“Oh,” he said blithely, “my mistake.”
“Uh-huh,” Tabitha said, narrowing her eyes at him.
“So where is she?” Devlin asked.
“Upstairs, asleep,” Brenden said. “I came down to get something out of the safe.”
Brenden left them in the kitchen, stopped by the safe in his den, and then went back upstairs. Allexxiss was rousing, just.
“Bren?” she queried, her voice an almost hysterical whisper.
“Right here, babe,” he said, sitting on the bed next to her as she sat up.
“It wasn’t a dream then?” she asked.
“Nope,” he said, grinning. “I’m right here, and you’re here too.”
She leaned into him, and he wrapped his arms around her pulling her close.
“This is crazy, Bren, he’ll find out …” she said softly.
“Let him find out, Lex,” he said. “Let him dare come here and try and take you away from me again.”
“No, Bren, you don’t understand,” she said, shaking her head, her voice desperate and afraid.
“Oh, baby, I do understand, and there’s not a bloody thing Maxwell Putnam can do to me,” Brenden assured her.
“He can, Brenden, he can and he will, please …” she said, grasping his shoulder.
“Allex, calm down,” Brenden told her, touching her cheek. “Max doesn’t scare me.”
“Brenden, he’ll ruin you, he’ll take everything, please take me back.”
“No,” Brenden said. “You’re with me, and that’s where you’re staying.”
“No, no …” she said, shaking her head.
“Allexxiss, listen to me. I know about that report you saw, and believe me, that’s not even close to what I have, okay?”
“What?”
“I know about the report you saw that said I was only worth eighteen million,” he told her. “Believe me, Allex, I’m worth a helluva lot more than that. Max isn’t even in my league, let alone my ballpark, okay?”
“But what was that I saw then?” she asked, not willing to believe him easily.
“Probably a report on BJ Sparks,” he said, grinning. “When most of my stuff is under O’Malley.”
“You still use that name?”
“Yeah, a little secret babe, that’s still my legal name.”
Her eyes widened. “It is?”
“So you see? Max can’t touch me, or you now.”
Allexxiss looked shocked, then she shook her head miserably. “Brenden, I’m so sorry, I should have talked to you about this. I should have—”
His finger on her lips stopped her.
“We haven’t lost a lot of time Allex, a lot less than the twenty years we lost before.”
She looked up at him in something akin to wonder, and he kissed her lips softly. He deepened the kiss, as he reached for her left hand. She felt him tugging off her wedding ring and heard it hit the wall across the room. She grinned against his lips, but then felt him sliding another ring over her finger. She pulled away to look at it. It was a beautiful marquise cut diamond with semi-circles of baguettes swirling out from the main stone. It was a ring fit for a queen.
“Brenden …” she breathed, unable to think of something suitable to describe the beauty she was looking at.
“I bought that before we broke up this last time,” he told her.
“It’s incredible …” she said breathlessly.
He tipped her face up to his. “You’re leaving him, and once you’ve divorced him, you’re marrying me. Understand?” he said.
She bit her lip, staring up at him, unable to believe she wasn’t dreaming all of this.
“Allexxiss, do you understand?” he asked. “You’re going to be my wife, like you were meant to be all along.” He leaned down and kissed her. “Say yes, Allex, now,” he ordered.
“Yes,” she said, smiling brilliantly.
“Well done,” he said.
He pulled her against him, kissing her deeply. They spent the rest of the night making love and making up for lost time. Tabitha grinned when they still hadn’t emerged the next morning. She was overjoyed that they were back together. That idea was confirmed when her parents finally emerged at noon the next day, looking sated, and with Allexxiss wearing a totally different ring on her left hand.
“Nice ring,” Tabitha said as she admired it.
“Yes, it is,” Allexxiss said, smiling brilliantly.
“I have good taste in jewelry,” Brenden added.
“And in women,” Allexxiss put in.
“Only the best,” he told her, leaning over to kiss her neck.
Things were finally on the right track and God knew the sparks would do nothing but fly, from there on out.
♫ Epilogue ♫
Six Months Later
Brenden sat in the studio, with his headphones on, and the mic at his lips. He began singing, trying not to watch Allex in the studio as she watched him. She made him lose his concentration every damned time! And she laughed every time it happened too.
He’d been back from his “makeup tour” for three months, and they’d been working feverishly on the soundtrack for The Living Edge since then. He’d pulled in help from Jordan, and a couple of the other acts from the label to lend some variance to the music on the soundtrack.
