The Complete Groupie Trilogy (55 page)

Both took solace in knowing their time together had not come to its end. In fact this was a deeper, more intimate connection than just sharing a bed. They were taking steps to keep each other in one ano
ther’s lives for the long haul.

It was a significant moment. So significant in fact Andy didn’t want to talk to Graham once she returned home. She knew he’d see her shift of allegiance the minute he looked in her tired hazel eyes.

It had been quite a day. She wasn’t the same woman who left the house that morning.

But she knew she couldn’t avoid him either. She tapped on his door a little past mi
dnight, praying he’d be asleep.

“Come in,” he said with a dead tone in his voice.

She slipped into the dimly lit room. “Hey,” was all she could muster.

“So what’s going on?” he asked point blank as
he stared right into her eyes.

She told him as much of the truth as she felt was necessary, omitting of course that she had almost made love to the man he resented right on the desk in his office. She explained about the alcohol, drugs and hookers before going into detail about what the police had told her about what they could expect legally
whether the girl lived or died.

He was frighteningly silent as he listened. No matter how much she talked she wasn’t saying the one thing he wanted or needed to hear. Finally, when she failed to address his unspoken concern, he asked her outright. “So where does that leave you and Vanni?”

She shrugged. “Same as we’ve always been.” It was the honest truth. They loved each other; there was no getting around that. And in some form or fashion they’d always be in each other’s lives, especially if Graham was going to insist on her doing anything more with the band on his behalf.

“You still love him.” It w
as a statement, not a question.

Andy sighed. She couldn’t believe she was having this conversation again in the same day. Frankly, she was over it. “If I were the kind of person who would leave someone in the shape Vanni’s in, after loving him for years, then I wouldn’t be the woman you say you love,” she said. It echoed exactly what she had told Vanni in Philadelphia. “He needs to get clean, you need to get mobile. I’m going to help you both. So you’re both just going to have to get used to it because the very next person who tries to make me choose is going to get my foot up his ass. I’m here because I want to be, Graham. If you really want me to stay away from Vanni then put someone else in charge of taking care of the band. Otherwise you’re just setting me up for failure. So stop punishing me for it.”

He didn’t say much else as she stalked out of his room and slammed the door. It was the first time she’d really stood up to him in months and it felt good. She hated being this co-dependent little mouse that scurried around on eggshells, bouncing back and forth between the men who claimed to love her most.

The whole predicament was a gigantic ball of fucked up. She didn’t have the patience anymore to allow them to make things worse. The way she figured it she had two jobs: get Vanni sober and motivate G
raham to walk.

How she was going to do either, she didn’t know. If only she could clone herself into another Andy, things would be so much simpler. If things kept going on at the rate they were, Graham and Vanni were going to end up splitting her right in two.

Chapter Nine

August 23, 2010. Los Angeles.

Vanni

Leo sat across from Vanni in the private hospital room he now occupied. He was so mad he could have spit nails. They were poised to take the band to a whole other level and this asshole was hell bent to destroy it all. And over what? Some fat bitch who was screwing around with the boss? Had he lost his mind?

“Have you lost your fucking mind, man?”

Vanni closed his eyes. He ached all over, he was painfully sober and no one understood the legal mess he now faced because of his actions more than he did. “You honestly think you’re going to say one thing to me that I haven’t said to myself?”

“Yeah, I do,” Leo retorted. “Why are you getting yourself all tied up to that chick? What could she possibly have that a million other women don’t have? You can’t swing a dead cat in this town and not hit at least five better than her. Certainly hotter than her.”

Vanni sent him a steely glare. “Lay off, Leo. Beat up on me all you want but you leave Andy alone.”

Leo burst out laughing. “Man, you have been so played and you’re too stupid to know it. Where is your precious ‘Andy’ now? I’ll tell you where. She’s in a cushy house in Malibu thinking of ways to cut her losses and dump any liability.”

“You don’t know her,” Vanni i
nsisted but Leo was undeterred.

“She’s a bitch, man. Just like any other bitch. There’s nothing special about any of them. You have to understand something. You’re the big time now. Girls will love you as long as you are a star. But baby, you fucked up. You shot your own career in the foot and guess what… she’s gone!”

Vanni closed his eyes. He didn’t want to hear that. “You’ve said what you wanted to say, Leo. Now get out.”

Leo instead advanced on the bed and glared down at him. “You know why you’re getting pissed off? Because you know down deep that it’s true. The only one who is looking out for your career right now is me. And
I’m telling you that you need to get the fuck away from her. She’s poison. And she’s killing you.” He stalked toward the door, pausing only to say, “Think about it,” before he left the room.

When the door opened again Vanni prayed it would be Andy. He needed to see her again. He needed to erase those angry, hostile words that were now replaying
in a sadistic loop in his head.

