Brooklyn Rockstar (Kendall Family #1) (24 page)

I
’m
numb when I report to work, having spent the entire ride back to the city bawling my eyes out, then passing out cold for four hours in my bed. Sharlo wanted to skip her shift at the art gallery to meet me at the apartment, but I insisted that I was fine and needed time alone.

The way Hope looks at me from behind the bar when I walk into Leona’s, I must look every bit as wrecked as I imagine. “Ev! I figured you’d take the night off!” Her wide eyes dart around the bar like she’s expecting paparazzi to storm in after me, then narrow on my face. “You okay?”

Her kindness brings tears to my eyes and I know if I say anything I’ll breakdown, so I merely shake my head and continue walking past her to the back. The minute I set foot in the break room, I’m unexpectedly struck with memories of Charlie and almost collapse.

Every time I picture him standing motionless in the beach house, just watching me leave, I want to scream. He didn’t even put up a fight. It only confirmed my biggest fear—that he never loved me. I was simply a ploy to save his flailing career. His agent probably singled me out the night Charlie performed as someone naive enough to go along with their plan. All that talk about wanting to change and spend our lives together was part of the Charlie Walker charm. He was sleeping with other women while pretending I was the only one he wanted to be with. Just wait until social media hears how I got played.

“I’m such a fucking idiot!” I toss my phone across the room as a giant sob rips through my chest.

“Whoa!” a deep voice behind me yells. “What’s going on in here?”

Spinning around with my hand over my mouth, I discover Nolan standing in the doorway looking sharp as always in a suit coat. I let his arms enclose around me, keeping me upright as my heart breaks all over again. Damn it all to hell, his rigid muscles remind me way too much of Charlie.
The thought that I'll never be in his arms again almost hurts more than the tight pain spreading across my chest.

Letting myself fall in love so hard and fast for someone like Charlie was destined for failure. I remember as a little girl listening to my mom tell me fairytales about princesses falling in love and living happily ever after. She never once prepared me for how it would feel to discover Prince Charming was screwing Sleeping Beauty and Pocahontas on the side. I should’ve known better from the start considering none of the princes were covered in tattoos and liked to box in their spare time.

Nolan’s chest heaves against mine. “You okay?”

A drawn-out moment passes before I’m coherent. Embarrassed that I fell apart in front of my boss, I bury my face in his shirt. I can’t help but notice he smells amazing, although nothing like my Charlie. Shit. I’m going to have to come up with a more suitable nickname for him, like lying bastard or douche-canoe.

Hands press to the sides of my head, drawing it back. Nolan’s dark brown eyes study me with open kindness. “Anything you want to talk about?” Then a sudden storm passes through his gaze and he scrunches his nose. “Does this have something to do with that prick Walker? Did he hurt you?”

In this moment I’d give anything to release him on Charlie, to find out if this jujutsu business he practices is serious enough to kick the lying trollop’s boxing ass. “Love is stupid,” I answer with an unattractive snort. “You’re doing it right by staying single.”

A small smile forms on his lips. “I’m not single by choice. Love doesn’t suck if you find the right person who wants to be with you.” His fingers wipe at my tears, brushing over my cheeks the way Charlie’s always do. “People like Walker are incapable of caring about anyone other than themselves.”

Although I bristle with his words, remembering how Charlie told me about his self-absorbed dad, Nolan’s familiar touch stirs something unsettling. I reach both hands around his neck, dragging him down until his face is at my level. Our mouths meet for a slow, tentative kiss. He tastes like peppermint and his lips are velvety soft. Nolan stops, his dark eyes scanning my face like I'm an open book. But I don’t want to question it. I just want to feel something again. I want to fill the gaping hole Charlie Walker placed in my chest.

My hand shoots out to slam the door shut before taking Nolan's mouth again, determined to replace every last memory I have of kissing Charlie. With a swipe of my tongue, Nolan’s lips part and the kiss catapults to another level. His hands are in my hair as he devours me with his eager tongue, embracing me with his unique taste and smell. I fist a handful of his hair and suck on his tongue, scraping my teeth over it before giving it back. He kisses better than a fucking rockstar, I tell myself.

But I’m wrong. Lying to myself isn’t going to help anything.
I still want Charlie.

