Romance: Gibson's Legacy ( New Adult Contemporary Erotic Romance) (Last Score Book 1)

by K. L. Shandwick

  “Kace is going to know exactly where I am if I’m with you, Gibson.”

  “So he might, but who better to deal with a guy like him than Johnny?”

  I could see her mull over what I said. Chloe knew I was right about that.

  “How many more days do I have to spend with you for the story to die down? How do I, plain old Chloe Jenner, recover from all of that attention, Gibson? I’ll be known as the groupie girl who won a competition and got to fuck Gibson Barclay, forever.”

  When she said that, I really felt for her and wondered what I had done by bringing her into that circus? Chloe’s face was ashen and set in a grave expression and I prayed I’d be able to talk her around to coming with me.

  CHAPTER 38 - PASSPORT

  Chloe

  Shaking my head in disbelief as I inspected my newly acquired passport, I was impressed at the way Gibson’s name could produce it for me in an afternoon. I was more than a little frightened and feeling intimidated about the situation I had found myself in.

  Knowing that Kace would have found out exactly where I was as soon as the story broke, I was petrified that he’d find me before I got out of there, so I had agreed without much forethought to accompany Gibson and M3rCy to Rio. So much for my secret new life.

  There was no doubt about it, the media articles would have alerted him about my whereabouts and if I knew Kace the way I thought I did, he’d have been on his way to LA as soon as the story broke. We had unfinished business and my instincts told me he would be coming after me with a vengeance.

  Biting my lip, I pondered at how ridiculous my situation was. For most girls, being linked to Gibson Barclay would have been a dream come true, but for me, it was beginning to become a traumatic event.

  All the press coverage that Gibson talked about made me think that there may be weeks of the same scrutiny, not to mention my reputation and how that would look to parents and the scandal they would have to endure at home.

  Apart from that, whatever story Kace had been spinning about me would gain more credence for my apparently off-the-rails tryst with Gibson. Behaving like a star struck teenager was the most likely gossip, or I’d had a breakdown. I could almost hear what they’d be spreading and I was stuck; standing with my head bowed in shame with my hands in my pockets looking guilty, metaphorically speaking.

  Every combination I thought about for dealing with the news, lead me nowhere. Gibson was right. Staying with him was the only way to deal with the media and keep me safe from Kace until I could formulate a new plan to get away from him again.

  At least Gibson was doing the right thing and not just casting me out to deal with all the attention on my own. It was bugging me that he was going to spin it like we were a couple, because in a few weeks when I was no longer there, I would still have to face everything at some point and maybe I could never go back to my apartment, now that Kace and Gibson’s fans had wind of where I was.

  Being with Gibson hadn’t been ideal but it gave me a way forward. After having sex with him it was weird, but I felt like I was free of Kace’s control. However, with the media attention it was critical that I focus on the bigger picture and gain strength from the progress I had made so far.

  “Alright. I’ll come.” Gibson’s smile beamed widely then he was hugging me tightly and I felt him exhale as his arms tightened in a small squeeze. “Good girl. I got you, Chloe. No one is going to fuck with you as long as I’m around.”

  Hearing him say that made my heart swell. Being near him made me feel heady, although thinking about him taking me with him on tour to another country gave me a bout of nerves that almost made me turn and run. Am I insane?

  Before Kace, I had always been a strong girl. It would have taken a lot to break me. It had taken a lot to break me, so right at that moment I had to reclaim myself from falling back into the role of the downtrodden, timid and scared young woman that Kace had molded me into.

  Within a matter of hours, I’d been smuggled through the hotel kitchen and into a plumber’s truck, like a kidnap scene from a movie. Afterwards, I was driven to the airport and stowed aboard Gibson’s plane. I was thanking my lucky stars that ‘Barbie Doll’ was absent.

  I found myself sitting on the plane alone and was suddenly overwhelmed with everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours. Silent tears… silent tears rolled down my face and tried to convince myself once again, that I had made the right decision to accompany Gibson Barclay on tour to Rio.

