She-Rox: A Rock & Roll Novel (35 page)

Trying not to laugh, Kai, with a grin on his handsome face, teased, “You want me to engage in some kind of kinky pretend role playing with you?”

“No,”
Eddie wailed, but countered, “Well, maybe—I don’t know.”

“Eddie, just tell me what it is you want and that’s what I’ll do,” Kai volunteered, more than interested.

“Okay,” she said, getting up the courage. “I want you to stop treating me differently—quit with the kid gloves. I want,” she stopped, wondering what the best way would be to tell him. “I’m just curious what it would be like to be anonymous—to you. I’m some girl, any girl, you picked up from a nightclub. How would you kiss
her, not me . . . her—”

“Oh,” Kai said, getting it. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.”

Eddie whispered loudly, “Sometimes, Kai, you treat me more like you're my dad than my boyfriend.”

“
What?”
he gasped.

“You’re always telling me to be careful and trying to freak me out about somebody hurting me because of some stupid magazine. It’s a bit of a turn off.”

“Eddie, baby, you won’t ever be a typical coed dragging her filthy flip flops across the campus yard, and thank God.” As Kai looked at the mild scorn on her face, he spoke the proverb, “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.”

Letting the corners of her mouth curve up in a mocking smile, she pouted, “Forget it, if you can’t—”

With gentle force, he pinned her against the Volvo, letting his voice find her ear, and in a dark rasp, said, “Just remember, you
asked
for it.”

His lips crashed onto her young mouth and the voltaic jolt that had always followed Kai’s passion didn’t disappoint. It was an emotion so stimulating that its breadth and depth rocked Eddie every time it happened. Knowing he had carte blanche, Kai’s hands searched her body, roaming where he pleased, feeling the curves he had just earlier dreamed of touching. Eddie allowed it this time, needing to banish any feeling for Slade she’d been concealing. As her head tilted back, his experienced mouth dissolved her like hot sugar. The wet sensation, the pounding riptide plunge her down deeper into that formidable human hysteria that only Kai could provide.

He pulled away knowing he had gone far enough for a public parking lot. His hands circled her hips, as he asked, “Is that what you wanted?”

“Uh, huh,” she nodded, nearly speechless.

“Do you want some more?”

“Uh, huh-”

He gave her a low acknowledging chuckle. His magic had done the trick. The mental picture of Slade was gone and in its place, the swell of her lips and the smell of Kai blanketing her with rapture.

Parking Lot of Rehearsal Hall, West Hollywood, Friday, July 6, 2007, 6:51 p.m.

Kai’s last day in La-La Land consisted of dance class and band rehearsal. After dance, they stopped for a quick bite at the In-N-Out Burger on Sunset. Eddie was late getting to band rehearsal and planting a quick peck on Kai’s lips she jumped out of the car with her guitar and ran into the building. Once inside the soundproof portal, she could hear Gretchen announce through her microphone, “She’s here.”

Kai sat alone in the isolation of the Escalade collecting burger wrappers only to discover that Eddie had left her handbag. Thinking she might need it, he picked it up and got out of the Escalade. At the entrance of the large building, he saw two guys step out of an immaculate midnight blue Aston Martin DBS. Kai stared at the rare machine and as its driver got closer, he motioned to the exotic automobile and said, “Nice ride.”

“Nice purse.”

“Yeah, I’ve got a real thing for man bags and Aston Martins. Actually, it’s my girlfriend’s. She left it in the car. She’s inside rehearsing right now.”

“Which band?”

“The Katz?” Kai answered as if he was asking a question. He didn’t like the name and rarely said it.

“So which one is yours?”

“The guitar player—”

“Gretchen?”

“No, Eddie.”

“
You’re with Eddie?”
snorted the driver.

Kai contended, “Is that a problem?”

“No, no problem, I’ve just never seen you with her before, that’s all.”

“Oh,” Kai lightened up, “that’s probably because I’m from up north—the San Francisco bay area.”

“
You’re the doctor-boy
she told me about
.”

“
Doctor-boy
—
that’s what Eddie calls me?”

“Well, she doesn’t—I do. It’s just easier that way.”

“I’m sorry, do we know each other?”

Putting his hand out, the driver said, “Slade McAllister, and you are?”

“Kai Hildebrandt,” he responded, with less conviction than he meant to convey.

“That’s it, Kai,” Slade said, his voice overly hospitable.

“Hey, I’ve got to get inside to Ginger,” Aiden said, excusing himself.

Waving Aiden away, Slade asked in his curt British accent, “So, tell me, I was under the distinct impression that you two had a, um, parting of the ways?”

“No, no parting of ways. She’s still with me,” he emphasized.

“That’s funny, because I could have
sworn
Eddie said you two had broken up when we were swimming together in my pool.”

“It was just a stupid misunderstanding, but it’s over . . . it’s been over.” Kai, stupefied at the information he was unloading on this unaccomplished fake, taunted himself,
“Yeah, a fake who can afford an Aston Martin.”

“Oh, and your sister, T.J., she stayed at my house, up in the Hollywood Hills, as well. We had a grand time. We went swimming, we barbecued, hung out, threw Eddie a birthday bash. Too bad you weren’t there, or maybe you didn’t know.”

