Groupie/Rock Star Bundle (47 page)

Leo shook his head as he walked over to the
chair next to the sofa. “You got it bad, son. But do yourself a
favor. Don’t wreck yourself over some bitch, man. They’re not worth
it.”

Vanni bristled at Andy being regarded in such a
way. “Thanks for the advice, Leo. How’re the wife and kids? Oh
wait…”

Leo just laughed. “Yeah, you know it. Why
settle for one dish the rest of your life when you can keep
sampling the buffet? And look at you, man. You don’t even have to
try. Just crook your finger and their panties fall off.”

Vanni shrugged. That wasn’t what he wanted
anymore. “Yeah. But eventually that wears off. They go from looking
at you like a god to looking at you like some piece of gum they got
stuck to their shoe. This,” Vanni said, motioning around him
regarding his world, “is a fantasy. And it is best left that
way.”

Leo was undaunted. “Fine. Then don’t fuck the
groupies. That can get messy anyway. All you need is one to flip
her shit and come after you with a gun…” He trailed off when he
realized he had gone too far. Vanni glared at him and said nothing.
“So that’s the problem, then,” Leo concluded.

Vanni didn’t say anything as he swung his arm
back over his eyes.

“But,” he went on, “that doesn’t mean you can’t
enjoy a little somethin’ somethin’ on the side. Get yourself
another player. Someone who knows the rules of the game and won’t
expect anything more from you than a financial
transaction.”

Vanni sat up in disbelief. “A prostitute?
Really? That is your answer?”

Leo shrugged. “You pay enough money and they’re
not even prostitutes. They’re escorts. They help you keep this rock
star image and don’t do anything stupid to keep you chasing your
tail for years on end. Either way,” Leo concluded, “you gotta get
that other chick out of your head. She traded up, big man. The best
revenge is never letting her see that got you down.”

Leo left Vanni to absorb that
information.

He was an asshole but he was right. Andy had
made her choice. He had to get her out of his head.

So he reached for another bottle.

Chapter Two

July 2010. Philadelphia

Andy

Andy watched the sun inch across the sky from
the hospital waiting room window. It was heading west, like someday
soon she and Graham would be… somewhere Vanni had already gone. She
still couldn’t believe that he had left her like he did in that
hotel room. He didn’t bother to listen to her reasons, he just
jumped ship. Again. Like he was always so willing to do.

Had she really been so foolish to think this
time would be any different?

She ran her thumb over the charm bracelet he
had given her. Each tiny, dangly trinket represented a step in
their weird, wild, chaotic romance. Each time she looked at it she
relived their tumultuous relationship. As many times as she’d given
up hope they had never been able to truly say goodbye; she wore the
proof of that on her wrist. She had to believe that one day they’d
find their way back to each other again. She clung to the hope that
one day very soon he’d add another charm to the chain, one that
represented the colossal mistake he made letting her go. When she
got to Los Angeles and he was forced to face her again, maybe he’d
instantly see how he was so wrong to have let anything get in
between them.

Again.

Her thoughts returned to Graham. The condition
he was in wasn’t just “anything” and she knew it. She had no idea
when she’d be free again to be with Vanni. He was right; it wasn’t
like they could just pick up again when she got back to L.A. She
had made her choice and it wasn’t him.

Maybe for the first time it wasn’t
him.

“Miss Foster?”

Andy turned to see who was addressing her. It
was an older redheaded woman with black framed glasses and some of
the clearest blue eyes Andy had ever seen. “Yes?”

“My name is Maggie Fowler.”

Andy rose with an outstretched hand to the
uniformed nurse. “Yes, Maggie. It is so good to meet you. You come
highly recommended.”

Maggie smiled as she sat across from Andy.
“That is very kind of you to say. Can you tell me a little bit more
about our patient?”

Andy took a deep breath. “Graham is a very
successful, driven man. To say that the paralysis has thrown him
for a loop is a bit of an understatement. He’s not doing very well
with some of the more… personal limitations.”

Maggie nodded. “I take it there has been some
resistance to your tending to his daily needs?”

Andy gave her a weary smile. “That’s a nice way
of putting it. He needs someone to be there to take care of certain
things but I’m afraid my bathing him and changing him won’t work.
It’s the final humiliation he just cannot stand. I thought it would
be best if we find someone else to do those things now, to develop
a more comfortable relationship, someone who would be willing to go
with us back to Los Angeles when the doctor finally releases him to
go home.”

Maggie nodded again. “I’m sure as Dr. Gilbreath
told you I have no immediate ties to Philadelphia at the moment. It
actually suits my personal needs quite well if Mr. Baxter will take
to me. I’m afraid he will probably be a little antagonistic in the
beginning.”

“What do you mean?”

“My job, as I see it, is to get Graham walking
again. From what I understand of his current mental state he’s
feeling a bit hopeless and depressed. It’s understandable, of
course. But he can’t be allowed to wallow in that place for very
long. It’s counterproductive.”

Andy nodded again. She agreed, but from where
she sat the task of wedging Graham out of his depressed mental funk
seemed herculean. “If you can do that, you’re worth your weight in
gold. I’ve done everything short of dragging him from the bed
kicking and screaming.”

Maggie laughed. “Leave that to me, Miss Foster.
That is kind of my specialty. Besides, it usually helps to have an
outside, objective influence.”

“I’m ready to try anything,” Andy confessed.
“It seems as though things are getting worse instead of better as
time goes on.”

“The fog of shock is lifting. As reality sets
in he’s going to see how much work he needs to do on a pretty big
gamble. The limitations of everyday life will hit him smack in the
face when he’s least expecting it. And if he’s not used to having
limitations, this will be an even bigger blow.”

