“Otis …” Noah began. But Otis ignored him, walking off in the direction of his car. He got in, started her up, and disappeared into the night.
*****
Aside from answering Mercy’s questions about where she lived, Brooke hadn’t said one word the entire drive so far. But that was okay, Mercy decided. Maybe it was best if the woman simply listened.
“You know, I get it. I really do. I mean, men can be such asses sometimes. Without even trying to,” she smiled. “The world would be such an easier place to live if they just thought about things like we do.” She paused for a moment, and then said, “I have to tell you though … I know Otis very well. I’ve seen him at his best, and I’ve seen him at his worst. And I’m being one hundred percent honest with you when I tell you that I have never seen him as happy as he’s been these last few weeks with you. And you’re right. Otis can be very self-absorbed sometimes. He can be selfish and egotistical. But with you, I only ever saw the sweet, generous, playful, loving side of him. You bring out his best. However this thing started, Brooke … I believe that he was telling the truth when he said that he fell in love with you.”
Brooke never uttered a single word. Not the entire time. But Mercy knew that she’d heard everything she said. And when she pulled into the driveway of her house, she looked into her tear-streaked face and smiled.
“Thank you,” Brooke whispered.
“You’re welcome.”
Chapter Ten
He heard the knocking on the door. Again. It was more insistent this time, and he took a deep breath and sighed heavily. Why couldn’t they just let him be? He dragged himself from the bed and slowly made his way to the door of the suite and opened it up.
“Hey,” he said, putting on his best game face. Was he smiling? He felt like he was smiling. “What’s going on, man?”
“Man, you’re not even dressed,” Noah said. “You’re going with us, come on.”
“Going where?”
“Since there’s no show today the girls don’t want to just sit at the hotel. None of them have ever been to Australia before; we’re gonna go do some sightseeing around Sydney,” he said. “We talked about this last night, man. Remember?”
“Oh. Yeah.”
Noah stared at him with clear concern in his eyes. This wasn’t good. And it was getting worse every day. He had never seen Otis like this before, and as crazy as it sounded, he felt totally responsible. He should have known better. He should have put a stop to the whole bet thing before it even began. He never intended for his brother to end up broken. He only wanted him to think about his behavior with women a little more. But after the blowup in his front yard when Brooke McKenna had left him, Otis hadn’t been the same since. And when Jagged Ivory got back on the road for the remaining dates of their Thank Heaven tour, Noah had actually been hopeful that getting back to his normal routine of girls and partying might do him some good.
Only Otis didn’t get back to that “normal” routine. He had barely looked at another girl since they’d been back on the road. He would be very polite and welcoming when they showed up backstage; he would smile and sign autographs and have his picture taken. But that’s as far as it went. There was no flirting, no propositioning, no sex at all that Noah had seen. And after a show, Otis would simply go back to his hotel room. He wouldn’t even hang out with the rest of them, and Noah suspected that it had a lot to do with the fact that they each had their significant others with them on this leg of the tour.
Noah glanced to his right and silently motioned for the others to join him. Then without invitation, he pushed the door open a bit wider and walked into the room. He was followed by Benji, Cory and Buz, and Otis couldn’t help but roll his eyes as they all made their way past him.
“What the hell is this, an intervention?” he mumbled. He squinted his eyes when Noah opened up the drapes, letting some light into the room.
“We just want to talk to you, O,” Buzzy said as he took a seat on a chair in the sitting room of the suite. And as they all sat down, Otis could see that they were determined. So he walked over to them and sat down on the couch next to Noah.
They said nothing for the longest time as they studied him, and Otis felt like he was some sort of circus freak they were staring at. He sat slumped at the end of the couch, staring at the remote control on the table as he refused to make eye contact with any of them.
“Otis,” Buzzy began, “man, we’ve been worried about you.”
“Why?”
“Well, because we never see you anymore. I mean … we see you at soundchecks, and we see you on stage. But after that … where do you go, man?”
“Nowhere,” he replied softly.
“Exactly,” Noah said. “You don’t go anywhere, O. You shut yourself up in your hotel room and you won’t talk to us. You won’t hang out with us. You’re avoiding us, man. And I get it. I do. It is no fun feeling like a fifth wheel or like everybody’s got somebody but you. But, Otis … we care about you, man, and we don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”
Otis said nothing as he sat shaking his head, still not looking any of them in the eye.
“Look, Otis … I understand, brother,” Cory said. “I know all about being so into one girl that you don’t even want to think about anyone else. I think we can all relate to that. And Noah’s right, it is hard when your buddy’s girl is around and you're feeling miserable. Man, I been there. And sometimes you do just want to stay away from it. And there’s nothing wrong with that,” he said, remembering all the times he avoided Noah and Mercy when he and Donna were having problems. “But shutting yourself off to this extent, man … it’s not healthy.”
“Yeah, but this isn’t just about the girls,” Buzzy said. “Otis, you won’t even hang out with us. The four of us. You’re not just avoiding being around the couples, you’re avoiding us. In fact, the only person I have seen you not avoid is Bobby.”
