Maid for the Rock Star

by Demelza Carlton

  Audra shoved her bowl away, feeling too nauseous to eat another bite. Not only had Penny seduced Jay and had sex with him in front of multiple witnesses, but the bitch hadn't even gotten fired for it. What the hell was wrong with the world?

  "He fucked me all night. So big and hard and powerful...I'm going to have trouble walking all week. Not that I'll need to. As soon as I've eaten, it's back to bed for me." Penny looked gleeful. "I figure two more days of this and he won't want to let me go. He'll take me with him when he leaves the resort and I'll get to go to all his concerts free as a VIP myself." She sniffed. "Next time we're here, maybe you'll be my maid."

  Over her rotting corpse. Audra jumped to her feet.

  Two heavy hands landed on her shoulders. "Come on."

  Audra allowed Serge to herd her out the door and in the direction of the gym. It wasn't until they reached the gym doors that she unclenched her fists, not sure whether to thank him or shout at him for interfering.

  "I have the wraps, gloves and punching bag ready to go," Serge said, opening the door. He gave an extravagant bow. "After last night, I figured you'd want to hit things pretty hard."

  He helped her wrap the bindings around her knuckles, then pull on the boxing gloves. Audra almost laughed. She felt like one of the boxing kangaroos they sold in the gift shop, a souvenir they'd started stocking after tourists talked about the fights between the young bucks that often happened on the road just outside of town. "You going to get me a strap-on tail like the gift shop toys, too?" she grumbled.

  Serge stared at her in shock. "A...what?"

  Audra sighed. "Never mind. Can I hit something yet?"

  "Sure." He lined her up and gestured for her to punch the bag.

  Audra swung her arm, imagining her fist colliding with Penny's chin. First one side, then the other, smacking into the...leather? PVC? Audra shrugged, not caring as long as the sound was satisfying. And it was.

  "Wait. You want to make the blows unexpected, signalling as little as you can to your opponent, while making them as powerful as possible. Here, start by guarding your chest and your face. The power comes from your shoulder, flowing right through your arm, not from your wrist." Serge demonstrated, then helped her shift her arms to more of a boxer's stance. "Now, jab." He shadowboxed beside her, matching her blows, though only hers landed on the bag. "Good. Now let's see some repetitions. Try thirty and keep pace with me. One, two, three, four..."

  Audra drove her fists into the bag on his count, feeling it sway slightly as she hit it harder. If it were Penny, she'd be breaking her ribs through her flat chest. She deserved it for making Audra's heart ache for Jay when she shouldn't have any feelings for him at all. Wouldn't, if Penny hadn't deliberately tried to make her jealous.

  Goddamn it! Why did Penny get to have her way with Jay and still keep her job? If Audra knew she could've gotten away with it, maybe she'd have given in to Jay. Let him do all the things he'd said he would. That the tabloids – and the fangirls who said they'd slept with him – claimed he was brilliant at. Instead, the fickle bastard was with that conniving bitch and she wanted to pound her fist through the wall in frustration at the very thought of them together.

  "Hey, hey! I said thirty! Stop for a break!" Serge grabbed her wrists and Audra relaxed. "Wow, you must be more pissed at your brother than I thought."

  "My brother?" No, her brother wasn't banging Penny, and she didn't much care if he did.

  "It was your brother who wrecked your car, right? I admit I was trying not to eavesdrop, but you were shouting so loud..."

  Ben and Leon. Right. "One of them's been driving my car without a licence and he wrecked it, while the other took my money for registration and insurance and didn't pay them, so now I have to pay a huge fine as well as pay for repairs." Audra slammed both fists into the bag. "That's all my savings!"

  "Make them pay for it. Their mess, after all."

  "My car and they don't have the money. So I have to pay for it or lose my car."

  Serge shrugged again. "So lose it. Is it worth less than you'll have to pay?"

  Audra nodded.

  "So stuff it. You don't use your car up here, and when you get your amazing job at some weather station in paradise, you'll have a work car. Keep your savings and tell them to fix your car by the time you get back. Not like you're in any hurry. They're your older brothers, aren't they? Grown men, anyway. They don't need you to take care of them. Let them sort it out."

