Текст книги "Out Of The Blue"
Автор книги: Carina Adams
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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 20 страниц)
Chapter Six
~ Mike ~
Lee called not long after Mols crashed, letting me know that they were on their way and should be here before we woke up. When she mentioned that she’d have someone bring my suitcase up to the room when they got here, I had to tell her that Molly needed clothes, too. When she stopped laughing at my cluelessness and lack of preparation, she promised to pack our friend a bag, find everything Mols needed, and bring them up herself.
I didn’t turn on the TV, or play with my phone, but sat in the quiet and replayed Molly’s version of what had happened in the parking lot. I wanted to find the valet, or whatever the fuck he was, and beat his ass into oblivion for scaring her shitless. Maybe tomorrow I’d bribe the concierge into telling me who it was, just so I could put the fear of God into him. I must have fallen asleep, even though I’d fought it like a motherfucker, because when she knocked on the door a few hours later, I practically jumped off the couch, grabbing my weapon from the end table.
I never used the goddamn thing, but it was never more than an arm’s reach away. Even when I wasn’t carrying my Beretta, which was more than a deterrent to keep people away than anything else, the .380 was strapped to my leg. Job requirement. I didn’t want to kill anyone, but hell, if it was a choice between Molly and someone else, you’d better believe the son-of-a-bitch would meet his maker without a moment’s hesitation from me.
The knock came again, this time followed by, “Mikey, you awake?” Leaving the 9mm on the table, I raced to let her in before she could knock again and wake up Molly.
I smiled at Red as I pulled open the door and lifted a tote bag off her shoulder. “I could have come down and gotten them.”
She only shook her head, staying in the hall instead of moving past me into the suite. “You had a long day.”
I adjusted the strap higher on my shoulder and reached for my own bag by Lee’s feet. “So did you.” We’d taken the same flights yesterday morning, dealt with the same layovers, and had handled the same inconveniences of travel. But she’d had to stay after the concert and put a smile on her face, playing nice. That shit was more exhausting than anything else.
She only shrugged. “I napped on the bus.” It didn’t take a genius to see she was lying and it pissed me off that she wasn’t being honest with me. “How was the trip in?”
I let her change the conversation, ignoring the nagging need to ask her what was wrong. “Fun.” I wasn’t sure which of us was more surprised by my answer. I cleared my throat. “It’s Molly. We always have fun together.”
The smile she gave me was genuine. “Good. She needs a little fun in her life.”
I snorted. “Yeah, ‘cause that’s exactly what our girl needs.”
Lee just rolled her eyes at me before turning and walking down the hall, raising one hand over her head in a silent salute.
“Night, Lee!” I waited until she stopped at the elevator before closing the door and carrying the bags in. I threw mine on the end of my bed, and crossed into Molly’s room. She was sprawled out across the queen mattress, snoring softly. Lifting her bag onto the chair in the corner, where she would definitely see it in the morning, I turned to go. But, instead of leaving, I stood there, watching her like a perv.
I’d never had to be solely responsible for a woman before. That’s the reason I told myself I suddenly felt so protective of her. It had nothing to do with how lost she’d looked when I walked onto the bus earlier. I was worried about that because I was a good friend, nothing more. No, these feelings, like the need to reach down and pull the covers over her, or drop a quick kiss on her forehead were there simply because it was my job to make sure she was safe.
Kelly had convinced me to come to work for him, to become a licensed bodyguard, but he hadn’t really needed more than an extra set of eyes, or fists when things got out of hand. I was there to protect him, yeah, but he was my best friend and could definitely handle his own, so it always felt like old times more than anything else. Well, except for the fact that we were legal now and women threw themselves at us wherever we went, and we were being paid to travel the world. Almost the same thing, though.
Lee had always needed me, and I would always have her back, but it had never been my job to take care of her. As teens, I’d helped Kelly watch out for her. Then she’d had a couple of boyfriends that claimed that job before she and Kelly got back together. When she joined the tour, I did what I could, but again, it wasn’t my job.
If you wanted to get technical, Julie became my responsibility the day we’d eloped. But I’d been gone more than I was home. It’s hard to protect your wife, and keep your family together, when you’re overseas. Hell, I’d just been a clueless kid, and now I know that you have to want something in order to get it. I blamed the dick for stealing my wife, but in reality, she’d never really been mine to begin with.
