Until Korry (PULSETUNES ROCK GODS Book 4), page 28
Right then the lights went down, and once Alfie’s band was announced, the crowd immediately rose to their feet.
As usual, Alfie’s distinctive voice enthralled the females in the crowd as Crakt Soundzz delivered an effortless performance. It was fun watching Rick, Levi and the others reacting as fans for a change. I glanced down at Bernadette, and as if she’d sensed I was looking, she met my gaze. She grinned for a second as the intro to one of Crakt Soundzz most famous hit songs “Insatiable” began to play.
“I love this song,” Bernadette shouted in my ear, before turning her attention back to the stage. Within seconds, she became lost in the tune, as she shook her booty and sang along loudly with the lyrics. My cheeks hurt as I grinned, mesmerized by the carefree transformation she underwent the moment the music began. It was a rare moment of candor, seeing her cast off all her insecurities and give herself over to the music.
Seeing her this way, I knew I was witnessing the completely unfiltered Bernadette. A woman totally stripped of her responsibilities to us as our PA, and she was just another fan enjoying herself. At that moment, something shifted inside me that made me realize, what we were doing was falling in love.
As the song ended, I slid my hand around her waist, pulled her flush against me and kissed her hard. For a second she struggled against me, her palm flattening against my shoulder, then I felt her go limp and her fingers slid into my hair instead. When a small rush of air entered my mouth, I knew she had sighed, then, as if she remembered who she was with, her hand slid from my hair to my chest, and she pushed me away.
She was breathing hard as she stared at me, her lust-filled eyes wide in shock.
Deakon leaned forward and placed his hand on my shoulder. He and Sadie were the only two people in the row behind us. “That looked pretty real to me.”
I grinned, winked and turned my attention back to Bernadette, who looked a little less comfortable about being there with me than she had been before I’d kissed her.
“I’m done with this,” I grumbled angrily to Bernadette. I gripped her hand tightly while we made for the backstage exit at the end of the performance. As a few of us followed the band into the dressing room, the rest of us arranged to meet at some karaoke bar called KAMU Ultra Karaoke.
“I’m sorry,” Bernadette offered, assuming her lack of affection toward me was the cause of my frustrations.
“Don’t be. I’m not willing to do this any longer. We’re together and I refuse to hide you away like you’re some dirty secret.”
“Can it wait until tomorrow?” she bargained, sounding worried.
“No, sweetheart, I refuse to deny who you are to me another minute. But I will choose my moment, and I’ll try not to make it uncomfortable for you.”
Once I’d calmed down, we made our way to the karaoke bar, which was packed tight with people. However, there was a roped off section set aside that Alfie had paid for, to accommodate his and Lily’s bands and their friends. And because I’d taken a time-out to vent my annoyance, we’d all arrived together.
“How do musicians relax? By singing karaoke,” Deakon joked, as we all tried to squeeze into the seating area. With extra people to cater for, there weren’t enough seats, and as Sadie had sat on Deakon’s knee, I pulled Bernadette down onto mine.
“Korry?” she questioned, sitting stiffly as her eyes darted from Levi to Donnie.
“Breathe, sweetheart. I got you,” I reminded her with a small rub on her back. I felt her relax as the cocktail server approached and we ordered several rounds of shots. Alfie told the server whenever she saw the tray empty, she had to line up more.
Once we had downed several rounds of shots between us, Elle took to the stage and waved Jack over. “Remember this one?” she asked as “Islands in the Stream” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers began to play. Drew, Crakt Soundzz’s lead guitarist, stood up and whistled loudly. “Show ‘em how it’s done, baby,” he called out to his wife.
I’ll admit they were good, and one by one each of the rock stars took a turn to sing a song with the karaoke machine. Alfie stunned us all by singing “Strip it Down” a country and western tune by Luke Bryan and I decided instantly his voice was so versatile that he could easily have been a country artist.
Nothing surprised us more than when Bernadette stood up, pretty off her face drunk by then, and shouted, “I want to sing”. Donnie advised her to sit down, but the rest of the bands egged her on. Swaying, she wandered toward the stage, tripped and almost fell over before she righted herself in front of the microphone.
