Love Resolution (Black Cat Records series)

by Michelle Mankin

  She leaned heavily into him. He heard her draw in a deep breath. “You don’t get to call me that anymore,” she whispered, lips grazing his bare chest, making his body harden even more than it already had.

  Suddenly, he felt moisture between her face and his chest. Her body shook.

  Shit.

  Now she was really crying. His heart twisted in his ribcage.

  She pulled away from him, her lips twitching into a sad facsimile of a smile. She took another step back, staggered for a moment, and then turned away. “Sam?” she called.

  “Here, Avery,” Sam answered scurrying to her side.

  “Can you help me to my room?”

  “Sure, absolutely.” Sam quickly straightened Avery’s shirt, refastening the buttons before ducking under her arm. “I may need some more help. I’m too small.”

  Avery’s jaw tightened. Her eyes passed over both Marcus and Bryan. “Dwight would you…”

  “Sure, I’d be happy to help,” he said.

  “I love you, Dwight,” she slurred. “You’re such a great guy, so I forgive you for thinking Marcus and I shouldn’t have gotten engaged.” She sagged as he walked toward her. “Because obviously you were right.”

  “I love you too, kid,” he said, kissing the top of her head. He shot Marcus an accusatory stare.

  Marcus passed a glare of his own to Bryan before he followed after them.

  Avery woke with a throbbing headache that dwarfed her pre-binge drinking one. It was like a construction crew doing major remodeling work inside her skull. Her mouth was as dry as parchment and her stomach muscles felt as if they’d been clamped in a vice. Bits and pieces of the previous night’s events slowly found their way back into her addled mind.

  She moaned.

  “She’s waking up,” Sam whispered in the darkened hotel room, the only illumination streaming in from the open bathroom door. “How are you feeling?” The bed dipped down as she took a seat beside her.

  “Like I got stuffed into a dryer and put on a long, high heat cycle,” she croaked. Her voice sounded raspy. Oh, no! Not good. Not good at all! “Who were you talking to?”

  “Me,” a familiar voice intoned and the bedside lamp suddenly blinded her like an interrogator’s spotlight.

  Marcus.

  As her eyes adjusted, he came into focus, arms crossed over his wide chest, biceps flexing, frowning down at her.

  “Turn it off, please.” She threw an arm over her eyes. “It hurts my eyes,” she protested.

  “It’s not the light that’s the problem,” he lectured. “It’s all the tequila you drank. Damn it, Avery. What were you thinking?”

  She’d been thinking that she wanted to forget the pain if only for a little while, but she wasn’t about to admit that to him.

  “It’s nearly noon,” he continued. “We have sound check in a couple of hours.”

  “Crap. Crap.” Knuckles to the mattress, she gingerly moved to the edge of the bed.

  “Take it real slow,” Sam warned.

  Avery rested her feet on the carpet for a moment getting her bearings. Setting her jaw, she glanced up at Marcus. “I’ll be there. It’s all good.”

  “The hell it is. You went totally AWOL yesterday with a bunch of delinquents and got wasted off your ass.” His lips turned down. “How well do you even know those guys, huh? Anything could have happened.” He let out a long breath.

  “Bryan was there.”

  “Yeah, right.” He snorted. “Some chaperone he turned out to be. I found you last night down in the bar, strutting around half naked. Why the hell didn’t he put a stop to that?”

  “Ughh.” Avery’s hands went to her ears. “Please lower your voice, Marcus. My head is killing me.”

  His eyes softened on her face for a moment, but she could still see a muscle twitching in his clenched jaw. “Get your shit together, Avery. And stay off that damn bus. You hear me?”

  “Yeah, I hear you.” Not that she wanted a repeat experience anyway. “Half the people on this floor can hear you,” she muttered under her breath. “Can you please go now, so I can get a shower?”

  His gaze flicked downward.

  Looking at herself, she gasped. “Holy crap.” He had gotten her so disconcerted that she hadn’t realized she was only wearing her undergarments. She pulled the sheet up to her chest.

