Gibson had gone with his gut and reacted the way he did when he’d found out about Simon and me because he wanted to protect me. Unfortunately, his gut was healthier than mine. I sighed, heavily. How could I have been so wrong?
From the moment I stepped off the bus that morning, I was determined to move forward with my life and after my period of wallowing in self-pity about Simon, I was certain he’d played me like all the others.
There was still a job to do, and as the leader of my band, I had to ensure they were happy. The best way to do that was to enlist Kerr’s support and organize a team day out.
The man was full of ideas for what to do, but as Sears Tower had been one of my bucket list places everyone appeared as keen as me to visit it.
From the ground, Willis (Sears) Tower looked like any other skyscraper up close, but weaving our way around the crowds with our VIP status and entering the elevator that rocketed up to the top, gave me a sense of how spectacular it must have been when it first opened in the 1970s.
Stepping out on the top floor, I caught my breath when I looked at the panoramic view. My hungry eyes scanned left and right, and I was fascinated at how small most of the other buildings appeared below us.
It was different from being in an airplane. Speechless, I stood captivated as my mind built a memory for a sight that I knew would stay with me for the rest of my life.
“Let’s see how brave you are,” Kerr said, quickly grasping my hand. Less than a minute later I stood facing a glass bottomed platform with buildings so far below they looked like tiny boxes in the distance. I swallowed nervously but knew I hadn’t taken many risks in my life that had happy outcomes and nodded.
“Yep, no problem I can do this,” I said, sounding much braver than I felt as my feet reluctantly shuffled against the edge. Kerr chuckled, and I glanced up at him with a fearful look. “You’re sure this is safe, right?”
“Safer than the risks most people take,” he reassured me, and half tugged me onto the glass with him. Petra held her phone up to take a picture, and I immediately pulled my hand out of Kerr’s like I had been burned and with that Kerr immediately put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side.
“Don’t,” he snapped, clearly annoyed I had shunned him. I knew what he had done was spontaneous, but I didn’t need yet another round of negative press.
“Anyone for pizza?” Austin asked a few minutes later, rubbing his stomach, “Can’t come to Chicago and not have pizza,” he advised. His comment gave me an easy way out of the potentially awkward conversation with Kerr.
“Sounds fantastic,” I agreed, stepping off the platform and heading back toward the elevator. Austin, Wyatt, and I chatted excitedly about the view, while Isiah took another hundred pictures from his cell phone.
Meanwhile Petra and Kerr dropped back a way, and I knew instinctively they were talking about me.
As we entered the elevator to take us back to street level, the attendant was intent on cramming us all together and I found myself standing facing the front with a guy in his thirties standing to my side.
“Oh, God, you’re that Piper, aren’t you?” he asked in a surprised tone. I glanced in his direction and he smiled widely, “You’re her, right?”
Heat rose to my cheeks as my shoulders hunched and I lowered my gaze, “I…” I shook my head, confused at how to answer. I wasn’t famous, I had only done a little more than a handful of concerts, a few TV interviews, and a couple of malls.
Thankfully the elevator doors opened, and I pushed past Isiah to make space between the guy and me, “I’m not really hungry. I’m going to grab a cab and head back to the hotel. You guys have fun. I’m meeting someone from my family later, so I guess I’ll be having dinner with him,” I told them in a rush.
Kerr hurried after me, catching my forearm right before I made it out to the street. “You okay, Piper? Up there, I didn’t really think about—”
Quickly, I explained I was a little paranoid about the press and when the guy in the elevator had recognized me it had freaked me out a little.
Once I convinced him I really did have a dinner date with my dad, Kerr looked relieved he had done nothing wrong and went off to join the others for a late lunch.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Excitement and dread filled me in equal measure as I waited for Gibson to let me know when he had arrived. I didn’t have to wait long before there was a knock on my hotel room door.
At first, I had figured it was the housekeeping staff but when I looked through the spyhole I saw Jonny, Gibson’s bodyguard outside waiting for me.