“Is this a wise move?” Deakon asked, laughing.
I shrugged. “She’s drunk but she hasn’t had any weed yet, so I’m hoping she doesn’t disgrace herself.”
A familiar tune started to play and our whole section erupted in applause. Bernadette bowed a fraction too long then stood and grabbed the mic stand again to steady herself. Then, for however long the song lasted, every last person in our party sat totally enthralled as our band PA gave the best Cyndi Lauper impersonation of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” any of us had ever heard.
“What the fuck?” Levi asked, his eyes darted from one to the other of us, his mouth gaping in shock. “And I thought Sadie was our surprise singer,” he remarked, glancing back in awe at Bernadette.
“Dark horse,” I muttered, nodding. I placed my fingers between my lips and whistled loudly before shouting, “That’s my girl.”
She grinned and ramped up her performance, acting all ditzy, as she sang the last chorus. I glanced around me and saw that the rest of the bar were on their feet, singing along with her. I stood as the music died, and instantly rushed over to help her down from the stage.
“Sweetheart, I’m floored.”
She grinned. “And I’m drunk.”
“When did you realize you could sing like Cyndi Lauper?” Jude asked as I sat her back on my knee and he stared at her in wonder.
“School talent show,” she replied, laughing. “That’s nothing, you should hear my Shakira,” she boasted.
“Oh, this I gotta hear,” Alfie remarked, laughing as he pulled her off my lap, and led her back to the stage. He had a word with the guy by the karaoke machine and the intro to “Whenever, Wherever” began to play.
“Your girlfriend has a great voice,” Lily admitted, smiling.
“She’s not really his girlfriend, she’s our PA,” Levi advised her dryly, as Bernadette sang her heart out.
“No, she really is my girlfriend, Levi. You’ve got what you wanted with Trinnie. You can’t blame a guy for doing the same.”
“Bad form, Korry. You shouldn’t have messed with her, dude,” Jude warned, frowning.
“I appreciate your concerns but they’re not welcome. I haven’t done anything she doesn’t want. In fact, you have no fucking idea how much restraint we had. We’re not fooling around either. So, I figure if it doesn’t affect us doing our jobs, it’s no one’s business but ours.”
“I don’t care,” Greg said in support. I smiled because Greg didn’t give a fuck about much, so it was hardly a stellar endorsement.
“That’s because you can’t see the bigger picture here,” Levi complained.
“And that is?” I coaxed, vaguely aware of the other patrons roaring in appreciation. I glanced over and chuckled when Bernadette began wiggling her ass and doing all the actions just like Shakira did in the video for the song.
We both stopped talking, stunned by what we were looking at. Then, as the song ended, it was clear Levi wasn’t giving up.
“Life’s hard enough on the road without adding the stress of a relationship that’s ended,” he remarked.
“Dude, I have two words for you. Tyler Knott,” I said, in reference to drama he had brought to a previous tour. Levi’s face grew dark, and I figured he wanted to punch me. I usually felt loved by how protective Levi and Jude were of the rest of us but in this case, I wasn’t interested in anyone’s opinion. “Like I said, we’re not out to piss anyone off, but Bernadette and I are doing this.”
Alfie came back, smiling, then he gave us a second glance. “What’s with all the long faces?” he asked, his hazel eyes shifting from one person to the next awaiting an answer.
“Korry’s fucking the PA,” Levi said, nodding toward Bernadette.
“She’s the PA?” Alfie asked, glancing back at Bernadette as she prepared to sing yet another song. He leaned forward and spoke quietly into my ear. “Get in there, dude, she’s fucking awesome.”
I grinned as he stepped back and winked as Bernadette began to belt out another flawless impersonation of Cher’s “Believe.”
“She should be on the stage,” Cody remarked, smiling. “So, it’s really a thing between the two of you?”
I nodded. “Yeah, and the more I get to know her, the more she amazes me.”
“Pity, I was going to ask her out myself.”
I laughed. “That’s because she’s probably the only girl you haven’t dated.”
