Strings (46 page)

             
‘No, Jay-Den, we are not doing this.’

             
‘I’m not leaving till you hear me out,’ he snapped, and they began to struggle. But he was backing her towards the wall.

             
‘Get out!,’ Melissa screamed. It was just like the last time. ‘Now!’ She couldn’t let this happen.

             
‘You ungrateful little bitch,’ he yelled, grabbing her roughly and pushing her against the wall. She cried out, but her cry was cut off as his lips pressed against hers and he groped at her body. She tried to push him away, but he was much stronger than her. His lips moved down to her neck and he held her firmly by the hair so she couldn't move.

             
‘Jay-Den, stop! Get off me!’ she screamed and started to cry as she struggled in his iron grasp. He ignored her cries but started tugging at her clothes, whispering how he could give her so much, and that Luke didn't deserve her.

             
‘Jay-Den, no! Please stop,’ she begged.

             
‘No,’ he snapped, and threw her to the floor in rage. He flipped her over then held her down as he tore at her clothes. She tried desperately to push him off but after accepting she wasn’t strong enough she kicked out wildly, hoping her heels would catch him. He cried out in pain as one caught his shin, and he let go, giving her chance to break free.

             
‘You bastard!’ she yelled, her whole body shaking. She had never been treated like that before, and in some way it felt much worse than what Amber had done to her. This was much more personal – it was a violation.

             
‘I gave you everything. If it wasn't for me he would be nowhere and nobody, so a little gratitude wouldn’t be too much to ask,’ he said. There was no more Mr Nice Guy. His glare was menacing, and it terrified her.

             
‘I don't do that kind of gratitude.’

             
Jay-Den grabbed her by the throat, yelling close to her face that he could ruin them. With one phone call he could damage them so much it would rip the band apart.

             
‘Please don’t, Jay-Den, please don’t do this,’ she begged as he told her he wouldn’t cause them any more trouble if she pleased him. He would make sure Luke never found out.

             
Melissa felt like a piece of meat being offered up for a meal. ‘No ... I would never degrade myself like that, and I would never do that to him.’ Luke didn’t need her to sleep with people to get anywhere. There were record labels desperate to have The Black Eagles sign for them, and Jay-Den knew it. 

             
He demanded she got anything Luke was working on and gave it to him, including his book. ‘Screw you! You’re getting nothing,’ she hissed back at him. Jay-Den reminded her that Luke had signed a contract and they owned him and his band, and all of their material.

             
‘I don’t give a shit what he signed. You do not come into our home and try to rape me! That is not in the fucking contract!’ She screamed and lashed out at him.

             
He tilted his head slightly. ‘Oh, Melissa, this could have been so much easier,’ he said. She flinched as he ran his hand down over her chest again.

             
‘Don’t touch me,’ she begged. ‘Please let me go.’ But it was no use. He wasn’t listening. She could see her phone vibrating where it was lying on the floor, just out of her reach. She could see that it was Toby calling, and she cried that she couldn’t answer and ask her friend to come and save her.

             
Jay-Den grabbed the phone and waved it in front of her face, laughing. ‘Oh look who’s calling you. Bet he would love to help you right now,’ he sneered as he chucked it across the room. ‘I think you should reconsider my offer. If you change your mind, Luke could be home by tomorrow.’ He laughed, and it took a few seconds for the penny to drop.

             
‘Oh my god ..! You!’ Melissa cried as it all fell into place. Everything was making sense now. ‘Where is he?!’ She cried, suddenly feeling her energy and fight return, like a fire being ignited deep within her. Jay-Den had threatened the things that she would protect without question or hesitation – Luke and the boys. She loved them all and would do anything she could to protect them. But this was insane. All they wanted to do was make music – how did all of this happen? She wondered whether she had led him on, worrying that it might be her fault. Luke would be so angry with her for inviting him into their home again, after what happened last time. It
was
her fault, she thought, making her panic even more for being so stupid.

             
‘Why are you doing this?’ she asked, her whole body shaking.

             
‘Because I can, and because it is giving us such great press coverage. It’s the biggest story in the world at the moment, and you can’t buy that kind of publicity. Look, it was never meant to go this far. I guess I never really understood just how crazy Amber was about him. It was only the scandal I planned, not the kidnapping, I swear.’ He explained how Amber had done exactly what he wanted initially, but she had now taken things way too far.

             
‘What?! You set him up?’ Melissa bubbled with rage.

             
Jay-Den backed Melissa through the living room and the hall towards the studio and their bedroom. He told her how it was just to create attention. It was obvious Luke wouldn't cheat or be wild enough to be in the headlines, so he thought he would cause a little stir. It had worked better than he thought it would, and Luke collapsing on stage because of a drug problem was an added bonus. ‘There’s no such thing as bad press. He was a true rock star,’ Jay-Den laughed.

             
He ran his hand through his hair as he bragged to her about how he could do anything, and control anyone. However, Amber had become unpredictable. He’d found her sobbing outside the office one day after Luke had ignored her after he left one of their meetings, just before departing for New York. Jay-Den told her he could help her get Luke back. He laughed about how she kept saying that if she took him back to their childhood, he would remember his feelings for her, and they could be together.

             
‘You messed with her mind. She was already ill.’ Melissa could not believe what she was hearing. She had suspected Amber had been helped, but she never imagined it was him. He boasted further that all he’d needed to do was tell her he could help her get Luke back, and she was under his control. He knew she needed help but he also knew he could get away with it, and because Amber was so unstable she didn't question anything he said.

