The Complete Groupie Trilogy (27 page)

I laughed. “I’m not sure I’m at any level. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time.” Vanni’s words still rung in my ears, but I tried not to let it show on my face. “In this business it’s all about who you know.”

“I think that’s true in any business,” he commented. “But in any case, it’s nice to meet you.” He tipped his head in my direction with a smile. “So are you going to the concert tonight?”

I looked away. “I hadn’t planned on it,” I mentioned casually. I could always get into the venue since I still had my press pass. But it seemed pointless now. Just an exercise in futility. Or torture.

“Well,” he leaned forward. “Thing is I have an extra ticket. I had invited a friend in the city but she can’t make it. And I hate to go alone. I’d be honored if you went with me.” I grimaced slightly. “Fir
st row,” he added with a smile.

I sat back against the chair and gave the matter legitimate thought. First row, huh? That would make it very easy to leave with a little pride intact – I could show Vanni that two could play his game. I wasn’t going to pine over him if I had a good looking date, and he’d already accused me of worse with Graham. No grass was going to grow under my feet just because some self-important
rock star had a wandering eye.

Let him play around with his little dancer. I had no problem showing him exactly what he was missing.

“Sure,” I said finally.

I spent the afternoon shopping. For someone who used to wear five different pieces of clothing ten different ways, I was quickly becoming a fashionista. I thought about going sexy Goth again but that was so yesterday. Instead I went a little more high class. I wore an azure blue asymmetric top with a rhinestone-beaded strap on the side, and the polyester/spandex dipped low to provide just a hint of cleavage. The top was banded at the bottom, so I finished off the outfit with black dress slacks and black lace peep toe booties. I didn’t know where I’d put this on the way back home, or even where I’d wear it again, but if this was going to be my last DIB concert
I was going to go out in style.

I went easy on the makeup, not the caked Goth look I had opted for before, and finished the look with a shimmery, glittery all over
powder that smelled of verbena.

It briefly occurred to me how shitty it was to dress for one man while going on a date with another, but using a spare ticket to a concert with a guy I just met c
ould hardly be called a “date.”

It was convenient. That was all.

I wasn’t so sure my “date” felt the same way. When I met up with him in the lobby he was visibly impressed with the kind of trouble I had gone to. “You look amazing,” he said. “I’m beginning to think lingering over breakfast was the luckiest thing I’ve done this whole trip.”

“Th
ank you,” I offered graciously.

He looked at his watch. “We have a bit yet. Would you like to get a drink at the bar before we go?”

“I’d love to,” I breathed in relief. I needed something to calm my nerves. I didn’t say much as I slugged back straight whiskey. Off his look I commented, “Tennessee girl,” with a smile. And then ordered another one.

He laughed and ordered likewise. Neither of us felt any pain by the time we got to the concert. I followed him to our spot right in the first row. Despite the whiskey my hands shook as I sat in my seat and wiped my sweaty hands on my pants. I thought my heart would beat a hole through my chest as we waited for the show to start. Each moment was agonizingly long, and the closer it came to show time the more convinced I became this was a really bad idea.

Who was I kidding? He wouldn’t care if I was there with the top ten most eligible bachelors in Hollywood. He’d already made up his mind about me.

I was just a groupie.

My blood burned to think about it. I glanced over at Galen, who was just a normal guy like any other. Another fan, even.

If this is where Vanni thought I belonged, at the bottom of the ladder with all the other normal people, then this is what he would get. I grinned at Galen as the lights went down.

I might have imagined it but Vanni exploded onto the stage with even more force than usual. He launched right into his harder material at the onset, almost like he was trying to get out some of his aggression from our night before.

This theory seemed even more feasible after the way his face hardened w
hen he saw me in the front row.

I leaned toward my date and threaded my arm in Galen’s. It was horrible to do, I knew, but I was rewarded by the anger in Vanni’s face before he spun around and stalked to the other edge of the stage… where Talia sat.

It became sort of a game of chicken throughout the set. He would get more sexually demonstrative with Kat or with his fans, and I would snuggle more with Galen – who either couldn’t get a handle on my behavior or thought he had just scored with a woman way more promiscuous than I was earlier that afternoon.

When Vanni came out into the first row to sing my song, I held my breath as he made his way down the line. This time he touched each girl’s face, held her hand, kissed
her fingers and then moved on.

He paused in front of me, and I nearly shattered like glass when he cupped the back of my head and tugged possessively at my hair. His eyes were deep and unreadable. “
I can’t promise more than this moment, girl, but please don’t give up on me.”
He brought my fingertips to his lips for a moment, and then moved on to the girl to my right. He didn’t spare me another glance, but his well-timed innuendo was enough to throw my whole heart back into chaos.

What was he doing to me? Was it fun for him to keep me on the line like this? How could he look me in the eye, know how deeply I’ve fallen, and try to push me further still?

What was I trying to prove by coming to the concert? No matter who I dated after Vanni, they would all would pale in comparison.

He was stitched so deeply in my heart I didn’t know how to breathe without him

And that was the real reason I came. I could call it revenge but the God’s honest truth was I needed to see him, to have him touch me… to sing to me words that he may have meant or not.

I needed the illusion as much as he did.

He ended the concert by allowing women to jump up on stage and dance to a new song, aptly titled, “Show Me Your Moves.” Written for a dancer, no doubt.

I stayed on the floor and watched the action, which seemed to further sour Vanni’s mood. He ground against eager groupies who were delirious this kind of close contact was part of the show. That included Talia, who grabbed both his ass cheeks in her hands and guided his hips against her own.

