Fallen Angel

by Bev Dulson

  ‘I don’t know what to do.’

  ‘Sure you do, you’re a rock star, the world loves ya.’

  ‘The world might, but what about the woman I’ve fallen in love with? Last night at the Rainbow room was so magical, it was the moment I knew.’

  ‘You sure you haven’t just talked yourself into it with the first woman you saw after you decided that was what was missing in your life,’ Fly folded his arms across his chest as he leant casually against the balcony wall.

  Johnny shook his head, his dark hair falling across his eyes, he pushed it out of his face with his hand. ‘This is the real deal, it’s hit me like a bolt out of the blue, but she’s everything. The way she doesn’t bow down to my rock star image and tells it how it is, the way she is just the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen and the way she talks. God, that scouse accent, it’s like she’s talking to me in an exotic language.’

  Fly shrugged. ‘That scouse thing is certainly...different.’

  Ignoring him, Johnny carried on. ‘When we have any kinda physical contact, it’s like she’s set fire to my soul, I can feel the heat between us.’

  ‘Sounds like I should get you a pen, you’re only a few clichés short of a hit power ballad.’

  ‘Look at her Fly, just look how beautiful she is.’

  Fly followed his gaze to where Magenta and Trina were sitting together indoors, deep in conversation. God, his friend had it bad, he’d never heard him talk like this. There was a problem though, a fairly big one.

  ‘Johnny, she’s not single though is she?’

  Now it was Johnny’s turn to shrug. ‘Only a matter of time mate, she’s falling for me, I know it.’

  Hunter had only heard the tail end of the conversation from just inside the balcony, but he’d heard enough. He knew Johnny hadn’t been messing over that kiss, he wanted Magenta. Well, he wasn’t bloody well gonna get her. He was about to step out onto the balcony and kick Johnny’s arse into next week when he heard his name being called. He turned round; Tango was standing in the doorway of Logan’s study.

  ‘Got a minute?’

  Hunter deliberated for a minute, have it out with Johnny or spend a minute in Tango’s company, neither filled him with deep joy. He sighed, Johnny would keep, it’s not like he needed to be worried, he knew Magenta would knock Johnny’s block off if he tried anything. He followed Tango into the study; he was stood behind the desk, open post in front of him.

  ‘I’ve been personally checking out the mail on the lookout for any more letters threatening Magenta.’

  ‘And you’ve got something?’

  ‘Not aimed at Magenta no,’ he pulled a book out of an envelope. ‘I did intercept this.’

  Hunter took the book from him, he knew straight away it was his book, what he didn’t know yet, was what was written inside the cover. I’m closer than you think, Jason.

  ‘Anything you need to tell me?’

  Hunter shrugged. ‘Wish I could, I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of this myself.’

  ‘So this isn’t the first time?’

  ‘I’ve had a few messages like this.’

  ‘Do you think it’s related to what’s going on with Magenta?’

  He shook his head. ‘No, this feels personal to me.’

  ‘What does Magenta say?’

  ‘She doesn’t know, she’s got too much going on with Roxie and all the bad press and now Johnny is trying to get in the middle of us.’

  Tango laughed. ‘I know you have good observation skills, but you’re way off with Johnny, all Romeo has done has been following Johnny around and all Johnny has been doing has been following Trina round like a love sick puppy.’

  ‘Ah man, you’re right, why didn’t I see that one coming?’

  ‘I’d say you’ve got your hands full with this situation and Magenta’s.’

  ‘I’d appreciate it if you kept this to yourself, I can sort it.’ Hunter was still wary of this man, he wanted to keep him at arm’s length.

  ‘Look, Hunter, I know you aren’t happy about me being here, I’m not here to threaten your position. I’m here to keep Magenta safe and I think this is something we have in common. So maybe we could try and work together?’

  Hunter looked at the other man’s out stretched hand and considered his proposal. His initial instinct had been to dislike the guy, but what he said made sense and in his mission to find out what the hell was going on. Surely two heads were better than one and this guy was ex Army, he had to trust him to a degree. Obviously, experience had shown him that not everyone could be trusted, but experience had also shown him that these people were few and far between, not everyone was the bad guy. He reached out and shook Tango’s hand. ‘OK, you’re on.’