Andy nodded. That was exactly what she had
feared.

“But,” Maggie corrected as she placed her hand
on top of Andy’s, “attitude is the one thing we can always fix. The
worst kind of disability is negative thinking. You’d be surprised
what can be accomplished once the patient goes from thinking he
can’t to knowing he can.”

Andy spared her a grateful smile. She felt
better than she had in weeks, knowing she was no longer alone in
this fight to get Graham mobile again.

She wore the same hopeful grin when she entered
Graham’s room later that afternoon. It quickly fell when she
spotted the nurse’s scowl while picking up an overturned lunch tray
that had been tossed on the floor. Andy took a deep breath as she
walked over to the bed. “Now, Graham. What did I tell you about
being a bad patient for your nurses?”

He glared at her, his eyes dark and angry. “I
don’t see why we still have to be here,” he growled. “They’ve done
all they can do for me. It’s painfully clear. I’d like to get back
to Los Angeles, back to my own doctors. My own home.”

“So this is your strategy? Being so impossible
they have to let you go?”

He looked away. “I just don’t want to be here
anymore.”

She perched on his bed. “I know. Me either. But
we have to be patient. If you want to walk again…”

“My wanting to walk isn’t the variable here,
Andy,” he snapped. “It’s being able to. And I don’t see how that’s
going to happen when I’m stuck in this crappy hospital, eating
crappy food, doing useless physical therapy that is nothing more
than training to live as a cripple.”

Andy closed her eyes and counted to ten. This
particular outburst was growing more and more routine. It was the
main reason why she had Dr. Gilbreath find a nurse who specialized
with paralysis therapy, one who could field these questions with
better answers than Andy had. “Well, then I have good news for you.
I found a nurse who is willing to start work with us here and then
go home with us to L.A. when the time comes.”

“I don’t need another nurse,” he spit out
between clinched teeth.

“Actually, you do. For all those things you
won’t let me do.” That shut him up. He told her he’d rather die
than have her bathe him or change his dressings, he couldn’t bear
for the woman he loved to see him in such a vulnerable state. “Her
name is Maggie Fowler. She specializes in paralysis patients and
four of her last five patients all regained mobility under her
care, using her therapy.”

“What about the other one?”

“The other one, who?”

“The other unlucky bastard who never walked
again.”

“You’ll have to ask her,” Andy answered dryly.
“You can do that later when she comes to meet you after dinner.”
She motioned to the food on the floor the other nurse was still
trying to clean. “You might want to leave the place a little
tidier. You never get a second chance to make a first impression,
you know.”

He glared at her but said nothing. She was
trying to regain their former relationship that was teasing and
lighthearted, but he felt anything but lighthearted these days.
Though he never regretted saving Andy’s life, the reality of never
walking again was tough to swallow. That was especially true now
that she had actually chosen to stay with him. She felt guilty. She
felt pity. But did she truly feel love? What he feared more than
anything was that if he couldn’t learn to walk again, learn how to
be a man again, she’d leave him for that sonofabitch
Vanni.

After coming back from a bullet wound, it would
have been a travesty to die of a broken heart.

That was why he wasn’t content in waiting
around for his miracle. However the healthcare providers in
Philadelphia were maddeningly conservative. Most of what they
seemed to focus on was the life changes he’d have to make as a
paraplegic.

He closed his eyes and swallowed the lump in
his throat. He hated the very sound of that word. Half of his body
was dead and there was precious little he could do about it. That
was not a position Graham Baxter had ever been put in before, and
he didn’t much like it. He was used to being powerful and respected
and admired.

Each time he looked into Andy’s hazel eyes and
saw any hint of pity there it chipped away at his very
soul.

It was his helplessness that fueled the
seething anger he harbored, one that, like that very afternoon,
made him tip over his lunch tray like a toddler throwing a temper
tantrum.

He was ashamed of his behavior but unsure how
to put the brakes on a runaway train. He took a deep breath and
looked back at Andy, who studied him thoughtfully. She was worried
about him, it was clearly written all over her face. And despite
all his outbursts she stood unwavering at his side, ready to fight
this battle with him. He was being childish and he knew it. “I’m
sorry, Andy,” he said softly.

She clasped his hand in hers. “It’s
okay.”

He shook his head. “No. It’s not. And I don’t
know if it ever will be.”

She reached over and cupped his face with her
hand. She hated to see tears glistening in the corners of his
lovely eyes. “It’ll be good again. I promise. I won’t stop fighting
if you don’t.”

He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips.
“I love you, Andy,” he whispered against her skin.

Her stomach lurched whenever he said the words.
She knew he was looking for a specific response, one she felt like
she owed to him because of the life he had given her by taking that
bullet. And she did love him – it wasn’t completely a lie. She
figured now wasn’t the time to squabble over nuance. “I love you
too,” she said as she reached down to kiss his forehead.

This time, however, he caught her by surprise
by reaching up and capturing her lips in a kiss that demanded more
than the words.

He was a man, dammit. Though he couldn’t feel
the lower half of his body, he still needed her and wanted her as
his woman.

“Graham,” she said softly as she tried to
disengage. “This isn’t the place…”

He was disappointed and really didn’t bother to
hide it. “You’re right,” he conceded as he leaned back against the
bed. If only she had kissed him back he would have known if she
meant the words she said or if she just felt obligated to repeat
them.

Whether Andy would stay and be with him was an
even bigger question mark than whether or not he would walk again.
It was hard for him to decide which one he wanted more.

Her phone buzzed in her purse. She pounced on
the distraction to step away from the awkwardness of the situation,
but her face fell as she read the text message. “Problem?” Graham
asked.