And that’s what I was going to do. I wouldn’t risk putting my family in danger. If Preston lost tonight, I’d be on a flight to Detroit in the morning, and I’d pay Frankie whatever it took to make him go away. It was my only option.
“I’m going to kill my brother,” I muttered as I picked up my phone.
“Get in line,” Dillon said as I dialed Preston’s number.
No surprise that it went straight to voicemail. He probably had his phone turned off. I tossed mine on the couch in frustration as I let out a long, slow breath of air. Then I told Dillon what I was going to do.
“I think you have to,” he agreed. “It’s the only way to make sure our families are safe.”
“I know,” I said, begrudgingly. “I’m sorry about all this, man.”
He shrugged. “It’s not your fault, but I appreciate you making things right on Pres’s behalf. I wish he’d come back and make things right, but I know that’s not going to happen. Thank you for looking out for my sister.”
I shrugged, knowing there wasn’t a question in my mind that I’d do what I could to protect anyone I loved. Callie was one of those people. “She’s family.”
He nodded. “I know. And I’m sorry I got pissed at you. I just wanted someone to lash out at, and you were here, and you’re his brother. I was being opportunistic.”
“I know. I get it,” I said as I slumped down on the couch and looked outside at the setting sun. We still had a few hours until we had to be at the hotel’s club, and I wasn’t looking forward to it at all.
“So what happened with Andi?” Dillon asked me as he grabbed two beers from the fridge, handed me one and sat down opposite me.
Suddenly abstaining from drinking seemed like a bad idea. I had to be ‘on’ in a few hours, and I’d never get through the night if I was sober. I could be sober in the morning when I had to go save my brother’s ass.
“I don’t know. Things were good – really good, and then they turned shitty. Her parents hated me on sight and didn’t think I was good enough for her. Then her ex-boyfriend showed up while we were in Atlanta. After her parents politely asked me to remove myself from their daughter’s life, I went home, and the next thing I knew pictures of Andi and her ex kissing on Christmas Eve surfaced online. Katherine sent them to me.”
“Man, that sucks. I’m sorry.”
I shrugged. “I wasn’t really looking for a girlfriend, so I guess it’s not that big of a deal.”
That was such a bullshit statement. I didn't even know why I was saying it.
“Yeah, it is,” Dillon said, calling me out, because he knew I was lying. “You like this girl.”
“Actually, I love her, but that doesn’t really matter now. The worst part is that she lied to me. She told me she didn’t have feelings for her ex and that she wanted to be with me. Then she went off and kissed him. It sucked to see that, but at least I know the truth. I’d rather not be living in the dark.”
Dillon nodded. “I agree.”
I sighed, wishing so many things about my life were different. People always assumed my life was perfect because I was rich and successful and talented. If they only knew. My problems were just as bad as everyone else’s. I just had people who could hide them or spin them so they didn’t get out. And tonight it would be me spinning my internal mindset so I looked like the happiest guy on the planet. No one would know that I had a broken heart or that I was afraid my brother had put my family in danger or that one of my best friends had told me earlier in the day that he was a drug addict. They were all harsh realities, and they were mine. I just had to get through tonight, faking it so everyone believed I was okay, and then I could deal with reality in the morning.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Andi
I was going to Vegas, and I was going to confront Cam. That was what I’d decided at around one o’clock in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve. The second I thought it, I’d gone online, paid a fortune for a ticket, packed a bag and flew across the country.
When I landed in Vegas it was just after seven, and the fact that I hadn’t really thought of what I’d do past that point hit me like a ton of bricks. I’d slumped down on a bench outside the airport near the cab stand. I knew where Cam was hosting. I’d looked it up online and saw he and Dillon were going to be at Spark, a club on the roof of one of the hotels, along with Veronica Isaac, which pretty much made my stomach drop.
