Break in the Storm (WeHo Book 2)

by Sherryl Hancock

  Quinn pulled up the bio portion of the page. Xandy Blue was from the Midwest and had been found on a talent search in a shopping mall. At the age of fourteen she’d come to Los Angeles to work on some of the Disney network shows, but not in any starring roles. At nineteen Xandy married Tommy Shay. They’d been married for two years before divorcing. Xandy Blue was twenty-two years old. That was all the bio said. It was fairly lackluster, but Quinn knew that her official bio would be a lot less interesting than the real thing. She guessed she was about to find out.

  Their first meeting was at Badlands Studios where Xandy was putting the finishing touches on her first album with BJ’s label. Quinn arrived at the studios early. She signed in with security, who checked the list to see that she was on it.

  “Go on back,” the security officer said. “She’s in studio three.”

  Quinn nodded. “Thanks.”

  Walking away she didn’t see the security officer watching her go. Wouldn’t want to mess with that one, the man was thinking.

  Quinn was dressed in all black, including black Harley Davidson boots. She wore a collared shirt, a black and orange Harley Davidson leather jacket and black jeans. Around her neck was a thick silver chain from which a silver and black Celtic cross hung. Her silver rings were in place as well. The sleeves of the jacket were pushed up to expose a large gun metal black watch. She looked imposing.

  Imposing was the first thing Xandy thought when she saw the woman that had to be Quinn Kavanaugh standing on the other side of the sound booth. Quinn’s hands were in her jacket pockets and she leaned indolently against the wall, her face a mask of calm as her green eyes took in everything around her.

  Quinn did her best to stay out of the way in the small sound booth. As she stood by, she listened to the playback that was being run. She was surprised to hear the quality of Xandy’s voice. The girl had some serious pipes on her, that much was evident. Quinn imagined this was what BJ had seen in her.

  After twenty minutes, Xandy finally told the guy in the sound booth, “I gotta go.”

  “But we need to finish this track,” the guy shot back.

  Xandy looked indecisive, and Quinn waited to see if she was going to pull a star trip on the guy. Surprisingly she didn’t.

  “Can we pick it up after lunch?” she asked, hopeful.

  The guy looked at his watch irritably. “I have other stuff to do.”

  “She is the talent,” Quinn found herself saying in a low tone, without even looking at the guy.

  He glanced back to where she was stood, ready to snap at her too, then he saw her and his eyes widened as she pushed off the wall, giving him a direct challenging stare.

  He swallowed convulsively, and then nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I can do that.”

  “Great!” Xandy said smiling brilliantly as she set her headphones on the music stand in front of her.

  Walking out of the sound booth, she looked directly at Quinn. “You must be Quinn,” she said with a shy smile.

  She was several inches shorter and very petite compared to Quinn who stood at five foot eight. Quinn suddenly felt like a giant.

  “I am,” Quinn replied, her accent clear.

  Xandy nodded. She was hesitant and clearly a bit intimidated. Quinn noticed that she was clasping her hands together nervously as well.

  “Let’s step out of here,” Quinn said, gesturing for Xandy to precede her.

  Xandy nodded and walked out of the studio, with Quinn following her into the hallway. She could sense quickly that Xandy was unsure of herself.

  “Why don’t we go have some lunch?” Quinn asked, trying to reassure Xandy a little. She had no need to be nervous around her.

  “Okay,” Xandy replied, all big blue eyes and unease.

  Once again Quinn gestured for Xandy to precede her. They got out to the parking lot and Quinn led the way to her car.

  “Wow!” Xandy said, sounding very young as she stood stock still and stared at the black and sapphire-blue Mach 1 Mustang.

  Quinn couldn’t help but to grin proudly. She loved her car and had done a lot of work on it herself to get it in the pristine condition that it was in now.

  “It’s a Mustang. My uncle had one, but it wasn’t nearly this nice,” Xandy said, in awe of the car.

  “Thank you.”

  “What year is it?” Xandy asked, as Quinn unlocked and opened the passenger door for her.

  “It’s a sixty-nine,” Quinn replied, closing the door after Xandy had climbed inside.

