Until Korry (PULSETUNES ROCK GODS Book 4), page 13
“Oh, compliments. Tell me more,” he teased, poking me in the ribs. Right then I believed Korry had no idea how seriously appealing I found him standing there, almost naked.
“Don’t. You know what I mean,” I replied, wishing I could just close my eyes and he’d disappear.
“I do. You think I’ve not sat there at times during the past twenty-four hours and not willed my dick to take a vacation?”
My breath hitched and I coughed in disbelief before I tried to bring some perspective to our situation again. “I keep having to remind myself this is a forced situation,” I explained.
“And I keep telling myself this is our kick-ass PA, Bernadette, and not my fake girlfriend, Adette, no matter what my body is telling me. Don’t you think I know I’m in enough shit without acting on impulse?”
I smiled. “Oh, God, you have no idea how flattering those words are, but I know what I am. You don’t need to pretend with me. It’s confusing, this roleplaying and mixing that with how well I know you already. You’re too easy to like … and those cookies didn’t help.”
“Ditto. I’m serious. You’re gorgeous, and you’re right, this isn’t easy.”
“You’re in love … in case you’d forgotten, which is why we’re stuck here in the first place.”
“Am I though? If so, why didn’t I make my move before? Why did I wait until she was getting married to somebody else? I’ve asked myself, is it because she’s with someone else that I feel how I do? I have so many questions about a woman I’ve never even kissed.”
“Never kissed me either,” I said, then my jaw dropped because that reply was supposed to be a thought as well.
“Would you want me to?”
“Wouldn’t it be weird after?” I suggested.
He shrugged. “Maybe we should do it, just once. You know, just for the hell of it? Scratch that itch?”
“Is a famous rock star trying to talk me into kissing him?” I laughed at the absurdity. “I’m nobody’s rebound, no matter how lickable … I mean, likeable they are.”
“For the record, I think you’re pretty lickable too … which is why I didn’t hesitate in licking your hand earlier.”
He mock-pouted before frowning for real. “I don’t think we’re going to need any hot water for that shower for the next few days,” he grumbled.
“And I guess we’re going to be mighty clean as well.” I pinched my lips to bite back a smile and he lifted a brow.
“Well, one thing’s for sure, we’re going to be believable if we do need to put on a show,” he admitted, grinning wickedly at me again. “I think getting us to stop playing our parts might be a problem though.”
CHAPTER 29
KORRY
Somehow Bernadette and I got through the rest of the night without crossing a line. Of course, she was right, we were in a forced situation. It had been my bad for pushing the boundaries with my flirting, the booze and those cookies. All that said, I wouldn’t have missed seeing the fun side of her during our candid couple of nights together, for anything.
Jethro called at 11:00 a.m. the following morning. Bernadette was driving and I was listening to a demo Levi had sent via SoundCloud. The moment Jethro’s name registered on my screen my pulse spiked.
“Morning,” he said, before I’d had the chance to speak.
“Morning,” I repeated.
“So how would you feel about some good news?”
“Hit me,” I replied as my adrenaline began to flow.
“Nevin Wilkie has been arrested.”
“He’s what? Arrested?” I shrieked in disbelief as I sat up straighter in my seat and slid my headphones down around my neck.
“Who? What’s happening?” Bernadette asked, giving me a sideward glance. I waved my hand to indicate it wasn’t anything to do with the band and saw her body sag in relief.
“Yeah, you heard right,” Jethro continued. “Our private investigator was mooching around, trying to find out if there was anything we could use as leverage for you, and almost shit himself when he walked into a raid on their home by the feds. The FBI apparently carted him off in handcuffs.”
“What’s he been arrested for?”
“No word on that yet, but I’ll give you an update when we find out.”
Another call came in and I saw it was Zena. “Got another call, keep me up to speed as soon as you know anything.”
“Hey,” I said, switching calls from Jethro to my sister.
“Blaire sent me an email,” Zena blurted.