Molly coughed, startling me and forcing me into the present. Carefully I reached down, pulling her blanket up over her shoulders and tucking it in around her. Clicking the A/C fan down to low to make sure she didn’t get too cold, I crept out of her room as quietly as I could. I needed to get away from her before I crossed the line and did something I’d regret.
The sun streaming through my window woke me up a few hours later. I’d tossed and turned for a while before sleep finally claimed me, but I felt refreshed. Grabbing my phone, I cursed when I realized how late it was. I was out of bed seconds later, sliding into the pair of jeans from the night before and hurrying into the common area before Molly could get up.
“’Morning, buttercup!” she called around a mouthful of cereal. “I thought you were gonna sleep the day away.”
“You should have woken me.” I scratched a spot on my chest absentmindedly, stopping when I realized her eyes were following my hand. Staring at her, I willed her to look at me.
Seconds later, she glanced up, catching my eyes, and blushed. “I thought you needed your rest.”
I would have argued, but there was really no point. I’d had this fight with Lee many times, and I’d never won. Tomorrow, I would make sure the alarm was set. My stomach growled as she took another bite. “Whatchya eating?”
She pointed to a tray on the counter while she chewed. “I didn’t know how long you’d be in bed, so I didn’t order anything hot. But, there’s fruit and a few different types of cereal. Milk and juice is in the fridge.” She took another bite, crunching away.
I followed her lead and carried my bowl of Rice Krispies to the couch, sitting opposite her. “What’s on the agenda today?”
She shrugged. “I’d like to meet with Lia to figure out a schedule. I don’t know what Eli canceled, or even what he’d had scheduled to begin with. I have no idea if I have interviews, and if I do, when they are, or which cities have meet and greets. Plus, I need to ask her about a stylist, or go shopping at some point.” She smirked. “You know, just another lazy day in the glorious life of a country star.”
She hadn’t been kidding. It was non-stop after we finished breakfast and I was a little relieved when we walked into a room backstage at the venue three hours before the show. She had five or six interviews with local country stations, but we still didn’t have a definite count. Lee was concerned one might no-show after the recent headlines. They were all coming here, which meant Molly was staying put, in this room, for a few hours. I sank into a spare chair, exhausted from all the running around we’d done, thankful I didn’t have to get on stage.
I watched in absolute fucking awe as she transformed from my Molly, the girl who guzzled beer and snorted when she laughed, to a slightly less obnoxious version. Yet she did it in a way that didn’t hide who she was. At one point, she rolled back her sleeve and was comparing tattoos with one of the radio show hosts. Another, she laughed so hard she started to cry as she tried to tell a story about Noah.
Last year during interviews, she’d been cold, almost bitchy. I knew it was because she’d been nervous, but the media outlets claimed she was stuck up and acted like she was too good for them. Tonight, though, no one could say that.
Even the questions about Nate—and there were plenty of questions about him, even though we’d told them all that he was not a discussion point—were answered with sincerity. She didn’t seem upset, even when one woman challenged her answers, obviously not believing Molly.
“Truth is often stranger than fiction,” she answered and laughed as she waved her hand in front of her, dismissing the woman’s accusations. “It makes a much better story, and sells a lot more magazines for me to be sleeping with Nate. Or for me to be trying to sleep with him.” She shrugged, smiling. “It’s just not true. People can choose to believe it, or they can look at the facts and realize the entire thing was made up. Country fans are the greatest fans in the world; they can usually see through bullshit like this right away. I have no doubt they’ll realize that I love Nate and Red together just as much as they do.”
“She’s fucking brilliant,” Lee whispered to me. “If that doesn’t shut the majority of them down, I don’t know what will.”
“You didn’t tell her to say that?” I asked, my voice as low as hers.
She shook her head. “Nope. I told her to tell the truth, to say what felt natural.”
“And what would you have done if her truth was that she loved Nate and wanted him for herself.”
Lee didn’t even take time to let my words process. Instead, she backhanded me in my stomach, causing my breath to rush out in a loud huff. “You’re a wicked dick. You know that, right?”
I laughed, causing both Molly and the woman interviewing her to stop and turn toward me. I could only grin. I did know I was a dick; thank fucking Christ most women liked dick.
I snagged Molly from her last interview a few minutes early, practically dragging her to the room backstage where a small buffet had been set up. “I have to go to makeup and get changed!” she snapped at me as we hurried along. “You’re going to make me late.”
I shook my head as I strode to the table of food. “You need to eat.”
She scowled and pulled away. “I’ll eat later. After the show.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I shook my head. “You’ll eat now.”
