Trusting Gibson (Last Score Book 2) (31 page)

“My pleasure, darlin’…anytime.” I winked at her playfully.

Thank you, God, for making this okay for us.

CHAPTER 27 - FLYING THE NEST

Chloe

When Gibson left me for the first time to fly to his meeting with his M3rCy bandmates, I was worried about him leaving but I acted very relaxed about it. There wasn’t one day since I’d come out of hospital that he wasn’t with me, apart from when we were in the cabin.

Worry lines creased his brow and he looked like a scolded puppy when it was time to get into the SUV with Johnny, but I knew that as soon as the car left the driveway he’d be slipping straight back into his comfort zone of Gibson the rock star.

Initially, it was going to be a day trip and he’d be back in the early hours, but he called and said that something had come up and he’d be back in a couple of days. At first I felt terrified that he’d be away for two more days, but Emma and Lois were with me and they were great company.

I finally felt able to talk about Kace in the absence of Gibson and although Emma and Lois acted like friends, they had a job to do. Part of that job was finding out as much about Kace as I could tell them.

“I know that everyone talks about Kace when they think I’m not around. He’s like the elephant in the room as soon as I step in on one of those conversations. Sometimes I wonder if you all think I’m stupid, because the way you all shut up when I wander into the room makes me want to laugh out loud. I know you want to spare my feelings but nothing could make me feel as bad as he did, so just talk about it. Make it normal. Then maybe it will be less of a deal all around.”

Emma kinda glided in her socks on the hardwood floor like a skater on ice from the sofa she was sitting on, to catch her balance on the kitchen counter. Taking a few grapes out of the fruit bowl, she tilted her head up in my direction. Making eye contact, she smiled with understanding at my frustration at being treated with kid gloves.

“Chloe, we all feel terrible at what happened. I had only known you a day. One day…and Lois was stuck on a plane on a runway, she never even made it to the gig. Everything we had in place wasn’t enough and you suffered because of it…Gibson suffered.”

I was tired of talking about Kace. All everyone wanted to talk about was Kace. He consumed my every thought for weeks there needed to be a shift away from the subject of my abduction. “I am going to say this once and we move on girls. Kace never touched me.

“To be honest with you, I wasn’t talking or doing anything when I was with him either. Not talking was what got me through. I closed down to protect myself from his negative, manipulative ways. Being with him…seeing him like that again– I was scared, but Kace is no match for Gibson and he knows it. My only concern is that I have no clue if he’s out there, or if he’s given up. When I ask Gibson, his response is well rehearsed. Like he’s trying to convince himself that he’s not coming back.”

Lois wandered over and placed a hand casually on her hip. “Chloe, it was our first day. We’re completely up to speed now. I hope the fucker tries, because he’ll get the shock of his life if he thinks your two friends are no match for him. I’m in two camps, one that says I hope he’s running scared, and the other that thinks. ‘Come on you stupid bastard make your move’. Emma and I will never let him near you again.”

After that, I asked if we could do something else and the girls asked me what I wanted to do. Gathering my hair around from my back I pulled it over my shoulder, inspecting the ends of it. “Get my hair cut. I’m a mess…it’s like rats’ tails. I haven’t had it cut since I met Gibson…before then, actually.”

Emma twisted her mouth and Lois shot her a look. Shrugging my shoulders in confusion, I wondered what I had said.

“We’re going to have to run this one past Charlotte, Chloe. The last thing you need is someone mouthing to the press that you’re here. Gibson told us that there are only twelve people, including us, that know he even has this place. We’re guarding that secret as well as protecting you.  We need to see what Charlotte comes up with.”

I was frustrated about having permission from someone I hardly knew just to have a haircut. That was a hard pill to swallow. “Well take me to a small town where no one knows me and I’ll only be in there an hour at the most. No one is interested in me. I only want it trimmed, so I’ll be in and out before you know it.”

Lois shook her head but her eyes darted at Emma and there was this sympathetic exchange between them that made me annoyed, like I was incapacitated and they were making a decision I wouldn’t like, but was best for me. “Sorry, Chloe, Emma’s right. You’re still recovering and Gibson doesn’t want anyone drawing attention to you.”

