Deepest Book 2 ebook EPUB

by Thomas, C. M

  “Getting dressed. What the hell is wrong with you?” He closed the door and walked over and stood just in front of me. I showed him Evie’s text and sat down on the couch. “Shit, what pictures?”

  “Hell if I know. I just thought she was mad about last night. But this is something else.” I shrugged.

  “We will figure this out. Anna will be out in a minute.” Zane rested his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. Anna came running out of the bedroom and looked at me.

  “She knows?” she asked.

  “Knows what?” I asked. What was happening?

  “The tabloids. There are pictures of you and one of Logan’s assistants kissing.” She looked at me. “They are fake. I just talked to Logan. He wants us to meet him at his office in an hour.”

  “I have to get home. Evie thinks I’m cheating on her.” I got up from the chair and started walking over to the door. I needed to get home to sort this out. How could she believe that I would do that to her?

  “Wait, we have to go to that meeting first. Logan has something else he wants to tell us. Call her and explain,” Anna said.

  “She has turned off her phone. I need to go home,” I yelled.

  “Don’t yell at her. It’s not her fault,” Zane snapped.

  “Sorry, Anna, but I need to save my relationship with Evie.” I walked out of the room. I didn’t look up, so I walked right into Cole.

  “Hey, what the hell is all that yelling?” He looked at me.

  “Zane will explain, you need to move,” I said as calmly as I could. I walked around him before he got a chance to say something else.

  I walked into my hotel room and started to pack my suitcase. I just wanted to go home, I needed to go home. Panic was starting to form in my chest. What if she leaves? If she takes Alana with her? I had to make sure that she stayed.

  I took my phone out of my pocket and called Amy.

  “Hi, Li,” Amy said, her voice cheery.

  “Hey, I need you to find Evie,” I said.

  “What do you mean, find her?”

  “She won’t answer my calls. She has seen some pictures of me kissing a woman.”

  “Liam,” Amy snapped.

  “I didn’t do it. They are fake. But I can’t get in contact with her. She hung up on me earlier.”

  “I will find her. But you need to come home, and soon. She has been so insecure about your relationship and the tabloids. This could just be the last drop.”

  “I know, why do you think I’m calling you?” I snapped.

  “Calm down. I will find her. She is probably still at your house.”

  “I don’t think so. Why would she stay there if she thinks I’m cheating on her?”

  “I don’t know. I will text you when I find her.”

  “Thank you. See you soon.”

  I hung up, and hoped that Amy could find Evie. I knew deep down that she wasn’t at my—our—house. She wouldn’t stay there. I wouldn’t stay there if it were me.

  I continued to pack my stuff and was almost done when I heard someone walk inside my room. I didn’t close the door, so I guessed it was my own fault. I turned around and saw Caleb and Zane standing there.

  “You can’t go before we have that meeting. Anna just talked to Logan again. You need to be there,” Zane said. He stood in front of the door, blocking it.

  “I told you before, I’m going home,” I yelled.

  “Calm the fuck down,” Caleb yelled back. “Logan knows who is behind all of this, and we need to hear him out. He won’t tell it over the phone. Anna told him we need to meet him now, or else we’re going home.”

  “Fine, but this better not be a waste of time.” I pointed my finger at them and let go of my suitcase. Guess I needed to do this first. I just hoped Amy found Evie and talked her into hearing me out when I got back.

  “I’m sorry about all of this, Liam. I didn’t know that he would have this kind of agenda against you guys,” Logan said when we sat down. We still didn’t know who he was talking about.

  “Who is doing this?” I asked, trying my best to stay calm and focused on this meeting. But my mind kept slipping back to Evie and Alana. Where were they? Were they safe? Did she run?

  “Tristan,” Logan said.

  “What?” Zane snapped.

  “Tristan. Our old manager, Tristan?” Cole asked, with a not-so-calm voice. We fired Tristan when he wanted Zane to break up with Anna, because he didn’t want Zane to ruin his bad-boy image. Zane would, of course, not hear any of it, and we fired Tristan the moment we had a contract with Logan instead. Tristan did a lot of good for us, but when he started to not listen to us, we all wanted something new. His demands about Anna were just the last drop in a long line of things he wanted us to do that we didn’t agree on.

  “Yes, him. I found out that one of my secretaries is his old girlfriend, and he made her tell him stuff about you guys. He is the one who leaked the story about your daughter… He is also the one who gave the tabloids your number and your location when you and Evie were in Colorado Springs.” Logan shrugged his shoulders and looked at me. “I really am sorry. This has never happened before, and I will do everything to make this up to you. All of you.”

  “What about your secretary? Where is she? I would really like to have a word or two with her,” Anna said.

  “I fired her this morning, so she is not here anymore. I wanted her out of here before you came… She paid someone to make those photos and then leaked them,” Logan said. “She told me when I confronted her that Tristan was mad that you guys fired him, and that he wanted to ruin your careers.”

  “What an asshole. What do we do now?” Cole asked.

  “I’m going home, I need to talk to my girlfriend,” I said. I needed this meeting to be over so we could get in the car and drive back home. I was trying my best to be professional and I knew I had to be here, but I wanted to fix this with Evie. I couldn’t lose her again. The first time almost killed me.

