But it wasn’t what I thought it was.
And neither were we.
Tears pricked my eyes.
“You ok, Fanny?”
“Maybe.” Someday. I’d weathered a storm named Ashland Keys once before. Surely, I could manage it again.
“Maybe you should wait a fucking minute,” Diesel said, his jet-black hair disheveled from running his fingers through it as he had repeatedly tried to reach Ash. “So your stepfather knows where you are? There’s security here. You should stay. You’re acting impulsively.”
“Security is relative.” I yanked open the door to the penthouse. He pushed it back closed.
“Fanny. He’s gonna kick my ass if I let you go out that door. C’mon. Be reasonable.”
“No. You be reasonable, Diesel. The stories. The lies Samuel’s telling. The false kidnapping allegation. She’s my sister. I love her. She’s all I have. What if they take her from me?” I wouldn’t be able to look out for her if they separated us. “Haven’t you ever had anybody that mattered to you that much? Someone you would do anything to protect?”
His dark eyes turned troubled. “I have.”
“So let me do what I need to do. Please.”
He nodded and opened the door again.
I let out a breath. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. I still think this is a huge mistake.” He gestured for us to proceed and followed us out. “But I’m coming with you.”
I tried to talk him out of it as we crossed the hall to the elevator. Hollie tried, too, on the way down. He folded his arms over his chest.
“You’re both wasting your breath.”
When the elevator doors opened, we realized we had all miscalculated. Maximillian was practically overrun. At least twenty reporters plus camera technicians were crammed into the small space in front of a desk and chair he usually sat at while guarding the penthouse elevator. He wasn’t sitting now. He was standing right beside us near the elevator entrance. News cameras switched on. With the blinding lights came a cacophony of questions.
“Holliewood, are you being held against your will?”
“No. I wanted to leave LA. I asked my sister to come with me,” Hollie stated firmly shaking her head, her strawberry hair swishing her tensed shoulders.
“So why the reward? Why are you here in Ocean Beach? Is this all just some publicity stunt gone wrong? Who’s this man?”
The rush of questions became a deafening roar of noise. There was no way we could answer them individually, much less press through the throng to get out. Diesel put his arms around both of us pulling us back into the cart as they advanced. Maximillian moved in front of the elevator glaring and barking at them to move back, but there were just too many of them. I stepped to the side and reached for the keypad while Diesel and Hollie filled the open gap. He still had his arm around her. A few questions about the nature of their relationship filtered through the din. He puffed out his chest and drew her closer to his side posing for the cameras. The moron.
“Hollie is underage,” I warned him in a hiss even though I knew he was just being Diesel and fooling around. I quickly keyed in the code.
“We’re friends,” Diesel announced loudly. “Just friends.” His hold loose, he scrubbed the top of my sister’s head and pinched her freckled cheek, maybe a little too harshly. Hollie winced. “I adore Holliewood like an annoying little sister.” Finally, the doors started closing. Unfortunately a diminutive woman slipped into the narrowing gap and got trapped inside with us just as they closed.
“Hey Diesel,” she said.
“Oh fuck,” the bassist returned. “Ash isn’t here, Renee.”
My blood ran cold. His arrangement. Had he called her last night after we argued?
“I know he’s not.” She gave him a saccharine smile.
“Open the door back up now, Fanny.” He sounded almost as panicked as I had been after talking to Samuel.
“No don’t, Fanny.” Renee slapped her small hand over mine at the panel and turned her head to face me. When I heard her name my stomach had only twisted. Seeing the malice dripping from her moss green eyes, it dropped precipitously even though the elevator had started to rise. “I didn’t come to see Ash.” Her bubblegum pink lips formed a frosty fake smile. “I came to talk to you.”
