by Bev Dulson
Trine hung her head. ‘I know, I’m not sure how to fix this situation.’
‘Not yours to fix. If anyone can sort this mess out, it’s Magenta, she’ll need your support though and I do too.’
Her head lifted back up. ‘What d’you mean?’
‘Just with these threats, I could probably use a friend.’
‘You’re Johnny Kidd, I’m sure you have loads of mates, not sure you need any help from a married mum of two.’
‘You’d be surprised.’
She sighed. ‘Why are you doing this?’
‘Doing what?’
‘Confusing me? I really didn’t like you at first, now you’re kinda growing on me, but I don’t understand why you feel the need to spend so much time with me.’
‘I told you, you don’t bullshit me, if I’m being a dick I know you have no hesitation in telling me that, I like that, also you are beautiful.’
‘I’m married.’
‘To an absolute jerk who doesn’t deserve you.’
‘And what do I deserve Johnny? Someone like you who would probably cheat on me the minute my back is turned, you’re a player. I have kids, I can’t just run off on some romantic whim, I need to consider them and despite the fact I think my marriage is over, I may just have to try and save it, for my children.’
‘Yeah, ‘cos two unhappy parents is what every kid wants.’
‘Johnny...’
He held his hands up. ‘I know, I’m sorry, you don’t need to tell me I’m being a dick, I already know,’ he stood up, pulling her up with him. ‘Wanna see me not being a dick?’
He walked over to the girls in the Broken Arrow T-shirts, he took off his cap and instantly all that could be heard was high pitched voices screaming his name. Trine followed him over as did Romeo. ‘Wish he’d told me he was going to do this, I haven’t assessed the risk.’
‘Leave him, they’re kids, he’s doing a good thing.’
She watched as he stopped for selfies, within a minute he was on his way, taking her by the hand as he moved away.
‘That really was a nice thing, was that for them or for you?’
‘For them, always. They, or rather their parents spend a lot of money on the bands merch, it’s good to give back.’
She looked up at him, smiling. ‘OK, for a rock star you aren’t always a dickhead.’
‘Am I finally getting your seal of approval, Scouse?’
‘If you let go of my hand you will.’
He chuckled. ‘You are like a breath of fresh air in my life. I am taking you out to dinner tonight and you are not allowed to say no.’
Before Trine could answer, her phone beeped. She took it from her pocket and quickly scanned the alert. ‘Shit.’
Johnny saw the colour drain from her face. ‘What is it?’
‘We have to find Magenta, now.’
‘On it,’ pulling out his own phone to summon his driver.
Magenta strode defiantly along Fifth Avenue, Hunter’s hand in hers. Unlike Johnny she wasn’t flying under the radar, she couldn’t look more rock star if she tried, her trademark oversized black glasses, her red hair going off like a flare behind her as it caught in the summer breeze. She was dressed down, but still looked effortlessly chic; she was probably one of the few people dressed all in black to look cool in the Manhattan heat. Her knee high boots giving her the extra height she really didn’t need but gave off a ‘don’t fuck with me’ look. Hunter almost mirrored her look, his jeans emphasising his well toned thighs and arse, his grey T-shirt contained his muscular torso and shoulders, his blue eyes were hidden behind his Raybans and his unruly, loose curls tickled at the back of his neck as the breeze blew around his head. Collectively they looked like they’d just stepped out of Levi 501 advert or were Calvin Klein models. They commanded glances from passers-by, people trying to discreetly snap shots. So far nobody had stopped them to ask for selfies, the aura around them screamed superstar, it was like they were dazzling people with imaginary bursts of star dust. Tango was walking slightly ahead of them, another barrier to any would be intruders.
A red Audi Q8 with blacked out windows, horn blaring consistently caught their attention, Tango was already moving to assess the vehicle, Hunter pulled Magenta behind him, he too suddenly aware of a possible threat. The Audi was trying to move in between the sea of yellow cabs to try and get to them. Tango was shouting at them to move back. Hunter clocking their surroundings spotted the big concrete blocks, the car, no matter how big it was wasn’t going to get through those. They just had to stay this side of the blocks. The passenger window from the back seat came down, revealing Trina and Johnny’s faces.
