by Aleah Barley
One hand shaking, she reached out and snagged a walkie-talkie off the counter and raised it to her mouth. Her tongue darted out, displaying the silver stud again as she moistened her lips: “Security.”
Nick struggled to make out what she was saying. Was she calling the cops? Or, was she just sending up a flare? A message that might—somehow—make it to Anna’s attention.
On the other side of the wall, there was a bright chord of electronically enhanced music and then the roar of the crowd, seventeen thousand strong. The concert was starting, and Nick’s resolve was crumbling.
All those people. Shouting. Screaming. Their voices melding together making it impossible for him to make out what they were saying. Except for one strong contingent, struggling to overpower the others: “Anna! Anna! Anna!”
Then a second roar and music flooded the area. Not Anna. Some country-western singer that Nick couldn’t identify. It didn’t make him feel any better.
Adam really was crying now. Silent tears streaming down pink cheeks. He tried to clean his face off on the back of his hand, to appear resilient, but only succeeded in transferring all of his tears to Nick’s new gray slacks.
“I want to see Anna!”
“Maddox.” A voice like thunder and crushed velvet. Deep. Recognizable. Capable of making women swoon by the thousands. “Hick Maddox, right? Fancy meeting you here.”
Nick dragged in a breath. Turning around wasn’t necessary. He could recognize the speaker from his voice—and the stunned expression on the will call girl’s face—Trevor Bliss. How had Anna put it?
Trevor—freaking—Bliss.
A deep breath, a forced smile. Nick turned slowly, leisurely, like he had all the time in the world. There was no reason for him to be angry or frightened. Jealousy was laughable. But, none of that did anything to stop the pit opening deep in his gut.
“It’s Nick, actually.” He held out a hand, trying to take control of the situation. “I’m surprised you remember me.”
“I didn’t.” Trevor’s handsome faced curved into a bright smile. The movie star was wearing a pair of rough leather cowboy boots and faded blue jeans that had seen better days. When he shook Nick’s hand, muscles bulged under his too-tight t-shirt evoking a strangled gasp from the will call girl. Dressed in stiff new gray slacks and a green button-down shirt that still had creases from the package, Nick felt horribly overdressed.
“I just overheard that there was some guy at the ticket counter shouting about being Anna’s boyfriend. I figured I ought to mosey on down and see what was going on.”
See, Nick wanted to tell the tattooed girl, it was a ticket counter. He struggled to keep his face neutral. “I imagine this doesn’t happen often.”
“It happens all the time, but most of those guys aren’t carting little kids around.”
Tension made Nick’s head throb. “What are you doing here?”
“I was invited. The producers asked me to introduce Anna.” An expressive shrug. “How could I say no?” Trevor leaned forward slightly, peering at Nick and Adam curiously.
“Anna—she left Mill City in a hurry, but she didn’t say why. Not to me. Not to Darryl—her agent.” A pause. “I grew up in a town like that. Heck, the place I came from was smaller. A crossroads in the middle of nowhere. All prying eyes and vicious gossip. I’d slit my own throat before going back.”
Two weeks earlier Nick had slugged Trevor for saying something similar—at least he’d tried. He liked to think that he’d changed since then. Being with Anna had changed him. Still, his hands curled into fists. Heat flared in his chest. “She was happy.”
“Hmm.” A slow nod, “And, you’d never do anything to make her unhappy.” The other man wasn’t asking a question or making a statement. Instead, there was a cold edge to his voice. An audible threat.
The pair had been through a lot together. A passionate romance, a quick marriage, and a well-publicized divorce. In that moment, Trevor wasn’t a movie star or even an ex-husband. Trevor was Anna’s friend, and if Nick hurt her then it would be Trevor beating him to a pulp.
Nick felt himself relax. In his life, he’d done a lot of bad things, but he’d never hurt Anna. Ever.
“I love her.” He’d come all the way from Mill City to ask her to marry him.
“You’d better come with me.”
Seventeen thousand three hundred and seventy-six cheering fans made for a jam-packed amphitheater, but apparently, there was room for two more if they were accompanied by Trevor Bliss.
