by L A Dobbs
“No, no, no,” Lou yelled into the mic, cutting off Jan. “Do it again, this time snappier.”
She nodded, and the sound guy restarted the music track. Jan got through about the same four lines before Lou stopped her again. “I said snappier, not staccato. Again. I want happy, happy.”
The track started again, and Jan kept her eyes lowered. From where Dino stood, off to the side watching, her shoulders slumped a little more each time Lou berated her. This time she got to the second verse, and the sound of her voice went from plush velvet to soft yearning, the tone heartbreakingly beautiful.
Our times apart, they leave me shaking
Out of breath and out of words
Do I walk in the right direction
To see me safe, no longer hurt
“Dammit, no.” A squeal sounded through the mic as Lou wrenched it upward. Jan pulled her headphones away from her ears and winced. “Happy, I said. Be happy. You do know how to be happy, right, cupcake? No one wants to hear your mopey, sad songs anymore.”
Jan nodded, her gaze lowered as she started the vocals again.
Tension rising over Lou’s belligerence, Dino stepped closer, his anger simmering below the surface. “You’re being a little hard on her, aren’t you?”
Lou gave him a dismissive glance. “That’s my job. Someone’s got to tell her the truth.”
“What is the truth?”
Lou straightened and crossed his arms. “You listen to the radio lately? Her music would be right at home at a funeral. The whole ‘woe is me’ image worked at first—especially with her male fans, who imagined they’d swoop in like some knight in shining armor and whisk her away from all the pain. But that image isn’t selling anymore. If we don’t start moving some songs in the digital marketplace, her record company might not renew her contract. The world has enough heartbreak. People want happy songs these days. Upbeat.”
Lie with me
And stare at the stars
We’ll make believe
That life isn’t hard
Over the sound system, Jan’s voice broke. She shook her head and left the booth, walking out into the production area then heading for the door. “I’m sorry. I just need a minute.”
Her gaze met Dino’s, her blue-gray eyes filled with sorrow, before she turned away and headed down the stairs. The look seared his soul and took him right back to the day she’d left him alone, cold and confused on the sidewalk in front of her house. The day she’d ripped his heart to shreds and left him for reasons he still didn’t know. He didn’t know what had happened back then, but right now, he had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn’t the only one still affected by that day.
Dino gave Lou a warning look then followed after her, tracking her across the lobby and into her dressing room. If her asshole manager had broken Jan’s vibrant spirit, he’d give that guy a whole new version of the truth. His fist tightened, and he felt the hot rush of his temper flare. Calm down. You can’t solve everything with your fists.
Pulse thudding loud in his ears, he approached her door then hesitated. What would he do when he walked in? Confront her about that long-ago day at her house? Comfort her for the slights inflicted by Lou in the present? He wasn’t sure.
He pushed the door open a crack. Jan sat on a chair, her back to him, her head tilted back, face toward the ceiling. He remembered that pose. The one she always took when she was frustrated over her math homework or she’d just gotten into another fight with her mother. After stepping inside, he pushed the door closed behind him and approached her slowly. She didn’t turn around, and he didn’t want to startle her, so he laid a tentative hand on her shoulder. “Jan, are you okay?”
She spun the chair around and gave him a wan smile. “I’m fine. Tempermental artist and all.”
He sat on the couch and grabbed her hand and squeezed. Their eyes met and it was as if all the years melted away. All the pain and hurt vanished. She leaned toward him. Dino’s heart stuttered just like it used to when she leaned toward him with that look in her eye back in High School.
The door to the dressing room burst open, and Lou barged in.
Dino dropped her hand as they jumped apart.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Lou gave them both an irritated look. “Keeping the studio running costs money. Either we’re working today or we’re not. What’s it gonna be?”
Jan took a deep breath then said, “Fine, I’m ready.”
“Good.” Lou and Jan walked out, leaving Dino alone.
In silence, he exhaled and did his best to get himself under control. He’d have to be careful from now on. Careful not to let her get too close again. After all, he was there to protect her, to guard her. Emotions only clouded the judgment and made people sloppy in the field. If Jan was truly in danger—and based on the fact that she’d thought someone had slipped through her security into her backyard, he was beginning to consider that a real possibility—then sloppy could get her hurt. Sloppy could get her killed.
Nope.
He smoothed his hands down the thighs of his black jeans and headed out of the dressing room and back upstairs to the recording studio, thankful he hadn’t had a chance to do more than just look into her eyes and hold her hand. Because kissing Jan would’ve been the worst mistake ever. Not only because it would open him up to a world of hurt again, but also because sloppy and security did not go together.
Not now. Not ever.
Upstairs, Jan went to step around Lou and head back into the sound booth, but he stopped her with a hand on her arm.
“What’s up with you and the new guy?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“Didn’t look like nothing to me.”
Jan sighed and faced her manager, knowing he’d never let her off the hook until she gave him some sort of explanation. “We knew each other in high school, even dated for a while. But that was a long time ago.” At Lou’s skeptical look, she reassured him. “Seriously. It’s over. Don’t worry.”
“I always worry.”
“I know.” She shook free of his grasp and stepped back into the sound booth then slipped the headphones back onto her ears just as Lou clicked the mic back on.
