“You took all of these pictures?” Brooke asked in surprise. She knew from Otis that Noah’s girlfriend served as the group’s official tour photographer and also ran their website, but she had no idea what that really meant until now.
“Yeah,” Mercy answered with a humble smile.
“My very own Annie Leibovitz,” Noah stated, wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissing her temple.
Mercy smiled at his praise, and Brooke couldn’t help but smile at them. They were quite obviously very much in love.
“I’d heard how talented you are, but … this is incredible,” Brooke said, looking around at the photos on the walls. “They’re beautiful.”
“Thank you so much,” Mercy gushed. “Can I get you both something to drink?”
They segued into small talk then as they all sat in the living room with pre-dinner drinks, and she noticed that Mercy and Noah both stuck with ginger ale. And as she sat next to Otis on the couch, she found herself relaxing some.
Otis’ parents were great. Both in their mid- to late-sixties she guessed, and very lively and outspoken. They seemed to know instinctively what the other was thinking, and they were prone to finishing one another’s sentences. Brooke found them adorable, and she wondered how long they’d been together. By the time they all moved to the dining room for dinner, she was feeling much more comfortable about the evening.
“Beef Wellington?” Otis asked, clearly surprised by the impressive menu. “You really did want to celebrate, didn't you?”
“Well, it is your birthday, honey,” Kay said, placing her hand on his cheek.
“Yeah, she’s been in my kitchen cooking for your sorry ass all day,” Noah joked. “The things I put up with for you!”
“Oh, stop it,” Kay said, swatting at her youngest son as they sat around the table. “You’ve enjoyed my sparkling company and you know it.”
“Actually, I have enjoyed it,” Noah admitted. He turned to Otis and added. “Dad and I went into the music room and jammed a little bit, man. I think we hammered out that bridge section in ‘Funk Rock’ that was causing us trouble.”
“Yeah?” Otis replied. And Brooke could hear the excitement in his voice. “Did you get it down?”
Noah nodded. “Recorded on Pro Tools. It’s some good stuff; I can’t wait to play for you guys.”
“I can’t wait to hear it,” he said. “How’d it feel, old man?”
Monroe Ivory chuckled at the question. “You act like I ain’t picked up a guitar in twenty years or something,” he said, smiling at his son.
“Oh, come on now. You know you’re a little rusty,” Otis joked.
“Rusty or not, he played circles around me,” Noah said with a smirk, quietly admitting that his father was the better musician.
“I’m sorry, did … did anybody else hear that or was it just me?” Monroe asked sarcastically, looking around the table at the others.
“I heard it, but I don’t believe it,” Otis answered.
“I heard it, Monroe,” Mercy added, and Noah playfully rolled his eyes.
“Okay, I bow to the master, alright?” Noah joked loudly. “I am but a cheap imitation of my father!”
“No. I am a cheap imitation of my father,” Otis smiled. “You are at least his equal, hot shot!”
Noah turned to him with an amused frown. “Thank you for the compliment, man. But why do you always do that?”
“Do what?”
“Put yourself down like that?” Noah answered, and Otis rolled his eyes at him. “Man, you are a hell of a musician, Otis. I do one thing. I play the guitar. I play the hell out of it, yes,” he smiled. “But that’s all I do. You play more than one instrument, and you play them both well.”
“And I’m not known for playing either,” Otis countered. “So what’s that tell you?”
“That you’re way too modest?” Brooke offered. And Otis looked at her in surprise.
“Yes! Thank you, Brooke,” Noah said, looking at her. “You are way too modest when it comes to your instrumental ability, O. Which is funny, because you’re certainly not modest any other time!”
Everyone laughed at Noah’s comment, including Otis. But as usual, he found it difficult to believe that Noah meant what he was saying. Or maybe what he found difficult was believing that his talent went beyond singing and writing songs.
“I tell him all the time that he plays beautifully,” Brooke said.
“He plays for you?” Mercy asked, smiling as she took another bite of food.
