Love Songs (24 page)

When she arrived Christian and Ed were both sitting in the living room waiting for her.

“Nice to see you’re home,” Ed said, but his voice had an angry quiver to it.

“I’m home. Now where is Warner?”

“Moved out,” Christian said from the couch, his back to her.

“Moved out?” She came around the couch and looked down at her brother. “He moved out and you didn’t stop him?”

Christian stood and looked her in the eye. “You think I’d let him just walk out on you? He has valid reason. What the hell were you doing on that tour with that man?”

Now Ed was out of his chair too and they were both towering over her and looking down on her.

“I didn’t do anything.” She skirted around them and headed to the kitchen. She’d contemplated a glass of water, then a beer, oh hell—was there whisky? Deciding against everything she turned to her brothers. “I saw the pictures. I didn’t sleep with the guy. I didn’t kiss him. I didn’t do anything. You have to believe me.”

“No one has to believe you, Clara,” Ed crossed his arms over his chest. “No one
does
believe you.”

“Including Warner,” her voice dropped.

She fell into a chair at the table and rested her face in her hands.

Christian sat down across from her. “What did you do?”

She looked up at him with tears now blurring her vision. “I didn’t do anything. Patricia Little came after me telling me all this stuff about Warner and I broke down. He was comforting me.”

Ed pulled out another chair, turned it backward, and sat down with his arms rested on the high back. “Someone set you up. Why tell you that and then stick around? I mean someone had to know you were going to seek comfort. They might have even known he’d give it to you.”

“That’s all it was. He was hugging me while I was sobbing, but funny you can’t see that in those damn pictures.”

There was a knock on the door and then it opened. Zach walked in with a stack of papers in his hand.

“Okay. I have my lawyers on this already.”

The tears came harder now. “What are they going to do?”

“They’re going to try and get those pictures taken down and we’re going to find out who posted them. Next they are making amends with Trent and his wife. They too will want to fight this.”

“Uncle Zach, I didn’t do anything wrong.”

He nodded. “I know. You’d never do that to the man you love. Who, by the way, is sleeping on the couch in my office.” He threw her a set of keys. “Red one is parking garage. Round one is the elevator to my office. Don’t lose them and be careful down there alone.”

Clara jumped up from her seat and hugged and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you.”

Warner was in awe of Zach’s office. He’d never even lived in a place as nice as this. The Murphy bed had been pulled down. The flat screen TV rose out of the cabinet. Before he’d headed out, Zach had Chinese food ordered up and had his assistant fill the mini-fridge with water bottles.

Through the other door there was a full bathroom where he could even shower.

Warner shook his head. Everyone’s life was so different.

He sat down on the couch and began to surf through the channels with the remote. Somewhere between an old episode of Full House and Guy Fieri he realized what the night in the office meant.

He couldn’t just walk out on Clara no matter what she had done. He was part of a family now and families worked things out together.

Hadn’t Christian tried to stop him? He’d made the call to Arianna who had called Randy who then had found him at the studio. Then it was Regan who met him there and drove him to Zach’s office where Zach set him up.

Warner rubbed his stubbled chin. That was what a family did for each other—and they’d done it for him.

No one asked why. No one needed details. They had just stepped up.

Did they think he was a victim to Clara’s infidelity? But did he really think that himself?

Warner turned when he heard the noise behind him coming from the elevator which Zach had left through. He must have come back for something.

Warner stood to greet his guest and he couldn’t have been more surprised when Clara stepped out.

His first instinct was to run to her, scoop her up in his arms, and kiss her senseless. But he stopped just steps from her, tucked his hands into his pockets, and just looked at her.

She was still dressed in the outfit she’d performed in. Her stage make up had all been cried off, obviously.

“Hello, Warner.”

“Clara.”

She bit down on her trembling lip. “I missed you.”

This was judgment time. He was going to sound like an ass, but he was still hurting so he figured it was justified. “Missed me enough to forget about me for a few hours.”