She was one of those girls who just oozed charisma and charm by being genuine, down to earth and funny. She was also sexy as hell, which was a deadly combination with her personality, so obviously she was the last person I wanted spending time with the guy I loved. She’d found fame on some reality show, and the world had fallen in love with her. Now she was just sort of famous for doing nothing, but she made her money hosting things and making appearances, speaking her mind and charming the pants off of anyone who would pay attention.
Cam had conveniently forgotten to mention that he’d be hosting with her when he’d told me about the job. He’d also forgotten to tell me he was hosting in the first place, so I guess that was just par for the course.
I really hoped she didn’t end up posing a threat, because with the way I was feeling, I knew I’d take her out if I had to. I was tired of waiting around for Cam to call, wondering what I’d done wrong, and wondering why we’d gone from being so happy to not speaking in a matter of hours. I was pissed, and I wanted answers, but more than that I just wanted to be with Cam.
I was going to confront him, but first I had to get to him. Security was going to be tight. It was New Year’s Eve, I knew the club had pre-sold tickets for entry, and the event was sold out. I wasn’t going to be able to just waltz in, and I doubted I’d be able to grease the bouncer for entry. No one would be able to get close to Cam and Dillon anyway. They’d enter the club through a back door, be on stage intermittently, and then they’d leave through the same back door without ever coming in contact with any of the club goers. It would all be a very coordinated effort, and their security guys would be around them constantly.
Their security guys.
I suddenly knew what I had to do. I didn’t have Dillon’s number, so I couldn’t call him. I didn’t really know him anyway. But I did know Chris, and I had his number. I took a deep breath, pulled out my phone and scrolled down to his name. Pausing, I took another deep breath as my heart started to pound with anxiety. Biting my lip, I pressed my finger against his name.
The phone rang several times, and my heart started to sink as I thought the call was going to go to voicemail. Then miraculously Chris picked up.
“Hello?”
“Chris,” I said, my voice sounding hoarse from disuse. I cleared my throat. “Hey, it’s Andi.”
My heart started pounding again as I waited for him to respond. The silence that ensued was practically deafening.
“Andi. Hi. How are you?” he said, sounding a little stiff.
“I’m okay. Uh, how are you?”
“Can’t complain,” he said in that way of his that showed little to no emotion. “What can I do for you?”
He knew I wasn’t calling for him. I was sure he knew my motives the second he saw my name light up his screen.
“I’m, uh, I’m looking for Cam.”
“I’m not with Cam right now. Sorry,” he said with just touch of coldness in his voice.
“Oh, um, where is he?”
“He’s getting ready for the party tonight,” he said crisply.
“Okay, so, um, I was actually wondering if I could get your help.”
“My help?”
He was being downright cold to me, and I knew he’d sided with Cam. The problem was, I still didn’t know what I’d done wrong, so I decided to surge forward. It was my only option.
“I, um, I’m in Vegas, and I need to get into Spark tonight. Can you help me?”
“Who are you talking to?” I suddenly heard in the background, and my heart leapt at the distant sound of Cam’s voice.
>
It had been just over a week since I’d last talked to him, but in that short amount of time I’d missed his voice so much. I’d taken to watching You Tube videos of old Westside interviews just so I could hear him talk. I knew it was mildly pathetic, but I didn’t care. I was desperate.
“It’s no one,” Chris said quickly, and my heart pounded even harder.
“Tell him it’s me. Please,” I begged Chris.
“No,” he said softly but firmly.
“Please, Chris.”
“Whatever,” I heard Cam say, and then I heard a door close.
“Andi, this is a bad idea,” Chris said in a hushed voice. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“But Cam won’t call me back,” I defended as my eyes filled with tears. “Please Chris. I have no idea what I did wrong. I don’t know what happened. Please.”
“It’s not my business,” he said firmly.
“But you know what happened,” I said, trying to keep the tears at bay. “You know why he doesn’t want to talk to me.”
“Yes, and frankly you should too.”
“But I don’t!” I insisted, garnering some stares from people passing by. I lowered my voice. “Tell me, Chris. Please. I need to know.”
