Scandalous Beat (The Tempest Rock Star series Book 6)

by Michelle Mankin

  I stroked my thumb across her knuckles. “Your brother told me he was especially hard on you.”

  “Yeah.” She blew out a breath. “Our father was a mean son of a bitch, but I was his preferred target. Stupid. Trashy. Lazy. Disobedient. Those were his kindest words for me.”

  “You’re the opposite of those things, mi reina.”

  “Maybe now… mostly.” She shrugged. “I only share to point out that though our situations are similar, I doubt my father ever loved me. Yours certainly does.”

  “He has a horrible way of showing it.”

  “If the way he treated you was the norm during situations that don’t involve life and death stress, I might say yes. But what if he’s only acting that way because he’s scared?”

  “My father’s not afraid of anything. Not even death. That’s why he blows off all the doctor’s directives.”

  “What if you’re mistaken? What if he sees being sick as a weakness? What if he fears disappointing you? What if he fears losing you so much like he lost Adrian that he pushes you away hoping to make it easier to bear when it finally happens?”

  She glanced up at the image of the crucifix above us. “I could be wrong. I don’t have all the answers. Forgiveness is definitely the more difficult route. But if you decide it’s the right one, I know it won’t be too hard for you.” She glanced back at me. The look of confidence she gave me made me believe anything was possible. “You have a beautiful heart, Juaquin. You said earlier you lose those you care most about, but I think that’s not true. Bad things have happened to you and your family. You see them as a failure on your part. Adrian’s death. Your father’s coldness toward you. The rift between you and Sager. But that’s not because you love wrongly or too little. It’s because you love so much.”

  “Miriam…”

  “It’s true. I saw it all those years ago. I see nothing new in the man you are now that changes my opinion. You guard. You protect. And when you fail at those duties you think your heart isn’t good enough, but it is. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.”

  * * *

  Miriam

  We returned to his father’s room just before the anesthesiologist was scheduled to arrive for a preoperative discussion.

  At King’s request, the room cleared for a private airing of grievances between a stubborn father and his equally stubborn son. The rest of us were silent as we waited outside in the hall. Anxious eyes focused on the closed door. There had been no shouting, nor was there anything spoken about what had transpired before we were invited back inside. But I knew as soon as I saw his father’s reserved face and King’s fierce one that my monarch had done the harder thing. The better thing. The road to hell might be paved with good intentions, but I believed the one to heaven must be paved with noble actions such as his.

  “I would like to speak a bendición before the surgeon comes to take you, mi hijo.” Abuelita lowered her head and rolled fingers adept at their task over her rosary. I noticed that all except Juaquin and his father had their own set before I respectively bowed my head like the others, listening with an interested ear as Abuelita asked God the Father to guide the surgeon’s hands and petitioned St. John, the patron saint of heart disease on King’s father’s behalf. Apparently there was a fair possibility that bypass surgery would be needed, but the medical team wouldn’t know for sure until they performed the heart catherization.

  “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, Amen,” Abuelita ended, and we all lifted our heads. “Bless you, mi hijo,” she told Juaquin’s father as the cath lab team reentered the room.

  Juaquin’s mother said nothing, but her eyes attested to her full heart as she kissed her husband’s cheek.

  Sager and King moved to stand on either side of her as she stepped back. Melinda with her white cane leading the way found Abuelita. Untethered, I remained in the corner watching as the anesthesiologist administered a sedative, and the transport nurse raised the rails of the hospital bed. Once the brake was released, they were on their way. As they passed my position by the door, Raúl’s eyes met mine. This time they lingered, and maybe it was just the anesthetic effect, but it seemed to me as though there was a spark of genuine interest in his gaze.

  * * *

  King

  Hospital waiting rooms sucked. They had when my dad had his heart attack. They had after Melinda’s accident. They still did now. The only thing that made the wait remotely bearable this time around was the fact that Miriam was at my side.

  “What time is it?” Sager asked.

  “Five minutes later than it was when you asked five minutes ago.”

  “Fuck you,” mi hermano said without any real heat.