  She walked around the driver’s side, and even as she got in she could see Xandy looking around the interior wide-eyed. It was impossible to describe the joy Quinn felt that someone appreciated her car. Valerie didn’t like the classics; she preferred fancy cars like Mercedes and Bentleys. Quinn pulled herself up short, why was she comparing them?

  “This is so nice…” Xandy said, her Midwest accent coming out, as she said “nice.”

  “Did you restore her yourself?” she asked.

  “I did,” Quinn said, noting that Xandy used the word “her” to describe the car. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

  When Quinn started the car up, it let out a deep rumble from the engine, and she saw Xandy smile.

  “I love that sound… that rumble.”

  Loud rock music blared from the speakers. Quinn immediately reached over to turn the music down. “Sorry.”

  Xandy smiled. “I like my music loud too.”

  Quinn nodded, accepting that excuse. Putting the car in gear, she backed out of the space and headed for a local restaurant that she knew wouldn’t be too populated.

  Xandy looked down at Quinn’s hand resting on the stick shift as she drove. She noticed the rings that Quinn wore. They were gorgeous. The ones on her right hand were a band style, and it was obvious they were all from the same designer as they had a similar style. The bands were silver, with beautiful colors in channels within the band.

  “How beautiful.” Xandy reached her hand out to touch one of the rings with her finger lightly.

  Quinn lifted her hand off the stick shift glancing at them with a grin. “Thank you, I’m rather fond of them.”

  “Who’s the designer?”

  “Her name’s Sheila Fleet,” Quinn answered.

  “Her work is amazing,” Xandy said, touching the rings again.

  There were four in all. One band had rainbow colors running through it which Xandy could easily determine represented the symbol of the gay lifestyle. The next ring was two shades of blue with what looked like silver hash marks across it, but they were uneven.

  “What does this mean?” she asked, indicating to the blue ring.

  Quinn canted her head, thinking it was interesting that the girl picked up on the subtle difference in the ring’s markings. Most people just wrote it off as a design.

  “It’s called ogham. It’s an old alphabet, the word essentially means ‘a blessing on the soul.’ ”

  “Wow… that’s pretty cool.”

  Quinn smiled broadly, inordinately pleased by this girl’s fascination with seemingly everything.

  “And what about this one?” Xandy asked, touching the next right which held red, orange and gold colors in its channel, the silver around the color was textured silver.

  “It represents lava. I just liked it.”

  “And this last one?” The ring was another that had the blue hues, but there were very definite raised letters in silver within the blue band.

  “They’re Viking runes. It says ‘dreams of everlasting love.’ ” Quinn added, her look circumspect.

  Xandy looked over at Quinn, her look inscrutable, but she nodded.

  “Well they’re very cool. I’ll have to check out the other hand later.”

  Xandy felt like she was being far too nosey about her new bodyguard. She was always fascinated with new people and new experiences. Sadly some people simply didn’t hold her attention very long. Living in Los Angeles, Xandy had quickly found out that many people, e
specially in the music industry, were very superficial or very self-centered. That type of personality tended to put Xandy off and lost her interest quickly.

  Quinn was definitely fascinating. Xandy easily detected that she was a lesbian; it didn’t bother her in the slightest. In fact, she was curious about it. She’d never really gotten to know anyone that was gay, so she thought this might be a new learning experience for her. At this moment, though, she was curious about Quinn’s accent.

  “Is your accent Irish?” Xandy asked almost timidly, afraid she was wrong, as she’d had bad experiences with misinterpreting accents.

  Once she’d thought a man from England was Scottish and had said so, he’d been quite irritated by the comparison. He’d responded, “I ain’t no dirty Scot!” From that time forward she’d tried to be more careful.

  Quinn noted the hesitancy. “Yes,” she replied, softening her voice a bit.

  “What part of Ireland are you from?”

  “I’m actually from Northern Ireland, Belfast,” Quinn answered as she pulled into the parking lot for the restaurant.

  “I’ve heard it’s beautiful.”

  “It is.”