She took a step forward and then stopped. “I didn’t do anything. Warner, you gotta believe I didn’t do anything to jeopardize our marriage or Trent’s.”

“Then what was that all about?”

Clara took one final step toward him until they were toe to toe. She looked up at him with weary eyes. “Warner, was Mindy pregnant when she died?”

Warner felt his body deflate as if he wasn’t already empty enough.

She reached out and touched his chest. “Was she?”

“Patty got to you. She actually got to you.”

“She cornered me at the concert the other night. She said you killed her Mindy by getting her into drugs and dragging her out to Vegas.”

“She was already into drugs and I didn’t ask her to go to Vegas.”

“I know that. You know that. Patricia has a different story in her head.” Clara sighed. “But was there a baby?”

Warner turned from her and ran his fingers through his hair. “There was a baby. That’s what kept her in Vegas.” He turned back to his crying wife. “But the baby wasn’t mine. I may have been young and not smart about too many things, but I was smart about that. No matter what she’d ever tell me I made sure I was covered if I was sleeping with her. Not so much to keep her from getting pregnant, but I didn’t want anything she might have.” He winced. “You know what I mean?”

Clara nodded.

“Anyway, she got knocked up, kept coming back to me when he’d kick her out. She wasn’t too far along when she died. A couple months. I couldn’t convince her to clean up. I couldn’t convince her to leave with me either.”

“Why didn’t you just drag her away?”

Warner laughed. “You are a good person aren’t you? She’s been dead almost fifteen years and you worry about her.” He walked back towards Clara and rested his hands on her shoulders. “She said my arguments were invalid anyway. She told me she’d miscarried and I had no reason to not believe her. After all, she’d never stopped using or drinking.”

“You thought the baby was gone.”

“I didn’t find out she was still pregnant until after they did an autopsy and Patty came after me the first time.”

Clara wiped her eyes. “Why didn’t she ever use that for fuel before?”

“Because she knows it wasn’t mine. She knows the truths. She just chooses to believe it’s all my fault. I can’t stop that.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the baby?”

“It didn’t seem relevant at the time. It wasn’t my baby.”

Clara wrapped her arms around his waist and he breathed in the scent of her as he held her tight.

“Warner, I didn’t sleep with Trent. He was just comforting me because he saw how upset I was. He got us a car and he walked me to my room. That’s all.”

“I know.” And he did.

“Come home. Zach already has lawyers all over this. Tom Wheeler wants to rep me and get his PR team on fixing this.”

He pushed her back at arm’s length. “You didn’t sign with him did you?”

“No.”

“Good. I don’t trust him.”

“Why?”

Warner shook his head. “He works with Patty. Why would I? Besides, day after tomorrow Jeremy has a meeting scheduled with whoever wants my music. He wants you to be there too. We were waiting for you.” He pulled her in close. “But you’re home early.” He brushed a curl from her eyes. “And I think we are entitled to an entire day of makeup sex.”

Clara smiled back at him then rose up on her toes. “Oh, I think we can certainly make use of that.” She kissed him feverishly as though she’d missed him for years. Once again they’d escaped from Patty’s evil talons, but when would it all hit the fan? One of them had to go down. Patty or them. With Clara by his side he was betting on Patty.

With Clara’s hand in his, Warner walked into Jeremy’s office.

“Welcome home, Clara,” Jeremy said when they walked through the door.

“Thank you.”

“I’ve seen the videos popping up of your performance. I’m impressed.”

She smiled at the compliment. “I had some very good material to work with.”

Jeremy nodded. “You sure did. Okay, are you two ready?” He grabbed a notebook off his desk. “Let’s go meet your fate.”

Jeremy led the way down the hall to a conference room and opened the door. No one was at the table yet, only a camera man and a sound guy in the corner.

“You two take those chairs and I’m going to sit over here.”

Warner watched as the light on the camera turned on and Jeremy opened his folder with notes and papers.

Then the scent of cigar filled Warner’s nose. He was always keen on the scent as it reminded him of his father. It was a moment later he heard voices in the hall and the sound of people convening.

