“From those cupcakes of yours?” he asked.
“Yup,” she said. She was hungry, but she was too happy relaxing to grab her dinner just yet.
“I’ll have to try one,” he told her before he kissed her cheek.
“You’re in luck,” she laughed as she sat up. “You get to be my guinea pig for our new flavor.”
“Really?” he asked. “When?”
“After dinner,” she told him as she grabbed the sandwiches. “But first, these.”
“I can’t believe you made all this,” he said as he took his dinner. “You’re rather talented.”
“I could say the same about you,” she said. “It was really nice hearing you sing the other day, and not just through a set of speakers.”
“Well, I dabble,” he said, playing off her compliment. “Though it was nice to sing for myself and not for other people. Not that I didn’t want you to hear it.”
“I understand,” she said before she dug into her dinner. She got to hear him, and she was glad for that, but she’d watched him as he sang. His eyes had been closed and there was a soft smile on his lips when he sang that hymn. Those words had been for him, and she counted herself lucky that she got to share in that.
“Okay, I want dessert,” Levi said the moment he finished his sandwich.
“Hold on, hold on,” Kassidy laughed as she dug to the bottom of the bag.
The chocolate sweetheart cupcake was a little squished from its ride to the park, but it split apart easily and Kassidy said a silent prayer before she took her bite. Chocolate was easy, but she wanted it to be more than easy. She wanted it to be decadent.
“Oh wow,” Levi gushed before he even swallowed. “Kass, babe, this is to die for good.”
She knew it was big of herself, but he was right. The chocolate cupcake had come out rich, yet light, and melted on her tongue. The mousse was the perfect way to top it and she let herself moan as she savored it.
“So good...” she mumbled before she polished off her half of the dessert. “Just... so good.”
“You guys are going to make a fortune off these,” Levi said. “People might copy your style, but wow, the flavor. Now that’s special.”
“Thanks,” she said as she reached up and wiped a bit of chocolate off the corner of his perfect lips.
“I have to ask,” Levi began once he’d finished his cupcake. “These weren’t inspired by me, where they?”
From the look on his face, it was obvious that he knew her feelings for him had inspired her, at least to some degree. She didn’t deny it, and instead she nodded.
“I saw the broken moulds linked together and it was these two hearts linked as one,” she said. “So I decided to try something new. Strawberry is my favorite flavor, and they went so well with the shape. I mean, they came out this amazing shade of pink. It was perfect.”
“You’re perfect,” he told her as he leaned down and kissed her. “Kassidy, you’re amazing.”
Her heart fluttered at his words and her eyes locked on his. This is it, she told herself. This has to be it.
But he didn’t say what she wanted to hear. He kissed her again, soft and gentle, and then curled up beside her on the blanket.
“Don’t ever change,” he told her as he trailed his fingers down her bare arm. His touch was soft and loving, and yet he still couldn’t say the words to match.
“Um, it’s getting kind of late,” Kassidy told him when it became all too clear more words weren’t coming. She wasn’t lying though, the sun was starting to set and she would need to be up long before the bakery opened to get started on the chocolate sweethearts if she planned on launching them the next day.
“Okay,” Levi said and he helped her pack up what they’d brought with them.
The ride home wasn’t the same gleeful race that going to the park had been, but Kassidy didn’t mind. He was taking his time with the bike and she was glad of it. Despite the fact that he hadn’t said those words to her, the night had been perfect and even if he never said it, she wanted to be with him. Not just for the summer, but forever, and she hoped things never changed.
But as they pulled back into town, Kassidy realised that her wish would never come true. Ahead of them, the setting sun was stretching their shadows down Main Street and they almost didn’t see the group of a dozen men and women on either side of the street with their cameras raised. As the bike slowed to a stop outside the Olsen family bakery, the flashes began and they blinded Kassidy.
