“I ran away more times than I can count and was arrested for numerous crimes. Theft, breaking and entering, even…” His mom stopped and took a steadying breath. She set her hands down flat on the white wooden surface as her eyes filled to the brim with large tears. “Even prostitution.”
“Mom, you don’t have to do thi—” He reached out to cover her hand, but she pulled it away.
“No, I do have to do this.” Straightening her shoulders, she sniffed and continued. “I met your father when I was sixteen. He lived with two other guys and let me stay with him. He wasn’t always cruel. It didn’t start that way. He was just a party guy. He and the two guys he lived with were in a band and they thought for sure they would make it big.”
Chase looked at her like she was speaking a foreign language. His dad had never said anything about being a musician. In fact, he’d despised the fact that Chase loved music as much as he did.
A small smile crept up on her face. “Yeah, he was the lead singer and played guitar. He was good, too. He didn’t have what you have, but he was good.”
Chase was so confused. “Why didn’t he ever say anything?”
Sadness clouded his mom’s eyes once again. “After I got pregnant, he quit the band and said he was going to do right by me, by us. His childhood had actually been even worse than mine. His mom had a very bad drug addiction, and there were constantly unsavory men in and out of his house. He didn’t like to talk about it, but from the little bit he said, it was worse than you could imagine.”
Shaking her head slightly, she said, “I’m not telling you any of this to excuse his behavior. I just want you to know the truth. That’s all.”
Chase nodded.
“We moved here because he got a job at the glass plant. The first few years were okay. He had a temper, but he never took it out on us. We were able to buy this house and even started a little savings. Then the plant closed and he wasn’t able to find work. So when you were three, I started waitressing at the diner.
“That’s when everything started getting bad. He drank more and more. So much that I wouldn’t even leave him alone with you. I got babysitters for my shifts. He started getting paranoid that I was cheating on him. That I was going to leave him. After showing up and causing a scene at the diner, the owner let me go and said that I obviously needed to be home to be a better wife and mother.
“After that, your dad didn’t want me getting a job, and the worse our finances got, the worse he got. At first, he just hit me. I honestly never thought he would turn on you. The first time he did, I packed our stuff and tried to leave. He told me if I did, he’d find us and kill us.”
Her hand shook as she lifted her hand to wipe her eyes. “I was scared, Chase. I didn’t know what to do. There were so many times that I thought about just doing it. Leaving. But I didn’t know about places like the women’s shelter. I didn’t know where I would take you or who I could trust to help me. After getting fired and basically blamed for your dad’s behavior, I didn’t know if that was how everyone would treat me.”
“Mom, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” he said as tears filled his own eyes.
Standing, he pulled her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around him and cried into his shoulder.
After a few minutes, she sat back down. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about. I do. I am so sorry, Chase. I should have protected you. That was my job. To protect you. None of what I told you excuses my behavior, but just like I said about your dad, I wanted you to know the truth.”
“You did the best you could, Mom. Under circumstances that no one should have to suffer. I love you. And I am sorry. I’m sorry I stayed away so long even after Dad died.”
The same smile he’d seen on her face when she’d opened the door was back. “I’m just glad you’re here now. Which reminds me. How long do you think you’ll be staying?” she asked hopefully.
Shit.
This unexpected heart-to-heart had made him completely forget all about Marcus.
“Actually I have to fly out tomorrow morning.”
“Oh.” His mom’s face dropped in disappointment.
Chase shouldn’t be happy about that, but he was. It was so amazing to see his mom show how she truly felt and not try to cover it up.
“Remember how I told you that I had to go finish the album because my manager had signed some contracts with the record label on my behalf?”
His mom nodded.
“Well, it turns out he did a lot more than just obligate me to finish an album. After officially terminating him yesterday, my lawyer uncovered that over the past two weeks he’d booked a forty-city US tour that kicks off tomorrow night in Atlanta.”
“Why? Why would he do that?” His mom shook her head in disbelief.
“That’s where the money is. It’s in ticket sales. He must have known that I was going to be firing him and he tried to squeeze every last dime out of me that he could. If he booked the tour, then he gets a piece of it.”
“But you didn’t even know anything about it. How can he do that?”
“As a band, we gave him power of attorney to deal with clerical stuff. I did the same thing once I went solo.” Chase shrugged. Hindsight was twenty-twenty, but he still felt like an idiot.
“That sucks,” his mom said.
“Yep, that about sums it up.”
“Does Krista know?”
Chase shook his head. “No. I just found out in the car on the way here from the photo shoot.”
His mom covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes widening. “Oh no. And then I lay all this stuff on you. I should have asked if it was a good time.”
“No, Mom. Don’t. It was a good time. I needed to hear that. I love you so much, and I am so proud of everything you’re doing to make a fresh start. It’s inspiring. Really.”
They sat for a while drinking tea and talked about his mom’s plans to get her GED and then go to college to get a degree in social work. She wanted to try and make the system that had failed her better for other kids.
He couldn’t be happier for her. And after hearing all that she’d told him about her and his dad’s childhoods, any lingering anger that he had been holding on to, was gone.
