Next Song I Sing (NEXT TIME AROUND) (27 page)

“It’s nothing like that. I spent the afternoon with Jasper in his bed and then found my ex waiting for me in my room when I got back to it,” she said, crossing her arms so tightly her breasts threatened to pop out of the teal dress. “Aaron wants me to go back east with him and forget all that’s happened. Can you believe that?”

Marla blinked. “Wow. Holy crap. How did your ex get into your room?”

Chloe shrugged. “Good question, but you can bet it involved him flirting and lying his ass off about our relationship. That’s not even the worst thing. About ten minutes after I found Aaron there, his very pregnant girlfriend showed up looking for him.”

Marla paced away and flung exasperated hands out. “I got nothing for that circumstance. Despite my upbringing, I’d swear for you, but, Sister—there aren’t any words going to cover it.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Chloe agreed, frowning. “I called my friends and told them what happened. I needed them here tonight to keep me from killing Aaron since he’s obviously going to be a father to that girl’s baby. What gets me is that the cheating bastard said he didn’t want kids when we were together. I stayed on the pill the whole time I was with him, especially after the first woman he cheated with, but the current girlfriend is far enough along to be showing a lot. That’s at least six or seven months for a first baby, right?”

Marla nodded, biting her lip. “Vanessa was at least seven before you could really tell.”

“I only divorced that man about a month ago. We were only separated a couple months before that, which means Aaron has known about the baby for a hell of a long time and never said anything to me or his family. He just kept coming back. And to ask me to reconcile when he knows about the baby…well, it just messes with me all over again. Does he think taking his crap is the best I can do?” Chloe demanded, running agitated hands through her hair.

“Of course you can do better, and it wouldn’t take much. Bet being with Jasper Wade feels like hitting the man lottery after your ex. Just don’t feel guilty for loving a good man this time,” Marla demanded, fisting a hand against a generous hip.

Chloe blinked hard, determined not to cry over Aaron, or a situation that really didn’t even involve her. It was just that her anger and hurt had no place to go. “If I could, I’d make sure Megan’s baby was the last child that self-serving bastard ever produces. Maybe if Aaron can’t be a man whore anymore, he would stick with the poor girl then and be a decent father to his only child.”

“Ooh…ooh…ooh. Stop that right now,” Marla said firmly, striding over to Chloe to grab her hands. “You’re taking your mad out on your hair and that just isn’t right. You don’t have natural lift like Vanessa and I do. You can’t have giant boobs with flat pancake hair. It just won’t look good when you sing. You’ll lose confidence and God knows what else might happen.”

Chloe’s laughter rang out in the room. “Unbelievable—I’m laughing even though I want to kill my ex,” she said, letting Marla fluff her hair.

“It’s okay. Stars are supposed to be wildly temperamental. Girl, you got a lot to learn about being a professional,” Marla teased, checking Chloe’s gaze, happy to see amusement instead of pain in her eyes finally.

“Sorry for the whiney bitch fest about my ex. You should have heard the screaming one I had with Emma and Taylor on the phone earlier. God knows I can’t change what is. I just can’t believe that cheating bastard I married knocked up a twenty-three-year-old while he was still sleeping with me. That’s what really hurts. I was always the back-up woman with him, never the headliner,” Chloe explained, standing and taking a deep breath.

“Men like your ex are slimy, and that’s God truth. I married one of those myself. But you can’t change the gospel according to testosterone, so come on and let’s do the show,” Marla said softly, tugging on Chloe’s arm. “Let’s see if your friends are here. What do they look like?”

“Typical Cali women. Blonde and skinny. They probably fade right into the usual crowd,” Chloe said with a grin.

“Those two? They’ve been here for a while sitting real close to the piano. Max has been giving the taller one the eye since they walked in,” Marla said.

“That would be Taylor. Yeah, Max likes her a lot,” Chloe said thoughtfully, unable to keep from frowning. Now she was
really
wondering if Max fell into the same category as her ex. Chloe sure hoped not. Taylor didn’t need this kind of crap in her life. No woman did.

