Quest For A Popstar

by Katie Hamstead

  “Okay?” I look into his eyes, barely inches away from my own.

  “Let me stay with you tonight. I don’t want sex. I just want to hold you and know you’re safe. I want to wake up in the morning with you in my arms and know you telling me you love me wasn’t a dream.”

  I giggle, feeling more like an idiot by the second. He laughs at my childish giggling.

  “Of course you can stay,” I finally say.

  “Good.” He lifts me up, carrying me to the bed. He sets me down, then climbs in beside me.

  I stare at him as he nestles down, pulling me tightly into his arms. Our legs entwine, and up close, I can see the lighter ring of brown around his iris. He watches me as I run my fingers over his strong, stubbly jaw, down over his Adam’s apple, then up to his full, Polynesian lips. He’s so gorgeous.

  He kisses my fingertips, closing his eyes. “I’m glad the song worked.”

  I let out a soft giggle as I nuzzle closer to him. “I was going to tell you that I love you anyway.”

  He grins, revealing perfect, white teeth. How did I never notice how Osborne-esque his teeth are? “Good night, Hailey.”

  “Good night.” I rest my head in the crook of his shoulder and fall asleep.

  ***

  I wake to soft kisses on my cheek and neck. Smiling, I rest my hand on Lucas’s jaw. “Good morning.”

  “Did you sleep well?” he whispers in my ear, giving me goose bumps.

  “Wonderfully.”

  “Good, because we’ve all been called into the house for a meeting.”

  I groan, burying my face into the pillows. I was having such a good time, and he had to go ruin it by reminding me of the nightmare that happened last night.

  “Hailey.” He softly presses kisses along my bare shoulders and back. “I’ll be right there with you.”

  I tangle my fingers into his short, dark waves. “Can’t we stay here a little longer and pretend last night never happened?”

  He takes a deep breath. “I have to help my brother.”

  Rolling onto my back, I look into his eyes. “After everything…” I run my hand down his cheek. “I found a good one with you, Lucas Murphy.”

  He runs his finger over my chin. “I swear, Hailey, I’ll never do anything to hurt you.”

  “I know.”

  He leans down and kisses me. I close my eyes, enjoying my heart fluttering as he wraps me up with his body.

  When he pulls away, he climbs from the bed, but not before I catch a glimpse of something on his calf. “What was that?”

  Rushing after him, I pull his pant leg up.

  He twists to see his calf. “Oh, that’s just my tat. It’s a traditional Samoan thing.”

  I slide his pants up further and find the tattoo wraps around his entire leg up to his knee. “I’ve never seen this before.”

  “Because I usually wear long pants.” He tugs the cotton sweats down. “I’m thinking about getting a sleeve too, but I’m not sure yet.”

  “Samoan, huh?” I climb to my feet. “I wondered what you are.”

  “But you were too chicken to ask.” He winks at me.

  We dress and head into the basement.

  The Murphys huddle together, except Isaiah. He’s still curled up in bed, but facing everyone. If he truly did think he was helping them win, he must feel like utter crap in so many ways now, especially since his family, who he made his poor choice to help, has ostracized him. Lucas kisses my cheek and heads straight to him, sitting on the bed beside his brother. The rest of the kids stare, confused. Lucas leans over to talk to him quietly, and I’m amazed by the complete one-eighty the two have taken with their relationship. Isaiah gave Lucas a bloody nose less than twelve hours ago!

  Clarissa’s arms wrap around me. “Hailey. I’m so glad you’re okay. When the song changed, I totally freaked out. I didn’t know any of that was going on. Now I know for sure you should have won.”

  I shake my head. “Jessica can have it. The poor girl.”

  Clarissa squeezes me tighter. “No one knows what’s happening now. We turned the TV on earlier and everyone is still in a frenzy over it all. No one knows if the show will be cancelled, what will happen with the winners or with…with Steven.” She says his name with a hushed hiss. “Hailey, tell me, did he try…with you?”

  I give a slight nod.

  She gasps. “What did you do?”

