My Rock #8 (The Rock Star Romance Series - Book #8) (4 page)

“What did Hugh have to say?” I asked, not really
caring.

“He said that Jake told Tristan he needed to have a
bunch of songs written and approved by the end of the tour or he wouldn’t get
his money and his deal. Then, he told him they were due three at a time every
month from now on and the deadline for the first three was today.”

“Shit, I didn’t know.”

“Hugh says that it’s in the contract, but the
contestants usually miss that part. Do you ever wonder why after the tour, you
never hear of the winners again? They do this to them and they get out of
paying the final prize.”

“Oh my God!
What a bunch of shit!”

“Yeah, I was really disappointed in the people I
work for when I heard that.”

“But is it true? Why would Hugh tell you all of
that?”

Hannah’s face turned red and I knew before she said,
“He and I are kind of…seeing each other.”

“Oh, Hannah!
That’s great!”

She smiled, still shyly and said, “Yeah, it is. He’s
a good guy and he’s looking for another job, too. Once he found that out, he
was really disillusioned.”

“I can see why. Even if I wasn’t…If I didn’t…well,
you know, if I wasn’t involved with Tristan, I’d be upset to know that.”

“Is that all it is with you and Tristan?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you just ‘involved’?

I shrugged and said, “We haven’t really talked about
anything more…”

“How do you feel, though, Elly?”

It sounded strange when I said it out loud, but if I
trusted anyone here, it was Hannah… “I think I’m in love with him,” I told her.

Hannah reached over and squeezed my hand. “I can see
that when I look at your face. You know what else? I can see it in his when he
looks at you, too.”

“No, Tristan’s not the love type. He’s dependent on
me.”

“Elly, stop it! You never give yourself enough
credit. Tristan is gorgeous. He could get any woman. He could have a rich woman
taking care of him and paying all of his bills if that’s what he wanted. He
wants you…and you and I make the same thing, so I know it’s not for your
money.”

I laughed and squeezed her hand back. “Thank you,
Hannah.”

“Just remember, Elly, a temporary job does not even
compare to a lifetime of love.”

I nodded. She was right about that; but did Tristan
feel the same?

Hannah left me alone to think about it all while she
went back to help break down the show. I had to decide what to do soon or
Tristan would be gone and I’d be on this bus on my way to the next town. I knew
one person that would always give it to me straight, so I called her.

“Hi, Mom.
I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“No, of course not, honey. I was reading and your
father is watching his program. Are you okay? You sound upset.”

“Tristan quit the tour tonight.”

“Oh my goodness!
Why?”

“I guess there’s a clause in the contract that he
didn’t know about; it more or less gives the producers the right to go back on
giving him his money and his record deal when this is all over.”

“Are you kidding? That can’t be legal, can it?”

“I don’t know. Someone who does know says they build
it into part of the contract that the contestants don’t really read…or maybe
just not understand. So I guess when they sign it, it becomes legal.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry for him. But he quit? What’s he
going to do?”

“I was so mad at him, Mom. I didn’t really give him
a chance to explain. I didn’t know all of this and he wasn’t the one who told
me he quit. That made me really angry and hurt. We just argued.”

Mom sighed. “That’s understandable. I’m sure he’s
really upset, and I can see where it would hurt you for him to not discuss it
with you. When you both cool down, you need to sit back down and talk about it
rationally.”

“I think he’s leaving for L.A. This tour is another
six months long. By the time I get back, I’m afraid there won’t be anything
left to talk about.”

“Then go find him now.”

I hesitated. “Should I, mom?”

“Elly, how do you feel in your heart? Are you in
love with him?”

“I think so.”

“Does he love you too?”

“I’m not sure…”

“Go find him and tell him how you feel. If he feels
the same, he’ll tell you. If he doesn’t, then what have you lost—a modicum of
pride?
Big deal.
If he feels the same, do you want to
risk a future with the man you love for another six months on tour with people
who would swindle young artists and use them for their talent?”

“No…I don’t want to lose him, Mom.”

“Then go tell him so.”

“Thanks. I love you.”

“I love you to the moon!”

I hung up, grabbed my purse and my backpack, and hoped
he hadn’t left yet. If he
was
gone, I’d find him. Mom
was right, I had to tell him, whether he felt the same way or not.

CHAPTER
EIGHT

TRISTAN

I went out towards the front lot, but before I got
there, I saw the two security officers who traveled with us. They were the same
ones who had dragged Brooke kicking and screaming out of my bus that night.

“Tristan!
You don’t want to go out there, man.” The bigger guard looked at me with
concern.

“Why? I’m trying to get a cab out of here.”

“You won’t get one out there. You’ll get mobbed,
man. This is one pissed off audience and half of them are still milling around
out front.” The big guy told me this while the smaller guy looked on.

When his partner finished talking, the little one
said, “What the heck happened, Tristan? Are you really walking out?”

Shit! “Yeah, I am. But it’s not the way they make it
sound. They didn’t really give me a choice.”

The big guy put his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, I
worked the last two tours. I’m assuming you found out that prize was not a done
deal like you thought?”

“Exactly!
How did you know that?”

“You’re not the first one they did it to. I heard
they paid the last one about a quarter of a million dollars not to go to the press
about it. The first guy, he just kind of faded into the sunset. It was sad.”

“Bastards!”

“Wow!” the little guy said. “I had no idea.”

“No one does. Everyone thinks this fucking show is
changing lives. It’s just making people like Jake richer,” I said.

