A few reporters started to yell out questions, but I put my hand up to silence them.
“I’ve decided,” I glanced at Jack, “we’ve decided—that all proceeds from these assets will go to a trust to help the victims of my father’s crimes. We are in discussion with the relevant people at the moment. I know this will not make up for the things he’s done, but I hope that it will help in some small way.”
After that, I answered some questions. I’d been expecting question time to be the worst, that they’d pounce like jackals, but surprisingly, they seemed sympathetic. Even so, I didn’t let my guard down. They could be trying to lure me into a trap.
“This is a bit off topic, but I notice the young singer from Storm is beside you today. I know you’re the band’s manager, but does that mean your relationship is more than platonic?”
Jack stood up. I hoped he wouldn’t say anything. He was here for moral support, not to talk about our relationship. Jack put his arm around me and smiled in that cheeky way he had that melted the pants off every chick in the room.
“Look at her; is there any way our relationship could be platonic?”
The room full of reporters laughed, and a couple of the women looked daggers at me.
“Any wedding bells in the air?” The reporter grinned.
“Not giving away any secrets, mate,” Jack said, and actually winked. He squeezed me tighter.
“Anything else you want to say?” one of the reporters asked.
“Yeah. Storm’s Sweet Love is on sale now. Make sure you get yourself a copy.” And he gave them the finger guns. Just like Spud had said to.
Nice work on the promotion. The two of us walked out of the room. Jack pulled me to him.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I nodded. I’d spent so long thinking that if people found out about my father, it would destroy me. I’d been terrorised by reporters and let them scare me off. For so long, I’d had that cloud over me. My own fears had been holding me down, and my father had used them against me. I’d let all those people have power. But now they could do their worst. I’d faced them, and I knew I had no control over what people said about me, but it didn’t matter.
I smiled at Jack.
“We’ve still got a long way to go,” I said. “You said you’d give me 98% of you, but you lied. That means you owe me a huge amount of interest”
He hung his head.
Then somehow, our lips met and we were tangled around each other. His hands moved inside my jacket, circling my waist and untucking my shirt. I ran my fingers through his hair. The touch of his fingers on the skin under my clothes made me squirm. I’d have let him have me right there against the wall, but our publicist came in and cleared her throat.
“Nice work out there. You had them eating out of your hand,” she said. “You handled them perfectly.”
“Really?” I had no faith in the press.
“Your father has already demonised himself and an innocent, young daughter being dragged into that is going to win hearts. They aren’t going to sell papers making you look bad. The money you are donating is just the icing on the cake.”
That made me feel better. I didn’t want that money anyway. Not one cent of it. I didn’t need any dirty cash.
“Let’s get home, Jack.” I said. “I think we should be alone.”
Of course, when we got home, alone was the last thing we were. Eric and Angie rushed to hug me and I could smell a familiar scent in the air. Eric-Mama’s cooking. Wow, could life get any better? I’d not eaten before the press conference because I’d been too nervous, but now I could fill myself to the brim with pork belly.
“Ah, Jack, it’s nearly kimchi-making time again. It will be so easy for me now you are my helper. I can just sit back and relax.”
Jack tried to look like he didn’t love that, but his mouth twitched at the corners. He’d do anything for Eric-Mama.
“Metal Face is going to help me too,” she said, grinning at Angie. “She has to learn to be a good wife.”
“I don’t think Eric wants me for my kimchi,” she replied. “I have other charms.”
“But my grandchildren need to have kimchi to grow strong, and I won’t live forever.”
Wow, the whole tone of their conversation had changed. They were so relaxed with each other now. And, hey, did Eric-Mama say grandchildren? Was Angie keeping something from me?
After we finished eating and I could do nothing but loll on the couch with a bloated stomach, Jack turned around shyly.
“Hey, Eric, I’ll play you the song.”
Jack ran upstairs and I poured myself a glass of wine. I didn’t know about any song.
Jack sat down on the couch next to Eric. I didn’t pay much attention at first but the music he played sent shivers over my body. It was different from anything I’d heard Jack play before. He’d written rock songs that slammed you like a hammer, and he’d written love ballads. But this was a song of quiet desperation. It sounded horrible and sad, yet beautiful at the same time. He’d put all his grief and all the things he’d shut out inside into this song.