‘Magenta, get in,’ her voice was carried away with the moving vehicles.
‘What’s going on?’ Magenta moved away from Hunter’s protection. She may not be able to hear her friend’s voice, but she could see the concern. So far the Audi hadn’t been able to make it over to the side walk.
She was completely confused. Even more so when a TV crew seemed to appear from nowhere, shoving a microphone in her face.
‘Ms Valentina, how does it feel to know the whole world has seen you and your boyfriend in a sex tape?’
Magenta nearly fell off her heels as she staggered back. ‘WHAT?’
‘You’re trending on Twitter, it’s a hot video.’
She felt Hunter’s arms around her as he picked her up, barging through the crowd that was gathering. Tango was at the Audi which had finally cut through traffic and had opened the passenger door, giving Hunter a clear passage to get Magenta into the car, he slammed the door behind them, nipped round the back and got in from the other side, just in time for the car to speed off, as fast as NYC traffic would allow.
‘What. The. Hell. Was. That?’
Trine handed her friend her phone, she had no words.
Magenta and Hunter watched in disbelief as the romp they’d had in the dressing room at the gig the other night was now the number on trending story, worldwide on Twitter.
‘Heads are gonna fuckin’ roll.’ Magenta slammed the phone down
Hunter was in his own whirlwind of disbelief, as his thoughts raced around his head he tried to put them in some sort of order. This was another attack against them.
‘T, get me Juke on the phone,’ Magenta barked an order across the car. Seeing Trine tense up she immediately apologised. ‘Oh God, Trine. I’m so sorry, this whole thing is turning me into a right bitch. What the hell is happening? Why are things literally spiralling out of control?’
‘It’s OK. I’ve already been on to Logan to find out how that video was released.’
‘It’s security camera footage, so hopefully we can get to the bottom of it,’ Hunter put his arm around Magenta, pulling her close. ‘It’ll be OK la, we’ll find out who is behind all this.’
‘You keep saying that but we’re no closer.’
He sighed, pulling her even closer, she was right.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Juke Montgomery was already waiting for Magenta when she returned to Logan’s residence. Juke was her creative director, he was a triple threat when it came to hair, makeup and styling. He began working with her when she first got her record deal with Max and in all those years, Juke had rarely put a foot wrong when it came to her style. You never, ever saw Magenta Valentina on the worst dressed columns in magazines or online. Juke knew his stuff, he was shit hot. Not only did he ensure she was the best put together rock chick on the planet he was also a confidante and someone she turned to for guidance. He pulled no punches, told it how it was, but she respected that.
‘Well, y’all, if it isn’t our current Twitter trend. Magenta, I am never normally jealous, but y’all know that boyfriend of yours is hot stuff, now I’ve seen him in action, jeez, girlfriend, you are one lucky woman.’
Magenta glared at Juke. ‘See this face,’ she quickly ran her palm across her face, a few inches away. ‘I am not ready to joke about this yet, I am actually fuming. I have been co
mpletely violated. I may be in the public eye, but there are certain aspects of my life that are purely off limits and my sex life is one of them.’
‘Sorry babes, but as sex tapes go, it’s phenomenal. It’s not cheap or tacky, it’s the real deal.’
‘That’s because it IS the real deal, it was never meant to be seen by anyone else,’ she sighed. ‘Juke, mate, you’ve got to help me. Things are turning to shit and I’m in danger of losing my mind.’
Pushing himself off the table he was leaning on he walked towards her, he was quite small for a guy, but due to his extremely slender build, it gave the appearance that he was even taller, that and his flamboyant personality and dress sense, which made him larger than life. Today he was wearing cut off denim shorts which he’d matched with a Bowie vest top, quite tame for him, until you took in the lilac coloured hair, which would probably be a different colour next week and the LK Bennett red stilettos, also adding to his height.
