Wicked Bad Boys

by Bella Love-Wins

  I crossed my arms, waiting for his response.

  “Is that what you think this is? That I’m just here, managing your career for my share? My ten percent?”

  “Yeah! That’s exactly what I think this is about. That and controlling me. Anytime I want to do things my way, you swoop in and tell me a thousand ways that I’m wrong. I think when we first started working together, you actually cared, and it was about the music. But that’s all lost now. You don’t give me any room to do anything out of the box. And it’s because if it fails, you lose out. You even have that financial advisor telling me what I can and can’t do with my money. Face it, Kevin. I’m your retirement plan! Nothing more.”

  Kevin rubbed his hand down the side his face, shaking his head. “Johnny, I don’t give two shits about the money. And that financial advisor has helped you do so well, you’ll never have to worry. Ever.”

  “Oh, really?” I threw my hands up in the air. The entire conversation aggravated me more as time ticked on.

  “Listen to me. We helped manage your money because you’re young and prone to being irresponsible. Lady and I made a promise to your parents—”

  “Don’t you dare start talking about my parents,” I interrupted, my voice low in a growl now.

  “You need to hear this, so listen to me. We promised your parents we would look after you, and that’s what we’ve done. When they passed and you came to live with Lady and me, we knew we had to keep a close watch on you. We’ve been there for you, and we’ve protected you so you can have a life later on too, long after the fame fades away. I push you because I want you to be a legend, to live up to the potential you have. Lady and I had more than enough money to last a lifetime, long before you were in the picture. And now, you do too. So it’s not about the money, kid.”

  It was hard to process everything he was saying with my mind now distracted by the memory of my parents. It had been fifteen years since they died; I was eleven at the time, but just the mention of them was enough to send me back to the anger, sadness and depression I went through. I tried to clear my mental fog so I wouldn’t sink back into that pit.

  “What did you mean about me having enough money to last a lifetime?” I asked, desperate for something to fill my mind, other than my parents’ passing.

  “See? This shows you never listen to me, Johnny. You do remember my brother, Jeff, right?”

  I nod. I’m still upset, and way too irate to speak.

  “He’s a sound, proven investment broker, one of the best around. He’s handled Lady and my finances for years. We hired him to manage your money as well, when we became your guardians. We put aside most of your parent’s inheritance. The bulk of it was put in a trust fund, to be released to you when you turn twenty-eight. We let Jeff invest it, and much of what you earn as a performing artist. It’s grown substantially over the last fifteen years.”

  I cocked an eyebrow at him. “How substantially?”

  Kevin hesitated; he never talked about money with me, so for him to even approach the topic was an opportunity I knew I had to take. I just wished the timing had been better. I hated the thought of making Amanda wait this long for us.

  “Johnny, you have over two billion dollars in assets.” He held up a hand to hold off my questions that were surfacing. The man knew me too well. “Now, it’s not all liquid. It’s tied up in real estate, some airplane manufacturing shares, blue-chip stock, part-ownership of a few data centers, and other investments. But if you were to liquidate everything—”

  “Shit!” I breathed out. “Holy shit, Kevin! Why didn’t you tell me any of this sooner?”

  “Because I need your eye on the prize. I need you focused and working your ass off like it could all be gone tomorrow. That’s what it takes to become one of the greats—a hunger, a resolve. Telling you that you have access to two billion dollars wouldn’t keep you challenging yourself to be better.”

  “So why did you tell me just now?” I asked, completely confused.

  “Because I never want you to accuse me of being in it for the money. Ever.” His voice was low, deadly serious, and his eyes locked with mine in an intense gaze I couldn’t look away from. “Do you understand? Everything Lady and I have ever done for you, has been for your own good. Don’t ever question my motives.”

  I nodded. Was I ever wrong about this guy. Damn, I really had been a prick lately. In any case, I wanted to stay on topic about Amanda. I wanted to pitch one more time for Kevin to give her the job, but his face was stone cold. I didn’t want to provoke him further. He passed by me and went out into the hallway; I waited a beat, and then followed along.

