The Complete Groupie Trilogy (43 page)

“Andy, don’t!” I heard someone scream from behind, and I was fairly certain it was Vanni. Everyone cowered from the bullets that continued to spray whether from the assailant’s gun or from the police who descended immediately upon the scene. But all I could think about was Graham as I pushed him onto
his back to survey the damage.

“Andy,” he whispered as he reached a hand to my face. I sobbed openly as my hand hovered over the nasty wound in his stomach, p
umping blood onto the concrete.

“Shh,” I said as I propped his neck under my arm. “Don’t say
anything. Save your strength.”

“I love you,” he said in stunted speech as his eyelids fluttered, as if he needed to say it just one more time – in case it was his last.

He couldn’t die. That was insanity. Just two seconds ago we were all smiling and happy – and here he was uttering what could be his final words?

And they were to me.

“I love you too,” I said through my tears. “Graham… don’t leave me…”

I felt someone pull at me and I turned to see a panicked Vanni as he tried to get me away from the scene. “Andy, come on!”

“NO!” I screamed. I wasn’t going to leave Graham. He had lunged in front of me and taken the bullet that was meant for me. There was no way I’d let him bleed to death and die alone. I wasn’t about to let him die, period. “Graham, stay with me,” I said as I pressed my hand against his wound. I didn’t know if it would help but I wanted to stop the bleeding.

The wail of the sirens grew nearer. Salvation was just minutes away. “Graham, please. Don’t close your eyes. Stay with me. Graham!” I screamed and his eyes fluttered closed. “I love you! Stay with me!”

I felt Vanni’s strong arms circle my waist as he tried to pull me away from an unconscious Graham. I fought and kicked but he was too strong and picked me up effortlessly and dragged me away.

With another loud shot and a blood curdling scream, it was all over.

I slumped into Vanni’s arms and slipped away into darkness.

Philadelphia – June 17, 2010

The nurse came in to check my vitals. She gave me a reassuring smile, but would not answer any questions I had about Vanni or Graham. She patted me on the arm and said she’d get the doctor, and told me to try and rest.

I was half tempted to rip the IV out of my arm and take off the other wires that were hooked up to the machines, but truthfully I could barely move. When Graham had fallen on me it had felt like a brick wall came down. I already knew I had been injured in some way, although I knew by now none of
that was from a gunshot wound.

But it didn’t matter, I thought as tears welled up in my eyes. I might as well have been shot with how hollow I felt inside. Graham Baxter was perhaps the kindest man I had ever known, who had always looked out for my best interest to the point he was willing to step in front of a bullet f
or me.

And I had done nothing but hurt him. Our whole relationship had been a series of my either using him or running to him to help another man. He had done nothing but love me, and already I had disappointed him, teased him, betrayed him, broken his heart and now… possibly killed him.

I might as well have fired the gun myself.

The doctor finally entered a few minutes into my pity party, and he too offered me a reassuring smile. He explained that I did have a broken rib from the impact of my fall with Graham, but aside from some internal bruising I was very lucky to walk away from the in
cident as injury free as I did.

“And what about Graham?” I asked. “The one who was shot?”

He sighed as he perched on the bed. “The situation is still critical,” he said. The entry of the bullet went into his spine, and they’ve taken him into surgery to help control the bleeding and remove the bullet, if possible.”

“Will he be okay?” I asked.

“The first few days are critical,” he repeated. “Your friend has lost a lot of blood.” He patted my leg. “We’re doing everything we can, Miss Foster. Meanwhile you do what you can to get better.”

I nodded. “And Vanni?”

The doctor smiled even wider. “If you mean that long haired man sitting outside in the waiting room, he’s fine. Except he’s worried sick about you. But I think that’s one problem we can easily remedy.”

He departed and a minute later Vanni rushed in. He was still covered in blood, Graham’s blood I thought to myself with a lump in my throat. He knelt by the gurney and took my hand in his. I could tell he’d been crying. “Oh Andy,” he said. “I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.”

I shook my head. “Don’t apologize,” I said softly as I touched his hair. I felt like I should apologize for trying to stay with Graham and proclaiming my love for him, but I couldn’t form the words.

Truth was I did love Graham, and I didn’t regret a thing I said to him. Especially if it was the last thing he ever heard, which it very well could have been.

“It was Talia,” he said. “Despite everything we did she showed up anyway. I can’t believe she nearly killed you.”

I closed my eyes and leaned back on the bed. “Where is she now?”

“They shot her. She’s dead. It’s over,” he said as he took me into his arms.

But the damage was far from over. Even though Vanni and I were okay, Graham stayed in surgery for 12 hours as the doctors tried to repair as much of his spine as they could. When it was over they couldn’t promise us anything. He may never walk again if he woke up, and waking up itself was iffy.

They released me the following day, after observation, but Vanni and I both decided to stay at the hospital. We waited in the ICU waiting room sitting side by side and silent. Both of us felt enormously guilty about Graham’s condition, and it was driving a definite wedge between us.

He didn’t ask me about my proclamations of love, even though I knew damned well he had heard it. Instead we said nothing and let the weight of our guilt and uncertainty hover over our he
ads like the sword of Damocles.

He brought me tea and food, because I steadfastly refused to leave the waiting room until we knew Graham had awakened. As such Vanni wasn’t leaving me anymore than I was leaving Graham. He took care of all the rescheduling of the tour, and sent the guys home to wait for new
s of when it would resume.

The tabloids had a field day, and actually uncovered what we had not been able to previously. This included the mysterious, and now questionable, death of Talia’s husband, who had gotten mysteriously sick and lingered for months
until he finally died.