The movie star escorted them through the front gates, past row after row of security, and into the warren of dressing rooms and narrow halls where celebrities of every size and shape were preparing to go on stage. Most of them were wearing tuxedos or evening dresses, but that didn’t make Trevor seem any more out of place.
Many of the people called out as they passed by: “Hello!” “Nice to see you!” “Give my love to Anna.”
A few sharp twists and turns later they were standing in front of a plain wooden door almost exactly like all of the other doors they’d passed, covered in bumper stickers and hand carved graffiti. Trevor knocked, twice. Nothing happened. He knocked again. “Open up.”
The door opened slowly to reveal an older man in a tidy black three-piece suit, his hair slicked back against his head, his mustache neatly combed.
“Darryl.” Trevor cleared his throat, suddenly nervous. “I didn’t know that you were coming to this thing.”
“Where else would I be?” A cool sneer. The expression on the agent’s face was one of mild interest and a not inconsiderate amount of disgust. “You will insist on dressing like a tramp.” His gaze flicked to the side, surveying Nick and Adam, “You could take a lesson on proper attire from your friends.” The agent crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Who are they?”
The man’s back was stiff. His position firm. Clearly, he had spent years of his life protecting his client from all comers, but he’d never had to protect her from a six-year-old before.
Adam pulled forward, breaking free from his father’s grasp, darting under the agent’s crossed arms, and launching himself into the dressing room. “Anna!” he shouted excitedly. “We came here on a plane! And—and—and they had peanuts.”
A shriek and a laugh from inside the dressing room, but Darryl didn’t move an inch. Leroy let out a joyous howl. The dog was clearly glad to see an old friend and reliable source of food scraps.
Darryl’s left eye twitched. His mouth wriggled slightly, trying to bite back a smile. “You—You’re that Maddox fellow.”
“My friends call me Nick.”
“We’re not friends.” Someone or something was banging into the back of his legs, causing Darryl to wobble. Muffled words called out from the back of the dressing room, and the agent relaxed visibly. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“Under ordinary circumstances, I would never allow some emotional scene before a performance. Fluff and nonsense, but I am given to understand that these are not ordinary circumstances.” Easing out of the door, he ran a hand through gray hair. “Besides, I have another client to see to. Rebecca Blake.”
Rebecca Blake, that was a name Nick recognized. Even if he hadn’t heard it in years. “Wasn’t she in ‘Zombie Death Queens’?”
“Thank you for saying that,” Darryl called on his way down the hallway. “I’ll tell Rebecca that you remembered. It will make her night.”
And then the doorway was empty. The hallway bare of any imposition except the not-so-subtle smirk on Trevor Bliss’s face. The movie star was leaning back against the far wall, his head cocked to the side. Waiting, patiently, to see what would happen next.
The only part of the dressing room visible from the hallway was a good sized table filled to overflowing with bouquets that ranged from merely overdone to bordering on obscene, roses, lilies, dahlias, and orchids, every color and bloom possible. The perfume was intense, sweet. Like the scent, that Anna had been wearing her first day back in Mill City. A scent,
he realized as he stepped forward, that had probably come from a room much like this.
Taking a deep breath, Nick straightened his spine and forced himself into the dressing room. Half a step inside and he had to shimmy slightly to one side.
The room was smaller than it looked like from the outside. The part that wasn’t taken up by the table full of flowers was filled with an old fashioned dressing screen—providing privacy for a quick change—and an overstuffed electric pink chair. The walls were a drab beige, chipped and easy to clean.
Perched on one arm of the chair, Anna was wearing a fluffy white robe that covered her completely. Brightly colored makeup coated her skin making her look breathy and excited. Honey colored hair that looked best tousled, rolling out of bed in the morning, had been woven into a series of intricate braids each ending in fat sausage curls. One bare foot poked out from underneath the all-encompassing robe.
Nick had never thought that a foot could be erotic before, but there was something about her neatly turned ankle, her high arch, and her delicate toes, each nail painted a bright provocative scarlet.