Taking one more deep breath, Chloe let Marla propel her out of the room and in the direction of the lounge.

“So what does Max like so much about your tall blonde friend?” Marla asked as they walked. “Not much woman to speak of there from what I saw. She looks kind of like a boy to me. The other one is tiny, but at least has some woman curves.”

Chloe laughed at Marla’s poor view of Taylor’s lean, streamlined athletic form that her athletically inclined friend worked hard to maintain in just that precise condition.

“Unlike his brother and Sam, I believe Maximillan is a leg man,” Chloe said wisely, laughing as they walked into a room that was already packed with people despite the ten-dollar cover and two-drink minimum charge Sam had placed on each show. She saw eyes light with excitement as they spied her and Marla. Chloe sighed at how much better she felt just seeing the crowd.

“Max? A leg man? Takes all kinds, I guess,” Marla said sagely. “You ready to sing?”

“Yes. I need to stop thinking—about everything,” Chloe said firmly. “I’m ready.”

They headed to the piano and Max. Chloe stopped by Taylor and Emma to give them both a giant hug and thank them several times for coming.

Then Chloe stepped up to the microphones that had mysteriously appeared for the last practice. Nodding to Max, she waited until he hit one chord and then let fly the first notes of “It’s in his kiss” which was quickly becoming her signature tune to open. The applause was deafening in the room before Max could even touch the keys a second time.

Nothing could have dispelled her personal problems any faster. Chloe laughed into the microphone and stopped singing until the applause had quieted. Her anger ebbed away, replaced by the pleasure in a roomful of smiling faces.

“Wow. Thanks for that welcome. Did you ever have one of those awful days where your life unraveled while all you could do was watch it happen?” Chloe asked the audience.

The resounding screams of agreement and cat calls from those attending had Chloe laughing genuinely and thanking God again she’d said yes to Jasper Wade’s offers—both of them. The job—the singing—was nothing but fun. And sleeping with Jasper reminded her she was sexy and vital. It also made dealing with Aaron so much easier, even though she now had more empathy for Emma’s situation than ever knowing Aaron had fathered a child with another woman. As the song grew inside her seeking release, the pain of Aaron’s final betrayal was rolling away with applause as the room quieted again.

“From the top, Maximillan—these kind, supporting souls here tonight paid for a hell of lot more than that wimpy opening,” Chloe ordered, humming and ramping up her voice as she pointed to Marla and Vanessa, letting their winks and grins help as they hummed along to find the key.

From their table, Taylor and Emma yelled encouragement louder than anyone, bouncing in their seats as Chloe’s voice amped by the microphone truly did shake the walls when they started again in earnest, her voice ringing loudly over the renewed applause at the first notes.

For the next hour, Chloe decided to take Emma’s advice again and live in the now where her music had the power to make her forget everything else.

Chapter 23

“Call Jasper and do it now. I know I’m back sooner than I said I would be, but I’m not staying in a standard room. If the executive suite is not available, I’ll just have to stay in his room again. I’m sure that’s what he would want,” Rayonna insisted, glaring at the desk clerk who was refusing every request she made.

Lily sighed and looked at Rayonna, wishing she had the nerve to tell the belligerent woman to take a number in the drama line. Mr. Wade’s ex wasn’t even close to being the biggest crisis of the day. She had already let two people into rooms she shouldn’t have, so she was
not
putting Mr. Wade’s ex into his room without his explicit instructions to do so.

She opened her mouth to politely inform Rayonna that Jasper was occupied with a kitchen emergency, when the woman’s attention flew to the giant man standing nonchalantly in the middle of the lobby looking like he wasn’t sure where he was or what he was supposed to be doing.

“Is that Aaron Kells? The football player?” Rayonna demanded, recognizing him from a benefit she and several other models had done posing with his team some years ago. She had just turned thirty. Kells might not remember her, but she sure remembered him. Kells had the kind of body a woman didn’t forget.

