by A. m Madden
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, so is Chase.” Unlike her, I wasn’t sworn to secrecy and gave a detailed recap of his ridiculous behavior. During it all, she muttered a few choice curses aimed at our friend. “So now he’s at the pool, probably making a fool out of himself.” My statement was met with silence. “You there?”
“Yeah. Is that why you’re alone in your room?”
“Is what why?”
“To avoid temptation?”
“No… to avoid him.” What the hell? “Where is this coming from, Liv?”
“Nothing, forget what I said. I was an idiot. You have fun…”
“You do trust me, right, Liv?”
“Yes… I trust you completely. It’s me.” Kim’s voice in the background announced the bathroom was free. “I have to get into the shower. I love you.”
“I love you too.” When the line went quiet, my thoughts went loud. That comment had Kim’s influence written all over it. Granted, she had a right to distrust her boyfriend, as Chase was proving, but Alivia did not. To be sure she had my voice in her head, in hopes it would cancel any toxic accusations from Kim, I texted a simple but poignant claim: You are all I ever want, Liv.
A heart emoji came as a response right before a text came from Chase: Where the fuck are you? Get down here. It’s important.
Coming!
I took my time changing and making my way to where I found my friends surrounded by a gaggle of girls at one corner of the pool.
“There he is!” Chase announced when he noticed my approach. “My shirt sparked up a conversation with these lovely girls…” After placing a hand on the shoulder of the brunette sitting beside him, he then said, “Lauren here loves your father.”
I was going to fucking kill him. “Does she now?” Sitting as far away from them as I could get, I aimed my glare at Chase. “Do me a favor: keep it down.”
“Oh, they all know the drill,” he claimed. “But guess what? Lauren’s father owns Doors.” The blank stare caused him to rush on. “It’s a very popular bar in Hollywood, and she’s getting us in tonight to play. No Rulz… playing here in LA.” This coming from a guy who could give a shit about the band. Suddenly, playing in public appealed to him? “The best part? Lauren’s uncle is a casting director.” And there it is.
The entire situation had disaster written all over it. While I thought of a way to decline without three guys freaking, Lauren connected her pale eyes with mine and said, “This could open all kinds of doors for you… pun intended.”
It took effort not to laugh.
“You’re wasting your time with him,” Joey said. “He’s practically married.”
Her gaze shifted down my body and back up. “I don’t see a ring.” Clearly, she expected something to come of this. I could handle Lauren, or any other girl looking to hook up with a rock star’s son. Two hours into this damn trip, it was Chase I was worried about handling.
“Oh fuck.” Chase stared back at me with wide eyes, and it took every fiber of my being to not pummel him.
A line of mostly females wrapped around the fucking building. We knew the bar was a hot spot, but the Devil’s Lair signs some of them held, along with the paparazzi that were all eagerly positioned facing the door with their huge lens pointed and ready, meant it wasn’t popularity pulling in the crowd.
Meanwhile, the cause of this fuckfest stared in disbelief. “She said she wasn’t going to tell anyone.” Chase’s gaze ping-ponged between us all while hoping for some sort of validation.
Ignoring him, I turned toward the driver. “Don’t stop and keep driving, please.”
He took a moment to stare at me and my friends, and I could practically see the dollar signs in the depths of his pupils. My parents were going to shit themselves. Arguing with my father that no one knew me and going as far as having the guys all promise we would remain low key apparently meant shit to Chase.
“Maybe there’s a back entrance.” Chase focused his widened eyes on me. “We made a commitment.”
“Tough shit.”
“Shane, we have to.”
Losing my cool, I seethed through gritted teeth, “Are you stupid?” And as I asked him that, I knew this wasn’t all on him. Yes, it may not have occurred to me that Lauren or maybe even her father took our dumb asses as an opportunity to make money, but in hindsight, it should have.
I knew better. I’d been raised to know better.