  We re-entered the living room, and Amanda was bent over her legal pad, furiously scribbling notes. She had her phone laid on top, and seemed to be referencing the screen in between jots. When Kevin cleared his throat to get her attention, her head popped up.

  “Oh, hello. I’m so sorry,” she said, gesturing at her phone. “I was just reading some of these threats on your page. You weren’t kidding. This is serious. And some of it is quite disturbing.”

  Kevin’s brow creased. “What do you mean? All the threatening posts were removed by our web service. Shit. Are there new ones?”

  Amanda handed over her phone. She and I glanced at each other before turning our attention to Kevin. He had an increasingly horrified look on his face as he scanned the messages she had pulled up on the screen.

  “I’ll be back. Excuse me one minute. I need to make some calls.”

  With that, he was gone, leaving Amanda and me alone in the living room. I sat next to her, finally able to look over her shoulder at the notepad that still lay in her lap.

  “Doesn’t that freak you out?” she asked, turning her face to me, her sultry, light green eyes locking with mine.

  I shrugged. “I try not to take it too seriously. What did these new ones say?”

  “I only wrote down part of it, but the newest one is a bomb threat at each of your concerts. It makes sense the FBI wants to look at it. It easily falls into their definition of cyber-terrorism, and as your concerts are all over the country, local and state police just aren’t enough.”

  “The FBI will know what to do. And…you can handle the rest. I trust you.”

  She smiled. “You do?”

  I nodded. “Completely.”

  “Why? You literally just met me. What makes you so sure?”

  I shrugged, realizing a little too late that I needed to dial it back. Damn, it was so hard to play it cool around her. “It’s a hunch. And you have a…I don’t know, an aura about you.”

  She laughed again, and I worked to memorize that sweet sound.

  “I really am in LA now. It’s less than a few hours in, and my aura has already been assessed.”

  This was going to be fun. For the first time…ever…I found myself wishing the tour dates would happen sooner. Normally, I had a love-hate relationship with tours. It meant entirely too much time shoved in a small space with Kevin in a limo, on a bus, or on a plane. And sure, the girls and the after-parties were always fun. But what people didn’t realize was we had a lot of downtime on the road.

  Back when I started in the music business, my bandmates were some of my best friends. Touring was a blast back then. We could be stuck in the middle of a snowstorm and still have the time of our lives. Ever since Kevin came into the picture, everything changed. One of the first things he did to piss me off was replace my band, one member at a time.

  “Are you okay?” Amanda’s voice broke into my distracted thoughts. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sure it will all be fine. Most of these turn out to be harmless. We just have to be careful and take each one seriously.”

  I looked at her. She seemed genuinely concerned, the way she leaned toward me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I was all tensed up before, but her touch chased all that away. Suddenly I wasn’t angry at Kevin anymore. I could figure that out later, given the new information he had shared with me wasn’t actually all bad.<
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  I smiled at her. “Yes, I’m fine, really. It’s just been hectic, that’s all.”

  She asked me about my music. I was starting to get into a relaxed conversation with her when Kevin re-entered the room.

  “I just got off the phone with the FBI. They’re on it.”

  “That was fast,” I answered.

  “They’re sending an agent out here tomorrow morning.”

  “What? You mean for protection?”

  “I don’t think so. They’re still investigating. But as an extra precaution starting tonight, they recommended that we beef up the security here at the house, and wherever you go, Johnny.”

  Shit. Like I didn’t have enough going on already.

  Kevin looked at Amanda. “Is there any way you can stay here with Johnny tonight and start the assignment early?” he asked. “We have perimeter guards on the grounds, but I’m not sure they’re trained for personal security.”