             
‘Who took Luke's key?’ Melissa asked. She wasn’t sure why she’d suddenly thought about that, but it had been the one thing unanswered about Kelsey getting into Luke’s room before she drugged him. Amber had given her Luke’s key, but who gave it to Amber?

             
‘It’s surprising what people will do when they have something to lose’ he replied. Melissa demanded he told her and he smiled and said it was one of their road crew.

             
‘Who?!’

             
Jay-Den threw his head back, laughing. ‘Good old Deano.’

             
Melissa felt like she had been punched. He was Luke’s friend and he trusted him but he had betrayed them both. Melissa would deal with him later, the backstabbing son of a bitch, she thought. It was true, they really couldn't trust anyone.

             
‘Enough chit-chat. Let’s get on with it.’ Jay-Den grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the studio. As he threw her to the floor she hit her head on Luke's loop pedal and the pain shot through the back of her head. Behind her, some of Luke’s guitars stood proudly on their stands.

             
‘What a cosy little set-up he has. I wonder what little gems he has hiding in here.’ Jay-Den loomed over her, a sadistic grin spread across his face.

             
‘Don’t touch his stuff.’ she warned.

             
Jay-Den leaned down, smirking. ‘Do you know, dead musicians often make more money than living ones...’

             
Melissa seethed with hatred, and spat at him. She knew where Luke was now, but she had to get away. Jay-Den stood over her as she backed away. But for once, luck was on her side. She’d fallen by the monitors, and pretending to stumble and using her body to block what she was doing, she hit the switches she needed. The microphone went live, and she hit “Record”. ‘I’ll tell the world what you did. That was attempted rape, and you know it.’

             
Jay-Den shrugged. ‘You gave me mixed signals. You came on to me. That’s what I’ll say. I mean you have slept with the entire band, haven’t you?.’ Now it was obvious. He had been the source of every story that had been spread about them. He had set it all up, even the incident at her house. He knew she would call him.

             
‘You are vile. You disgust me.’ The contempt in her voice cut him like a knife and the words rang in his ears, and he slapped her across her uninjured cheek. Her whole face now burned with pain, but she didn't scream or cry, but instead grimaced and tried to suppress the pain. He would not reduce her to tears again, she thought.

        ‘Don’t say that, ever again.’ He begged, closing his eyes as he said it. She saw that her comments had hurt him, and she was glad.

              ‘She wasn't meant to do this,’ he said, running his fingers over her covered face. He hated what Amber had done, and had been furious with her for attacking Melissa’s face. Even though he had done all of this mainly for money and more exposure, he was in love with Melissa Webb, and the fact that he could never have her enraged him. In many ways he was just as unstable as Amber.

Amber hated Melissa
, and Jay-Den hated Luke Black. In both cases, an unhealthy obsession was the reason.

             
‘Did you get Megan stabbed too?’ she asked him.

He closed his eyes and shook his head as if to rid his mind of the image
. He admitted that he had. He hadn't wanted to hurt her, but she wouldn't stay out of his business.

‘What did she have on you? Did she know what you
were up to and she was getting too close?’

             
‘If that idiot drummer had stayed away from her, she wouldn’t have been snooping. I caught her looking through my emails the day before her little mishap.’

             
‘Little mishap ... you nearly murdered her.’

             
‘No, Amber did.’

             
‘Toby will kill you,’ she snapped.

             
Fear flashed in his eyes as he knew she was right. He knew he didn't stand a chance against him. He was realising that the only way out of this for him was if Luke didn’t come home, and Melissa never told her story. If this got out, he would be finished. No band would trust him now and god knows what would happen to Sky Storm Records. Not to mention the time he’d have to spend behind bars. He knew he wouldn’t survive in prison. ‘I'm sorry, Melissa, I really am. You could have avoided all this.’ He grabbed her again and threw her down. His weight kept her pinned to the floor while his hands were clamped round her throat. Melissa clawed at his hands as she struggled, choking. She managed to move slightly, all the time keeping her glare locked on him as she used all her strength to bring her knee up and catch him right between the legs. His eyes almost popped out as he screamed, loosening his grip and allowing Melissa to gasp for air. She reached over quickly and grabbed the loop pedal, then smashed it against the side of his head twice.

             
‘Get your dirty hands off me!’ Jay-Den's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell sideways. She untangled herself from his limp body and looked down at him. ‘I will destroy you, Lake, and your fucking record label,’ then ran from the apartment, grabbing her keys and her phone on the way out. She knew there was no time to lose.

             
‘Shit,’ the police officer said as he saw the girl he was supposed to be watching run across the car park towards him. He sat up and threw his coffee out of the window as she looked up at him and pointed towards her apartment. The bruise and the hand marks around her neck meant she had been attacked again. The only person he had seen that day was the band manager, who had left, and the record label guy. What had he missed? But she was already in her car and driving out of the car park. He called in, then raced up to her apartment. He found the door wide open and Jay-Den Lake unconscious on the floor of the studio.

                                                       *****

             
‘What the hell is going on here?’ Jimmy, the paparazzi photographer snapped away and muttered to himself as he watched his target speeding out of the car park. He pulled his black beanie on, started the car and set off after her. But he wasn’t the only one. He had to be quick if he was going to be the one with the money shots.