Someone had discovered where Levi had been hiding, and the paparazzi had made it their business to find him. It was then that she realised it was only a matter of time before his record company decided to make an appearance.
Chapter Eighteen
“Leave your helmet on,” Levi yelled over the cacophony of clicks and photographers yelling Levi’s name. Everything was a surreal blur as he jumped off the bike and grabbed her hand.
There was no moment to pause, no second to find out what was going on. Levi had her hard by the hand and was dragging her to the front door of her apartment, all while photographers fought to get a better picture of Levi and the mystery woman who had been on the back of his motorcycle.
It wasn’t until they were safely inside with the door locked behind them that Levi took off his helmet and Kassidy did the same.
“Why couldn’t I take my helmet off?” Kassidy asked. There were a thousand questions running through her mind, but somehow that was the one that managed to slip out her lips.
“So they didn’t see your face,” he told her while photographers pounded on the door outside. “They’ll never leave you alone if they see your face.”
“Oh,” Kassidy said. “Now what?”
“Now we need to figure out how they knew I was here,” Levi said with a heavy sigh. “Do you have a computer I could use?”
“Sure,” Kassidy said and she led the way up the steps into the apartment. “Mom?” she called. “Dad?”
There was no answer and Kassidy said, “Maybe they went out.”
“I’m sure they’ll be happy to come home to all this outside,” Levi said before he pressed his fingers into his temples. He was eerily quiet, his voice never above a soft whisper, but then suddenly he growled, “Damn.”
“Are you okay?” Kassidy asked him as she spun to look at him. His fingers were still on his temples and his forehead was heavily creased.
“No,” he told her honestly. “I didn’t want them knowing I was here. Not now, not ever. I wanted to do this on my terms and whoever told them I was here took that from me. From us.”
“I’m sorry,” Kassidy said when she wasn’t sure what else to say. She wanted to help him, but beyond comfort, she was at a total loss as to what she could do for him.
“It’s not your fault,” he sighed again. “Come on, let’s go on the computer and see if I can’t get this sorted out.”
Kassidy’s parents had an old desktop that ran Windows XP that they’d never seen the point in upgrading. It sat in the living room and was out in the open, but it was slow and rarely ever even turned on.
The only other choice was the computer in Kassidy’s bedroom. It had been a gift to herself after years of saving the small hourly rate her parents gave her for her time spent in the bakery. It had taken a long time, but a year ago she’d bought herself a top of the line computer in hopes of building her family’s bakery a website. Now that the cupcakes were taking off, she realised she needed to revisit that goal when she got the chance.
But she didn’t have time for that right now. She had to show Levi into her bedroom and hope her parents didn’t come home to discover him in there before they were done.
That wasn’t her only problem. She hadn’t updated her bedroom since she was eleven years old, save the odd change of poster on the wall and new bedding once in a while.
The soft yellow walls and the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling were just the tip of the iceberg when it came to her childish bedroom. She still had t
he same stuffed kitten she’d grown up with, a pile of half read books on the floor beside her bed, and her mirror was covered in photos from high school.
“Sorry it’s a mess,” she found herself muttering as she put her helmet on the post at the end of her bed.
“It’s not a mess,” Levi said, though his voice didn’t carry the same lightness she was getting used to. “It’s pretty cute, actually.”
“I haven’t really had time to decorate since I was a kid,” she told him as she sat down at her tiny Ikea desk.
“I noticed,” Levi said before he kissed the top of her head. “It’s cute though, I promise.”
“Well, thanks,” she told him as she logged into her computer. “What should I search?”
“Just my name,” he said.
Kassidy started with his name. Instantly, millions of results came up and Kassidy tried to take them all in, but she couldn’t. News, fan sites, pictures, photoshops of pictures to show Levi with his shirt off, all of it was there in a click and her mouth went dry at the sheer volume of it.
“Oh... my...” she mumbled as she scanned the page.