Maybe there was just something about Anna.
The curve of her neck. The fact that even under all her makeup he could see her bright smile, animated by something that Adam had said.
Sitting cross-legged on the ground, the boy stared up at her like he’d found the answer to some question he’d never thought to ask. Nick recognized the look, he’d been seeing it in the mirror every morning since Anna had come back to Mill City. Ever since she’d come home.
“Nick!” A small cheer. Like now that she’d seen him, her life was complete.
If that was the case, why had she left?
Anna’s other foot slid out from under her robe. A sharp tug pulled the snowy terrycloth tighter across her torso, revealing the shape of her firm, buoyant breasts. One step forward, that was all it would take. One step and he’d be touching her, holding her, kissing her until she forgot everything else.
This place.
These people.
Until he forgot the pain of coming home from the hospital and finding her gone.
“Nick.” She slid off the side of the chair. A single step forward, and then her lips pressed against his. The kiss was soft, sweet.
A sharp inhalation and she stepped back again. Slightly stunned. “I—” Glancing up, a bemused smile crossed her face. “You—”
That was all it took. Two words and Nick could feel the wall around his heart melting. Nothing had changed, not when Anna still fit perfectly into the crook of his arm. Everything was forgiven. Anna would perform at this concert, sing her songs, and then they’d go home. Everything would be like it was before. Bright laughter, big smiles, and barbecue in the backyard.
“Anna,” Nick uttered her name like a caress. “I—I want you. I need you. I can’t imagine my life without you.” His mind struggled to complete the sentence. “I love you.” No words came out. Finally. “I’ve missed you.”
Anna’s tongue darted out, moistening soft, kissable lips. “I—I missed you too.” A small hand went up, smoothing perfectly coiffed hair. Her fingernails were painted the same blood red as her toes. Her cheeks flushed a dusky pink. “What are you doing here?”
This was it. The moment that he’d been waiting for, all he needed to do was drop to his knees and pull the ring from his back pocket. ‘”Anna Howard,” He’d practiced in the airplane bathroom on his way across the country. “Will you make me the happiest woman in the world and be my wife?”
Only, the woman in front of him was not Anna Howard. From the top of her perfectly coifed head to the tip of her pedicured toes, she was one hundred and fifty percent ‘Anna Montera.’ Pop Princess. Rock Star. America’s Sweetheart.
“Anna,” No knock on the door. No apology for bursting in. Darryl’s brusque voice filled the room. His stiff posture and broad shoulders helped his elderly body fill the room. The man couldn’t be a day under sixty, but his bright eyes and well-tailored suit helped him seem closer to forty-five.
“It’s time to go.”
Her head bobbed up and down, an automatic response to the man’s tone. A quick stop. Her head cocked slightly to the right. Her gorgeous lips twisted into a slight frown.
“Can Nick and Adam come too?”
“Baby doll.” The man didn’t actually need to say ‘no.’ The word was in his voice, his tone, his posture. Wherever he was taking Anna, Nick and Adam weren’t welcome.
Anna’s eyes flickered. Her frown deepened. “I want them to come.”
“Fine,” An angry snarl. The agent’s eyes shut against the light, trying to put off the inevitable. The man clearly wasn’t used to being disobeyed. Too darn bad.
From everything that Nick knew, everything he’d been told, it was about time Anna stood up for herself.
“The dog stays here.” The man spun neatly on his heels and started walking, fast, not waiting to see if anyone was following him.
“Come on,” Anna chirped, trailing after her agent.
One step and then another, Nick had to scoop Adam up off the ground. His son was getting heavier every day, but carrying him was the only possible way to keep up. Long legs stretched underneath him, hurrying to keep up with the others.
There was a whole crowd of them now. Men and women in identical black pants and shirts, tags hanging off their necks, ‘Crew’ ‘Makeup’ ‘Lights’ ‘Dresser.’ A dozen different labels.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
No one answered, but that might have been because they didn’t hear. The noise of the crowd was getting louder now. The energy more frantic. The black-clad assistants were getting thicker on the ground, swarming around Anna like butterflies around a particularly delicious flower or planets orbiting the sun.
