Текст книги "Out Of The Blue"
Автор книги: Carina Adams
сообщить о нарушении
Текущая страница: 2 (всего у книги 20 страниц)
“It won’t get personal. I know you always have my back.”
Lia smiled and nodded quickly. “Then, yes.” She held out her hand and said, “Molly Ray, you officially have a manager. I’ll talk to Nikki about contracts and have something written up by the end of the day.”
I squealed excitedly, pulling her into a hug. “You have your work cut out for you. Eli fucked up the tour somehow. Do you want me to tell Nate, or do you want to?”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, no. That’s something we’re doing together.”
Another thought hit me. “This means you can rehire Tim!”
The smile dropped and she gave me a somber stare. “No, it doesn’t. Tim’s only job was to make sure you were safe. He was fired for a reason.” She stood and headed for the door, and I followed. “First thing I’m going to do is talk to Nik about the show. Then, I’m going to hire some decent security. Someone who will do what he is paid to do, even when you don’t want him to.” She pushed the elevator button harder than necessary.
Before I could ask how she planned to find someone for security when it had taken weeks to find Tim, she crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m going to get Mikey back.”
Chapter Two
~ Mike ~
I stumbled out of my bedroom, naked as the day I’d been born, cursing my willpower. I’d told myself I wouldn’t drink too much last night, but fuck if I ever listened to the annoying asshole in my head. Hell-bent on proving that he wasn’t the boss of me, I’d drank myself into the hangover from hell.
Heading straight to the fridge, I grabbed the carton of OJ and tipped it to my mouth. I needed fluids and pain meds, and to sleep for another week or two. Setting the juice back on the shelf and slamming the door, I leaned my head against the cool, smooth surface of the freezer.
I didn’t remember how I got home last night, but I did remember the fucked-up dreams I’d had. Lee. They were always about Lee. This time, she’d come to Hooligan’s. It was so real, I would have sworn on a bible she’d actually been there.
I heard the bathroom door open, but I didn’t bother to cover myself. Courtney, my roommate, had seen it all before. More than once, actually. Nothing about me fazed her anymore, and I didn’t have the parts that she was interested in, so I just didn’t give two fucks. I’d told her once that she was more than welcome to walk around naked too, and if her girlfriend wanted to join, I’d be okay with that. I’d suggested that we could have a “clothing optional” apartment, but she’d just laughed and flipped me off. Probably for the best, considering she did have the parts I was interested in, and my body would most definitely react to hers, frightening them both with my girth and causing blue balls of epic proportions.
If my mind had been a little less foggy, or if I hadn’t been trying to recall the dream from last night, I might have registered the fact that Cort wouldn’t be home on a school day. She taught physical education at a local high school, so she couldn’t possibly be here mid-morning on a Thursday.
“Well, this is a new look.”
I snapped my head back, turning toward the voice I knew all too well, my hands dropping down to cover myself because my morning wood was definitely something she hadn’t seen before. “Lee?” Before she could answer, I continued. “Jesus fucking Christ, kid. What in the hell are you doing here?”
She raised a single eyebrow, crossing her arms the way she did when she was pissed. “Who do you think brought your drunk ass home last night, genius?”
“You came to Hooligans.” It wasn’t a question, just a statement of fact as I realized it hadn’t been a dream.
“You always were a smart one. I’m glad to see all the booze you’ve consumed this summer hasn’t changed that.”
I didn’t miss her icy tone. Or the way her eyes washed over me in an extremely judgmental way. Part of me wanted to lift my hands and give her the full show, while telling her to fuck off. The other part wanted to wrap her in my arms, because I’d missed her that fucking much. Before I could make up my mind, she turned away.
“Why don’t you go put something on? Then we’ll talk.”
Keeping my hands cupped in front of me, I stepped into the main part of our apartment that we used as a living and dining space. Across the room were two doors, one right across from the minuscule kitchen that led to the bathroom, and another that led to Courtney’s bedroom. Lee had moved to the other end of the room and stared out the sliding glass doors, ignoring me, so I quickly jogged the few steps to my room next to the kitchen and shut the door. Not that I thought she’d look, but I needed a few minutes to get my shit together.
To understand me, to really understand my story, there’s one thing you need to know. I’m the idiot in love with the woman he can never have. I’m the little whiny bitch I complain about—the loser who sits down, ties one on, and writes depressing-ass love songs about the one who got away. There’s more to me, sure, but in order to get me, and appreciate my relationship with Lee, you need to know the history.