  “I know, Liam, but we need a plan first. How do we handle this?” Anna asked. “Are we filing a lawsuit against him, or what do you think?”

  “I’m holding a press conference later today. I need people to know that you don’t fuck around with my clients. I told my HR division that we need better background checks of our employees. This can’t ever happen again. I need you guys to know that.” Logan looked around at all of us. I felt bad for him—this was damaging his reputation too. “A lawsuit could take years, but I understand if you want to do it. But if I have to give you guys advice, I say ruin his career instead. We tell the press who did this, it will ruin his career in music… None of the big names will work with him… Some might, of course.”

  “Tell them that it’s our old manager holding a grudge. That he infiltrated an old girlfriend in your company and got her to leak information to him. Tell them the truth. And tell them that I will give a live interview when we are back on tour. I will talk about Alana and hopefully Evie,” I said. I tried to stay calm and focus on this. But my mind kept drifting to Evie. I needed to get back to her. My heart was breaking just at the thought of what she must be feeling after seeing that pictures.

  “Are you sure?” Zane asked.

  “I don’t know. But that will keep them away until I make things right with Evie. Then we will make the decision together.”

  “I will do that, if you’re sure?” Logan said.

  “I am.” I stood up and started walking over to the door. “But for now, I really need to get back home. I need to talk to my girl.”

  “You go, we will take the other car,” Anna said.

  “Thank you,” I said before I walked out of the room. I walked downstairs to the two cars. Dax got out of one of them.

  “Anna just called. Mark will drive you back home. You need one of us with you,” Dax said.

  “Fine, as long as we ca
n get on the road now.”

  Dax nodded and opened the door to the car. I got in and leaned back in the seat. When the door closed, I heard Dax talk to Mark before Mark got inside the car and started driving back.

  “I will get you home as fast as I can,” Mark said, looking back at me in the rearview mirror.

  “Thank you,” was all I said. I looked down at my phone and saw that Amy had texted me.

  Amy: I found her. She is at her parents’ house.

  Me: Is she alright?

  Amy: No. You need to get home.

  Me: On my way. Hopefully we will be back in a couple of hours.

  Amy: I will see you then.

  I closed my eyes and thought of my beautiful girl. This couldn’t be the end of us. I couldn’t go through the heartbreak of losing her again. And this time I had Alana too. I would do everything to make this up to her. I had to make her understand what happened and that I would never kiss another woman.

  I loved her more than anything. She was the love of my life and I wanted her to be my wife. To share my life with her, the good and bad. And to have a family with her. We already had Alana, and I wanted more kids. I needed to fix this. I couldn’t lose her. Sunshine, please don’t give up on us.

  Chapter 21:

  Evie

  Alana was sleeping in my old room. She didn’t understand why she was sleeping here this afternoon. But I told her that it was just for today. I knew that I shouldn’t lie to her, but I didn’t know what else to say to her. She would be crushed if she couldn’t see Liam every day. I wouldn’t keep her from him. Never. She needed her dad, I needed him too. But he hurt me. I lay down on the couch and cried. The moment Alana was asleep, the tears started trickling down my cheeks. They hadn’t stopped since. For the last hour, I’d been crying nonstop.

  “Evie, open the door,” I heard Amy yell outside the house. I hoped she didn’t wake up Alana. I pulled myself up from the couch and walked over and opened the door. I didn’t look at her, I just opened the door and walked back to the couch. “Are you okay?”

  “Do I look okay?” I snapped at her.

  “No, you don’t. You look like crap,” she said with amusement in her voice.

  “Thanks a lot. What are you doing here?”

  “I could ask you the same.” She sat down on the couch beside me. “He didn’t do it.”

  “How do you know that?” I started crying again. “I saw the picture. And last night he was acting weird when I talked to him.”

  “The pictures are fake. I don’t know more than that. But do you really think that he would risk his relationship with you, with Alana?” Amy put her arm around me and I cried against her shoulder while she hugged me.

  “I don’t know. Even if there is an explanation, how do I deal with this? Deal with the fact that the tabloids will do everything to pull us apart? What about everything they write about me, about Alana? I can’t do this. I can’t be in the spotlight like that. And I won’t have Alana in the spotlight either.”

  “But you want to be with Liam, right?”

  “Yeah, I really do,” I cried.

  “Then you need to talk to him. You need to tell him how you feel about the tabloids. He needs to know. And you need to trust him, trust him that he won’t cheat on you.”

  “I know he won’t. But did you see the pictures?”

  “I did. And I understand why you’re crying and why you are avoiding him. I would do the same thing.”

  “You would?” I gasped.

  “You know I would. I’m not as understanding as you. I would be pissed, and probably yell a whole lot more than you will.” She grinned.

  “You’re probably right.” I laughed with her. “But how do we make this work? I can’t see how a relationship will work when I get hurt and run over a picture. I promised him not to make any conclusions before hearing him out. And what do I do? I run, scared, at the first sight of trouble.”

