The Prince of Punk Rock (61 page)

Texas
,
Arizona
, Vegas,
Los
Angeles
.

The iconic Sunset Strip, with its
legendary rock clubs and oversized billboards, was a place Angel fell in love
with.
 
If
New York
weren’t his home,
Hollywood
would be his address.
 
Los Angeles
– it called him by name.

They would be in
Southern
California
for six days. They had another show later in the week
at the Orange County Fair in
Costa Mesa
, but
Angel wasn’t leaving
Hollywood
.
 
He booked a suite at the landmark Chateau
Marmont, infamous for its history of rock star and celebrity residents behaving
badly.
 
It was a fortress that sat high
above the city, the ultimate in luxuries.
 
They had the rest of the week to explore
La-La
Land
and Tinseltown.

Tonight’s show, at the renowned
House of Blues on Sunset, was electrified.
  
The crowd wouldn’t let the band leave the stage. A five song encore and
they still wanted more. Immortal Angel would have played all night if security
didn’t shut them down.

Angel was still waiting in the
dressing room for Jessi and Tommy. They were getting some things together from
the tour bus and then they would take a taxi down the Strip to Chateau Marmont,
where they would make their own shameful memories.

Someone knocked on the dressing
room door.
 
It swung open and
Kendall
stood in the doorway.
 
She had a twisted smile on her face. It was
smug and arrogant.

“
Kendall
?
 
What the hell are you doing in
L.A.
?”
 
He hoped she wasn’t here at Jimmy’s
invitation.
 
It would cause nothing but
trouble.

Kendall
leisurely walked through the dressing room and inspected everything.
 
She picked up the complimentary bottle of
champagne and read at the label.
 
She
fingered the champagne flutes and held them up to the light.
 
She ran her hand across the back of the
leather couch, as she casually strolled behind it.

“This is very nice, Angel.
 
You finally hit the big time.
 
I always knew you would.”
 
She had a strange self-righteous smile
plastered across her face.
 
“We’re not
all as lucky as you are.”

“I’m fortunate, yes, but I worked
my butt off to get here.”
 
He didn’t need
to defend himself.
 
Not to her.
 
He didn’t want her in his dressing room.
 
“I hate to cut you short, but I need to make
a few phone calls.”

“No you don’t.”
 
She finally stopped smiling.
 
“Don’t think you can dismiss me so easily.”

“What do you want?
 
Why are you here?”

“This.”
 
She stretched her arms out to the side and
turned in a semicircle.
 
“I want all
this.
 
I want in.
 
I want to be part of Immortal Angel.”

“What the hell are you talking
about?”

“I can be a backup singer, or maybe
a dancer.
 
I don’t care.
 
I just want to be on that stage.
 
I want the fame and the glory.
 
Just like you.”

It was so absurd he almost
laughed.
 
“Have you lost your fuckin’
mind?
 
Get the hell out of my dressing
room.”

“Wrong answer.”

“There is no way in hell I’m
letting you anywhere near my band.
 
Who
the hell let you backstage anyway?”

“Don’t underestimate me.
 
I know how to get what I want.”

“Get the fuck out, before I call
security.”
 
He should have told her off
years ago, instead of worrying about being rude.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
She reached into her handbag, pulled out a DVD and waived it at him.

“What the fuck is that?”

“You mean you don’t know?”
 
She laughed, loud and maniacal.
 
“I guess you could say it’s my insurance
policy.
 
My ticket to fame.”

“Do you want to get to the
point?
 
I don’t have all night.”

She let the DVD swing between her
thumb and index finger.
 
“I found this in
the middle of your record collection.
 
I
didn’t even know what a goldmine I had when I picked it up.
 
Your little wifey caught me snooping in your
office that day Jimmy brought me to your house.
 
I was just looking, envious of the riches the world threw at your
feet.
 
I just happened to spot this DVD
conspicuously misplaced in the middle of neatly arranged vintage records.
 
She startled me so I tucked the DVD in my
bag.
 
I didn’t want her to know I touched
anything.
 
I had it for a month before I
even watched it.”

He lunged for it, but she pulled it
away and laughed at him.

“Don’t think this is my only
copy.
 
I’m not stupid.
 
If you don’t want this all over the internet,
you better reconsider my request.”

“Why would you do this to me?
 
I thought you liked me.”

“Liked you?
 
I was in love with you.
 
I didn’t care that you kept turning me
down.
 
But then you started avoiding me
and running in the opposite direction whenever you saw me.
 
And as soon as that little bitch shows up you
fell all over her.
 
I see the way you
look at her.”

“She’s like my wife, Kendall.
 
We’re building a life together.”

“It could have been me.
 
It
should
have been me.
 
I don’t take rejection lightly.
 
How many times do you think a person can get
rejected before they turn bitter?
 
I
looked for anything to get back at you, but you would never let me get close
enough.
 
My plan was to bring you down at
the
Battle
of
the Bands.
 
I was supposed to win.
 
It was supposed to be me at America Rocks.
But your fans rallied for you.
 
You were
the clear winner. An upset would have been too conspicuous and my co-conspirator
didn’t hold up to his end of the agreement.”
 
She held up the DVD again. “And then this little treasure fell into my
hands.
 
I’m being very modest, you
know.
 
I could ask for a lot more than a
spot on the stage.
 
I could demand
something a lot more
personal
.
 
Something that might involve your gorgeous boyfriend.”

