July Flames

by Mari Carr

  She shrugged. “There’s not that much to tell that you probably haven’t seen splashed all over the covers of the tabloids.”

  Pop Pop frowned. “You forget who you’re talking to. My daughter is Teagan Collins. I know perfectly well the tabloids never get it right.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Truth is, the tabloids probably make me sound more interesting. I’m pretty boring in reality.”

  “I find that hard to believe. Tell me about your family.”

  Aubrey hated that question. “I…I don’t have any. Well, I mean…my mother and I are estranged. She stole a fair amount of my money, and now we’re handing over what’s left to the lawyers in a bitter lawsuit that’s dragged on forever.”

  Wow. She hadn’t meant to offload all that onto the poor kind man. “I’m sorry, Pop Pop. I think that sounded way more bitter than I meant it to.”

  “I think you’re entitled to some bitterness. I apologize for bringing it up. You’ll have to forgive this nosy old man.”

  She smiled. “It’s a pretty basic question. You couldn’t have known my family tree is actually a cactus. Your family is so nice, so normal.”

  Pop Pop chuckled. “Stick around a little while and see if you want to continue to use normal as a way to describe this crazy tribe. It’s nice to see Fergus so happy.”

  “Isn’t he always happy?”

  Pop Pop nodded. “Yes, but there are certainly degrees. I know he was pleased to come back home last September, but it took some time for the shadows in his eyes to lift. We’ve talked a bit about his time overseas. I think he saw some things that shook him, changed him, made him harder. But with you, I see shades of the loving, kind, patient boy who left us to join the Army.”

  Fergus didn’t talk much about his time with the military. Or at least not in any detail. She was glad to know he’d shared with his grandfather. She had learned—through Fergus—that talking about things could be very therapeutic.

  She was definitely seeing a shrink when she got back home. It was obvious she couldn’t untwist the knots inside her alone.

  “Heaven knows I tested that patience. I’m afraid I wasn’t very nice to him when he first started working as my bodyguard.”

  Pop Pop’s expression told Aubrey he was aware of that.

  “He told you?”

  “He called me a couple of nights at the beginning, asked for advice.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “I told him to listen to your music, to your songs. That’s where your truth lies.”

  “You’ve listened to my albums?”

  Pop Pop nodded. “Finn wasn’t the only one with a wee crush on Jenny Sweet. I live with Finn’s parents, Aaron and Riley. As such, I was subjected to more of those silly teenybopper sitcoms than I care to admit. I can’t say much for the show itself, but it was worth enduring for the ending number each week. That was when your true spirit shone through.”

  “I don’t know what to say. No one’s ever realized…”

  “It’s the same way with my Teagan. She’s actually quite shy. It was hard for her to express herself as a child. The music she wrote let her do that. It was the same with my Sunday too. Love at first sight, it was. And while she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, it was the music she sang that set my heart racing.”

  Pop Pop pointed to a small framed picture hanging behind the bar. “That’s her. Tris,” he called out. Tris had returned to the bar and was mixing drinks farther down the counter.

  “What do you need, Pop?”

  “Hand me that photo, son. The one of your mother and me.”

  Tris grinned as he took the frame from the wall and gave it to his father. Something in Tris’s face told her this was a frequent request. Tris returned to making his drinks as Pop Pop handed her the frame.

  The photo was black and white, and Aubrey’s suspicions were confirmed. Pop Pop in his younger years was every bit as handsome as Fergus.

  Then she studied the woman with him. Sunday had long dark hair, and there was no denying she was lovely, but there was something else about her. In the picture, they stood in front of this pub, Pop Pop with his arm around her shoulders as he grinned widely at the camera. Sunday’s arms were wrapped around his waist, her face in profile as she looked at him.

  The love, the happiness…the trust in that gaze took Aubrey’s breath away.

  “Two fools in love,” Pop Pop murmured. “Starting off on a grand adventure. New country, new business. We’d traveled here with precious little, but Sunday never complained, never wanted anything more than me, this ramshackle place and our family.”