If I’m being honest, I can’t remember a time in my life when Cecelia Marie Merrill-Foster, now Lia fucking Kelly, didn’t matter to me. Even when I was supposed to hate her, when I’d acted like I didn’t know she was alive, I knew her every move. The term “best friend” couldn’t even begin to describe my feelings for her.
It happened so early in life, our relationship, that by the time I was old enough to know my ass from my elbow, she was as much a part of me as my parents, or my grandmother. I can’t look back and tell you the day that I started playing with the chunky little redhead that lived down the road from my Grammy Ginny. I can recall thousands, if not millions, of times the two of us spent hours racing trucks in the dirt, chasing each other over trails on our ten-speeds, fishing in one of the local brooks, and telling secrets under the stars in the backyard. LeeLee, as her dad called her, was the most important person in my life for years.
When we were six, she’d turned her beloved Red Sox baseball hat around, as if she was some little punk, and in one fluid movement, punched Jeremy Westcott in the nose hard enough to break it, giving him the bump he still has today. Why did the innocent little pacifist turn into a blood hungry hit-man-in-the-making, you ask? Because Westcott called me a geek, knocked me down at recess, and ripped my copy of James and the Giant Peach out of my hands, destroying my prized possession. I will never forget the war whoop she screamed as she lunged at him, or the way he avoided her until…well, forever.
When we were seven, she talked her dad into teaching me how to play catch, because I wanted to play baseball and my own father never had the time. She sat on the sidelines for hours, watching us instead of begging Mr. Foster to pay attention to her. Lee was the best second baseman her little league softball team had ever seen, but she gave up valuable practice time so I could get better.
When we were eight, she’d held my hand and told me it was okay that I’d wet the bed while we were at a sleepover, the first one I’d been invited to. Then she snuck out of the room, found a pail, and “accidentally” knocked the entire thing over, soaking both me and my sleeping bag, washing away my shame. She swore she’d never tell anyone what had really happened—a promise she’d kept, even though parents labeled her the “bratty” kid.
When we were ten, she’d watched Stephen King’s It with me, because all the cool kids at school had seen it and I was too scared to watch it alone. Then she pretended she was the one that was afraid of clowns, instead of me, so that I didn’t get made fun of for not going to the circus. And miraculously, every time the creepy traveling act came to town, Lee needed me to do something with her, so I never had to face my fears.
Lee had always been the epitome of a redhead—a mouthy little spit fire, never afraid to back down. If she loved you, she loved you with everything she had, and always had your back. That passion went both ways. If she didn’t like you, or if you did something to hurt someone she cared about, she’d never let it go. Loyalty wasn’t just a second-grade spelling word to Lee, it was her entire existence.
That’s the kind of friend you have for life, the one who stands up on your wedding day and gives a heartfelt toast, wishing you the best of everything because they truly believe you deserve it. She wasn’t the friend who you ditch when you’re twelve because Ally Jackson, the prettiest girl in the school, realizes you’re alive when you make the school’s baseball team. And she sure as hell wasn’t the kind of friend you start to torment, making fun of every chance you get, because it isn’t cool to live in the poorest part of town.
Yet that’s what I’d done. That’s the kind of friend I was—the arrogant little fuck that thought if I could put distance between Lee and me, act like I was better than her, that maybe other people would believe it, too.
It worked. Overnight, I became Mike Carson, Ally’s boyfriend, star athlete, the best-dressed kid in school, and all around prick. No one saw Mikey, the scrawny little boy with scraped knees and braces anymore. Except for his best friend. She overlooked every despicable thing I’d done because all she saw when she looked at me was the boy I had been. I wanted her to hate me, because it was easier than seeing the hurt in her eyes every time they met mine. So I did the unthinkable and tried to make her.
For years, we didn’t talk, instead settling into a routine of avoidance. We had classes together, but she’d sit in the back, talking to her groupies, acting as if I didn’t exist. I’d laugh when my friends commented on her clothes, how she wore her hair, or her taste in music. I could lie to them all, but I couldn’t hide the truth from myself. My eyes constantly found her in the crowd, watching her every movement when no one was looking. A part of me wanted to protect her, especially from herself and the stupid mistakes she kept making. I missed my friend, and even though I didn’t know it then, I can see now that I was looking for a way back into her life.
