by JA Low
Finally, the room comes into focus. I can hear the beeping of a machine in the distance, a bright fluorescent light shining in my eyes. My whole body aches. What the hell happened to me? Turning my head, I see Christian standing beside me, he looks pale and I notice the bags under his eyes. He doesn’t look well at all. He gives me a smirk as he catches me looking at him.
“Thank God you’re awake.” He rubs his hand against mine.
“What?” I try to speak but my throat is all scratchy.
“Here, sweetheart, take a sip of this,” the nurse instructs, giving me a straw as I take a sip of water from the bottle she is holding. “That might make it better. You will find it hard to talk for a while as your throat is bruised.”
Why is it bruised?
“Do you know why you are in the hospital, Ness?” Christian asks me.
I shake my head.
His whiskey colored eyes look at the nurse, he looks worried.
“There’s been no brain damage, Mr. Taylor. She might just be a little groggy from the drugs.”
Nodding at the nurse, his eyes turn back to me. “Kane attacked you.”
My body tenses and the machine starts to beep louder and faster as I remember exactly what happened. No, no, no.
“V, calm down, it’s okay. I’m here. I’ve got you,” Christian says, pulling himself up onto the side of my bed wrapping me in his arms, protecting me as my tears start to flow. How the hell did I let myself get into this position?
“Babe, the police are here and they want to talk to you?” Christian wakes me from my nap. I sit up in my bed as the two young police officers come in, their eyes widening as they see Christian and Axel from Dirty Texas sitting with me in hospital.
“Miss Roberts, we are here to interview you in regards to your injuries,” one of the officers says.
“Thank you, I appreciate you coming down but I won’t be pressing charges, nothing happened.”
The two officers stare at me blankly.
“What do you mean you’re not pressing charges? That fucker deserves to pay for what he did to you, Vanessa,” Christian angrily protests.
Ignoring the pissed off rocker, I look to the officers, “I’m sorry but I won’t be making a statement.”
The other officer speaks, “We can help you, Miss. You don’t have to be afraid of him anymore.” His kind, brown eyes look at me. He can see the injuries that have turned a nice deep purple over my body.
“You can’t help me. The man that did this, he is too high profiled. He will never come to justice; he has vowed to ruin my life. I have too much to lose. I just can’t. No one will believe me, he is a fucking god in people’s eyes.”
Tears threaten because it’s the truth. No one would believe Kane Bennett hits women. He is a football star who wins Super Bowl rings; he donates to charities and feeds the homeless. No one would ever believe me.
“Ness, he can’t get away with this.” Christian looks at me with pain in his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Chris, I just can’t.” I turn my face away from him because I can’t look at his disappointment any more.
“Chris, just leave it,” Axel says, comforting his brother.
“Miss, here is my card, if you ever need to talk please give me a call,” the officer with the kind eyes offers as he leaves the card on my bed. A few moments later they walk out the door.
“I’m sorry, Chris, I just can’t. It would be a PR nightmare for you and for the label. The paparazzi and the media would have a field day with this. It would follow me around forever—I just can’t.” My tears start to flow again.
Christian pulls me into his arms, “Shh, babe, don’t cry. I’m sorry, we don’t have to do anything. I just want to protect you, okay?”
Looking up into his eyes, I can see how much Christian is hurting by all of this. “I don’t want to let you down, Chris. I know I should report him so it doesn’t happen to anyone else, I know this, but I just can’t.”
Christian wraps himself around me. “I love you, Ness, and I will support you with whatever decision you make?”
Christian loves me, my heart feels like it is going to burst.
“Shit, never thought I would see the day my brother pronounced his love for another woman other than Mom,” Axel jokes.
“Fuck off, dickhead, thanks for ruining the moment,” Christian curses at him.
Axel walks out of the room flipping his brother off.
“I do love you, Ness. You’re my best friend, I don’t have any female friends because…well you know…my incredible good looks and huge dick always gets in the way.”
This makes me laugh.
“But you’re special. We just click. Seeing you in here, thinking I’d lost you, it drove me crazy. I realized I’d never told you how I feel, that you are as close to me as Axel is or the rest of my family are. As much as I want to bone you every day, because let’s face it, we are both fucking hot, I understand we can’t. Fuck, I still jerk off thinking about that weekend we had together all those years ago.”
This shocks me but it makes me smile.
“What I want even more than that is your friendship. I love hanging out with you doing boring shit, like cooking dinner or hanging out at the beach. I love that I’m the person you call when your car isn’t working or you need a tap fixed in your house. So if the only way I can keep you in my life forever is to have you as my best friend then I’m okay with that.”
Leaning over I give Christian a kiss on the lips, it is supposed to be just a small one but his words kind of hit me hard and before I know it we are making out.
“Fuck, Ness,” he whispers, resting his forehead against mine.
“I love you too, Chris, and I agree sex complicates things. Honestly I don’t want to lose you. I love having you around even if you are annoying as shit.”
“Yeah, but you love it,” he says, giving me a mischievous smile.
“Yeah, I kind of do. Thank you for hanging around over the past couple of days at the hospital.”