  I meet her gaze firmly. “I got kicked off.”

  She covers her mouth, her eyes wide. “That’s not right. And to think I thought Jeff was trying something on you. But all along you were conspiring together. Why did he pick you?”

  I give the only answer I can think of that makes any sense. “Because I’m the wholesome girl next door who should have won, but I turned Steven down and faced his wrath. I’m the only one with the power to do it.”

  She nods, her dark eyes pooling with tears. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” She blinks, and the tears run down her face. “But Lucas did, didn’t he?”

  “Yeah,” I say on a sigh.

  Jeff clears his throat behind me. We face him as he stands by the door, flanked by Ted and Emily, and behind them, my grandparents.

  “So,” Jeff says, looking directly at me, “I’m making arrangements for you all to head home. Hailey, you and Lauren will be relocating to a more secure apartment. She has people helping her pack your place and move into the new location. But I’d recommend laying low for a while, all of you, and Isaiah will be staying with me.”

  Everyone gasps. He’s sitting up beside Lucas but averts his eyes when we look to him.

  “Drusilla’s team is taking action against him, so I need to keep him close. I didn’t anticipate the backlash to go after him as well. The rest of you are covered, so pack your things and we will get you out on a one p.m. flight.”

  He tips his head for me to follow as the Murphys hurry to pack. We head upstairs and my grandparents follow. The four of us gather in the kitchen.

  “Hailey,” he says gently. “You will be going with your grandparents.”

  “To Pittsburgh?” I ask, alarmed. “No, I have to go home. Mom will—”

  “No, no, I mean home. They have…” He clears his throat. “A private jet.”

  My eyes widen.

  “Yeah.” He stares at his feet. “The Murphys will go with you, but I’m not sure how much you’ve told them, so I didn’t want to announce that detail without your consent. Your grandparents want to go with you to see your mother. She’s not coping well with all this.”

  Felicity grasps my shoulder. “She’s been running from many things for a long time, and now she’s being forced to face them. But as long as she gets you back, I think she will be fine. She loves you more than anything, and everything that’s happened is tearing her apart. We’ve made arrangements to meet her at the airport.”

  Pressing my hands against my waist, I take a deep breath. “But what about last night? I can’t just—”

  “Leave that to me.” Jeff squeezes my shoulders. “I did this, so it’s my responsibility. You just focus on staying safe.”

  “Okay.”

  ***

  “Wow!” Clarissa dashes through the private jet. “Hailey, your family is loaded!”

  Lucas wraps his arm around my waist. “Let’s go home.”

  We sit beside my grandparents, and everyone talks and laughs. My grandparents are better than I could ever hope for. Felicity holds my hand the whole way, smiling at me with sparkling eyes.

  When we land, she takes a deep breath, her hand tightening around mine. Patrick wraps his arm around her, rubbing her shoulder.

  The younger Murphys and Kessa head out first, but Lucas stays with me and my grandparents.

  “You go out first,” Patrick says, smiling gently. “I think Iris will feel more secure if she sees you before us.”

  Lucas holds my hand tightly as we head to the private waiting area. Before we make it through the door, Mom throws her arms around me. “Hailey! Baby
girl!”

  She sobs, and I need Lucas to help me move her to sit on the chairs.

  “Mom.” I stroke her hair. “I’m okay.”

  She shakes her head. “Hailey, sweetie. Let’s just go home. Let’s forget about all of this. You can focus on finishing school and leave all this behind.”

  “Mom.” How can I tell her that’s impossible now? So much has changed.

  “Iris?”

  Mom tenses at the sound of Patrick’s voice. Her nails dig into me.

  “Iris, sweetie, we’ve been trying to find you.”

  She swings around, glaring at him. “No.”

  Felicity’s chin quivers, but she keeps it together. “We’re not going to take Hailey away from you. She’s a young woman now, and you’ve raised her so wonderfully.”

  Mom’s arms squeeze so tightly I can hardly breathe.

  “Mom, please.” I say softly. “I’m not going anywhere. They just want to be in our lives.”