‘Sweetheart,’ his voice became soft. ‘We can fix this and I’m telling you right now, one of the Kardashian’s will be working on their own sexploits right now to bump you outta the spotlight and it aint even gonna be a patch on you. Doesn’t feel like it right now, but it’ll be OK.’
‘How can I take action right now? The media is all over this, if I come out and defend myself whatever I say will be edited in a bad light. Hunter is with Logan now trying to find out how it got released, but what does it matter? He keeps saying it’ll be OK and you’re telling me we can fix this, which would all be fine if I had even one little spark of inspiration as to where to start.’
Her phone pinged, indicating an update. ‘I feel like throwing this out the bloody window, it’s just bringing more negativity into my life.’
She opened up the message, Juke at her shoulder’s trying to loosen her up with one of his massages.
‘Oh fuck.’
‘What now, babes?’
She cleared her voice as she read from the article. ‘The bad times keep on happening for one time rock Goddess, Magenta Valentina. Not only is she spouting on about the young and up and coming songstress, Roxie Meyers, somehow stealing her song (sounds like sour grapes to me, it’s an awesome song, of course Ms Valentina wishes it was hers). She is also staring in her own video nasty, which a source tells me was filmed on the same night as Johnny Kidd kissing Magenta on stage. Seems like Magenta is in a bit of a love triangle. Things aren’t looking good for the lady who has previously been hailed by the British as a national treasure. Some might say she’s more suited to the scrap yard now. Roxie Meyers has maintained a dignified silence on this subject, only complimenting her former idol when asked about it and providing a quick outline of the feelings behind the song, something Ms Valentina failed to do when she flung drunken accusations around regarding the song. Maybe it’s time to lay of the Margarita's Magenta and concentrate on sorting out your messed up love life. #justsayin’.’
‘Bloody hell!’
‘I know! There is so much wrong in that and I can’t even bloody defend myself.’ She held the heels of the palm of her hands against her eyes. She was not going to let the tears that were threatening to escape have their freedom. She wasn’t going to give anyone that power.
‘Yes you can, I’ve got an idea.’
She cocked her head with interest towards Juke, his ideas were normally worth listening to.
On the balcony of Logan’s apartment, Juke was instructing her where to get into position. ‘OK, you need your back to the sun, we don’t want your sunglasses on, people need to see your vulnerability. We also don’t want direct sunlight to hit the camera.’ He surveyed the view in front of him. The sides of the balcony were reinforced glass so the view of the park below could be seen, what was the point of a balcony by Central Park if you couldn’t see it?
‘Move over here by the glass panels so we can get the park in, lighting is good over here too.’
Magenta followed Juke across the balcony and sat on the garden chair, Juke placed the glass of champagne he was carrying onto the table next to her. ‘Right, Ms Magenta, are y’all ready to rock ‘n’ roll? Are you sure you wanna do this live? We can always record and edit it later.’
She shook her head. ‘Live will have more impact wont it?’
He nodded. ‘Yeah, but you gotta be 100% confident in what you’re saying.’
‘Oh believe me, I am,’ she picked up the champagne glass, having a quick drink to lubricate her throat.
‘Let’s go then.’
Juke picked up the iPad which was logged into Magenta’s Facebook account, once they had recorded the live video, they’d link it to her Instagram and Twitter accounts too, but for now, they just had to record the thing. Juke was feeling uncharacteristically nervous, the idea was a good one as long as Magenta didn’t lose her cool. He nodded to her to indicate they were rolling.