  ‘Now you’re onboard with working together, keep your eye on Romeo, there’s something about him...’

  ‘Funny you should say that, Mags got bad vibes from him. I thought he was your partner?’

  Tango shook his head. ‘This is the first job we’ve had together and like Magenta, I’ve got a bad vibe too. He seems to have come onboard from nowhere. I’m trying to find out more about him, discreetly obviously. But just keep an eye out for anything suspicious.’

  Before Hunter could respond or process what Tango had just said, raised voices carried in from the other room. ‘Looks like our minute is over.’

  Hunter headed out to where he could hear Juke and Logan going at it hammer and tong.

  ‘You did not have the authority to stream that video on line, I’m having a fuckin’ nightmare with Highway 65.’

  ‘Not my problem y’all. Couldn’t really give a shit about another record label, I do however care when someone is trying to throw serious shade at Magenta. That’s her song Logan, you know it and now so does the rest of the world. Y’all just need to be glad I was here to help out.’

  ‘I was dealing with it, I’ve got a PI on it.’

  ‘No disrespect Logan, actually, with all disrespect, your PI has come up with fuck all, in the meantime the media are ripping Magenta to shreds and your official line has been to bump up her security and wait for your PI, who is clearly sitting in a clamped out car somewhere eating his body weight in doughnuts, the fat lot of good they’ve been.’

  ‘Juke, if you worked for me, I’d fire your ass right now, how dare you speak to me like that.’

  ‘Thankfully, I don’t work for y’all, I’m on Magenta’s payroll and I dare to speak to you like that because you need to step up to the plate. Magenta is your number one act.’

  Johnny coughed. ‘Err, what about me.’

  Juke glared at him. ‘Not always all about you, my friend. Magenta makes you a hell of a lot of money, start earning your dollars.’

  ‘Magenta, are you going to let him speak to me like this?’

  She stood up, hand on her hips. ‘Logan, Juke’s right. All, I’ve heard from you is you’ve got someone on it. This is my life, my career that’s being fucked with and all you seem to care about is falling out with Highway 65. I know Deacon’s your mate, but I thought I was too. I stood by you when Max tried to do the dirty on you. I don’t pull favours back in, but I reckon in this case, you owe me. There’s been fires popping up all over the place and I’ve had to put them out myself. You’re my manager; you should be dealing with this crap. I couldn’t even get on stage and perform the other night. If you don’t do your job, I can’t do mine. You haven’t even spoken to Jax Buckley yet.’

  Logan hung his head in shame. He knew she had a point. The problem was, he was scared, he’d never faced something like this before and he wasn’t entirely sure what to do about it and he felt too ashamed to admit that, so he was hiding behind delaying tactics.

  ‘You’re right. From now on, I’ll do all I can to find out what’s going on. Starting with getting hold of Max. You seem adamant that he’s involved. I can’t ignore your gut feeling. I’ll deal with Jax too.’

  ‘Good, it’s about flaming time. Right, I’ve got an anti drug benefit that
I’m supposed to be speaking at in...’ she glanced at her watch. ‘Shit, an hour and a half.’

  ‘Don’t worry gorgeous, I’ll have you ready in yet but a moment.’ Juke always had her back.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  L.A.

  Max lay propped up in his double bed, scrolling through TMZ. He missed his overly large Queen sized bed, not to mention his mansion, but if things went as planned, he’d have them back soon. However, what he was reading on the website was not filling him with joy and happiness. It seemed Magenta had triumphed the previous day at the opening of the drug centre. He narrowed his eyes as he read the gushing article that accompanied a picture of Magenta on the stage, addressing the audience. She looked stunning. He had always found Magenta attractive and he supposed he came close to loving her, if you defined love the way he did. Not the romantic, soppy shit, but he’d seen her for what she was, a beautiful piece of arm candy that would make him more powerful. It was only when she started to believe in her own hype that she became trouble. The power couple became one sided and he had mistakenly thought it was him with the power. Well, he’d learnt his lesson, she’d taken everything from him, payback could be a bitch. He clicked on the link to read the full article.