“I’m not that much of a manwhore. It’s seldom I see a girl that gives me genuine vibes these days.”
Cody was right, in the circles we moved in, it was hard to find a girl that was relatively unaffected by our fame and wanted to know us for who we were, not what we could do for them.
“Raff, grab her when this song has ended or I’ll be starting a collection for her,” I joked, shaking off my two bandmates’ stares.
Once they realized I had closed the discussion down, I could see from the narrowed gazes and suspicious looks that they wanted to say more. However, I remembered how Jude had worked out his differences with Levi about his younger sister, Esther, and Deakon and Levi had worked out their differences about Sadie. So, I felt confident that in time, they’d all learn not to focus on my relationship with our PA. If not, they could keep their opinions to themselves.
As Bernadette was unaware that I’d spoken to my bandmates and Donnie about her, Deakon intercepted Donnie the moment he’d tried to take her aside.
“Dude, this is one time you don’t throw your weight around,” he warned. “Not if you want to keep your PA and our keyboard player.” Donnie glanced from Bernadette to me, threw his hands up and walked away. Deakon turned and shot me a wink that said I got you.
Thankfully, shortly after this, Trinnie complained of being tired. I figured she wanted time alone with Levi, and by the time they’d said goodnight to everyone, he looked far less tense as Bodhi led Trinnie, Esther and Jude to the exit with him.
“So, that Shakira is going to be burned in my brain for some time to come, sweetheart,” I teased.
“Yeah, my hips are killing me now. If I was her that would be the encore song.”
I laughed. “I think tequila is my new favorite drink for you,” I remarked, chuckling.
“I’m hungry,” Bernadette blurted out.
“Alright, let’s get out of here and find somewhere to eat,” I mumbled, still in awe of her.
“Coming,” Greg insisted as he tagged along with us.
Bernadette laughed. “Come on Greg, then we need to find you a woman.”
CHAPTER 60
KORRY
Waking to the mother of all hangovers, I realized I hadn’t made it to bed. My half-opened eyes scanned the room in alarm as I wondered what had happened to Bernadette. Relief flooded through me when I recognized one of her high-heeled shoes, that she’d gone out in the night before, lying near the bedroom door. At least she made it home with me.
The moment I tried to lift my head off the back of the couch, I instantly knew why I was there. The swimming sensation coupled with a wave of nausea that rolled from my gut to the back of my throat, confirmed to me that there was still a distinct possibility that I might throw up.
“Fuck,” I mouthed because my voice had nothing. Gingerly, I eased my head back as gently as I could and sat breathing deeply until the nauseous feeling subsided. For a while I focused hard not to be sick, and as I was still pretty stoned, I passed out again.
My cell phone rang sometime later, the shrill-sounding ringtone piercing to my ears. I shifted utra-slowly and fished it out of my jeans pocket. Seeing it was Levi, I switched it off and fell back to sleep.
The next time I awoke, I tried harder to remember what else we’d done during the night. At some point I remember we had drunk ourselves sober and then gotten stoned on the best batch of cannabis money could buy.
My thoughts turned to Bernadette and how experimental she’d been because she had needed no persuasion to try the glass bong. But I figured that was mainly due to her being fascinated by the purple color and the pretty gold inscription on the side of it. She pouted when Raff took it away from her.
As things had gotten pretty hazy after that, I struggled to dredge things up in my mind. For example, I wasn’t sure if I actually punched a guy who shook his tightly packed junk in her face and tried to pass it off as a lap dance, or if that was part of my high. Nor do I know if I really had danced to “That’s Amore” by Dean Martin with a redheaded cougar who wore a tight-fitting, leopard skin patterned dress.
My only vivid memory was of Greg and that same redheaded woman being ejected from the bar after taking their dirty dancing too far.
Somehow, we all gave Raff the slip for a while, and I have flashes of him sounding relieved when he heard we were in the hotel, and on our way back to my suite.
I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind, but more flashes of images passed through my mind. There was another vague recollection of Bernadette laughing on an open-top bus and of us witnessing a wedding in a chapel at the end of the strip.