  But I shot him the finger anyway.

  “Nietos,” Abuelita clucked her tongue at us and shook her head in disapproval. “Stop acting like little boys.”

  “Sorry, Abuelita,” we said in unison, then grinned stupidly at each other. We were acting dumb. We seemed to regress within the confines of hospital walls. We didn’t like them. Once upon a time, we had each walked in with a brother in our lives, but then walked out without.

  “Melinda,” Miriam addressed Sager’s girl. “My brother tells me you’re putting the finishing touches on an unplugged album with the Jones twins. How’s that going?”

  “Really well.” The pixie sat up a little straighter, her worried expression clearing and firing with artistic passion. “Sager’s doing our album cover.”

  I leaned forward. This was news to me. Very interesting news.

  “That’ll be fantastic.” Miriam glanced at Sager. “He’s incredibly talented. I’ve seen his sketches. The tats he’s done for the guys of course, and the portrait he did of you. It’s stunning.” Sager leaned in, paying attention to the conversation, too. Stunning it might be, but it was difficult to look at without getting emotional knowing he had painted it for Melinda. She had lost her sight before she got a chance to appreciate it.

  My mother chimed in with her rapid-fire Spanish. I interpreted, because no one but me could keep up when she talked that fast. Not even Abuelita.

  “She wants to know if the album will be finished in time for Avery and Justin Jones and Melinda to join Tempest on our fall tour.”

  “That’s a stellar idea,” Sager said, smiling at our mother. The suck up.

  “I’d buy a ticket to that lineup.” Miriam’s plastic chair jostled my own. Everyone started speaking at the same time. We forgot our anxiety for a couple of moments because of my queen’s redirection. No one even noticed the cardiologist entering the room.

  “The Acenado family?” he queried to the room that had only a couple of other waiting groups in it. I stiffened internally. His demeanor was somber. My mother stood. My abuelita turned her wheelchair. Melinda grasped Sager’s hand. I reached for Miriam’s.

  “Everything went very well.” Audible breaths were released all around. Miriam kissed my cheek. “Two of his vessels were nearly completely occluded, but we were able to open them with stents. Looks like we’re going to be able to avoid surgery. He’s in recovery now, but they should have him a bed in the cardiac unit shortly.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Miriam

  “No. It’s ok. I can talk. We’re just waiting for King and his mom. Sager’s staying here tonight with King’s dad. Their mom’s too exhausted after spending the night here. She and everyone else are going back to the house.”

  “All of you?” Mike asked. Even over the cell connection I could hear the surprise in his tone. “How big is King’s house?”

  “Not very, I don’t think.” Though I had known Juaquin’s family for years, and his mom had voluntarily catered my eighteenth birthday, I had never actually been inside his home. “Melinda and I will share King and Sager’s old room. King’s sleeping on the couch. His mom has her room. His abuelita sleeps in the garage that they converted into a handicapped accessible suite. But why all the interest?”

  “I’m just trying to fig
ure out how you lovebirds are going to keep your hands off each other tonight or rather how you won’t. On an airplane, girlfriend? I’m not even a member of the Mile High Club. Where is my famous boyfriend when I need him?”

  I laughed.

  “Good to hear that sound. I was beginning to think I’d lost my knack of amusing you.”

  “Never.”

  “So his father’s really out of the woods?”

  “They think so. We peeked into his room. He’s resting comfortably.”

  “That’s really good news, Miriam.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So how are things with you and Mr. King-sized?”

  “I knew I shouldn’t have told you about that.”

  “Oh hell yes you should’ve. Think he’ll give me a look at his legendary appendage?”

  “Um, no. Besides, I’ll be much too busy with it,” I teased.

  “That’s the spirit. Maybe you’ll do it tonight in the locked bathroom once everybody goes to sleep. Not as exciting as on a plane, but still. You gotta hit that kind of hotness while you’ve got the chance.”

  The unintended implication of his lighthearted jest darkened my thoughts.

  “Yeah. Probably.” I swallowed hard. “Have your friends in high places come through for me?”

