Chart Toppers (Star Maker Book 3) (7 page)

He
grinned and kissed her.
 
“Thank
you.
 
Nana was telling me all kinds
of things about you on our walks.”

Kit
stared straight ahead and felt invisible knots in her stomach tightening.
 
“Oh really.
 
Like what?”
 
She swallowed hard, not wanting to know
the answer to the question she just posed.

He was
about to start his line of questioning when the jet came to its final stop on
the tarmac.
 
Kit wriggled out of his
embrace and stood up, looking out the window.
 
“We’re here, babe.
 
Better get a move on.
 
We’re meeting Spence and his new girl of
the month for din-din tonight.
 
Shake a tail feather.”

She
made a beeline for her belongings and started collecting them.
 
Sully leisurely followed along,
displeased with her avoidance of questioning.
 
As he climbed into the limousine with
her, he glanced over, waiting for her to look at him.

She
stared at her beeper reviewing the calls that had come in while they were in
flight.
 
When she refused to look at
him, he spoke.
 
“Kit.”

She
glanced over.
 
“Hmm?”

He
shook his head.
 
“We were having a
conversation.
 
I’d really like to
finish it.”

She
grinned and gave him a quick peck on the lips.
 
“I know, babe.
 
And we will… later.”

He
sighed and looked away, shaking his head.
 
He glanced over at her again.
 
“I’m gonna hold you to that.”

She was
dialing a phone number and balanced the phone on her shoulder while she
exchanged a look with him.
 
She
could see his annoyance.
 
She smiled
wide.
 
“I know you will, but for
now, can we just let it go, sweetie?
 
Thank you.”
 

She
started speaking to the person on the line, and he stewed, staring out the
window.
 
He despised the times when
she dismissed him.
 
Her avoidance made
him more determined to find a way to get the answers he wanted.

CHAPTER 4

Spencer
stood up and waved to Kit and Sully as they entered the restaurant.
 
Sully snickered, noticing the beautiful,
buxom blonde sitting at the table.
 
He whispered in Kit’s ear.
 
“How old do you think she is?”

Kit
rolled her eyes.
 
“I don’t know if I
want to know.
 
Clearly a trophy for
Spence to have on his arm.”
 
She
approached her brother and gave him a hug before they took their seats.

Sully
did the same and made a comment that made Spencer smile from ear to ear.
 
Kit shook her head in disgust and kindly
introduced herself to Spencer’s date, Donna.

The
attentive waiter promptly took their drink order, and as Sully opened the menu,
Kit went in for the kill.
 
She locked
eyes with Spencer.
 
“So, where are
we?
 
I need to know the latest.”

Sully
shot her a look.
 
“Kit, we haven’t
even ordered yet.”

She
looked at him.
 
“Ok.
 
Then order something for us.
 
You know what I like, and I trust your
judgment.”
 
She grinned.
 
He exchanged an annoyed glance with
Spencer.

“Kit,
can we just ease into this?”
 
Spencer attempted to back her off.
 
“Jeez, you’ve been back for what, ten minutes or something crazy like
that?
 
Let’s talk about Nana.
 
I do want to know how she is and no, I’m
not trying to deflect the conversation.
 
We can get to business later.
 
That’s why we’re here.
 
We
have this table all night if we want it.
 
So, talk.”

She
paused for a moment and then pushed her chair back.
 
“I’ll be back.
 
I just realized I need to make a call.”

As she
left the table, Spencer leaned forward and looked at Sully.
 
“What is up with her?”

He
sighed and shook his head.
 
“She’s
bummed we had to come back.
 
And
she’s worried about Nana.
 
You know
how she is, man.
 
When something’s
bugging her, she’ll dive right into work.
 
That’s her coping mechanism.”
 
Sully gave Donna a compassionate look, knowing the whole scene was
probably making her feel awkward.
 
He grinned.
 
“So, tell me
about you, Donna.”

She
smiled as a giggle escaped in awe of Sully’s supernova presence.
 
She then launched into the nutshell
version of her life story with him and Spencer as her captive audience.
 