“Oh, he doesn’t? And this is all about Gibson? No regard for my wishes about this? I was abducted by a fucking ex-boyfriend. Not the mafia. What are the chances he’s going to be in some hick mountain town at a hair salon?”

Both girls looked like they were considering what I said, but I never let them respond because the more I thought about it, the more furious I became. I’d been controlled and manipulated by one man and Gibson may have had my best interests at heart, but I was damned if I’d be treated like some china doll in a glass cabinet, kept for best and brought out for special occasions. This was my life.
My
life, and I had to take it back or I’d forever be at the mercy of other people making decisions about me.

Pushing to the edge of the sofa, I reached over and grabbed my cell from the coffee table where I’d left it after Gibson had called me from the airport. Swiping the screen, I scrolled down looking for Charlotte’s number.

“Hey, Charlotte. It’s Chloe here…” Charlotte launched into a ‘great to hear from you’ speech and I wondered if she’d still be saying that after I let rip about my wishes and told her that we were going out–with or without anyone else’s permission.

“I want to go and have my hair cut.”

Charlotte hummed then I heard her cover her phone and say, “Two minutes,” before readdressing me. “Chloe, Gibson won’t like you going out. No one knows you’re there honey—”

I interrupted her with a frustrated tone in my voice, feeling more than a little angry that some woman who worked for my boyfriend was giving me advice about what my boyfriend would and wouldn’t like.

“Don’t patronize me, Charlotte. Now, I’m going to get my hair cut. All I want to do is have it trimmed, I’m not running down the main street in Breckenridge with my ass hanging out and holding a banner above my head saying, ‘Hey everybody look at me, I’m Gibson Barclay’s girlfriend.”

Charlotte tried to reason further with me and I could feel myself becoming more and more unreasonable about her protests. As far as I was concerned, they were making a mountain out of a mole hill. We were in the middle of nowhere and I was nobody, plain Jane and no one would even have given me a second glance. The paranoia was beyond my comprehension and I wondered if I’d ever be able to do anything normal again if I stayed with Gibson.

Becoming more impatient I waved the phone at Emma to take it from me. “Speak to her, I’m done. I want to go and have a haircut or I’m leaving. I may as well be in prison if I’m going to be stuck here for the rest of my life.”

I knew I was becoming irrational. But the reality of being a ‘kept woman’ was beginning to dawn on me. I was able to take care of myself. I had done a better job of breaking free of Kace than they had of looking after me.

“Okay, Chloe. Calm down. If you need a haircut that much, then we’ll have to make it happen, but you have to give Charlotte some time to get the information of where you can go, alright?”

Lois had reasoned quietly with me, she hadn’t been telling me that I wasn’t going even though she had agreed with Emma. It was as if she was mulling the idea and thinking of how it could happen rather than how it shouldn’t.

Perching on the edge of the sofa arm, I waited silently for a moment while Emma and Charlotte concluded the call. My temper was fizzing, at the point where I could have gone either way. When Emma looked at me and waved the phone at me to take it back, I snatched it and shoved it into the back pocket of my jeans. Everyone kind of stared at each other and that made me furious.  I was a grown woman and these two were acting like my babysitters.

I slapped my hands on my lap and stood up. “Right. I’m going out. Don’t come with me. I need some normality. You two are suffocating me and I want some space.” I stomped off in the direction of our bedroom, the noise of my bare feet slapping heavily against the wooden stairs echoing around the great room.

By the time I reached the corridor, my heart was beating wildly and my mouth was dry. Ever since Kace, I had a temper when I was pushed hard enough, and all the mollycoddling that I’d had was great in the beginning, but now it was seriously pissing me off.

Opening the closet, I fumbled around looking for two boots that matched, and mused at how messy both Gibson and I were. Our room was our private space and I had insisted that no one went through my things while I was here.  Gibson’s opinion was if they tidied up so that he could ‘find his shit,’ he was all for it.

When I heard my cell ring, I just knew it was Gibson and instantly I made a note to chew Charlotte out for reporting my wishes back to Gibson. I loved him but it was none of his business if I wanted to do something as mundane as take care of my personal appearance.

