I sighed. “Bam, I don’t know you.”
He raised his hands as if to surrender. “We can stay in separate rooms. Hell, I’ll sleep on the floor like a dog. No funny business, I promise.”
“Because serial rapists never say that,” I muttered under my breath, then realized what I’d said. “Not that I’m saying you’re—”
He laughed. “Baby, I get it. No offense taken.”
“Stop calling me baby.”
“I’m not gonna do that, Lucy.”
“Why the hell not?” I snapped.
“Because you like it.”
I did like it. Damn it!
I took a deep breath. “I’m not going to the beach with you alone, Bam.”
“Hold up. You were going to the beach alone without me?”
“Yes.”
“Hell no.”
“Excuse me?”
He frowned. “In what universe did your father think it was a good idea to let you go to the beach alone?”
“I’m not a child, Bam.”
“I’m aware you’re not a child. You’re a fuckin’ drop-dead gorgeous woman who shouldn’t be driving out to a remote beach house alone,” he ground out. “It’s not safe.”
“Ohmigod, are you for real?” I hissed. “You don’t know me. You don’t know my father and this conversation is over.”
I rose to my feet, but he grabbed my arm. “My mom was murdered, Lucy.”
I gasped. “What?”
“When I was seventeen.” He tugged on my hand gently. “Sit down and I’ll explain.”
I lowered myself back into my chair, my heart breaking for him.
“It was my fault.”
“You murdered her?”
“No. But she was out alone at night because of me.”
I swallowed. “Bam—”
He shook his head. “Don’t, Lucy. I don’t want your pity.”
I wasn’t going to give him my pity, but I figured I should let him talk without interruption. “Sorry, Bam. I’m listening.”
“No, I’m sorry,” he said on a sigh. “It’s just people treat you differently when they find out your mother has been murdered. I learned early on to sidestep questions about her and never bring up her murder to anyone.”
“What was her name?”
“Anna.”
My eyes widened. “So the band was named after her? I’ve heard so many different stories over the years about the origin of the band’s name.”
“I never wanted to talk about this stuff to the press, so I’d make up different stories whenever asked. The band understood and loved seeing me mess with reporters.”
“So your mom’s favorite flowers were roses, I assume?”
“I have no idea what her favorite flowers were. My father sure as fuck never bought her any. When she died, I remember wanting to have flowers to put on her casket, so I took all the money I had and bought her roses. I wanted the last thing that I could do for her be meaningful.”
“That’s really nice, Bam.”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t about being nice… it was all I could do for her. So when the band needed to choose a name, I wanted to call it Roses for Anna because I needed her to be remembered and I needed my music to be connected to her and the memory of her. My band had become by family and the road my home, but I knew that if she’d lived, she would have supported whatever I did.”
“So how did she die?”
“Nobody really knows, the police sure as hell gave up looking for answers a long time ago. My piece of shit truck had broken down, yet again, and my dad had been on my ass about getting a job and getting it fixed. I kept telling him I didn’t have time for a job because of the band and I just needed to wait it out for the next big show so I could make the repairs, but the truck broke down before that happened, leaving me stranded. And since Dad was drunk, Mom came to get me… only she never arrived.”
I squeezed his hand, but didn’t speak.
“They found her body about five miles away from where I’d broken down, in a field. She’d been shot and her car and belongings were never seen again.”
I bit back tears. He didn’t want my pity, but how else are you supposed to feel when someone loses their mother so young?
“We never found out who killed her or why.”
“Wow,” I whispered. “That must have been devastating.”
“So, I’m sorry if I sound like an asshole, but I don’t like knowing you’re driving somewhere alone, especially at night.”
“Well, I was supposed to leave this morning, but someone made me meet him for brunch.”
“Not funny, Lucy.”
I sighed. “Not that it’s any of your business, but Sully’s going to drive me. He always does. And he stays in the guest house at the edge of the property. I’m never really alone. And it’s barely an hour away”
He nodded. “Okay, good.”
