bren, please …” Allexxiss said, reaching out to touch his hand.
He yanked his hand away from her as if her touch would burn him.
“I said, get out,” he said, his voice stronger this time.
“Bren …” Allexxiss breathed, knowing she’d already lost.
“Get the fuck out Allex, now!” he yelled.
He was breathing heavily even as he yelled. Allex didn’t see it, she was too blind with tears as she made her way out of the room.
She ran into Tabitha, who was heading into her father’s room, having heard him yell.
“What happened?” Tabitha asked, worried something had happened to her father.
“I can’t,” Allexxiss said, shaking her head, tears flowing down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Tabbie, I just can’t. I have to go,” she said, pushing past Tabitha.
&nb
sp; “What happened?” Tabitha cried.
Allexxiss just shook her head, and walked quickly down the hallway. Tabitha looked at Devlin who was leaning against the wall.
“Goddamn him,” she muttered, turning to walk into the room.
“Tabitha, wait!” Devlin called, but she was already in the room.
“What did you do?” she yelled at Brenden. “Why can’t you just be happy for once? Why can’t you just let someone make you happy? What the hell is wrong with you!”
She didn’t see that he was gasping for breath, she was so angry at him. She didn’t see the way he was clenching the sheets in pain as he tried to breathe. She was blinded by her anger at him for running Allexxiss off.
“Why!” she screamed again.
“Tabitha! Stop!” Devlin yelled, grabbing her arm and shaking her, and gesturing to Brenden.
He let go of her, and strode around the bed, leaning down to put a hand on Brenden’s arm.
“Calm down, man, calm down,” Devlin said soothingly. He glanced up at a now shocked Tabitha. “Get a doctor or a nurse now!” he yelled at her.
She nodded and reached for the door, unable to take her eyes off her father. Terror hit her then, what had she just done? She ran down the hall, yelling for a nurse or a doctor. The nurse at the station stood up, and ran over to Tabitha.
“It’s my father, he can’t breathe!” she cried to the woman.
The nurse nodded, and went to a cupboard, grabbing a vile and a needle.
They both ran back to the room. Brenden was writhing on the bed by this time, his lips were actually blue, and Tabitha stood staring at her father, sure she’d just killed him. Devlin got out of the nurse’s way, walking over to stand behind Tabitha. He put his hands on her shoulders, and she leaned back against him heavily. He could feel her shaking.
After a few moments, Brenden’s breathing calmed, and it was obvious he had passed out. The doctor came in, asking what had happened.
“He was near respiratory arrest, doctor,” the nurse told him.
The doctor nodded, glancing at Tabitha and Devlin. He noted that the girl looked pale.
“Okay, no more visitors for now,” the doctor said, unsure what had happened.
He only knew that his patient had nearly died and he didn’t want any more outside influences affecting his recovery.
Devlin looked at the doctor, and saw what the man was thinking. He nodded his head, half agreeing with the man. There was way too much going on in this situation, and it was affecting Brenden’s healing. Turning Tabitha around, Devlin walked her out of the room.
She broke away from his hold
“I need to be alone for a bit, okay?” she said.
Devlin looked at her for a long moment, not sure if he was really keen on the idea of her being alone.
“Dev, I’ll be okay,” she said. “I just need to handle this, okay?”
He nodded. “Make sure you leave your cell on, and call me if you need me, okay?”
“I will,” she said.
She hugged him, and then turned and walked down the corridor. He watched her go, worried, but knowing that she needed to reconcile what had just happened.
Later that night, Devlin was at the hotel. He was worried sick about Tabitha, but when he’d called her she’d told him she was fine, that she’d meet him back at the hotel “soon.” At ten o’clock that evening, she knocked on his hotel room door. When he answered, she looked absolutely miserable. He opened his arms and she walked into them. He hugged her tightly, then walked her over to the couch and sat down with her.
“I don’t know what I was doing, Dev,” she said.
“You lost it, babe,” he said, shrugging. “We’re all stressed to the max right now, and you just lost it a little bit.”
“But, look what I did,” she said, sounding aghast at her own action.
“He’s okay, Tabbie. I just called and talked to the doctor, and he’s okay.”
“But,” she began, but his finger on her lips stopped her.
“No buts, Tabitha, he’s fine,” Devlin said. “Don’t forget, he’s the one who allowed himself to get this sick in the first place, because he’s too damned stubborn to let people into his pain.”
Tabitha took a deep breath, blowing it out in a sigh.
“Look,” Devlin said, “I’ve been thinking about it, and I think we need to cancel the rest of the tour.”
“Cancel it?” she repeated in surprise.
“Yeah,” Devlin said, “it’s been a serious bad luck tour so far and I think your dad’s really going to need the recovery time.”
Tabitha thought about it, then nodded. “I think you’re right.”
