Wicked Bad Boys (77 page)

W
hen we finally made it
back to the house, I carefully took the drinks inside and down to the waiting room. I put everything down, pulled out the magazine and burst into the studio room without knocking. Johnny was singing something in the booth. Everyone jolted and turned to me.

“Rachel. What’s wrong?” Kevin asked.

I held out the paper. “Look!”

He took the magazine from my hand and opened to the page I had dog-eared. His face went from mellow to serious to mad as hell, and then his skin turned a deep red. He pulled me outside into the little waiting room.

“You two are still fucking around? And at the concert? How the hell did someone get a camera in there?” he roared up at me.

Before I could say anything, he turned to go back inside the studio. I followed him in to wait.

“Do you want me to call Fred down here?” I asked.

“No. I’ll wait for Johnny to finish and we can all go up.”

Some of the sound guys filed out of the room to find their beverages. The second Johnny stopped the verse he had been practicing, Kevin pressed a button on the soundboard to get his attention. “Johnny! Get out here. Now.”

It was too late by the time I figured out my misstep. I had been worried about the possibility it was the stalker’s doing, and about the breach in security that could lead to such an invasion of privacy. I did not stop to consider Kevin would be more concerned that we were making out in the second picture.

Johnny entered the room and I braced for Kevin’s onslaught.

“Do you see this?” Kevin asked, waving the open magazine in his face.

“What the—?” He tore the pages out of Kevin’s hands. “There was a camera in my dressing room?”

I looked up at him and nodded. “It looks that way. I’m so sorry, Johnny, we must have missed it when we swept the room. I take full responsibility.”

“But it wasn’t you,” Johnny said. “Fred and his team were the ones who checked the room. You were rehearsing.”

He was right. I breathed a—slight—sigh of relief, but was more concerned about how it happened. I glanced back at Kevin. “We need to talk to Fred. This could have been paparazzi, but I’m more worried it might be the stalker.”

“We’ll get up there soon enough. In the meantime, would you two care to explain yourselves to me? Rachel, need I remind you again? You’re …not a stripper.”

Johnny glanced over at the other men in the room, the sound guys, the producer and his assistants. Kevin didn’t seem to care who heard.

“Kevin, you’re out of line—” Johnny started, but Kevin cut him off before he could finish.

“Let’s get upstairs so Fred can tell us how the hell this happened,” he said, charging past me to go upstairs.

I grabbed Johnny’s arm and pulled him to the side before he could go off on Kevin. I could see rage in his eyes.

“It’s okay,” I told him. “He has a right to be upset.”

Johnny whipped around, looking back at the door Kevin took. “Maybe, but he does not get to talk to you that way anymore.” After Kevin was gone, we stepped out into the waiting area and sat for a while so he could cool down. “I don’t know why I’ve put up with him for this long.”

“He’s family.”

“Trust me. That’s been the only reason. But there’s only so much a guy can take.” I nodded and listened. After a long pause, he continued. “He and Lady are the only family I’ve got. I think I mentioned they adopted me when my parents were murdered. They’ve been loyal, and had my back all this time, but Kevin has gone over the edge lately.”

Murdered. The word sent a chill over me. Back when I had initially researched Johnny, his bio had only noted they were deceased, but had left no indication they were killed.

He continued. “I don’t have any siblings. I have aunts, uncles and cousins on both my parents’ sides, but they aren’t like family. They were never in my life before my parents passed. Of course, they conveniently found me when my name got out there, sniffing around for money. No one has ever been there like Lady and Kevin. So yeah, he’s a pain in the ass, but he’s all I have right now.”

He stopped for a moment and stared at me. I held my breath, awaiting his next words. I felt for him. He looked to be in such pain, from the look in his eyes.

I put an arm over his shoulder. “You’ve got friends, right?”

“A few. This can be a lonely business, Amanda.”

“Well, you have me…you’ve become someone I feel I can trust. You’ve had my back for this gig, too. There’s no way I’d still be here if you weren’t rooting for me.”

