Rampage (A Night Fire Novel Book 4) (11 page)

Chapter Fifteen

Devlin had arrived about ten minutes after us. Everything was going well, the studio heads had agreed to his changes and were arriving for an early lunch meeting. We were in the boardroom, Evan, Devlin and myself. The other band members were on the second floor, still in song writing mode. Eden was in a flap as she tried to organize something for lunch. I had no idea where Kaylee was, I had seen her for a few minutes this morning and then nothing. Abbey was sitting at her desk, answering the phone which I found a little odd.

I didn't want to over think it, it was likely that she was out doing stuff for her birthday party on the weekend. The thought reminded me about the dress, I quickly pulled out my phone and added it to my to-do list.

I was going to get lost in this town, I knew it. Evan wouldn't want to go dress shopping and with Seph out of the state now, I knew that my options were dwindling.

I looked through the glass wall to the two women in the reception area. There was a choice of those two, Frankie or Kaylee. Frankie had a lot on her plate with five kids, Kaylee was probably busy with the preparations. So it was definitely down to those two out there. Maybe I could convince Eden to take me somewhere. It could be payment for conning me into babysitting her children tonight.

“Would you excuse me?”

Devlin and Evan lifted their heads, a little curious to my sudden need to depart the meeting. It wasn't as if I was needed at the moment, Devlin was talking about Evan's contract. As I opened the door Jerry was passing by. With a bright and happy nod, he passed me and walked into the boardroom. He should have been in there the whole time after all, he is Evan's manager. Well, music manager I suppose.

“I don't have twenty-four hours.”

Eden's tone was one of defeat, like she had a hundred Hudson's in the room with her and all of them were covered in milk and shoving cheerios up their noses. She was sitting at her desk, stretched back with that mound protruding out. The poor thing looked tired.

“They want twenty-four hours' notice.” Abbey whispered. “She can't find anyone that will cater the lunch.”

I examined the lunch menu that Abbey offered, the meals seemed simple and all I could think was there was some snot nosed teenager who was too busy scratching his ass and couldn't be bothered to make the order. With a lot of determination I walked to her desk and took the phone off her.

“Hello?”

“Uh, hello. Who is this?”

“Harmony Roberts. Who is this?”

There was silence. Nothing ever changed. Well I suppose if I said Harmony Cooper they might say
who?

“Uh Jared.” he said softly. “You're not serious, are you?”

“Of course I am and if you deliver Eden's order, you'll get to find out. Won't you?”

“Really?”

He actually sounded surprised.

“Of course. If you fill her order and deliver it on time then you can have some photos, I'll sign some autographs. Did she tell you where you would be delivering the order to?”

“Uh not yet. Cuz I said that we needed...”

“I know.” I feigned a pout, wondering if the tone was right. “You can't do it because you need twenty-four hours' notice. It's a shame we won't get to meet Jared. You could have met my new husband too.”

He whimpered. The kid actually whimpered.

“You know who he is... right?”

“Yes.” he squeaked.

It sounded like his voice cracked. How old was this kid?

“Because they're all here.” I whispered down the phone. “Do you want to meet them too?”

Eden rummaged through her draw, pulling out something plastic on a lanyard.

“Oh and look, I'm holding an all access pass. Shame I can't give this away to someone.”

I took the next thing she offered.

“Club membership.”

“That's so rare.” he whispered. “They don't give them out to just anyone.”

“But you're not just anyone, are you Jared? You're the guy that is going to deliver the lunch order and have a great afternoon hanging out with us, right Jared?”

“I can't.” he whispered “I'll get fired. That's the thing, my boss is really strict.”

Like Eden, I wanted to sigh with defeat. But I wasn't going to back down, there was always an answer.

“Put your boss on the phone Jared.”

“Lady, I've got a dozen lunch orders on the go.” the man started.

“I'm sure you do.” I purred with a soft, sultry tone.

It was met with silence. Over the phone was difficult, it was hard to read a person without seeing them.

“All we require is enough lunch to feed a few Hollywood studio heads and a few famous people. Maybe there's something that you might want in addition to getting paid.”

“I doubt it.” he huffed with a mocking tone.

“Well you know, they are about to start filming a movie in Vegas real soon. Maybe if they found a nice place to eat, they'd frequent the place on a daily basis. Maybe they might even film a few scenes that showed off this nice place to eat. Product placement can include shop fronts as well, you know.”

There was silence again, I waited with bated breath. When he sighed I grinned at Eden.

“Fine.”

“Oh you are a gem. Make sure Jared delivers it by twelve and give the darling the afternoon off so he can hang out with his idols.”

“That's going to cost you.” he grumbled.

“Of course darling. Back to Eden you go.”

I handed the phone over with a big smile, Eden's was bigger. As she finished off the details I sat on the lounge and waited. Abbey was beside me, assessing the rock on my finger.