“Yeah, I heard all about that.”

“Yeah? In fact, she and T.J. drove my Aston Martin. I seem to remember this odd comment she made . . . something about the similarity of a guitar amp feeling like the growl of a sports car engine between her legs as she shifts through the gears. I can’t quite remember, but she has certainly found a taste for fast cars.” As Slade watched Kai’s eyes widen in amazement, he slammed it home. “I suppose it’s in your best interest to become a rich doctor if you want to keep the lady happy. I can’t imagine she’s too thrilled driving that thrashed up van around, right?”

Kai, still stuck on “growl of an engine between her legs,” defended, “I could buy her a sports car right now.”

“That’s good, because you know our Eddie,” Slade pointed, his tone suggestive.

“Uh, she’s not
our Eddie,”
Kai was fed up with this pompous braggart.

Leaning slightly forward, Slade countered, whispering loudly, “Well then, might I suggest you hang on to her with both hands
really tightly
, because from where I’m sittin’—you don’t have a prayer. Speaking from experience, you get a band on a tour bus, put them on the road, and the only thing left for you to say is ‘good bye.’”

Not giving in, Kai slugged back, “You don’t even
know
her.”

“I know her well enough.”

“People are generally drawn to their equals, and
you
, Slade, are not Eddie’s equal, but I didn’t have to tell you that did I?”

“I’m sorry, but you just struck me as the sort of chap that dated homecoming queens, not die hard metal chicks. And
that
girl in there,” Slade pointed heatedly with his long index finger, “is a dyed-in-the-wool, hardcore metal head that’s leaving on a big North American tour. Either way, you’re the one who’s been absent in this picture. Wake up—high school is over.”

“I’ll tell you what’s over. This conversation is over!” Kai walked back to the rented Escalade with Eddie’s purse still clutched in his white-knuckled hand. Getting in, he tossed it over to the passenger’s seat and drove away.

Back at the hotel, Kai fumed while staring at his page of anatomy. He turned away and watched T.J. blow on her toes. She was painting them a sickly purplish color that reminded him of a bruise. Watching as she painted, he asked with as little agitation as possible, “You know, I’d do anything for Eddie. Even let her come to L.A. practically penniless, as she so foolishly chose.”

Keeping her eyes on the precision needed to stay inside the nail bed, T.J. said, “Eddie’s a lot of things Kai, but foolish ain’t one of ‘em.” She dipped the brush back into the bottle, and told him, “When I was in high school, she was one of the very few who had her head screwed on straight. She wasn’t a dope smoker or a party animal. You’d never find her doing it in the back seat of an SUV after a football game. And
now
,” T.J. slowly punctuated, “she’s a Hollywood virgin. That’s gotta be an oxymoron—Hollywood virgin.”

“Maybe I should just quit school and move down here. At least then I can keep an eye on her.”

T.J. screwed the top closed on the nail polish and blew again. “Yeah, that’s it, quit school. Kai, you’ve got a little bit of a girl problem, that’s all. You are more than familiar with how to handle these things.”

“I wouldn’t have one if I could get
you
on her tour bus . . . keep an eye on—” he was going to say Slade, but instead he called out, “Eddie.”

“Kai, I can’t just hop on their bus and go for a ride. I’ve got to get back to school in the fall.” She could see he was upset. “Eddie’s going to be fine. Let her get out there and do her thing. So many people talk about what they’re
going
to do, but Eddie’s really doing it. You should be hap—”

“
Tara June,”
Kai snapped,
“Just shut up
—
can you please just shut up for a second?”
Letting a few seconds pass, he whined, “Jeez, you sound like a groupie.”

“I am,” T.J. confessed, “I’ve been a fan of hers since we were freshmen in high school and don’t hate me for saying this, but you sound like you’re mad because she
isn’t
a screw-up.”

“That’s not it.”

“Kai, you’re not jealous of all the attention she’s getting, are you?”

“I’m not jealous. I just don’t like the baggage that goes along with being a stupid Kat.”

“Girlfriend problems . . . what to do, what to do?” T.J. mused. “I thought you, of all people, would be immune. Her talent sure charms the hell out of everybody else, is all I’ve got to say. Ah, that’s amore.”

“Maybe I should just break this whole thing off. She’s got something going on with this
Slade.”
Kai couldn’t bear saying his name. “You two stayed at his house—
drove his cars
—Eddie isn’t going to want me after all that,” he fished. “I can’t compete with “Mr. Voodoo Love Slave.”

“Mmm,” T.J. nodded, “Slade—Yeah, he’s the Holy Grail in man candy.”

“T.J., if you know
anything
, you’ve got to tell me.”

“All right, that only seems fair,” she agreed. “For some unfathomable reason,” she began, “and I can’t tell you why . . . Eddie seems to want
you
. Now, if it were
me,
I’d take Slade any day, anytime, anywhere, but Eddie seems to like
you. But
, since we’re having this little heart to heart at the moment, I’m not gonna lie. Slade has been trying pretty hard to get her—I don’t want to say, ‘in the sack,’ but he’s highly infatuated.”

“I was afraid of that.” Looking his sister in the eye he asked, “Has he kissed her?”