“I’m sorry, Andi, but I can’t talk about this. Like I said, you shouldn’t be here.”
“Dammit, Chris. I’m not leaving, and if you won’t help me, I’ll find my own way into Spark. I’m sure the right person would listen if I told them I was Cam’s girlfriend. They’d let me in to surprise him for New Year’s Eve because I was able to get off work after all. There are tons of pictures on the Internet that prove my point.”
The idea just came to me, and I had no earthly idea if it would work, but I was going to try it if Chris wouldn’t help me. I was that desperate.
“There are also pictures on the Internet that would disprove that point,” he said, catching me off-guard.
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Andi, I don’t want to get into this. It’s none of my business, okay. I should go, and you should go home.”
“No,” I said firmly. “I’m not going home. I flew all the way out here. I blew my savings on my ticket. I’m not leaving until I talk to Cam.”
I felt so desperate my voice was now shaking. Just the thought that my efforts would be a waste had me threatening to fall apart at the seams.
“Andi, Cam doesn’t want to talk to you. He saw the pictures, okay? He knows.”
Panic flooded me as he said that, because I had no idea what he meant.
“What pictures are you talking about?” I demanded.
Chris sighed. “Of you and your ex, okay. That’s why he hasn’t called you back. He’s pissed, and he’s hurt, and because of that, you need to leave. He doesn’t want to see you.”
“Me and my ex? Chris, I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said as I pulled out my iPad and opened the Internet, searching frantically for my name to see what would come up. As soon as I saw the fuzzy images of Reid and me, I froze. “Oh no.”
“Yeah,” Chris said flatly.
“No. No, no, no,” I said, shaking my head back and forth.
I recognized the swing on my parents’ front porch, and Reid pressing his lips to my cheek, close enough to my mouth that to the untrained eye, the images looked like he was kissing me full on. The picture was grainy, but it was obvious the guy wasn’t Cam, and that’s exactly what the caption said. Whoever had posted it knew exactly who Reid was, and we were labeled as rekindling our relationship on Christmas Eve after Cam flew home to Detroit.
I really shouldn’t have been surprised that random strangers knew so much about my life and Cam’s, because they’d been digging up dirt ever since the first time they’d seen us together, but this was the first time I’d truly felt violated by it. It was a flat out lie. Reid and I hadn’t been rekindling anything. I’d talked to him, let him down easily, and then he’d smiled and kissed my cheek. Maybe his lips had been closer to my mouth than I wanted them, and maybe he’d lingered longer than I felt was appropriate, but that gesture had been completely one-sided. I had no idea someone had been watching us the whole time and had taken pictures of us. The whole thought gave me the creeps, and I suddenly felt incredibly exposed sitting out in the open.
No one was paying attention to me, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t seen. With that thought in mind, I got to my feet and walked over to the cab stand, waiting in line for the next cab I could climb into.
“Chris, that is not what it looks like,” I said firmly as I slid into the cab and told the driver the name of the hotel where Spark was. I assumed Cam was staying there.
“Don’t come here, Andi,” Chris said, confirming my suspicions as he heard me talking to the cab driver.
He’d been sitting silently on the other end of the line, patient as always, as I’d looked up the pictures online, but his voice had a touch of panic when he realized I wasn’t going to back down.
“Too late,” I told him.
He sighed. “Andi, don’t do this. Seriously. Cam’s my friend, and he’s hurt. I’m not going to let you put him in a situation where you hurt him more than you already have. He has to be on-stage in an hour. This is his job. Don’t come here and make a scene.”
“But Chris, those pictures don’t mean anything. I wasn’t kissing Reid. I swear. I know it looks like that, but I wasn’t. You have to believe me.”
Chris didn’t say anything.
“You don’t believe me,” I deduced.
“I’m not here to judge,” he said softly, like he actually felt bad for me.
“But you saw the pictures.”