“I don’t want to know,” I replied. “I’ve got a busy day ahead. I’m listening to a demo and trying to compose a score to go with it. We’re on our way to Savannah.”
“She’s sent me a message for you.”
“I don’t want to hear it. That’s against the order she put on me.”
“If I come up to Savannah, can I hang out for a couple of days?” Zena asked, changing the subject.
“Sure, we’re only there for two nights though. You can hang for the rest of the tour. I’m sure Sadie would enjoy seeing you. You’ll need to sleep on their bus though because I’m in the RV with Bernadette. Fuck, Jethro’s calling back,” I informed her. “I’m going to set up a charter for you. I’ll get Bernadette to call with the details. We should be in Savannah in a couple of hours.”
I switched calls again. “Well, I guess Blaire Hutton won’t be getting married anytime soon,” Jethro informed me.
My heart rate pounded in response to his news, despite feeling furious at what she’d done to me. “He’s been charged with white-collar fraud. He’s up to his eyeballs in the shit, along with some guy who was running a Ponzi scheme. He’s being arraigned later today. I’ll keep you updated as we learn what the deal is. But, if it’s as serious as we think it is, the bail they’ll set will be steep.”
My mind betrayed me because my heart squeezed in sympathy out of loyalty for Blaire. I felt certain she must not have known about this. She had always respected authority and was almost obsessive about doing the right thing. It was one of the reasons I believed she’d chosen not to act on her feelings that night at my house.
I couldn’t help feeling sorry that she had no one close to turn to at a time like this. It had always been me she’d turned to when her life wasn’t going well. This time she was on her own though because of the protection order in place. Therefore, even though that communication was technically against the order as well, Blaire had done the next best thing by reaching out to my sister.
“What’s going on?” Bernadette asked.
“Fuck if I know. Blaire’s fiancé has been arrested.”
“What?” she asked, her head snapped from the road to look at me. “Why?”
“He’s been involved in something crooked. Legal will call back later with the scoop,” I informed her. “Sounds like bullshit. Blaire would never get tangled up with crooks.”
My phone buzzed again as Deakon called. “What’s up man? We didn’t see you at all yesterday.”
Considering how mad Levi had been, I was surprised that he hadn’t appeared to have told any of the others that I’d gotten Bernadette stoned.
“Just a quiet day,” I informed him. “You?”
“You must have been bored, having to spend it with Bernadette,” he stated.
I stole a glimpse at Bernadette who was concentrating on the road.
“Yeah, like eating cardboard,” I pretended.
“You can both come on the bus for a drink before the gig at least.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I think we could do with being around other people,” I mumbled.
As if Bernadette knew I was talking about her she glanced over at me with a concerned look on her face. I winked and saw her shoulders slump. It appeared we were behaving one way in public, another in private, and yet another for the rest of my band now.
That thought made me wonder if Levi had told Jude about Bernadette. I wouldn’t have been surprised since they were tight as buddies.
Yet another call came in, this time from my brother, Louis. “Fuck me, someone else is calling, I gotta go.”
I switched calls again. “Have you heard the news?” my brother Louis asked.
“Some,” I said, guardedly, wary because of what Zena had told me about him.
“Yvonne McAlister rang, she overheard her dad tell her mom that Nevin Wilkie’s assets are going to be seized. Apparently, Blaire put Nevin’s name on the deed, so she’s been warned she’ll more than likely lose her house. She’s being hounded by investigative journalists and creditors.”
“Fuck,” I muttered as my chest tightened, despite my current situation with Blaire.
“Yvonne thought you’d want to know this since she doesn’t believe Blaire would have started all this shit with you about that protection order.”
My anxiety levels went through the roof the moment I feared for Blaire’s safety. If anyone knew the scoop, it was Louis’s best buddy’s wife, Yvonne, whose dad was an FBI agent. Yvonne was in Louis’s circle of friends since school, and they all still hung out together whenever he was home.
“My gut told me Nevin was behind the court order. What the fuck is going on?” I admitted.
