by J. M. Nevins
PLATINUM
J.M. Nevins
NIMBLE MINX PRESS
COPYRIGHT AND CREDITS
NIMBLE MINX PRESS
32158 Camino Capistrano, Ste. A, PMB 370
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, or locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by J.M. Nevins
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Nimble Minx Press at www.nimbleminx.com/contact/
CREDITS:
Cover design courtesy of Pixel Studio
Cover photograph: © iofoto (pretty woman)
DEDICATION
To all the unsung heroes behind the scenes that never get enough credit in making platinum dreams come true.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COPYRIGHT AND CREDITS
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER_2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHART TOPPERS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To my entire family, immediate and extended, especially my amazing little brother, Dan, for your creative, entertaining spirit. Thank you all for your constant, unending love and support of my writing and me.
To my ultimate bestie, Teri McCarty who is still totally rocking it and an eternal supporter of my work and me.
To all that have helped along the way, pledged your undying support to me, this series, or all the above. A huge thanks to: Chris Baseford, Jeff Brooks, Christopher Cano, Indigo Charles, Sean E Demott, Richard Danielson, Ray Davies, Susanna Gaffney, Chanel Green, Greg Gurniak, Leslie Holst, Marc Lisheski, Jeff McCarty, Karyn McIvor, Mitchy the cat (RIP), Wendy Smith, Audrey Shelton-Townson, Jana Watkins, and Siri Shiva S. Yogiji.
And thank you to God for continually guiding my steps and making all of this possible.
CHAPTER 1
Sully stirred hearing a key turn in the front door. He groaned feeling the stiffness of his muscles from dozing off in a chair the night before. He easily slipped back into a light sleep.
“Sully?” Fred softly inquired. He didn’t stir. Fred rattled his arm and spoke more firmly. “Hey, man. Wake up.”
His steel blue eyes popped open and he stared up at Fred, startled. He relaxed when he recognized him. He forced a grin and yawned. “Hey, what’s up? You just get here? What time is it?” He uttered sleepily as he stretched.
“About six. What are you doing sleeping down here?”
Memories of the night before flooded Sully’s consciousness and quickly created a nagging knot in the pit of his stomach. He let out a defeated sigh. “I fell asleep out here waiting for Kit to come home.”
Fred raised his eyebrows. “What time did she get in?”
Sully shrugged his shoulders and stood up. “No idea, man. Gimme a bit. I’m gonna go take a shower. I’ll meet you out in the studio in a few.”
“Cool. I’ll make some coffee.”
Sully strolled into Kit’s bedroom, fully expecting to see her sleeping peacefully. He immediately noticed the perfectly made bed and quickly assessed that either she didn’t come home the night before, or she slept elsewhere in the house. He went on a manic search of all the rooms in the house and didn’t find one trace of her.
He ran out to the garage and noticed her Diamond Records’ Mercedes-Benz was missing. Before thoroughly jumping to conclusions, he decided to give her a call at the office on the off chance she had gone in early. He knew it was a long shot. Kit wasn’t much of an early morning person unless she had to be. He called and got her voicemail. He hastily hung up and called Alexa, then Maxine, sadly finding that neither of them knew where she was.
Sully sat behind the desk in her office trying to comprehend where she could possibly be. He struggled to remain calm. It wasn’t working. His heart was racing and worry consumed his thoughts. He wasn’t sure what to do. His breathing became more shallow and panicked. He called her car phone and her beeper. Both were dead ends.
He sat back and huffed. Worst-case scenarios and potential scandals plagued his mind. He gulped, feeling uneasy, and hoped this wasn’t the beginning of the end of them and everything they had built together.
The high stakes game of public success zoomed higher by the minute to a fever pitch. They had both been too busy to notice the cracks under pressure, until now. He realized this had been going on for months and neither of them had taken the time to pay attention. He hoped it wasn’t too late to reverse what had happened and prayed that whatever negative damage was done could be easily undone before everything they had worked for got blown to pieces.
When Kit arrived at the Beverly Hills Police Department in the wee hours of the morning after being detained in the back of a squad car, she was surprised by the turn of events that took place. They led her through the booking area without stopping. She was confused, but silently complied. When they passed the unsavory holding cell without pause, she was perplexed. She was desperate for answers. They led her to a private office where they sat her down and promptly released her from the tight handcuffs placed around her small wrists. The officer looked at her and sternly commanded, “Wait here. Sergeant Dow will be in with you in a minute.”
She let out a long exhale and shook her head in disbelief. She was still completely ashamed that she let her wild temper and poor choices take over. They had landed her there.
Her thoughts immediately went to Sully. She could still feel the embers of anger and betrayal burning within her, remembering their argument from the night before and the venomous words he had spewed at her. The anger subsided quickly in favor of uneasiness and guilt. Although she and Sully were at odds now, she had no doubt he was worried about her whereabouts. She felt that deeply within her soul and it didn’t feel very good.