  ‘There is an aura that follows the alluring and magnetic Magenta Valentina, she clearly had the audience that had gathered for the opening of the NYC open door charity, mesmerised.’

  Max pulled a face, seriously, people got paid for writing this shit? The journalist was obviously ‘Team Magenta’. He carried on scrolling.

  ‘Magenta is the patron of this charity and spoke from the heart as she talked about being in the world of showbiz and the people, the friends, she’d lost along the way to drugs. Most notably, American Star winner, Savannah Zagger, a previous flame of Johnny Kidd and managed by her now ex husband and one time music mogul Max Maxwell.’

  He groaned, great, he gets a mention in the article but it’s all negative, his career slide and the fact that one of his acts had died of a drug overdose which was the final nail in the coffin for American Star. The article wasn’t linking Magenta to any of the white stuff, but had pegged the people around her who had fallen from grace, yet again highlighting that she was above it all.

  ‘She talked further on the pressures of modern life and the need to keep in control which could be a link to substance abuse. She urged anyone suffering with an addiction to get help and waxed lyrical on the benefits of the centre and how it would help many people. She left the stage to a standing ovation, which is exactly what this Goddess of Rock is used to. Magenta was later snapped getting into an SUV with her long term partner, Hunter Cole. She took the time to have selfies with fans. Despite some recent bad press, Magenta Valentina is still the Queen of our hearts.’

  Max threw the iPad down, jeez, that article may as well have been written by a member of her fan club. The one thing the article did have right was the recent issues she’d been having didn’t seem to be harming her, she was like Teflon. Between the video of her singing on the balcony of the penthouse going viral and this kiss ass article, she was flying high again. Time to take aim and fire. He picked up his cell and placed a call.

  ‘It’s me, we need some serious damage control, I have a plan. Here’s what I want you to do...’

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  After the success of the event yesterday, Magenta was taking a much needed day off, or rather Hunter insisted on her taking a day off. He wanted her to have a break from this whole crazy situation. Her plan for the day had been to go over and check out the brownstone, she’d put it off for long enough, but she wanted to see for herself what had been taken. The fact that she was fairly sure Max had stolen the demos was the only reason she hadn’t gone, she’d need to focus her energy on fighting him, not getting distracted by loose ends. Anyway, Logan’s PI was supposed to be investigating the theft at her old home.

  She was currently sitting in the back of an Audi R8, being driven towards Midtown by Tango and with Hunter at her side. The blacked out windows gave her a perfect opportunity to watch Manhattan go by, without anyone watching her. She reached out and took Hunter’s hand. ‘So, where are we going then, babe?’

  ‘I am taking you to a hotel.’

  ‘Right, OK, ‘cos we don’t see enough of them when were travelling...’

  He grinned. ‘Yes, we see lots of them, and everyone knows you are there and you can never just be you. I am taking you on a date, old school and low key. A hotel where you can be undercover and I’m taking you for cocktails later, somewhere dark and secluded.’

  ‘Now you’re making this sound like some kinda police operation,’ she pulled him closer. ‘But I like the effort you’ve gone to. So, it’ll just be us?’

  He nodded. ‘Well, Tango will wait in reception, just in case, but no one knows where we are.’

  ‘I am liking the sound of this more and more.’

  ‘Good ‘cos we’re here.’

  The car turned at the junction between 44th and NYC Central library and came to a stop just next to Annie Moore’s bar. Magenta looked out of the window and saw a sign for The Dylan Hotel, a small boutique building, sandwiched between Annie’s bar and a steakhouse. Nobody would expect a rock star to stay here. She smiled, this was perfect.

  Hunter had called ahead and sorted out the room and check in with instructions for Tango to pick up the keys so they could go straight to the room. ‘I’ll be in reception all night, you’ll be safe.’ Tango instructed Hunter.