  Gavin and Ruby arranged to collect my stuff from the hotel and were taking it home. Because of the risk of the press getting to me, I could only to say goodbye to Ruby by phone. After she explained that the media were going nuts about me, I knew I’d made the right choice to stay with Gibson.

  Kace had already been in touch with her because he saw her picture in another newspaper, which described her as Mick Connor’s hook up. An accusation she never denied-, and I made a mental note to come back to that with her, once I knew I was safe.

  About forty five minutes later Gibson and his band arrived and took their seats. Gibson sat alongside me and there were three seats left once the guys in the band sat down. Tori, the keyboard player, took the seat opposite me.

  My initial feeling was one of relief that she was going to be friendly, but her facial expression told me that she was feeling anything but that and she was staring at me hard.

  “Find another seat.” Gibson scowled at Tori and her eyes flicked to mine, but she didn’t move. Gibson huffed heavily and said it again. “I said find another seat, I want some privacy.”

  Tori looked at me, and commented, “You heard the man, Chloe, Gibson wants me alone.”

  Gibson leaned forward and spoke in a low voice to her. “Not fucking funny, now get your ass out of that seat before I do it for you.”

  Tori snickered and stared at him, her lips curving upwards in a smug smile. “Gibson, not clever to talk about touching my ass while you have your little…whatever, with you.” She shook her head and Gibson unbuckled his belt and stood up.

  “Move it. Get the fuck out of that seat.” Within seconds Lennox was by Gibson’s side.

  “Tori, are you making mischief with the boss again? Move your ass over beside me and leave him alone. You know full well you’re pissing him off and he wants to spend some time with Chloe.”

  Lennox took her hand and she slowly stood up, leaning her breasts in toward Gibson and she whispered something in his ear. Gibson’s mouth curled up in a snarl and he bit his anger back. His jaw muscle twitched several times as he became agitated and his whole posture seemed aggressive.

  Flopping back down on the chair, Gibson’s elbow landed on the chair armrest and his index finger ran across his lips while he exhaled heavily again. “Sorry Chloe, band stuff.”

  Jeez, I got some insight into why Gibson acted the way he did but the guy was a blatant liar… there was more going on between those two than I knew. Glancing across at Tori, I could see she was annoyed about me being on the plane with them and looked back in time to see Gibson staring darkly, shaking his head with pursed lips at her.

  Tori leaned over and flicked the music newspaper that Lennox was reading with the back of her hand. Lennox pulled the paper down and gave her a hard stare before shaking the paper out in her direction. She was a good looking girl but her attitude made her ugly.

  Tori inclined her head in Gibson’s direction but spoke to Lennox. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Gibson? Someone bite your ass?” She turned and smirked at Gibson, who was seething. Then smiled sarcastically at me and commented, “Don’t worry, Chloe, we know it wasn’t you. You’re way too submissive and vanilla to do anything kinky.”

  Gibson unbuckled his seatbelt again and got out of his seat. That made me nervous because the plane had begun to taxi along the runway and the cabin crew girl, Lexa, called out from her seat for him to sit back down again.

  Gibson threw his arm back in her direction and walked over to Tori. Bending forward he said, �
�Watch your fucking mouth, lady. You play the fucking keyboard and piano— not me, got it? If you have a problem with that tell me right now, ‘cause the way I’m feeling about you, there is only a door between you and that tarmac out there. You got me?”

  Seeing the smirk drop from Tori’s face as Gibson’s words hit home was strange. One minute she was all assertive and cocksure of herself, the next she was looking pretty stupid and not nearly as smart mouthed as she had been a few seconds before.

  Gibson came back and sat down heavily in his seat, reaching for the buckle and clipping himself in securely, only just making it as the plane left the ground. Exhaling heavily, he threw her another dark look and muttered almost to himself, “Fucking bitch, she’d better watch that smart mouth of hers.”