The chance came when Nathaniel Kelly walked into our lives. We’d just started our junior year of high school when I heard the rumors that the answer to our football playoff prayers had come in the form of some hotshot defensive tackle from down south. Coach invited him to practice, but he never showed. When my team and I saw him getting ice cream with Lee, I saw my chance. I walked up to him and introduced myself, knowing it would be the one time she couldn’t run away.
Kelly, as much as I didn’t want to admit, was a cool shit. He was a kick-ass football player and an even better friend. I’d never bonded with someone that quickly, but within a week, he was like the brother I’d never had. He and Lee were inseparable, which meant that I got to spend a shit ton of time with her, too, giving me the chance to get to know the person she’d become. She never acknowledged our past, so I followed her lead, but I never stopped trying to gain her trust and make up for everything I’d done wrong.
Kelly made his move before I could. I’d been so wrapped up in trying to figure out how to get her to forgive me; I’d missed the signs. I never saw it coming. He claimed her first. As much of a screw up as I was, I would never poach a friend’s girl.
I wanted to hate him. Fuck, I wanted her to hate him. They were my best friends, though. And once again, I had to make a choice. This time, I chose to protect her. To be the friend she’d always been for me.
Not a day passed where I didn’t wish things had been different. Kelly was the better man, though, and I happily filled the best friend role, taking any piece of her I could have. The two of them became my family, friends I would do anything for. I loved her enough to want her to be happy, even if that meant she wasn’t with me. If I could go back and do it over again, I wouldn’t change a thing; those were two of the best years of my life.
Then we grew up. Teenagers should never be expected to make adult decisions. They might feel like they’re grown up, and they might act like it, but they really don’t have the faintest idea what it’s like to be an adult in the real world. In a blink of an eye, everything changed.
Nate and Lia had a nasty breakup, both going their separate ways. I joined the Navy, determined to serve my country and do my part to protect the people I loved. I married my high school girlfriend, Julie, because we’d found out she was pregnant not long after I’d graduated from boot camp. By nineteen, I was a dad, a husband, a man torn between his two best friends, and fighting in a war not many people believed in.
Lee should have been the furthest thing from my mind. She wasn’t. Sometimes, the letters she faithfully sent were the only ones I got, and I looked forward to reading whatever nonsense she filled her pages with every week. She did her best to distract me, telling me about the college classes she was taking, the friends she had made, her job, and life back home in general. She never mentioned Kelly.
Every time I was stateside, I spent as much time with Lee as I could. It wasn’t much, because I didn’t want to leave Julie or my son, Jake, not even for a minute. If I’d had my way, I’d have taken them away and shut out the world the entire time I was home. But Jules was adamant that they had to stick to their routine so that it wouldn’t be so hard to adapt after I left.
It made sense at the time. Being a Navy wife and son was hard enough, and the last thing I wanted was to make life more difficult for them. Lee warned me, insisted something was off, claimed that Julie’s distance didn’t make sense, but I didn’t want to hear it. Whenever I brought up Kelly, she’d changed the subject. We agreed that our relationships were off limits and settled on much safer topics. Somehow, we forged through, and our friendship became even stronger. I’d looked forward to each second we were together.
They say time flies as you age, that suddenly, you realize your life is just a series of images, memories that feel closer than they actually are. The days and years didn’t speed by for me. No, they moved at a snail’s pace until the day I woke up in a hospital in Germany, lucky to be alive with no life-altering injuries, but with a few years missing from my memory.
Lee, once again, was the one to charge in and rescue me. She insisted I stay with her when Julie wouldn’t let me come home, and listened to me while I sorted through the pieces of my existence and tried to put my life back together. Just like the little girl who dumped water to hide my humiliation, she put her life on hold for me and did her best to protect me from the truths my mind was hiding from me.
It came back to me slowly. First in flashes, then in vivid, full-color detail, the way you’d watch a movie, I saw it all. My career over. The family I’d lost. The only life I’d ever known, gone. Even now, years later, part of me wished I’d never remembered. It had been hell, facing the things my mind wanted me to forget.
With the help of my friends, though, I’d pulled my shit together and created a pretty decent life for myself.
Nate had moved up in the music world, and needed help with his security. He said it was fate that I needed work when I did. I don’t believe in fate, but I will agree that it was one hell of a huge coincidence. The job let me be myself, and gave me a chance to get to know the man I loved like a brother while saving enough money to give Jake a decent life.