“I’m sorry. It’s not your fault.” A firm grip on my shoulder meant he wasn’t mad at me.
“What do you want to do?” Harrison asked while watching the mob as we drove by.
My gaze bounced between him and the driver, who continued to stare at me suspiciously. This was bad. “Can you take us back to the hotel, please?” He gave me a stiff nod and made the first right to backtrack where we’d come from.
“But we promised to play tonight,” Joey reminded me.
“Not under these circumstances… and not with me.” The three of them scowled, forcing me to cut my eyes at the driver in hopes they understood and kept their mouths shut. Thankfully, they got the message, and for the rest of the short drive they remained silent until he deposited us and our instruments at the hotel’s entrance.
Chase turned gray when it suddenly hit him. He’d been in my life long enough to know the very fine line I needed to navigate because of who my parents were.
I waited until we were safely in our room before announcing, “We’re fucked. Not only is it known that I’m here, but there’s also no doubt that the prick who drove us is on the phone right now tipping people off that we’re staying here. We’re probably going to have to pack and move to another hotel,” I admitted. “I’ll call my father. He’ll know what to do.” Never trust me again, I thought to myself.
Part of me couldn’t blame my friends for the disappointment written all over their faces, and I was sure they once again wondered why they were even friends with me. This wasn’t the first time I’d wondered the same myself.
“I guess my parents had a point,” I said, tapping on my phone, and they all shook their heads.
“This is on us. We weren’t thinking.” Joey spoke for the three of them. “Your parents did try to warn us. I guess with all the hot chicks around we could blame the lack of blood flow to our brains.”
Before I could say he’d made a good point, my father’s deep voice came over the line. Chaotic background noise forced him to yell, “Hey, Son. Hold on.” I heard footsteps and a door slamming shut before he asked at a lower volume, “Everything all right?”
“We’re fine… but something sort of happened.”
A pause came before he asked, “What?”
I explained it all to him, and his silence meant he wasn’t happy. “We’re going to find another hotel and check out.”
“Don’t go anywhere yet. I’ll call Lori. She’s in Texas with Cannon. You can probably stay at their place.” My gaze flicked to my friends. Staying at the condo right on the beach in Malibu would appease them. “I also anticipated something like this would happen. Oscar has a colleague on call for you guys. Trevor will be tailing you here on out until you get your butts on a plane come Monday.”
“Okay,” I said petulantly. “I’m really sorry, Dad.”
I heard him drag in a huge breath of air. “I’m just glad you’re okay. You understand why Mom and I were so hard on you before you left?”
“Yeah, I get it.” I stared at my friends one by one. “We all get it.”
“Good. You can have a good time and still be safe as well. There isn’t a law against that, Shane.”
“I know.”
“If you want to play while you’re there, I can arrange for that to happen properly. In a place we trust not to capitalize on your last name. Just say the word.”
“Okay. Let me talk to the guys.”
“Sit tight until I call you back with directions. I love you, Shane.”
“Love you too.”
“He’s pissed?”
Chase asked when I lowered my phone.
“A little… but he gets it.” I filled them in on all my dad said.
Chase was the first to speak. “I guess that’s not terrible.”
“No, it’s not,” I said on a relieved sigh. “Could be worse. He could be sending us tickets to fly home tonight.”
“Your folks are going to hate me.”
Not denying his claim, I shrugged. “They’ll get over it. If not, you’re gone soon, and I haven’t yet decided if they ever have to see you again.” The way his eyes widened in shock caused me to laugh out loud for the first time all day. “You’re such an asshole. Like I could get rid of you.”
Eleven holy shits and a few hours later, we were out on the deck sipping beers and watching the surf. The place was unreal. Sure, my parents had a massive home on the beach, but this ultramodern condo was more my style. I could picture myself living there with Alivia, loving life.
“Not too shabby, Lair,” Joey said, tipping his bottle in my direction. “I’m glad your aunt Lori is so cool.”