Eric started picking out a beat with his fingers on the coffee table.
My whole body prickled by the time he finished, a wave of emotion rolling over me.
Jack put the guitar aside, but nobody spoke. The feelings were too raw and too close. The song hung deep inside and stirred things up.
“That was beautiful,” Angie said in a voice that was half a whisper.
I nodded.
“You should do it just like that,” Eric said. “No fancy arrangement, no interference, just you and the guitar. To add anything else would just be too much.”
“I’ll give it a go.”
I didn’t want to say “I told you so” but I’d known Jack wouldn’t lose his music. It was such a part of him that it’d be like losing his soul.
The grin on Jack’s face lacked its usual cockiness. If anything, he seemed to be seeking confirmation and reassurance.
I gave him an answering smile.
Chapter 35
“Where are we going?” I asked. Jack had told me to get in the car, but he wouldn’t tell me why.
“Well it wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.”
I turned to face him. I loved watching him drive, with his arm resting on the window frame and his other hand balanced on the steering wheel. We only had a few days left in town before the band headed back out on the road. This time, they were the headlining act. It’d be smaller venues than they’d played last time, but still not too small.
The fan gig had been a super success. Jack’s misdeeds had been forgiven. Well, not forgiven, but definitely cast in a different light. He was the bad boy of rock, a rebel with an edgy past. People just lapped that up.
I’d needed to book a larger venue than I’d first intended. Even the fans who had been so vocal against Jack after the promo gig wanted tickets. Maybe they were looking for more evidence to damn him, but they sure as hell didn’t get it.
Storm walked onto that stage and the venue filled with magic. I watched them through a blur of tears because the music they played had a melancholy edge it’d lacked before. My heart beat in time with the music, excitement rising during the chorus. I knew Jack could do it, that the music would never leave him.
They left the stage with the crowd went frantic. They needed more.
Jack came off to grab his acoustic. I knew this song would be the hardest for him to play because it came from the deepest part of his soul. I kissed his cheek gently before he went back out front.
A single spotlight shone on the stage and Jack sat on a stool, alone. The crowd went silent, anticipating this moment. They stayed silent throughout the song and didn’t even cheer when he’d finished, like this moment was too sacrosanct for mere noise.
“That was for a special friend,” he said and then crowd finally gave way to their emotions, the cheers of “Spud, Spud, Spud” taking over.
When they fina
lly went silent, Jack stood up and grabbed the microphone.
“I’ve been a bit of dick later, right. But you guys, you kept supporting us. I want to say sorry and thank you for coming along tonight. I’m going to do the best I can to make things right.”
Jack hadn’t told me, but he’d begged Bruce to come along on the night. He’d apologised and pleaded for a chance to prove himself. Afterward, Bruce came backstage and things got smoothed over.
The album just kept selling. We were already discussing an overseas tour when this one finished. I didn’t mind. I’d be going with them. I’d even been able to arrange to do my final subjects online so I could finish my degree. Sure it meant not doing the subjects I wanted, but that was a small price to play.
We approached a neighbourhood that it looked familiar. I didn’t want to say anything because Jack seemed so proud of himself arranging this surprise, but it was where I’d looked at that place with Angie. The one with the office downstairs. Surely, we weren’t going there. They’d have rented that place out long ago.
Jack pulled the car over outside it though.
“Are you coming?” he asked, jiggling a set of keys in his hand.
He took me in the front door and we walked through the rooms.
“So, is it ours?” I asked.
“If you want it. I wouldn’t dare organise a place for us without your approval.” He grinned. “I got the keys from the real estate agent.”
“It’s perfect,” I said. “Totally perfect.”
I threw my arms around his neck.
“There are even bedrooms for the kids,” he said.
I stepped back.
“Whoa, hold on there. What kids?”
“There are going to be kids, aren’t there? I mean, little Jacks and little Hannahs running around the place with decent parents to make sure they are brought up properly.” He nuzzled into my neck.
“Maybe. One day. But not for years. We can’t take kids on tour and there’s going to be a lot of touring in the future. And I plan to be beside you all the way.”