I stayed tight with Lia, too, never telling her why my new job took me away for months at a time, or why I was home for others. She never asked questions, too busy living her own life, and trusting me blindly. I stayed with her whenever I was in Maine, talked to her almost daily, and somewhere along the way, convinced myself that one day, she’d realize how great we were together. I had it all planned out. I’d retire when Nate did, which he said would be in the next few years, build a house halfway between Lia’s and Jake’s, marry the redhead, and give my son a few little brothers. It was a great plan.
But it fell to shit.
Lee will say that the heart wants what the heart wants. And hers craved Nate. The day I stood next to Kelly, watching Lee float down the aisle, glowing from head to toe as she became his wife instead of mine, surprisingly wasn’t the hardest thing I’d ever done. Fuck no. The hardest thing I’d ever done was make the conscious choice to walk away from her, to leave the life I’d built from the ashes, so she could have the one she wanted.
History is a funny thing. Two people can go through an event together, experience the exact same thing, and yet remember it completely differently. Lee’s story is altered, I’m sure. Her version the same, yet different than mine. At the end of the day, one thing we can agree on. Lee is more than my best friend. She’s my constant, the light in my dark, and the one person I can always count on.
Lee is the kind of friend everyone wants, but only half of us deserve. Loyal to a fault, even to those that don’t deserve it. The friend that I will do anything for, anything she asks, even if it means selling my soul to the devil.
Lee being here now, wanting to talk, meant she wanted something from me. I could stay in my room, go back to bed, and nurse my raging hangover, or I could man up and go find out what in the hell she wanted. Sighing, I grabbed a pair of basketball shorts from the floor and a shirt from the top of the desk, throwing them on quickly and reaching for the door.
She’d moved to the couch, tucking her legs under her. I headed to the coffee table and sat, facing her, bracing my hands on my knees. Something told me I wasn’t going to like what she had to say.
She smiled and slid her hand back and forth over the arm of the sofa. “I forgot how comfy this thing is,” she mused. It was unbelievably comfortable. I would know. I slept on it for months while I tried to sort out my life. I adjusted slightly, hating the awkward tension between us. Like always, she didn’t beat around the bush. “How much of last night do you remember?”
My eyes moved over her quickly. Her body language told me she was relaxed, which meant she wasn’t upset. So I couldn’t have done anything terrible. She met my eyes, unashamed, so I must not have said anything I shouldn’t have. “It’s a bit of a blur.”
“A bit of a blur?” Lee scoffed at me. “How many other nights have you spent in an alcohol haze?”
Her tone only held the slightest tinge of annoyance, but I couldn’t stand the worry I saw on her face. “More than you want to hear about.” My honesty surprised me. I’d intended to tell her to get bent and point out that she didn’t have the right to ask those kinds of questions. I just couldn’t bring myself to give her the same attitude I’d been giving the rest of the world.
Sighing, I leaned back a little, closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose, hoping she’d get to the fucking point. “We’ve established I didn’t remember you were here, so I think it’s a safe bet to say that I don’t remember much about last night. So why don’t you tell me why you are.” My tone was gruff, but if it had been anyone else, the entire statement would have been filled with expletives.
Instead of cowering, like any sane person would have done, a toothy grin broke out on her face and she shook her head once. “God, I’ve missed you.” Lee’s words caused me to scowl before I could stop myself, making her laugh. “Oh, no need to pretend. I know you missed me just as much.”
When I moved back home after the accident, once I remembered all the lies that had torn my family apart, Lee and I had made a drunken promise to never lie to the other. We’d both told too many over the years, and both been on the receiving end of deception. I may omit a few things where she is concerned, but I’d always been truthful when asked. “I did miss you, and how much of a pain in the ass you are.”
The smile grew wider. “Come home with me.” Her voice was soft, tone light. But it was a command nonetheless. One that I had no intention of following.
“I am home.”
Lee rolled her eyes. “No, you’re not. Come on tour with us.”
Hell to the motherfucking no. Spend day in, day out, living with her and Kelly? Not going to happen. I didn’t hate myself that much. “No.”
“I need you.”
“You don’t. You’re perfectly fine with Sam. And Kelly would die before letting anything happen to you.”