I reached over and squeezed his arm. “I’m really sorry about your mom, Bam.”
His jaw flexed as he gave another quick nod.
I couldn’t believe what I was about to say. “Separate rooms, Sully’s on watch and knows how to kill a man in less than ten seconds, so if you try anything…”
“Lucy Haddon, are you inviting me to join you at your beach house?” he teased, seeming relieved we’d changed the subject. “I’m not sure I want to go. In fact, I think I have plans.”
I smiled. “Ohmigod, you just beat your chest like Tarzan demanding I take you, and now you’re bailing on me?”
“Tarzan? Oh, and I suppose that makes you Jane?”
“No that makes me leaving,” I retorted, and rose to my feet. “I’ll be at your hotel in two hours. Be there and be packed.”
I headed out the door and into the Town Car before he could reply. “Home to pack, Sully, then we’re going to pick Bam up at his hotel.”
“For what purpose, Miss Haddon?”
“He’s coming to the beach house.”
Sully turned to face me. “Excuse me?”
I jabbed a finger at him. “Don’t start. I know you and Dad did a background check on all of them, so if Bam was a concern, I would have been warned to stay away. Neither of you have done that, so stow it.”
He rolled his eyes and faced front again, turning on the car.
“And don’t call Dad and tattle on me.”
“I don’t tattle, Miss Haddon.”
“Don’t tattle, my ass,” I retorted. “Walker Wynns ring a bell?”
Walker was a guy I’d met at a show about four years ago. We’d dated for a few weeks and he’d wanted to take me to Portland for the weekend, but Sully had gone to my father and all hell had broken loose.
“His name was Walker, Miss Haddon.”
“So?”
“So, he was no Texas Ranger, I can assure you of that.”
I bit back a giggle. “Be that as it may, it’s my life, and as an adult, I should be allowed to make my own mistakes.”
“I will keep that in mind, Miss Haddon.”
We arrived at my apartment and Sully parked the car.
“I’m serious, Sully. Do not call Dad.”
“I won’t, Miss Haddon. You have my word,” he said, and walked me up to my apartment.
He kept his word, but the bastard called my mother.
* * *
“Ohmigod, Mom, Sully promised,” I snapped and zipped up my bag.
“I believe he promised not to call your dad, honey.”
“Well, he and I are going to have to have a conversation about semantics.”
She chuckled. “Look, I just want you to be smart.”
“I am smart, so if you have a genuine concern, please let me know now or forever hold your peace.”
“I don’t, Luce. I really don’t. Dad and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I appreciate that, Mama, I really do. But we’re going as friends and nothing’s going to happen.”
“He’s gorgeous, baby girl.”
“
I’m aware.”
“And you know I could never resist your father.”
“I’m also aware, but you raised me right, Mom. Not to mention, Sully’s always within shouting distance.”
“Well, I can’t argue with that.”
I smiled. “Would you give Luke this much grief if he wanted to take a girl to the beach house for the weekend?”
My brother was two years older than me and almost as protective as my father.
“Your brother has a black belt in karate, honey. You have a black belt in over complicated coffee. Theoretically, he can kill a man with his bare hands… you, however, can’t kill with one shot of caramel flavoring.”
I burst out laughing. “You are ridiculous.”
“Just keep your wits about you, Lucy.”
“I will, Mom, I promise.”
“I’ll talk to you on Tuesday.”
“Sounds good. Love you.”
“Love you, too, honey.”
Mom hung up and I headed out of my apartment. Sully was waiting in the hallway.
“You suck.”
He took my bag with a smile. “I didn’t call your father, Miss Haddon.”
“In the future, no tattling to my father, my mother, or my brother.”
He grinned wider. “We’ll see.”
I climbed into the car and we headed to Bam’s hotel.