With a shake of my head, I push Nolan away. I was willing to do whatever it took to erase Charlie from my life. Doing it with my boss would’ve been a colossal mistake.

“Shit,”
I say as my cheeks burn blazing hot. Running my hands through my hair, I start shuffling away from him. “I’m sorry. I shouldn't have—"

“I get it,” he interrupts in a flat tone. His hands raise out at his sides. “I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you like that. You were crying, and—”

“It’s my fault,” I insist, starting for the door. “I take full responsibility for what just happened. Just
please
don’t fire me for this because I really need the money. I’m sorry, but I have to go home. I’m not feeling well.”

Like a coward I spring from the room, ignoring his pleas for me to come back. I’ve managed to make the worst day of my life suck even more.

S
harlo greets
me with open arms when I return, blubbering about my screw-up with Nolan. “It’s partially his fault for being so bloody attractive,” she insists, hugging me tightly. “What can I do for you, love? Tell me how I can make this better.”

“Unless you know a way to restore my dignity, it can’t get better,” I mutter. Burying my face in her shoulder, I release another whimpering cry. “God, I’m such an idiot! I did exactly what I swore I wouldn’t do—let him convince me that I was in love with him and agreed to have sex right before my name went public! Now that my family will hear all about it, I’m not even with him anymore!”

Her chest rises with a humorless laugh. “Hard to believe that’s the way it all went down. You’re far from daft. If his intentions weren’t pure, don’t you think you would’ve caught on from the start?”

Flashbacks to the time I’ve spent with Charlie flicker through my mind, going all the way back to the night Sharlo and I went to his apartment. Had he only been interested in using me, would he have gone through all the motions of pretending to hold back and insistent on proving I meant more to him than a casual lay? The way he said those things on the boat about wanting to adjust his life around me…they truly seemed to come from his heart.

Except he isn’t in love with me.

God, I must be the most gullible person on the planet.

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” I whisper, releasing her. I only want to forget that Charlie Walker ever walked into my life.

She doesn’t leave my side, though she’s cagey as hell and every few minutes I catch her staring into the hallway like she’s expecting someone to come storming in. Maybe she thinks Charlie is actually going to come after me. I guess it would make sense since she didn’t see how easily he let me go.

We sit on my bed into the early morning hours, watching slasher movies. Every now and then my mind will wander away from the movie and I’m hit with another harsh dose of reality that brings me to tears. Sharlo doesn’t say much, though she occasionally brushes my hair away from my wet face. It reminds me all too much of the way my mom would comfort me when I was young, making my heart ache a little more.

My soul and mind are wrecked. I never knew love could cause so much physical pain.

Sometime in the middle of night I finally pass out.

T
he way
the sun hits my floor when I open my eyes, I decide it must be late afternoon. The events of the prior day slowly unravel as if playing out in a movie trailer and tears instantly soak my face.

How can things ever go back to being okay?

My loud sobs bring a wide-eyed Sharlo bursting into my room. She climbs into my bed, wrapping me in her vanilla-scented embrace. “You’ll get through this, love. One day at a time.”

“It…doesn’t…feel like it,” I answer amongst a whimpering cry.

“I know you’re hurting, but at some point you’re going to have to step back and consider everything you’ve heard is a bloody misunderstanding. You don’t know for a fact Charlie’s secret had anything to do with those slags and I’m really doubting this whole ‘hire a wholesome girl’ theory. It doesn’t add up. You told me he was crying when he said he had something to tell you. I believe he truly loves you and deserves a second chance.”

With the sound of our doorbell, she crawls back out of the bed. “Stay here, love. I’ll take care of it.” As she’s leaving the room, she eyes me with heightened paranoia before closing the door. Does she think I’m going to go postal if Charlie miraculously makes an appearance?

I move over to my door, cracking it enough to see Sharlo’s back at the front door as her voice volleys with a higher one.

“She
is
here!” a woman’s voice says. “Evelyn, can I please talk to you for a minute? It’s about Charlie.”

I roll my door open all the way open. It’s Parker, the woman I first met at Charlie’s concert then again while working. She looks seriously distressed in a rumpled T-shirt and micro-short shorts with a pair of dirty Keds and a messenger bag slung across her body, bleached hair limp around her shoulders. Did someone try to run her over?

