Cary’s fame skyrocketed, and he became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Unlike Jackson, Cary was a very private person, and he had difficulty embracing the lifestyle that went with his fame. He recently decided to take a break and focus on his music. Though, he was based in London, he traveled around the world, singing at small venues.
Cary said his primary focus was to have a simpler life. I wasn’t sure how simple it was, considering he still appeared on the covers of teen and tabloid magazines.
The studio Blake was working in was hidden along a narrow street in Central City, a neighborhood of New Orleans. The exterior of the building looked run-down, but I knew I was at the right place when security stopped me at the door.
A strong feeling of déjà vu invaded my mind, and I couldn’t shake the feeling something was off. When a familiar, older, restrained face abruptly stopped me, it all became clear. My heart stopped.
“Jonathan?”
He stood alert, as he towered over me. It appeared he’d aged since I saw him last, and that said something. Jonathan had a hard life, his wrinkles were deeply set, and his hair was entirely gray. I could see a few old scars across his face, and a fresh one under his right eye.
“I thought that was you, Lauren.” He cracked a smile.
My chest grew tight at the thought he was there. Actually, physically there.
“Cary’s here?” I asked, not able to control my excitement.
“Up those stairs.”
I automatically reached out to hug him, but forced myself to stop midway. I knew physical contact was against protocol for the bodyguard, who was also head of Cary’s security. I gave him an apologetic smile, and he returned it with a stern look.
I waved goodbye, taking the stairs two at a time. When I reached the corridor, there were several unmarked doors. I turned to go back downstairs to ask which one, but a door opened from behind.
“Lost, love?”
The hair on the back of my neck stood up. Sparks of heat ignited in my chest as a slew of emotions overcame me. I spun around to see him leaned against a door. I was very aware of the scene that played out in front of me. Yet, I was frozen, trapped, as Cary searched my brown eyes. I was terrified of what he would see.
He took a step forward, and I could no longer contain my emotions.
“Cary!” I sprinted, then jumped up and threw my arms around him.
It had been a long time since I’d seen his beautiful face with those berry-colored lips that arched into a perfectly sculptured smile.
No matter how many times we saw each other, and as clichéd as it might sound, he always took my breath away. As tall and lean as he appeared, his strength was evident every time he hugged me. I couldn’t help feel his biceps curl underneath my hands.
“Laur, has it been that long?” he asked, voice muffled, face buried in my hair.
“Two years too long.” I sniffed, breathing in his familiar, fresh scent. I loved the smell of him.
It wasn’t in a creepy way. I had a thing about scents. I could still remember what my dad’s favorite cologne smelled like.
Seconds blended into minutes as we held onto each other. For an instant, I was afraid he wasn’t real. He leaned his head back, full brows arched as those blue eyes looked at me. “You’re all grown up.”
“Thanks?”
“It’s a compliment. You don’t look like the annoying runt.”
“You are an arse.” I stressed each word. ”Thanks for ruining the moment.” I let go of him and smacked my hand on his hard chest.
“Oooh,” he crooned, as he cupped his hand to my face. “I missed that saucy mouth.” His thumbed traced below my bottom lip.
I inhaled deeply, trying not to focus on the way his finger felt.
“Sis?” We both jumped when Blake walked out into the hallway.
I watched as Cary took the same thumb, which had just been on my lips, and slowly rubbed his own. I became immensely jealous of that thumb.
A tired-looking Blake then swung his arm over my shoulder. “I’m glad you came.”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I come?”
“Work.”
“Ashley’s not that bad of a boss.”
He raised one eyebrow and cocked his head to the side.
“Blake, she’s not that bad. She knew I wanted to see you, so she asked a friend to help out today. That’s proof she’s not bad.”
Blake rolled his eyes. “You keep thinking that.”
“Nice haircut, by the way.” I ran my hand over Blake’s new buzz cut. “It’s short. I think I like your natural curls better.”
He turned toward Cary. “Geez man, she’s never happy. She hated the dreads, and now this is too short.” He shrugged.
“Don’t look over here, mate. She fancies my hair.” Cary winked at me.
My mouth dropped open as I gawked at him.
Carey’s floppy, tousled, sexy hair was his “trademark,” at one time. I loved his wavy hair. Any style or color looked good on him. His natural, golden brown color changed frequently, depending on his roles. It was shorter now, and pieces stood up everywhere.
“Don’t be too smug, Cary.” I raised a brow. “Even though it’s not taken over your face, your head is still big.”
“Slam, head joke.” Blake high-fived me.
Since kids, we were all victims of a butt of a joke every time we got together.
Cary shook his head. “I’m going to leave that one alone, love.”
Cary might’ve grown into a more athletic, filled-out body, but he still needed to do a little more growing into his head, and his nose was still big.
If he did change anything on that face, I would personally kill him. He really did look good.
A clean-shaven Cary looked the best, but scruffy Cary was too much for a girl to take. His five o’clock shadow could stop a heart instantly. In fact, I was still trying to restart mine.
