Glam Metal (50 page)

He had put the picnic basket in the trunk and as they sped away they were like two teenagers after stealing the keys to a car.

Sam loved it when they went sailing. It was the only place that they could spend time together and be certain that there wouldn’t be any interruptions from the paparazzi or from agents or anyone from the outside world.

She liked to watch him as he was at the helm, he looked so powerful. She knew, that when he was sailing, he ceased to be the rock star. When he was at the helm of his yacht, he was James Farenburg and not GM Jay.

Sam went down on to the deck and lay down on the sun lounger. She closed her eyes and almost fell asleep.

It was so relaxing and she loved it even more when Jay turned off the engine and lowered the anchor.

How lucky she felt, to be on such a luxurious yacht. She moaned softly as she felt his mouth cover hers and said teasingly.

“You are blocking my sun.” He laughed and kissed her again. He sat on the sun lounger beside her.

“This is heaven Jay.” She said and he smiled and agreed with her. She turned to him and asked:

“Jay, what if I am pregnant, will you be very angry?” He lifted his glasses and looked at her and for the first time that morning, he was being serious.

“Sam, when you were pregnant with Jaime, I missed most of it because I was such a jerk.” He reached out for her hand. “I’m going to make sure you are very well taken care of this time.” She laughed and said jokingly.

“Good, you know I deserve it.” He laughed and blew her a kiss.

As he maneuvered the yacht into the marina, Sam was grabbing her things when her phone rang. She answered it but it went dead. She had forgotten to charge it.

It was probably the gallery. And she certainly didn’t want to have anything to do with the gallery, not today.

As she took the picnic basket and put it in the trunk of the car, she looked around and there was a tall thin Latin man walking towards them. He smiled at Sam and when he saw Jay he said:

“Hey GM Jay, was told I’d find you here.” Sam saw that Jay was clearly irritated by this man. He said:

“Sam, I’ll be with you in a minute.” She got into the car and Jay walked off down the board walk with the man.

Sam watched him through the rear view mirror. Jay was angry and was waving his hands at him. She had never seen him so angry.

Jay was fuming as he got in.

Sam knew better than to ask him about who that guy was. She guessed that he was someone that Jay would never admit to knowing.

He rammed the car into gear and tore off. And without a word dropped Sam off at their place and said:

“I’ll be back in an hour, we’ll have dinner then.” She closed the door and he sped away leaving Sam on the cobbled driveway, staring after him.

Sam was in the kitchen making some salad and marinating some chicken when Jay came back. He kissed her on the mouth and opened a bottle of beer.

He seemed in better form now. So Sam thought that it was best to leave it go, about the man at the marina.

She went out on to the verandah and asked if he wanted to start the barbeque. He laughed and said that he would after he had a swim.

Jay dived into the pool, she was smiling as she watched him swim several lengths, she shouted to him.

“Do you want another beer?” He nodded and she got one from the cooler. She opened it and left it on the table beside the lounger and went inside.

After his swim, Jay sat on the sun lounger. He took a sip from the beer. It was kind of warm.

From the open window above he could hear the shrieks of laughter from his daughter. He was pretty happy.

Sam was in the lounge having a soda water when Nick came in. She smiled and greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.

“Sam is Jay here?” She offered him a beer but he declined. He looked upset and Sam wondered if he had had a row with Lisa, but she didn’t ask.

“He’s out on the verandah.” Nick went outside and Sam went back into the kitchen.

Jay looked up as Nick came outside. He looked terrible, like he had been crying.

He asked:

“You OK man?” Nick looked at him and said:

“Lisa never came home last night.” He said. A pang of guilt hit Jay.

“You know man, she’s a bit wild.” Nick sat down on the chair. He put his head in his hands.

“Jay, she was using coke, been doing it for a few months now.” He looked at him. “I know you are doing it too. GM answer me dude, did you give her coke?” Jay shook his head. He was been backed into a corner and he was unsure of his response.

“Dude come on, she’s your bitch, do you honestly think anyone can control her?” Nick stood up and shouted at him.

“Fuck it Jay. Did you give it to her?” He laughed and said:

“Ask Steve, they are very friendly.” Nick sat down and said quietly.

“I got a phone call about an hour ago; they found Lisa in a seedy motel in West Hollywood. She’s dead Jay, died of an overdose of cocaine and alcohol.” Not fully hearing what was just said. All Jay heard was that Lisa was dead. She couldn’t be, she was asleep when he and Steve left her.