She had been tempted to Google him before, and even more tempted after they’d started dating, but she’d always stopped herself before she finished typing in his name. It was this kind of result that Kassidy had feared, and it was even crazier in person. It made Levi being famous real, and she wasn’t sure she was ready to deal with that.
“Try adding Pinewood Grove,” Levi told her as he leaned over her shoulder. He wasn’t fazed like she was by the mass of results. It must have been old hat for him, but Kassidy wasn’t sure she could ever get used to it.
The results weren’t nearly as numerous, but there were some very fresh ones popping up from only a few hours earlier. Most had headlines that shouted, “Fable Heart Singer Shows up in Small Town,” but a couple mentioned Pinewood Grove by name.
“But how?” Levi mumbled, but then Kassidy found a link that was more than just a blurb. There was a YouTube video at the bottom of the page and without speaking, Kassidy clicked play.
It was just a shaky cellphone video, but even without full screening it, Kassidy recognised where it was taken. The church in town, with everyone in attendance singing How Great Thou Art.
“Oh no...” Kassidy whispered as the video panned over to Levi singing. Though blurry, there was no denying it was him, his eyes closed and lost in the song.
Kassidy’s heart sunk. That had been their moment, her time to hear him sing in a place that meant so much to her. And now that moment had been stolen from them both.
“Who posted that?” Levi growled. “Who?”
Kassidy hovered the mouse over the link to the YouTube page the video originated from, but she didn’t want to click it. Even without looking, she knew where it was from, but she didn’t want to accept it.
“Kass, click the link,” Levi said and with a sigh, she did as he asked.
There it was, Addison’s YouTube page. There were fifty videos in total, each featuring her singing. Most were her singing cover songs in her bedroom while she strummed her guitar, a few were her singing in church, a couple at local events, but the one with the most views wasn’t of her at all. It was of Levi singing in their church.
“That... that...” Levi seethed, but Kassidy stopped him before he said something he couldn’t take back.
“I’ll call her,” Kassidy said. “Please, just let me talk to her. There’s got to be a reason she posted that.”
“For attention,” Levi said, his face red with anger, but Kassidy grabbed her phone and called her best friend.
“Addison?” Kassidy asked when the call connected, but her friend didn’t reply with a hello or anything else intelligible. Instead, there were only sniffles and light sobbing.
“Kass?” her friend finally replied. “Oh Kass, I am so, so sorry. I saw those people outside your place. It’s all my fault.”
“What happened?” Kassidy asked.
“I didn’t think it would get this big,” Addison tried to explain. “I only posted it to get attention for my other videos and now I’ve wrecked everything. I’m so sorry, it wasn’t my intent to make a mess. I just wanted someone to see my videos.”
“Addison, I don’t... I don’t know what to say.” That much was true. Kassidy knew how much her best friend wanted to be a singer, but she knew this wasn’t the way to do it.
“I didn’t want to tell them,” Addison continued. “But I kept getting phone calls. I don’t even know how they got my number. They called and called and I was so good at not telling them where we live, but then someone claimed to be a producer wanting to fly out to meet with me for my music. The second I said Pinewood Grove they hung up and I knew it was a scam. Oh Kassidy, please don’t hate me,” Addison sobbed. “If I could take it back, I totally would, but I don’t know how.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Kassidy sighed. “Addison, I have to go.”
“Please tell him I’m sorry,” Addison said. “I know he just wanted to lay low and I screwed it up.”
She wasn’t wrong about that, but Kassidy knew her friend felt bad enough. It was a mistake, a stupid mistake, but it was done and there was nothing to do but move past it.
“So?” Levi asked her, the redness beginning to leave his cheeks.
“She didn’t mean to blow your cover,” she said. “She just wanted attention for her own videos. She really wants to be a singer.”
“If she was that desperate, she could have asked me to help her out,” Levi grumbled. “I would have sent a demo to someone for her.”
“It’s too late now,” Kassidy said. “She got tricked into telling someone where we are. It’s not her fault, not really.”