“Give us a minute to get everything back online.”
She gave him a thumbs-up. She could use a minute herself. Her hand still tingled from where Dino had held it. Ridiculous.
While the sound engineer cued up the instrumental track again, she pretended to focus on the sheets of music in front of her and not the way her heart raced and her blood thrummed through her veins. Shouldn’t have had that oversized coffee.
A tall, dark shadow passed before the glass separating the sound booth from the production area, and she glanced up through her lashes to see Dino sidle back into his place near the wall. Lou gave him a side glance, his normally stoic expression betraying a hint of concern. Good old Lou. He never let anyone invade his privacy, but he seemed to have no qualms about getting all up in her business if it meant defending his assets.
The sound engineer gave her the “OK” sign, and Jan nodded. She didn’t have time to worry about Lou now. Not with two hours left on their studio time and three voice tracks to lay down before this stupid song was finished. This wasn’t one she’d written, but one Lou had written himself to align more with his vision of an upbeat, happy vibe. He was all about the happy these days, while she’d always been more about the soul. So what if they weren’t selling? Music was cyclical, and what went around came around again, eventually. The business required patience and strategy. Lou had the strategy part down pat. The patience part? Not so much. Of course, that’s what made him so good at his job.
Now, if he could just let her get on with hers, they’d be all set.
“Ready, cupcake?”
She gave him a thumbs-up then tapped her toes along to the infectious beat. If Lou wanted happy, she’d give him happy.
I know you’re worried
And babe, so am I
But lie wit
h me
We’ll watch our worries fly by
She let herself get lost in the music, ignoring Lou and everyone else. Especially Dino still standing there in the back. The last strains of music died away, and she waited for her manager’s verdict.
Thankfully Lou had interrupted her and Dino when he did. They’d dodged a bullet, really. She and Dino had separate lives now, and she couldn’t afford to fall back into her lovesick ways where he was concerned. Not now. Not with her busy career and her stalker still on the loose.
“Wow!” Lou said over the mic. “That was awesome. Whatever you did to pull yourself together, cupcake, keep doing it.”
Jan glanced up and caught Dino’s gaze through the glass.
Heat prickled her cheeks, and she looked away fast.
Apparently what had passed between them had had a positive effect on her singing. She just hoped that effect would last until the album was done, because anything more than holding hands was not an option.
7
Jan walked in her front door a bit before seven that night, tired and on edge. All she wanted was a hot bath and a good night’s sleep. She was thankful for the peace and quiet inside her house and even more thankful that Dino had dropped her off, double-checked the security around the house, and left.
Her housekeeper was across the foyer, dusting one of the long credenzas against the far wall. The smell of lemon pledge and Lestoil hung in the air.
“Hey, Marta,” Jan called as she tossed her keys on the large round table at the center of the space.
The maid looked up at her but didn’t say anything. Marta never said much. She’d always reminded Jan of a typical, slightly disapproving aunt with her short, dark hair and black eyes. She chose aunt, since the woman wasn’t quite old enough to be her grandmother—midforties to Jan’s thirty-four. She went through the mail left for her, talking as she sorted the important letters from the junk. “Anything exciting happen here today?”
“Someone lurked outside the house,” Marta said in her slightly accented, broken English.
“Lurked?”
“Yes.”
Jan put the mail down and gave Marta her full attention, tension knotting tighter in her stomach. “Did you get a good look at them?”
“A man.” She waved a hand over the top of her head. “Losing hair here. And a woman.”
The only guy she knew who was balding was Lou. Marta didn't know him so she wouldn't be able to say if it was him. But why would Lou have come to her house? He never came here. Yeah, she’d been a tad late that morning, but she’d stayed and worked hard for the rest of the afternoon to make up for it, even though he’d left shortly after one. Weird.
"And ..." Marta rolled her eyes toward the hallway.
“Hey, cuz.”
Jan stifled an urge to sigh and swiveled to face her cousin Stacy with a smile firmly plastered in place. So much for her quiet evening alone. “Hey Stace, what are you doing here?”
“I thought maybe we could go have manicures then grab some dinner. We haven’t been out, just us girls, in months.” She walked over and gave Jan a hug. “I miss hanging out with you.”
“I know.” She squeezed Stacy back then let her go. “But I’m really beat. Plus you know I don’t like going out where I’ll be recognized.”
“I know.” Stacy gave her a disappointed look. “But I thought it was worth a shot.”
“Come upstairs with me—you can tell me what’s new while I change.” The last thing she wanted to do was talk, but Stacy was the only family she was close to these days, and even with Stacy’s issues, she didn’t want to lose that connection.
A wave of guilt washed over her. Stacy had gone through a hard time when her father had been killed. Who wouldn’t? She’d become distant, and they had drifted apart for a while. They’d reconnected a few years ago when Jan had moved back to Vegas, but Stacy was different now, though Jan couldn’t quite put her finger on how. They’d never regained that same closeness they’d had as kids, and Jan realized with a start that she knew very little about what was really going on in Stacy’s life. Even with her busy schedule, she knew she should make more time for her cousin. The two of them had been through a lot together, and Stacy was one of the few people Jan "let in" and trusted … maybe the only person.