“Yes, that’s Aaron Kells, but—” Lily began to explain, only to be interrupted by a hand flying up into her face, French manicured tips gleaming as they curled down slowly in a “don’t talk” signal.

Fed up with stress and drama, Lily raised her arm, fully intending to smack the insulting woman’s hand away from her face. A masculine grip suddenly stopped her arm’s momentum, squeezing it in support, pushing her hand back down as he whispered, “Don’t.”

With Lily’s frustrated gaze softening finally, Brent trailed his fingers down linking them with hers in reassurance. He held her gaze and smiled. Then he crossed both eyes and made her laugh.

“She’s so not worth it,” Brent mouthed silently.

Lily sighed and counted to ten. Rayonna’s hand was still in the air, had remained in there during Lily’s entire exchange with Brent. The woman hadn’t even kept eye contact. Instead, she stared off at Kells with her typical petulant pout of dissatisfaction on her mouth.

“Why is Kells here?” Rayonna mused, slowly lowering her hand. “Is he a guest?”

“We’re not allowed to give out that information,” Lily said to the side of Rayonna’s face. The woman still had her eyes on Aaron Kells and hadn’t looked at her.

“I wasn’t really asking. I was musing out loud,” Rayonna said, continuing her musings while she admired Kells. He was rough in looks, but built well. No doubt Jasper would become extremely jealous after he saw she could easily she could attract someone as masculine and virile as Kells. Then she would of course vow her devotion was to Jasper.

In fact, Rayonna thought, it would also punish Jasper thoroughly if she bedded the much younger man right under his nose. Jasper hadn’t even come to say hello to her yet. She’d left messages for him twice today that he’d been too rude to answer.

“I’ve changed my mind. Give me any suite you have above the third floor,” Rayonna demanded. “Not that I intend to use it, but it will do as a place to store my things.”

Brent let go when he had to so Lily could swipe the key card for the original room she’d offered the surly woman in the first place. He watched while Lily handed it over, making Rayonna tug the key card from her fingers, just for spite.

“If you need anything, just call the front desk,” Lily said stiffly.

“Just put my things in the room. I’ll take care of getting everything else I need tonight,” Rayonna said with a knowing smile, gliding across the floor.

They both watched Rayonna head for her target like a lioness heading for an innocently grazing gazelle.

Lifting hands to her face, Lily moaned into her fingers after the woman was out of earshot.

“This is not happening. This is not happening. This is not happening,” she chanted.

Brent looked at Lily and grinned.

“Oh, it’s happening,” he said cheerily, “but it’s not your fault. It’s like driving by an accident on the I-5. All you can do is gawk in horror and be grateful it didn’t involve you.”

Lily sighed and heard the thunderous applause for the end of the first set all the way from the lounge. She looked at Rayonna smiling and running fingertips up Chloe’s husband’s sleeve as he smiled shyly into her interested face.

Great, Lily thought viciously. Now all they needed to round out the drama was the weeping pregnant woman to put in another appearance. It was the first time Lily had stopped to wonder what Chloe had done with the woman claiming to be her “sister.” Evidently, the man claiming to be her husband was free to roam around.

Lily looked at Brent, humor rescuing her from screaming. “If there are any dead bodies resulting from this craziness, I’m out of here no matter how much I like working for Mr. Wade. He won’t have to fire me for putting people in Chloe’s room.”

“You’ll never find another job that pays as well as this one. I’m sure Mr. Wade will understand the uniqueness of the situation. If anything worse happens, we’ll call security. Dead bodies are their job,” Brent joked, grinning as Lily laughed at his words.

He’d been wondering how he was ever going to get the nerve to ask Lily out. Catching her upset and off-guard may have just improved his odds.

“I know what you mean about the drama though. How about I take you away from all this craziness later? There’s an all night seafood place in Dana Point. We can walk on the beach after we eat and pretend we have normal lives.”

“Are you seriously asking me out in the middle of this chaos?” Lily asked.

Brent smiled. “Lately, that’s all there is at this place. You want me to wait for a better time?”