  “You didn’t run. If you did, you’re terrible at hiding,” she said with a big smile on her face, like she was trying her best not to make fun of me. “I knew I would find you here when you weren’t at Liam’s house. If you wanted to run, I mean really run, you would have packed all of your stuff and Alana’s and then hit the road, driving as far away from here as you could. But you didn’t; you stayed in Hoover Ridge.”

  “I won’t take her away from him. Even if we don’t work out. He is still her father. She needs him.” I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to calm myself down.

  “I know. He needs her too, and he needs you.” Amy took my hand in hers. “He yelled at me. Me. He yelled at me to find you.”

  “He did?” I looked at her in shock. “He never yells at you.”

  “I know. He was terrified that something had happened to you or that you had left.”

  “I shouldn’t have turned off my phone. I just couldn’t talk to him.” I shrugged.

  “He will understand that.”

  We talked for a long time. I missed Amy; she always had a way of calming me. I knew she had texted Liam. She thought I didn’t see her text, but I did. I knew he would come here. But I just didn’t know if I was ready to talk to him. To hear why this happened.

  Why would someone do that? And most importantly, could I live this life? As a girlfriend of a rock star? Could we have a “normal” life? At least some privacy?

  I had so many questions, and I knew the only one who could answer them were Liam and I, together. We had to be in this together if we wanted a future as a couple. And I wanted that. I wanted him in my life. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. Marry him, have more kids with him. So why wouldn’t I talk to him?

  I was so confused right now, that I didn’t know what to do next.

  “He will be here in thirty minutes. You want me to take Alana back to Mom and Dad’s?” Amy asked me. We were outside in the yard. Alana was playing in the small sandbox.

  “I think that would be best. We can’t talk about all of this if she is here with us. She will know something is wrong. She already knows.” I looked at my daughter. She had asked me more than once today why I was sad.

  “Then let me take her back to Mom and Dad’s. That way you guys can try and work this out.”

  “Thank you. And thank you for listening to me.” I hugged her.

  “You’re welcome. And you know I’m here for you, always.” She smiled at me.

  “I know. I’m grateful for that. Let me get her things.” I walked inside and found Alana’s dolly and some other stuff. When I came back outside, I saw Amy was talking to Alana. I walked over to them.

  “Me home with Amy, Mommy.” Alana smiled at me.

  “You okay with that?” I felt like I was letting her down.

  “Yeah. Me have fun with Amy.” Alana grinned.

  “She will be okay,” Amy said when she stood up beside me.

  “I know.”

  Amy took Alana’s stroller and walked back to the ranch. She didn’t have a car seat in her car, so she was letting her car stay here and gave me the keys. That way Liam could drive it back when he came here. I knew he would be here soon. I just didn’t know if I was ready to talk to him.

  I walked back inside the house, and into my old room. I lay down on the bed and turned on my phone. I had a lot of missed calls from Liam and some from Amy. There were texts from Liam too. I didn’t read them, I just sent him a quick text before I turned off the sound.

  Me: The door is open, so you can just come in if you are coming here. Alana is with Amy back at your parents’ house.

  I heard the door open and close and knew that it was time. Liam was here. I could feel the tears in my eyes again, and I just knew that they would be running down my cheeks soon.

  “Evie, you here?” I heard Liam call out for me.

  “In here,” I answered. I didn’t get out of the bed,
I just closed my eyes and waited for him to walk into the room.

  “I’m so sorry, Sunshine,” Liam said when he walked into my room. He walked right over to the bed and sat down beside me. “Please look at me.”

  I looked up at him, but I really couldn’t see him because my eyes were full of tears. “I can’t do this,” I cried.

  “You can’t do what?” Liam asked.

  “This.” I waved my hand in front of me. “I can’t live a public life. Not if this is what I’m in for.”

  “Come here.” Liam looked at me and held his arms out for me to crawl onto his lap. “Please.” I did that because I wanted to be near him. I didn’t want to lose him. But at the same time, I didn’t know if I could do this.

  “I need you to listen to me,” Liam said, waiting for me to acknowledge him. I nodded and rested my head against his chest. “It was our old manager. He leaked the news about Alana. He also gave the tabloids my number and told them our location when we were celebrating your birthday. It was him, all of it. The pictures too.”

  “But why? How?” I hoped he understood my questions, because they didn’t make much sense.

  “We don’t know why, but probably because we fired him. His old girlfriend was Logan’s secretary; she told him about Alana and all the other stuff. She is the one in the pictures. She confessed to Logan this morning that the pictures were fake, and that Tristan wanted to ruin our career.” Liam held me close. “I’m so sorry about this.”

  “I know. But I just don’t know if I can deal with this. Will it ever end? What about next time someone has a grudge against you or one of the guys? Will it be Alana who is hurt then? I can’t let that happen.”

  “I will do everything to make this work. I mean everything. You and Alana are my first priority. I love you both very much, and I don’t want to live my life without you both in it.” His kissed me on my hair and then rested his chin on my head.

  “I won’t keep her from you, but I just don’t know how we can work this out. I need time to think. I need time to deal with this. Please give me time to come around. I need to figure out if I can live this life.” I cried again. I didn’t want him to leave me alone, but for now I needed it. “Can Alana stay with you tonight? I need some alone time.”