The Rock Star and the Girl From the Coffee Shop 2: Under Pressure (13 page)

“Oh, honey. There’s better pictures. Keep flipping.” She tapped the photo of Hanna being fucked from behind on the steps of the pool, with a perfectly manicured finger.

Fighting the urge to lunge at the other woman and pull the red extensions from her head, she continued to flip and horror began to fill her. The next set was of her at the center. She looked like shit. The pictures appeared to be stills from a security camera mounted on one of the walls of the complex.

“How did you get these?” The horror and rage within her increased, her hands visibly shaking as she gripped the photos.

“Oh honey, you’d be surprised at what a little investigation into someone’s

background and a bit of money can get you.”

“Why? Why would you do this? Bo doesn’t want you. Why?”

“I want you out of the picture. Gone. For good. Finish what Victor was too much of an idiot to do himself.”

Hanna shook her head in disbelief, lifting her eyes from the photos to catch Nadine’s self-satisfied gaze. “What do you have to gain by this? He’ll never want you.”

“My reasons are none of your concern.” She tapped the photos again. “And if I

haven’t been convincing enough in my point, check out the last couple of photos.”

Hanna flipped through until she reached the second-to-last photo. This time it didn’t feature her, but Anthony and some man. “I don’t understand…”

"That’s Gerry Cornell with Anthony. He’s a known drug dealer selling to Anthony."

Dear God!
“What is wrong with you? Have you been having us all followed?”

Nadine leaned back against the sink and crossed her arms over her chest, a smug grin on her lips. “Knowledge is power, my dear.”

“And why should I care that you have photos of Anthony? Everyone knows he’s an

addict.”

“See, I think you do care. Anthony is the one who saved you,” she said, spitting the word "saved" as if it were something dirty. “And he’s a fucking junkie dick. Having him out of the group and in jail would be fine by me. But it’s your call. I’d bet even if you decide to brave the media about your little social disorder and those pictures; you won’t allow me to leak these pictures of Anthony to the tabloids and send them to the police.”

Hanna was speechless. Her head was spinning, and her heart thumping rapidly in her chest. But she’d be damned if she’d let Nadine see how badly this was affecting her. No way in hell. Shoving the pictures in her purse, she shot Nadine the nastiest look she could muster given the situation. “Fuck you, Nadine.”

The need to use the bathroom was long forgotten as she headed for the door. She grabbed the handle to pull it open only to be stopped by Nadine placing a hand on the door, keeping it shut.

“You have twenty-four hours to break up with Bo and get your fat ass out of his life or those photos go viral. The story about you being in the looney house. The porn pictures of you and Bo, your fat ass on display for the world to see, and Anthony will be in a shitload of trouble. Don’t think I won’t.”

Spinning around, her hair whipping wildly around her head, Hanna drew her hand

back, formed a fist and without giving it an ounce of thought struck Nadine, making contact with her cheek and spending her spiralling backward and on her ass in the middle of the dirty bathroom floor.

“Whore!” Nadine screeched as she brought her hand up to her cheek. "You have twenty-hour hours, you hear me!"

Without another word Hanna left Nadine seething in the bathroom and exited the

building. She had no idea where she was going, but she needed to get away. She needed time. She needed to think.

“Hanna, what are you doing here?”

Hanna thrust a hand into her hair and sighed. “Can we talk?”

“Daddy, who is it?” Seconds after the soft, female voice spoke; its owner appeared at Tyson’s side. She looked up at Hanna, her dark eyes surveying every inch before meeting Hanna’s gaze. “Who are you?”

The little girl, who Hanna guessed to be five or six, was absolutely adorable. Her long dark curls were tied up in a ponytail and she appeared to be about ready to go to bed, wearing Mickey Mouse pajamas and carrying a Bugs Bunny plush toy by the ears.

“I’m Hanna. And who are you?” Hanna crouched down and extended her hand to the

little girl. The girl hesitated a moment before taking Hanna’s hand and shaking it firmly.

“I’m Kayla.” She looked up at Tyson and nodded toward him. “That’s my dad. His

name’s Tyson. My mom is Jade.” She held the rabbit up to Hanna's eyes for examination.