Lori had called to tell us we could spread out among the four bedrooms and make ourselves at home. She also said the fridge in the garage was stocked with beer, and as long as we were at the house, we could have a few, emphasis on few… but not to tell my parents.
“She’s very cool.”
“You’re lucky to have such cool humans in your life,” Chase said.
“You’re lucky I didn’t kick the shit out of you,” I countered.
“Calm down. Things turned out for the best,” he added proudly, like the outcome was his doing. Well, I guessed if he hadn’t opened his big fat mouth, we wouldn’t be slumming it in my mom’s best friend’s condo for the rest of our stay… but still. “Your family rocks… no pun intended.”
Rolling my eyes at him, I internally had to agree.
After a few phone calls, Dad had our new plans set into motion. Meanwhile, Mom checked us out of the hotel as we were picked up in a private car and whisked to Malibu. She arranged groceries to be delivered… mainly drinks, snacks, and easy food that we could handle without burning the place down.
While we fanned out to scope the place after arriving, I had no problem claiming the main bedroom with its jetted tub set in front of a glass wall facing the beach—although the one person I wanted to fuck in that tub was clear across the country. I instantly snapped a picture of it and sent it to Alivia, along with shots of the California king bed.
You’re killing me, Lair, she texted back. But there’s no way I would be having sex in your aunt’s bed. #SorryNotSorry.
Alivia already knew what had caused our change of plans. I called her as we waited for my father to call back. She wasn’t happy with Chase, and I found myself defending the ass. Sure, he’d gotten us into that mess, but I should’ve predicted that he would. Still, she said he had put me in harm’s way, and that was not okay. She also made a point to say how proud she was that I’d made the call not to go into that bar and play.
I’d say it again… it could’ve absolutely been so much worse.
We now had Trevor with us anywhere we went. Thanks to Lori, we were registered tomorrow night for a battle of the bands type of festival on the Santa Monica Pier. The guys were off-the-wall excited over that. Not so much the playing part as the geography of it.
I could’ve probably had that happening if I had just asked. The guys all knew my need to do things on my own. I’d never know if any success that came resulted from my talent or name. They never questioned it because none of them planned on music as a career.
If anything, Chase’s little stunt proved that I was indeed a Lair. Unless I changed my name, situations such as what we found at Doors would forever be in my future.
My parents had done a great job of sheltering me from it all. But I was eighteen now, spreading my wings and testing the waters. This weekend provided an important lesson. Besides fame being part of my existence, finding success on my own may not be as simple as it seemed. There were many like Lauren’s dad out there, looking to make a buck off someone like me.
Chapter Twelve
Alivia
The annoying sounds of city traffic comforted me. Although I’d had a nice time with Kim and her family, I was glad to be home.
It’d been a strange week. Kim had flip-flopped between a girl determined to forget she had a boyfriend to a girl who couldn’t stop obsessing over him. She and Chase had exchanged a few texts, but with each day that passed, those seemed to lessen until no communication happened at all. To make matters worse, Joey and Harrison had posted all sorts of shit on their social media accounts, and most of it was of Chase acting like an idiot.
Stubbornly, Kim had refused to be the one to reach out and instead asked me a ton of questions whenever I spoke to Shane. I’d told him to spare me details until I got home—that way I wouldn’t have to feel bad holding anything back from Kim.
That Chad dude had tried to see her a few times during the week, and she kept turning him down. Until I said I was fine relaxing with a good book on the beach if she wanted to take a walk with him alone.
During it, Kim did come clean about the boyfriend that she would be breaking up with soon. Undeterred by it, Chad had wanted to keep in touch and see her again when she got to UMass, which had given Kim a great distraction. She’d acknowledged he probably still wanted in her pants but respected the fact he’d wait until she was ready. I guessed her expectations were very low.