  She looks up at me, tears streaming down her face. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  She nods, and keeping her arm around me, we stand together. “Mom. Dad.” She lets out a long breath. “Why don’t you come meet my husband and sons?”

  Felicity sobs as she pulls Mom into a warm embrace.

  ***

  Lauren and I live downstairs from Lucas now. I’m so amazed when I pull up and the guys are helping Lauren move in all our beat-up stuff. Lucas and I walk over, hand in hand, and our friends let out whistles and whoops. It seems his friends all knew he liked me, and Lauren definitely wanted us together.

  All of them talk frantically about Lucas’s song for me and even start singing it. Apparently, they recorded the performance to memorize it.

  That night, Lucas crashes with me, sleeping in my bed again. He strokes my hair as we lie entwined. “Hailey.”

  “Mmm?” I close my eyes.

  “Isaiah told you I’m a virgin, right?”

  “Mmm-hmm.” I nuzzle closer to him.

  “Well, I know it’s old fashioned, but I don’t want to have sex until I’m married, and with everything Isaiah is dealing with now, that decision seems wiser than ever.” He sighs, kissing my head. “So, it’s not you.”

  “I know.” I squeeze him.

  “You know, I’m not angry at him.” He softly kisses my cheek. “Despite everything, he’s still my brother. I wish I could help him more, but I think he’s in the best hands with Jeff. Everything that’s happened…I guess these are his consequences. I just wish it hadn’t come to this. I wish he’d talked to me about all this sooner so I knew, even way back in middle school, what was going on. I just thought he wanted to spite me.”

  He pushes his fingers into my hair, so I look into his eyes. “But so you know, he does really love you.”

  He pauses, gazing into my eyes as he waits for my reaction.

  I run my hand down his neck. “I think…” I’m not really sure what to say. “Maybe one day he will realize why I love you instead.”

  His face relaxes, and he kisses me.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Almost everyone is out at school or working. Even Lucas has gone to see his family. The Murphys are doing well, except Kessa is constantly worried about Isaiah. Drusilla’s lawyers are aggressively going after him, claiming he seduced her. Thank goodness Jeff’s team is tough.

  I’m doing my school work online when the doorbell rings. Staring toward it, I consider ignoring it. Then it rings again, and the person knocks. “Hailey?”

  I sit up straight. “Jeff?”

  I grab a pair of pants, as I’m only wearing a t-shirt and panties, pull them on, and answer the door.

  “Hello, Hailey.” He slides off his sunglasses, revealing his red and puffy eyes.

  I glance around for Ted or Emily, but seeing no one, stare up at him. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be handling all that legal stuff?”

  He bows his head. “Can I come in?”

  “Ah…” I glance behind me at the half-unpacked junk pile of a living room.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t judge.”

  “Don’t you need someone with you?”

  He shakes his head. “I need to talk to you, privately.”

  “I’m not really comfortable with that.”

  He frowns. “I’m not going to try anything on you. I just want to talk.”

  I stare up at him, weighing the pros and cons. He has always been insightful and helpful, if a bit overbearing and rude on occasion. But he’s just saved my tail and continues to keep it covered, along with the Murphys and any future contestant Steven decided to take advantage of. Plus, after Lucas’s huge romantic gesture that’s gone viral and I can’t go anywhere without seeing it, it’s not like he’d hit on me. I step back, motioning for him to enter.

  He steps in, examining the room as I close the door. I can’t help noticing him wringing his hands. “You and Lucas living together now?”

  “No. Still just me and Lauren. Lucas and I aren’t ready to go that far yet.”

  He smiles at me with a hint of pride. “You’re an amazing young woman, Hailey.”

  “Ahh…thanks.” I gesture for him to sit. “Do you need something to drink?”

  “Yes, actually, I would like some water.”

  I pull a bottle of water from the fridge.

  “Are you back at school?”

  “Still online,” I say, handing him the bottle. “Because of the show’s contract, I can’t record for a few more months, and Vanessa’s tour doesn’t start for another six. It gives Lucas time to graduate, and me time to do some summer courses to try and catch up on my degree. I really fell behind with the practical units.”