I was livid. It was one thing to punish me but what he was doing to a possibly disturbed individual just to feed his ego was over the line. I stalked out before the song was over. Galen chased after me uncertainly.

“Andy?” he called as he ran behind me in the street. “Andy!”

I stopped and turned toward him with tears streaming down my face.

“What’s going on?” he wanted
to know as he caught up to me.

I shook my head. How could I tell him? Where would I begin?

Thunder rumbled overhead and lightning crackled throughout the sky. Galen took charge of the situation and guided me the remaining blocks to the hotel.

Instead of going to the M&G, he led me back into the bar. I slid into a dark booth in the back while he ordered our drinks.

“I get the feeling I don’t know everything,” he said as he slid in next to me.

I didn’t say anything. When the drinks came I killed mine and his too. He ordered more and waited. Another two gone and I finally slurred that he s
hould go to the M&G without me.

“I’m not leaving you here like this,” he stated. “We don’t have to talk but you shouldn’t be alone.”

Another two drinks… doubles at that. By then I was teetering right off the cliff of tipsy toward the canyon of intoxication. But nothing seemed to dull the exquisite ache that had taken hold of my heart. I kept waiting for the buzz, the high, the liftoff that would take me away from my sad and bitter reality and land me somewhere else entirely.

Galen waited patiently as my moods went from zero to sixty, right along with my blood alcohol level, trying to process my kaleidoscope of emotions. At first it was anger. After about the fifth expletive, Galen finally asked, “Are you mad at Giovanni? Has he done something to you personally?”

“More like what he hasn’t done,” I’d answer cryptically before depression would suddenly set in. “It’s all my fault,” I’d conclude in a wail.

“What’s your fault, Andy? I don’t understand.”

Then we circled back to anger. “After all I did to help him, to help all of them. Especially after Lourdes.”

“Lourdes?” Galen asked. “The supermodel? Is it because she’s pregnant?”

I shook my head. These were my secrets still to keep, weren’t they? Then I thought of Vanni and Kat in Central Park, and I realized my spot had been effectively cut out of the inner circle. Why did I have to give a damn anymore? I was just a groupie who made the unfortunate miscalculation of thinking I was closer than I really was, right?

Finally I nodded the affirmative to his question. He nodded as if he understood and slid closer to me in the booth. “I can understand why you’d be mad at him. It takes a special kind of lowlife to leave a woman pregnant.”

I thought of Jasper. “Yes, it would,” I muttered bitterly. “Especially just to protect his investment.”

Galen’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean? What investment?”

My head felt submerged underwater. How many drinks I had by that point? I suddenly lost count. “I should go…”

As I stood I made that realization most of those who have overindulged have made: gravity is not our friend. Galen was q
uick to catch me as I crumbled.

“Come on. Let’s get up to your room.”

I shook my head. “I hardly know you. I need Vanni…”

“Vanni’s not here,” I heard him say from somewhere deep inside
my own head.

Truer words were never spoken. Vanni wasn’t there, and wouldn’t likely be there again. I fought back more damnable tears and tried to remind myself of what it felt like to see Kat and Vanni together, to know that despite his pretty words I was nothing more than a number – someone who served his purposes while he chased me but lost her luster w
henever things got too serious.

He may have believed that San Francisco was staged to capture him, but finding out about the pregnancy scare would have been a lot more convenient for our rela
tionship had he not been there.

Worse, I can’t be entirely sure I didn’t say as much to Galen as w
e stumbled toward the elevator.

I leaned heavily on him as we staggered in, and I think I may have given him my room number because he was instantly in charge of half-carrying me to my room
from the moment the doors shut.

I was on the bed as soon as the door closed behind Galen for no other reason than it was the only way
to stop the room from spinning.

Galen emerged from the bathroom with a cool towel. I wondered how he could be so sober.
Oh that’s right
, I thought to myself.
I stole all his drinks
.

He perched on the side of the bed and gently wiped my brow with the compress. “Tell me
about Lourdes,” he said softly.

I shook my head. “It’s a secret,” I think I may have said out loud.

“It’ll do you good,” he reasoned. “Did you know about the baby when you started dating Vanni?”

I shook my head. Then I nodded. It was hard to say, considering Vanni and I never truly “dated.”

“Let’s go back to the beginning,” he said. “When did you find out about the baby?”

“Vegas,” I murmured.

“When was that?” he asked.

I shook my head. Who could remember? It felt like a lifetime ago. “My head hurts,” I tried to explain, but Galen pressed on.

“Did Vanni send her back to South America? Or did she go on her own?”

I shook my head again. Why was he asking me all these questions I couldn’t answer? I closed my eyes to shut out the light that was suddenly too bright for me. “I need you to go,” I murmured as I turned my back to him.

He bent closer. “Not yet, Andy. Let’s talk some more.” He rubbed my shoulders slightly. “What does Vanni plan to do about the baby?”

“Nothing,” I slurred. Then, finally, “It’s not his baby.”

The next thing I knew it was morning, at least according to the clock sitting on the nightstand in my hotel room. I was still fully dressed, with a blanket tucked around me. I sat up suddenly, only to be rewarded with a pounding, monstrous headache. There was no sign of Galen, for which I was mostly relieved. I never invited strange men up to my hotel room, especially in the kind of state I was in. That I wasn’t naked and robbed (or missing a kidney or two) was a miracle.

I realized that my cell phone was ringing persistently, and that must have been what finally roused me. My eyes focused on the number on the caller ID. It was Jacob.