Groupie/Rock Star Bundle (62 page)

It was, as it had always been, a pissing
contest.

She placed her suitcase by the door and went to
say goodbye. She knocked lightly and then slipped in the bedroom at
his muffled command.

He looked so weakened as he lay in the bed it
immediately softened her resolve to break free. She took a deep
breath and went over to sit in the chair beside the bed. “You look
tired,” she said unnecessarily.

He tried to smile. “Being an asshole will
really take it out of you.” He paused for a moment and then reached
for her hand. “I’m sorry, Andy. You have to know I’d never do
anything to deliberately hurt you.”

“As should you,” she replied. “But
unfortunately the road to hell really is paved with good
intentions.”

He said nothing as he stroked her hand. Maybe
he did realize how unfair he had been.

“Graham, I’ve decided I need some time
away.”

His shocked eyes shot to hers. “What the hell
does that mean?”

She gulped and prayed for strength. “It means
that my presence here has lost a lot of its usefulness. You’re not
going to get better if your recovery is overtaken by all this other
drama, and unfortunately I seem to be a magnet for it. So I think
it’s best for everyone if we all got a little space.”

“Andy, he showed up here at my house as a power
play. What was I supposed to do?”

She pulled her hand back. “You were supposed to
be the bigger man. Who cares what he does or doesn’t do? That never
used to matter before.”

He glanced down at his useless legs. “I was
able to face him on my own two feet before.”

“You still can,” she asserted. “So you can’t
walk right now. That is one small fraction of who you are as a
person. You’re still the president of a company. You still have a
brilliant mind. You’re decent and you’re kind. You can still be the
bigger man because you are older and wiser, and most importantly
because you keep telling me how much better for me you are than he
is. Yet when he showed up today and you turned into an immature
Neanderthal and used me as leverage. You stooped to his level
because you felt like you had something to prove. It had nothing to
do with me. How can you do any of that and then tell me you love
me?”

Her words struck him right between the eyes.
“How can you ever doubt it?”

She gulped back the tears. “I could ask you the
same question.” He said nothing as she went on. “I chose to be
here. I wanted to help you. But I refuse to be used as a weapon
against Vanni or have Vanni be used as a weapon against me. I’m
sorry I can’t snap my fingers and get over the relationship we had.
I know it hurts you to hear it but I love him too.”

His jaws tightened. “So you’re going to him? Is
that it?”

“No, Graham,” she answered with a shake of her
head. “I’m not going to anyone. Believe it or not I was fine on my
own for 27 years. I’m not a child. I’m not a prize. I’m not
leverage. I’m a person who deserves a hell of a lot more respect
than either of you seem willing to give me right now.”

“Andy, I’m sorry,” he said softly as he tried
once again to reach out to her.

“Me too,” she said as she stood. “Hopefully
we’ll get back to where we once were. Maybe better. In the meantime
you have a recovery to focus on. I’m not going to do anything
further to stand in the way.”

“Then don’t go,” he found himself saying, and
he hated himself for doing so. “You’re the reason I get out of this
bed every day and fight so hard to walk again.”

“That’s the problem,” she said. “You should be
the reason.”

She turned without another word and left the
room.

Chapter Thirteen

October 11, 2010. Los Angeles.

Vanni

As Holly drove the car on their way back to
Redondo Beach, Vanni stared in sullen silence at his cell phone.
Why wasn’t she calling? Why wasn’t she trying to reach out
immediately and tell him that what he saw in that expensive,
sprawling mansion wasn’t at all what it appeared to be?

Graham had staked a claim and she had let him.
He had drawn a line in the sand and she stood quietly by and let it
happen. He was going through the worst time of his entire life and
she let him leave that house, and possibly her life, without a
fight.

Maybe he could have understood it in
Philadelphia. She owed Graham something for being the superhero
that saved her life. But now? When he clearly needed her as much or
more?

He thought back to the day before when he had
cried in her arms like a baby. He had never let anyone see him so
weak. And now that she had, she chose someone else. He pocketed the
phone and leaned his head back against the headrest.

Holly stole glances his direction but wisely
opted to say nothing. That she was there to witness everything just
added insult to injury. In Holly’s eyes he felt once again like a
man who was strong and powerful, even though she too had seen him
at one of the weakest points in his life.

The only difference was she stood with him. She
didn’t even think twice about it. Her loyalty wasn’t divided in the
least. It just endeared her to him even more, and oddly made him
want to protect her from the ugliness surrounding his life. “Sorry
you had to see that back there,” he said softly.

She gave him a winning smile. “These things
happen. I knew the complications when we decided to go over there
this morning.”

He thought back to earlier in the day and
wondered why he had decided to do that. Clearly it wasn’t going to
go well. But somehow he was determined to take a stand anyway. Why
had that seemed so important?

Maybe because he was still flying high from how
close he had felt to Andy the day before. When he learned about
Baylee’s family and their impending interview he knew he wanted
Andy beside him to fight that battle. She was his source of
strength. It seemed irrelevant that Graham was there; at least that
was what he kept telling himself.

Maybe he was harboring lingering resentment
that Graham had called her away the day before when they were
sharing a close moment in the home he had bought for
her.

Maybe, just maybe, he was trying to prove that
her bond to him was so much stronger than her bond to Graham, even
though she ran whenever Graham called.

With a sinking heart he realized that was
exactly what it was. He was jealous and entitled – again – and
decided to force her hand.

“I guess she
showed me
,” he thought to
himself.