  Being in between them like that was difficult and I felt really uneasy about having to be there at all. Apart from the hugs when I agreed to stay with him, he hadn’t shown any other obvious affection toward me and I figured I was there because I needed to be, not because that was what he wanted.

  We were all pretty exhausted from the day before and for most of the flight we slept or the guys had some discussions about their set order and promotional stuff. Charlotte had sent a wad of photographs for the band to sign and a ton of other small tasks that kept them busy until we arrived in Rio.

  M3rCy was playing at Rock in Rio, a massive festival with hundreds of thousands of music fans, and as usual they had top billing on the last night on the main stage. From the moment we got off the plane, there was an entourage of people, all vying for the attention of the band members.

  Luckily Charlotte was already there and ushered me to the side where she introduced me to a tall, brick built guy called Jerry. At first I thought he looked really familiar, like I’d seen him somewhere and then realized he was the spitting image of Mark Wahlberg.

  Jerry grabbed my bag and walked briskly with me placing me in an SUV, whilst he opened the trunk and placed my red hard bodied suitcase in the back. Gibson was still standing on a platform in front of the media on the tarmac.

  My initial thought was that poor Jerry was going to be the one keeping me company until it was time for me to go home. Panic struck when I thought about that, because I no longer felt safe from Kace by being in New York.

  Sliding into the back seat of the car I glanced over and expected to see Gibson still being swallowed up by the crowd of people on the runway, but instead he was only about ten feet from the car and heading in our direction.

  Jerry opened the door and Gibson slid in beside me as the sound of the door closing clunked with a finality that registered with me. Gibson grinned but it wasn’t like the smiles he’d given me the day before, it was his sexy rock star, glittery image that I’d seen a million times on posters, album covers, and on T.V. “Sorry about that darlin’, sometimes we’re treated like fucking circus freaks when we arrive in town.”

  That day I’d been travelling with him and his band for about ten hours altogether, but I’d only spoken about five sentences in total. Gibson hadn’t seemed to notice because he was involved in band meetings on the plane and media stuff.

  Watching the band meeting had been interesting, mainly because Gibson’s ‘alpha male’ persona was out in force as he dealt with decisions in a curt, almost dismissive manner, especially with Tori.

  Also, the odd altercation between him and her had him seriously ticked off because after his initial exchange with her, he had sat in an angry silence. From what I saw of her, I knew I didn’t like her, but if that was always how Gibson treated her then I wasn’t surprised by her behavior toward him.

  “Chloe, we’re heading to the hotel now and you’re going to be staying with me. I won’t be able to sleep if I don’t know you are safe.” So far I had been swept along with his plans, mostly because I was afraid of Kace finding me, and partly because there was no way I wanted to face the media and fans about sleeping with Gibson, but I refused to be a burden to him.

  What was clear was his language. There was nothing reassuring for me and he hadn’t said he wanted to keep me safe. It seemed that I was only there so that his mind was at rest. With that, a wave of emotion threatened to engulf me. On the one hand, he had treated me like I was the only girl in the world for him, and on the other he did exactly what he wanted, in true Gibson form.

  With that thought I felt like I was going to break down again and I had told myself I was done with doing that, so taking a deep shaky breath, I knew I had to find the courage to walk away and somehow sort that mess out for myself.

  Embarrassment about being a burden made me feel more than a little angry. Anger is a great emotion for making impulse decisions and I knew I was taking a leap in the dark, but there was no way I was going to stay in that ludicrous situation with someone of his magnitude out of some strange sense of duty.

  Realizing I had allowed him to take on the problem because the effort of dealing with it— the consequences of the pictures and Kace—scared me, and because I was afraid of the outcome, I also realized that relying on someone like Gibson wasn’t the answer. Easy solutions required that I think outside of the box, so I figured the best answer was for me to get lost abroad for a while.

  Glancing up at Gibson, I managed to smile even though looking at him had begun to break my heart. In the short time I’d been with him, I had fallen under the Gibson effect. Heartbreakingly handsome and with a personality that sucked me in like a vacuum, I had allowed myself to think for the briefest time that everything he’d said to me was genuine.