But as our week came to an end, reality of the type of summer Kim faced hung heavy over her. She’d planned to head straight to Chase’s place once we got home to break it off with him before he broke it off with her. She knew if she waited a day, or even an hour, something would have her chickening out. That had caused another lengthy discussion on the guilt she carried over ruining our summer.
Nothing I could say would change her mind on the breakup or the guilt. So I continued to do the only thing I could—support her. The rest was on her. I’d given her a week of my undivided attention, and now it was time to focus on my life with my guy.
When we turned the corner, Shane was leaning against my building. I had texted him once we hit the city. He had yet to see us, but the way his head twisted expectantly with each car that drove by was adorable. Those well-worn jeans that molded over thin hips and long legs, that tight black T-shirt, and a pair of dark sunglasses just like the ones my dad favored made him look like the rock star he aspired to be. But what warmed my heart were the dog tags I had gifted him for graduation, holding their place of honor around his neck. The entire Shane Lair package sparked that familiar ache deep in my core. I really missed him, and despite Kim’s misery, I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading over my face. Damn, I had it bad.
As the car slowed and shifted to the curb in front of the awning-covered entrance, Shane grinned and pushed away from the wall.
“Someone is anxious to see you, Liv,” Mrs. Gambera said over her shoulder. “Where’s his partner in crime, Kim?”
“Home.”
Kim’s response came so quickly and angrily her mother twisted in her seat and asked, “Everything okay with you two, honey?”
“Yeah, I’ll see him later,” she replied with little emotion, and it caused her parents to exchange a questioning look.
“I’ll get your bag out, miss,” our driver announced, exiting from the large SUV and meeting Shane at the back.
Taking Kim’s hand in mine, I squeezed it encouragingly. “Call me later, okay?”
She nodded and whispered, “I dread this.”
“I know.” I gave her hand another squeeze, addressing her parents next. “Thank you for this week.” When the couple turned to give me a smile, I added, “I had a great time.”
“You’re so welcome, sweetheart,” Mrs. Gambera said. “It was a pleasure to have you with us.”
Her father climbed out of the car to prop his seat forward for me. “Say hello to your folks for us.”
“I will.”
While Shane greeted Kim’s dad, I hugged Kim tightly before grabbing my backpack and slipping past her father to stand beside Shane.
“Hey,” he said, bending to kiss me, but I thwarted his attempt by offering my cheek, where his lips landed instead. Clearly annoyed, he quickly figured it out when my eyes cut to the idling car and remained there until Mr. Gambera retook his seat and they pulled away. But once the car was halfway down the street, I dropped my bag and practically knocked Shane down by throwing my arms around his neck to give him a harried, frantic kiss.
“Whoa,” he said, amused as I then pecked my lips all over his face. “Someone missed me as much as I missed her.”
“I really did.”
His gaze lovingly searched my face while pinching a lock of hair lightened by the sun. “Fuck, look at you.” My Puerto Rican roots afforded me the ability to tan well, and Shane always loved the results.
“There wasn’t much to do in Martha’s Vineyard but sunbathe.” And console Kim, but I’d tell him more about that later. Needing another taste, I lifted on my toes for another kiss, only to frown when he broke away far too quickly. “Why are you teasing me?”
“As much as I would like to continue making out with you out on the sidewalk, I’d rather take this inside.” He took the handle of my suitcase in one hand and my hand in the other. “I’m about to make your day.”
Grabbing my backpack off the ground, I asked, “Yeah? How?”
“My father called an emergency meeting at the studio. Something about the album release date. They are all there, and your mom just left for Trestan’s haircut appointment.” He wiggled his eyebrows as Walter opened the door for us.
“Hello, Miss Alivia. Welcome back.”
“Thank you.” I refrained from saying anything else, or even making eye contact, because I always felt Walter knew exactly what we were up to when no one was home.
Shane, on the other hand, thought it was hilarious and would usually engage with the old man just to tease me. But today, all he said was, “Catch you later, Walter. I missed my girl.”