• • •
Ashland
“Let me out at the gas station,” I told Linc. I was out of patience. He probably was, too driving his Porsche Macan in stop and go traffic while I had sat beside him trying to deal with the escalating drama. First with Renee who had returned my call from last night. She had not been pleased when I reiterated that our arrangement was at an end. I was taking the steps I could to show Fanny that I could do the couple thing. Then I had called the security company. Several times. The circuits had been busy. But I had finally gotten a recording and put in an order requesting more guards. Then I had attempted to get ahold of Diesel again since I’d missed several calls from him. And even though those call were probably only him giving me shit they still worried me. Then my worry became a reality and tension spiked after an incoming call from Simone. She explained why the streets of Ocean Beach were flooded. Then more attempts to reach Diesel to no avail. My cell was currently a useless brick. My mind had been so wrapped up in Fanny last night that I’d forgotten to recharge it. I had switched over to Linc’s phone and called Ramon. Unfortunately, he had been at the doctor with Karen in downtown San Diego. He was in route back to OB. He and Karen had heard the news, but they were having the same difficulty with traffic congestion as Linc and I were. After that I’d called Simone again. She had been manning the surf shop for Karen, but she was shutting it down even though business was brisk, to head over to my place on foot to check on Fanny and Hollie.
Which brought us to now.
“I don’t know if I can even pull in, Ash.” Linc shook his head and gripped the steering wheel tighter. “There’s no room.” There were cars and people everywhere. Sidewalks and street similarly congested. Pedestrians were passing us on foot as we inched along the steady stream of traffic pointed toward downtown. I knew the reason for all the craziness now, of course. Holliewood was a huge deal and the situation with her and Fanny, the reward and now me thrown into the mix, the circus had grown to epic proportions.
“Fuck it. I’m getting out right here.” I reached for the handle.
“Got it. I’ll find somewhere to park, then meet you at your place as soon as I can.”
“Okay.” I popped open the door and climbed out. “I’m leaving your cell on my seat.”
He glanced at me and nodded as the car behind him laid on their horn.
I slammed my door closed and broke into a run. The thoughts that pursued me made me run even faster. If the media knew where Fanny and Hollie were so did Samuel. All that talk about silencing people at the attorney’s office did not have me in a mellow frame of mind. And then there was Fanny and me. Us. What I’d hoped to be an us. But where we were with a closed door and an ultimatum between us was not a good place.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
* * *
Fanny
“You’re prettier than I imagined,” the blonde nymph decided after circling me in the penthouse entryway.
I wasn’t quite sure why Renee was here. I just wanted to get rid of her. I had more pressing concerns. I glanced over her head to where Hollie sat by Diesel. She was using his phone to contact her agent. This thing wasn’t going away. We had to try to get out in front of the story so we could steer public perception. Samuel employed his own brilliant public relations team. But Hollie had one of the best agents in the business, Olivia Avalon. In her mid-sixties, she was a seasoned, tireless workaholic and represented only one other client. Shaina Bentley. America’s candy-coated sweetheart turned mega star who was in a relationship with the abrasive lead singer of the rock band Tempest. If anyone could trump Samuel’s handlers, Olivia could.
“You’re shorter.” I threw back at Renee while d
oing a quick assessment of my own that didn’t help the acid in my stomach to burn any less. The platinum blonde was prettier than I’d imagined, also. Small but she had tons of curves and confidence to match. Her green gaze blazed bright with it. Confidence that came from having Ash a whole heck of a lot longer than I’d had him. Not had him, I reminded myself and sighed.
“He told you about me.” She smirked. “I can see it in those pretty grey eyes of yours.”
I didn’t answer. He hadn’t told me of course. And I soon discovered that he hadn’t told me a lot of things.
“You’re certainly not his usual type.”
“I’ve heard that before.” Now my head tilted to an inquiring angle. “But what makes you say it?”
“You’re a lot younger for one thing,” she answered after scanning me head to toe from the three-quarter sleeve hoodie that covered a Namaste tee down to the yoga pants all the way to my purple Chloés. She came closer, reached out and touched me without warning. I gasped as she stroked a familiar hand across my breasts. “Innocent.” She flashed a conspiratorial smile. “You ever been with a girl before?”