Matching my stance, she glared. “No.”
“Fine.” I grabbed a plate and started filling it with the things I knew she liked. When it was heaping, I shooed her toward her dressing room. She’d just sat down when I sat the plate in front of her. “Eat half of it.”
Her reflection watched mine in the wall-sized mirror. “You know I’ll get sick.”
“You won’t. You’ll be fine. But if you want to drink at the party tonight, you’ll eat at least half that plate now.”
Her mouth dropped open and her eyes sparkled with anger. “You are not my father.”
I shook my head once. “Nope, I’m not. I’m your security detail. Don’t push me, Mols, ‘cause I will take your ass straight back to the room and you’ll miss the party.”
I thought she was going to accept the challenge and refuse the food. She watched me for a minute, her expression guarded. Then she shrugged and reached for the plate. When she walked out an hour later, she had more pep in her step. Her performance blew the crowd away, and she got two encores. When she barreled off stage at the end of her set, laughing and riding the high of life, I decided that Miss Molly was going to eat dinner before every show. Even if we had to have a showdown.
I had no problems with after-parties. They gave the band and crew a great excuse to let loose and mingle with the fans who loved them. It was a chance to make great memories.
This party, though, was fucking heinous and needed to end. Soon.
I didn’t know who was in charge of the music, but they needed to be fired. Even though we’d all just left a country concert, usually the DJs chose top 40 dance tunes to keep everyone dancing and the mood upbeat. Tonight, though, thick beats of techno blasted over the speakers, creating a sex-charged vibe. Even the dance floor was empty, as if no one knew how to dance appropriately.
I rubbed my temple slightly, wondering how in the hell Molly could manage to have a conversation over this shit. She’d been sitting at the bar, talking to the same guy almost since we’d walked in. Every now and then, her eyes would drift over the crowd until she found me, and then she’d give me a small smile, before returning to the pretty boy in front of her.
I’d wandered the perimeter, keeping my eyes open, before settling by the railing on the VIP deck a few feet above the main floor. From this height, I was able to see almost the entire club and could spot trouble before it happened. Plus, I could give Mols the perception of freedom without actually giving her any.
A hand brushed across my back, and for a split second, I thought I would have to tell someone to get fucked. Then Lee moved in next to me. “She looks like she’s having a good time.”
I glanced at the short redhead next to me. “She is. But you look like shit.”
Red nodded, lifting her hair off her neck. “I feel like it.”
Her lack of a witty comeback had me spinning toward her, worry racing through me. “What’s wrong?”
Her eyes filled with tears, but she only shook her head. “Nothing. I just need sleep.”
I cupped her cheek, massaging her with my thumb. In the back of my mind, I wondered if I should be touching her like that, but I pushed it away. I’d comforted her for years and had no plans to stop now.
She seemed to need me to touch her as much as I needed to do it, and suddenly, she pushed herself into my arms. I wrapped them around her, pulling her as close to me as she could get, and let her sob. I didn’t know what the fuck was wrong, or who had made her cry, but I would find out, and then I’d hit them so hard their head would spin.
Leaning my head into her hair, I rubbed her back. “Shhhh,” I said, trying to comfort her. “What’s wrong, babe? I can’t help if I don’t know what’s bothering you.”
Pulling back, she shook head and chuckled. “It’s nothing.” She wiped her eyes and sniffed. “Really. I’m just being overly dramatic.” She sighed. “I need to go back to the hotel and sleep.”
“You need me to take you? I can have one of the other boys fill in for me.”
She stepped back. “God, no!” Then she laughed. “Do you remember the time Nate and I had the fight about prom?”
“I do.” Fuck, did I. Kelly had made the brilliant decision to take Ally Jackson to prom instead of Lee. They’d broken up over it. My eyes snapped away from hers, searching the crowd. That fucker. If he’d done something like that again, I would fucking wreck him. “What did he do?” I forced the words out.
“Jesus. Really?” Her annoyed tone surprised me, and she glared at me when I turned back to face her. “Is there ever a time when you don’t automatically assume the worst? He didn’t do anything. This just reminded me of that day. Déjà vu.”
I felt like a fucking jackass. “Sorry,” I mumbled before shrugging. “You know me. I want to fix things. And I’m worried about you.”
She forced out a laugh. “You mean you want to punch people and blow shit up. That’s not fixing things, Mikey. That’s destroying them.”
“Same thing in my world.”