  “No, MJ, baby, I’m so sorry. No one yet at least. They’re all afraid of the big bad Wolf. But don’t give up. Let me make some more calls. These were just the first rounders.”

  “There’s still a few from your previous relationships? Favors to be called in?”

  “In part. But more from the other girls at Sexxy. They’re totally behind you. No one likes the idea of an asshole like Campanella strong arming one of us.”

  Powerful warm hands slid around my waist, immediately gliding under the hem of my top. I drew in a ragged breath. His skimming touch electrified my skin.

  “Sir Hungalot is back,” Mike guessed.

  “I’m hanging up now.”

  “Love you, MJ.”

  “Love you, Mikey. Always and forever plus a day.”

  “So.” King lifted a brow as he spun me around to face him, his hands settling low on my hips where they branded me with their heat. “Did he call me what I think he did?”

  I smiled slowly and nodded.

  “Pillow talking with the best friend about me, ese?”

  “Bragging.” I waggled my brows.

  “It’s not bragging if it’s the truth. Shall I give you something more to talk about?”

  “You have my full support on that agenda.”

  He pressed his lips into the sensitive hollow below my ear. I turned my head to give him more surface area to work on. He glided the tip of his wet tongue along my skin until he reached my ear lobe which he nibbled. “You’ll be full of something for sure later,” he whispered.

  I let out a moan just as his mother walked up on us. Warmth creeped over my cheeks.

  King gave me a mischievous wink. “Are you blushing, Reina?”

  His mother smiled and spoke something to him in Spanish while she kept her eyes on me.

  “What did she say?” I asked as she stepped away to join the others.

  “Only that you remind her of herself when she was your age.”

  Oh that’s nice, I thought.

  “And that I had better stay in my own bed tonight and be a gentleman or no migas for me in the morning.” King made a face and put his hand over his chest like he had taken an arrow.

  “A difficult choice, apparently,” I quipped.

  Everyone laughed.

  “Seriously, I don’t want to put anyone out of their usual spots,” I spoke into the murmured din of the group. They were debating who would travel in the family sedan with María and who would accompany King in Sager’s sleek new Dodge Challenger Hellcat.

  Finally, María held up a set of car keys and beckoned his grandmother to follow her. It had been decided. Abuelita would go with her daughter-in-law. They would be making a stop at the market for extra supplies before heading home. Melinda would accompany King and me.

  “Doesn’t your mother need help with the groceries and your Abuelita?” I asked Juaquin as we strode down the hospital corridor behind them.

  “Not really. We’re all accustomed to helping Abuelita in and out of the car. Her chair is lightweight. They all know my grandmother at the mercado and give her and mi madre extra attention. Plus, Abuelita prefers to do things herself, and her persistence has paid off. At home she’s often able to set the chair aside and use her walker.”

  Juaquin held open the glass door for Melinda and me, and we stepped into the parking garage. It was much cooler in Seattle than it had been in Vegas. I ducked closer to Juaquin and his warmth while the blue-eyed pixie wore a determined visage beside us, her white cane clacking rhythmically back and forth against the pavement. Melinda and Abuelita. Two women who had risen to face and conquer those individual challenges. Admiration for both filled my chest.

  “Does she understand English? Your mother, I mean.”

  “Oh, yes.” Melinda piped up before King could answer as she settled into the backseat. “Not much gets by her.”

  “This is true.” King shut her door and opened the front passenger one for me so I could climb in. “Don’t let the fact that she doesn’t speak it so well fool you.”

  Ah, I thought. Good to know. I buckled up, watching King as he rounded the iconic hood of the muscle car. The yellow tinted garage lights washed over his sculpted form. My eyes remained on him as he fired up the ignition. He glanced over the console at me grinning ear to ear as the engine growled. His golden gaze sparkled with excitement.

  “I’ve been itching to drive mi hermano’s newest toy.” He threw his arm over the back of my seat and steered the car out of the parking space. His fingers flexed on the leather wrapped wheel as he turned the Hellcat and we crept out of the multilevel garage at a snail’s pace behind his mother.