Sergeant Dow entered the room and pulled her back into the present moment. “Good morning, Ms. McKenna.”
She glanced up at him briefly and then cast her eyes down, mortified she was sitting there in the first place. When she finally responded, her voice squeaked out like a barely audible croak. “Morning, Sergeant.”
He sat across from her and opened a file. He reviewed the contents and closed the file again, shaking his head in disgust. “Well, Kathryn, looks like today is your lucky day.” He reached across the desk and surrendered her black, snakeskin clutch.
She looked up at him and wondered if he was serious or playing some sick, twisted game with her. She reluctantly took her clutch back into possession, noticing it hadn’t been opened. She frowned. “Ok, so what happens now?”
He sighed. “You’re a special case. You have friends in high places, Ms. McKenna. We pulled you over suspecting drunk driving…” He paused. Kit sensed he wanted to say something else, but he bit his tongue. She knew he was lying when he continued. “But, it seems we were mistaken. You are free to go. However, you will have to appear in court at a later date for your reckless driving infraction. You
r car is in the impound lot. As I understand, it’s already in process. You’ll have it back later today. Also, I’ve been informed that a limousine has been sent for you. The driver is waiting out front.”
Kit stared at him, stunned, and thought the sergeant was off his rocker. She was still drunk and wouldn’t be surprised if there were traces of drugs in her bloodstream. There was no doubt about that. She knew she was far above the legal limit. On top of it all, she completely reeked of alcohol and cigarettes. She frowned, confused. “Um, ok. Sergeant Dow, why the sudden change of heart?”
He nodded stoically. “Like I said, Ms. McKenna. You’ve got connections. We normally frown on situations like this, but sometimes they can’t be avoided. You’re a part of the Diamond Records executive team, from what I hear a very valuable one, and you’re also a member of the American Bar Association, which obviously would make you a lawyer, not that we haven’t had them in here for similar situations.
“We run into high profile situations like this from time to time. I spoke with Lewis Diamond and he personally vouched for you. He noted that he cannot have this showing up anywhere in the press or your record, so we’re logging this incident as reckless driving. Mr. Diamond has been a very generous contributor to this city and our department. Do you have any questions?”
She swallowed hard and shook her head. “No. Thank you, Sergeant.”
Kit walked out of the police department minutes later, smoking a cigarette and thanking her lucky stars. She had managed to smoke almost a full pack since she left the house the night before. Considering she would only have a cigarette here or there on occasion, she became alarmed. She starkly realized that she had gone off the deep end.
She felt both relief and apprehension when she noticed the black stretch limousine awaiting her. As she approached in her crumpled party clothes from the night before, the driver rushed to open the door for her. She gulped and stopped in her tracks. She instantly recognized the license plate, ‘GEM RCD1.’ She closed her eyes for a moment and let out a long breath of defeat. She knew this was Lew’s limousine. She prayed he wasn’t sitting inside waiting for her.
She climbed in and was relieved to see she was alone. She leaned back and closed her eyes. Once the car started moving, she lowered the partition and urgently yelled out to the driver. “Pull over! I’m going to be sick.”
The limousine made two more stops before it pulled past the gates and into the circular driveway in front of Kit’s home. She was relieved she didn’t ruin the interior of Lew’s precious limousine. The driver was astute enough to pull over quickly at her command. Now that it sat stationary, steps from her front door, she hesitated. She took a deep breath and got out. She noticed Fred’s car and hoped that Sully was busy in the studio. He and Fred had developed a routine of starting early.
She thanked the driver and used her key. She walked into the foyer, threw her clutch on the small table and closed the door quietly. She smelled the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and knew there had been recent activity in the kitchen. Relieved that no one was in sight, she made her way for the staircase to go up to her bedroom. Her stilettos clicked on the marble floor, echoing loudly, and giving her away.
Sully jumped to attention and ran out of her office. “Kit? Kit is that you?”
She grimaced and stopped, keeping her back to him. He was the last person she wanted to deal with. She slowly turned around to face him, feeling shame and guilt wash over her once again.
His eyes widened seeing the state she was in. “Did you just get home? Those are the same clothes you were wearing last night. It’s six-thirty, Kit! Where the hell were you?”
She glared. “Last I checked, you are not my keeper.”
He sighed. He could tell something had gone severely awry, but didn’t want to make matters worse. “Ok, let’s not start fighting again. Clearly, you had a rough night. You’re right, it’s none of my damn business.” He shook his head, threw his hands up in frustration and turned around to walk away.
She leaned forward and reached out for his hand. “Sull, wait.”
He turned to face her. Her anguished, emerald green eyes met his. “You’re right. It was a rough night. I was pulled over by the Beverly Hills police for drunk driving. My car’s at the impound lot. Lew found out all about this. He sent his limo to bring me home.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “It was horrible. I was so scared.” She broke down crying.