“Not sure, but Yvonne said Blaire’s guy was up to his neck in fake investment contracts with a large group of seniors. It sounds serious.”
“You’re shitting me? Any idea where Blaire is now?” I asked as my heart raced, partly furious and partly sorry for what Blaire was facing.
“She’s been staying with Margaret Smith.”
I knew Margaret, she was a friend of Blaire’s who lived less than a block from Blaire’s house.
“Fuck, and it’ll take five minutes for them to find her there. Are you in Ormond now?”
“Jacksonville,” he replied.
“Would you go to Ormond and take her to my place?” I asked, concerned for her.
“To the house? What the fuck would you want to do that for? She pissed on you, dude. And there’s that small matter of a protection order,” he stated.
“All the better. No one would figure she’d be anywhere near me, right?”
“Are you sure you want to get involved in this? You’d be at risk then as well.”
“Not if they don’t know where she is, and I can’t exactly visit now, can I? Meanwhile, if she really was coerced into taking that order out against me, she can start the paperwork to help get it resolved.”
“Are there any spare keys for the house,” Louis asked as I hadn’t gotten to the point of giving him access.
“Yeah, never mind. I’ll ask Dad to get a message to her somehow, and if Blaire wants to use my place, he can meet her at the house. Can you text me Margaret’s address?”
“Yvonne can go visit Margaret. Talk to Dad, message me back with the details and I’ll ask Yvonne to go round there.”
“Thanks, dude. I appreciate your support. Make sure to tell Blaire she can’t tell Nevin or anyone else apart from Margaret and Yvonne where she’s going.”
“Promise me you’ll stay away until this thing with the protection order is resolved,” my brother demanded.
“Do I look stupid?” I asked, confirming it was the last place I would go.
“Yeah,” he replied. I chuckled. “Right, I’ll get on this. I don’t know how she’ll react. Blaire’s in love with this dude remember. Jumping ship and hiding out at your place kind of sends him a message.”
“Yeah, a ‘fuck you’ message. But he won’t know she’s there, remember? I could care less about the guy. He’s put his girl in a shitty position. If I know Blaire like I think I do, she won’t hesitate to go to my place.”
“We’ll see. Talk to you later,” he said and cut the call before saying goodbye.
Just then a text came through.
Jethro-Legal Team: Your cell phone is busy. Nevin Wilkie—bail denied on the grounds he’s a felon and they think he’s a flight risk.
I called Jethro back. “Talk to me,” I ordered.
“They’re only beginning to find the money trail. It seems Mr. Wilkie and his associates are clever boys.”
“Not so clever that they haven’t been caught,” I insisted. I then went on to fill him in on what was happening about Blaire, and Jethro assured me that if I didn’t visit my home, I wouldn’t be breaking any laws by having her lodge there.
I hung up, blew out a breath and glanced over at Bernadette who sat focused on the road ahead.
“Sounds like trouble in paradise,” she suggested flatly as she looked back at the road again.
“A clusterfuck more like it.” I relayed all the parts of the conversation she hadn’t heard through narrowed eyes, gauging Bernadette’s reaction with interest.
“So, I’m guessing we need to play down this thing between us, if you’re going to be linked with Blaire again, right?” she asked quietly.
“Honestly? I have no fucking idea what I’m doing anymore. I’m pissed you got dragged into this mess in the first place.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m not. But I’m not delusional either. This was all a game for the both of us, I’m just trying to figure out how we end it without you looking worse than you did when this started,” she mumbled, concerned for me. She lost herself in thought for a few moments. “Okay. So, this tour finishes. The order gets revoked, and you go to Ormond to talk to this woman … then what?”
I shrugged because I was at a loss. “Fucked if I know. Until this happened, she was prepared to marry someone else,” I reminded her. I thought I loved her, but I wasn’t sure about how to handle what came next.
“This next stop is a hotel stay so you’d better figure it out quickly. We’re only ten minutes away from the hotel. I mean do I still carry on pretending to be your girlfriend?”