  "Not Leon. He's younger than me. And Ben...he got a girl pregnant in high school and all his money goes to child support. I can't, Serge. You don't understand."

  "No, I don't. You've got the right to live your own life. You don't owe them. They owe you. If you don't leave them to themselves, they'll drag you down, Audra. Don't let them drag you under. You're so much better than that. You work so hard. You deserve to rise above...all that." Serge turned his head away and swiped a hand across his face, as if he was wiping away tell-tale moisture from his eyes. "I'll go get the sparring pads from the storeroom. You're going to pretend I'm your brother – both of them, if you want – and you're going to beat some sense into them." He nodded at the punching bag. "You do another thirty on that one while you're waiting."

  Audra lined herself up and raised her gloved fists.

  Wham.

  That's for crashing your car and going missing.

  Wham.

  That's for drinking yourself into a stupor and not telling anyone about the accident.

  Wham.

  That's for not telling me and scaring the shit out of me when you almost died.

  Wham.

  That's for my taillights, Leon, and this –

  Wham.

  – is for the letterbox.

  Wham.

  And for giving him the keys, Ben, you traitor...

  This set of thirty felt effortless, but she was sweating when she was done. Wiping her streaming forehead, Audra pulled off one of her gloves and reached for her water bottle. As she sucked down the cool liquid, she heard the squeak of the door.

  Serge was back. She was ready for the next set. Leon first, then she'd go back to Ben's misdemeanours.

  Claws dug into her shoulder, tearing through her shirt and trying to spin her around.

  "It's your fault, you fucking bitch! You're just jealous!" Penny screeched, dragging on Audra's shoulder with all her weight so Audra almost keeled over backwards. "Just because you're too frigid for a rock star like Jay Felix to even look twice at you, you reported me for giving him what he wanted. You're the one who should've lost her job, not me, for being so fucking useless!"

  Audra flailed to maintain her balance and clocked Penny on the side of her head with the water bottle.

  The girl's eyes seemed to ignite. "YOU'LL DIE FOR THAT, BITCH!" She grabbed both Audra's shoulders and forced her to turn around. Claws reached for Audra's eyes.

  This is for sleeping with Jay and making my job a living hell.

  Audra slammed her gloved fist into Penny's face, knocking the girl off her feet. Blood spurted from Penny's nose as fear filled her eyes.

  Audra's breakfast welled up in her throat, threatening to escape, but she fought it down. She pulled off the bloodied glove and let it drop to the floor. She was done training and she needed to find the safety officer to report Penny's injury. She didn't trust herself to give the girl first aid without smothering her.

  The gym door squeaked and Serge stood on the threshold, grinning, with his arms full of vinyl pads. His smile slid into a look of horror. "No!"

  Yes, Audra thought. Even nice girls snap under pressure and the bitch had it coming. Besides, she hit first, so it was only self-defence. But this time, she wouldn't be cleaning that bitch's mess off the gym floor. She refused to take any more shit from –

  Something slammed into the back of Audra's head and reality was sucked away like the retreating tide.

  FORTY-SIX

  Audra woke with the worst hangover in the history of hangovers. I'm never dr
inking again, she thought groggily. No more alcohol, ever. Especially the kind of drink that was so potent you couldn't even remember drinking it the following morning.

  "Audra?" Pamela asked softly.

  A tentative hand patted hers. "If I say I'm not, will this headache go bother someone else?" Audra grumbled.

  Nervous laughter. "I doubt it. How are you feeling?"

  "Like that bitch hit me with one of the mining trucks from the next island over." With effort, Audra pried her eyes open and blinked painfully in the light filtering through her flimsy blinds. "I should've hit her harder so she stayed down." Even as the words left her mouth, Audra regretted them. The feel of Penny's face crunching under her fist was enough to make her throw up. She'd never hit anyone so hard in her life and never wanted to again.

  "I think Serge did it for you. He got arrested."

  "What?" Audra sat up and her head exploded with a burst of light and unbearable pain. She slumped back onto the pillows. "He wasn't even there. The police should've taken me instead."

  "You mean you broke her arm? No wonder she knocked you out, then."