Blake pulled me through the studio doors and started to show me around. The massive recording studio had four separate rooms, with an impressive amount of equipment.
“Blake, are you ready to get started?”
“Yeah. Hey, this is my sister Lauren. Lauren, this is Nathan.”
“Nice to meet you.” Nathan walked me over to a couch. “You’ll be able to hear everything that’s going on from here. Can I get you anything?”
“No, thank you.”
“Thanks for being here. It means a lot to me,” Blake added.
“I miss our brother-sister time, Blake. We need to do better.”
“I hear ya, Sis. I miss hanging out with you, too. I promise to find time.”
“Maybe we can go visit Mom together and do something afterward.”
“Sounds great to me. Why don’t you pencil in Sunday. We can visit during evening hours, and then do whatever.”
“It’s a date.”
We hugged, and he walked into the recording room. I could see the band through the window, preparing to play.
Cary joined me after Blake left. He hadn’t taken his eyes off me the entire time. I knew because I kept my peripheral vision focused on him. I couldn’t help it. His ripped, blue jeans hugged a little too perfectly, emphasized by the usual three bottom buttons undone on his shirt. Add the brown leather bomber jacket . . . yeah, I paid attention.
I’d heard people describe actually feeling electricity between themselves and another person, and I’d never put much weight in it. However, that changed when I met Cary. I didn’t imagine the current I felt when Cary hugged me, or when he sat down next to me.
Cary was Blake’s closest friend, but to me, he was more. Unfortunately, he also thought of me as his little sister. As much as I tried to convince him otherwise, I was afraid he’d always see me that way.
Blake knew I had a crush on Cary, but he was nice enough to act oblivious.
Women crushes on Cary Baine were nothing new. He was one of the world’s most desirable bachelors. Still, he was more than a pretty face, and his fame di
dn’t change him. He continued to be down-to-earth.
Even with his busy life, he made time for me, which we usually spent eating desserts at our favorite bakery. He was like my brother—but I wanted more.
“What’s wrong, Lauren?”
“Nothing.” I sighed and touched his arm. “Sorry for attacking you earlier. I did miss you.” My heart reminded me I missed him more than he would ever know. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming, when you sent a text New Year’s Eve?”
“I like to surprise you. You do look great, by the way, and it’s not the weight loss. You look happy.”
Cary had complimented me even when my belly was so big I couldn’t see my feet anymore. He made it a point to mention something he liked about what I wore or anything he saw on me. At first, I thought Blake asked him to flatter me in order to make me feel good. Blake cared that much he would do anything to make me smile. But, something about Cary’s compliments seemed genuine and sincere.
“I am happy. And thanks for the charm. It arrived the night before I left.”
“I know it’s a late graduation present, but I wanted to find something special, and when I saw it in a jewelry store in Sorrento, I knew.”
“I placed the broken wing on my bracelet already. I should have known it was expensive. It outshines all the others.”
There was an uncomfortable silence as he looked into my eyes. “I wanted to see you, Lauren, to visit you when you were in Minnesota.”
“I appreciated my peaceful world. Your mere presence would have caused a frenzy.”
He tightened his expression in disagreement. “You just said—”
“No one could know I knew you, Cary. I would’ve had hundreds of unwanted new friends asking to meet you.”
Cary purposely kept me out of that world. He protected the anonymity of the entire family—though, mine more than the others. Everyone knew Blake was Cary’s best friend. They were often photographed together. People soon realized Blake was not going to say or do anything that would sacrifice Cary’s privacy. His team was loyal, and they worked hard to protect him.
“Cary, are you in town recording?”
“Still on holiday. Blake called me about the film. He wanted my help—as if he needs it.”
“I know it means a lot to him. He’s really—” I thought of something. “Did you have anything to do with this gig?” I hated asking because Blake wanted to succeed on his own. He had turned down Cary’s and Victor’s past help.
“What do you think?” He huffed.
“I had to ask.”
“No, you didn’t.”
He had me there.
“I wasn’t thrilled about this project, but I came anyway.”
Cary was always supportive of Blake, and this was Blake’s first big shot, but why did Cary say he wasn’t thrilled?
“Before you overreact—as if you weren’t going to—these Primal books are pretty explicit. For starters, they have young kids shooting M4s.”
Okay, I could see that, but some video games were worse.
“And the sexual innuendoes. . .”
I really needed to read the books.
Cary was pretty open-minded. He had to be in his line of work. What set him apart, though, were his high standards and morals. He never compromised what he believed. Millions of fans were disappointed when he turned down parts because of explicit sex scenes.
“Cary, I understand the sex and violence part, but they’re zombies?” I laughed. “I know they’re not the stereotypical zombies, especially the males. Heck, they look more like a team of hot soccer players than the undead. But, I don’t think people will go looking for zombie boyfriends.”
“Fine, love, but the music used in the film is to enhance the zombies’ appeal. It creates an allure that romanticizes evil tendencies. Remember your reaction toward a particular vampire in that movie you love? How you cried during the film because of the song that was playing. You bought the soundtrack, didn’t you?”