“He plays a lot around the house actually,” Brooke explained, thinking of all the times in the past two weeks that she’d heard Otis playing either the piano or the guitar. “Especially at night when he can’t sleep.”
“Hmm. Must be a family trait,” Mercy said, glancing at Noah, and he smiled at her.
“I’ve heard him working on different songs he’s writing, and just fooling around with classical stuff … Chopin and Beethoven and Mozart. He’s amazing.”
“You should listen to your woman, man,” Noah said, smiling at Otis.
Otis looked at Brooke with a shy, surprised smile, and he reached down and lightly squeezed her knee. She smiled back at him as she took a sip of her wine.
“So, Brooke,” Kay said, changing the subject. “I never asked at the wedding. What is it that you do, dear?”
Immediately, Brooke felt winded. And she had to fight the urge to crawl under the table as she thought about the fact that all three of the Ivory men had seen her stripping at Sparkles. But to their credit, not one of them appeared to be the least bit uncomfortable with Kay Ivory asking the question.
“Um …”
“She’s a ballerina, Mom,” Otis said lightly. “She teaches ballet to little girls.”
“Really? Oh! I love the ballet,” Kay gushed as Brooke regained her composure. “Where do you teach?”
“At the De Luz Studio,” she answered.
“Oh, Cleo De Luz! I saw her dance the lead in Swan Lake when I was in Paris twenty years ago,” Kay said. “She was incredible! You know, I hear she’s very ill. Is that true?”
“Um, well I … I’m really not at liberty to say anything,” Brooke stammered. She wanted to be honest with Otis’ mother, but she wanted to honor Cleo’s wishes of keeping her condition to herself. “I’m sorry.”
“No, no. I’m sorry,” Kay replied. “I’ve been around these three enough to understand keeping a lid on rumors and gossip.”
“Speaking of which,” Monroe said, looking at Otis pointedly. “Your brother told us that Hall girl finally backed down? Is that true?”
“Yes,” Otis said with a sigh of relief. “She and her lawyer kept us hanging for over a week after Mike sent the information about the non-invasive paternity test, and we could never get them nailed down on a decision. Well, yesterday Mike finally called and said that he’d spoken to her attorney. She claims to have had a miscarriage, but Mike says he doubts she was ever pregnant. He thinks it was all a ploy to try to get money out of me or to keep her name in the news. Or both.”
“Thank God that’s over with,” Kay stated. “Now you can get back to your life.”
“Yeah, if the gossip rags will let me,” Otis mumbled.
“Another week and they won’t have a choice, brother,” Noah said, sipping his Perrier.
“That’s right. We get back on the road in a week,” Mercy said, referring to the next leg of the Thank Heaven tour.
“Brooke, do you like to travel?” Kay asked her.
“I went to Canada once a few years back on a ski trip. Other than that, I’ve never really done much traveling,” she answered.
“Really?” Otis asked, and she shook her head. “Well, you’ll have to come out and join the tour before it wraps in December.”
Brooke said nothing as she stared at him in disbelief. Was he for real?
“No, I’m serious,” he smiled, astutely reading her expression. “We would have a blast! Do you have a passport?”
> “Well, yes, but …”
“Oh, no, Feisty, don’t say no,” he begged. “We would have so much fun. We are going to look at a calendar and the tour schedule when we get home, alright?”
Otis looked genuinely happy as he tried to talk her into joining the tour for a week or so. And Noah and Mercy shared a small knowing smile.
The light, friendly chatter continued throughout dinner, and when their meal was over, they adjourned back to the living room with coffee.
“This really is a beautiful place,” Brooke said.
“I’m sorry, would you like a tour?” Mercy offered.
“Sure.”
The ladies veered off from the rest of the group as Mercy showed Brooke the rest of the house.
“Otis, I really like her,” Kay exclaimed once they were out of earshot. “She’s beautiful, honey! And you two are great together.”
“She looks a lot different with her clothes on,” Monroe stated with his trademark deadpan humor, and Noah and Otis couldn’t help their laughter.
