Rock Me: Sexy (New Adult Rockstar Romance) (New Adult Rock Star Erotic Romance) (15 page)

I met my assistant, Michael, in the lobby
as we waited for our car to take us back to the stadium where the concert was
to be held that night. The rest of the production staff had to leave much
earlier to get set up.

Michael looked panicked. “What the hell
is going on?”

I tried to ignore the nervous flutter in
my stomach. “What do you mean?”

Michael’s hands were flopping around
wildly. “The show has been cancelled tonight. There’s a rumor that Tyler walked
out on the band. I asked Alex, but he’s not saying anything.”

I repeated dumbly, “The show’s been
cancelled?”

Michael stopped his pacing for a moment
and turned to me. “Where have you been? You don’t know anything? What are we
going to do?”

Swallowing, I tried to contain my growing
panic. “Calm down. Who told you the show was cancelled?”

“I don’t know where it started, but it
doesn’t matter. Alex confirmed it. The show is cancelled. And Tyler is nowhere
to be found. The band is staying at the hotel again tonight so it’ll be
impossible to film them. We didn’t plan to shoot in Vegas on the streets or
anything, so no setup has been done for live shoots. Everything is a total
mess.” Michael’s voice had begun to rise in near hysteria.

Trying to sound in control, I placed my
hand on Michael’s arm, halting his maddening pacing. “It’s okay. It’s not going
to hurt us if we stop filming for one day. Let’s get back to the bus and sort
this out. We have plenty of work to do on episode 4 still and episode 5 is
still really sketchy. Let me make some phone calls before we let the field crew
go for the day.”

With half the crew hung-over from the
party the night before and the assumption that the band would be at the stadium
for sound check, no one seemed to know where any members of Cold Fusion were
when I arrived at the production bus. One thing for sure, Cold Fusion’s bus was
empty.

I sent Michael on an errand so I could
have the bus to myself. I tried calling Tyler’s phone, but it went straight to
voicemail. My stomach was churning when I pulled up the number to call the
band’s manager, Scott.

Scott sounded tired. “Oh, hi Katie. Glad
you called. You were on my list.”

“What’s going on? I hear the show is
cancelled tonight?” I tried to keep my voice even.

Scott cleared his throat. “Yeah, Tyler
felt sick at the party last night, that’s why he left early. He just needs a
few days of rest and he’ll be back to normal. These things happen
unfortunately.”

The obviously false explanation only
raised my anxiety. “That’s bullshit, Scott. You forget that I saw him last
night, too. And he wasn’t sick. What’s really going on?”

Scott sounded annoyed. “I don’t really
give a shit what you think, Katie. You can read the official press release in
about an hour. The show was cancelled because he’s sick. End of story. Now, I’ve
got a fuck ton of work to do because of this, so I’ve got to go.”

Normally, I would have been bristling
with anger when he hung up on me, but I was too scared. Scott had clamped down
hard. Something wasn’t right.

Was it possible that Tyler had just walked
away from Cold Fusion? As far as she could tell, Cold Fusion was his life. She
remembered Michael going over the research he had found on each band member,
before she had gotten to know them all. Tyler’s life was focused around Cold
Fusion. Apparently, his parents were deceased, so he had made Cold Fusion his
family.

But something had been bothering him for
weeks. Did it have to do with Rock Star Diaries? Or even her, specifically?
Would that make him walk away from the tour?

I snatched my phone back off the table
and found Alex’s phone number. Just before I was about to give up, Alex
answered.

“Alex, it’s Katie. Where is Tyler? I know
he’s not sick. He took off. Why?”

The line was quiet for a moment. “It’s
between Tyler and the band, Katie. It’s not fodder for a reality TV show.”

Only months ago I had had the same amount
of disdain for people in my job. It was ironic how people I respected, that I
worked hard for to further their careers, now held me with that same contempt
and mistrust, but I could understand it wholly.

I swallowed down the angry denial that
flew to my lips. “I’m asking as a friend, not a TV producer.”

“I guess Tyler would have told you if he
wanted you to know. I gotta go.” Alex hung up.

Another dead end. The band wasn’t
talking. Was Rock Star Diaries crumbling all around me? Was it all falling
apart?
I needed to find Tyler fast.

It took me about a half hour to think of
Tyler’s bodyguard. Thankfully, Michael was so organized that it only took me a
few minutes to locate Sam’s contract. He had signed a filming waiver. Michael
had meticulously taken down all of his information, including his cell phone
number.

I tried to sound normal when Sam
answered. “Hi Sam. This is Kaitlyn Winston, the Executive Producer and Director
for Rock Star Diaries.”

Sam sounded startled. “Oh, hi Katie.”

I used my best authoritative voice. “Sam,
Tyler’s not answering his phone and I need to talk to him. It’s something very
important for the show. Are you with him?”

Sam replied, “No, not now. He’s still in
the hospital.”

Hospital? My heart was beating wildly.
“Oh, right. I just need him to sign some important paperwork, or he’ll be in
breach of his contract. What hospital was it again? I can fax the paperwork
over to him.”

I held my breath and waited to see if Sam
would tell me. “The Cleveland Clinic.”

I had narrowed it down, but still The
Cleveland Clinic was huge. I needed more information. “Sam, I’m sorry to bother
Tyler, but I don’t want him to get into any legal trouble. Are you going to see
him later?”

Sam paused for a moment. “I wish I could
help, but I don’t know. He said the surgery could to take from 4 to 18 hours,
depending on how it all went. I’m just waiting at the hotel until he calls me.”

My stomach plummeted to the floor.
Surgery? A
major
surgery from the sounds of it. “Sam, what hotel are you
staying at?”

“I’m at the Crowne Plaza on…” I heard
papers shuffling around. “Lakeside Avenue.”