  Aubrey sniffed, dashing away a tear. “Thank you for showing me that.”

  Pop Pop looked at her, and he—like Fergus—seemed to see all the things no one else ever noticed.

  “You’ve been hurt before.”

  She nodded, trying to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. “Yes.”

  “Your mother?”

  “And others.”

  “Don’t let them win. Don’t let them break that beautiful spirit of yours. I’m going to make a wish for you, lass.”

  She smiled sadly, his words bolstering her, yet at the same time, making her want to curl into a ball to cry out a lifetime of pain.

  “What wish?” she asked, her voice thick.

  “That one day, you’re the woman in a photo like this. Standing with the man you love. Stepping into an uncharted future, certain of only one thing—that you’ll never want for anything that truly matters because you already have it.”

  “You ready to go?”

  She jumped slightly, turning at the sound of Fergus’s voice behind her. Aubrey tried to paste on a casual smile, tried to hide her emotions, but the way Fergus narrowed his eyes told her she hadn’t perfected the look.

  “Everything okay?”

  Aubrey nodded and stood, still holding the picture. She glanced at it once more. “Don’t take this the wrong way,” she said to Fergus, finally finding a genuine grin. “But Pop Pop tells the bedtime story better than you.”

  Fergus laughed, taking the framed photo from her. “He cheated. Used pictures.”

  Pop Pop gave them a quizzical look, but didn’t ask what they were talking about. Instead, he winked at her, then lifted her hand for an old-fashioned kiss. “I’m not sure when I’ve enjoyed a lunch date more.”

  Aubrey leaned toward Pop Pop, kissing him on the cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered. “For the wish.”

  “I hope to see you again very soon.”

  They left the same way they’d entered, the car and driver waiting for them. “Back to the hotel, or should we go on ahead to the arena?” Fergus glanced at his watch. “It’s a bit early.”

  “Let’s go to the arena. Maybe we can finish sooner. Room service in my suite tonight?”

  Fergus nodded.

  Dining alone together had become their norm after the attack on his life. It had been a fairly quiet event each evening, with Fergus, scrolling through the personnel files and reading the data his cousin Finn was putting together with the help of Miguel and Landon. The cops had taken advantage of their access to police records and had run several background checks on various crew members with previous arrests.

  So far, Doug was in top contention, even though Aubrey simply couldn’t believe it. However, the evidence kept piling up…and it certainly seemed to point to him.

  He’d been seen backstage during all the concerts when the “accidents” occurred. Then Miguel discovered that her ex actually had a police record for several arrests, including shoplifting, possession of marijuana, and—the one that had really surprised her—manufacturing an explosive device. That information, paired with his apparent obsession with winning her back by following the concert tour, had made him their prime suspect.

  They entered the M&T Bank stadium through a secured entry and found Marcus, who filled her in on the next day’s busy schedule. He led them to the club floor. They passed a comfortable lou
nge on the way to a smaller room that her team would use to do her hair and makeup. They’d just reached the room when Marcus’s phone rang.

  He looked at the screen, then back at them. “I need to take this. Just hang out here, and I’ll come back for you when we’re ready for the sound check.”

  Fergus opened the door, but the two of them hadn’t made it more than a couple steps inside when they pulled up short.

  “Doug?” Aubrey said, her eyes wide. “Blair?”

  Blair and Doug were both naked, having sex on the couch.

  “What the hell?” Fergus growled.

  Blair squealed with shock, reaching for something to cover herself while trying to shove Doug off of her.

  Doug stood up but didn’t bother with clothes, facing the two of them, his hands shielding his erection. “So, uh, I guess this looks pretty bad.”

  “It doesn’t look good,” Fergus muttered. Aubrey wasn’t sure, but she thought she detected a slight tone of amusement in his voice. However, she discounted that when she looked at his furrowed brows and angry scowl. Nope, Fergus certainly wasn’t entertained.