  “Nothing I,” he smirked, “and now half the people in the hotel haven’t already seen, Ace.”

  “Don’t call me that,” she said belligerently. “I told you that last night.”

  “Uh-huh. You remember anything else you said?” he asked, cocking a brow.

  You look yummy…I always liked you with your shirt off…You make me hot…

  “No,” she denied, cheeks reddening.

  “Didn’t think so,” he said, turning away.

  After the door closed behind him, her gaze returned to Sam.

  “I’d better get a shower.” She rose from the bed but her stomach didn’t cooperate. It flipped over and her ears started ringing. “Whoa.” She sank back down onto the mattress.

  “You did a real number on yourself, Avery,” Sam chided concern lacing her voice.

  “Yeah, I know. I was real stupid.”

  “I won’t argue with you there,” Sam agreed. “Let me get you a couple of aspirin and a glass of water and you can try that again.”

  Once she got the pills down, Avery managed to make it to the shower, where she lingered under the hot spray. She was dreading the rest of the day, given her present condition. Wrapping up in the hotel robe, she reluctantly exited her steamy sanctuary. She wiped the condensation off the mirror with the cuff of the robe and brushed her teeth twice before rummaging through her toiletry bag for a brush and her leave in conditioner.

  “Come sit down.” Sam peeked around the corner and met her eyes in the mirror. “The coffee’s here. We need to have a serious talk.”

  Avery took a seat on the small green and maroon striped couch opposite her friend. Breakfast was spread out on the oval coffee table between them. The aroma of the food almost made her gag.

  “I suggest you take it easy,” Sam cautioned. “Toast and some coffee…maybe some fruit.”

  “Sounds like you speak from experience.”

  “Yeah.” Her lips tilted down. “Fortunately it was a lesson I only had to learn once. When I was fifteen, I got really drunk at a party. I never even told my sister or Gram, but I ended up getting sick all over myself. I had to clean up in a tub with my best friend guarding the door. Who knows what would have happened if she hadn’t been there.” She shrugged. “That’s not an experience I ever want to repeat.”

  “Me either.” Avery finished combing her hair, set down her brush, and looked into Sam’s grey eyes. “Thanks for taking care of me last night. I can’t imagine it was very pleasant.”

  “Let’s just say you and alcohol don’t mix. In fact, it was kinda like a truth serum for you. It made you very uninhibited.”

  Avery felt her neck heat up.

  “Do you really not remember what you said to Marcus?”

  “I remember enough of it.”

  “Anything else happen you want to share?” She leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “What was it like partying with the Tempest guys?”

  Avery cringed. “Well, let’s just say they fit the wild rocker stereotype.”

  “Meaning?”

  Avery’s cheeks flagged with color. She stared into her coffee cup, avoiding Sam’s eyes. “I walked in on War and Dizzy taking turns with a waitress,” she mumbled.

  “No way?” Sam’s eyebrows rose so high they practically touched her hairline.

  “Believe it. Those guys are way bad.”

  “Even Bryan? What’s going on with him? There’s an internet picture of the two of you lip locking in a taxi, and he seemed a little jealous last night.”

  Avery sighed, closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them. “I don’t know what to do about Bryan. He hangs around with those guys. He li
ves that lifestyle. He treats me with kindness and respect, but I get the idea I’m more of an exception than the rule.”

  “Hmm,” Sam mumbled, angling her neck to the side thoughtfully. “And what about Marcus?”

  “What about him?” Avery asked, muscles tensing.

  “He was there all night.” She pointed to the wingback chair next to the bed. “He kicked Dwight out, and he and I took turns keeping an eye on you. The way he looks at you, Avery. It’s pretty intense.”

  She swallowed. “Yeah, well, the way he took off my head this morning was pretty intense, too.”

  “Don’t you think that’s just because he’s worried about you? I don’t know him real well, but I get the idea he’s one of those guys who wants to be able to fix everything and gets real pissed off when he can’t.”