“Okay. I’ll call you back soon.” I
disconnected.

I didn’t even pause to think. I was
heading to Cleveland.

***

I had a lot of thinking to do, but I
couldn’t do any of it with Michael chattering incessantly in my ear as he drove
me to the airport. Michael was still freaking out about the disruption to Rock
Star Diaries, but now he was worried about handling the job all on his own
while I was gone. Despite my reassurances that he’d do fine, he was still a nervous
wreck.

I wasn’t thinking much about the show; I
was thinking about Tyler. Wondering about the phone call he got before he left.
Worrying about the surgery. I was a hypochondriac by nature; my head was filled
with worst-case scenarios.

It was after midnight when I checked into
the Crowne Plaza in Ohio. It was obviously too late to get anywhere with the
hospital and probably too late to check in with Sam. I couldn’t help it; I
called him anyway. When I got no answer on his cell phone, I asked the hotel to
connect me to his room phone. I was frustrated that I still got no answer. There
was nothing I could do until morning.

I waited rather impatiently until 7am before
I called Sam. “Hi Sam, it’s Katie Winston.”

Sam sounded more upbeat today. “Hi, Katie.
I told Tyler about the breach of contract thing. He didn’t seem to give a shit,
so I’m glad you’re looking out for him.”

My heart started to race. “You talked to
Tyler? Is he okay?”

“Yeah. He’s just tired. He’s eating
breakfast downstairs right now.”

Tyler was eating, that must be a good
sign. “At the hospital?”

Sam answered, “No. In the hotel. I picked
him up last night.”

He was discharged already?
“He’s at the hotel restaurant right
now?”

“Yeah. You should try calling his
–”

I interrupted. “Sam, I have to go.
Thanks.” I hung up.

I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I
wanted to see Tyler right away. I grabbed my room key and headed down to the
first floor.

As soon as I walked into the restaurant,
I spotted Tyler. The restaurant was fairly crowded even at this early hour, but
Tyler stood out to me. He was seated in a booth attacking a heaping plate of
food from the buffet with an obviously hardy appetite. He looked perfectly
healthy, although unkempt. His hair was tousled as if he hadn’t showered, he definitely
hadn’t shaved in days and he looked pale and tired.

I approached tentatively. “Tyler!”

He looked up, wary surprise registering
on his face. “What are you doing here?”

“Don’t get angry. I came as a friend.”

He put down his fork. “As a friend? For
what?”

I slid into the booth across from him and
lowered my voice. “I heard about your surgery.”

He leaned back and crossed his arms over
his chest. “You know about my surgery?” He raised an eyebrow. “So what kind of
surgery did I have?”

I shifted awkwardly in the booth. “Well,
I don’t know exactly. But you seem to be doing okay, although you look like
shit.”

Tyler shook his head, “Gee, thanks. So
you rushed halfway across the country because you thought I was getting
surgery?”

Uh oh
. It sounded like I mixed something up. “Yes. Well, no.
Originally, I thought you were quitting Cold Fusion. That’s the rumor that’s been
circulating. Then when I talked to Sam and heard about the surgery…”

Tyler picked up his fork and continued
eating. “Jesus. Sam’s supposed to be protecting my privacy, not giving it all
away.”

I cringed. “Well, to be fair, I kind of
tricked him into telling me.”

Tyler grunted his disapproval as he
chewed on his pancakes.

I kept my voice low so no one could
overhear. “I was worried about you. I thought you had walked out on Cold Fusion
because of me or because of the stupid TV show. I know you haven’t been happy.”

Tyler remained frustratingly quiet.

How could I get through to him?
“I know I have been single-minded in
making Rock Star Diaries a success. When I get on a project, I dump all my
energy into it. But I would never do it at the expense of our friendship…”

I continued when he said nothing. “And I
know what happened between us the other night was probably a big mistake on my
part. I let my feelings override my brain. But I don’t regret it. I just regret
that it ended so badly.”

Tyler looked uncomfortable. “I’m not good
at talking about this kind of stuff.”

“Believe me, I’ve noticed. But I’ve been
so confused and worried about you. And I really care, so I wish you would try. I’m
really good at talking. I can do enough talking for the two of us.”

Tyler finally smiled. “You’re not going
to give up, are you?”

“Nope.” I returned his smile.

Tyler rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you get
some food and then we can talk about our
feelings
and stuff.”

I visited the buffet and then sat back
down at the booth, sipping at my freshly poured cup of coffee. “First off,
obviously you didn’t have surgery. Sorry, I jumped to the wrong conclusion. Can
you tell me who is at the hospital?”

Tyler looked like he was weighing a heavy
decision. “I’ll show you after breakfast. You can come with me.”

I was curious, but I didn’t press him any
further on that. “When you started this tour, I could tell how much you loved
performing. You loved the spotlight and the attention; it was exciting to
watch. Now it’s almost as if you’re just going through the motions. What
happened? Is it the constant filming?”

Tyler sat back against the booth. “No. I
was getting used to the cameras always being around. And you’re right. I do
like being in the spotlight. The only thing that worries me about being on TV
is that I might be portrayed as a jackass or something. But I’m okay with it in
general.”

I kept digging. “Did I say or do
something to upset you? I was disappointed when you stopped coming to the
production bus to talk. I missed that.”

Tyler dragged a hand wearily through his
hair. “Katie, I guess if you’re going to force me to chat like a girl, I might
as well get this off my chest. I saw the Rock Star Diaries’ script. I think it
was called the bible or something. I looked through it.”

My mind raced, trying to compile all that
he could have possibly seen in the bible. And what would have pissed him off
the most. “Okay. We organize storyline ideas in there. We have to be very
organized because it’s almost impossible to set up shoots on the fly. It’s
really complicated. Was there a storyline in there that you didn’t like?”