Eden hung up the phone and narrowed her eyes at me.

“Okay, how much is this going to cost me and no you can't get out of tonight. We have reservations.”

“Tonight's fine. I need a dress for the party and I don't really know this town.”

“Oh you should have gone with El and Kaylee.” Abbey sighed. “You should have said something.”

I frowned at her, finding the statement a little curious.

“Its days away from her birthday and she's only getting a dress now?”

Abbey shrugged, her eyes darting to Eden who offered nothing but a stoic gaze.

“Kaylee doesn't like money being thrown around. Well none of us do but her more so.”

I had to agree with her on that one, I had lots of money but I was never one to buy something without good reason.

Jared was at the gate, right on twelve. He was eager to impress and had an over the top exuberance that I knew came from being way too excited. Abbey took the lunch order and left me to deal with the extremely happy Jared.

“Well then, come on.”

He gawped at the high wall behind me, the wall itself had been decorated by a professional graffiti artist. The image was the band's name in tall letters, colored in shades that varied from yellow through to red. To the left of the wall was a set of glass double doors, the band logo frosted onto the glass.

“Really?” he whispered a little shocked.

His eyes darted to the stage where the drum kit was permanently set up, on both sides of it was a couple of tall speakers.

“Well I thought that you might want to meet them, if you'd rather stand out here and stare at the walls then that's fine by me. But I'm going through those doors, are you coming with me?”

He nodded, those blue eyes were wide and stark as he stared at the glass doors. I walked to the doors and pushed one open, waiting as he passed through.

“You're not going to pass out, are you?”

Jared shook his head, I didn't believe him. He looked rather pale.

We passed the bathrooms that were on the left, the doors to the studio were to the right.

“Up the stairs we go. They are doing some writing at the moment, so what you hear or see you can't go telling anyone okay?”

He nodded and seemed rather excited. I wasn't worried about him leaking anything, I'd already pre-warned the guys that we were having a guest and they all agreed that they'd stop what they were doing and put everything away long before he got here.

“They're in lock down for writing.” I said as I pressed the buzzer beside the keypad.

I couldn't get in unless they let me in, this was what they did when they were hammering out a new album. They came here and they locked themselves away, free from many distractions. All phones were left with Kaylee, if there was an emergency then she was able to ring through to them on an internal phone.

They had a kitchen stocked with anything and everything they could ever want or need. Entertainment for a break, bathroom if necessary. They came in, they did their thing behind closed doors and they didn't come out until it was time to go home.

A darkened shadow appeared behind the frosted glass, I turned to the kid beside me and wondered if I should grip his arm in case he passed out. I didn't want him to go tumbling down the stairs.

Evan opened the door with a big grin.

“Hey baby. Who is your friend?

“Evan, this is Jared. He's come to hang out with us for the afternoon.”

“The sandwich guy.” Evan said as he held out one that he had somehow managed to pilfer “Did you make the turkey one?”

Jared nodded, his eyes wide as he stared at the sandwich in Evan's hand.

“It's great. Come on in.”

Evan pushed back the door and clicked it open.

“He's eating the sandwich I made.” Jared whispered.

I followed after him, he seemed to be in a daze as he walked into the room. The band was sitting in the lounge area eating the sandwiches from one of the trays. I could only hope that Eden had bought enough for them as well.

Jared sat on the lounge a little shocked and then frowned, pulling a magazine out from underneath him. My eyes widened and I took it off him. Then I whacked Jaxon over the head with it.

“I told you to clean your smut up. He's just a kid.”

“News flash queen bee, he's probably got a better collection than we do.”

“Doesn't mean he needs to see it here. Get rid of them.”

I sat on the lounge beside Evan, watching as Jaxon cleared up the mess. Austin pulled a few out from the lounge he was sitting on, tossing it onto the table with a devilish grin.

“I don't understand the fascination.”

“They're so pretty.” Evan grinned, wrapping his arm around me to drag me closer. “So many different shapes and sizes. So squishy and lots of fun.”

“It's just a few naked bodies queen bee, don't get your knickers in a twist.”

I stared at Jaxon with a raised eyebrow but said nothing to his statement and turned back to Evan.

“Do you think that Harry thinks like that about your mom's?”

Evan's face lost all happiness as he stared at me.

“Oh that's just so wrong.” Jaxon chuckled. “Burned by queen bee. Dang, glad I got to see it.”

“Aw. Kissy, kissy baby.”

I puckered my lips and leaned over to kiss him, he frowned.

“You can't say shit like that.”

“But I can.”

I reached down to the table and grabbed a magazine, opening it up to the centerfold.

“She's someone’s daughter, maybe a sister. Maybe she's even a mother.”

“Way to ruin it Harmony.” he grumbled.

“I could keep going.”