“No.” I knew she was trying to shake me up. I wasn’t that innocent. I remembered the groupie who had chased
Ash at the Oscars, remembered what she’d offered him. I remembered everything from that night.
“Too bad. He likes a lot of variety. One of his favorite set ups lately is me with another girl. But if that kind of thing’s not for you…he’s probably not planning on keeping you very long. Certainly not as long as he’s been with me. Years and years.”
Everyone knows you like to watch.
My legs went unsteady. What we had done and hadn’t done. Him sitting on the bed watching me with heated eyes. Even now remembering the look on his face made me feel hot, achy and needy.
“You’re blushing.” I was, but not for the reason she thought.
“He’s doing scenes with you of course. He’s very good at them. He brought a guy in to fuck you?”
“No.” I shook my head, my stomach twisting. I wouldn’t want that. I didn’t want anyone but him. But did he feel the same? I suddenly felt inadequate. Woefully out of my league. Stupidly naive.
“Then he’s not doing much at all with you. Probably hasn’t even penetrated you. Exhibited you. Arranged you for someone else to pleasure you while he watched.”
Dazed, I shook my head. My fingers curled into fists. My eyes burned. She made sex seem devoid of emotion. Like being with Ash was some kind of performance. Their arrangement didn’t seem at all like anything we had experienced. We might not have been together in the sense that I wanted us to be, but neither were we actors playing parts in some dispassionate play.
“It’s not like that with us at all.” I lifted my chin, no longer feeling like I wanted to sink into the floor. “We do things together. We talk. We laugh. Tease each other. Surf together. Hang out with his friends.”
She blinked and the malevolent gleam in her eyes was no longer as bright. “What friends?”
“Karen. Simone,” I began but she interrupted.
“The guys in the band?” She jerked her head to the side. Diesel was standing now, his hands in his pockets, but he looked uneasy. Yeah, this wasn’t a cool conversation. Not one I wanted to have with Renee for sure. And certainly not with an audience present.
“Yes. Of course all the Dogs.”
“And his cousin? Linc?”
I nodded. Not understanding why she was making that distinction.
“So you know. So it’s ok with you. That Ash is in love with him. That he always will be. That whatever sweet little innocent nothings you give him you’ll never ever be able to give him that.”
It suddenly all made sense. I love you both, he had said. It hadn’t been Simone he had been staring at that day on the beach with all of that longing in his eyes. Not Simone that he could never have. It was Linc. Everything everybody had said to me, including Linc himself started to make sense. Ash was in love present tense with his cousin. Everybody knew. Even Renee. Everybody except me.
The penthouse door suddenly flew open, trembling on its hinges. Ash stormed inside. He looked…he looked incredible like he always did. Hair windblown but tied back with a black silk ribbon. Navy blazer, definitely custom by the way it fit his wide shoulders. A light blue shirt that accentuated his eyes, like the Pacific roiling during a storm at the moment. Charcoal pants molded to his hips and long legs. He’d been in LA with the lawyer. I’d forgotten all that. He had a way of eclipsing my thoughts, along with everything else in my life.
Unfortunately I didn’t seem to have the same power over him.
• • •
Ashland
“Get out!” I barked furiously at Renee. She had no business being here with Fanny inside my place. I had clearly explained that we were over.
“But honey,” she purred, padding across the floor to me, her expression knowing and calculating. Fanny looked…well like the walls of the penthouse were crashing down on her, though she stood straight and beautiful despite her obvious distress. Everything I wanted she represented, but she knew what I was made of now it seemed. One glance and I knew or could at least guess all Renee might have told her. Too late for me too eek out those details slowly. Maybe too late for the two of us.
“She’s only a child.” Renee reached for me. I snagged her wrist before she could make contact. She frowned. “Why would you throw us away for her?” Renee’s words didn’t merit acknowledgment. She sure as hell wasn’t winning any points coming here and pulling this shit. My eyes weren’t even on her. They were on Fanny. My gypsy rose, her gaze filled with watery grey emotion. My fault that she looked so utterly betrayed. I deserved every bit of the pain seeing her like this brought me.