Christian looks a little embarrassed by my compliment.
“It’s what friends do.”
72
Christian
“Home sweet home.” Camryn smiles, opening the door for Vanessa, who is tense in my arms. Walking through the doors of her home after what she experienced here is tough but Camryn and I have redecorated the space. We rearranged the room that Kane destroyed. We purchased new furniture, repositioned things around the room so that when Vanessa sat down to watch TV she didn’t have to relive the horror that happened here.
“It looks different,” Vanessa says, taking in the new look of the home.
“Yeah, Christian and I did some redecorating, hope you like it.” Camryn sounded like a perky cheerleader, but I know she is just nervous about today.
Vanessa’s eyes look around the room; she gives us a smile. “Looks nice. I’m just going to go lie down for a while, I’m tired,” she says as she walks toward her bedroom.
Once she has gone I turn to Camryn. “Fuck, do you think she’s okay?”
“It’s an adjustment coming back here. I guess it will take time.”
“Should I check on her? That woman standing here earlier with us was not our Ness.”
“I hate being in this house because of what happened, I can’t imagine how she feels. Yeah, I would check on her even though I know she will hide whatever is going on in her head.”
Maybe it’s a mistake bringing her back here. I should have taken her back to my place. I walk down the hall to Vanessa’s room. Lightly knocking on her door, I announce, “Ness, it’s me.”
A mumbled, “Come in,” filters through the door. Opening the door, I find Vanessa curled up in a ball crying into her pillow. I race over to her, pulling her onto my lap, rocking her as her whole body shakes.
“I can't stay here, Chris. I can feel him all around me.” She is shaking like a leaf.
“Angel, you don’t have to stay here. Come live with me. I can move all yo
ur stuff to my place and you can stay with me for however long you want or even forever, I don’t care.”
Her green eyes look at me. “You’re a good man, Chris.”
“Shh, don’t tell anyone. I don’t want them to know, it will ruin my reputation.”
Vanessa gives me a weak smile.
“Come on, pack a bag. I can get Isla to organize the rest of your shit, we can be roomies.” I joke, hoping to put her at ease.
“Thank you,” she says, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“I can’t believe you and Vanessa are still roommates. I thought she would have moved out running and screaming after a week,” Axel laughs as we head toward the studio to wait for the other boys to join us. Vanessa has been living with me for the past couple of months and it’s been great, well for me anyway, having someone else to knock around the house with. Being a twin sucks because you are always so used to having someone with you, but there is no way in hell I could live with that fucker anymore. It’s hard enough working with him.
“She’s not much of a cook which sucks because I thought all women could cook.”
Axel chokes on his beer. “Seriously man, how the fuck are we related. I can’t believe some of the shit that comes out of your mouth sometimes.”
I flip him the bird. Eventually the rest of the boys join us and we can start the jam session in my studio.
There’s a knock on the door and Vanessa enters the room. The boys all say hello. “Christian, do you have to leave your strays around the house? Because I just found a naked woman in the fucking pool.”
My eyes widen. Shit, I thought I got rid of her this morning. How the fuck did she get back in?
“Y’all, I have to go see this,” Evan laughs and runs out the door.
I can see Vanessa isn’t impressed and I feel bad because she doesn’t need to see my conquests naked in the pool.
“Sorry, angel, I thought I got rid of her.”
Vanessa just shakes her head at me. “Next time make sure Sammy escorts them out of the house. You don’t know what these women can do. They could be stalkers, they could be press, they could go through your shit and sell it on eBay.”
She’s right, it was fucking stupid. Jumping off my chair, I head out to the pool to deal with my situation. I find the blonde doing laps in the pool as if she belongs here. Who does that after a one-night stand? I walk over to where she is trying to catch my attention. “Hey, darlin’, um…whatcha doin’?
Her chocolate eyes look up at me then behind me when she realizes she has an audience. “I was just cooling down waiting for you to finish so we could continue again.”
My eyes dip down to her naked breasts in the pool, she was a very enthusiastic lover, bendy as well. She’s a dancer, not a stripper, as she liked to point out. Even though her job requires dancing in a club on a pole, she’s an entertainer.
“Well darlin’, I’m kind of busy. I explained this morning when we said goodbye, I thought you understood.”
I feel someone beside me. Sammy, his stony face not giving anything away except the twitch on the side of his cheek as he tries to hold back a smile.
“You’re really kicking me out?” Her cheeks glow red looking at the stony faced Samoan bodyguard. She swims toward the steps, pulling herself out of the water, her amazing body on display as she grabs a towel to wrap around herself.
“Sorry, it was fun while it lasted.” Really what other words could I say?
“But we are meant to be together, Christian. You told me last night I was the best you ever had.”
The boys behind me snigger as Sammy escorts her out.
“You’re making a mistake, Christian. I’ll let you stick it in my ass next time…please.” Her declaration makes everyone laugh.
“Seriously, Christian, how could you turn that offer down?” Vanessa adds.
I shoot them all the bird as I walk away from the commotion. Fucking groupies.