“Please don't.”

I pouted at him and turned it back to view the pretty blonde.

“Oh my gawd.” I laughed.

Jaxon came over and looked at it, realizing what I was laughing at.

“Don't show him queen bee, he'll be scarred for life. Don't do it.”

He grabbed it out of my hand and tossed it onto Evan's lap.

“Queen bee, how could you?” his anguished tone was clearly fake.

Evan stared at the picture for a second and then tossed it away with a huff. The woman's name was Lola. It wasn't his mother but it was enough to annoy him.

“You know, I think you guys need a bit of equality in here.” I said rather proudly. “When I'm out dress shopping with your wives tomorrow, I'm going to add to your magazine collection.”

They looked at me and they knew that I was going to unleash a printed hell upon them.

Chapter Sixteen

Eden grinned at me as Evan passed through their front door.

“Still getting the silent treatment?”

I nodded as I rolled my eyes.

“How dare I objectify his mother.” I whispered. “How dare I point out how he objectifies women on a daily basis.”

She chuckled and closed the door, flicking the lock.

“They've been fed, Fraser's getting them ready for bed. They might give you hell for about half an hour after being put in their beds but you've just got to persist. Sahara will try everything from drinks of water to toilet time. She's got a water bottle and she's been to the toilet. There is no excuse that she can give so don't fall for it. You might find Hudson on the floor playing with his cars, you just need to tell him to get back into bed. He can take a car with him if it makes him stay there. Other than that you get to have a fun night of being ignored.”

“Lucky me.”

Just as Eden had predicted, Sahara tried everything and failed. Hudson was on the floor, rolling a toy car around. Both of them were ushered back into their beds and within ten minutes they were asleep. So I got to sit on the lounge and watch the boxing match that Evan had on. If he was actually watching it or just using it as an excuse to ignore me I don't know. Either way I didn't care.

I sat and did things with my phone, updating social media and responding to fans. There were lots of questions about Seph and Jaxon. I didn't really know what to say, all that I offered was that I didn't know because I was busy with negotiations. It wasn't exactly a lie but I wasn't prepared to tell them what I knew.

Not that there was a lot to tell, they had a fling and that was it. They spent a couple of days together and it didn't work out. It happened all the time.

It was ten pm when Fraser and Eden returned and in that time I had updated everything, responded to all kinds of messages, played games on my phone until the battery died. All of it in silence. At this rate I might just find a hotel room so that I didn't have to suffer his silent treatment any longer.

“Dude, get over yourself.”

That was Fraser's grand advice. I was sitting at the dining table, drinking coffee with Eden who supposedly didn't drink coffee while pregnant. Fraser was in the lounge room with Evan, both of them probably thought we couldn't hear them.

“Chicks have the right to be offended. You're perving on another woman and they think that they're not good enough because they don't look like them.”

“Oh come on, we all know they've been airbrushed.”

Eden rolled her eyes, I grinned as I picked at the chocolate cake. Damn this woman could bake a mighty fine cake.

“That means shit to them. And you're in a whole new world here, she's not some fleeting moment in your bed. You want her to stick around then you can't go ignoring her for hours over something that is just so damned stupid.”

“I have a very wicked plan.” I whispered smugly. “I might need your help.”

She smiled at me, bright red lips stretched with the most sinful of grins. It was almost like she could channel the devil himself.

We had agreed that lunch tomorrow was going to be an all-girl event. The boys would still be in lock down, Eden would divert the phone to her cell and we would go out for a lunch hour that might take half a day. But that was tomorrow, I still had a few hours to get through before I could enjoy it.

Hours alone with Evan. Yesterday I would have said that it was a mighty fine thought, a scandalous night ahead that would consist of two naked bodies finding all kinds of surfaces within the house to do dastardly things on. Today I'd be happy if he just said something to me. To stop the sulking and grow up.

I could walk. I could go to a hotel for the night. But that was wrong. I shouldn't have to threaten walking every time he sulked or we had a fight. But what could I do?

I had no clue how to deal with this. I'd never had the kind of relationship with a man, not like this. There had been a few flings but they were always fleeting. The only reference I had was my father and Goose and they were never like this.

When my father got in a mood he'd go to the shed and build something. He also liked to carve things out of bits of scrap wood. Often after a disagreement with my mother he would return with something for her, a little apology in the form of a wood trinket.

They never had massive blow outs or yelled at each other. There might be a few heavy words but they would walk away from each other before it got too bad. When they had calmed down, they would return and make peace with each other. I wanted that kind of relationship, I wanted for him to come back to me when he had calmed down.

The street lights passed over his face as he drove, his gaze never leaving the road ahead of us. I said nothing and turned to the view out the window of the car, wondering if getting married so quickly was wise. Had I screwed up? Was this where I said that I couldn't take this nonsense?