Levi’s face softened some, but only to reveal the deep lines of concern that lingered behind.
“Is everything going to be okay?” Kassidy asked him, though she was scared of the answer.
“Yeah,” Levi said, though his expression betrayed him. “They’ll give up in time and I was going to have to have this conversation with my manager sooner or later. I’ll get it sorted out, don’t worry.”
“Okay,” Kassidy said. She wanted to tell him how worried she was about the whole thing, but he had enough on his plate as it was. She needed to be by his side, not putting more on his shoulders and she squeezed his hand to assure him it would be okay.
“So now what?” he asked. “I can’t just walk out the front door.”
“There’s a fire escape in my parents’ room,” she told him. “It’s not glamorous, but it’ll get you out without being seen. If you want to go, that is.”
“I don’t want to,” he said as he took a step back so Kassidy could get up from where she was sitting. “I probably should, though.”
He was right, as much as she didn’t want to admit it. Her parents could come home at any minute and having the photographers outside would take enough explaining. Levi being in their home would only make things worse.
“It’s kind of like Romeo and Juliet,” Levi said as he began to climb out the window of her parents’ bedroom.
“Don’t say that,” Kassidy said as she kissed his cheek. She’d read that play and she knew how it ended for the star-crossed lovers. That wasn’t the fate she wanted for her and Levi.
“Okay, okay,” he said as he kissed the back of her hand. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Sure,” Kassidy told him, though she wasn’t holding out much hope. He was probably going to be dealing with enough phone calls as it was.
Effortlessly, he knocked the ladder down and climbed down to the alley below. Like a wraith in the night, he slipped away and Kassidy finally let herself shiver with the nerves she’d been holding in since they saw the first photographer.
Chapter Nineteen
By sticking to the shadows and slipping between houses, Levi was able to get back to Mary Alice’s boarding house before any of the paparazzi who’d been waiting around for him on Main Street could spot
him.
It had been late, he’d been tired, and yet when he got into the old bed with the broken springs, he hadn’t been able to sleep. His mind was racing and his blood had been boiling, but most of all his mind kept wavering fury and fear.
He knew how the photographers had found where he was, and he had to assume that someone in town probably mentioned that he’d been dating Kassidy while he was there. A question here or there would have been innocent enough, and then all they would have to do was wait until he showed up to snap a picture that they could sell to the highest bidder.
He should have just kept driving with her on the back of his bike, but he’d instantly gone on autopilot. There were only a few of them, but photographers had jumped in front of his motorcycle before and he was in no mood to trash the bike for the second time in under a month.
The worst thing was how he had tossed Kassidy right into the middle of it all. The last thing he’d wanted to do was hurt her, and now he’d thrown her into the hornets’ nest. Those photographers would wait outside until Levi made himself known again, but he’d had no choice but to leave her place for the night.
She’ll be okay, he tried to assure himself. Kassidy was stronger than she let on, and smarter too. If anything, she might be able to use the photographers to her advantage. With a bunch of pictures of them outside the Olsen family bakery, their pictures would make for great free publicity she could use if she played it right.
But there was something else weighing on his mind while he tried to sleep. There was a voicemail waiting for him on his phone and he recognised the number it came from. His manager had called him for the first time in three or four days and there was no doubt in his mind that Marko was somewhere nearby and itching to talk with him.
Tossing in bed served him no good and finally at three AM he grabbed his phone and played the message that was waiting for him.
“Levi, man, you are a hard one to track down when you want to be,” his manager’s voice echoed in his ears. “Look, I caught the first flight out of LA when I heard you were in... where are we? Pinewood Grove. Yes, well, seems this place doesn’t have a motel so Dean and I are going to search for a place to stay for the night. Call me when you get this, man. Don’t leave us hanging.”
Melodies of the Heart: A Pinewood Grove Sweet Romance Page 12