  Audra winced. She couldn't remember any broken bones. Unless you counted Penny's nose, but wasn't that cartilage, like sharks? "I punched her in the face."

  Pamela grinned. "I've wanted someone to do that for a long time. I wish I'd seen it. But if you didn't break her arm, it must've been Serge. And they were fighting. I was in Reception with Hana and Heloise when we heard screaming. Dennis came running out of his office and Hana and I followed. When we got to the gym, Penny and Serge were grappling on the floor and she was shouting all sorts of things at him. Dennis and Annette took Penny to the first aid room and that's when I saw her arm was bent all wrong. She was still screaming, too. They called the Flying Doctors, I guess, because the rescue helicopter came to get her. Hana went to help, so that left just me and Serge. He had claw marks all over his face and his shirt was ripped like he'd been attacked by a dropbear or something."

  Audra managed a faint smile. There weren't any dropbears in Western Australia.

  "I didn't even see you until he pulled you out from between the weights benches. You'd been lying there unconscious on the carpet through all of it, I guess. He lifted you up like something from one of the covers of a romance novel, all those muscles bulging through the rips in his shirt, and carried you in here. He told me to stay with you until you woke up and then he left. When the helicopter came back, there were police in it and they took Serge away in handcuffs." Pamela scanned Audra's body. "They should've taken you to the hospital on the mainland, too. I'll go tell Dennis you're awake and to call them back."

  "No. I'm not going to any hospital while Penny's in it. Tell him to get the security footage for the gym. That'll show what Penny did." And what Serge had done while she was unconscious, Audra thought uneasily. He shouldn't have gotten involved. He'd never get his personal training qualifications if he was in prison on an assault charge. Didn't he have to get police clearance to do his job? He'd lose everything.

  "Are you sure?"

  Audra lifted her hand to the spot on her head that throbbed the worst. She touched a tender lump that unleashed a fresh burst of agony. Her head hurt too much to talk, let alone think. "Yeah. I'm fine," she lied. "I probably need a bit of extra sleep, anyway. Go tell Dennis to check the tapes and he'll see that Penny started it."

  "If you're sure." Pamela rose and opened the door. "I still have half the rooms to clean. Lucky we're not full. If I go now, I might get them all done by dinnertime."

  Audra nodded encouragingly, but that made her head ring again, so she stopped. The moment the door closed behind Pamela, her smile vanished and she let out a groan of pain. She didn't want to move ever again.

  FORTY-SEVEN

  Urgent beeping startled Audra out of her doze. Thank heaven the pain in her head had lessened. Or was that because there was less light in the room? It looked like night-time outside, but that could mean anything. 7pm or 5am looked the same out here: pitch-dark and sparkling with stars. She glanced at her wristband. Oh, lovely: 1am.

  Her stomach grumbled, reminding her that she'd missed not just lunch but dinner, too, and there'd be nothing until the staff dining room opened at six.

  Would that bloody beeping stop already?

  It took her a moment to realise the source was her ID. She touched the display and up flashed the last two words she wanted to see:

  MAXIMA URGENT

  It would beep until she scanned her wristband at Maxima's door or the summons got diverted to someone else. Audra rolled out of bed, wincing, but managed to make it to her feet. She was still fully dressed, so she slipped a pair of thongs onto her feet and shuffled to the main building, where the night porter, Dan, occupied the Reception desk.

  "I'm not responsible for the Pearls any more," Audra told him, pointing at her ID. "You have to send someone else."

  Dan glanced at her flashing display. "No can do. You're the most senior of the Housekeeping staff on the island. Annette left with an injured girl and put you in charge."

  Annette hadn't known she was unconscious, Audra realised.

  "You have to send someone else," Audra repeated, not willing to tell this man she barely knew about what had happened in the gym.

  "You send someone else. You're the boss. But you better send someone quickly, because the guest in Maxima calls every hour to ask why a maid hasn't turned up yet. Been trying to get maid service since noon, he says, so now he's one angry bastard." As if on cue, the Reception phone shrilled. "That'd be him. I'll tell him you're sending someone right over, yeah?"