“What are you talking about?” Kay asked, frowning at them.
“Mom, Brooke is a stripper,” Noah said quietly.
Kay stared at him. “That sweet girl? I thought she was a ballerina.”
“She is,” Otis replied. “Teaching dance is her real job. But she moonlights for extra cash at a club called Sparkles.”
“The place you went for Buzzy’s bachelor party?”
“Yes. Now can we please move on? I don’t want her to hear this conversation,” Otis said.
“Come on, man. I want you to hear the stuff Dad and I did today,” Noah said, still laughing. He led him into the back room of the house where he kept his prized, massive guitar collection, and they hung on the walls in row after row. It was also the space where he displayed Jagged Ivory’s gold and platinum records and their Song of the Year Grammy.
They sat down on stools at the bar as Noah opened up his laptop and started the program.
“So … be straight with me, man,” he said as he worked. “You really like her, don’t you?”
Otis smiled at the question. Then he shook his head as he tried to gather his thoughts. “Noah …” He stopped and shook his head again, as though he couldn’t find the words. “Man, I don’t … I have …” He stopped again, totally unable to form a complete sentence for a moment as his feelings overtook him. He felt a little bit foolish, but he couldn’t speak. He had never said the words to her. Hell, he wasn’t even aware that he felt the sentiment. Until that very moment. He loved her. Fuck.
“I don’t … understand when or how, but … man, I have never felt this way before about anyone,” he said finally. “She is … all I think about. When I’m with her I am the happiest I ever remember being. And when I’m not with her, I obsess over where she is and how long until I can see her again. I’m crazy about her, Noah.”
He sat sort of dumbfounded as Noah studied him, smiling. His brother, the player, was in love.
“I’m happy for you, brother,” Noah said quietly.
“This is your fault,” Otis said, turning on him, and Noah laughed. Otis smiled as he said, “I wanted a quick roll in the hay, but you had to go and make it a bet!” He stood up and walked over toward the wall where the prized Jimi Hendrix Fender Stratocaster sat encased in its glass display. “You might as well wrap that baby up and give it to me for Christmas, ‘cause she is mine!”
“The month’s not over yet, Romeo,” Noah said, joining him at the guitar.
Otis grew serious again as he looked at the guitar. The guitar wasn’t even important anymore. This had stopped being about the guitar long ago. Truth be told, Otis had forgotten all about it, and the bet itself. He hadn’t thought about either of them since that first night he’d made love to Brooke. She was the only thing that mattered.
“Oh, trust me, brother,” he said. “This relationship will last beyond the allotted month, and that guitar is going home with me. Easiest bet I ever made.”
“Bet?”
They turned around to see Brooke standing in the doorway, and the look on her face told them immediately that she’d heard enough of the conversation to be upset. She shook her head slowly, backing away from Otis as he walked toward her.
“So, I was right,” she said softly, the look of betrayal on her face hard to miss. “This was all just a game to you?”
“No. Feisty, I don’t know what you heard,” Otis said, trying to stay calm as he saw the hurt in her eyes. “But you obviously didn’t hear the whole conversation, okay?”
“I heard the highlights,” she said, feeling the unshed tears sting her eyes. “This was a bet. I was a bet for you. And the prize was that guitar?”
Otis stepped closer to her and attempted to take her into his arms. But she wasn’t having it.
“How am I doing so far,” she asked loudly, jerking away from his embrace. “Did I hear the terms of the bet right?”
“Baby, just let me explain …”
“Don’t you ‘baby’ me,” she exclaimed, unable to contain her tears any longer. “How could you do this? How could I have let you do this to me?”
“Brooke …”
Before he could get another word out, she turned and bolted from the room, almost colliding with Mercy, Kay and Monroe as they all walked toward the music room.
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed.
“Sweetheart?” Kay began.
“I’m so sorry!”
She ran from them, out into the living room, as Otis shot past them hot on her heels.
“Brooke! Baby, please listen to me!”