“Otis, just come spend some time with us today, man,” Benji said. “Come have lunch with us. If you don’t feel up to all the sightseeing, you can come back early, but just come spend a few hours with us. Get out into the sunshine, man. Let us look at you. We might be able to raise your spirits some.”
“I’m not drinking,” Otis said flatly, looking Benji in the eye finally. “I’m not getting high. I know that’s what you and hot shot are really worried about, right? Well, I'm not hiding from the four of you so that I can get wasted! I’m not trying to dull the ache. I’m not drowning it in tequila, or anything else for that matter. I’m just sitting here feeling it,” he said, his voice gravelly and full of emotion. “Wallowing. Embracing it.”
He looked so beaten and defeated, and Noah was suddenly more worried than ever. Otis was right. He had been worried that his brother was shutting himself off from them because he was drinking or medicating to excess in order to mask the pain. But what he saw in Otis now was just as bad.
“It’s been productive though,” Otis mumbled, an insincere smile suddenly crossing his lips. “I’ve written two ballads. ‘Screw Love’ and ‘Fuck Off.’ Want to hear ‘em?”
“Otis,” Noah sighed when he lashed out.
“Just get out,” Otis said quietly.
“Otis?” Buzzy said.
“Get out,” he repeated a little more forcefully. “Go … see Sydney or whatever shit you’re doing. Just leave me alone. Please. Just leave.”
“Otis …” Noah started.
“Just leave,” he begged. And Noah could see that he was barely holding on. The look in his brother’s eyes scared him.
“Okay,” he said softly. He stood up and moved toward the door and the others followed. And when they were out in the hallway they stood for a moment just looking at one another with expressions of shock and fear.
“I’ve never seen him like this before,” Cory said quietly.
“Has he tried talking to her?” Benji asked, looking at Noah.
“Yeah. She won’t take any of his calls. He tried to see he
r at Sparkles before we left the States and Teddy told him she’d quit,” Noah said. “I don’t know if he tried the dance studio where she works, but I imagine he did.”
“Well, we have got to do something, man,” Buzzy said. “I’m worried about him. That is not the Otis Ivory I know.”
“I know,” Noah said. “I’ve got an idea, but … I can’t leave him right now. Can you guys take Mercy and go sightseeing? I’m just gonna stay here. I know he probably won’t even let me back in the room, but … I just don’t feel right leaving him.”
“Well, neither do I,” Buz stated. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Neither are we,” Cory said as he and Benji glanced at one another.
Inside the suite, Otis let out a sigh of relief when the door shut behind them. Then he picked himself up from the couch and walked over to the desk and took a seat. He pulled out the small bag his bodyguard had dropped off for him that morning and opened it up, reaching in and taking out the single postcard that it contained. He looked at the picture on the front of it. An image of the famous Sydney Opera House. He didn’t much care what the picture was though.
He turned it over and grabbed a pen, carefully filling out the address. Then he scribbled the three-word message on the side. The same message he’d written on all the others.
I miss you.
*****
Brooke sat quietly on the couch, staring out into space. Her pretty hair was piled high on top of her head and she looked as though she had just climbed out of bed, even though she had been awake for hours. Her eyes were just as puffy as they had been for the last three weeks. And Shelly was beginning to wonder if her sister’s sorrow was ever going to end.
She watched as Brooke flipped through the small collection of postcards in her hands, not really seeming to focus on any of them. They had been coming in a steady stream ever since Jagged Ivory’s tour had resumed. She had gotten one from each city the band stopped in, and they always arrived bearing the same message: I miss you. That was all. They never said anything else, and they were simply signed ‘O.’
Shelly was about to try once again to get Brooke to eat something when the doorbell rang, and she got up from the chair and went to answer it. When she opened the door there was a young man dressed in a smart business suit. He smiled at her.
“Hello. Brooke McKenna?”
“No. Um, I’m her sister, Michelle. Can I help you?”
“Is Brooke McKenna in, please?”
Shelly hesitated for a fraction of a second. “I’m sorry, who are you? What is this about?”
“My apologies, ma’am,” he smiled. “My name is Craig Bradley. I work for Holland Management. I have a personal message for your sister.”
“Well, my sister is indisposed at the moment, but I can deliver …”
“No, ma’am, I’m sorry,” Mr. Bradley said, cutting her off. “I’ve been instructed to hand deliver it directly to her and no one else.”
Shelly looked at him with a mounting attitude.
“It’s okay, Shell,” Brooke said quietly, walking up beside her. “Thanks, though.”
She turned to look at the man at the door, and immediately knew that he was a lawyer or something. He just had that look about him.
“I’m Brooke McKenna,” she said softly. “Can I help you?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he smiled kindly. He reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out an envelope. “I have a letter here for you.”
“If that letter is from Otis Ivory, you can just keep it,” she said.
“It’s not from Otis Ivory, ma’am. It’s from Mr. Noah Ivory.”
She frowned at him. Noah? Cautiously, she reached out and took the letter from him.
“I’ve been instructed to inform you that the information inside is time sensitive. Mike Holland will be expecting your call. His number’s inside.”