  “I can practically feel your eagerness.” I grinned back at him.

  “Sager’s just as juvenile,” Melinda offered from the back seat. “He says he bought the Challenger for me, so I can open the window and feel the wind whip my face like it did when I skied competitively.” In the rearview mirror I saw Melinda cock her head slightly. “But I know it’s really for him.” She snorted. “Boys and their toys.”

  “A supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi ain’t no toy,” King chimed in, punching the gas to lurch us out of the garage and onto the main thoroughfare. “It’s a fuckin’ beast.” He tapped on the steering wheel and cursed as he was forced to brake at a red light. “All this power will be wasted on this short drive.”

  He was right. The route from the hospital to his home was all residential streets with frequent stops. No chance to unleash the full fury of the muscle car. From the airport we had traveled to the hospital mostly on the freeway. Now we were in the heart of Southside. As we made our way past its tired buildings and somber denizens, I remembered how it had been growing up here. I didn’t feel nostalgic. I felt relieved and sad and disheartened at the same time. Happy that we had moved to a better neighborhood thanks to my brother but also sad for those who might never find their way out.

  King’s house was a welcome oasis in the neglected neighborhood, small but comfortable and bustling with activity within minutes of our arrival. María took the lead. Carrying two paper bags, she issued orders about what went where and who was to do it with her son translating. I might be the queen, but here she held the power, the queen mother, la madre. She insisted I call her that. “You’re here in my home. You make mi hijo happy, then you’re a daughter to me.” She said in Spanish of course. But when King explained I saw the heavy emotion in his eyes. This was serious stuff. Stuff I wanted. Him. His family’s acceptance. A place to fit in. But though I thanked his mother, I turned quickly away from his watchful gaze and busied myself setting the dinner table.

  I might want all those things. I might have them for tonight, for a couple more days even. But
I knew deep down that it probably couldn’t last.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  King

  “How’s he doing?” I whispered to Sager.

  “Good. He’s sleeping now. When he was semi coherent earlier he asked about you and Miriam. I told him it’s a good thing. That seemed to satisfy him. You don’t have to whisper by the way. I’m the one in the room with him, not you.”

  I had offered to stay with my father prior to his surgery. He had declined. The tension remained between us even after I had laid things out. But it seemed less since I had given it to him straight. My feelings. My expectations for our relationship going forward. With a little softness on my part thanks to Miriam and her faith in me.

  “I’m out here on this hard as fuck couch while all the others are resting on their nice soft beds,” I explained why I was keeping my voice low.

  “Ah, porbrecito.” Poor baby. “The chair here by our father isn’t all that comfortable either, mi hermano.”

  “Thanks for being there with him,” I grumbled my appreciation.

  “That almost sounded sweet. Who the hell are you and what have you done with my brother?”

  “Fuck you, asshole.”

  “Is sweet Miriam responsible for this astounding beast to butterfly metamorphosis?”

  “Sager,” I warned. “Give it a rest.”

  “Uh-uh. This is fun. You told me once that love is like getting kneed in the balls. Seems like you might be walking a little funny these days yourself.”

  I couldn’t say jack to him. He always saw straight through my bullshit.

  “The Hellcat drives like una pantera,” I said changing the subject.

  “A panther she is. And anytime you wanna take her out of her cage, she’s yours.”

  He had an open invitation to my Hummer as well. He knew it. I didn’t need to reiterate. We both might be territorial about our women, but not with our possessions. We grew up with nothing. We could afford a lot of shit now because of the band’s success. But our bank balances didn’t change who we were or what mattered to us. Money couldn’t buy or change the important things. I thought of Miriam. Who I was or what I had because of it didn’t factor with her. I had to have her. And I was determined to win her. The problems I once saw as unsurmountable between us I now saw as only wrinkles that needed to be ironed out. I was waiting until I knew everyone was asleep before I went to her to try to explain, to try to show her how good we were for each other. But it was still too early. Not because I was opposed to breaking mi madre rules. I just didn’t want any interruptions when I did.