Brooke retrieved her purse from the living room and ran quickly for the front door. She had no idea what her plan of escape was. She only knew that she had to get as far away from Otis as she could.
She ran out to the front yard and struggled to dig her cellphone out of her little purse. She couldn’t call Shelly. That would just be way too much humiliation at the moment. A cab was her only option, and she tried to calm down enough to pull up the information for a cab company.
“Brooke, please let me explain,” Otis said as he came up behind her in the yard.
“Get away from me! I don’t want to hear anything you have to say, Otis,” she yelled.
“Baby, will you just calm down for one minute and let me explain,” he yelled back. “Yes, there was a bet, okay? I admit that! But you don’t know the whole story, Brooke!”
“And I don’t want to! I heard all I needed to hear, Otis. I’m sorry if my finding out means you lose the precious guitar,” she yelled sarcastically. “Not sure how long you actually had to date me to win that, but … oh well. Better luck with your next victim!”
“No! You are going to listen to me,” he screamed at her. “I asked you out because I thought you were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, okay? And then in one stupid conversation, I got the bright idea to turn this thing into a bet. And like I said, I knew it was stupid. But I did it anyway! And whether you want to believe it or not, it had nothing to do with you. It was all about me! About my fears and insecurities,” he yelled. And he was aware that they had an audience, as his parents and Noah and Mercy were all standing in the open doorway, but he didn’t care. He had to make her listen. He had to make her believe him.
“This thing started as a personal challenge, okay? But somewhere along the way it became so much more than that, Brooke. It became about you. But not about conning you. It was about falling in love with you! Which I did. I fell in love with you.” He stared into her eyes praying to see some glimmer of trust in them. “Baby, you’ve got to believe me. I have never felt this way about anyone in my life.”
Brooke said nothing as she stared at him, silently wiping tears. Then she looked down at her phone once more.
“Who are you calling?”
“I’m trying to call a cab!”
“You don’t need a cab! You’re staying with me, remember? Look, let’s just go, okay? Just come home with me and we’ll talk.
We’ll talk about everything; I swear,” he begged.
“I am not going anywhere with you,” she insisted. “I cannot believe you did this to me! Did you and your brother have a big laugh about your elaborate joke, huh? You know … you really should add acting to your resumé because you’re damn good at it, Mr. Ivory! You are the same self-absorbed jerk I crashed into weeks ago,” she sobbed.
Otis felt his muscles tighten as if she’d kicked him hard in the gut. “That’s not true,” he said quietly, staring into her eyes. And Brooke could see that her words had hurt him. “If that’s what you want to think, I can’t stop you. But I know the truth. I am not the same man. I’m changed. You changed me.”
“Will you please just leave me alone and let me call a cab?” she said tearfully. “I just want you to leave me alone.”
“Brooke, you don’t have to call a cab sweetie,” Mercy said as she stepped out into the yard. “I’ll take you home.”
“You will?”
“Sure,” she said glancing at Otis. He nodded almost imperceptibly, and Mercy turned to Noah with a questioning gaze. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his car keys and tossed them to her.
“Be careful, baby,” he called.
Mercy nodded and then motioned Brooke over to Noah’s waiting Porsche Panamera. She slid behind the wheel and carefully adjusted the seat before putting on her seatbelt, all the while listening to Brooke’s soft sobs. Then she started up the car and pulled out of their driveway.
And as they watched the car pull onto the street, Noah stepped out into the yard and placed his hand on Otis’ shoulder.
“I’m sorry, man,” he said quietly.
Otis was silent for a long moment. Then he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It’s not your fault,” he said sedately. “I did this.”
He sounded almost despondent, and Noah thought he could hear the unshed tears in his brother’s voice.
“You remember talking about Joanie Thomas?” he asked, referring to that old high school girlfriend.
“Yeah.”
“Well, this is why that was my last serious relationship,” he said quietly, still looking out to the street. “Because this shit hurts too much when it ends.”
The Essential Jagged Ivory (Jagged Ivory Boxed Set) Page 99