She only waved her hand and slid her legs off the couch, her knees almost bumping mine as she leaned onto the coffee table next to me and grabbed a magazine. “You’re right. I have Sam and his team. I don’t need you.” She held it out for me to take. “She does.”
I glanced down, confused. I didn’t bother to read the headline. They were all the same. Half-truths and outright lies mixed together in the most dramatic way to entice normal, everyday people into buying them. It was the picture that had me grabbing the trash from Lee’s hands.
Molly Ray, the up-and-coming country music star, was featured on the cover. Nothing new for her, considering for years, everyone had been curious about the woman Nate Kelly took under his wing. When a woman looked like her—tatted from head to toe with rainbow hair and a body that screamed playboy playmate—people stopped and stared. When that woman was attached to the leading man in country music, people wanted to know everything about her. The paparazzi followed her everywhere, determined to discover some secret that no one else knew.
I was used to seeing her picture featured in the check-out line at the supermarket, but this picture was different. There were no coats being held up to shield her from prying eyes. There was no security detail whisking her away from the cameras aimed in her direction. For the first time ever, Molly was completely alone. And she looked terrified. Scared out of her fucking mind. The scene made my blood boil.
I snapped my eyes back to Lee. “Her detail better be fucking making a path for her to get through.”
“Right?” Lee threw a hand up in the air, exasperated. Then she let it drop with a soft thud onto her thigh and sighed. “No. She was alone.”
“Where in the fuck was her detail?”
Lee shrugged. “She left him in her hotel room. Said she wanted some time to herself.”
“And he let her leave alone?” I growled out, crumpling the magazine in my hand. “Who was it?”
Lee nodded, looking just as pissed as I felt. “The new guy, Tim.”
I may have worked for Kelly, but the security teams worked for me. I’d been in charge of making sure that there were plenty of guys around to watch everyone. The world was filled with whacked-out pricks who did fucking crazy shit most people would never imagine. Mols was a pain in the ass, don’t get me wrong, and tried to ditch us often. But she would have never, never, been able to go alone on my watch. I was going to find Tim, beat his ass, and then fire him. Ignorant fuck. I’d make sure he’d never work in this town again.
I was seconds away from telling Lee that I’d come back, just to clean up the mess that had obviously piled up in my absence, when I realized that it was Lee sitting in front of me, and not Nate. The man in charge should have at least called me to tell me he needed me. “Why are you here, Lee?”
Her eyes had narrowed for a second before she rolled them. “Really? I already told you. I’m here to get you to come back. Is it not obvious that we need you?” Each word was snapped out as the temper I loved so much threatened to make an appearance.
“No shit, kid. I got that. I mean, why are you here? Why not Kelly? No offense, but I’m just surprised the boss man didn’t feel the need to come himself. I’m surprised he’d want someone else on your bus.” Me. I’m surprised he’d want me on the bus, watching her, following her, listening to them, all day, every day.
“Oh!” Lee grinned, leaning back in the couch. “Nate’s not hiring you. You left a great team in place for us, and Sam’s amazing. I’m here to hire you on behalf of my client.”
I waited for her to clear up the confusion, but she didn’t say a word. My head continued to pound from the hangover and I didn’t have the energy to figure shit out on my own. Annoying little brat; some things never did change. “Lee, what in the fuck are you trying to say?”
Her smile didn’t falter. “I’m saying that I would like to hire you to run Molly’s security team. Only Molly’s.”
I twisted my neck from side to side, trying to get it to crack and ease some of the pressure. Molly’s security, not Lee’s. She wanted me to come back so I could keep someone else safe, not her.
Thoughts worked their way through my muddled mind. If I worked for Molly, I’d be on Molly’s bus, and I wouldn’t have to surround myself with Nia or Late, or whatever the fuck the media was calling them now. I could be near my two best friends without having their sucktastic relationship forced down my throat. I’d get to do the job I love, hang with my friends, and make a living doing it. Hell, I’d get my life back.
I nodded once. It could work. I could make it work. “Okay. For the tour, no more.” I barely got the word out before Lee squealed in excitement and threw herself at me. We would definitely have to talk about appropriate behavior toward employees, but we’d do that later. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close. One last time.
Now, I just had to figure out how I’d make it through the next few months with Lee. Or, how in the fuck I’d keep a certain blonde bombshell safe when she was hell-bent on self-destruction. And, worst of all, how in the world I’d tell Jake I was leaving again?