  ‘I know,’ he still couldn’t keep the slight animosity out of his voice.

  Tango just raised an eyebrow. ‘Enjoy your date.’

  They were in the hotel room in under a minute from leaving the car and entering the hotel.

  ‘Quick work, Mr Cole,’ she winked.

  ‘Don’t get used to it.’

  She took in her surroundings, it was a standard hotel room, double bed, bathroom, TV, mini fridge, more importantly no security cameras...not the suites she was used to and right now it couldn’t be any more perfect, apart from one thing, the windows overlooked an office, with a meeting going in less than ten foot in front of them. ‘Best close those curtains, don’t want to interrupt their meeting with some X rated minutes on the agenda.’

  ‘Mizz Valentina, you are so presumptuous, I said I was taking you on a date, yet you just assume that you can bring me up here and have your wicked way with me.’

  She walked over to him, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in close. ’I don’t presume, I know,’ she whispered into his mouth as it opened beneath hers. She sank into his kiss and his body simultaneously. God she’d missed this, she’d missed him. They may have been together in New York but with all the craziness going on, they’d both been distracted. Now all that was distracting her was the feel of his rock solid body against hers, a body that she knew was both powerful and strong, yet could touch her with the gentlest of touches. She let her head fall back as his lips found their way to her neck. She wanted to just jump into his arms and let him push her up against the wall. There was a knock at the door.

  ‘I thought no one knew we were here.’

  Hunter moved towards the door and opened it to reveal a porter holding a bucket of Champagne. ‘No one except housekeeping.’ he winked at her as he took the bucket from the guy, quickly tipping him and closing the door with his foot. She sank down onto the bed. ‘There’s me thinking you’d forgotten.’

  ‘Well, I thought we’d probably work up a thirst.’

  ‘Damn right, now get back over here, you never leave a lady waiting.’

  Before she’d finished speaking, he was on the bed, pulling her on top of him. His hands in her hair, pulling her face towards his so they were in direct eye contact. ‘I love that look in your eyes.’

  ‘What look?’ She let her hands travel down his body, working his shirt off over his head.

  ‘The look only I get, the, I want you look.’

  She bent her head and kissed along h
is collar bone. ‘I don’t just want you, I need you.’

  ‘Feeling’s mutual, la.’ He pulled her back up to him, both of them completely lost in each others’ kiss. Slowly removing each others’ clothes, there was no need for them to rush this time, there was no stage calling Magenta, nobody demanding her attention, nobody but the two of them and a bottle of Champagne.

  Magenta and Hunter left the hotel for the short five minute walk to Grand Central Station and to Campbell’s Apartment, the cocktail bar they were heading for. The temperature was staying at a steady heat even in the early evening. Magenta had opted for a short floaty dress, off the shoulder, Bardot style in red with a pattern of daisy’s on it. Her cowboy boots gave it a dressed down, festival look. Because of the heat, she’d tied her thick, long, auburn air in a loose side plait which she swung over her shoulder. She looked effortlessly chic. Hunter walked alongside her, his hand in hers. He cut an equally dashing figure, dark Calvin Klein jeans and a crisp white shirt, opened at the neck, his defined clavicle gave a glimpse of the defined torso underneath the shirt. His hair was still damp from the shower, giving his naturally wavy hair an extra curl. They looked hot as they walked along the equally hot sidewalks of New York.

  Within minutes they were in the aptly named grand lobby of Grand Central station.

  ‘Well, this ain’t Lime Street is it?’ Magenta laughed as she walked along the marble floors, passed the Tiffany clock and up towards Campbell’s Apartment.

  Hunter led her into the bar, it was like a gentleman’s club, gothic décor and low lighting giving the patrons a feeling of privacy. They found a seat and drinks were ordered quickly and appeared just as quickly.

  ‘This is my kinda bar, no paps, nobody looking at us, hell Bradley Cooper could be over there and I wouldn’t be able to see him.’

  Hunter laughed. ‘Sorry you’ve ended up with me.’