  “Do you get homesick?” Xandy asked, sensing Quinn’s affection for her homeland.

  “Oh yeah,” Quinn said, as she turned off the car. “But when it gets bad here, I just go home for a bit.”

  Xandy smiled sadly and nodded. Quinn detected the sadness and wondered at it, as she got out of the car and walked around to open the passenger door. Xandy was surprised by the very gallant gesture, but liked it all the same.

  “Thank you.”

  Quinn inclined her head and gestured for Xandy to precede her into the restaurant, scanning the area around them as she did.

  Already on duty, Xandy thought to herself, comforted by that fact.

  Inside the restaurant, Quinn turned to Xandy. “Do you mind if we sit outside? I need a fix,” she said, holding up her lighter.

  “No problem.”

  They got seated at a corner table. Quinn made sure that Xandy was seated in the corner so no one could get close to her without going through Quinn. Quinn pulled a cigarette and lighter out of her jacket pocket, put the cigarette in her mouth and lit the tip. The lighter was a Zippo so it made that famous clicking sound.

  Before Quinn could pocket the lighter, Xandy asked, “Can I see that?”

  Quinn gave her a quizzical look for a moment, but handed over the lighter all the same.

  Xandy took the lighter looking at it in fascination, touching the raised Celtic cross on its face. The cross was enamel and painted in shades of green.

  “This is beautiful. I seem to be saying that a lot today,” she said self-consciously.

  Quinn grinned as Xandy handed the lighter back to her. “It’s good that you still think things are beautiful. Most people who’ve lived in LA for more than a year tend to become immune to beauty.”

  Xandy canted her head, giving Quinn an amused look. “You know, I’ve never thought of it that way. Most of the time I just walk around feeling like a dork.”

  Quinn leaned back in her chair, taking a long drag of her cigarette, assessing Xandy. This girl was indeed very damaged, even if she looked like she did her best to put on a brave face.

  After the waitress took their order, Quinn snubbed out her cigarette and leaned forward, her forearms on the table as she looked at Xandy seriously.

  “Okay, so let’s get down to business,” she said.

  Xandy nodded, suddenly somber.

  “BJ wants you to have twenty-four seven protection. He feels that with the unhindered access your previous b…” Quinn’s voice trailed off before she said the word ‘bodyguard’ because she saw the stricken look on Xandy’s face.

  Reaching her hand out, Quinn covered Xandy’s hand that rested on her lap. Xandy looked down at Quinn’s hand, desperate to focus on something other than the conversation. She nodded to show Quinn that she was still listening.

  “I’m sorry,” Quinn said, her tone softer. “But if I’m going to protect you, I need to take everything into account.”

  Quinn paused, lowering her head to try to get Xandy to look at her again, which after a long pause Xandy did. Quinn could see the glazing of tears in those big blue eyes and she winced at the sight.

  “You don’t have to tell me anything right now,” Quinn said, her tone soft, eyes on Xandy’s. “But it’s something we’re going to need to talk about at some point, okay?”

  Xandy nodded, blinking as a tear escaped and slid down her cheek. Quinn reached up brushing the tear away gently. Xandy looked back at her, it was obvious her mind was trying to grasp Quinn’s overtly chivalrous gesture. It made Quinn realize that she was already being to drawn in by the young ingénue.

  After a long few moments, Quinn moved to sit back, pulling out another cigarette and lighting it.

  “Thank you,” Xandy said quietly after a long pause.

  Quinn didn’t answer, but her expression said that she understood Xandy’s gratitude and accepted it. Their lunch arrived not too long after that, Quinn noted that Xandy ate delicately. She sensed that she was going to have to handle this girl with kid gloves. It was going to be a shift in the way she did things, but Quinn also knew that this childlike woman was traumatized by her experiences and the last thing she wanted to do was scare her more.

  When they finished lunch, Xandy looked over at Quinn. “So would you need to stay with me, or do I need to come to you?”

  “If it’s alright,” Quinn said, rubbing her eyebrow with her thumbnail, “I’d rather stay at your place. It’s easier, and I’m sure you have better security than I do.”