Allexxiss’ divorce was taking longer than they expected. Max, as expected, was fighting them tooth and nail, but Brenden was spending whatever it took to fight him. He had finally just told Allex, to “give him everything.” She had balked at that idea, but had finally conceded that Brenden was probably right. Her lawyer had just informed Max’s lawyer that Allexxiss wanted nothing from the marriage, so it would proceed without delay.
Filming on the movie was finished, so they were only waiting to release it when the soundtrack was finalized. Allexxiss was totally enamored by her fiancé’s talents. Brenden had given her everything she wanted and then some on the soundtrack. It gave the movie that final push that it needed to make it great. She was already hearing noises about Oscar nominations and it hadn’t even been released yet!
She sat in the sound studio, Brenden’s studios, and watched him work for hours. She couldn’t believe the incredibly talented man that he was. Besides being gorgeous beyond words, besides being the best friend she’d ever had, and the most incredible lover as well, he was so innately talented, she couldn’t even begin to explain it to anyone.
Her parents were still in shock over the fact that she was back together with “that boy from the bar” as her mother had put it.
“Mother,” Allexxiss had said, “that boy from the bar is a world-famous singer now, and he has more money than you, Max, and Max’s family put together, so you might want to change your thinking a bit.”
Her mother had been shocked by the frank tone, but had kept quiet after that.
****
The night of the Grammy Awards had all of them excited. Badlands Records had all of their biggest artists nominated for Grammys. Some of them had even been nominated for the same award.
Brenden and Allexxiss, as usual, caused a huge uproar when they arrived. Brenden wore a black Versace suit, with a blue-green silk shirt, matching his eyes. Allexxiss wore a black dress of beads and lace. At her throat sparkled black diamonds that Brenden had given her. Everyone was in love with them. They’d done an interview recently with Rolling Stone, finally telling the world about Tabitha being their daughter. About how they’d met and fallen in love when Allexxiss was only sixteen. How fate had separated them, and now had brought them back together for good. It had put the final nail into the coffin of her marriage to Max Putnam. And that’s exactly what Brenden had wanted.
Tabitha showed up at the Grammy Awards with Devlin and the rest of the band and was danced attendance on all night by the four men. She found it highly amusing.
Sparks swept a number of the categories as they often did, the best of which was Record of the Year. Brenden and the rest of the band went up, and as usual
, Brenden was their spokesperson.
“This was a hell of a year,” Brenden said, looking straight at Allexxiss. “I found my love again, my daughter grew up a lot, and on top of that, we made a decent album,” he said, grinning. Everyone in the audience laughed. “Seriously, though, we know we wouldn’t be here without the fans’ support, so thank you, to all of you.” With that, he held the Grammy aloft and everyone cheered.
Brenden was a presenter at the Grammys for the Best Rock Female Vocal Performance award.
“Well, lucky me, I’m gonna get my ass kicked by one of the women in my life,” Brenden said, grinning. The audience laughed. “I get the pleasure of giving one woman the Best Rock Female Vocal Performance award. Interestingly enough the nominees are all women on my label or are about to be … so needless to say, I’m getting in trouble either way.” Again everyone laughed, and Allexxiss winked at him, and mouthed, “not with me honey.”
“Okay,” Brenden said, “the nominees are … Billy Montague, from Billy and The Kid, Jordan Tate, and Marra Jade.”
He was handed the special envelope containing the winning name. “And the winner is …”
All three women held their breath.
“Jordan Tate!”
Jordan went up on stage and hugged Brenden tight, smiling brilliantly.
“I can’t kiss him,” Jordan told the audience. “I don’t want Allex to kick my ass,” she said winking at Allexxiss. The two had finally made peace, and Jordan was extremely happy his best friend finally had the love of his life back. “I want to thank, well, hell, everyone. Definitely Brenden and Badlands for giving me the freedom to make the music I want to make and for being the best friend a girl could ever have.”
In an interview later that evening, Brenden summed up the Grammy wins the best way he knew how.
“What do you think it takes to make it in the business today?” he was asked.
“It takes drive, intensity, a love of the music, and a love for life, and just a few Sparks.”
Acknowledgements
To Geoff Tate of Queensrÿche, whose voice I have always loved! To all the beautiful men in the “hair bands” I listened to in high school (1985!). You are the inspiration for many of these characters.
You can find more information about the author and series here:
www.sherrylhancock.com
www.facebook.com/SherrylDHancock
Also by Sherryl D. Hancock:
The WeHo series follows a group of women from Los Angeles as they navigate the ups and downs of love, life, work, and everything in between.
The MidKnight Blue series takes us on a journey with Midnight Chevalier, the tough ex-gang leader who switches sides and works to put away those she used to fight beside.
Sparks (Wild Irish Silence Book 1) Page 20