Slipping the phone from my back pocket, I saw Gibson’s number with Paul’s ID and the incoming signal radiating across the phone screen. Answering in a clipped tone, I bit, “Yes?”

“Fuck, you’re pissed.”

“I am.”

“Why didn’t you mention the hairdo when I was home? Why now, Chloe?”

“Jeez, Gibson— you as well? No one told me being with you would mean I have to ask fucking permission to have a hair do! I want to go out. I want to be
me
for an hour. No rock stars, no body guards, no crazy fucked-up ex-boyfriend…just me.”

Sighing heavily, “Okay,” he answered his voice sounded resigned.

“What do you mean, okay? Are you giving me permission now? You can go out on stage night after night and perform in front of thousands of crazy people, with all the risks that must bring, and I can’t go out in the middle of a mountain town and have my hair cut?

“Gibson, I’m going to have my hair cut. I’m not going to be run over, I’m not going to fall down a sinkhole, I’m going to a beauty salon. When I’ve done what I intend on doing, I’ll come back. Now. Either Emma or Lois drop me off at a salon or I’ll call a cab. If I call a cab that’s one more person that knows where your place is.”

“Chloe. Stop. Fuck.” Gibson huffed a huge puff of air from his lungs and sounded gruff. “Fuck, Chloe. See that mood you’re in? Save it. When I get home on Friday, we’re gonna do this again, you are so fucking hot when you’re pissed. My dick is aching here just listening to you. I wish I was there to see that sassy little body, you sound full of attitude.”

His comment took the wind out of my sails and I felt instantly calmer. “Is that so?”

“Bet your life it is, darlin’. Wear panties…I wanna rip them off.”

“Can’t wait.” My core clenched at his words and I was grinning like a stupid schoolgirl. Gibson had managed to change my mood, but his sexy, playful comment made me ache for him.

“I know.” I could hear the smile in his playful tone, then his voice dropped an octave. “Fuck, you’re killing me here, Chloe. Just hearing you say that has the crown of my dick rubbing at my jeans…if I was there I’d sink my dick—”

Interrupting, I said, “But you’re not, so…” I was starting to sound emotional but fortunately, Gibson began to conclude the call. Although I missed him, I was going out and I needed to feel in control so in a way it wasn’t a bad thing.

“Listen. Gotta go right now, darlin’, just promise me you’ll let the girls take care of you. Don’t get that hair cut short, ‘cause I’ll be wanting something to hold on to when I get back, it could get wild where I’ll be sitting.”

Gibson finished his call by telling me again how much he was missing me and how much he loved me. He was excited, Toby was in LA and he hadn’t seen him since the night I was taken by Kace. I was pleased that he was getting time with him, but Gibson sounded a little apprehensive for some reason. I put it down to the fact that the last time hadn’t ended well.

Less than a minute later, Emma’s phone rang and I knew it was Gibson telling her to take me. I still felt annoyed but at least I had my way at doing something very basic for myself. Emma took me to a beauty salon in town just before closing time and it was dark outside. Twenty five minutes later, we were in the car on the way back. I had a hair trim and nobody had died, as Gibson would say.

After dinner Emma, Lois and I were around the table talking and Emma stood up and walked over to the window with a frown on her face. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a car coming. We’re not expecting anyone.”

I sniggered because the hyper-vigilant stuff they kept doing was ridiculous. If anyone should have felt afraid it should have been me. And I wasn’t. We were in the middle of nowhere. No one knew we were there. No one knew Gibson’s hideaway even existed and how would they know I was here?

“Maybe someone is lost?” I offered.

As the car drew up in front of the cabin, Emma turned to Lois and her eyes flicked toward the side corridor leading to the second door decking. Lois slipped the lock and went outside, closing the door softly.

Loud knocking made me jump, because I got caught up in the moment and they had me as crazy as the both of them. All I kept thinking was
Dr. Mustard in the Kitchen with the lead piping
. It was like a scene out of a murder mystery dinner I’d been to once with Kace.

Just the thought of his name in this situation made my blood run cold. Suddenly this didn’t feel like a game anymore.

“Did you call anyone, Chloe?” Emma’s half whispered, urgent question made me jump.

“No.” Shaking my head, I watched her tense stance. Her behavior was making me nervous.