Now, he just needed to convince Krista that they could be together long distance for the next six months while he was on the road and then maybe the knot that had formed in his gut from the conversation with his lawyer would go away.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Fidgeting. She was actually fidgeting. Krista Sloan was not a fidgeter—all evidence to the contrary!
She was backstage, alone in the green room, and she just couldn’t bring herself to stand still. Tonight had been a rude awakening of just what Chase’s life was like on a regular basis. He’d told her last week that he had scheduled a photo shoot and interview the same day as the benefit to bring awareness to the shelter and shelters just like it across America. One interview with Hits magazine had somehow turned into more press swarming on the event than she’d even known existed.
Never in her life had she seen grown adult people behave the way the paparazzi were. They were screaming, pushing, clawing their way to try to get closer to him and he was standing right in front of them on the red carpet.
Luckily, her cousin Seth had suggested that he provide security for the event. When he’d first brought it up, Krista’s instinct was to decline the offer. She really had not thought it was necessary. But since he’d been offering the services of Elite Protection pro bono, she’d decided to take him up on it. Thank God!
Paparazzi were not the only people outside. It seemed that news had broken that Chase Malone would be performing tonight, and the entire block of Riverside East was flooded with fans wanting to catch a glimpse of him. Police now had roadblocks and barriers up, but it had taken some doing to get some semblance of order.
When Krista had arrived and seen what a crazy scene it was, she’d felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. Then, as she’d st
ood off to the side and watched Chase walk the red carpet, she’d felt even more off balance. Hundreds of flashes were going off simultaneously as he stood and posed then did random interviews with entertainment news teams who had also set up camp earlier today in front of the venue. The entire time, he seemed totally at ease. Not shaken in the least. Which, she guessed, made sense considering he had been doing this for so long.
She didn’t think she could ever get used to it. Nor did she want to. Part of Krista’s fight or flight was starting to kick in big time, but she kept hearing her mom’s words in the back of her head. “If it’s real love, then it’s beyond worth it.”
Krista loved Chase. That was a fact. And she knew now that it was real love. Not that she’d ever had any doubt, but if she’d had doubts, these past few weeks would have squashed them like a bug flying into the windshield of a car going ninety miles per hour.
The door to the green room squeaked as the knob turned, sending her heart into flutter overdrive. All night, she’d just wanted a moment to say hi to Chase. She needed to look into his eyes. To see him. The real him. She was hoping it would give her an anchor to hold on to in these choppy waters she was treading in, barely keeping her head above the surface.
Unfortunately, no matter how many times she’d attempted to make that happen, she’d failed. It seemed that she just couldn’t get near him. So many people wanted his attention. He was being pulled from one introduction to the next. She’d watched his facial expressions to see if she’d picked up on any tension or stress, and it surprised her to say that she hadn’t. Just like on the red carpet, Chase seemed totally at ease.
The door swung totally open. “Got it,” Tully said into an earpiece as he entered the room. Without Chase.
Krista tried to quickly mask her disappointment by putting on a smile. It wasn’t Tully’s fault that he wasn’t Chase. He was just doing his job and, from what Krista had observed, doing it really well. Tully always seemed to be one step ahead of whatever Chase needed.
“Hey, Krista,” Tully greeted her as he speed-walked across the room.
“Hey, Tully,” Krista smiled.
“Okay, so every night before a show, Chase spends an hour or so alone in the green room to get his head on straight and tuned in.”
Krista looked at the small round clock hanging on the opposite wall. It read seven thirty. Chase went on in one hour at eight thirty. So that meant Krista needed to go. She tried not to be frustrated. This was his job. She got it. She’d asked him to leave when she’d been working with Abby.
It did tick her off a little bit though that she’d been escorted back here, per Chase’s request, almost half an hour ago and now she had to leave before she even saw him. She wasn’t some groupie who was hanging out so she could try and hook up with him. He’d had Tully bring her here. She hadn’t asked to come back here.
“Okay,” she said, heading towards the door.
“Where are you going?” Tully asked, sounding a little panicked.
“You said he needed to be by himself, so I’m leaving,” Krista snapped as she continued heading out the room. She didn’t want to take out her issues on Tully, but she was not in the mood to have to spell things out for him.
“Yeah, and then I said that tonight, he wants you with him and that in all the time I have worked for him, not even his bandmates were welcome during his prep time.”
Krista stopped. “You did?”
“Yeah,” Tully said as he stepped in front of her, blocking the door.
“Oh. I guess I stopped listening after you said he wanted to be alone.” Krista rarely felt embarrassed, but it seemed like tonight was just chock-full of rarities.
“Are you okay?” he asked with concern.
In the span of one night, she’d turned into an overwhelmed, embarrassed fidgeter. No. She was definitely not okay.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Krista assured him as she made her way over to the couch.
On the way, she grabbed one of about thirty bottled waters that were sitting on the table. She sat, opened it, and took a swig like it was a cold beer on a hot day.
“Copy,” Tully said into the headpiece as he turned and opened the door, and in walked Chase. Tully slipped out, and before he shut the door, she saw her cousin’s security team stationed outside of it.
