Rock Me: Sexy (New Adult Rockstar Romance) (New Adult Rock Star Erotic Romance) (16 page)

His brow furrowed. “More like the whole
fucking concept. Every little thing that happened to us was faked. The bus
breaking down, the crazy fans, the dog-shit on Nick’s shoe… every last thing
was manufactured by you.”

It was true and I had done my best to
underplay the extent of it. It was just how things were done. We would spend
hundreds of hours filming the band and still couldn’t fill a full show. It took
weeks of endlessly following Cold Fusion around before we produced any workable
drama-filled incidents and almost all of them had been staged. There were more
light-hearted or even funny moments that came about naturally, but most of them
had to be staged as well.

I poked at my breakfast, stalling so I
could pick my words carefully. “That’s just the nature of reality shows, Tyler.
We have to create a little drama to keep it interesting. We don’t tell you how
to react or what to say when you’re confronted with those situations. We just
plant the seed. Wait till you see the editing we do. That’ll have you crazy,
too. But I’m not trying to shine any of you in a bad light. I’m hoping your
fans will adore seeing these little peeks into your world.”

“My fake world,” he said bitterly.

“It might help if you compartmentalized
it a little more. Don’t let the lines between reality and the show blur for
you.” My advice sounded ridiculous even to my own ears.

“That’s a bit difficult if I don’t even
know it’s happening. When I flipped through those pages and looked at the
supporting cast photos, I recognized face after face. It was like my own
personal The Truman Show; everyone was in on the joke except for me. Night
after night, you threw women at me and I slept with every single one of them. It
was like you paid those women to have sex with me. Do you know what that made
me feel like?”

Now it felt like we were getting closer
to the heart of the matter. Frankly, I wouldn’t have expected this to
especially bother him, but I know it would have crushed me.

I looked around to make sure no one was
listening before I continued. “Those women were all selected by the casting
director- not me- based on certain criteria. They were never paid to have sex
with you. They were paid to be on the show. Sure we were hoping that you would
have good chemistry with some of them. It makes for good television. And they
weren’t just interacting with you, they were interacting with the whole band.
But night after night,
you
were the one who chose to have sex with them;
the other guys didn’t sleep with them. So that’s all on you.”

Tyler’s eyes were glittering with anger.
“It’s a little disingenuous to blame me. You may not have actually given them
money and said ‘go fuck Tyler’, but you might as well have. They didn’t give
two shits about me or about Cold Fusion. They were just doing what they had to
do to get ahead in your fucked up television world.”

Now he was blaming me for his screwing a
new woman every night?
I
took a deep breath trying to contain my own growing anger. “They’re sleeping
with you for the same reasons women have clamored to sleep with you before the
show even existed. There’s nothing new going on. There’s an element of fame and
glamor, money and power, and real sex appeal that is always surrounding you. Their
attraction to you might seem superficial, but it probably always has been that
way with all the women you were with. I thought that’s what you preferred
anyway.”

Tyler pushed his plate away looking
disgusted. “I don’t know what I prefer anymore.”

I had to continue with this. I had to
push him into realizing something I had already figured out about him. “Maybe
you’re looking for something more. A deeper connection. And you’re not going to
find that with some groupie or a random fan. It won’t happen with a one-night
stand. One-night stands by definition are pretty emotionless. That’s the whole
appeal with them. No ties. Just physical enjoyment.”

Tyler looked directly at me. “Is that
what we had?”

Now, I was the one squirming. “A
one-night stand? You can treat it that way if you want. But I won’t. I already
told you that I don’t do that. I only sleep with men I feel connected to. Against
my better judgment, I have somewhat of an attachment to you. Don’t worry I’m
not about to go all stalker psycho on you. I’ve got some pride.”

I practically held my breath as I waited
for him to reply. I had left myself pretty vulnerable.

Tyler smiled teasingly. “Well, if you
don’t do one-night stands then you’re going to have to have sex with me again.”

I was grateful that he had lightened the
mood. I laughed. “Wouldn’t that break one of your golden rules? ‘No repeat sex’.”

Tyler’s mouth gaped open. “How do you
know about that?”

I arched an eyebrow. “The carved plaque
in your tour bus gave it away. No repeat sex. No love without the glove.”

Tyler looked embarrassed. “I’ve looked at
that thing so many times now that it must’ve become invisible to me. Tommy had
it made as sort of a joke when we first started touring just out of high
school.”

Just then the waitress came by our booth
and dropped off the bill.

Tyler offered to pay. “I’ll get it.”

“Yeah, thanks. My purse is upstairs.” I
grinned sheepishly.

Tyler’s eyes widened when he glanced at
his watch. “Shit. All this emotional release stuff has made me late. I’ve got
to get to the hospital. C’mon let’s go. I’ll get the car keys from Sam and then
I’ve got to get something from my room. Get your purse and meet me in the
lobby.”

I eyed his rumpled appearance. “Don’t you
need to shower and shave or something?”

“No time. Besides, this has been a great
disguise. No one’s bothering me. With a baseball cap and shades I’m virtually
invisible.” Tyler threw down some money on the table and stood.

Maybe the disguise was working, but he
was far from invisible. Rumpled or not, he looked sexy as hell. I wasn’t sure
what the future between us held, but if I could even get another one-night
stand out of him, I would be in heaven. Rules were meant to be broken.
His
rules and mine
.

***

Tyler met me in the lobby about ten
minutes later wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. He had a guitar case slung
over his shoulder and was holding a tiny shopping bag from a fancy jewelry
store. Every time I looked at him, he seemed more gorgeous to me, and I
couldn’t help but remember the private and very intimate act we had shared a
few nights before.

I twisted my hands in my lap on the car
ride over to the hospital. “So, are we going to visit a friend of yours?”