“Do you want something to eat?” Holly asked. He
wasn’t really hungry but he nodded. Somehow he didn’t want to go
straight home to a house that mocked him every time he walked in
that door without Andy.

They stopped at one of Holly’s favorite
restaurants in West Hollywood. It was a hipster hotspot and clearly
the place to be seen if you were anyone. He knew this immediately
as they were assaulted by PING reporters and paparazzi heading up
to the restaurant.

“What are you going to do about
Baylee?”

“Hey, Vanni, how does it feel to have a name to
go with the face of the girl you nearly killed?”

“Did you see our interview this afternoon? Can
I get some comments please?”

He withheld his “Fuck you,” as long as he could
as they rushed into the restaurant with heads down. Instead Holly
did most of the talking. “No comment!” she repeated until they were
safely tucked inside where security could protect the
clientele.

“I’m sorry,” she said as they eased into a dark
booth on the upper level. “I guess I didn’t think that one
through.”

He shrugged. They couldn’t avoid the sharks now
even if they wanted to. “It’s not your fault they’re bottom
feeders,” he said with a good humored smile. “The only thing people
want to see more than a star ascend is a star fall.”

“But you’re getting back up again and that’s
all that counts.”

“Which is why they’re even more rabid to take
me down. It’s the nature of the beast.”

She gave him a warm, supportive smile as she
touched his hand. “You’re getting wiser by the day,
Giovanni.”

He liked the way she said his full name. It
made him feel more grown up, more important. More of a man. He
really needed that today. He held up his glass of water to toast
her. “I had some help,” he toasted.

She giggled and scooted a little closer to him.
“You make me feel special,” she admitted.

“You are special.”

Shadows passed over her eyes. “It’s easy to
forget sometimes. I think deep down I’ll always feel like that poor
white trash living in some rundown trailer in Ohio with a drunk for
a dad.”

Vanni thought back to his ruthless
characterization of the Wilkes. He hadn’t thought about how his
words might have stung her since her upbringing was just as poor.
“Holly, if this is about what I said earlier…”

She smiled even wider. He could tell it was her
strongest suit of armor. It hid her inner pain and insecurities.
“No, no. It’s not about that. You come from humble beginnings just
like we did. I know you don’t look down on people just because
they’re not as lucky as you.”

He laughed. “I don’t know how lucky I am. I
worked hard for years for a career that I seem to have decimated in
a couple of short months. Maybe Graham is right. Maybe this is just
desserts.”

She shook her head and squeezed his hand.
“Don’t let him get into your head like that. His issues are his
own. Maybe he’s bitter, who knows. But he had no right to belittle
you like that.” She hesitated just a moment before she said,
“Frankly I thought it was shitty of Andy to let him.”

He searched her blue eyes. The sweetness he
normally saw there was replaced by anger… an anger on his behalf.
It was something he had hoped to see on Andy’s face earlier but
hadn’t. Yet he still felt a loyalty to the woman he couldn’t help
but love. “Things are complicated.”

“Funny. She said the same thing about you. I
guess I don’t see what’s so complicated about being with the one
you love.”

He hated to admit that he didn’t understand it
either.

“It shouldn’t be hard,” she said as she
tightened her fingers in his hand. “If love is right it should fall
right into place.”

She stared at him so earnestly he couldn’t say
anything at all. He saw something in the deep blue depths of his
eyes he didn’t think he would ever deserve to see again. It was
hope. He watched as her head tilted up in a slow ascent.

The minute her lips touched his lips he knew he
should pull away. But there was something so comforting about the
warm pressure of her mouth against his. He couldn’t even fight it
when her tongue gently slid between his lips to deepen the
kiss.

Before he could submit or withdraw his phone
began to vibrate in his pocket. They broke apart awkwardly. It was
his turn to apologize. “I’m sorry. I should take this.”

She nodded and scooted quickly around the
booth. “I have to go to the restroom anyway. Excuse me.”

He felt like such a shit. He knew how hard it
was for her to make that first move, especially when she had just
admitted her lackluster self-esteem. He might have well kicked her
when she was down.

But when he glanced down at the caller ID he
forgot quickly about Holly. He steeled his spine as he answered.
“Andy.”

“I just wanted you to know I’ve moved out of
Graham’s house,” she said as casually as if she were reading off a
grocery list.

“What does that mean?” he wanted to know with a
racing heart. Was she finally choosing him? Did she want to come
home to the beach house he bought for her?

“It means that I’m tired of being volleyed
between you both like a ratty, battered ball,” she said. “We can’t
go on like this. It’s just not helpful to anyone.”

Just as quickly as his heart leapt with hopeful
expectation, it crashed right back down again. “So why are you
calling me, Andy?”

“If you need me I’ll be staying at a hotel for
the time being,” she said before she named the hotel, one Vanni
knew was close enough to be a short car ride to Malibu if her
presence was needed. She finished by instructing, “Please don’t go
to Graham’s house in the future looking for me.”

“I wouldn’t anyway,” he snapped. “You made your
choices clear today.”

He heard her sigh on the other end. “And this
is why I had to leave. Can’t you see that?”

“I poured out my heart to you,” he said softly.
“The least you could have done was defend me when Graham was
berating me like a child.”

“You’re a big boy,” she answered, sounding as
tired as he had ever heard her. “You both get to fight your own
battles from here on out.”

Andy hung up on him around the time that Holly
returned to the table with her armor plated smile back in place.
“Business?” she asked.

“In a manner of speaking,” he said as he
pocketed the phone. “Frankly I’ve had enough of that today. Let’s
eat.”