73
Vanessa
A year earlier
“Derrick,” I greet, answering my phone. I look at the time as it has to be early in Australia. It’s the night of Sienna’s thirtieth birthday party. They’re probably drunk dialing me letting me know how much fun they are having without me while I am stuck touring with the boys. These boys have been grumpy as fuck lately; the never ending traveling is wearing them all down. The constant paparazzi, the fans, the microscopic attention is full on. Once the boys finish this American tour they only have the European tour to go before their contract with Montgomery Records ends. Hopefully they can move onto bigger and better things, whatever that may be. While I am sad about our time ending as the past five years I have been devoted to these boys, it will be fun to start working with a new band.
“V, somethings happened.” Derrick’s voice cuts through my daydream. Shit, he doesn’t sound good.
“What’s happened? Is everyone okay?” I could feel the panic rising through my body.
“Si just busted Beau with another woman.”
I drop my phone. Shit! “Sorry, D, are you still there?” I ask, picking it up off the floor. No way, there is no way in the world what he just said is true. “Are you joking right now?” Derrick is a trickster but this is low if he is drunk dialing me with some kind of bullshit.
“Fuck no, I wouldn’t joke about something like this. It was with Diana. Beau’s been fucking around with Diana,” Derrick yells down the phone.
Fuck, of all the people Beau could cheat with, it had to be his high school ex-girlfriend. During Sienna’s entire marriage she has had to compete with that woman. Beau’s parents always wanted Diana to be his wife. Fuck, he is a fucking bastard.
“I’m going to fucking kill him, D.”
“Well I almost did. We got into a fight, it felt so good punching the son of a bitch in the face,” Derrick laughs, he’s such a loyal friend. Shit, I wish I could be there with her.
“Good on ya, D. I am high fiving you through the phone. How is she?”
There is silence on the other end of the phone, I pull it away from my ear to check if he is still there. He is.
“I think it’s really going to hit her tomorrow. She told him to fuck off when he came running after her, telling her it was a mistake but she wouldn’t listen. Then when she found out the woman was Diana she lost it. There is no way she will take him back after this.”
“Fuck, D, I wish I was there, but I can’t get away,” I groan into the phone, feeling totally helpless. Maybe I could get there for Christmas while the boys have a break.
There is a knock at my hotel room door. “Shit, D, I have to go, keep me posted okay.” He agrees and I hang up.
“Come in,” I call out and in walks my assistant Sarah.
“Ness, um…we have a problem.” She hands over her tablet to me, the black and white article blinking in my face. It takes me a moment to realize what I am looking at. Of course this would happen now, I am going to fucking kill them.
“What the hell is this?” I yell, shaking the tablet at the Dirty Texas boys. They are all looking at me bleary eyed after I woke them up. I am greeted by silence, yeah with the mood that I am in now I am ready to fucking castrate each of them. “How many fucking times do I tell you boys to be vigilant of your surroundings.”
“Queen V, I’m sorry but how was I supposed to know that there would be cameras in the VIP section of the club.” Christian smiles and I hate that even after all these years the way he looks at me still has some affect.
“You shouldn’t be having your dick sucked in the middle of a club, Christian.” It doesn’t get any easier after all these years seeing him with other girls.
“If you helped a brother out, I wouldn’t have to find groupies to do it. Which means I wouldn’t get myself into trouble all the time; see win-win, V,” Christian laughs.
Rolling my eyes, “Seriously, Christian, I'm surprised your dick hasn’t fallen off from any diseases, it’s a fucking miracle.” I hide my feelings through sarcasm especially wh
ere Christian is concerned. It sucks having feelings for your best friend. It sucks watching him get blow jobs under a table in the middle of a club. It sucks that I want to take up his offer to help him out. Goddamn stupid morals, they truly suck sometimes. “Just because you’re Dirty Texas doesn’t mean you can keep getting away with this shit.” I shake the tablet in my hand again. I’m over this bullshit, as I begin to pace around the living room of the suite. “Do you guys realize how much work it takes looking after you?” They stay silent—typical males. “Cleaning up the same shit every day. Repeating it over and over?” God, Ness, don’t crack now. I try to hold all my anger in but it doesn’t work as I feel my eyes begin to water. Not in front of the boys I think to myself. “You’re not twenty year olds anymore. You can't keep doing this immature shit; people are getting sick of it, namely me.” Fuck, I can feel myself begin to crack.
“V, are you okay?” Axel asks, his hazel eyes reminding me so much of his brother’s. His question breaks me and the flood gates open as tears run down my face. Shit, I never cry and especially never in front of the boys. Embarrassed I rush out of the room away from five pairs of freaked out of eyes.
I felt better after Evan came in and checked on me. Poor guy looked like he wanted to be anywhere else rather than dealing with a teary eyed woman. I did notice his interest piqued when I showed him photos of Sienna. It would totally make her day knowing Evan Wyld checked her out. She’s always had a crush on him. There’s a knock at the door. “Come in,” I call out.
“Hey, I heard what happened, are you okay?” Christian asks, walking toward me.
“Yeah, poor Evan, he copped most of it.” I give him a weak smile.
“That guy sucks at rock, paper, scissors.”
This makes me laugh.