The very last thing I recalled was of having my picture taken with Greg, the cougar and Bernadette as we flew down a zipline in Freemont Street.
“Korry, dude. Wake up or I’m gonna get a doc in here to give you an IV.”
I cracked an eye open and made out Raff’s blurry image. “Coffee,” I croaked.
“What the fuck, Korry. I’ve never seen you as stoned as you were last night. You put yourself at risk, dude. I came in to check up on you both and you were flat out on the floor.”
“So, I didn’t put myself here?” I grumped.
“Boss, you couldn’t have found your own dick if I’d put it in your hand.”
I winced from how loud Raff’s voice sounded. “Bernadette?”
“Oh, you mean, Cyndi stroke Shakira stroke Cher?” he asked, chuckling. “Trust me, I don’t think that girl wants to have fun today, whenever, whatever. I do believe she’s still passed out on the bed,” he remarked.
“How long did it take you to come up with that?” I asked, chuckling despite the grotty feeling in my gut.
“Oh, on the fly,” he remarked, laughing. “Anyway, everyone’s a comedian, right? Okay, the partying is over. Let’s get you sorted out and feeling human again.”
“Can’t. If I move, I’ll be sick.”
“You need water to flush that shit out of your system. From the way you all reacted, that was no ordinary cannabis in that bong. Fuck knows what it was, but it wasn’t straight weed. It’s scary how much of a risk you guys take when you’re let off the leash.”
“I’m never using anything that I don’t handle myself from now on,” I decided, feeling sorry for myself. “Are you sure Bernadette’s okay?”
“Yeah, but I think once you’re feeling a bit more with it, you might want to wake her yourself.”
“Why?”
“She’s not completely naked, but she had a good attempt at undressing herself. She managed the bottom half of her clothes.”
I laughed, wide-eyed. “Fuck, you must never tell her you were in there.”
“Do I look stupid? My lips are sealed,” Raff muttered, scoffing. “Right, Tylenol and water … then we’ll go from there.”
Raff fed me two painkillers and made me drink two bottles of water before he left me to sober up. I glanced out at the night sky. Levi’s face flashed through my mind, and I knew he would be pissed I’d cut off his call. I couldn’t have faced another lecture from him.
My thoughts turned to Bernadette again, and I decided I’d wait for the painkillers to kick in. Unfortunately, while I was waiting, I fell asleep again.
Bernadette’s cell phone rang in the distance the next time I woke up. My stomach grumbled as I moved to the edge of the couch and gingerly stood. The suite was in darkness as I padded across the floor but as I reached the bedroom door, Bernadette switched the bedside light on. I managed a weak smile, but one brief glance at the horror-stricken look on her face told me something was drastically wrong.
CHAPTER 61
BERNADETTE
“Hey, there … Carly Finn, reporter, Rolling Stone magazine, Congratulations Mrs. Moonan. Care to give us a comment?”
“Huh?” I croaked huskily, as I sat bolt upright on the bed. At first, I had no idea where I was, then my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the bedroom. My brain felt loose in my head as I glanced toward the window and saw the multi-colored lights twinkle on the strip.
“Care to comment?” the female voice probed. “We’d love a few words for the next edition … or an exclusive if you want to talk to Korry first.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I mumbled through a wave of nausea, as I searched in the dark for the bedside lamp.
“I understand you would have liked a little more private time, but the story is out there now,” she muttered.
“Story? What story,” I replied, seriously confused. My heart raced because this was my professional cell and I figured she had gotten confused about Levi and Trinnie’s engagement.
She laughed. “You and Korry caught us all off guard, well done. None of us saw this one coming. Look, we know you’re in Las Vegas and that you married at the Special Memorial Chapel there last night.”
I scoffed as I found the touch pad on the lamp and the room was bathed in soft lights. My eye caught the ring finger of my left hand and my heart stopped when I saw a Cinderella Disney Princess ring on my finger. Right then, Korry appeared at the door, and I stared at him, feeling horrified. A memory of a wedding chapel floated through my mind, and I cut the call dead.