  “That’s Marcus alright.”

  “I’ve always wondered how you ended up together in the first place. I mean with him thinking you were a guy and all.”

  “It’s hard to explain.” Avery’s expression turned thoughtful. “There’s always been a connection between the two of us. Music is our passion, a language we both share. We really bonded while writing the songs for the Love Evolution album. I shared parts of myself with him that I’ve never shared with anyone else. I thought it was the same for him.” She took another swig of her coffee and set the cup down on the table. “But that’s in the past. I really don’t see how it matters now.”

  “You know I really care about you.” Sam put her hand on Avery’s arm. “And I’ll never forget the sound advice you gave me about JR. So I just want to be sure you have all your facts straight before you let things go any further with Bryan. Now about the thing in San Diego…”

  “What about it? I found him with another woman, Sam.” She got up and paced the floor agitated. “It was pretty self-evident.”

  “Was it?” she queried. “Why were you at his room then? Hadn’t y’all been split up since Seattle?”

  “Yes, but he asked me to come to his room so we could talk.”

  “Oh? And another woman just happened to be there?” Sam tapped her lips with a finger. “It almost seems as if he wanted to be caught.”

  Avery stopped pacing and got very still.

  “When I confronted him about it,” Sam plowed on ahead. “He didn’t exactly admit to sleeping with her either. His exact words were, ‘She thinks I slept with her.’” Sam raised a brow. “There was a definite emphasis on the word thinks.”

  Her legs unsteady, Avery dropped down onto the bed.

  “What are you thinking?” Sam crossed over and sat next to her. “Your face is turning red.”

  Avery shifted, her eyes flashing. “I’m thinking I’m gonna kill him.”

  “She’s twenty minutes late already” Marcus grumbled.

  “The way she was at it last night,” Dwight observed. “I’ll be surprised if she shows at all. She’d be better off getting some rest, anyway…” He trailed off, looking over Marcus’ shoulder.

  Marcus turned to see Avery storming across the stage straight toward him, looking pissed. Real pissed. She came to a stop directly in front of him.

  “I want to have a word with you,” she hissed.

  “We’re in the middle of a sound check right now.” He glanced at his watch. “One that I told you to be here for twenty minutes ago. Maybe when we’re through…”

  “No,” she cut him off. “We’re doing this now.” She held her hands fisted in front of her. “And just for the record, I don’t take orders from you. I’m not your servant, Marcus.”

  “Alright. You got my full attention,” he conceded. “JR’s and Dwight’s too, I might add.”

  “That’s ok.” She turned her head and nodded an acknowledgment to each of them before her gaze returned to him. “They’ve probably already figured out what a lying asshole you are. It just took me a little while longer to catch on.”

  Shit.

  “It was all a set-up, wasn’t it? Not coming to the hospital. The breakup after the car accident. It was all a disturbed little scheme designed to push me away.” She shoved him in the chest. “You never slept with her, did you?”

  “No,” he admitted, voice and eyes soft with sincerity. As if anyone else would interest him. “There’s been no one but you.”

  She let out a long breath.

  He reached for her, but she stepped back away from him. “I’m sorry, Avery,” he apologized, his tone pleading for her to understand. “At the time I thought I was doing the right thing.”

  “Well, you thought wrong.” Her beautiful green eyes burned with anger, all of it directed at him. She stared at him for a long time, and even though he braced for it, her next words leveled him.

  “But congratulations.” She laughed bitterly. “You’ve got what you wanted.”

  She turned her back on him and even though she was only a couple inches away, he realized she’d never been further out of his reach.

  Without looking at him, she continued. “In my life I’ve been let down by a lot of people that I loved. But you trump them all, just so you know. It’s past time that I grew up, stopped believing in fairy tales and started looking out for myself.” Her voice broke. “I suppose I should thank you really,” she said sarcastically.

  He could see her shoulders shaking as she sobbed. “Avery,” he groaned, taking a step toward her.