"This is Bugs Bunny, I call him Bud."

Hanna grinned as she looked up at Tyson, who shrugged and hugged his petite

daughter to his side. “Kayla, sweetie. Why don’t you head to bed? I’ll be in in a minute.

Okay?”

“Ahhhhh. But dadddddd.” She looked back at Hanna. “You get to stay up!”

Tyson gave his daughter a stern look. “Kayla. Now.”

She huffed, spun around and marched across the living room and into the spare

bedroom.

“That’s my daughter from a previous relationship,” Tyson explained, stepping back and motioning Hanna in. “She’s beginning to form a defiant streak.”

“I didn’t know you had children. Is she the only one?”

“One and only and she’s plenty. I never seem to have enough time for her.”

Hanna frowned, then remembered something. “You were supposed to spend last week with her?”

“It happens.”

A feeling of guilt ran through her as she made her way into the living room and took a seat on the sofa, perching herself on the edge. “I’m really sorry Bo and I…”

Tyson lifted a hand, stopping her. “It’s my job, Hanna. It keeps Kayla and her mother from having to live in a rundown apartment. And as long as I continue working for Bo and the guys she’ll go to college, paid in full. I have to make sacrifices to ensure she has a good life.”

“So when did you and her mother break up?”

Tyson sat back in the armchair across from her and sighed. “Three years ago, maybe.”

His eyes lowered to the brown envelope Hanna had set on her lap. “What’s that?”

Picking up the envelope, she fingered the edges. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone about this.” She waved the envelope in front of him. “You have to promise.”

“I guess… yeah.” Bending forward he reached for the envelope, pulling it from her fingertips. “Where did you get it?”

“Nadine.”

“Ah-huh.” Giving her one more glance he pulled the photos from the envelope.

Hanna lowered her gaze, her cheeks burning, knowing which photos he was looking at.

“I… Ummmm.”

“Keep going.” Keeping her eyes averted from his, she motioned for him to flip

through them.

“Okayyyy.” He flipped through several and paused. Hearing the pause Hanna timidly looked up.

“That set is of a camera from the center I was staying at for a bit.”

“How did she get these?”

“She said when money is involved, I’d be surprised at what information becomes

available.”

“Damn.”

“Yup. Keep going.”

He flipped through a few more until he got to the picture of Anthony with the dealer.

“Why are these in here? What’s with all this?”

Tears welled up in her eyes and she reached into her new, authentic Louis Vuitton monogram purse and pulled out a tissue. “It’s blackmail. Nadine wants me gone and she’s threatening to leak these to the press.”

She chanced a look up, to see his face contort in a look of sheer anger. “The fucking bitch. I’ve always hated her. Never thought she was this low, though.”

“Well, she is.”

“You haven’t shown these to Bo yet?”

Hanna thrust a hand into her long locks. “Nope.”

“Don’t you think you should?”

“And what is he going to do, Tyson? If I tell him, he’ll fire her, and she’ll leak the pictures.”

Tyson laughed a bittersweet laugh. “So what are you going to do? Leave him?”

Several more tears slipped down her cheeks. “What else can I do?”

“Dammit.” Tyson reclined back in the chair, running a hand behind his neck in

frustration. “Can you handle the heat from these pictures if they come out?”

“I don’t know.” She honestly didn’t. For everyone in the world to see her naked and having sex? But that wasn’t even the worst of it. The only people in the world who knew about her social anxiety was her aunt and Tyson. The paparazzi already loved dragging her through the mud. They’d be in all their glory with a story like this. People staring at her, whispering… God only knew the horrible things that would be said, not just about her, but Bo as well. Sure there was the saying that there was no such thing as bad publicity, but wasn’t there a limit to the negativity someone could take?

“Even if I could… What about Anthony? He could go to jail.”

“Yes. No. Maybe. He’d certainly be brought in for questioning.” Placing the photos back in the envelope he set them on the end table beside him, leaned forward and took her hands in his.

Hanna looked down at her hands in his, grateful for the comforting touch, even if it wasn’t Bo’s.

“Let Anthony worry about himself. He's digging his own grave right now. I ask again.

Can. You. Handle. It?”