When I opened the door, relief washed through me. Even Jonny was a welcome familiar face.
“All set, sweetheart?” he asked glancing toward the bank of elevators.
Grabbing my purse and jacket, I followed him out of the room. Instead of turning left toward the elevators, he led me down the corridor to a stairwell at the far end.
We didn’t talk at all on the way down and I thought I’d go dizzy from all floor numbers we passed.
It was then that I realized why I had been placed on the seventh floor of the hotel and the rest of my band around twenty more floors above me.
Jonny weaved his way through a laundry room with me following closely, then he hit an exit bar on a door and I immediately saw a black Mercedes sports car waiting in the alleyway.
Jerry, Gibson’s other security detail was the driver, but that was all I could see until Jonny opened the door and Gibson came into view.
A beaming smile spread over his face as he held out his hand, and my heart swelled with joy when I finally saw him.
“Look at you, baby girl,” Gibson said, yanking me inside to sit next to him.
Stretching his arm along the seat behind me, he hurriedly grabbed me and gave me a tight squeeze of affection before tilting his head back to look at me.
“Been hearing great things about you, Piper,” he admitted, and I flashed him a winning smile.
“Figure you’re only around six months to a year before you get your own tour. I gotta hand it to you, darlin’, you’re far more ballsy than I gave you credit for. Layla told me you’re a dream to work with. You’re already riding high in her estimation.”
“Thanks, it hasn’t felt like that this last few days,” I confessed.
“I take it there’s been no word from Simon?” Gibson’s body language stiffened as he instinctively knew I was referring to all the press coverage we’d had.
I shook my head because I couldn’t bring myself to say the words and swallowed several times to keep my tears at bay.
“Fuck knows what he’s playing at. He hasn’t answered my calls either, Piper. Chloe’s convinced he’s shitting himself for the moment I get a hold of him.”
“No, Gibson. I don’t want you fighting my battles. You and Simon need to work together. I’m a big girl. If there’s anything to be said I’ll do the talking. You did warn me,” I added before he had the opportunity to lecture me. “This is my own fault for trusting him.” I shrugged as the man who had sworn to protect me gave me a grave look.
Running a hand through his hair in frustration, he shook it then eyed me seriously, “I don’t know what the fuck to think because I saw the way he looked at you… the way he was around you. Piper, he did behave differently with you, then…” he shrugged and sighed. “Guess we’ll learn soon enough when he surfaces.”
Frustration radiated off Gibson as he talked about Simon because there wasn’t much Gibson couldn’t do about a situation when he put his mind to it. Except he couldn’t save me from being hurt by Simon McLennan—not that he hadn’t tried.
“I’m not gonna lie to you, I really thought he’d turned a corner with you. As much as I hated the thought of you two together, he didn’t put a foot wrong until now.” He sighed again and turned the window down in the car a tad, allowing the cool fresh air from outside to waft through the back of the saloon.
The heavy heart I’d struggled with since Si
mon left suddenly felt ten times heavier for airing how I felt to Gibson and hearing the hurt in his voice in return.
Whatever the reason Simon had stayed away, neither of us could think of any possible plausible excuse for the length of time he’d been away and his maintained silence.
It appeared Gibson had a personal list of his favorite ‘hidden gem’ restaurants everywhere. Since I had lived with them, I knew of several small backwater places in Colorado the Barclays used for private dinner parties.
The one he took me to for dinner in Chicago was, broadly speaking, the same type of small, Italian, family run affair. Except apart from Jonny and Jerry, we were the only two people dining.
Three hours at dinner wasn’t nearly enough time for me because once Gibson had gotten past the subject of Simon, the evening was exactly what I had needed.
I’d forgotten how great a storyteller he was, and it was only when Jonny came to remind Gibson about the flight slot they had booked for the return to Gibson’s ranch that the evening wound down to an end.
Dropping me back at the hotel, Jerry reversed into the alleyway again and Jonny got out with me to walk me back. Gibson kissed me on the cheek and hugged me tight.
