Chart Toppers (Star Maker Book 3) (42 page)

He
pulled back and forced a grin, nodding his head.
 
“Yeah.”

Jimmy
sat next to Kit in the hotel bar.
 
Sully and the rest of the band had retired for the night, tired from
their performance.
 
Their first show
in Rio had been a phenomenal success.
 
They had one more show left, two days off in Brazil, including a private
party and then three more shows before they headed to Argentina and Chile to
finish out the leg.

Kit had
wanted to hang out with Jimmy since she first came back on the road, but issues
with the band seemed more pressing than launching into anything personal.
 
Now that things had calmed down, and all
the kids seemed to be playing nicely in the sandbox, she decided to test the
waters for Diana.
  
She figured
it best to play dumb. “So, Jim, has Di been out on the road at all?”

He took
a large gulp of his drink.
 
“Nope
and I intend to keep it that way.”
 

Kit
immediately noticed the absence of his wedding band.
 
Jimmy had worn that ring from day one,
and now it was clearly missing.
 
She
frowned.
 
“Where’s your ring?
 
Are you guys on the outs?”

He
shrugged his shoulders.
 
“I dunno.”

She
stared at him.
 
“What do you mean,
you dunno?
 
That’s a cop out if I
ever did hear one.”

His
eyes narrowed.
 
“Why are you so
fucking nosy and getting all up in my personal business, huh?
 
Like you care.”

She
rolled her eyes, sarcasm dripping from her words.
 
“Yeah, I don’t care at all.
 
That’s why when we’re not on the road, I
hang out with you and your wife and your kids. Whatever, Jimmy.
 
What’s going on with you?”

“It’s
none of your damn business, Kit. Butt the fuck out.”

She
flagged the bartender and asked for another round.
 
He pushed fresh drinks in front of them,
and Jimmy didn’t hesitate to gulp down half of his in an instant.
 
He got up from the barstool, avoiding
her gaze.
 
“I’ll be back in a sec.”

She
watched him head toward the men’s room.
 
Part of her wanted to leave, go back up to her suite and get some decent
sleep, but the part of her that wanted to save the marriage of two close
friends was greater.
 
It drove her
to remain.
 
She noticed when he came
back that he was in much better spirits and suddenly more talkative.
 
It didn’t take her long to realize that
he had done a few lines of cocaine in the bathroom.

“Jim,
why are you doing this?
 
That shit
is going to pull you down.
 
It’ll
fuck up your life.”

He
glared and raised his voice.
 
“I
told you, butt the fuck out!
 
You
have no idea what I’m up against.
 
All the shit with this band and fucking Sully.
 
Don’t get me started, Kit.”

She
glared.
 
“Oh, I plan on getting you
started, Jimmy.
 
I’m your manager
and if you’re having problems with the rest of the band and Sully and that’s the
reason for shoving cocaine up your nose, then guess what?
 
It
is
my business.”

He
shook his head and stood up.
 
“I
don’t need to take this shit from you.”
 
He stormed out of the bar.
 

Kit
sighed and stared straight ahead, taking a long sip of her club soda with lime.
 
She wondered how this tour had
started so smoothly and was now turning into lengthy episodes of daily
drama.
 
She was relieved that the
cracks weren’t showing externally.
 
The media and the fans were oblivious to the plethora of problems, and
that gave her great solace, but she wondered how long they could realistically
pull it all off.

Kit and
Sully mingled around the posh party, relieved that most of the guests spoke
fluent English.
 
Giselle walked up
to them, on Bryan’s arm.
 
“Happy
Birthday, Sully!
 
Are you two
enjoying yourselves?”

Kit
nodded.
 
“This is a beautiful
estate, G.
 
Great party, too.”

She
shook her head and grinned.
 
“Not
yet.
 
You just got here, and you
need a drink.
 
Sull, we have a cake
for you that we’ll wheel out later for all the guests.
 
But before we get into the full swing of
the evening, I want to introduce you to my parents.”

Sully
exchanged a look with Kit, and they both started laughing.
 
Giselle raised her eyebrows.
 
“Something funny you two?”

Sully
spoke up.
 
“Parents don’t seem to
like me much.
 
Kit’s dad hates
me.
 
Hopefully, I’ll get the seal of
approval from yours.”

Giselle
smiled. “I’m sure they’ll like you.”
 
She gazed up at Bryan and grinned.
 
“They love Bryan already.
 
But really, what’s not to love?”

Kit
giggled.
 
“Ok, love birds,
c’mon.
 
Introduce us.”

Giselle
stood at the bar with the band and got their attention.
 
“Ok guys, here we go.
 
We’re doing bombeirinhos.”

Remo
laughed.
 
“What?”

Giselle
giggled and continued. “Shots of cachaça with a little bit of grenadine.
 
Ok, guys, you may have beat me with
tequila on the plane, but not one of you is going to beat me on shots of
cachaça.”

Jimmy
raised his eyebrows.
 
“Why Giselle,
are you challenging us?
 
Are you
claiming you can out drink us?”

She
smiled wide and nodded her head.
 
“With cachaça, fuck yes.
 
Who’s in?”

Kit
shook her head and laughed.
 
“No
way.
 