“She is exceptional. Extraordinary. Incomparable. She’s Fanny. And she might not be for me anymore after whatever it is you’ve told her about me. But not because I don’t want her. She is everything I want. Everything I need. Her life is in turmoil. You had to know that coming through that circus downstairs. And still you felt the need to come up here and add to her troubles?” My gaze went hard. “I never knew you.”
“You never even tried to know me,” she hissed.
“You’re right. Maybe because I knew all along that the little I had of you was more than I wanted.”
She flinched. I released her wrist. She got the message. Finally. We were done. Finished. If there had truly been anything between us it was beyond redemption because of her actions. She slunk past me, her heels clattering on the hardwood floors.
“Fanny.” I moved toward her. My hands outstretched. “It’s gonna to be ok.”
“No.” Wide eyed she backed away from me. More pain sliced through me.
“Ok. Maybe not with us.” My voice was gruff.
“What us, Ash?” She croaked, her voice ragged. “What were you doing with me? What were we doing?” Her hands fluttered as she glanced around the apartment looking at it as if searching for specters of the memories we had created. Were memories all she would leave me? “It doesn’t matter,” she said firmly. Her sharp words sheared the wings of hope from my heart.
“Samuel. Hollie. Press conference,” she mumbled, cutting her gaze to her sister as if I weren’t even there anymore. She seemed to be formulating some kind of list.
I’d had enough. I needed her in my arms. I was going to force the issue. She thought better with me close. Well, so the hell did I. “Samuel Lesowski is going down, or he will be, once you authorize Andrew Hart to represent you and Hollie.”
“What?” She froze. I intercepted her, taking advantage of her surprise to get my hands on her arms. Gently, but firmly I drew her close. “Andrew Hart,” she breathed. I could hear her sister telling someone named Olivia that she would call her back.
“Yes. I’ve had him on retainer since you told me what was going on with your stepfather.” I stroked her arms with my thumbs wishing I could stroke her skin but settling. I had her no
w. In my arms.
“Hart is convinced that your stepfather didn’t have anything to do with your mother’s death. But what he does have on him is a lot of statements, sworn affidavits about how he used his position to coerce women to have sex with him in exchange for roles in his movies.”
“Oh my!” Hollie exclaimed.
“One of them was underage like your sister, Fanny.”
“I knew. I mean, I suspected, sure. But I never expected anyone would be willing to stand up to him.” She shook her head in disbelief.
“They’re not only willing, they already have. I imagine there might be more in the coming days.”
“That’s what Olivia told me.” Hollie’s eyes were bright. “She wants me to make a statement. She thinks if I go public with what Samuel did to me more women might come forward.”
“She’s probably right.” I nodded to Hollie then refocused on Fanny. She was looking down at my hands on her arms. “Hart says he’s going to bury Samuel.” She lifted her gaze. Seeing the daze and confusion in her eyes clearing, I pressed on quickly. “You know Hart’s reputation. Everyone does. He doesn’t take on a case if he can’t win it.”
“Yes, I know,” she whispered and twisted in my grasp, frowning. “Let go of me, Ash.”
“I can’t.”
“Ash.” Hollie stepped closer.
The door to the penthouse burst open and slammed into the wall. I released Fanny. “Get behind me, both of you!” I threw my arms to the sides protectively in front of her and her sister. Not knowing what to expect, I turned to see Linc and Simone with Ramon and Karen right behind them.
“What’s going on?” Linc asked. “It’s a madhouse down there. But no one is getting up into this penthouse that’s not on your list though, I can tell you that. It is that serious. The extra security you asked for is here in force. Cash has taken charge. If you can believe it, he made all of us show him our ID’s. Plus, your mom’s gotten involved. Even though she’s supposed to be taking a medical leave, she made a quiet call and now SDPD is handling things outside the building.” He strode closer, his gaze sweeping the room. His brows rose. “Seems like things are serious in here, too. What’d we miss?”
(Complete Rock Stars, Surf and Second Chances #1-5) Page 82