He pulled back to look at me. “Thanks. That means a lot, Amanda. I feel the same way.”

“Good,” I replied smiling at him. After a pause, I told him, “He means well, you know. He just wants the best for you.”

“I know he does, but he needs to get it through his thick skull that he can’t speak to you that way.”

“Good luck with that… Anyway, come on. Let’s go talk to Fred.”

Fred was sitting with Larry and Kevin in the spare office when we got upstairs. They had my copy of the magazine on the table, and had already begun to look into how it happened and how to uncover who was behind it.

“I put a call in to the security manager at the concert hall,” Larry told us. “They found the camera that was planted in the room. The fact that it was still there suggests the person was not able to regain access to the room after they planted it.”

“One of the site staff is taking it to Jenny and Lucas for analysis,” Fred informed us. “And to be clear, we don’t believe this was the work of our stalker.”

Kevin’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “How could you possibly know that so quickly?”

“The stalker replied to a post while the concert took place. Lucas got a lock on the IP address this time. Up to now, the unsub has been using a cloaked IP that pinged off satellites all over the world. That made it impossible for us to track in real time. She’s definitely getting sloppy. The message she posted during the concert was added from an IP in New York. She was on the other side of the country when this happened.”

“Then, who did this?” I asked. “I mean—why? Why would someone go this far?”

Kevin seemed relieved. “He’s famous. The paps would do it in a heartbeat if they could get away with it.” He held up the magazine. “Gossip rags like
Guess Who
, and the infinite number of online celebrity blogs would all pay through the nose for stuff like this. When the paparazzi gets a so-called ‘money shot’ on someone like Johnny, they’re looking at quite a payday. Nude photos of celebrities sell for even more. This brings me to you, Fred. How could your guys let it happen?”

“I don’t know how we missed it. My best guess is they snuck it in after the sweep was completed. They could have put one of the event staff up to it.”

My stomach turned at the thought. Someone had planted a camera just to get a shot of Johnny in some state of undress, with intentions of selling it on the digital black market. Still, my revolt quickly morphed into relief—it could have been a lot worse if Johnny and I had taken it further. They could have potentially gotten a ‘money shot’ of both of us.

“Dammit!” Johnny said. I could only guess he had the same thought.

“The good news is these types of cameras use wireless to send images and footage back to whoever planted it. They may have had a problem trying to regain access to the room to remove it, which is good for us. It means the shots were all transmitted wirelessly, and with that footprint, we have a good shot at finding whoever did this.”

Somehow, bringing the scum to justice did not take away my feeling of violation.

“So what does this mean for the stalker?” I asked. “Will it infuriate her, or accelerate her plans in any way?”

“Possibly. We’ll keep monitoring the IP we found during her slipup, and see where it leads us.”

“I need a moment,” Johnny announced and got up from the table. He took the hallway closest to us and climbed the stairs, probably to his room. I didn’t blame him.

I
desperately wanted
to stretch my hand out for Amanda to come with me when I left the spare office. I should not have made a move on her in the dressing room. I should have expected someone would pull a stunt like that. Amanda did not seem too upset, but I was angry.

After about an hour, I went downstairs to look for her. Kevin was gone. Fred and Larry were still in their office. Amanda was not anywhere on the main floor. I went down to the recording studio. The sound guys were still in there with the band. They used the time well while I was upstairs, working out some of the instrumental pieces. Amanda was not down there either, though. I climbed up the back steps and went right up to the second floor. Her door was closed.

I knocked, and she opened her door almost immediately. I couldn’t help but stare at her body. She had changed into tiny running shorts and a black sports bra. Her flat, toned stomach was on full display. It took some effort to stop myself from pushing her against the wall and kissing her until she was breathless. All I could think of was that kiss, then picking her up and carrying her to my bed.

“Do you need something, Johnny?”

I snapped back to reality, setting aside the salacious thought.

“Can we talk?” I asked.

“I’m going for a run in your gym downstairs. Is it urgent?”

“Not really. Do you want some company? We can talk and run.”

She sighed. “Sure.”