“For the record, it wasn’t only because of the song. The actor was hot, and he did a good job. I also know vampires don’t exist.”
Cary appeared disgusted. “You never showed such strong emotions regarding my characters. Anyway, you don’t understand the level of manipulation thrown into the mix, Lauren.”
“I’m not that naïve, Cary.”
“Are you bothered by what I think because Jackson Cruz is in these films?”
Blake had a big mouth.
“Why would he have anything to do with my opinion?”
“I assumed it was because of him you felt so strongly?”
“What would have made you think that?” For someone who wanted everyone to respect his privacy, Cary sure had a problem respecting other people’s private lives.
“When I rang Blake to confirm my visit, I asked to speak to you. He told me you were on a date with Jackson. I must say, I had no idea you hung out with Hollywood scum.”
“Hey! I hang out with you.”
“I don’t like it, Lauren.” Cary sounded angry. “You and that wanker is not a good idea.”
As I watched him scowl, I couldn’t hold back my grin.
“He has a bad reputation.” Cary’s voice was dead serious.
“You listen to idle gossip now, superstar?”
“Facts, love. Trouble follows him.”
“Thanks for the warning, but I’m a big girl.”
Cary had hundreds of facial expressions—some cute, some not. I was getting one of his crazy, pissed-off looks.
“Now my opinion doesn’t matter, Lauren?”
“Your opinion matters, Cary, when I ask for it.”
“Humph.” He looked at me while his finger moved back and forth over his bottom lip; his habit when he was thinking hard.
I hated it.
Right.
I bit my bottom lip as I watched. I needed a distraction. “You mentioned you wanted to visit me in Minnesota?”
“When I was there,” he whispered, as the recording light started to blink.
“What!” I lowered my voice when Nathan glanced back at us. “Why didn’t you let me know you were in town?” I spit the words out through clinched teeth.
“For the same reasons you mentioned earlier,” he mimicked me. “It would’ve been tough keeping your anonymity. It was a publicized appearance, and I was followed everywhere.”
How did I not know?
“You could have told me. I would’ve wanted to see you, Cary.”
“I was only thinking about what was best for you, love.”
“Without asking me?” As always, I thought. “Never do that again.”
“I won’t.” He didn’t sound convincing. “Have you decided about college yet?” He changed the subject.
We both tended to do that when we were losing a battle.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do.” I shrugged.
That was clearly not the answer he wanted to hear, considering the scowl on his face.
“I think maybe I’ll travel. See the world. Have fun before I have to face reality.”
“Travel during school breaks.”
“Drop it, Cary.”
“All right, but don’t take too long deciding.”
“Sound advice from someone who is taking a break and traveling around the world,” I reminded him.
“One can take a holiday when one has worked since he was fifteen, and has finished college,” he added, swatting my leg.
“Whatever.”
“I do care about your happiness, Lauren.”
“What about you? How does it feel not to be touring?”
“Bloody fantastic. I love touring, but I needed the me time. Six months was too long. Next time I think two or three months top, and I’ll pick smaller cities.”
“You know that won’t work. You’ll start getting all antsy, and your guitar will start speaking to you again—”
“I knew I should’ve never told you that.”
“You didn’
t. I read it with the thousands of other people who read Music Beat.” I winked. “You might not want to mention again about hearing your guitar calling out to you to be played.”
“My band mates teased me all during the tour for that comment. Still don’t know why I said it.”
“It was the truth, and I get it. When you’re not playing, it affects you. Hey, what happened to Jonathan’s face?”
“Somehow, a couple girls got past the stage’s security team at the last music festival. They tried to claw through Jonathan to get to me.”
“I would ask if they succeeded, but looking at the scars on his face and hands, he may not have won that fight.”
“He won. Then he announced he was too old for this and threatened to take retirement.”
“No! He can’t!”
“He’s been threatening retirement for about five years, love.”
“Oh. Well, you look rested. Are you happy?”
“I’m all right, love.”
“Are you taking care of yourself? I worry about you.” Actually, I thought, I worried a lot.
“I worry about you, too.” He smiled.
“Well, we can worry together.” I gazed at him for a bit too long.
Blake began to sing. It started out sounding similar to a bluesy hymn, then it flowed into his grungy stuff. His voice sounded grittier, and his tone came from deep within his gut.
“I don’t remember this song?”
“He never sang it outside his dorm room. We poked around with this one night after a game. He thought he’d try it out for the movie.”
“It’s really good.”
“It’s bloody brilliant. This song will touch souls.” Our eyes met at his last word. “Lauren, I need to discuss something with you. It needs to be between you and me.” He leaned in close.
“Isn’t it always?”
Why did I say that?
Please don’t let him remember.
Too late.
It was all over his face.
He remembered that night when I mistakenly thought he wanted more.
While a group of us played flag football outside Mamaw’s house, I twisted my ankle, couldn’t walk, and Cary volunteered to carry me back to the house. He was overly concerned and attentive, and I misjudged his kindness.
The Devil has a British Accent: Book One: Jackson (White Carpet #1) Page 6