One man offered her a sip of designer water. Another woman opened a velvet box, displaying a variety of glittering jewels. The crowd stilled for a moment, allowing Anna time to choose bangles for her arms and frothy earrings that glittered and danced like fireworks even in dim light. They had to be paste. If the jewels were real then she was wearing thousands of dollars in her ears. The assistant closed the box, locking it with a key she wore around her neck.
Maybe the earrings were real after all.
The smallest diamond in her ears was twice the size of the stone in his grandmother’s ring. They made his token of love and affection look insignificant in comparison, not that he could ask her now. Not with an audience twice the size of Mill City.
The speakers cracked even louder. Trevor Bliss’s voice, bright and good-humored, thundering through hundreds of speakers. One more step and they were officially backstage, listening to the roar of the crowd, united now, seventeen thousand strong, screaming Anna’s name loud enough to drown out the sound system.
Anna didn’t seem to notice, listening instead to the sweet nothings that Darryl was whispering into her ear while a gray haired assistant bent down to buckle sky high heels onto her feet. Fancy shoes. The kind that Nick’s ex-wife had always been buying.
The terrycloth robe dropped, hitting the ground with a thud. An instant passed, and Anna stood tall in those absurd heels, diamonds dripping from her ears, and her dress—
Dress was the wrong word for the confection clinging to Anna’s warm curves. Nick’s heart beat faster. His throat went dry. Silvery fabric shimmered in reflected light from the stage. A swooping neckline that displayed more than a bit of cleavage, pale ribbons pulled tight under her breasts. The back—well—there was no back. The gown just seemed to drop away from the shoulders, falling in delicate layers before meeting inches above Anna’s breathtaking peach shaped ass, the wide space in between displaying yards of delicate silky skin.
Still the crowd cheered. Seventeen thousand strong.
“Sugar.” A single word dropped from Nick’s lips as Anna stepped away from him, out onto the stage. The world was going mad. He’d known that Anna was a popular singer, at least, he’d thought that he’d known
. Everyone said so.
He just hadn’t understood.
Dozens of small comments and knowing smiles were coming back to haunt him, everything that Anna had said—everything that the people of Mill City had said—it was all beginning to make sense.
Anna wasn’t just a star, she was a galaxy.
Nothing would ever be the same again. A woman like Anna could never be happy in a little town like Mill City. She’d never be able to settle for a man like him. She’d never be happy as his wife.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Los Angeles. Nick was in Los Angeles. Anna’s mind boggled, her heart beat wildly. Every breath was harder than the last. Lights danced in front of her eyes. She was meant to be talking, singing, entertaining thousands. Her adoring fans.
Her head jerked to the side, searching the darkness on the side of the stage until she found exactly what she was looking for. Nick. Handsome features hidden in the shadows. Stiff in unfamiliar clothes. Alone now that Adam had been taken to the craft services table by an assistant. His face was in shadows. High cheekbones, firm lips, bright flashing eyes, but it didn’t matter. She’d be able to recognize him in pitch blackness, half-blind, with hands over her eyes.
The way he held himself. The pitch of his hips.
One hand moved down nervously, fishing around blindly until she found the waiting guitar rack. Two different electric guitars and an acoustic—a guitar just like the one she’d learned to play on, strumming in her mother’s backyard. Grasping the acoustic’s neck, she slipped the wide webbed strap up over her head and adjusted the way the guitar settled across her chest.
“Hi, everybody.” She leaned in towards the microphone, and suddenly the giant amphitheater seemed small, intimate. “I’ve got some new material planned for you tonight. Some new songs. I think you’re going to like them. But that’s all going to start in a few minutes. For now, I want to play you an old song in a new way.”
There was no time for discussions with the record company or test audiences. This was it. Her moment. Her opportunity to lay it all on the line. If she failed then, she’d never be more than a washed up former pop star. A woman who couldn’t move on. But, if she succeeded…