“I guess. I mean the protection order is still in place and we’re here in your RV together. Also, there’s no doubt there will be someone who knows where we’re staying,” I argued.
“Right,” she mumbled. “Look, if it looks like this order might be rescinded, we could call a halt to this right now. Just say the word, and I’ll get back to doing my job,” she informed me.
In a way, I felt she must be relieved because there had been several moments when I’d begun to get caught up in the moment. I was in no doubt that an attraction was growing between us. However, my intuition warned me that even though we’d both been drunk, and we hadn’t crossed the line, if this ruse Donnie had ordered were to keep going, we could easily get caught up in the moment.
“Okay. No more PDAs, this isn’t fair to you. The media haven’t seen us kissing or anything, and we stayed in the compound yesterday. So apart from our stunt in the supermarket parking lot, what does anyone have? A heap of speculation about me flirting with you, instead of you and I in a relationship.”
“Great, I’ll book a second room for myself,” Bernadette replied without hesitation. I felt a twinge of disappointment it had come to an end, but I’d only heard relief in her voice, yet although we were only pretending, I had begun to enjoy her company.
CHAPTER 30
BLAIRE
My nerves were shot to hell as I snuck out my back door, climbed over the fence and ran all the way to Margaret’s house. Tears streamed down my face as she opened the door, and without talking she grabbed my T-shirt and yanked me inside.
“What the hell’s wrong? Did someone attack you?” she asked as I stood heaving for breath. Margaret’s serious gaze roamed my body for any sign that I’d been hurt.
“Nevin was arrested last night,” I mumbled, placing my head in my hands as I sat down heavily on her couch.
“Arrested?”
“God, now I understand how Korry feels at times when he’s chased by the press. There are reporters everywhere at my house. Thank God for that ugly paneled fencing my grandpa erected to keep people out. I never dreamed I’d see the day when I had to sneak out of my house, dart across my backyard and scale that fence.”
“Talking about Korry, did he honestly try to kidnap you?”
I shook my head and burst into tears. “Of course, he didn’t. Korry and Nevin got into a pissing contest about me. It’s a long story, but it boils down to how jealous Nevin is about Korry and me being friends.”
“Some friend when you turn on him like that,” Margaret said honestly. “Poor guy must be so hurt you did that to him.”
I sobbed. “I know. I’d never have signed that paper but Nevin pushed me to do it. He said I had to prove it was him I wanted, and not Korry.”
“So, you threw Korry under a bus, to save yourself?”
“Fuck, I know. I’m so weak, but I had no choice.”
“You never used to be weak,” Margaret countered. “You were one of the ballsiest girls in school. What happened to you?”
“Life happened. Losing my parents happened. Losing Korry when he went off with that fucking band happened. Everyone I loved left me.”
“Boo hoo, poor fucking you,” Margaret snapped. “Korry Moonan is a great guy. He always had your back … always. You have no idea what I’d have done to have someone like him look out for me. I used to envy that special relationship y’all had … wished I had a hot-looking guy of my own, as my friend.”
“I know, I’m devastated. I can’t believe how weak I’ve been. I mean all the wedding arrangements had been made, my dress is almost ready, the menu plans, venue, and catering already paid for. When Nevin gave me his ultimatum, I had no choice.
“Korry has never been more than a friend who turned up periodically, and for a day or two at the most. There were so many things running through my head. Nevin sold his house, moved in with me. Saying it was all for me. Now that he’s been arrested, I think he was just hiding his assets.”
“What about Korry?” she insisted.
I shrugged, deeply depressed at what Nevin had made me do. I’d never seen anyone so angry. No one had ever screamed in my face the way Nevin had done. I’d been scared, but scared of what? Nevin? Or scared of being alone? All I knew was that I felt vulnerable in that situation, and I’d likely have agreed to anything to make Nevin calm down. “I’ll go to the police, tell them Nevin made me do it … get the order revoked.”