Sully took her into his arms and held her. He smoothed her hair and closed his eyes, wondering how things had gotten so screwed up. He started to feel guilty that he drove her to this. “It’s gonna be ok, Kit. We’ll get this figured out.”
She pulled back and shook her head. “No, this time I don’t think we can. I’ve really done it. I’ve completely fucked up.” She broke free from him. “I need to sleep this off. I can’t talk about this, or us or anything right now.” She bolted up the stairs, leaving Sully standing there powerless.
He let out a long sigh and contemplated going after her, until Jimmy came barreling through the front door. His guitar case swung toward the small entry table, knocking Kit’s clutch to the ground, its contents spilling all over the marble floor in the foyer. He grimaced. “Uh oh.”
Hearing the commotion, Sully rushed into the foyer and found Jimmy who had set his guitar case down in hopes of cleaning up his mess. He shook his head and looked up as he crouched down. “Sorry, Sull. Knocked this clear off the table.”
Sully crouched down to join him, seizing a tube of lipstick that was rolling on the ground. He was about to continue picking up items when his eyes focused on something that made his heart sink. He snatched a wrapped condom and stared at it silently.
Jimmy hastily threw as many items as he could into the clutch, but then paused. “Oh, shit! Whose bag is this, Sull? Did Kit have a buddy over last night?”
Sully frowned and looked up at him. “No, why?”
Jimmy’s eyes widened. He held up a small vial of cocaine. “This is why! Someone was partying or certainly planned to. Is Kit doing blow now?” Sully stared at it, speechless.
Kit awoke hours later and grimaced. It had been a very long time since she had been this hungover and now she was experiencing a painful reminder of her very long night of drinking, her impromptu visit to the Beverly Hills Police Department and leaving an unsavory voicemail on Lew’s private line that she needed to have an important discussion with him later that day.
She sadly realized it was reality and not a nightmare. She rolled over and noticed a glass of water on her bedside table next to two aspirin. She figured Sully had snuck in at some point and placed them there for her. She glanced at the clock. It was two in the afternoon. She looked down and noticed the absence of her diamond ring. She closed her eyes again and shook her head slowly, wondering how she could have messed up so badly all in one night.
She managed to get out of bed, take a shower and get dressed. She dialed a number on her cordless phone while she applied her makeup. Alexa’s voice answered moments later. She took a deep breath before starting. “Lex, remember how you were asking if I could come out to New York to help with the setup of Platinum?”
“Uh-huh.”
Kit swallowed hard. “Consider it done. I’ll be on a red-eye tonight. Do you think I can stay with you and Wes for a few nights while I get my lodging figured out?”
Alexa sighed. “Ok, what’s going on, Kit? I got a call from Sull really early this morning. Not early here, but definitely early there. He was completely freaking out. Couldn’t find you. What’s up?”
The last thing Kit wanted to do was get into her story over the phone. She had more phone calls to make and a meeting with Lew later that she could not be late for. “Lex, I don’t have time to explain. Just tell me, can I stay with you and Wes for a few nights?”
“Of course you can, you’re always welcome, but I’m not liking this one bit. I smell a rat. Something’s up. You can stay with us on one condition.”
Kit rolled her eyes.
“Ok, what?”
“You give me the full court press the minute you walk through this door. I don’t care what time it is.”
She sighed. “Done.”
“Ok. When you have your flight info let me know. We’ll send a car for you.”
“Got it. I’ll call you later, Lex.” She hung up before Alexa could get another word in.
Kit took a taxi to the Diamond Records corporate office. She double-checked her appearance in her compact before paying the cabby and stepping out. She thought it was interesting how her image didn’t reveal the night before. She felt completely broken inside, her internal compass taking a snooze, but on the outside no one would ever know.
The receptionist greeted her kindly and when she stepped onto the executive floor, it was business as usual. She thought it odd. As she approached her office, Giselle grinned and handed her a file. “Hey boss, how you feeling? Lew mentioned you had a bit of food poisoning that kept you up all night.”
She raised her eyebrows. She thought it surreal to see a corporate cover up, her cover up, playing out right before her. She nodded. “Yeah. Feeling better. Thanks, G. I’m still on for five with Lew, right?”
Giselle nodded. “Yep. Meeting at five and a dinner meeting afterward. Sure you’re up to that? I can move it if you’d like.”
She shook her head. “No need. I’m good.” She walked into her office and shut the door. She took a seat, opened the file and did what she knew best to make everything go away—she got to work.
Her meeting reminder went off four minutes before five and she took a deep breath. She grabbed her folio and a pen and made the journey to Lew’s office across the executive floor. His assistant, Mindy, led her in and looked at Lew. “Holding all calls for the rest of the evening, Lew.”
He nodded and stood up, grinning. “Thanks, Mindy.” He turned his attention to Kit. “Take a seat.”