  Audra nodded mutely, her brain struggling to find a solution. With Penny, Jackie and Annette on the mainland, that left her and Pamela. Pamela had already worked both hers and Penny's jobs today. It wouldn't be fair to send her to deal with an irate idiot. Audra would have to go.

  She headed outside, breathing deeply to let the cool, night air settle her pounding head. At least, hoping it would. She'd explain the staffing situation to Jay and tell him that someone would see to his request in the morning. For all his rock star reputation, Jay was a reasonable man.

  Every light was on in Maxima, illuminating the jungle around it and the path outside, too. The door stood open, as if Jay was waiting for her. Audra stepped over the threshold and almost tripped on a drift of linen that blended with the white floor tiles. It wasn't the only pile, either – a trail of white led from the front door to the bathroom, where the remainder had been piled into the spa. Broken glass littered the mess like pieces of brittle on top of a cake. Well, except for the corked top of a champagne bottle. The rest of the bottle was smashed into pieces and, judging by the smell, the contents had been poured over the linen. Audra inhaled deeply, smelling more than champagne. Yep, the multicoloured glass confirmed it – it looked like he'd smashed the whole contents of the fridge in here.

  For a moment, she hoped he'd bled to death from cutting himself, but she banished that thought. She wanted him alive so she could kill him for making this mess, but first she had to find him. Hurrying out of the bathroom, she slipped on a damp patch and caught the doorjamb to stop herself from falling flat on her face. Glancing down, she recoiled at what looked like a pool of blood. No, it couldn't be.

  The pool tapered to a trail that led back into the living area, so Audra followed it. Along the floor she couldn't be sure if it was blood or not, but when the meandering line crept up the wall, she doubted it. Blood wasn't that thick or that red. This looked more like ketchup.

  The trail climbed up to the ceiling, and Audra couldn't look away as she followed it to its inevitable end. Audra let rip with every swear word she knew until she ran out of breath, then sucked in more air to repeat them.

  "Go on, read it," Jay slurred. He lifted a beer to his lips and flashed a lazy grin.

  Audra squinted at the ketchup letters smeared across the ceiling.

  "All the world's a stage, and all the men and...what's that word?" Audra pointed
at spot where the ketchup splatter obscured whatever the drunken dickhead had tried to spell out on the ceiling.

  Jay looked irritated. "Women. It's women. Shit, fine. I'll read it to you." He cleared his throat dramatically.

  "All the world's a stage,

  And all the men and women merely players;

  They have their exits and their entrances,

  And one man in his time plays many parts..."

  He held out his arm, the one with words tattooed down it. "It explains everything."

  Audra repeated his words, tracing first the ketchup letters on the ceiling that continued down the wall until the sauce had run out, judging by the empty bottle on the floor. Jay was a bloody artist, all right – he'd dragged the lounge room rug up to the wall for the final, brown lettered lines, probably because the white weave made them stand out better than the terracotta floor tiles. Beside the last word was the empty fondue pot. Chocolate. The arsehole had smothered the rug in chocolate just to spite her.

  Breathe, she told herself. Her head was pounding with fury and not pain, now, her heartbeat hammering in her ears. After Penny, she was going to demolish this dickhead.

  "Why in God's name did you trash the place?"

  "To get your attention. I missed you. It worked, too." He blew her a kiss and drained his beer.

  "You wrote Shakespeare on the ceiling with ketchup because you missed me? Haven't you heard of giving a girl chocolates? Oh wait – yes, you have. When you ran out of ketchup, you finished the quote in chocolate on the carpet. What kind of crazy man does that?" Audra felt tears building, but she blinked them away. He didn't deserve to see her cry.

  "The kind you kept waiting all day and half the night to see you. If you'd come earlier, I'd have poured you champagne instead of smashing the bottle. As for the chocolate..." He winked.

  She was going to kill him if he didn't get out of here now. She ripped off her ID. "Take this. It'll get you into the villa next door. You can't stay here. It's not fit for human habitation. Go. Take it and go!" She threw the wristband at Jay and he caught it. Maybe he wasn't as drunk as he looked, though that only made this worse. If he'd done this sober... "I'll get you fresh towels in a moment, once I'm done assessing the damage here."