* * *
Bam
Lucy’s driver/butler/terminator placed my duffle bag into the trunk of his Town Car and gave me a polite but somewhat icy smile.
“Thanks a lot. Sully right?” I asked while extending my hand.
“That’s right, Mr. Nelson,” he said while firmly closing the handshake. His intense gaze never leaving mine. “Let’s get on the road, shall we, sir?”
“Bam.”
“Excuse me sir?”
“You can call me Bam or Bam Bam. No need for sir or Mister. Bam’s fine. You know “You can’t spell Alabama without B.A.M.!”
Sully blinked slowly.
I immediately started sweating. “It was a thing a few years ago, a sort of slogan.” Suddenly I felt like I was meeting her dad. “Y’know what, never mind.”
“We don’t want to hit traffic Mr. Nelson.”
What the hell was up with these people and their formal address? I felt like I was in one of Miss Abernathy’s Lord Percy Long Member plays. I gave up and got in car.
This is going to be a long ride.
Bam
AFTER HITTING TRAFFIC and spending over an hour on the road, we arrived at the Haddon family beach house in Alki Point. I had seen many beach houses in my time. We had crashed and partied at surfer pads, crab shacks, and bungalows up and down the Gulf Coast, but I had never seen anything like this.
“This is your beach house?” I exclaimed as we pulled into the driveway.
“My family’s beach house, yes.”
“How many other families live here?” I asked with a chuckle.
“The Sullynator” parked the car and effortlessly hoisted our bags out of the trunk. It made me wonder how many bodies he’d pulled from that trunk in a similar fashion while on the job.
“It’s only a six bedroom house, Bam.” Lucy smiled as we stepped out of the car.
“Those must be some big ass rooms. You have your own lighthouse for cryin’ out loud!”
“This is true.” She giggled. “Mom keeps threatening to add on. She’s preparing for grandkids. Whatever. I love it here. I’ve been coming here all my life and sometimes I just forget to stop and look around at everything around me.”
She wasn’t kidding. There was much to appreciate here. The house sat on a bluff overlooking Puget Sound, with a private staircase directly to the beach. It was beautiful, but I could barely take my eyes off Lucy. The car ride here had been torture. To sit so close to her but not be able to touch her was killing me. I had never wanted a woman more in my life.
“You know what your problem is?” I asked while walking her to the front door. “You’re too serious.”
“I’m too serious?” she asked while unlocking the front door. The front alarm sensor beeped and Lucy punched in the access code on the nearby panel. “Who are you to judge, what with your rage issues and all?”
I looked down at my knuckles and smirked. “No, seriously, you said it yourself. You don’t ever stop working long enough, to appreciate what you have.”
“Ummmm, I don’t think that’s exactly what I said.”
“Close enough. Here’s my point,” I continued. “We’re here now, and there’s a beautiful beach just down there, so why not take the time to appreciate this night, and more importantly my charming company.”
Lucy let out a soft laugh and bit her lip.
“Will that be all, Miss Haddon?” Sully asked briskly, instantly breaking the moment.
“Yes, Sully, thank you for everything. See you in the morning,” she said. Sully gave me a slow nod and headed left. I watched him walk to the small home on the edge of the property, presumably to clean his gun.
“Let’s get our coats and hats on. It’s cold out there,” Lucy suggested.
While Lucy rummaged in the closet for outerwear, I took in the house. From the outside it looked much like the other upscale sea-side properties in the area. The interior was another matter. The Haddon’s had forgone the typical sea shells and anchors motif and designed the interior to look and feel like a log cabin style hunting lodge. With huge picture windows overlooking the water, it was magnificent.
Lucy handed me a leather jacket that probably belonged to her brother and we donned our coats then headed down to the water. The beach was nearly deserted. It was late in the afternoon and the winter air kept most beachgoers away. The violent grey waters crashed against the rocky shoreline as the sun began its descent. The two of us walked side by side, and Lucy resumed our conversation from the diner.