“I think the press vans are gone now. Mind if we run outside?”

“Kevin won’t like that.”

“He’s gone for the day. Fred and Larry are downstairs. Come on, it’ll be fine.”

“All right. I’ll wait for you to get changed.”

I nodded and went back to my room. I quickly pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, then stuck my feet into some running shoes. She was jogging in place when I went back to the hallway to meet her. We silently went downstairs and Amanda stopped to tell Fred where we were going. She led me through some stretching once we were outside, and I followed along, trying to keep my eyes off her fit, tempting body, and those shorts that barely covered her ass. It was not easy to avoid another raging hard-on, but I managed.

She started out with a jog. I matched her pace and followed along. I wasn’t much of a runner, but I could keep up with her as we started out. We hit our stride together and started up the hill. That was the beauty of getting outside, or any distraction-free workout for that matter—neither of us needed to say anything.

It was only when we stopped to take a breather at the peak that she broke our silence. “I’m sorry they got that footage of us. I should have been more observant before the show.”

“It’s not your fault. I should be thanking you for stopping me when you did.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “I also meant to say this earlier,” she continued, “but I’m sorry to hear about your parents. If you ever want to talk about it, I’m here.”

I couldn’t hold back the urge to hold her then. I stretched my arms around her shoulders. “That means more to me than you know.”

“I’m glad,” she said, before pulling away.

I smiled over at her. “And I’ll try to keep my hands to myself as much as I can.”

“It’s probably better that way. I mean, I’m just as mixed up about what’s been happening between us as you are.”

My eyebrows shot up and I looked over at her. “Really? Because you seem pretty sure about what you want…and don’t want. Not just between us, but everything…your business, your work ethic, your fitness…everything.”

She laughed. “Wow. That’s the first time I’ve heard that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. All my life, I was on one track. I wanted to be a fighter. I could do anything if it got me to that goal. But ever since that got taken away from me…I guess I’m a bit lost right now.”

I was not sure how to respond. I wanted to hold her, to tell her it was going to be okay. But I didn’t know what she would accept from me anymore.

“Can we start with you letting me hold you? As a friend. I know you don’t want to get…intimate. I just don’t want things to be uncomfortable between us. Today was miserable,” I admitted.

She smiled and stepped into my arms again. “Okay. A hug works.” She wrapped her arms round my waist and lifting her chin up to look at me. After a short time, she turned toward the view of the city, but stayed in the embrace. Dusk was starting to fall and soon the city would be a sea of twinkling lights in the darkness. Part of me wanted to stay there with her to watch it transform.

“We should get back before dark,” she said. She probably clocked my disappointment, because she followed up with, “Let’s try to keep on Kevin’s good side, okay? He’s already pissed at us. And I don’t want to get in the way of your relationship with him. I know what that’s like.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, but already knew where she was going.

“My mother is the only family I have left, and we’re not very close. I don’t want that for you.”

I was going to ask her more about it—to be polite, because I already knew about the rift between her and her mother—but she pulled out of my arms and broke into a run.

“I’ll race you down to the house!” She was already close to fifty feet ahead of me.

“You’re on!” I bolted to try and catch up.

I tore off down the hill after her, rapidly picking up speed. I got close at one point, but she took off in a sprint once we got back to my driveway and made it to the front steps long before I could catch her. She giggled and did a perky little happy dance. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was so fucking sexy. I wanted to tear off her tiny shorts and bury myself in her tight pussy.

“You okay there?” she asked, studying my face.

I nodded, hands on my knees as I bent over to catch my breath. “Yeah, great. How about best two out of three?”

“What?”

“Well, I lost the race, but I think I could show you up in an MMA-style wrestling match. And I can think about what I’ll beat you at for the third part of the challenge.” I looked over at her with a smirk. “I’ll come up with something.”

She burst out laughing. “Wait. You’re not serious about throwing down with me, are you?” I smiled at her, loving the way her face lit up at my suggestion. “Oh, this I’ve got to see.”

“Come on,” I told her, “I’ve got some mats down in the gym.”