She patted my cheek, offering a small smile. “I’m just really tired and need to crash. Take care of Mols and I’ll see you both in the morning.” She didn’t wait for a response before squeezing around the crowd behind me and heading down the stairs.
I turned back to the bar, relieved that Mols and her mystery man were still deep in conversation. A quick scan of the crowd told me not much had changed and that there were no threats that I had to watch for. I leaned my forearms on the railing, trying to get comfortable.
Ten minutes later, a bottle of Sam Adams was shoved into my hand and Nate leaned against the railing next to me, staring at the people below us.
“Lee left. She seemed pretty upset,” I told him before he could say a word.
“Yeah.” He took a long pull of his beer.
“That’s all you got to say?”
“You never answered my calls.”
I rolled the cool bottle between my palms. His tone was accusatory, as if my being gone had offended him. But I sure as shit didn’t cause whatever problem he and his wife were having.
“I needed you, and you didn’t answer my fucking calls.”
Guilt hit, and it hit hard. I’d avoided his calls, deleting his messages before listening to them. “I needed some time.”
“You got your shit straight now? Or you gonna tuck your tail between your legs and run away again like a little bitch?”
Fuck the fact that I was on the clock. I tipped the bottle, downing half of it in one gulp. “It’s as straight as it’s gonna get.”
“It better be. We fucking need you.” Before I could point out that they had Sam, he ground out, “Don’t feed me whatever line of bullshit you’re trying to come up with. The last few months have been fucking hell and we needed our best friend.”
I fought the urge to be nosy, watching Kelly out of the corner of my eye, and lost. “I fucked up, okay. I’m sorry. What in the hell is going on?”
Nate finished off his beer. “I’m fucking losing her, man.” Pain crossed his face as he stepped closer to me. “We lost a baby. Not even two weeks after the wedding. We didn’t know she was pregnant until she started hemorrhaging in the middle of a goddamn show and they rushed her to the ER without tellin’ me.” He shook his head, the muscles in his jaw ticking. He must have lost his shit when he got off stage and she was missing. “I got there too late. I wasn’t even there to hold her fuckin’ hand when they told her.”
I inhaled sharply. She’d been alone when she got some of the worst news she’d ever get. “Give it time, man. That was only a few months ago. She—”
“Blames herself ‘cause she’d been drinking.” Fuck. “The doctors told us to wait, to give her body time to heal before we tried again. But she won’t fucking listen. She insists we need to keep trying or we’re going to be too old.”
I didn’t know what to say. I had my kids young. Kid, I corrected myself. Janet wasn’t mine. A familiar ache settled in my chest as I forced myself to remember that my little girl really wasn’t mine.
Jake was the best thing I’d ever done, but I’d always assumed one day I’d have more. Shit, I’d always thought I’d have kids with Lee. One day, though, not now. “We’re not ancient, asshole. People have kids until they’re in their late forties. You’ve got time.”
“You think I don’t know that?” he snapped. I understood his frustration. “But every time she gets her period, she’s devastated. She won’t sleep, she barely eats, and unless she’s with Molly, she doesn’t smile.”
I thought back over the last few days. Lee had smiled, but the easy-going humor she normally had, along with the ability to sling instant comebacks, had been noticeably absent. “That’s why you’re not pissed about the manager gig.”
He nodded. “I was hoping it’d keep her mind off everything else. But it isn’t working. I’m fucking lost, Carson. I don’t know what to do.”
I scanned the room again, trying to find words of support for my friend. I hadn’t seen him this lost, or this worried, since Lee left him years ago. Before I could say anything, though, a woman caught my eye and I turned all of my attention to her.
She was obviously here to party, wearing the same kind of barely-there dress that half the women here tonight had on. The kind that was supposed to tell every guy in the room that she was available and looking for a good time, when in reality, it turned most of them away. That’s not what made me focus on her, though.
No, I could give two fucks about her clothes, or lack of. It was the stiffness in her movements, the murderous look she wore, and the way she shoved her way across the floor that had the hair rising on my arms. She took a few more steps and I knew she was headed straight for Mols.
I handed Nate my empty bottle, or at least I think I did, and I ran down the steps, taking two at a time. I was tall enough so I could just make out the woman’s head as it weaved through the crowd, getting closer to my girl. Most people took one look at me and hurried out of my way, clearing the path, not wanting to get plowed over, and I was able to make up time. I swore when I realized she was a few steps in front of me; I’d never make it in time.