The court ordered an exhumation, but the tabloids seemed fairly convinced they’d find she was slowly poisoning him to both get rid of him and get her hands on his insurance money. It was the kind of thing gossip rags jonesed for, and with this headline making stuff they had hit pay dirt.

Los Angeles authorities re-opened Tawnie’s suicide when her hotel roommate from the event that had found the body said that Tawnie and Talia had quarreled several times over the fan weekend. This included the day she ended up taking her life.

Now that we could all see how deeply disturbed she was, we could easily tie the missing pieces together in retrospect, but it was too little, too late for way too many.

By the third day Graham finally started to come to. He called for me so the nurses allowed me into the room, alone, to be with him.

He was drugged and in pain, but when he opened those beautiful warm brown eyes I cried in relief. “Andy,” he croaked. “You’re here.”

“Where else would I be, silly?” I said softly as he leaned forward to kiss his forehead. I took his hand in mine and he squeezed it gently, which for some reason made giddy with hope. Possibly because it was tangible proof he was strong enough to hang on for dear life. I was so thankful I brought his hand to my mouth and kissed it.

“Don’t leave,” he managed before his eyes fluttered shut again. I sobbed quietly
as I clasped his hand in mine.

“I won’t,” I promised. To Graham. To myself… and even to God.

I’d do anything to make sure he would recover.

Days later we learned that recovery from injuries like the one Graham sustained were highly unpredictable. He may be paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life, or he may walk again after extensive therapy. With the bullet removed and the spinal cord repaired as much as possible, it was all up to Graham and to luck.

He’d start his recovery at the hospital in Philadelphia, and would eventually go back to Los Angeles in need of long-term, live-in care. Graham’s eyes met mine when the doctor asked if there was anyone who could stay with him, and it was a pleading look I could not deny. I went to him and took his hand in mine.

“I’ll be there,” I said softly, and looked down at Graham. “However long it takes.” Graham smiled at me and cover
ed my hand with his other hand.

I didn’t even look back at Vanni, who had been standing next to me as we listened to the doctor’s prognosis. I knew how bad this looked, but I couldn’t help that. Graham needed me and I was going to be there. And by God he would walk again if I had anything to say about it.

Vanni was silent after we left the room, and didn’t really say anything much at all as we rode back to the hotel. My own mind was reeling with all the things that had to be done to get my house closed up in Nashville, to make the trip out west. I’d stay with Graham, of course, in the guest room like before. That way I could be close whenever he needed me.

When we closed the hotel room door behind us, Vanni wordlessly pulled out his suitcase and set it on
the bed.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Packing,” he replied. “I’m going back to Los Angeles. I have a tour to finish. You’re obviously going to have your hands full here.”

“Vanni…”

He swung on me and flung something my direction. “I guess you won’t need that anymore.”

I glanced down at the floor. It was a house key. “What is this for?”

“My new place,” he said as he turned back to his suitcase. “I was going to ask you to move in with me but I guess you’re going to have a much nicer house on the beach when you get to L.A.”

I reached for his arm. “Vanni…”

“We almost made it,” he said without looking at me.

“You’re talking like it’s over. It isn’t over, Vanni.”

“It isn’t?” he challenged as he looked my way. “What if Graham never recovers?”

“Don’t say that.”

“But it’s a real possibility, isn’t it? And yet you still chose to go with him. However long it takes,” he reminded with a snarl.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I snapped as I sprung off the bed. My furor was only matched by my fear, that he could really be ready to leave me over this. “Where do you get off being mad at me for trying to take
care of someone? Are you forgetting all the times I had to wait in line for you for no other reason than your precious image?”

He didn’t care much for the comparison. “This isn’t some random guy. This is a guy who has my entire career in his hands. If you think we can just pick up and carry on in Los Angeles then you’re deluding yourself. This is different and you know it.”

“No, I don’t know it,” I said. “It seems to me you think you can just keep me on the chain whenever it’s convenient and I’m supposed to dump everything and everyone whenever you decide to crook your little finger. You really are an arrogant son of a bitch sometimes.”

He glared at me. “You know that Lourdes wasn’t a real relationship, and I couldn’t help I fell in love with Kat. It’s not like you’re in love with Graham.” I said nothing which made him pause. “Are you?”

“He doesn’t have anyone else!” I tried to explain. Certainly not anyone he loved enough to nearly die for.

“He’s got money. He could hire people to care for him. Why does it have to be you?”

I sighed as I flopped on the bed. “It just does,” I said softly. “Graham took the bullet that was meant for me. If he hadn’t… I’d be the one who would need to learn how to walk again, and I know that Graham would take care of me if the situation had been reversed.”

Vanni swung around. “And you don’t think I would have, is that it?”

I looked up at where he stood towering over me. It took me a long time to answer, and when I did, I did so quietly. “I don’t think you could.”

Vanni said nothing for a long moment, and I could tell by his clenching jaw I had broken something in him.

“I guess that’s it then,” he said through clenched teeth. His eyes were rimmed red with unshed tears. He stooped and retrieved his key.

“I still love you,” I said as I reached for him, but he spun out of my grasp. I watched helplessly as he finished packing and zipped his case shut. “Vanni, please!”

When he looked back at me there were tears on his cheeks. “See you in L.A.,” he said softly. “Boss.”

He stomped from the hotel room. My whole body felt numb and hollow as I glanced down at the bracelet on my wrist, a haunti
ng reminder of what almost was.

All I could do was pray that I would be able to fix everything when I got out to Los Angeles. Once I got Graham mobile and independent again, I could prove to Vanni that I wouldn’t be the woman he loved if I could walk out on the man who saved me, and that same woman was ready to fight just as hard to win him back as well.