  Blair managed to pull her sundress on, but it was inside out…and backwards. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Summers!” she squeaked, hiding behind Doug.

  Fergus glanced down, then bent over to retrieve Doug’s cargo shorts, tossing them across the room. “Get dressed.”

  Doug gave Fergus an appreciative smile as he casually pulled on the shorts. “Thanks, dude.”

  “You’re the one who’s been letting Doug in backstage,” Aubrey said flatly to Blair, who was peeking around his shoulder, her face beet red, her eyes shifting everywhere to avoid looking at her.

  Blair nodded, clearly miserable. “We didn’t mean for it to happen, but we just…”

  “We fell in love,” Doug said. “This beautiful angel found me right after you and me had that talk, Fergus. The one where you said I didn’t have a chance at getting Aubrey back. I was low, man. Lower than low. Blair found me and…well, there’s just no stopping it, dude. It’s chemistry. It’s love.”

  Aubrey smirked as she listened to him. When they’d first met, he’d sworn it was true love as well. She’d been inexperienced enough—and depressed enough—to soak up his words at the time.

  Now she could see the truth. Doug was a harmless, goofy puppy dog, who fell in love as easily as most people changed clothes.

  “So you haven’t been following the tour to win Aubrey back?”

  Doug shook his head as he wrapped his arm around Blair. “It’s been wicked hard for the two of us to find time and, er, places to, um, express our, well, you know. To…visit.”

  Visit was obviously synonymous for fuck in this instance.

  “Whenever I had a free afternoon,” Blair said, taking up the explanation, “I’d find somewhere private for us to meet up. Then I’d sneak him back out again before the show started.”

  Given the level of intelligence the two lovers possessed, Aubrey was actually shocked they’d managed to hide their affair as long as they did.

  “You have an arrest record,” Fergus said.

  Doug seemed surprised that Fergus knew about that. Or maybe he was confused about why it mattered. “Yeah. Did some stupid shit when I got out of high school. Couldn’t find a job, didn’t have much money. I stole a burrito from a convenience store. Got busted and the cops found the joint in my pocket.”

  “What about the explosive device?” Fergus asked.

  Doug laughed. “Oh man. That was really stupid. Me and a couple buddies got stoned one night and decided we were going to make fireworks. My one friend, Kyle, looked up how to do it on the internet. We seriously didn’t expect the thing to work, but it did. Made one hell of a fucking boom. Burned Kyle’s eyebrows off. Dude looked funny as shit. Anyway, a neighbor thought we had a bomb. He called the cops and we spent the night in jail.”

  Fergus sighed as all his evidence was discounted. “Blair, you knew we suspected Doug of being the stalker. Why didn’t you step forward to explain? Do you know how much time we’ve wasted investigating the wrong man?”

  Blair lowered her head, a sure sign she was about to cry. Aubrey rubbed her eyes. She hated it when Blair cried.

  “Oh, hey, man,” Doug said. “We’re real sorry about that. I told her I didn’t think she should tell anyone about us. I didn’t want to hurt you again, Aubrey.”

  Doug had apologized to her at least a million times since Christmas, but she’d never once accepted it, never believed he was truly sorry for his actions.

  This time…she did.

  “It’s okay, Doug,” she said. “I’m happy for the two of you. Honestly.”

  Doug grinned widely. “Thanks.” Then he turned to Fergus. “Treat our girl good, Ferg. Aubrey’s one in a million.”

  Fergus nodded, though Aubrey could feel the tension growing in him. She, like him, had allowed the lack of any further attacks and the building evidence against Doug convince them they were on the right track.

  Or maybe they’d latched on to him because he seemed like a less dangerous foe.

  Now they were flying blind again.

  Doug shrugged on his shirt and the two of them picked up their shoes.

  “We’ll talk about this next week, Blair, when I’m back in L.A.,” Aubrey said.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  The two lovers looked at Fergus, waiting to be dismissed. “We’re done here.” He picked up his walkie-talkie, requesting a security guard report to the dressing room. Once the guard arrived, Fergus asked the man to escort Blair and Doug out of the stadium.