Closing her eyes, Hanna shook her head; she could feel the panic gripping her body at the thought of people examining those pictures. Her entire body shivered. “I don’t think so.”

Admitting it to him sent a rush of guilt over her. She felt selfish. If she really loved Bo, it wouldn’t matter, right? She’d take the heat and deal with it. She looked down at the envelope, imagining the contents in her mind’s eye. But it wasn’t just her. It was Anthony. It was the band in general, they’d had so much bad press lately and now they had a massive lawsuit to deal with. And what if they fired Nadine? Another lawsuit? How much could the band afford before they went bust… all because of her?

Maybe she was being melodramatic… maybe not.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why can’t they just leave us alone?

“Hanna?”

Hanna looked up at the feel of Tyson squeezing her hands.

“Do you want me to get to the bottom of this? Find out who took the photos and who gave her the photos?”

Hanna gulped down the lump forming in her throat. She didn’t want to break.

Couldn’t break. “I don’t know…”

“Did she give you some sort of timeframe before she released the photos?”

“Twenty-four hours.”

“Don’t do anything rash. Let me think about this tonight and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

“I’m not sure what you’ll be able to do, Tyson. I’m not even sure why I came here.

I’m so confused. And I just needed,” she shrugged, “someone.”

“Oh Hanna...”

Tyson was cut off by knocking at the door. “Ahhh, fuck. Sit tight a minute, okay?” He caught her gaze and didn’t move until she nodded her agreement.

As he answered the door, Hanna snatched the photos from the end table and shoved them in her purse. The last thing she wanted was Kayla finding her porno pictures.

“There you are. Nadine said you felt sick.”

That’s one way of putting it
, she mused as she turned to see Bo rushing into the apartment to pull her into his arms.

“I’m okay,” she murmured against his shoulder, taking solace in his warm, hard body next to hers.

“I’ll check on Kayla and give you two a minute.” Tyson closed the door and made his way into Kayla’s room, closing the door firmly behind him.

“What are you doing here?”

“I just dropped by to talk.” She kept her face buried into his shirt, not wanting to look into his eyes.

“I see.” He pulled back from her, taking her upper arms in his hands and attempting to look her in the eye, but she avoided his gaze. She couldn’t look at him without breaking down in tears and if that happened then she’d never be able to do what she knew she had to.

“Are you ready to go home?”

“Yeah.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

They made their way upstairs in silence. Bo glanced down at Hanna periodically.

Whatever happened between the time they arrived at the recording studio that morning and now had gotten to her. He had no doubt who was behind the change in mood. If only Hanna would open up and share with him. Why she wouldn’t open up and tell him what was on her mind was beyond him, hadn’t he done everything he could to prove that she could trust him?

What more could he do?

And when did she come so chummy with Tyson? When he’d arrived at the apartment

the tension in the air had him feeling like he was interrupting something.

Hanna and Tyson? The thought sent a fireball of anger through him. He shook it off.

He was being irrational. She’d never. She loved him, he had no doubt about that. But why then? Why did she have to be so closed at times?

Once they were secure inside their home he steered her into the living room and sat her down next to him on the sofa.

“I want to know what’s going on, Hanna.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, everything was great in Paris. We come home and one day at the studio with Nadine and there’s a barrier between us? What did she say to you?”

Hanna pulled away from him and shook her head. “Nothing. I just… wasn’t feeling that great. I…”

“Don’t tell me this is in my head, Hanna. Something isn’t right and I want to know what it is.” His frustration was increasing. First he was hit by the bullshit with Victor and now Hanna was shutting him out. What the fuck was going on today?

“I’m fine. We’re fine. Just drop it, Bo.” Her voice rose an octave and he noticed a sliver of anger flashing in her eyes. Usually the look of fire in her eyes turned him on, but not today. Not this time. Not when something serious was on the line.

“I’m not going to drop it until you talk to me, Hanna.”

“There’s nothing to say.” She stood and without thinking Bo’s hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, stopping her from getting away.

“Hanna.”

“Let me go, Bo!” She jerked her arm from his grip and glared at him.

Standing, his own anger began to boil within him. “Is it Tyson?”

Her expression went deathly blank, her mouth dropping in disbelief.