As she was finishing up, Kit took her seat
at the table.
 

Sully
grinned at Donna.
 
“Thanks for
sharing that.”

Kit
forced a grin.
 
“Sorry, I missed
it.
 
Had a fire to put out.”
 
She looked at Spencer.
 
“So, we were talking about KMK.”

He
rolled his eyes.
 
“No, we were
not.
 
We were going to talk about
your visit to see Nana.
 
I want to
know how she is.”

Kit sat
back, defeated she was unable to deflect the conversation effectively.
 
She sighed and shook her head.
 
“She’s putting on a front, but she’s not
doing well. I think the clock is ticking down.”

Spencer
looked saddened, and Kit noticed Donna gently put her hand on top of his for
support.
 
He met Kit’s eyes.
 
“In other words, I need to get my ass on
a plane and get out there.”

She
nodded.
 
“She misses you,
Spence.
 
She hasn’t seen you in a
few months.
 
You’ve been much better
about your visits than me.
 
I hated
leaving.
 
I did.
 
Yes, make the effort.”

Sully
interjected.
 
“She’s certainly
fighting the good fight, but it is best if you get out there as soon as you
can.”

Kit
sipped her drink and nodded.
 
“I’ll
run KMK while you’re out unless you come up with a more effective strategy.”

He
stared at her.
 
“Ok, so here we are
back to KMK.
 
I guess there isn’t
much more I should know about Nan except that I need to get my ass out there?”
Sully and Kit nodded in unison.
 
He
nodded.
 
“Ok, done.
 
I’ll book my flight tonight.”

Satisfied,
Kit nodded.
 
“Good.
 
Now, can we please talk about my
company?”

Spencer
raised his eyebrows.
 
“
Your
company?”
 
He snorted
 
“Oh, that’s choice.
 
Try
our
company, Kit.
 
Sully, Wes, you and
me.
 
We’re the ones that have the
lion share invested.
 
Back the fuck
down.”

She met
eyes with Sully looking for empathy, but he shook his head slowly, not giving
her what she wanted.
 
She shifted
her gaze to Spencer.
 
“Ok.
 
Sorry.
 
Our company.”

Before
Kit could continue, the maître’d approached the table and nodded.
 
“I’m so sorry to interrupt.
 
Ms. McKenna, there is a call for you.”

She
grinned politely and stood up.
 
“Ok,
thank you.”
 
She glanced at everyone
around the table.
 
“I’ll be back.”

Donna
forced a grin.
 
“I’m going to step
out for a smoke, guys.
 
I’ll be
back.”

As she
left the table, Sully leaned forward.
 
“Ok, so I need you to be straight with me.”

Spencer
nodded.
 
“Sure, just as long as you
tell me what the hell is up with my sister?
 
Why is she so bitchy today?
 
Were you two fighting earlier?”

He
shook his head.
 
“No, but she’s been
on edge. There was something bugging her when we were there and now that we’re
back, she feels bad leaving Nana.
 
I
get that, but I don’t understand why she’s so on edge.”

Spencer
sat back and thought about it for a second.
 
He nodded.
 
“I get it.
 
It’s the first time she’s been in Lake
Forest for an extended period.
 
Probably brought up some old memories that she doesn’t like much.
 
You didn’t see Dad, did you?”

Sully
chuckled.
 
“Hell no!
 
We hung out with Abigail and Étienne on
more than one occasion, but we didn’t go near your dad’s house.
 
Kit ran into some girl named Julie.
 
Said they went to high school together.
 
She wasn’t too thrilled about it.”

Spencer
let out a long sigh.
 
“I don’t
remember Julie, but I know Kit didn’t like her life in Lake Forest.
 
That’s why she was so desperate to get
the hell out for college.
 
I
remember she ran away when I was like ten or eleven once.
 
Probably lots of memories that are
bittersweet, Sull.”

He
stared intently.
 
“Ok, wait.
 
Let me see if I can fill this in. Let me
give you a name and see if you know anything.”
 

Spencer
nodded.
 