  “Dammit,” Fergus said, when they were alone again.

  “Fergus, even with all the evidence, you knew Doug was a long shot. This guy, this stalker, is dangerous and he’s…”

  “Still out there. Get one of your backup singers to do the sound check. We’re going back to the hotel.”

  Aubrey texted Marcus, who agreed to let Janice fill in for her. She was just about to put her cell away when it rang.

  She sighed when she saw the number on the screen. “My lawyer. Hello?” she said, answering it.

  “Aubrey. It’s Ross. Listen. I just got off the phone with your mom’s lawyer. We’ve reached a settlement. One I think you’ll be pleased with.”

  “Really?”

  “She’s agreed to pay back the two million she stole to invest in her own fashion company.”

  “And the contracts?” Her mother had signed contracts on Aubrey’s behalf until she’d turned eighteen. At that point, she’d still trusted her mom, so she had signed the next one herself—without realizing she’d been giving the lion’s share of her earnings from the show and the royalties from the first four albums to the hateful woman.

  Of course, at the time, she and her mother shared a lawyer, and her mom had been fucking him. God, hindsight really was twenty/twenty.

  “She’ll renegotiate them. The fact is, she did manage you, so she’s still asking for a percentage of future earnings on the show and those first albums, but it’s a much more reasonable share.”

  “And the punitive damages?” Aubrey had tacked on a large number, one she knew her mother, in all likelihood, couldn’t afford. It was a petty way to strike back, but that old adage was true. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned…three times.

  “She has offered half.”

  Aubrey knew her mom. Knew there was a catch. “What’s the condition?”

  Ross hesitated long enough that Aubrey realized she was right. “She wants to speak to you in person.”

  Aubrey hadn’t lain eyes on her mother since finding her in her bed with Doug. She’d sworn then she’d never let the woman get near her again.

  “Aubrey,” Ross said. “You still there?”

  “I’m here. I need to think about it. I’ll get back to you.”

  “We have a chance to settle this now…and out of court. It’s just one visit.”

  “I’ll let you know.” Aubrey hung up the phone.

  F
ergus looked at her. “Your mom?”

  She nodded. “When it rains, it pours.”

  He pulled her toward him, offering the warmest hug in history. Aubrey was starting to get spoiled by them. Anytime the bottom fell out, he was there, wrapping her up in his strong arms, making her feel safe and…

  God, she couldn’t recall the last time she’d felt genuinely lonely.

  Even with the distance between them the past two weeks, she’d never felt alone because he was there, close, and if she’d asked him for help, for anything, he would have given it to her.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  She shook her head. “No. Not really. Can we go back to the hotel?”

  He nodded. “Sure.”

  “And can we go to bed? Together? Preferably naked?”

  “Probably. Safe word?”

  “I’m taking it back,” she said.

  He laughed. “Then definitely.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Fergus stood outside Aubrey’s dressing room, arms crossed, as he listened to the voices through his earpiece. The security detail for this venue was off the charts, countless guards in position all around the stadium.

  In addition, his uncle Aaron had pulled in every favor, stationing uniformed and plain-clothed cops at both ends of this hallway, and then every twenty feet or so along the path he and Aubrey would take to the stage.

  Hunter had wrapped up his performance, and the crew was working their magic, swiftly switching from Hunter’s stage set to hers. Marcus had just given him the three-minute warning, which meant it was time for he and Aubrey to start making their way to the stage.

  While he loved watching her perform, Fergus would rather be anywhere else at the moment than here, with sixty-thousand screaming fans. Because somewhere out there was a man determined to hurt Aubrey.

  He knocked on the door. “Aubrey. It’s time.”

  She opened the door and he smiled, offering her a wolf whistle, hoping it would wipe away her visible nervousness.

  She rolled her eyes and smiled. “You’ve seen every costume countless times.”

  “Doesn’t mean you’re not hot every time you wear them.”