Count me out.”

Giselle
nodded.
 
“Fair enough, gatinha.
 
So are all you guys in or are some of
you going to pussy out?”

Sully
laughed and yelled.
 
“I’m in.”
 
The rest of the band followed suit and
within minutes they were doing shot after shot, trying to beat Giselle.
 

As Kit
was enjoying watching them, a gorgeous, tall, dark and handsome gentleman with
the greenest eyes she had ever seen, approached her.
 

He
smiled and extended his hand.
 
“You
must be Kit.
 
I’m Miguel, one of
Giselle’s brothers.”
 

She put
her hand in his and smiled as he kissed it.
 
She couldn’t wipe the big grin off of
her face and found herself instantly intoxicated and mesmerized with his looks,
his cologne, and his accent.
 
She
then finally remembered to speak and tried to keep her voice from sounding like
a dreamy and breathless, lovesick girl.
 
“Hi, Miguel. It’s nice to meet you.”

He
smiled.
 
“The pleasure is all mine,
Kit.
 
Giselle told me you were
linda, I mean pretty, but that doesn’t do you justice.
 
You’re absolutely stunning.”

Kit
giggled.
 
She couldn’t help it.
 
She was eating all of this up.
 
He was complete eye candy.
 
“Thank you.”

He
glanced over to watch his sister and the band briefly.
 
“We taught her how to do that.
 
She’ll win, and they’ll be drunk.
 
Don’t worry, we’ll help you carry them
out to the car.”

Kit
laughed.
 
“When did you teach her to
do this?”

He
laughed.
 
“It’s bad.
 
We started having drinking contests with
her when she was thirteen.
 
Took her
to carnival with us.
 
She’s had
quite the… what’s the American word?”

Kit
nodded.
 
“Hazing?”

He
smiled.
 
“Yes, hazing.
 
We weren’t very kind to her.
 
Certainly toughened her up.
 
Seems she’s done well for herself in the
United States.
 
She says you’re a
good boss.”

Kit
grinned.
 
“That’s nice to hear.
 
She’s an amazing executive
assistant.
 
I don’t know what I’d do
without her.
 
She’s the best, and
she can work well with all those jokers.”

He
nodded and grinned.
 
“Where do you
think she got her training?”

Kit chuckled.
 
“It’s all making sense now,
Miguel.”
 
She was happy to see the
band laughing and appearing to be unified.

Miguel
folded his arms in front of his chest as he watched the band along with
Kit.
 
“So, tell me about this Bryan
Donald.
 
Is he good for my baby
sister?”

Kit grinned.
 
“Out of all the guys in the band, I’d
say Bryan is the best one for her.
 
He’s a great guy, Miguel.
 
She’s in good hands.
 
He is
very much in love with her.
 
He’d do
anything for her.”

Miguel
raised his eyebrow.
 
“Even take a
bullet?”

Kit
looked at him and joked.
 
“Yes, but
please don’t try it.
 
He’s got more
shows to do before the tour ends.”

He
burst out laughing.
 
“You’ve got a
lovely sense of humor, Kit.”

Sully
staggered over laughing and kissed Kit on the cheek sloppily.
 
“I had to get out of there.
 
Damn, she’s like up to nine shots now,
and she’s doing great.
 
Did you see?
Tony ran off to the bathroom to puke.”
 
He looked at Miguel and his smile waned as he outstretched his
hand.
 
“Hey, I’m Sully Foxx, Kit’s
husband, and you are?”
 
Kit watched
him closely seeing him shift into jealous husband mode, reminding her of his
indiscretion.
 
He normally wasn’t
this possessive, but tonight he wrapped his arm around her tightly like she was
one of his possessions, leaving her feeling slightly annoyed.

Miguel
raised his eyebrows, grinned and shook his hand.
 
“Miguel Machado, Giselle’s brother.
 
Kit, I didn’t know you were married?”

She
smiled, feeling awkward as Sully stared at her, astonished.
 
She kissed him on the cheek, grinned and
looked at Miguel.
 
“I am.
 
This is my husband.
 
He’s the lead singer of the band.
 
Very talented.
 
And he’s the birthday boy we’re
celebrating tonight!”

Miguel
nodded.
 
“You’re a very lucky
man.
 
Kit’s an amazing woman.”

He squeezed
his arm around her more possessively and smiled proudly.
 
“Yes, she is.”

Kit glanced
over at the bar and chuckled.
 
“Ooh,
another one bites the dust.
 
Remo is
out of the game.”

Sully
and Miguel laughed.
 
It was down to
Jimmy and Bryan now.
 
Sully looked
at Miguel.
 
“You know her better
than anyone.
 
Do you think Giselle
is going to win this?”

Miguel
nodded and smiled.
 
“Yes.
 
I’m curious to see how long it will
take.
 
She’s going to start wavering
soon.
 
You Americans can certainly
drink a lot.”

As the
words finished rolling off his tongue, Jimmy staggered away shaking his head
and waving his hands in the air to indicate he was done.
 
It was down to Giselle and Bryan.
 

Kit
chuckled.
 
“Now this is
interesting.”

Sully
smiled.
 
“I think she’s gonna take
him.
 
This is great.”