  “I do have a security system.”

  “Good,” Quinn said, thinking she needed to make sure the codes had been changed since the last bodyguard was in place. “All I’ll need is a room, preferably close to yours so I can keep an eye on things.”

  “Can you move in today?” Her eyes sparkled expectantly as she asked.

  “I’m yours as of this morning, so I definitely can,” Quinn said, giving the girl a wink.

  Xandy smiled at the jaunty wink. “Great! I just have to finish up at the studio…”

  “I’ll go grab some stuff while you do that, then swing back by to pick you up.”

  “What about my car?”

  “I’ll get someone to bring it back to your place,” Quinn said, always thinking three steps ahead.

  Xandy nodded again, feeling relieved. She really didn’t want to spend another night alone in her house.

  Chapter 2

  Quinn was pleasantly surprised by Xandy’s house; it was not at all what she’d expected. Far from ostentatious, like Valerie’s Palisades home, Xandy’s house was a modest traditional style house, certainly not a mansion by any means. It was located in the affluent Brentwood area, but it wasn’t a “star” type of home. It was a single story set back from the street, painted a cream color with seafoam-green trim and front door. The front yard was beautifully landscaped and it reminded Quinn of an old English garden with purple and white wisteria trees, a white painted park bench and a white picket fence surrounding the yard. It really seemed to fit the image Quinn already had of the young singer.

  Inside, the house was also beautiful with hardwood floors, elegant arched doorways, crown molding throughout, as well as a chair rail set midway down the wall. The bones of the house were incredible, but Quinn noted that there were few personal touches. The walls were beige and there were no paintings or decorations on the walls or on the furniture in the living room. It was as if Xandy was living in the house, but not really moving into the house.

  “Did you just move in?” Quinn asked.

  “About six months ago, you know, after…” Her voice trailed off as she looked away.

  “Oh.” Quinn nodded. She was surprised that BJ hadn’t told her that Xandy hadn’t had a bodyguard in over six months and that she’d moved in that time as well.

  Xandy could see what Qui
nn was thinking. “BJ made sure I had a security system installed. It was fine, until… well, lately.”

  “What’s happened lately?” Quinn asked, realizing that maybe there was a lot more to this story than she’d been told.

  “Well,” Xandy said, moving to the kitchen and busying herself with putting dishes away as she talked. “I’ve been getting calls. You know, obscene ones…” Quinn nodded, waiting for Xandy to go on. “And then there’s been someone kind of lurking around…”

  Quinn’s senses perked up at that. “Have you seen who it is?”

  Xandy shook her head, and Quinn noticed that her hands were now shaking. Walking over to the girl, Quinn carefully took the plate Xandy was holding and set it aside, afraid she was going to drop it.

  “Do you think it’s him?” Quinn asked.

  Xandy shrugged, her eyes lowered. “It’s always dark.”

  Quinn nodded, drawing in a deep breath and blowing out audibly.

  “Okay… why don’t you show me where you want me to stay.”

  Xandy nodded, and led Quinn down the hall of the house. Stopping, she pointed to the master bedroom. “That’s my room,” she said, then pointed to the room right next to it. “You can stay in there.”

  “Good,” Quinn said, and she took her bag into the room.

  An hour later, Quinn had not only unpacked her few belongings, but had prowled around the house checking security cameras and familiarizing herself with the house and the surrounding grounds. There was a nicely secluded courtyard at the back, surrounded by tall walls. She noted that there was some greenery that needed to be cut back, and she wanted to add a couple of cameras to eliminate blind spots in the security system, but for the most part she was satisfied with the system that had been installed.

  Walking back inside the house, Quinn went to locate Xandy, it was now getting dark outside. She found Xandy sitting in her bedroom on a chair in the sitting area of the room, lost in thought. Quinn took in the lack of decoration in this room as well. There was a non-descript bed with a simple beige bedspread and a dresser with a mirror. There were also boxes shoved to the side of the room and a few items such as shoes or clothes scattered around. The only other furniture in the large master was the beige and gold patterned arm chair Xandy sat in and the matching ottoman.