Groupie/Rock Star Bundle (27 page)

I texted Alana after I was seated,
but she had yet to respond by the time my food came. I picked at
the salad, which was the only thing light enough I thought would
settle in my stomach. It had been in a knot since the night before
and all the hurtful things Vanni and I said to each
other.

“Pardon me for intruding,” a male
voice came from behind. I briefly thought it might have been Vanni,
so my head whipped around.

It was a younger man of average
height, with coal black hair that flowed gently to his collar. His
bright green eyes stood out from his olive skin, framed by full,
dark lashes. He wore a sunny, bright smile. “Yes?”

He handed me a flower he had plucked from a
nearby empty table. “A pretty lady shouldn’t look so sad. Here you
go.”

I smiled as I accepted, and I think I murmured
my thanks like a proper Southern girl. He nodded and then walked
back over to the next booth where he had been sitting reading a
book over his coffee.

I gave up on my salad about halfway
through. I shoved it away with a sigh.

“I’m sorry,” the voice said again. I looked
over into those green eyes. “I hate to bug you but… are you
okay?”

I gave him a more genuine smile. He was a
striking looking man and he was sweet to be concerned. And after
all… I was a free agent. “Yes,” I said and then indicated to the
seat across from me, which he took instantly.

“I love your hair,” he said as he sat. “Very
edgy. Are you here for the concert?”

The concert, I thought. The big event for the
hotel. “Yes,” I said automatically. Then, “Well, no.” He looked
confused. “I was.”

“I could only get tickets for tonight,” he
said. “Came up from Philadelphia. Are they as good
live?”

“They’re great,” I responded honestly. “They’ve
really grown over the years.”

“Long-time fan?”

I thought back. “Two years.” Had it
really been that long? “I saw them for the first time in
Philadelphia, actually.”

“So you really have been in since the
beginning. Do you know the guys in the band?”

I tried not to let my face give anything away.
“How well do we ever know anyone?” I pondered.

“Touché,” he said with a smile. “Which reminds
me, I’m Galen.”

I accepted his outstretched hand. “Andy,” I
said.

“Unusual name for a girl,” he commented. “Wait
a second. You’re not Andy Foster are you?”

“I am,” I said, surprised that he
could have put that together. He must be a real fan.

“You do all their press. I love your work,” he
said sincerely. “I’m a writer myself, but not to your level,
obviously.”

I laughed. “I’m not sure I’m at any level. I
just happened to be at the right place at the right time.” Vanni’s
words still rung in my ears, but I tried not to let it show on my
face. “In this business it’s all about who you know.”

“I think that’s true in any business,” he
commented. “But in any case, it’s nice to meet you.” He tipped his
head in my direction with a smile. “So are you going to the concert
tonight?”

I looked away. “I hadn’t planned on it,” I
mentioned casually. I could always get into the venue since I still
had my press pass. But it seemed pointless now. Just an exercise in
futility. Or torture.

“Well,” he leaned forward. “Thing is
I have an extra ticket. I had invited a friend in the city but she
can’t make it. And I hate to go alone. I’d be honored if you went
with me.” I grimaced slightly. “First row,” he added with a
smile.

I sat back against the chair and
gave the matter legitimate thought. First row, huh? That would make
it very easy to leave with a little pride intact – I could show
Vanni that two could play his game. I wasn’t going to pine over him
if I had a good looking date, and he’d already accused me of worse
with Graham. No grass was going to grow under my feet just because
some self-important rock star had a wandering eye.

Let him play around with his little dancer. I
had no problem showing him exactly what he was missing.

“Sure,” I said finally.

I spent the afternoon shopping. For
someone who used to wear five different pieces of clothing ten
different ways, I was quickly becoming a fashionista. I thought
about going sexy Goth again but that was so yesterday. Instead I
went a little more high class. I wore an azure blue asymmetric top
with a rhinestone-beaded strap on the side, and the
polyester/spandex dipped low to provide just a hint of cleavage.
The top was banded at the bottom, so I finished off the outfit with
black dress slacks and black lace peep toe booties. I didn’t know
where I’d put this on the way back home, or even where I’d wear it
again, but if this was going to be my last DIB concert I was going
to go out in style.

I went easy on the makeup, not the
caked Goth look I had opted for before, and finished the look with
a shimmery, glittery all over powder that smelled of
verbena.

It briefly occurred to me how shitty
it was to dress for one man while going on a date with another, but
using a spare ticket to a concert with a guy I just met could
hardly be called a “date.”

It was convenient. That was all.

I wasn’t so sure my “date” felt the same way.
When I met up with him in the lobby he was visibly impressed with
the kind of trouble I had gone to. “You look amazing,” he said.
“I’m beginning to think lingering over breakfast was the luckiest
thing I’ve done this whole trip.”

“Thank you,” I offered
graciously.

He looked at his watch. “We have a bit yet.
Would you like to get a drink at the bar before we go?”

“I’d love to,” I breathed in relief. I needed
something to calm my nerves. I didn’t say much as I slugged back
straight whiskey. Off his look I commented, “Tennessee girl,” with
a smile. And then ordered another one.

He laughed and ordered likewise. Neither of us
felt any pain by the time we got to the concert. I followed him to
our spot right in the first row. Despite the whiskey my hands shook
as I sat in my seat and wiped my sweaty hands on my pants. I
thought my heart would beat a hole through my chest as we waited
for the show to start. Each moment was agonizingly long, and the
closer it came to show time the more convinced I became this was a
really bad idea.

Who was I kidding? He wouldn’t care if I was
there with the top ten most eligible bachelors in Hollywood. He’d
already made up his mind about me.

I was just a groupie.

My blood burned to think about it. I
glanced over at Galen, who was just a normal guy like any other.
Another fan, even.