  After observing him on the plane, and how harsh he was with Tori, the headlines about Gibson rang true. In his own setting he seemed self-indulgent and I wasn’t sure whether his behavior around his band was complete self- assurance or arrogance.

  Gibson slid his arm around me and tried to pull me into his chest, but I lifted my hand and pressed it against his firm pectorals to stop him from completing the move. Gibson looked at me with a puzzled expression and I worked a swallow. It was going to be hard to walk away, but this was going nowhere and my heart was already aching at the loss.

  “Listen Gibson, I’m really am grateful for all you’ve done to take me away from those people, but I don’t expect anything else from you. I’m not sure that allowing people to believe I am attached to you is such a good idea for me right now. More lies won’t solve the attention I’ve had. Thank you for helping me to steer clear of those people and Kace, but I’ve got it from here.”

  Gibson looked visibly shaken by my response and removed his arm from around me. “You think that’s the only reason I brought you? That I only brought you with me for that? That my people wouldn’t know how to hide you? Fuck Chloe, what do I have to do to make you understand? I like you… fuck…I really like you. Jeez, girl, you think I’d have wanted to soothe someone who’s freaking out around me all the time for fun? What do I have to do to make you understand I want you here?”

  CHAPTER 39 - SOMETHING I NEED

  Gibson

  Sitting up straight up in car seat, I lifted my arm clear of her and placed my now fisted hand down on my knee. My knuckles were white and I could feel the tension in my neck from the tight muscles flexing. I felt agitated and pretty pissed off that she’d gone along with my plan and come all that way with me, only to buck as soon as we’d got there.

  “You think the media and your dumb fuck of an ex are the only reasons I brought you here? That I only brought you with me for that?” I began rubbing my hands up and down my jeans because if they weren’t busy I think I’d have punched the window out. No matter what I did, people judged me on my past conduct and also with their own suspicious minds.

  Turning to face her but careful not to touch, seeing the crease in her brow and the worried look she had, I tried to soften the way I was speaking to her, but fuck that wasn’t easy. I was tired of people not being straight with me or thinking that I didn’t have any feelings because I was this big shot rock star and everyone knew or thought they knew all
of my business.

  “You think that my people wouldn’t know how to give the media the slip and hide you from that fucking excuse for a man you had? Fuck Chloe, what do I have to do to make you understand? I like you… fuck…I really like you. Jeez, girl, you think I’d have cared for you like I did if I’d been toying with you?”

  Jerry had the radio on in the front and I could just make out, “Something I Need” by One Republic and the line, “In this world full of people there’s one killing me…” and I thought no joke. I knew once I’d met her I needed her in my life, but never figured on all the shit she’d been through.

  We arrived at the hotel, and I was done trying to be amenable. I’d had a fucking long day and she was staying. Five years I had thought about her and I had wondered since I’d found her on the phone, if there was something in that feeling I’d been harboring. Once I had spent time with her I was more convinced than ever that she had all kinds of possibilities for my future.

  I took her by the hand there was no way I was giving her time to think about what I was doing. Jerry stopped the car and I wasn’t giving her a second to come up with yet another rejection line. “We need to talk about it upstairs. It isn’t safe for me here. Come on, we need to go, now.”

  That wasn’t exactly a lie. There were hundreds of girls who already had wind that we were around and were camped out in front of the hotel door. Not to mention those with money that had snagged themselves a room in the hotel. A year ago, one of those may well have made it into my bed if they’d been inventive enough at getting my attention.

  Over the years I’d witnessed all sorts of antics in order to get with me and yeah…sometimes when I was younger they had worked, but I was mostly past that behavior now, except when I was drunk, but I was working on it.

  Jerry was always ahead of the game and he’d pulled down the alleyway and I knew this hotel layout well because I’d stayed there several times before. The security guys always gave me a dry run of where the emergency rooms were to take sanctuary in, in the event someone prevented me from making it to my own.