Anger boiled in Angel’s gut at the
mention of Tommy’s name.
 
“Leave him out
of this.
 
I’m warning you, if you—”

“You’re warning me?”
 
Kendall
laughed like a mad woman.
 
“I’m calling
the shots, here.
 
I’m the one who says
what—”

Tommy and Jessi walked into the
dressing room and
Kendall
immediately stopped
talking and put the DVD back in her bag.

“Congratulations,”
Kendall
said.
 
“Things worked out real nice for you, didn’t they, Princess?”

“What are you doing here and what
the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Jessi narrowed her eyes.
 
“And stop calling me Princess.”

“Look around.
 
You got everything.
 
Fame.
 
Money.
 
You’re the heiress to the
punk rock throne.
 
You got Angel in your
bed.
 
You got that hot piece of ass next
to you. Like I said, you got everything – everything
I
want.”
 
Kendall
smiled at Tommy and sauntered up to him.

“Get the fuck away from my
husband.” Jessi’s eyes blazed like fire.

Kendall
ignored her and glanced back at Angel before taking a step closer to
Tommy.
 
“Maybe it’s time to up the ante.
I wouldn’t mind borrowing this boy toy sometime.”

Jessi exploded.
 
She yanked Kendall away from Tommy by the
back of her hair, so hard that
Kendall
stumbled and almost fell to the floor.
 
“Get the fuck away from him! Don’t you dare
ever
come near my husband
again, you fuckin’ bitch!”

Kendall
rubbed the back of her head and scowled at Angel.
 
“You better call off your girlfriend.
 
Tell her that she better be a lot nicer to me
from now own, especially since she’s going to be seeing a lot more of me.”

While Jessi yelled for an
explanation, Kendall ducked out of the dressing room, most likely to avoid
Jessi’s wrath when she found out what
Kendall
really wanted.

The situation left Angel in an
upheaval of emotions.
 
His head was still
reeling about the DVD.
 
He was shaken and
didn’t know how to explain it to Jessi.
 
He was too upset to answer.

She marched up to him, eyes dilated
with anger.

“Answer me!”

He flinched at her harsh tone.

Tommy put his arm around his
shoulder in a protective embrace.
 
Thank
God, because Angel thought he might have a heart attack right there in the
dressing room.

“Stop yelling at Angel and let’s
find out what’s going on.”
 
Tommy
tightened his arm around Angel’s shoulder.
 
“Take a deep breath, A.
 
Calm
down, and tell us what she was doing here.”

Angel’s breathing was erratic, and
he could barely get a few words out before he had to stop to catch his breath.
“She has the DVD . . .
our
DVD.
 
She said she accidentally found it that day Jimmy brought her to the
house.
 
She was snooping when she was supposed
to be using the bathroom.”

“What kind of DVD are you talking
about?”
 
Jessi asked.

Concern was riddled across Tommy’s
face, shadowed by guilt. “I didn’t want you to find out about it, hon, but I
want—”

“Just tell me what’s going on. No
bullshit.”

Tommy pushed his fingers through
his long locks. “Me and Angel recorded this clip of us in bed . . . doing some
. . . stuff.
 
And we saved it on a DVD.”

Jessi leaned back.
 
“Why didn’t I know about it?
 
Why wasn’t I involved?
 
Why didn’t you ever show it to me?”

“Because. I knew you wouldn’t
approve.
 
There was some rough stuff.”

She shifted her eyes suspiciously
between Tommy and Angel.
 
“What exactly
was on this DVD that was so bad that you didn’t want me to see it?”

“I don’t want you to get
upset.
 
It wasn’t that bad.”

“Tell me.”

“It was just some flogging and some
rough sex.”

“Flogging?
 
Who was getting flogged and what kind of
rough sex?
 
Did someone get hurt?
 
Is that why you didn’t want me to see it?”

“No one got hurt.”

“Are you sure?”
 
She searched Tommy’s face, felt his chest and
his back and tried to lift his shirt. Her eyes canvassed every inch of his
body.

He brushed her hands away.
 
“I’m fine.
 
There’s nothing to worry about.
 
Relax, hon.”

“I’m not going to relax!
 
Kendall
’s
out there trying to ruin you and I’m just now finding out that you two are into
kinky sex acts!
 
I don’t know what to
think!”

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
 
Angel was panicked.
 
He couldn’t think straight.
 
Kendall
was
out to destroy him.
 
Jessi was
upset.
  
Tommy was implicated and caught
in the middle.
 
“Please, can we talk
about the DVD later?
 
What are we going
to do about
Kendall
?”

A look of concern passed over
Jessi’s face.
 
“Is she trying to
blackmail you?”

“Yes.”

“What does she want?”

“She wants to be part of the
band.”
 
Angel needed to sit down.
 
His head was spinning.
 
It was like a bizarre nightmare.
 
His whole body was trembling.
 
They came so far in the music industry. It
couldn’t be taken away by exposure of something as commonplace as a sex
tape.
  
He thought about telling Marissa.
She would know how to proceed.
 
After
all, she was the band’s publicist. He leaned forward and held his head in his
hands.
 
Tommy would be humiliated.
 
The DVD would violate the morality clause in
the contract and the label would pull the record deal. All their hard work
would be destroyed.
 
Their lives would be
ruined.
 
The room started to spin and
white spots covered his vision.
 
He
started to black out, but cool water on his forehead brought him back to
consciousness.