He turned and left the porch then, and Brooke looked down at the envelope in her hands. She closed the door and walked back to the couch and sat down, turning the envelope over in her hands. It was thick.
“Are you going to open it?” Shelly asked.
Brooke sighed, but she didn’t answer. Slowly, she tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter.
Brooke,
I’m sorry for bothering you, and I’m sure you’re surprised to hear from me. But I’m contacting you because I don’t know what else to do. I’m worried about my brother.
I understand that you’re probably just as angry at me as you are at him, and I don’t blame you. What we did was both childish and stupid. The wager we made had absolutely nothing to do with you, and yet we placed you squarely in the position to be hurt the most by it. Our callousness was shameful, and I can’t apologize enough for it. But I think you should know that Otis was telling you the truth that night in my front yard when he said that he was a changed man because of you. Brooke, my brother is in a bad way, and I’m worried about his state of mind. He has not been himself since you left that night. And the truth is that I realize now that he hasn’t been “himself” since the day you crashed into him.
You turned Otis’ world upside down. You took a man who was afraid of love and commitment, and you made him believe in both. You made him happy. You made him forget about his troubles and think about the possibilities. You made him dream. Simply put, Otis is very much in love with you. And he is so broken up about hurting you that now he’s hurting himself. And I believe it’s because he thinks that’s what he deserves. He doesn’t eat. He doesn’t sleep. He barely talks. In fact, he avoids the rest of us. The only time we see him is on stage.
I know that none of this really concerns you anymore. And like I said, I’m sorry if I’m bothering you. But if you do still care about him. If Otis means anything to you, or if by some miracle you are still in love with him too, then please help me to help him. Enclosed is a first class plane ticket to New Zealand where Jagged Ivory will be for the next week. Our manager, Mike Holland is expecting you to call him as soon as you get this message. He will answer any questions or concerns you might have. Please, Brooke. I’m begging you to come. Otis needs you.
Noah Ivory
Brooke read the letter three times before she sat it down and stood up, in tears, and ran from the room. And Shelly reached over and quickly scanned the letter herself. Then she got up and ran after her. She found her in the bathroom, slumped over the sink and crying her eyes out.
“Brooke, you have to go to him!”
“No, I don’t!”
“I don’t understand you,” Shelly yelled. “What is the big deal? So, your relationship started with a bet. So what? The important detail here is that it ended up with two people who never expected to fall in love falling in love! Brooke … you read that letter. Otis loves you. My God, he told you that much that night! Why can’t you hang on to that instead of how this thing all began?”
Brooke studied her reflection in the mirror as Shelly kept talking.
“When it started, you weren’t up front with him either. You didn’t tell him about the strip club, which came back to bite you in the ass! And you certainly didn’t tell him about the whole sugar daddy thing, which he found out about anyway! But he didn’t hold either of those things against you. So why can’t you let this one minor detail go? He loves you. And you are miserable because you love him too!”
*****
The guys were backstage at the stadium in Auckland, New Zealand, and the atmosphere held its usual electric charge, but there was something different about it. There was a definite nervous energy in the air tonight, and everyone was aware of it. Everyone, that is, except Otis.
Otis had been sort of out of it for the past few shows now. He was there. He would show up and do his part and get out on stage and sing. But there was none of his usual charismatic presence, and the shows themselves were lackluster at best. The music was always rocking as the guys did their best to pump up the crowds, but without Otis to lead their hysteria, there was only so
much the band could do.
Now he sat staring out into space as they all waited for showtime to arrive. And he was completely oblivious to the anxious glances his brothers had been throwing each other all night.
“Hey, O?” Noah finally said, catching his eye.
He said nothing as he looked up at him with raised eyebrows.
“Come here a minute, I want to show you something.”
“What?” he asked, frowning slightly.
“Stand up, man,” Noah insisted. “Come here.”
Otis sighed heavily and stood up, walking over to where Noah stood with his arm around Mercy.
“What?”
“Turn around, man,” Noah said, glancing to the door of the room.
“What?” Otis asked again, growing really annoyed.
“Just turn around.”
With an attitude, Otis turned around just in time to watch Brooke walk through the door of the dressing room. He froze, certain that his eyes were playing tricks on him as he momentarily forgot to breathe. She was dressed simply in a pair of jeans and blue pumps, and the white, off-the-shoulder top he’d gotten her that first time she spent the night at his house. She looked as beautiful as ever as she walked toward him.
“Hi,” she said softly, looking at him timidly.
He tried to speak and had to clear his throat before he tried again. “Hi.”
They said nothing else as they stared at one another for the longest time, neither one of them realizing that all eyes were on the two of them. Brooke noticed that he looked tired and his skin looked sallow. But even with those imperfections, he was still the most beautiful man she’d ever seen.
“What, um … what are you doing here?” he asked quietly as his eyes bored into hers.
“I got all your postcards,” she said by way of explanation. “And I wanted to come tell you in person that … I miss you too.”
The Essential Jagged Ivory (Jagged Ivory Boxed Set) Page 100
