Groupie/Rock Star Bundle (68 page)

Angelo scooted around the side of the booth and
stood to hug his son. “Thank you, Giovanni,” he said softly. “For
everything.”

Vanni just nodded and waved goodbye to Holly on
his way toward the door.

He still felt really good about things as he
opened up the door to his suite where his lovely lady waited. She
was working on her novel when he came up behind her. The minute he
touched her, the writing was forgotten.

Life was so much more exciting when she was in
Vanni’s arms.

He picked her up and carried her to their bed.
They only had ten minutes left of her birthday. He was going to
make every minute count.

Chapter Seventeen

October 23, 2010. Los Angeles.

Andy

The previous days had floated by like a dream.
As always when she and Vanni finally got together, any months apart
vanished like wisps of smoke. They knew each other well, yet
somehow always found ways to discover something new. Theirs was an
exciting love affair, one Andy was so happy to have salvaged after
such a rotten year.

It seemed as though nothing could break them
apart. Somehow, some way, they always found a way back to each
other.

She watched the country speed under her from
the window by her first class seat on an airplane bound for Los
Angeles. Though she knew their relationship would have to be kept
undercover for many more months, and their hours apart may
outnumber those spent in each other’s arms, she felt confident that
they had finally passed their greatest test.

She didn’t even bother wearing any kind of
disguise as she boarded the plane at JFK straight to Los
Angeles.

After their magical time together she felt they
were, for lack of a better term, bullet proof.

Which may have been why the flurry of cameras
exploding in her face as she went to retrieve her baggage from the
carousel at LAX took her by complete surprise. “Comment for PING,
Miss Foster?” “How was New York?” “See much of Giovanni Carnevale?”
“Does Graham Baxter know how you spent your birthday?”

Each question hit her like a blast to the
chest. She held up her arms like a shield as she grabbed her bag
and scurried from the terminal, with all the paparazzi press in
tow. She ran down a cab and paid extra for him to take the scenic
route back to her hotel. When she finally made her way back to her
suite, she went immediately to her computer to get the scoop on how
she and Vanni had been scooped.

In the very first search results she found
links back to photos taken in New York. There were endless images,
photos of her checking out, her in the window of her hotel, her and
Vanni in a boat in Central Park, holding hands as they left the
hotel, cuddling as they arrived.

Even in their cheap disguises it was clear to
see who they really were when PING provided irrefutable proof they
were both staying in the hotel by tracking down their credit card
charges.

The gossip mill speculated that she was
cheating on Graham and he was cheating on Holly of all people.
Though they had been seen together quite a bit, Andy had no idea
that the press had made them an “item,” one that helped polish his
tarnished image.

And now he was screwing the boss’s squeeze in
NYC like the scum of the earth he really was. PING made it clear
there was no love lost and they obviously relished trying to take
him down.

Meanwhile it stoked the anger of the Wilke
family. Donny, Baylee’s angry older brother, was seen flipping off
the paparazzi as they snapped photos of him going in and out of the
hospital with his mother Raelynn. They were quoted quite a bit on
how they felt about his high living in a fancy New York City hotel
while their beloved Baylee clung to life support.

With a sinking feeling she realized that there
was no way Graham had missed all this coverage, and surely knew now
she had been lying through her teeth about her trip to
Nashville.

Though she hadn’t told him so she wouldn’t hurt
him unnecessarily, her exposed indiscretion might have leveled the
worst blow of all.

She grabbed her purse and decided to confront
the issue head on. Surely he’d understand… he always
understood…

The difference was she had never lied to him
before.

Her heart dropped
like a led weight into her stomach. No matter how she had justified
it before she knew deep down that she took this trip to NYC to be
with Vanni. It wasn’t just because he needed her; it was
that
she
needed
him
.

She always had.

And now she had to go face another man she had
grown to love in a very different way and further break his
tattered heart. There was no future for her and Graham, not the way
he wanted it.

It was high time they both faced
that.

She didn’t even call Vanni. She knew that he
would tell her to wait so they could confront him together. She
couldn’t add that to Graham’s pain. This was about her and this was
about Graham. And it needed to be done without further
delay.

She ducked past the people she instantly
recognized as PING stooges hanging around in the lobby so that she
could make her way to the parking garage. Typically they had scoped
out her car, a modest hybrid that she had registered under her name
like any other normal person. But she wasn’t normal anymore, and
she knew she could never forget that again. People she had never
met were suddenly very invested in her comings and her goings,
rendering her prisoner to their morbid curiosity. She couldn’t even
get into her own car in a public parking garage without causing a
scene.

The whole thing was ridiculous. How did they
even know she was in New York? She supposed anyone could be paid
into tipping them off, it was impossible to know who had been the
one to make the call.

As mad as she was at them for being parasitic
vultures bound to pick Vanni’s bones clean, the real culprits were
the ones who ate up every nugget of juicy gossip. They were able to
do what they did because they had customers in line to buy their
wares. If they didn’t get paid – well – to do what they do, they
wouldn’t do it.

They truly were a force to be reckoned with,
and it broke Andy’s heart they were playing with the emotions of
good people just to make a name for themselves.

She tightened her jacket around her and made
her way back upstairs to the valet, who called for a taxi. She felt
like a spy living in her own country as she sped toward Graham’s
house in Malibu.

When Maggie opened the door, Andy knew that she
knew. Her face was drawn, whether in anger or disappointment Andy
couldn’t be sure. But she was not happy to see Andy and it
showed.