  Kevin was on board! On the inside, I was pumped at the thought of Amanda under the same roof with me tonight. I did my best to stay neutral at the news. That was incredibly difficult—all I wanted to do was kiss Kevin for suggesting it, then get him out of my house so I could focus on this woman who had plagued my thoughts for years.

  “Tonight?” Amanda asked. “My things are at the hotel, but, yes. Definitely. Does that means I got the contract?”

  I couldn’t help but smile. We needed her. Kevin needed her, and he was miserable. He hated being backed into a corner.

  “The contract is yours.”

  Chapter 6 - Amanda

  I got a million-dollar gig. I got a million-dollar gig! If no one were around, I would have run around the room, whooping and pounding my chest for effect. I couldn’t believe it was happening. With the offer on the table and the contracts ready to be signed, the knot of anxiety in my stomach faded away, but was replaced with some new concerns. I let myself start taking it all in. It was no small task I was getting into. With the FBI already looking into the threats against him, this was serious business. Still, the stars aligned and put me in the right place at the right time. And I was the right person for the job, at last. This was meant to be.

  Almost as soon as we finalized the arrangements verbally, Kevin kicked into gear. He started by calling the hotel where my things were, so they could send them here with a driver. After that, he called his assistant and got her to change my return flight details. I had originally been scheduled to leave the next day, but with this development, he wasn’t sure when I would fly back to Miami.

  It felt surreal. It was really happening!

  After it started to sink in, it hit me—neither of them bothered to ask if I had family, pets, or other plans I needed to rearrange to be able to stay indefinitely. Kevin seemed to just assume I would be free. Which was correct, to be honest. I had nothing going on. And I wasn’t about to jeopardize a million-dollar job offer over the inconvenience of having someone swing by my place to feed my two goldfish, Trevor and Lulu. I could easily get my best friend Eva to do that. Still, it would have been nice to have been asked. For all he knew, I could have been married with six kids waiting at home for my return. Somehow, my gut told me they already knew a lot more about me than they let on.

  Kevin finished up with his phone calls. He turned his attention back to me, and the two of us got started on the very large pile of documents. He sat across the coffee-table from me and went over each section of the contract, answering any questions I had. It was all straightforward—and because he had emailed me the documentation beforehand, my lawyer had already checked it out and given the okay.

  It was during this focused time I got the sense Kevin did not like me. He was being professional, but he didn’t seem as enthused as Johnny was about me coming on board. It was his eyes; they never quite met mine, and his voice was clipped and short with each answer. There had to be more at play. This contract was crucial to me. I made the split second decision to ignore the uneasiness. I initialed and signed in the places he pointed out, skimming over the words for any obvious red flags, but in all honesty, I didn’t need to. I would have signed it that day my lawyer had told me it was fair.

  At some point during the process, Johnny excused himself from the room and disappeared. As I had signed everything in triplicate, Kevin gave me one copy from the pile, and he left as well. He said he needed to place a few more phone calls and would be back shortly. Alone in the massive room, I sat back on the couch and sent a text to Eva. I started by asking if she could take the fish to her place for a while. I knew what would come next, so I waited for her reply. And she did not disappoint. I couldn’t tell her much—after all, I had just signed a non-disclosure agreement, and wasn’t perfectly clear on exactly what I could and could not say. I settled for telling her I was working a security job out of town. True to form, Eva peppered me with questions.

  “You gotta give me more than that, woman!” one of her messages said.

  Before I could key in my reply, the phone buzzed.

  “Hi Eva,” I answered.

  “Girl, you sound so upbeat! Come on, Amanda. I want details. I just poured myself a glass of wine and was about to watch a movie. This sounds way better. So make sure you don’t leave anything out.”

  “All I can say is I’m in LA. I don’t know when I’ll be back, but this job is huge!”

  “How huge, hun? What, you’re guarding Dwayne Johnson? Because that would be huge.”