When the door opened, four men walked through, whom he didn’t know, but when the last man walked through Warner literally felt his head spin and he thought he just might collapse.

Harley Oxbury walked through the door bigger than life, a lit cigar stuck between his teeth.

In his older years he had begun to look more like Boss Hog than Nashville royalty, but the room obviously was still his with the direct attention being given to him from those around him.

His large cowboy hat was white with a rhinestone band and he wore a white suit. Warner didn’t know anything about fashion, but it struck him as funny because he did know—from Patricia of all people—that you didn’t wear white after Labor Day. But the OX could do any damn thing he wanted to.

Warner had never met the man, yet it was his demise that had caused Warner so much pain for so many years. Was it possible that Harley Oxbury was here to just seal the coffin?

“So you’re Warner Wright, eh?” the OX asked through teeth still gritted around his cigar.

“Yes, sir. And this is my wife Clara.”

“How do you do, sir?” she added.

“Wife? That must be new.”

“A few weeks now, sir.”

The OX nodded his head and then sat back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest.

“Warner, Mr. Oxbury is very informed on your music. He has seen video of your performances, and Mrs. Wright’s as well,” the man to the left of the OX said. “Mr. Oxbury is interested in signing you to a recording contract.”

Warner’s eyes were open wide and his heart was beating a million miles a minute. Clara gave his hand a squeeze and when he looked at her she was trembling, trying to keep the smile she had concealed.

“That is very gracious, sir. But I wasn’t aware that you owned a recording company,” he said directly to Harley Oxbury.

“Just happen to have gotten into one.” He leaned forward on his large arms, the cigar still burning between his teeth. “Ever heard of Master Records?”

Warner and Clara exchanged glances. “Yes, sir, of course. But I was under the impression that Jordan Farr and…”

He didn’t get her name out before the OX shot his hand up to stop him.

“Let’s say her name is like Voldemort. You don’t say it aloud.”

Warner didn’t know if he should laugh at the joke itself or the
Harry Potter
reference from the older man. Instead he simply sat there stunned.

“It just so happens that in this town money talks, bullshit walks. You know how that works.”

“Mr. Oxbury is now the sole owner of Master Records,” the man said.

“Congratulations, sir,” Warner added.

Harley Oxbury sat back in his seat again and crossed his arms over his massive chest. His eyes were on Warner.

“What do y’all say you leave me and Mr. Wright alone for a few moments? I’d like to get to know him.”

Jeremy was the first to stand, collecting his notebook and papers. Harley Oxbury’s group did the same.

Clara looked at Warner and gave him a gentle smile. She leaned in and whispered in his ear, “I didn’t see this coming.”

As she pulled away she gave him a wink and exited with the other men.

When the room was empty and the door had been shut Harley Oxbury stood up and unplugged the camera from its outlet.

“I guess they thought they’d keep that rolling. Not going to happen.” He sat down in the chair Jeremy had occupied. “Comfortable?”

Warner nodded.

“Good. So let’s get this out in the open.
She’s
a royal bitch.”

Warner tucked his lips between his teeth and tried not to smile, but the OX did.

“Fell for her hook, line, and sinker. Worst mistake I ever made.” He took the cigar from his mouth and held it between his fingers. “You know you made the worst mistake of your life when your mistress is the one who sells the intimate pictures of the two of you to the tabloids.”

Warner had never heard that side of the story.

“Well, cost me everything. I don’t blame my wife for leaving me. And hell, she did good moving on if I do say so myself, but that hurt.”

He took one of the glasses of water on the table, took a sip, and then extinguished his cigar in it.

“Okay, let’s make this clear. This ain’t about her. She’s been messing with you for years and I know, because I’ve been watching. You have some talent, kid.”

“Thank you.”

“You would have been signed five years ago had she let you be. But no one wants to touch you because of her. You see that don’t you?”

“Oh, I knew that.”

“Jeremy knew you had some talent, though I think he thought it was only in writing. But I think you and your wife can bust into those charts and quick.
Love Song
hands down is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard.”