If this is where Vanni thought I belonged, at
the bottom of the ladder with all the other normal people, then
this is what he would get. I grinned at Galen as the lights went
down.

I might have imagined it but Vanni
exploded onto the stage with even more force than usual. He
launched right into his harder material at the onset, almost like
he was trying to get out some of his aggression from our night
before.

This theory seemed even more
feasible after the way his face hardened when he saw me in the
front row.

I leaned toward my date and threaded my arm in
Galen’s. It was horrible to do, I knew, but I was rewarded by the
anger in Vanni’s face before he spun around and stalked to the
other edge of the stage… where Talia sat.

It became sort of a game of chicken throughout
the set. He would get more sexually demonstrative with Kat or with
his fans, and I would snuggle more with Galen – who either couldn’t
get a handle on my behavior or thought he had just scored with a
woman way more promiscuous than I was earlier that
afternoon.

When Vanni came out into the first
row to sing my song, I held my breath as he made his way down the
line. This time he touched each girl’s face, held her hand, kissed
her fingers and then moved on.

He paused in front of me, and I
nearly shattered like glass when he cupped the back of my head and
tugged possessively at my hair. His eyes were deep and unreadable.
“I can’t promise more than this moment, girl, but please don’t give
up on me.” He brought my fingertips to his lips for a moment, and
then moved on to the girl to my right. He didn’t spare me another
glance, but his well-timed innuendo was enough to throw my whole
heart back into chaos.

What was he doing to me? Was it fun for him to
keep me on the line like this? How could he look me in the eye,
know how deeply I’ve fallen, and try to push me further
still?

What was I trying to prove by coming
to the concert? No matter who I dated after Vanni, they would all
would pale in comparison.

He was stitched so deeply in my heart I didn’t
know how to breathe without him

And that was the real reason I came.
I could call it revenge but the God’s honest truth was I needed to
see him, to have him touch me… to sing to me words that he may have
meant or not.

I needed the illusion as much as he
did.

He ended the concert by allowing
women to jump up on stage and dance to a new song, aptly titled,
“Show Me Your Moves.” Written for a dancer, no doubt.

I stayed on the floor and watched the action,
which seemed to further sour Vanni’s mood. He ground against eager
groupies who were delirious this kind of close contact was part of
the show. That included Talia, who grabbed both his ass cheeks in
her hands and guided his hips against her own.

I was livid. It was one thing to
punish me but what he was doing to a possibly disturbed individual
just to feed his ego was over the line. I stalked out before the
song was over. Galen chased after me uncertainly.

“Andy?” he called as he ran behind me in the
street. “Andy!”

I stopped and turned toward him with tears
streaming down my face.

“What’s going on?” he wanted to know
as he caught up to me.

I shook my head. How could I tell him? Where
would I begin?

Thunder rumbled overhead and
lightning crackled throughout the sky. Galen took charge of the
situation and guided me the remaining blocks to the
hotel.

Instead of going to the M&G, he led me back
into the bar. I slid into a dark booth in the back while he ordered
our drinks.

“I get the feeling I don’t know
everything,” he said as he slid in next to me.

I didn’t say anything. When the
drinks came I killed mine and his too. He ordered more and waited.
Another two gone and I finally slurred that he should go to the
M&G without me.

“I’m not leaving you here like this,” he
stated. “We don’t have to talk but you shouldn’t be
alone.”

Another two drinks… doubles at that.
By then I was teetering right off the cliff of tipsy toward the
canyon of intoxication. But nothing seemed to dull the exquisite
ache that had taken hold of my heart. I kept waiting for the buzz,
the high, the liftoff that would take me away from my sad and
bitter reality and land me somewhere else entirely.

Galen waited patiently as my moods went from
zero to sixty, right along with my blood alcohol level, trying to
process my kaleidoscope of emotions. At first it was anger. After
about the fifth expletive, Galen finally asked, “Are you mad at
Giovanni? Has he done something to you personally?”

“More like what he hasn’t done,” I’d answer
cryptically before depression would suddenly set in. “It’s all my
fault,” I’d conclude in a wail.

“What’s your fault, Andy? I don’t
understand.”

Then we circled back to anger.
“After all I did to help him, to help all of them. Especially after
Lourdes.”

“Lourdes?” Galen asked. “The supermodel? Is it
because she’s pregnant?”

I shook my head. These were my
secrets still to keep, weren’t they? Then I thought of Vanni and
Kat in Central Park, and I realized my spot had been effectively
cut out of the inner circle. Why did I have to give a damn anymore?
I was just a groupie who made the unfortunate miscalculation of
thinking I was closer than I really was, right?

Finally I nodded the affirmative to his
question. He nodded as if he understood and slid closer to me in
the booth. “I can understand why you’d be mad at him. It takes a
special kind of lowlife to leave a woman pregnant.”

I thought of Jasper. “Yes, it would,” I
muttered bitterly. “Especially just to protect his
investment.”

Galen’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean? What
investment?”

My head felt submerged underwater. How many
drinks I had by that point? I suddenly lost count. “I should
go…”

As I stood I made that realization
most of those who have overindulged have made: gravity is not our
friend. Galen was quick to catch me as I crumbled.

“Come on. Let’s get up to your
room.”

I shook my head. “I hardly know you. I need
Vanni…”

“Vanni’s not here,” I heard him say
from somewhere deep inside my own head.

Truer words were never spoken. Vanni
wasn’t there, and wouldn’t likely be there again. I fought back
more damnable tears and tried to remind myself of what it felt like
to see Kat and Vanni together, to know that despite his pretty
words I was nothing more than a number – someone who served his
purposes while he chased me but lost her luster whenever things got
too serious.