“Yes, I did.”
“And you think I’m kissing my ex in them, don’t you?”
“That’s what Cam thinks,” he said, not answering my question directly.
“But I’m not!” I said desperately. “Reid is just a friend. He doesn’t mean anything to me. We were just talking, and he kissed my cheek. I swear, it’s the truth, and I need Cam to know that. He has to know.”
My voice had taken on a high-pitched whiney tone that made me sound weak. I hated it, but I felt like I was losing control.
“No. Not tonight,” Chris said harshly. “Like I said, I’m not judging you for anything, but I am going to keep you away from Cam. You can talk this out with him later, but not now.”
“Oh yeah? And who’s going to stop me?” I spat, pissed that he was blowing me off so easily.
“Me. I’m his bodyguard in case you forgot. It’s my job to keep people away from him.”
“But I love him,” I said as the tears I’d been holding back spilled down my cheeks. “Chris, please. This whole situation is so fucked up. I can’t lose him. I can’t. Please. I need your help. I’m not the bad guy here. I love Cam, and I would never hurt him. Please.”
Chris sighed. “I want to believe you, Andi. I do. I’ve seen you guys together enough to know how you feel about him, but Cam fully believes that you cheated on him.”
“Dammit,” I hissed as the cab pulled up in front of the hotel. “I don’t know what to do.”
The tears were streaming down my face, and the cab driver was looking at me in the rearview mirror, probably wondering what was wrong with me. I noticed he didn’t turn the meter off, though. He’d sit there as long as I needed, but he was going to charge me for it.
“I’m not sure you can do anything,” Chris said honestly. “In those pictures, it looks like you’re kissing another guy the day after Cam left Atlanta. It’s not exactly a point in your favor. He was already upset about what your parents said, and those pictures put him over the edge.”
I froze as soon as he said that. “What did you just say?”
“What?” Chris said quickly, and it sounded like he’d realized he’d said too much and was suddenly regretting it.
“You said something about my parents,” I said softly. “About something they said to Cam? What were you talking abou
t exactly?”
“Shit,” Chris cursed, and I instantly knew he hadn’t been talking about some one-off comment about Reid being like a son or my mom being excited about me moving home. I knew in that moment that she’d lied to me when she told me she hadn’t meddled in my love life. She’d done exactly the opposite, and that was why Cam had left.
Goddammit.
“Chris, tell me what’s going on,” I pleaded.
“Dammit, Andi, this isn’t my place. I don’t get involved in shit like this.”
His tone told me he didn’t usually get involved in things like this, but he was already too invested to back out. That wasn’t happening. I wouldn’t let him.
“You like me,” I said, suddenly understanding why he’d stayed on the phone as long as he had.
Chris had liked me from the start because I was different than ever other girl Cam had ever been with. I made him smile. I made him happy. I saw beyond the fame and fortune and even the guy he was on stage. Cam was himself around me, and Chris knew it.
“Dammit, Andi,” Chris repeated. “I can’t do this. I have to go.”
“No! Chris, please. You have to help me. Help me understand what happened and how I can fix it. I have to fix it.”
Chris sighed in frustration, and I knew he was going to cave. I held my breath because he didn’t say anything right away.
“I’m at the hotel,” I told him.
“What? No.”
“You heard me get into the cab and tell the driver where to go. I’m here,” I said matter-of-factly, taking charge of the situation.
“Andi, just go back to the airport,” he said halfheartedly.
“Meet me in the lobby,” I told him, silently pleading with him to agree.
“Andi,” he said in a meek protest.
“Just to talk. Please. I need to know what happened. Cam won’t talk to me, and I think my parents lied to me. I don’t have anyone else who can tell me the truth. Please.”
Chris growled. “Fine, but you have to promise me that if I meet you that will be it. You won’t try to come to the club tonight, you won’t make a scene, and you won’t do anything to get under Cam’s skin. Got it?”
Westside Series Box Set Page 38