‘Hey guys, thought I’d best check in with my fans, I know you’re reading a lot of shit in the media about me and rather than doing some interview show, I wanted to chat with you all in person, well, via my socials anyway. As you can see, This is me,’ she flung her arms out theatrically. ‘So no one can twist my words, or say it was from a ‘source close to Magenta’. You’re getting it straight from me,’ she smiled into the camera lens. ‘First thing first,’ she ticked an item off her finger. ‘The ‘sex tape’, thanks for all the positive comments, I know I have a hot boyfriend and yes, I know I’m very lucky. However, as much as I try and share stuff with my fans, my love life is between Hunter and I, it’s the only thing I have in my life that is purely mine and I won’t subject Hunter to his privacy being invaded either. So, I’ll just say this on the matter, the stolen tape is being investigated, so someone should expect a knock on the door by the bizzies very soon, that’s scouse for cops. Oh and just to clarify, there is no love triangle, Hunter and I are very much in love and Johnny is very much a knob’ead,’ she laughed when she said this. ‘Don’t worry, I’ve already told Johnny this and he takes it as a compliment,’ she paused, taking another sip of champagne. ‘I suppose the big thing you wanna know about is the song, breathe. I wrote that a long time ago, a time when my heart was so broken, I thought I’d never get over it, but I did. I didn’t release the song as I knew once it was released I’d never get away from it, I’d have to sing it in the future, at a time when the song wasn’t relevant to me anymore. Just writing it was the cathartic exercise I needed. I don’t know Roxie Meyers, I don’t know how she got my song, I suspect my ex-husband has something to do with it. If he thinks he’s going to hurt me, he’s wrong. I wish Roxie well in her career, my advice would just be to sing about something you know...if you’ve ever had your heart broken, you can tell in the delivery of the song...’
Magenta stood up, walking towards the balcony glass panels, the sun setting in front of her, she turned back towards the camera and belted out the first verse of breathe, followed by the chorus and the next verse, eyes staring straight into the camera as the last line came out of her mouth like it was almost her last breath.
Juke was struggling to hold the camera, she blew him away. It wasn’t the slight drop in temperature as the sun set that set of a prickle of goosebumps on his skin, the only woman to ever do that to him. It was her, that voice, the pure emotion in it. There could be no doubt breathe belonged to her, the lyrics literally flooded from her.
He smiled to himself, as he glanced at the Ipad, the heart icons and thumbs up were flying along with the live feed as were the comments. Take that Roxie Meyers, you’re going down.
Within moments the fall out was all over social media and it was the first bit of positivity Magenta had had in weeks.
Trine felt like she should pinch herself, when she had agreed to Johnny taking her out for tea, she hadn’t expected the Rainbow room, the restaurant which was underneath the viewing platform at the top of the Rockefeller Centre. She was completely absorbed by the view, the whole of Midtown and Lower Manhattan was laid out before her. The Empire State
building, standing tall and proud in front of her and the slow sunset falling into the Hudson River was giving the buildings a golden glow, it was literally one of the most awe inspiring views she’d ever seen. She couldn’t help herself, she stood up and moved to the full length window, she wanted to drink the view in, commit it all to memory.
Within moments Johnny was by her side, handing her a glass of Cristal champagne. ‘Beautiful isn’t it?’
She could only nod as she lifted the glass to her lips. A wave of sadness flowed over her from nowhere as she thought of Dean, a whole ocean away. This is what she’d envisaged on their trip to New York, moments like this, moments that took your breath away. After twenty years together, they should be enjoying this together. The sky was turning a darker shade of blue and the Empire State building lit up like a Christmas tree in front of her eyes, followed by a sprinkling of lights across the city. Fireworks went off in the distance by the Statue of Liberty as a cruise ship sailed out of the Hudson River.
The emotion hit her, she tried to discreetly wipe away the tears that were forming in her eyes, but she couldn’t get past Johnny, he was scrutinising her as much as she was the view in front of her.
‘Hey, it’s emotional, the first time you see New York like this,’ he reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. ‘Glad I got to share this with you.’
She turned and smiled, again she couldn’t speak. He thought her emotion was all about the view and in some ways it was, but it was more to do with what was missing from the picture, her husband. And yet, her she was, standing here with her hand nestled in Johnny’s hand. He leaned over and brushed her lips lightly. ‘I never wanna forget this moment.’ His breath was warm against her skin as his words whispered into her ear.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Logan had called an emergency meeting at his penthouse. Whilst everyone was getting settled Johnny was on the balcony with Fly, he wanted a private word with his band mate and long time friend.