The door clicked shut and Krista stood, nerves swirling around inside of her like a tornado. So she could add nervous. She was a nervous, overwhelmed, embarrassed fidgeter. Lovely.
“Hi, beautiful.” Chase’s deep voice vibrated through her.
She looked up, and when their eyes met, all of the stress and nerves washed away like sand on the shore.
“Hi.” Krista just needed to keep looking into his golden-colored eyes and everything would be okay. That was her new plan.
After closing the distance between them in two steps, he reached for her, fanning his fingers out on her hips and gripping her tightly as he pulled her towards him. Her body went melting against his solid strength. When he rested his forehead on hers, she could hear him breathing out through his nose and a thrill raced through her.
“God, I missed you,” he said in a whisper.
“I missed you, too.” Reaching up, she threaded her fingers around his neck as he held her firmly in place against him.
“I want to kiss you so badly right now,” he rasped.
“I’m good with that,” she said as she rocked her hips pressing against his straining erection.
His chest was rising and falling rapidly as he said, “If I kiss you now, I won’t be able to stop myself from stripping you out of this dress, bending you over, and burying myself in you.”
“I’m good with that,” she breathed in need.
A growl sounded from deep in his chest. Pressing his lips to her forehead, he kissed her tenderly before moving away from her, grabbing a water, and leaning against the edge of the table casually a few feet away.
Her eyes drank him in. He was wearing a black t-shirt, dark jeans, and boots, which she just realized should have made him look out of place among all the guys in penguin suits but it hadn’t. He was still breathing heavily, and even from a few feet away, she could feel the tension radiating off of him.
“So no stripping, bending, and burying then?” she asked, trying to lighten the mood.
He laughed, giving her the exact response she’d been hoping for. Then he said, “Not here. Not now. But that will happen tonight.”
She loved when he made promises. One, because it built anticipation priming her body for what was to come—her! Two, because he always made good—and then some—on them. She shivered with sensual expectancy.
Knowing that Chase couldn’t go onstage with a raging hard-on, she decided to change the subject. “So that was crazy out there.”
“Yeah,” he said, not really seeming to get just how crazy it was.
“How do you deal with that?” she asked with genuine curiosity.
“It’s gotten easier over the years. I try to stay in the moment. Just talk to each person on an individual basis, really listen to what they’re saying, and not pay attention to the noise around me.”
“Well, it seems to be working.”
Chase halfheartedly nodded as he pushed off the table and ran his hands through his hair. Blowing out a puff of breath, he paced to the other side of the room. Then he suddenly turned on a dime and headed her way. Stopping in front of her, he motioned towards the couch as he said, “I need to talk to you.”
Forget warning bells. Blaring sirens were going off in her head. A yellow neon sign reading “Danger!” flashed in her mind’s eye. Her stomach was flipping and flopping like a fish out of water as she slowly sank back down on the couch.
“What is it?”
Chase sat down beside her and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his legs, staring down at his hands. “I wanted to have more time to tell you about this, but a lot of the media already know.”
Oh god. Krista thought she was going to t
hrow up.
“Basically that prick of a manager has committed me to a forty-city US tour that kicks off tomorrow night in Atlanta.”
“Uh huh.” Krista swallowed hard, still waiting for the bomb to drop and her happily-ever-after to explode into pieces.
He turned towards her and held out his hands like he was trying to make her understand the significance of the words coming out of his mouth. “I leave tomorrow before the ass-crack of dawn.”
“Is that it?” she asked.
“Yes. I’m going to be gone for six months,” Chase stated, dramatically emphasizing the timeline. Seriously? She knew she couldn’t hit him, but she felt her hands fisting. So instead of socking him, she threw the cap to her water bottle dead at his chest.
“Hey! What was that for?” he asked, looking down at where the clear plastic had tagged him.
“New rule, rock star.” She pointed her finger at him. “No more saying ‘I need to talk to you’ over your schedule! You travel for your job. A lot. I get it. Stop being so dramatic about it. You almost made me throw up.”
A look of shock then relief flashed across his gorgeous face. Breaking his own self-imposed rule, he reached out, his fingers tangling in her hair as he covered his mouth with hers. It wasn’t a long kiss, but it held more passion, more love than she thought most people were even lucky enough to experience in a lifetime.
As he ended the kiss, he whispered against her lips, “I love you, Krista. I’ve never stopped loving you, and I won’t stop loving you until the day I die.”
“I love you, too.” Tears of joy threatened to fill in her eyes. “But if you keep pulling shit like that, I’m not going to like you very much,” she said as she swatted at him.
He chuckled as he ducked out of the way. Reaching behind him, he picked up his guitar, placing the strap around his neck and setting it on his leg. “Stop distracting me, woman. I have to warm up.”
Her eyes widened. “I’m distracting you? Mr. I Need To Talk To You?”
“Hush. I’m trying to serenade you,” he smiled as he strummed the opening chords to ‘their’ song. As he sang to her in the back room of a crowded auditorium, the rest of the world disappeared.
Crazy Love - Krista & Chase Page 22