“Try not to dwell on how Simon has treated you. Not all guys are the same. You could do much better anyway,” he said with a wink. “Everything will work out, baby girl, and you will be right where you should be. Trust me, if it was meant to be, he’d be here with you now,” he added. His jaw ticked again, and I could see he was barely holding back his temper.
Smiling innocently like his words hadn’t impacted on me, I reached for the handle of the door Jonny held open and made my way out, hiding how wounded I felt by Gibson's remark. A wave of emotion swelled in my throat and suddenly I didn’t want to hang around.
Turning, I made my way down the alley and had just reached the street when Jerry pulled alongside me and Gibson wound his window down. “Piper, you forgot this, darlin’,” he called after me.
Spinning on my heels at the sound of his voice, I ran quickly back toward him and grabbed my purse. He pulled my head toward the window and kissed my cheek again. “See you a week from Sunday,” he said, reminding me of my girl date with Chloe and Melody.
Hastily, I nodded and turned once again, heading inside the hotel. Taking the elevator this time, I arrived in my suite as the hotel room phone began to ring. “We have a message from Mr. McLennan for you. Would you please call suite fourteen-twenty-one?” the polite sounding receptionist enquired.
Simon? Suite? I cleared my throat, “Where?” I asked, my voice maybe an octave higher than usual.
“McLennan is in suite fourteen-twenty-one. Would you like me to connect you?”
“Connect me?” I was starting to sound like a parrot. “You mean he’s here… in this hotel?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Would you like me to connect you?” the male reception caller asked patiently.
“No… no thank you,” I said as my mind went into chaos.
“Would you like to leave a message?” he enquired, with a note of surprise in his Southern tone.
Heading over to the small wet bar with my heart beating so fast I could feel the pulsing in my mouth, I grabbed a bottle of water and twisted off the lid. Icy cold liquid passed over my lips and I took a long suck of it down. It felt like I was swallowing shards of glass.
“Ma’am?” the caller asked again when I hadn’t replied.
“No… yes, tell him to go to hell. I have nothing to say to him, thank you,” I replied and slammed down the handset.
For a few seconds my mind was numb, then came rage. It soared through me like wildfire. “What the fuck does he take me for? He thinks he can mug me off for someone else and come crawling back?
Does Simon think I’m that naïve? Hell will freeze over before he’ll get into my bed again,” I muttered aloud to myself after quickly discarding the thought.
How did I allow myself to get into such a mess? My music career was going incredibly well and my personal one was completely fucked.
Buzzing sounds came from my purse and I pulled out my vibrating cell. When I saw Gibson’s face, I almost freaked because he had the most amazing intuition for calling at the most inopportune moments.
“Hey,” I answered, trying to keep my voice even.
“Did he call you?” Gibson said ignoring all pleasantries.
“Who?” I asked knowing full well what this conversation was about.
“Simon… the fucker. He said he’s at your hotel now,” he replied. Gibson’s anger radiated through his voice. “I’m coming back,” he muttered, “Turn the fucking car around,” he said, I presumed to Jerry who had been driving when they left.
“No, please, Gibson, it’s fine. I’m fine. He’s not coming here. I refused to take his call.”
“And you think that’ll stop him? He’s in your hotel. I give him thirty minutes to find out what room you’re in. You have no idea the lengths he will go to when he wants something. I’ll be with you in ten.”
The sound of the call dropping told me Gibson was done talking and he was on his way back, but before I could draw breath my cell rang again.
Simon’s call was instantly recognizable from the ringtone of “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” by Selena Gomez I’d attached to his number.
I was inclined to answer and scream at him, but I figured maybe that would be what he’d expect, so I let it go to voicemail instead.
When a knock came at the door a few minutes later, I opened it thinking it was Gibson, only to find Simon standing before me. “Hey, Princess,” he greeted as he flashed me his signature sexy as sin smile that would normally have made me melt on the spot.