“She’s someone very special to me. You’ll
see soon enough.”

I felt a stab of jealousy, but tamped it
down. “I’m not very good with sick people. Maybe I should just wait in the car
while you visit.”

Tyler glanced sideways at me. “You were
nosy enough to come all the way out here, you can at least follow through all
the way.

“I wasn’t nosy. I was concerned. Big
difference,” I muttered.

Tyler navigated through the complex
hospital campus and finally parked the rental car. We stepped out of the car and
Tyler reached in for his guitar and the gift bag.

“Are you sure they’ll let you in there
with that?” I pointed to the guitar case.

Tyler nodded. “Yep. I already asked.”

I followed Tyler into the hospital and
through the maze of levels, elevators and twisting hallways. I glanced at signs
along the way. We were in a transplant center and heading toward the pediatric
ICU.

Finally, Tyler peered into what looked
like a private room and waved at someone. Moments later, a girl about my own
age exited the room. She was beautiful, but as run-down looking as Tyler.

I stood awkwardly to the side as she
hugged Tyler.

Tyler passed the guitar off to me as he
continued hugging the girl. “How’s she doing?”

The girl straightened up. “Good. She woke
up for a bit last night and talked to me. She was groggy, but in pretty good
spirits. The doctor’s say everything is going as expected. No complications so
far, so that’s good.”

Tyler hugged her again. “That’s great. I
told you everything was going to be okay. Why don’t you take a few hours to
rest? I’ll stay with her.”

The girl nodded. “I don’t want to leave
her side, but I feel like I’m going to collapse if I don’t. I know she’s going
to be so happy to see you when she wakes up that it’ll be okay if I take a
quick break. Tyler, did I tell you how much it means to me that you came? I
couldn’t have survived last night without you.”

“I told you I’d be here. I’d do anything
for you guys. You know that, right?”

I felt self-conscious as I listened to
their personal conversation. Who was this girl? And who was the sick child? I
can’t say that the thought didn’t flit through my mind that Tyler had been
involved with this woman and that the child could be his own. But I wasn’t
about to make the mistake of jumping to conclusions again.

Tyler glanced over at me. “Sabrina, this
is my friend, Katie. Is it okay if she keeps me company while I visit with Hailey?

Sabrina looked me up and down, definitely
in the way a woman sizes up the significance of another woman. “Sure.”

Tyler reached for his guitar. “I’m going
to go check on Hailey, and make sure she hasn’t woken up. You should go get
some rest. Come back when you’re ready.”

Tyler gave Sabrina a chaste peck on the
cheek and then went into Hailey’s room.

I was left alone with Sabrina. “So, are
you sure you’re okay that I’m here?”

Sabrina narrowed her eyes. “You’re
Tyler’s girlfriend?”

I stuttered ridiculously, “N-n-no! Er,
no. We’re just friends, that’s all.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Have you slept
with him?”

“No! Well, not really. Sort of, maybe.” I
was a terrible liar.

She put her hands on her hips. “That’s a
yes. So he’s slept with you, he still talks to you afterwards, and he’s brought
you to visit Hailey. He must really like you.”

I felt myself blushing. “No. He doesn’t
like me. Sometimes he does. I don’t know…” I finished lamely.

Sabrina tapped her foot. “So, the real
question is: do you like him?”

I swallowed nervously. This was the most
awkward interrogation ever. “Well, we’re friends.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s pretty
obvious. You’re in love with him.”

“Wha – ” My squeaky protested was
stopped mid-squeal as she held up her hand.

“Look. I’ve never met one of Tyler’s
girlfriends before, because he doesn’t have them. But he needs someone in his
life that cares about him. He’s only got me and Hailey, and Scott, his manager,
looks out for him too, but that’s not enough. It’s about time Tyler had someone
who really cares about him and not all the bullshit that surrounds him.”

The conversation was getting more
confusing by the minute. “You’d be okay with us being more than just friends.
Not that we are or anything. I’m just asking.”

Sabrina sighed. “I’d be thrilled if Tyler
finally found someone. I hope you know what you’re getting into though. He
tries hard to live up to his rock star image, but outside of the music that’s
not really who my brother is.”

“Your brother? Tyler is your brother?”
Suddenly I saw the resemblance between the two of them.

She rolled her eyes in mock annoyance. “He
didn’t tell you? Typical. He doesn’t think sometimes. I need to get going. I
don’t want to leave Hailey’s side for too long.”

Sabrina left. She had been up the entire
night worried sick about her daughter and still she was a veritable force of
nature. Her personality reminded me of Tyler’s.

When she was gone, I walked over to the
room window to peek at Tyler. He saw me and waved me inside. I was hesitant to
intrude, but the little girl looked like she was sleeping, so I entered quietly.

I heard the soft whir of the medical
machinery and the various beeps from the monitors all around me. Ugly tubes and
wires surrounded Hailey, yet she looked so peaceful.

I spoke quietly, “Why did she need
surgery?”

Tyler was sitting in the chair at her
bedside. “She had end-stage liver disease. Without a liver transplant, she
wouldn’t have made it for long. Sabrina and I weren’t matches for a living
donation. She doesn’t have any other family. Except her asshole father. He’s a
punk that left Sabrina long before Hailey was even born. When we tracked him
down, he refused to even go through the screening process to see if he was a
match. I could kill that asshole.”

I pulled the extra chair next to Tyler’s
and sat besides him. “Shh. Don’t wake her up. Don’t think about that now.
Sabrina said everything is going well. That’s what matters now.”

Tyler scrubbed his face with his hands.
“You’re right. The doctors said that if all goes well, she’ll lead a perfectly
normal life, except she’ll have to take anti-rejection medication for the rest
of her life.”