“Yeah, I can wait. So long as you promise me we’ll have them one day.”
I laughed, but he grabbed hold of my hand.
“I mean it Hannah. We are going to do the whole thing. I want to do it right. Kids, a wedding, the whole works. It’s going to be just us, no screwed up families making a wreck of things.”
His eyes shone, but he looked away, as though embarrassed to be saying those things. The cocky, arrogant Jack Colt I’d first met would never have talked like that, but I preferred this Jack Colt. The one that had been beaten down a bit by life but had found the balls to rise above that and fight to conquer his demons.
“We’ve got a family. Not our blood one, but we’ve got Angie and Eric, and Eric’s parents. The people who really care about us.
“And we can call our first kid Spud.”
“No, we can’t. Anyway, his name was Greg.” I would not be calling my child Spud or Greg, but I didn’t want to argue with Jack.
“Spud. Little Spud. It’ll be cute.”
Before I could answer him, he reached for something in his pocket. “Those bloody reporters nearly ruined this part of the surprise with their bloody questions, but I really want to do this the old-fashioned way. You and me, forever. Because you are going to marry me. Like it or not.”
“I love you, Jack Colt.”
He grinned. “I knew it. I love you too Hannah. Even when we fight.”
He slipped a ring onto my finger. It wasn’t the kind of ring I’d have ever picked for myself. It was big and silver and looked like an antique, but it matched perfectly with my grandmother’s ring I always wore.
“Don’t you ever take that ring off, Hannah. Don’t you lose it or remove it. No matter what, because you’re mine, and I want the whole world to know about it.”
I didn’t want to ruin the moment by telling him it was a bit loose, and I’d probably need to take it off to get it adjusted. I just gulped and nodded. I noticed the sun shining in through the stained glass windows, reflecting colours all over us and surrounding us in a halo of light.
He put his arms around my neck and I stood like that, letting him hold me.
“Who’d have thought we’d end up like this?” he said.
“I was so angry that night I met you. The way you kissed me as though I was some kind of groupie, hanging out for your lips. How many chicks have you kissed like that?”
He shrugged. “You expected me to keep count?”
“There’ll be no more of that.”
He buried his face in my neck as his hands cupped my buttocks. “I’ll try.”
I bit his neck, sharp enough for him know that I hadn’t appreciated his joke. It just made his fingers grip me tighter.
“There are ten rooms in this house, including the bathroom. I think we need to christen them all.”
He kissed me and it changed my life forever.
The Bad Boy Rock Star series
Bad Boy Rock Star
Hannah Sorrento never planned to be a band manager. She’s a princess and the toughest obstacle she's had in life is finding shoes to match her outfit.
Then her father disappears and leaves her with only the money in her purse and a management contract for hot, indie band, STORM. She plans to sell the contract, one way or another, then pack up her designer wardrobe and head back to law school. But lead singer, Jack Colt, has other ideas.
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Bad Boy vs Millionaire
Tamaki is everything Jack isn't and, with their similar backgrounds, he and Hannah form a bond. He offers her safety and security as well as a return to her luxurious lifestyle. But the passion Jack arouses in Hannah won't be denied.
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Angie: A short story from the Bad Boy Rock Star series
Angie's feelings for Eric can't be denied but there is a major obstacle in her way – his mother. She feels like she can't be with him until his mother accepts her but it looks like that will never happen.
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About Me
Candy J. Starr used to be a band manager until she realised that the band she managed was so lacking in charisma that they actually sucked the charisma out of any room they played. “Screw you,” she said, leaving them to wallow in obscurity – totally forgetting that they owed her big bucks for video equipment hire.
Candy has filmed and interviewed some big names in the rock business, and a lot of small ones. She’s seen the dirty little secrets that go on in the back rooms of band venues. She’s seen the ugly side of rock and the very pretty one.
But, of course, everything she writes is fiction.
Blog: candyjstarr.wordpress.com
Twitter: @candyjstarr
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/candyj.starr.9
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7181055.Candy_J_Starr
Bad Boy Redemption (Bad Boy Rock Star #3) Page 18