“We can reschedule the shows later, when everyone’s rested.”
“Okay,” she said, nodding.
“We’ll call everyone in the morning and let them know what we’re doing.”
“Okay,” she said, happy to have someone helping her make decisions.
Devlin was always the sensible, logical one. He was always the rock in the storm. She came to appreciate him more and more over the next few days. He handled everything, with her help. They worked as a team to let everyone know what was happening, contacting the promoters to let them know about the cancellations. Even setting up a press conference where Devlin made a statement that due to BJ Sparks’s condition, that they needed to postpone some concerts, but no they didn’t have reschedule dates just yet. He answered no questions, refusing to give them any indication of the nature of Brenden’s illness. He figured that was Brenden’s decision to make, not his.
Devlin was just walking into his hotel room to hear the phone in his room ringing. Picking it up he said, “Hello?”
“Mr. McGregor? This is the hotel operator, we have a call from an Angelica Benita, she says she needs to talk to you about Max, Allex’s husband?” The woman’s voice sounded mystified, but it was obvious to Devlin that this Angelica had given the woman enough information to get through to him.
“Go ahead and put her through,” Devlin said, figuring that if this was just a ploy of some reporter to talk to him he would just hang up. He sat down in the chair next to the phone and waited for it to click over.
“Mr. McGregor?” queried a female voice.
“Yes, this is Devlin McGregor, what can I do for you Ms. Benita?”
“I wanted to talk to you about your lead singer and my friend Allex.”
Devlin grinned. “Okay, Ms. Benita, what about?”
“Well, I know that Allex went to the hospital to see Mr. Sparks and that he ended up ordering her to leave …”
“Well, you gotta know that it was Allex who left first, Ms. Benita,” Devlin pointed out.
“I know that’s what it looked like,” Angelica said.
“Looked like?” Devlin replied. “She took off to Jamaica with her husband and didn’t say anything to BJ. He had to find out through the papers.”
“Mr. McGregor, she didn’t go with Max,” Angelica told him. “She told me she could have killed Max for letting the press think that. She even thinks he planted the story, especially about the baby.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes,” Angelica said, “she said if she’d been pregnant it would have been BJ’s because she hadn’t slept with Max in a long, long time.”
“That would be pretty dirty pool …” Devlin said, his mind already turning over the ramifications of this information.
“I know,” Angelica said. “She’s been very upset by everything having to do with Mr. Sparks.”
“So why did she leave him in the first place?” Devlin asked, trying to get to the heart of the matter. “If she’s still upset over their breaking up, why break up?”
“That’s the thing,” Angelica said. “She did it for him.”
“Huh?” Devlin asked dumbly.
“Her creep of a husband threatened to ruin BJ if she tried to leave him for BJ.”
“Ruin him?” Devlin repeated. “How?”
�
��I don’t know,” Angelica said, shaking her head. “She seemed to think that Max could get BJ fired from the label, or something.”
“Fired from his own label?” Devlin asked, grinning as he did.
“That’s what I didn’t get either,” Angelica said. “Can they fire him? Doesn’t he have a contract or something?”
“Ms. Benita, BJ owns the label,” Devlin said informatively
Angelica gasped. “He owns it?” she asked sounding truly shocked.
“Yeah, and the studios we, and his other artists record in,” Devlin said.
“Oh my God!” Angelica said. “I always thought that when everyone said, ‘BJ Sparks’s label,’ they meant the label he recorded his albums with, not that it was his own company.”
Devlin canted his head. “I’ll bet that’s what Allexxiss thinks too, then.”
“Probably,” Angelica agreed.
“So maybe we need to tell her that BJ can’t be fired.”
“Okay, but how else could Max Putnam ruin BJ?” Angelica asked, concerned.
“I don’t know,” Devlin said, “but I can find out. Thank you for the call, Ms. Benita.”
“I hope it helps somehow,” Angelica said, happy that she’d taken the chance to call him.
“You and me both.”
Devlin gave Angelica his cell phone number and took down hers so they could stay in touch.
♪ Six ♪
Four days after his collapse, Brenden lay in the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling.
“They’re releasing you,” Devlin told him as he walked into the room, “and I’ve got the plane here to take us home.”
Brenden nodded but didn’t anything.
Devlin looked at him for a long moment, having noticed that Brenden hadn’t said more than two words over the last two days. He wasn’t sure if it was depression or anger that kept Brenden silent.
Four hours later, they boarded Badlands’ Gulf Stream aircraft. Tabitha hung back, noting her father’s chilliness. It was hard to miss. Devlin glanced back at her and put his hand out to her. She took it gratefully and they got on the plane together. Brenden went straight to the lounge at the back. Devlin and Tabitha stayed up front in the seats there.
Sparks (Wild Irish Silence Book 1) Page 17