“You’re wrong Glam Man, she was sleeping.” Nick stood up and took out the gun from behind his pants. He pointed it at Jay.

“Start talking.” Nick roared, Jay looked at him and nervously he said:

“Nick put the gun down. Fuck, have you gone mad?” Nick went up to him put the gun to his forehead and shouted:

“Start fucking talking or I’ll blow your fucking brains out.” Jay knew that he meant it. He had seen Nick in fights before and he was a tough cookie.

“OK, Steve and I have been doing her for a few months now. She was mad for us. I gave her the coke, I got a new consignment.” Jay said. “We picked her up last night and took her to the motel. She was high already. I gave her a few lines and Steve began to bang her. Then I did her. We gave her some more coke and when Steve banged her again she fell asleep. That’s it.” Nick looked at him. Jay went to get up but Nick wouldn’t let him.

“You and Steve have been doing her, all this time?” Nick asked sounding confused. Jay took a deep breath.

“Man, she’s a whore. Pete’s been with her too. We all have.” Nick shook his head.

“I thought you gave up dealing GM?” Jay smiled wryly. “You told us you stopped using and dealing.”

“Fuck it Nick, you make me sound like I am a big time dealer here. I only ever sold a few keys, nothing big.” Nick slumped down onto the sofa, still pointing the gun at him.

“Jay, you are everything that is rotten about this industry. Motherfuckers like you, give the music business a bad name.” He was shaking his head.

“Like you’re a fucking candidate for Miss America, Nick.” Jay shouted at him. “Lisa was a fucking skank whore that took you for a ride. She threw herself at me and sure I fucked her, I did her every way I could.” Nick jumped up and boxed him in the nose. Jay sneered as he wiped away the blood. “Sure you can pretend to be self righteous but you were as fucked up as the rest of us. You didn’t complain about my dealing when you were getting high for nothing. You didn’t fucking complain when we banged those whores after the shows.” Jay was getting really angry now.

I loved her Man and you motherfuckers left her to die. You fucked her and didn’t wait to see if she was ok.” Nick couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down his face.

“Man if it weren’t us, she’d have been doin some other fuckin band.” Jay roared. At this Nick looked up at him. Jay could see the hatred in his eyes. For the first time he realized what that look was like on a man’s face just before he killed, because Nick had that look.

Sam heard the raised voices and went outside to see what all the commotion was about.

She stopped dead at the French doors when she saw Nick pointing the gun at Jay. He was saying.

“You left her to die there, you sick fuck.” Nick said as Jay was trying to calm him down.

“She was just a groupie that did us all man.” Nick shook his head

“No, you got her hooked on coke, you were banging her-“

“Nick, Steve and I did her last night, sure she used coke but we thought she was asleep.” Nick waved the gun at him.

Sam screamed from the doorway.

“Nick.” Jay jumped up and the gun went flying into the air. Sam quick as a flash picked it up and asked Jay.

“What is he on about Jay?” He smiled at her and said:

“Babe, Nick is insane; he thinks I was having an affair with Li.”

“Were you?” She asked coldly pointing the gun at both of them.

“Babe no, I love you.”

“Sam, Lisa was found dead in a motel in West Hollywood this morning. The manager gave a description of Jay and Steve; she’d been doing them both.

“This bastard gave her the cocaine and left her to die there.” Sam was in shock. Surely Nick was lying, Lisa wasn’t dead, she couldn’t be.

And there was no way that Jay was fooling around with her. She loved him and Lisa was her best friend. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be.

Jay looked at Sam, he moved but she raised the gun

“Sam I love you, Lisa was only a groupie; she was doing the whole band.” Nick grabbed him and said:

“I loved her; she wasn’t a groupie.” Hot tears were rolling down Sam’s face.

“Stop it! Stop it!” She yelled. “Did you give Lisa the drugs?”  But it was Nick who answered.

“He’s been a small time dealer for years. The goddamn Mexicans owned him. He’s been on their payroll.” Jay came over to her.

“Jay, I swear, I’ll pull the trigger.”

“What about Jaime, Sam. Would you leave her without… without her father?” The tears began to run freely down her face. “Think of our unborn baby. I love you Sam.”

She loved Jay with all her heart. She couldn’t believe what Nick had said about him. Everything that Josh Manteca was trying to tell her too.

That wasn’t the Jay that she knew.

“I love you.” He came close but Nick lunged at Sam and the gun went off.