Jan headed toward the stairs, talking over her shoulder as she went. “What have you been up to?”
“Nothing much,” Stacy said, trailing after Jan up the stairs and into the second-floor master suite.
“Are you still working at that accountant’s office, answering phones?”
“Nah, I got fired. They said I didn’t have the right professional attitude for their office.” Stacy flopped down on the king-sized bed while Jan walked into her expansive closet and kicked off her boots. “I think it was because I was too sexy for all those buttoned-up old men.”
Jan pulled her sweater off over her head then leaned back to peer out the door at Stacy. Her cousin was beautiful, in an old-Hollywood starlet way. Thin but curvy, with big boobs and an hourglass shape. Not to mention the fact that she was well aware of her charms and wasn’t afraid to use them to get what she wanted, or that wicked gleam that always hinted at the intensity simmering right below her surface. If Stacy had worn anything like the slim-fitting pants and figure-hugging top she had on at the moment and acted with the same chutzpah she normally did, then she was mostly likely right. Those stuffy accountants probably never knew what hit ’em.
“So what are you doing for money?” Jan asked, shimmying out of her jeans and hanging them up along with her sweater before pulling out her favorite pair of pink flannel PJs and tugging them on. “Are you doing all right?”
Stacy scoffed and gave a dismissive wave. “You know me. I’m always fine.”
“If you say so. You know you can always come to me if you need help.”
"Of course. But like I said, I’m fine."
Jan grabbed a pair of thick socks then traipsed back out into the bedroom, only to find Stacy going through the drawers in her bathroom. “What are you doing?”
“You won’t go out,” Stacy said with her butt in the air and her back toward Jan. “Then we’ll just stay in.”
She turned and waggled two bottles of nail polish between her fingers.
“I just got a French manicure at the end of last week.”
“Then I’ll just put on a fresh layer of topcoat.” Stacy breezed past her. “And you can do my toes. C’mon, it’s our thing, Jany. I need some ‘girl talk’ time.”
Resigned, Jan pulled on her socks while sitting on the edge of the bed, then stood. “Fine. But let’s go back downstairs. I want to make sure Marta set the security system when she left.”
“Okay.”
They walked back to the first floor, and Stacy settled on the large brown leather sofa in the living room while Jan double-checked the security keypad. The fact that Marta had spotted someone snooping around her house, even if it was only Lou, had her unsettled. On one hand, she was glad she wasn’t the only one seeing strangers around her property. On the other hand, if it had only been Lou, that didn’t help her case with Dino at all.
But why would Lou have been there? And who was the woman? She eyed her phone ... she could call him and ask, but she wasn’t in the mood for his banter. She’d find out what he wanted when she saw him tomorrow.
Once she’d checked the locks on the front door, she joined Stacy on the sofa and clicked on the TV across the room then turned the volume low, doing her best to portray her normal perky self even though she felt the exact opposite. Her performance must not have been as convincing as she’d hoped, however. She settled back into the overstuffed cushions and glanced at her cousin, only to find Stacy watching her with a narrowed gaze.
“What’s wrong?” Stacy asked. “You don’t seem like yourself.”
“Nothing. Like I said, I’m just tired.”
“I’ve seen you tired before. Remember that marathon tour across the South last y
ear?” She kicked off her stiletto heels and proceeded to remove the old polish from her toes. “No. This is something more. And it’s definitely not nothing.” She finished one foot then tossed the soiled cotton ball on the towel she’d brought down with her and soaked a second cotton ball in the polish remover before starting on her second foot. “Tell me.”
“I don’t know.” Jan sank back into the sofa and shrugged. “Lou thought I needed a bodyguard, so he hired one from a local firm.”
“Why would he think you need a bodyguard?”
Jan glanced out the window, her heart skipping when she saw a dark shadow. Was someone outside? No, just the trees. Damn, she was getting jittery. Taking a deep breath, she pushed down feelings of anxiety. There was no reason to go off the deep end—it was more than likely that the creep sending the e-mails would stick to harassing her from afar. Besides, she wasn’t one to give in to fear. She could handle this.
“Long story. It’s nothing.” No sense in worrying Stacy about something that would likely turn out to be nothing.
“Huh. Well, at least you get some nice eye candy to stare at all day, right? I mean, the guy’s probably in super shape, and some of them are pretty hot from what I’ve seen. What’s the problem?”
“The problem is … it’s Dino.”
“Dino?” Stacy looked up, an odd expression on her face. “As in Dino Machiavelli?”
“Yeah.” Jan tucked her feet underneath her and lowered her gaze. “The same.”
“I didn’t realize you guys were still friends. I mean I see Dino around sometimes and he never mentioned you.” Stacy pulled the brush out of the nail polish and focused on applying the pink liquid to the nail of her big toe. Was it her imagination or was Stacy suddenly acting odd? Probably the mention of Dino. Stacy had been almost as upset as Jan back in High School when Jan had told her she thought Dino had hooked up with someone else. But that was so long ago, it seemed odd that Stacy would still be mad. But that was Stacy, she had her faults but she was loyal.