“That sucks, man,” the smaller guy said. He looked
at his partner then and said, “I’m
gonna
take him
around to the back street in the car.”

The big guy nodded at him and then turned to me and
put out his meaty palm. I shook it and he said, “Good luck, Tristan. You’re a
talented guy. You deserve good things.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that,” I told him. I followed
the smaller guy to their security car and he drove me one street over. There
was no crowd there and I was able to catch a cab right away. It was good to be
reminded that there were still some people in the world who gave a shit.

On the way to the airport, I started thinking about
Elly again. I finally had to shove those thoughts down and replace them with
something else. I was trying to stay pissed at her because as soon as I stopped
being pissed, it was going to feel like pain. I hated that shit. Instead, I
thought about that other producer. I was glad I hadn’t given Jake any of my
songs because now I could use them for this record deal.

CHAPTER
NINE

ELLY

I went to find Jake first. I found Tony packing up
the office instead. “I need to find Jake,” I told him.

“He’s already on a plane, Elly. He had to go back to
L.A. He’ll meet up with us again in Florida.”

“That won’t work for me. I guess I’ll have to let
you know, Tony. I quit.”

“Excuse me? You can’t just walk out in the middle of
the tour.”

“Yes, I can.”

Tony puffed out his flabby little chest and said,
“You could be sued for breach of contract for that.”

I smiled. I was really sick of getting pushed around
and Tony had just pushed my last button. “You tell your hero Jake that if it
even crosses his mind to sue me or tries to be detrimental to my career in any
way, I go to every major magazine and newspaper in L.A. and tell them about his
practices
with the young interns on
the tour. I’m sure they’ll eat it up. I’m sure I can get a lot of the other
girls to come forward…and I’m sure his wife will love to hear it.”

Tony looked like he couldn’t think of what to say to
that. I was glad. He was a little prick and I didn’t care to hear what he had
to say anyways. I walked out while he was still gaping. I headed for his bus
and ran into one of the back lot security guys on my way.

“Hi, Elly!
How are you this evening?”

I smiled at him. He was a nice guy. He’s the one
that dragged Brooke out of Tristan’s bus and got the security tapes so he could
prove to me what happened. I appreciated that a lot. “My night has kind of
sucked a little, but it’s going to get better, I’m sure. I’m on my way to see
Tristan.” I could tell by the way his expression changed that he wasn’t looking
forward to being the one to tell me what came next.

“Elly, he’s gone.”

“Gone?”

“My partner just took him to catch a cab to the
airport. Here he comes now.” I looked in the direction he was looking. The
security car was approaching us. Tristan wasn’t inside.

“Damn! How far is the airport?”

“I think we’re about a half hour away.”

The smaller guy got out of the car and the big one
said, “We have about an hour before we pull out of here. Do you want a ride?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’m a romantic believe it or not.”

I laughed and said, “I believe it. Yes, I’d love a
ride, thanks.”

The two security officers talked for a few minutes
and then the big one said, “Okay, Elly, let’s go catch a guy at the airport.
This is just like a movie.” He made me laugh. To look at the guy you would
never guess he had a romantic bone in his body.

“Let’s go,” I told him with a grin. On the way to
the airport I thought about all that had happened that night. I couldn’t
believe I quit my job like that. I wasn’t really worried about it. I was sure
if I looked hard enough, I’d be able to find something else when we got back. I
was also sure that I needed to do this. If I didn’t go after him and tell him
how I felt, I was going to regret it.

We got to the George Bush Intercontinental Airport
in about twenty minutes. The big guy was pushing the speed limit, but I was
grateful. When we got there, I gave him a hug and thanked him. He wished me
luck. The airport was not quite as big as LAX but there were still a lot of
people there. I went from terminal to terminal looking for him. I was praying the
whole time that he hadn’t gotten lucky and found a flight that was leaving
right away. So far the only ones were to L.A. I’d seen were not leaving for
hours, so he shouldn’t be through security already. My stomach was in knots and
I was sweating. I told myself if I didn’t catch him there, I could find him
when we got home. I mean, where was he going to go? I knew he didn’t have much
money and he didn’t have his own place. As I was having that thought, I saw
him. He had his back to me and he was walking up to the United Airlines ticket
counter. I called out his name, but he didn’t turn around; it was loud in there
and I doubted he heard me.

I hurried across the room, covering the ten or
twelve feet between us in seconds. When I got close to him I touched him on the
shoulder. I held my breath then, unsure how he was going to react and feeling
like a weight was sitting on my chest. When he turned around and realized it
was me, he grinned. The weight on my chest was lifted and I could finally
breathe.

“Hi,” was all I could think of to say.

“Hi,” he said, still grinning. “
You
going
my way?”

I shrugged, “I was thinking about it.”

“Don’t you have a job here?”

“I quit,” I told him.

“Funny, I quit my job today too.”

“I heard. I’m sorry that I didn’t hear you out. They’re
bastards; I don’t want to work for people like that.”

He started to say something but I was overwhelmed
with the need to kiss him suddenly. I leaned in and pressed my lips to his. He
dropped his duffle bag and put his arm around me, pulling me in closer. We
kissed, passionately, like no one was watching.

When we came up for air, I said, “We’ve been through
a lot in the time we’ve known each other. I think we handle things better
together than we do apart.” I was trying to tell him that I loved him, but it
was stuck in my throat. I was so afraid that he wouldn’t want to hear it.