“Evelyn, stay there,” Sharlo insists, turning to look at me. “This woman could be nutters for all we know.”

Hands on her hips, Parker glares at Sharlo like she’s ready to throw her down. “Trust me, she’ll want to hear what I have to say.” Her eyes draw back up to mine. “It’s true what they’re saying about Charlie and those two women. One of them is a friend of mine. I picked her up from Charlie’s the next morning.”

Sickness surges through my stomach. I bend over like I was punched, backing toward my room. I was naive when Charlie told me he didn’t do that kind of thing anymore. I’m starting to wonder if he ever uttered a single truth while we were together.

When I look back to where Parker stands watching me, there’s a disturbing smile on her lips.

“How did you find me?” I ask, feeling increasingly uneasy about the situation.

“I’m actually a reporter,” she answers. “My real name is Gwen Porter. I’ve been investigating you and Charlie separately for an upcoming feature in
Rachelle Magazine
. Thought I’d stop by to see if you want to tell your side of the story before the truth about your relationship goes viral.”

“Definitely nutters,” Sharlo mutters at her side.

“You’re wasting your time,” I say, shaking my head. “There’s nothing I have to say to
any
reporter. You should leave.”

When I turn back to my room, there’s a loud cry and a scuffle down below. I spin back around to see “Gwen” all the way inside our apartment.

Holding a gun to Sharlo’s head.

“Shar!”
I cry, gripping the railing.

“I’m okay, love,” Sharlo insists in her usual easygoing manner. “Not the first time I’ve had a weapon held to my head and I’m sure it won’t be the last.”

“No one has to get hurt as long as you do everything I say,” Gwen tells us. She dips her chin at the stairway. “Get your skinny ass down here, Evelyn. Hands up where I can see them. Do you have your phone on you?”

With a small shake of my head, I hold my hands up at my sides and shuffle toward the stairway. “Why do you have a gun?”

“Yes,” Sharlo agrees. “What
are
you hoping to accomplish
,
Gwen
,
or whatever your name is? Is there a point
in this random violence, or are we to assume you’re hopped up on Molly and have mistaken us for aliens?”

Gwen’s lips pucker. “Evelyn, inside my bag you’ll find a role of tape. You’re going to wrap it around your friend’s wrists and ankles. Try anything funny and she’s going to pay the consequences. Understood?”

Meeting Sharlo’s resigned gaze, I nod before reaching around her for the bag. As soon as I have the heavy roll of duct tape in hand, Sharlo holds her wrists out and blows a deep breath from between her lips. “Funny, whenever I’ve had this fantasy, I didn’t fancy my best mate being the one to bind me. Promise once you’re done, you’ll at least give my arse a little spanking?”

With tears in my eyes, I meet her gaze and give a little shake my head. How can she joke around at a time like this?

“Do you ever shut the hell up?” Gwen asks, grabbing a handful of Sharlo’s hair behind her head. “Hurry up and do it, Evelyn.”

“If you won’t share your plan, I believe it’s at least fair I share mine,” Sharlo warns, watching my unsteady hands as they wrap tape around hers. “Harm one hair on Evelyn’s head, and I’ll claw your bloody eyes out.”

Gwen throws back her head with a strange little giggle. “The three of us are going on a little road trip to the docks. It’ll be hard for you to do much of anything from inside the trunk.”

“You’re not putting her in a trunk,” I snap, stopping to shoot the woman a warning glare. Though my stomach’s roiling and my heart feels like it’s going to beat out of my chest, I’ll be damned if I’ll let this bitch know I’m scared to death. “Leave her alone and I’ll do whatever you want. When I’m done taping her up, she won’t be able to do anything anyway. I’ll tie her to the damn fridge if it’ll make you happy.”

Her eyes burn through me. “You’re not in any position to be making demands.”

“If you’re doing this because you want Charlie, you can have him,” I tell her with a sneer. “I was just another fling to him. It’s over between us.”

“What I want is that asshole to pay,” she assures me. “I need to make things right for Danny. I won’t give up until your man gives me the answers I need. You’ll thank me one day for doing this. He’s not good for you, Evelyn. He’s not good for anyone
.
”