“What happened after your mom’s death?” Lucy asked.
“Dropped out of high school, hit the road with the band. The rest is history.”
“What about your dad?”
“What about him?” I snapped. She looked hurt and I immediately felt like a dick. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. The memories are shit at times.”
“We don’t need to talk about this.”
“I want to.” She raised an eyebrow in challenge and I sighed. “I do, seriously. It’s just no one knows this outside of the band, and it’s not a story I’ve ever had to tell, if you know what I mean.”
“Because the band was there while it was happening,” she deduced.
I nodded. “The truth is my dad was an asshole. Always had been. Drunk most nights, shoved my mom more than once, hit her a couple times, but she wanted to keep us together, so she stayed. When she died, he kicked me out and I haven’t seen or talked to him since.”
“What do you mean he kicked you out?”
“My old man and I never saw eye-to-eye anyway, and when my mom died, he blamed me. I blamed myself so I couldn’t really argue with him. He wanted me out and I wanted to be gone, so that was that.”
“And you haven’t spoken to him since? I can’t imagine not speaking with my dad.”
She looked genuinely heartbroken for me. Not just about my mother, but about my father as well. I had spent a lot of time grieving for my mother, but I guess I never thought much about the fact that I had lost what little I had of him as well. Shit, I didn’t even know if the bastard was still alive.
“He pretty much ignored my mother, when he wasn’t yelling at her in a drunken rage, so I could never figure out why he even cared when she died. I was just a kid who’d lost the only person who cared about me, and that prick wanted me on the street, so I split.”
“I’m so sorry, Bam, I really am.” Lucy’s words were soft and yet cut deeply into me. Her empathy and honesty were almost too much to take.
“It’s okay,” I continued. “The band became my family and the road became my home. It’s pretty much been that way ever sin
ce.” I shifted gears. “What about you? What was your childhood like? It must have been pretty amazing, right? Growing up among rock royalty?”
“Amazing, yes… up to a certain point, then crazy, then really hard,” she said. “I grew up on the road too. In all of my earliest memories, we were on the road with RatHound. Jack and Mitch are my uncles and Mitch’s wife and kids are my aunt and cousins. Not to mention, the road crew guys who were always there to get us into, or keep us out of trouble.”
“I can’t ever imagine you being any trouble, baby.”
“Bam, you really can’t call me that.” Lucy turned to face me.
I took her hands in mine. “I think I’ve been perfectly clear that I like you very much. I call you baby, because I love the way the micro-expressions in your face change when I do.”
I felt Lucy’s hands tremble and I held them tighter while pulling her closer to me. “I know you’re scared, and I can think of half a dozen reasons why you should be. Hell, I’m scared too, but I know how I feel about you.”
“Bam, you don’t understand. I can’t get involved with you—with any musician for that matter.”
I knew one of the reasons she was so afraid. Her father and RatHound guitarist Mitch “Robbie” Roberts had both had very public battles with heroin.
“When I was eleven years old, my mom told me and my brother that dad was sick. She assured us that he was going to be okay, but would be away in a hospital for a few weeks. I didn’t see my father for three months, and he didn’t come home for good for another year.”
“I understand Lucy, but I’m not your father. I’m not Rex Haddon.”
“Maybe not, but you don’t know how much you’re like him. Sometimes I really like that about you, but sometimes it scares the crap out of me. The passion you have for your music, for your life, is a lot like my dad, and that passion almost burned him up. The road, the drugs, the anger, the isolation—it destroyed his band, nearly ended his marriage and almost cost him his life.”
“Lucy, I promise I won’t let this life, or anything in it, destroy you...or me,” I avowed as I desperately pulled her closer. Our bodies were pressed tightly against each other as I leaned in to kiss her. Our lips met and I heard her moan softly. I cupped her face and deepened the kiss. Her skin was warm but I burned for her as I tipped her head back slightly.
Broken Road (Limelight Series Book 1) Page 7