The adrenaline coursing through my body at the shock from the sight of him should have fueled me with anger. Pictures of him with that woman and her teenage kids. I had felt humiliated. He has a cheek coming to face me like this.
“Are you fucking serious right now?” I asked in an incredulous tone.
A couple came out of one of the rooms a few doors down and glanced at us standing in the doorway as they passed. Simon shielded his face, but he wasn’t quick enough.
“Oh. My. God, you’re Simon McLennan,” the girl said, giving him a salacious smile even though she hung on her boyfriend’s arm.
“Keep moving, babe,” Simon snapped, “I know who the fuck I am,” he muttered and turned his back to the girl.
“Oy, you don’t get to speak to my girl like that,” her burly boyfriend replied through gritted teeth.
“Then get a stronger leash on her, buddy. She’s hanging onto your arm and eye-fucking me,” he informed him in an angry tone.
Before the guy could come back at him a noise at the bottom of the corridor saw Jonny step out, closely followed by Gibson.
“Fuck,” Simon cussed and blew out a breath.
“Get the fuck away from her,” Gibson bellowed down the hallway, “Piper, inside now.” Both spectators from the other room stood with their jaws hanging open in shock and I wanted to disappear.
“Stop it, Gibson, I can handle this.” I objected to my personal life being made a spectacle of.
“I told you to stay away from her,” Gibson shouted as I grabbed Simon by the shirt sleeve and pulled him inside. Gibson followed quickly with Jonny, who closed the hotel room door with a bang.
“Jesus fucking Christ, will no one let me explain what went down?”
“Yeah, like we’re all ears after your week in the Caribbean. Can’t wait to hear you wiggle your way out of this one. You’ve played this poor girl and I’m so fucking angry right now I don’t trust myself to get up close to you,” Gibson added.
“Please, stop!” I said shouting above them. My heart raced as my chest tightened with the anxiety building inside.
All three men in the room stared at me and everything I felt inside must have been expressed on the outside because both Simon and Gibson immediately came to comfort me.
“Back off,” Gibson
told Simon as he pulled me in for a hug.
“For God’s sake,” Simon huffed, “If you’d just listen, I can explain. You’re the last people who should take note of what it says in the press.” Gibson growled, then nodded after a short pause.
“Personally, I think you’re gonna have to pull an oversized rabbit out of your ass, make it fart glitter and shit gold to win me over,” he said, grunting as he sat on the bed. He blew out a long breath and glanced at Jonny, “Can you believe the gall of this clown?”
Simon inhaled a deep breath and exhaled it nervously, “All right. Look, I’ve never spoken about this before, and I never intended on doing so either, but because of developments in the last couple of years and my relationship with Piper that position has changed. Before I tell you where I was, I have to say I was going to discuss this with Piper. I almost did then decided to wait until after she had finished her tour. I just didn’t want anything to derail the high she was on.”
“That was your first fail,” Gibson interjected, prompting the stink eye from Simon.
“You want to hear this or not? Like it’s any of your business anyway,” Simon threw back in a defiant tone.
When a pause stretched in the conversation Simon tried again.
“We’ve all seen the pictures of me on the Mitchell’s yacht in the press?”
All three men’s heads bobbed in unison, including his own, and I wondered how the hell he had hoped to dig himself out of the hole he was in. Even Jonny was scowling.
“Piper… please bear in mind this is not how I wanted to do this,” Simon stared intensely, his eyes pleading for understanding.
“This week was the Mitchells’ twins’ birthdays and years ago I made a promise to attend their thirteenth birthday.”
“And that was more important than your girlfriend’s debut gig?”
He sighed. “On this occasion, yes, because this was a promise I made a lifetime ago.”
Gibson scoffed, “I’ve heard everything now. Since when did you care about anyone but yourself?” Shaking his head incredulously, Gibson folded his arms. “We’re all ears, Si, and this better be good, because while you were off playing happy families your ‘Princess’ here was taking the biggest risk of her life and her so-called man was nowhere in sight to support her.”
Piper: A Last Score Spin Off Page 28