“Ok.”

“Kirby
Nelson.”
 
He sipped his drink and
awaited Spencer’s reaction.

He
stared for a moment, frozen, realizing Kit had never told Sully about Kirby or
else he wouldn’t be asking.
 
He knew
he needed to back out of this one gracefully or have hell to pay from Kit.
 
He also knew he couldn’t lie to his
brother in law.
 
He sighed.
 
“What about Kirby Nelson?”

Sully’s
eyes widened.
 
“You know who this
guy is?
 
Tell me. I know I’ll have a
hell of a time getting this out of your sister.”

He
surveyed Sully closely.
 
“How did
you hear about him in the first place?”

Sully
was losing his patience.
 
“Nana.
 
She mentioned that
Kirby was your sister’s first love and something about an impending marriage
way back when?”

“You
mean engagement.” Spencer grimaced and immediately gulped his drink knowing he
had already said too much.

Sully
leaned forward.
 
“Kit was engaged to
this Kirby guy?
 
How old was she?
Like seventeen or something crazy like that?”

He
closed his eyes and sighed.
 
“Sull,
if you know what’s good for you, stop your line of questioning.
 
If Kit wants to tell you the nature of
everything that transpired, she will.”
 
He finally opened his eyes and met Sully’s.
 
“This is in her past and the past is the
past.
 
She chose you, man.
 
She married you, and I know she’s
totally in love with you so stop being so paranoid.”

Kit
resumed her seat at the table and looked at both of them.
 
“Who’s paranoid?”
 
She looked at Sully.
 
“Are you paranoid?
 
Why?”
 
She reached for his hand and
squeezed.
 
“Don’t worry, babe, we’ll
make this new album bigger and better than ever.”
 
She smiled.

He
chuckled and exchanged a look of discretion with Spencer, deciding this was the
best angle to take to keep Kit from knowing the details of their
conversation.
 
He nodded.
 
“Thanks, baby.
 
You’re right.”

Spencer
chuckled and looked at Kit.
 
“Ok,
let’s get down to it.
 
Bombard me
with questions about KMK.
 
Go.”

She
smiled wide, finally happy she was getting her way.
 
“How are we doing?
 
Noticed I said, we?”
 
She exchanged looks with both Spencer
and Sully.
 
“I’m sorry about the ‘my
company’ thing earlier.
 
Bad habit I
need to break.
 
Probably why Dante
hated me enough to create this mess in the first place.”

Spencer
grinned.
 
“No worries, sis.
 
KMK is doing well.
 
We’re ahead of our revenue projections
for the year.
 
The team is cranking
with a high run rate. Sean Finley is one bad ass.
 
We may need to consider promoting that
guy in the new year.
 
He’s brought
in a ton of business, and he is one hell of a director.
 
Would make a great COO.
 
He’s been my right-hand man.
 
Well, he and Danny.”

Kit
exchanged a look with Sully and the shifted her gaze back to Spencer.
 
“I’m glad they’re doing well, but we
want them on the road with our tours.
 
If we promote one or both of them, we need to have a contingency plan in
place to back them when they’re out of the office on a world tour.”

Spencer
chuckled.
 
“Already working on
that.
 
One step ahead of you.”
 
He pointed to Sully.
 
“And this guy here has brought in a few
million on his own.
 
He’s our top
biz dev producer.
 
No one can touch
him.”

Kit’s
eyes widened as she looked at Sully.
 
He grinned and snickered, shaking his head as he looked at Spencer.
 
“I thought we were keeping that one off
the table.
 
Apparently not.”

Spencer
laughed.
 
“Couldn’t help it,
man.
 
You’re the biggest revenue
generator in the company.
 
We’ve had
five bands sign because you reached out to them, and we’ve acquired eight
artists for renegotiation.
 
You have
one hell of a pitch that people want to buy into.”
 
Spencer looked at Kit.
 
“And I may add that he is quite the negotiator.
 
When Sean, Danny and I got a hold of
what Sully had put together as deals on his own, we were pretty impressed.”