  “Stay away from me.” She faced him. Her lips pressed together and waved him away. “I don’t want you anymore, and I certainly don’t need you.”

  He closed his eyes tightly. He could hear her walking away, walking out of his life. When he finally opened them again, she was gone.

  “Holy shit, Marcus.” His brother shook his head incredulously.

  “Leave me alone, Dwight.”

  “Whoa, dude!” JR exclaimed, jumping down from the drum riser, voice jarring in the shocking aftermath. “That’s jacked up, even for you.”

  “JR,” Dwight cautioned, glaring at him.

  “It is. Tell him the truth, man.”

  “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Dwight bit out over his shoulder.

  “Safe to say rehearsal’s over, huh?” As JR walked away, he muttered, “Maybe l should make a preemptive call to Alex, see if he’s still in the market for another drummer.”

  Dwight fixed Marcus with a measured look. “JR’s right, you know.” His brother’s brow was creased. “What’s going on with you?” He studied Marcus for a moment. “You using again?”

  “Hell no, Dwight.”

  “Thank God for that. How are things going with the shrink?”

  “I don’t have time for this.” Marcus tried to walk around him.

  “You gotta give me more than that, little brother.” Dwight’s hand shot out, fingers gripping and digging into his shoulder. “You’ve got me real worried here.”

  “We’re working through some things.” He gave a self-deprecating smile. “Apparently she likes a challenge.”

  “What are you going to do about Avery?” he asked.

  “What can I do?” Marcus replied. “She’s moved on. You heard her.”

  “I don’t know, Marcus,” Dwight said skeptically. “I wouldn’t jump to conclusions. There’s been enough of that already.” His expression became thoughtful.

  While Marcus pondered that, Dwight continued, “She sure was keyed up for someone who’s moved on.” He rubbed his jaw. “Little brother, if I were you I’d decide right away what I wanted. Don’t underestimate the competition. If you want her back, you’re going to have to lay it all on the line.”

  With her shoulders back and her head held high, flanked by Trevor and Ray, Avery made her way down the busy corridor at the arena. The five inch platform heels of her black leather boots clacked against the wooden floor boards as they entered the backstage area. She heard the low murmur of the crowd mingled with the recorded music piped in over the sound system. The road crew scurried back and forth wheeling in equipment to change over from Tempest’s s
imple set up to Brutal Strength’s more elaborate one.

  “Fuck me.” War stopped in his tracks when he saw her. His brows disappeared beneath his red bandana headband. Reeking of booze, he stumbled closer.

  Ray stepped protectively between them.

  “It’s ok, big guy. I’m not gonna hurt her.” War chuckled, peering around the burly bodyguard. “Bullet see you in that getup yet?” he asked her.

  Avery shook her head.

  “Ha! I wanna be there when he does. Your new look is right up his alley.” He hooked his arm around the groupie beside him. “Come on, babe. Let’s go find Jackson.”

  Trevor’s cell rang. “Barnes,” he barked. “Yes, we’re here.” He glanced over at her before pocketing the phone. “C’mon, Avery. He’s starting to use profanity.”

  “Holy shit!” JR exclaimed when they rounded the corner.

  Dwight turned, his blue eyes immediately widening. “Bro.” He slapped his brother on the shoulder.

  “What the hell…” Marcus trailed off. His eyes met hers briefly before they slid slowly down her body and back up again for a more thorough examination.

  She’d expected that the skintight black leather skirt slit to the thigh and the midriff baring bustier would make him angry, but apparently it was also eliciting another response. One she hadn’t counted on. Her body tingled as he caressed her with his gaze.

  “John, can I have my Ibanez, please?” she asked.

  Her guitar tech, mouth agape, handed over her guitar.

  Leather and silver bracelets slid down her left arm as she threw the strap over her shoulder and clipped it on. She moved past Marcus without another word. Poised just offstage, she listened as Trevor introduced the band. Being late had been another calculated move on her part. She’d wanted to send him a message that from now on she’d do as she pleased.