“Is Graham awake?”

Maggie opened the door a little further. She
scoped out the front yard, no doubt for any stray wannabe paparazzi
who might sniffing around to get the first shot of the devastated
cripple at the heart of this new triangle. “He’s not well,” Maggie
finally said as she shut the door behind them.

“I know,” Andy said softly. She couldn’t
imagine how he would be.

“No, you don’t know,” Maggie corrected, a bit
sharper than Andy was used to. “He’s developed
pneumonia.”

Andy’s mouth fell open. “What? But he was
healthy the last time I saw him.”

“A lot can happen in a week,” Maggie said.
“Especially when someone in Graham’s condition has his whole life
implode for the world to see.”

Andy turned to walk to Graham’s bedroom but
Maggie grabbed her arm. “He doesn’t want any visitors.”

“I’m not just any visitor,” Andy
said.

“He doesn’t want to see you,” Maggie clarified
as she crossed her arms across her chest.

Though it killed Andy to know that all of this
was her fault, she held her head high. “I see. Is that why you
didn’t call?”

“Maybe we were waiting for you to call,” Maggie
suggested. “But I gather you’ve been busy.”

“My personal life is none of your concern,”
Andy snapped as she reached for the door, but Maggie grabbed her
wrist.

“It is when it affects my patient. You told me
you loved him, Andy. Those aren’t just words you can throw around
casually. To a man in Graham’s position love is a promise,
something he can depend on when he needs it most. The problem is
you said those words for you, not for him. You did it so you could
assuage your guilt, not because you were willing to live up to
them. And that wasn’t fair. In fact it was the cruelest thing you
could have done.”

Andy cringed with each word that exploded from
Maggie’s lips, words that she had held back for far too long. But
Maggie was terrified for Graham’s survival now, not to mention a
little guilty herself for exposing Graham to a potentially deadly
virus after he’d been isolated for so long. She should have known
better but she let herself get caught up in his infectious
enthusiasm. After long lonely years it felt nice to be treated like
a woman again.

After losing Mitchell she understood there were
no risks worth taking when someone’s health was already
compromised. Just one wrong choice and it could all be over; no one
knew that more than Maggie.

Uncharacteristically she took her fears on Andy
because the words were true regardless. And they needed to be said.
Maybe if they were issued harshly they’d finally sink in. “Don’t
you know how hard he has worked so he can walk to you a renewed
man? When things get hard you are this ideal, the one who pulls him
through. He needs to know that you will be there, that you will
love him through all the tough times ahead. Imagine what it is like
to rely on something, on someone, as much as he relies on you and
then being betrayed so cruelly. You took the gift of his survival
and just threw it away when it was no longer convenient. This is
bad enough by itself, but you did it for the whole damn world to
see. You leveled him, Andy.”

Andy’s chin trembled. The words hurt because
she knew they were completely and totally true. She had promised
she would be there for Graham and she had let him down. And for
what? A romantic weekend she virtually stole? “I’m sorry,” she
whispered.

“Don’t tell me,” Maggie snapped. “Tell him.
Maybe it’ll be the one thing that will bring him back from the
brink you drove him towards. And you know what? Even though you
don’t deserve it he will forgive you anyway. Because that’s what
real love does. But if you ever hurt him again, you’ll have to deal
with me. You got that?”

The angry redhead spun on her heel and
disappeared down the hall.

Andy inched toward Graham’s room feeling the
weight of her betrayal on her shoulders. She didn’t even bother to
knock before she slightly opened the door.

There he lay on the bed, pale and wane, hooked
up to an IV. God really punished her this time, she thought as she
walked silently over to his bedside. She paid in instant karma for
her lies and her selfishness. He was healthy a week ago. Now he
looked like he didn’t even want to hang onto the shell of a body he
had left.

She sat on the chair next to him and took his
hand in hers. The torrent of tears broke free as she sobbed
quietly, holding onto him tightly trying to force life back in
through his fingers. His dark eyes opened as he glanced over to
where she sat.

“What are you doing here?” he croaked. Even his
voice was weak and ghostly. It was more than she could
take.

“I’m back,” she told him. “I’m never going
anywhere again,” she promised without even thinking about it. There
was no promise greater anymore. If Graham died it wouldn’t be a
bullet that did it, it would be her stupid, selfish choices and her
damnable lies. She simply couldn’t bear it. “Just don’t leave me,
Graham.”

“What about Vanni?” he asked.

Her heart threatened to rip in two. “He’ll have
to understand,” she finally said. She slipped off her jacket and
slid into bed with Graham and took him into her arms.

As she lay there, listening to the steady,
reassuring rhythm of his heart from the monitor, she already knew
Vanni would never understand.

Their time together in New York would most
likely be their final goodbye and they never even knew it. Had she
really boarded that plane this morning feeling like she finally
owned the world? What a fool she had been. A stupid, selfish
fool.

There were tears in her eyes as she whispered,
“I’m sorry,” repeatedly. She apologized to Graham… to Vanni… and
most of all herself.

She stayed there with Graham until the sun
peeked in the window the next morning. Maggie said nothing to her
as she came in to check on him. Her friendly demeanor was reserved
for her patient only; Andy she practically ignored.

So Andy took the opportunity to leave the room
and take care of some immediate business. She called the hotel so
they would package all her things and deliver it to the house. She
wasn’t sure what she’d do about the car yet but she had other, more
pressing matters to attend.