  “I’m so glad you’re going to finish your degree.” He twists the cap on and off.

  I sit facing him. “Are you okay? You seem nervous. Is everything going okay with the legal stuff? I mean, the media is destroying poor Isaiah and Jessica.”

  He nods, snorting, but keeps staring at his hands.

  “Am I in trouble?” I grab his wrist, suddenly frightened. “Or you?”

  “I’m in some serious trouble, yes. Steven’s fighting hard to destroy me. Thank goodness I prepared for all this. He’s demanding for your head too, but you are untouchable. I may have modified your contract with the show a little.”

  “Huh?” I lean back.

  He shrugs. “When the contracts were handed out, yours was slightly different. It had a clause against Steven.”

  “It did?” My voice is shrill.

  He chuckles. “I thought you read it.”

  “I did!”

  “Did you look on the back side of the first page?”

  “I…ah…” No. “But why?”

  He shrugs, taking a sip of the water. “To protect you.”

  “Why? Jeff, I don’t understand any of this.”

  He lets out a long breath, his hands trembling.

  “Are you nervous?” I grasp his hand.

  He nods. “More than I’ve ever been before.”

  I chuckle. “Really? Super star Jeffrey Holloway is nervous in my presence? Incredible.”

  He smiles, shaking his head. “You’re very intimidating. I don’t think you have any idea how hard it’s been to work with you.”

  “I know. I’m a pain.” I sit back, trying to keep the mood light, despite freaking out inside.

  “No, I didn’t say that.” He lets out a long breath. “Tell me about how you grew up.”

  “Um…okay.” Although that seems like the strangest question he could have thrown at me, I answer. “I was born in Pittsburgh, but when my mom left my dad, she moved us out west. I went to school, and all my memories are pretty much from growing up in the suburbs around here. My mom married my stepfather about ten years ago.”

  “Were you happy?” He glances across at me.

  I shrug. “As happy as a kid can be, I guess. I never remember wanting for anything. My mom made me birthday cakes, and I always had friend
s, even if I wasn’t Miss Popularity.”

  “How old were you when your mom left your dad?”

  I squint. “Why do you want to know about this?”

  “I’m just curious.”

  “I was five.”

  He rubs his face. “Why did she leave?”

  “He…” I swallow. “He hit me. Really hard. It broke my arm. I can’t remember what happened. Mom says he was drunk and wasn’t thinking clearly, but she couldn’t let it happen again.”

  His head falls into his hands. “Hailey, I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault.” I want to do something comforting, but all I manage is an awkward pat on his shoulder.

  “I’m sure your dad regrets everything. As a father…”

  Is he…crying? “Jeff, it’s okay. I’m fine now.”

  “I have things I regret.”

  “Your boys are terrific, and you have a wonderful wife, so why does it matter?”

  He shakes his head. “Regrets eat at you, Hailey.” He turns to face me. “I regret so much. But I want to tell you about my biggest regret.”

  “Ah…” I scan the room, uncomfortable. “You don’t have to do that.”

  “I do. Because you deserve to know, for you and for Lucas, so you can cherish what you have and never let anyone tear it apart.”

  I’m speechless, so I just nod.

  He lets out a long breath, closing his eyes. ““The Late Night Muse” I wrote for a beautiful young woman.”

  “Emily.”

  “No.” He looks into my eyes. “I didn’t meet Emily until I was almost thirty, several years later. I was twenty-three when I wrote that song. I was on tour, traveling around the eastern states, when I met the most beautiful young woman I’d ever seen. And, being the famous womanizer I was, she fell at my feet.

  “I took her to my room and slept with her, and promptly fell madly in love with her. I can still close my eyes and see her, and at times I can still hear her voice saying my name. But I kept her secret. Being on summer break, she followed the tour around, and I would sneak her into my room every night. She was, like the song, my late-night muse. She inspired music in me, and the album I wrote during that summer, to this day is still my biggest hit.