  I laughed out loud and hoped no one was nearby. “The Rock doesn’t need a bodyguard, Eva. Seriously, though, I can’t tell you anything at all. I literally just signed an NDA ten minutes ago. If I break it and tell you anything, I’m pretty sure bad things will happen to me. And I’m positive it’ll make a new record for fastest breach of contract ever.”

  “What’s a NDA?”

  “Non-disclosure agreement. It means I have to keep my mouth shut.”

  “Are you sure it counts for best friends?”

  “Pretty sure. Sorry, hun.”

  “Dammit.”

  “So can you take Trevor and Lulu to your place? Or are you going to be mean and bail on me since I can’t tell you more?”

  “I’ll watch the damn fish,” she said, acting angry. “You know I will. Why do you think I still have your damn apartment key? But now you owe me a pitcher of margaritas and a story when you get home.”

  “Deal! I’ll call you later, okay? I’ve got to go.”

  I tossed my phone into the bag at my feet. When I looked up, Johnny was standing at the other end of the room, his hands in his back pockets. The man was so damn sexy. I couldn’t stop my eyes from roaming up and down his body. So far, a flutter of nervous energy would rush through me every time my eyes met his. He smiled seductively, and I wondered how long he had been standing there watching me.

  “Hey,” he said.

  “Hi.”

  “All set with the contracts?”

  “Yes. It’s a done deal, and you can’t change your mind,” I joked. Maybe it was too early for me to get this informal with him.

  “I wouldn’t think of changing my mind now that Kevin’s on board. Well, I just wanted to let you know your luggage just got here.”

  “That fast?”

  “Yes. Everyone jumps when Kevin calls. Anyway, I can show you to your room, if you’d like to settle in.”

  “Thanks. That would be great. But actually, would you mind if we take a walk through this main floor first?”

  “Uh, sure,” he said, confused.

  “I just want to get a sense of the layout, see what the house has in the way of exits, access controls, cameras, alarms, that type of thing.”

  “Oh! Of course,” he said. “I’ll show you around. And that’s a good point. Kevin and I should have thought of mentioning that. When we’re here at the house, you’ll only be responsible for me. We’ve got a security firm that monitors the grounds. They’re not the same ones we use for events or anytime I’m offsite. They’re stationed at the hut near
the gates. They’re very low key, but they’re always there.”

  “Okay. That’s good to know. Thanks for explaining. Do you have a way of reaching them if there’s an emergency?”

  “Yes. Their phone numbers are listed on all the alarm consoles on the main and second floors.”

  “What about the panic room? Is it secure?”

  “Yes. I’ll show you where it is.”

  “And weapons?”

  “The guards at the gate have licenses to carry the big ones. They store them out at the guardhouse. I personally have licenses for two Glock twenty-ones. One is down here in the library. The other one is in my bedroom nightstand.”

  “With forty-five caliber bullets, right?”

  “Yup. The ammunition is with the guns. I got them all in combination lock storage cases. I’ll get you those codes too.”

  “Great. And do they monitor your camera feeds from outside?”

  “Yes. It’s nothing like Big Brother, though. There aren’t cameras in bathrooms or pointed at any beds.” He must have realized he was taking the conversation into dangerous territory. He cleared his throat and looked embarrassed for a moment before continuing. “But it covers most of the rest of the house.”

  “Excellent,” I said, trying not to react.

  He took me from room to room, and showed me the alarm system, panic room, and main camera feeds. We walked to a large office on the main floor where he pulled a file from the desk drawer and took out a sheet of paper.

  “This is the alarm entry code and instructions to reset it. Keep it. I’ve got a few copies here.”

  “Thanks.”

  “So we’re all set to show you to your room now?”

  “Sure,” told him.

  I followed him to the bottom of the staircase near the main foyer. The stairs were wide enough that we could walk up together, and then some. At one point, he lagged behind a step. I had to wonder if he had purposely hung back to check me out. I was comfortable enough with my body. I gave my hips an extra swing so he could have something to think about, just in case he was actually watching. And the idea of him wanting me sent my pulse racing.