I swallowed, feeling a tight constriction in my throat. Restraining the tears was difficult, I didn't want to end up crying over this.

The garage door slid up, the lights inside glinted off the paintwork of my car. It was still filled with a lot of my things, I hadn't had the time to empty it and I was beginning to think it might have been a good thing. Once the car was stopped I got out and looked at my car, feeling a heaviness in my heart.

Marry in haste, repent at leisure.
I turned and saw Evan as he walked through the internal door. This sucked. He couldn't take a god damn joke. If he'd said it about my parents I would have punched his arm for it and moved on.

As I walked through to the house I realized how bad things would be if I walked away. He'd signed his contract today, he was confirmed as the male lead for the movie. I'd either have to drag him out of this mood and make things better or walk away and face making a movie with my ex-husband.

I'm sure there would be some hidden get out clause in his contract that he wouldn't know about but considering that the studio wanted him, I doubted they would use it. No, I'd be told to suck it up and accept it.

I walked into the house and heard the television going, the sound of a can opening. Great, he'd rather get drunk and watch television than find a solution to this nightmare. With that crushing thought I walked up the stairs to the bedroom.

The bed sheets were still disheveled, clothes cast to the floor where they had been dumped in our last romp. It had been good, it always was. Wiping the tears away I went through the bedroom and the bathroom, collecting my clothes. I didn't want to give up so easily but when he wasn't prepared to at least talk about what issues he had, I knew it wasn't worth it.

Maybe we weren't meant to be. Maybe we weren't as compatible as I thought.

I took my arm load of clothes to the walk in robe where my bag was. It was sitting against a wall with the clothes spilling out. I sat in front of it and folded my clothes, dirty or clean it didn't matter. I'd clean them all when I got home.

Within the bag was the magazines that I'd picked up at the gas station. Tears flowed freely as I turned the pages. We seemed so happy. It really did look like love. Then again, I knew little of love. I had my parents but their marriage was born from a teen pregnancy and shot gun wedding. Of course they were still together but it wasn't exactly the greatest of examples.

Then there was Evan, he was in a worse state when it came to relationship examples. His mother was a teenager when she fell pregnant with him, his father was her teacher. Lola had filled me in on all that I needed to know, which was basically that she was a silly teen girl with love in her eyes for a handsome man. I couldn't get over the fact that she was essentially saying that it was her fault, that she was the reason for it happening. It was wrong, he should have turned her away. He should have told the principal. Instead he used her and got her pregnant.

But I could see that she probably still loved him, that deep down inside she was probably still yearning for her first true love. Worse yet, Evan looked like him which I found hard to believe. I saw Lola and Evan and I saw mother and son, two people that looked like each other.

It wasn't until she rummaged through an old box that was hidden in the back of a cupboard and showed me a picture of his father. Then I understood what she meant. He really did look like his father which I guess sucked for her. A constant reminder of the man that used her and then wanted nothing to do with her.

He'd been tossed in jail for it, banned from seeing her or Evan and had a label stuck to him. A label that followed him and would always follow him. Lola looked like she had pain in her eyes, she believed that he loved her. He probably said it to her to ensure that he got what he wanted.

I sighed as I placed the last of the clothes into my bag and zipped up the case. Yes, it was true that we both had really shit role models but that was no excuse. Communication was the key to a healthy relationship, not sitting on the lounge ignoring a person. I couldn't even speak to him, I knew that it would not be welcomed.

I would have loved to have started a discussion about what had passed but there was no point. He thought I was wrong when all I was doing was trying to prove a point. I didn't care if he read those kinds of magazines, I just couldn't understand why they would want to. Why look at a picture when your wife is right beside you with the real thing?

The magazine wasn't the issue, I knew this. It was his mother. If I had crossed some line then he needed to say so. Just saying 'you can't say shit like that' doesn't cover it. Not even slightly. I needed a reason. Maybe something like, 'hey, that's my mom you're talking about and it's not cool because I love her and I don't like to think that someone would objectify her like I objectify another persons mom'.

Jackass.

I stood up from the ground and found my keys, dragging the bag through the house. When I reached the top of the stairs I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, praying for the best outcome. I didn't know exactly what I wanted for our relationship but I did know that I wanted the pain to go away. My heart ached with sorrow, all I wanted was for him to speak to me.

Wiping the tears as I opened my eyes, I lifted my bag and walked down the stairs. The television was still going, the volume was up loud and I doubted that he had heard me. I walked through to the garage and opened the car door, dumping my bag onto the back seat.

The door shutting hard didn't bring him out which made me cry just a little more. I contemplated going in and telling him that I was leaving but I didn't see the point. The garage doors rattled their way up, revealing the darkness of the night. With a big sigh I walked back to my car and opened the driver door, hoping that he would stop me from leaving.

But I knew he wouldn't.