Only it wasn’t Andy. It was Holly. She wore a big smile for him as she advanced with a plateful of cookies, but he could read in her eyes that she was shaken by the shape he was in. “Hey, howya feeling?” she said as she placed the plate on the tray. She looked so tiny next to the equ
ipment around his hospital bed.

He gave her a slight smile. “Been better,” he answered honestly. He knew how disappointed she must have been in him. He nearly, and might have, killed someone with his alcohol abuse. The parallel with her father must have been striking.

“I brought you cookies,” she said as she peeled away the aluminum foil. “Chocolate chocolate chip.”

“They look great,” he said as he t
ook one. “You spoil me, Holly.”

She shrugged it off. “I like taking care of people,” she said. “But you have to promise me that you will be more careful. We just got to know each other. I’m not ready to lose you yet.”

He nodded. It was a much more loving rebuke than what Leo had just delivered. “Tell the guys I’m sorry,” he said. He knew he had screwed up so much for the band, and right as her brother had signed on.

“They just want you to get better,” she said as she adjusted the covers around his body. She bestowed him a sunny smile. “We’re not going anywhere.”

He liked the sound of that and told her as much. She fussed over him and made sure that the nurses gave him another shot for the pain. She made a cafeteria run to get him something other than the mundane hospital food to eat and stayed with him all morning. Before she left she planted a kiss on his forehead at his hairline, right where one of the gashes over his eye ended. It lingered longer than he expected. She pulled back with slight quiver to her chin. “You’re not allowed to do this again, Mr. Carnevale,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am,” he
said with a salute and a smile.

He was still thinking of her when Andy finally came in after lunch. She had all the legal documents he had requested and they spent the better part of the afternoon dealing wit
h the immediate matter at hand.

Gwen showed up around four o’clock so they could discuss how they would spin the story for the press. The best story they came up with was that he was still dealing with post traumatic shock from the shooting in Philadelphia. A crazed fan had taken things to a violent extreme, which ended up costing his boss his legs and a relationship with his significant other. Andy ended up being an official girlfriend in past tense only, confirming all the other rumors that had b
een swirling around since June.

It all explained why he had gone downhill fast and taken up company with a prostitute that one fateful afternoon. He was wounded and emotionally distraught, which may help them recover his public ima
ge in the wake of these events.

He wanted to make a comment about how awful he felt about the girl who rode in his car, a nameless girl who hadn’t even had any form of identification on her when they were found. Gwen walked him back from an inadvertent admission of any wrongdoing, especially since charges had yet to be filed.

By the time they left that evening Holly returned, this time bringing a homemade supper that seriously trumped his hospital slop by a wide margin. She once again fussed over him and waited on him hand and foot until they kicked her out at the end of visiting hours.

The next few days worked much the same way. It was on that Friday that Andy’s and Holly’s paths eventually crossed when Andy walked in on Holly sitting behind Vanni on his hospital bed and rubbing his neck.

For some weird reason, though nothing had transpired at all between him and Holly, Vanni felt as though he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t have. “Andy,” he said as he moved away from Holly. “This is Holly Neal. She’s Julian’s sister.”

“Oh,” Andy said, as if that would explain why this girl was rubbing Vanni’s neck. “Nice t
o meet you,” she said formally.

Holly scooted from the bed and rushed over to Andy, whom she greeted by shaking her hand with a big, unashamed smile. “Miss Foster. It’s so nice to finally meet you. I have heard nothing but good things about you.”

Andy shook her hand and nodded, but then looked back at Vanni. “Thank you. Julian’s sister, you say?”

She nodded and took the paperwork Andy was carrying so she could hand it off to Vanni. “Yes. I’ve been hanging out with the band since Julian started rehearsing with them. Vanni and I sort of hit it off and have become friends, so naturally I wanted to come by when I heard what happened.”

“Naturally,” Andy said.

A tense vibe filled the room. Holly, whose perennial good nature seemed to wilt a bit under the strain, was the first to speak. “Looks like you have a lot to discuss,” she said as she motioned to the paperwork. She turned to Vanni. “I’ll come back later.”

He nodded and watched as she grabbed her purse and left the room with one last friendly wave to Andy. “Nice to meet you!”

“You too,” Andy said. Vanni immediately detected a unnatural tone in her voice. She turned back to Vanni. “So. Julian’s sister a candy striper?”

He could tell she was mad. “It’s not like that, Andy. She’s just a friend.”

“Just a friend like I’m just a friend?” she wanted to know. “Or just a friend like Lourdes or Kat just a friend?”

“Andy…” he started with a warning in his voice.

“I mean, either way you can do what you want, I guess. I just didn’t know you had made such a close friend in such a short time. That might have been something you could have brought up over the last few days.”

“Trust me. It’s not what you think. She’s just a friend. Her call, by the way. She doesn’t get involved with musicians.”

Andy took a seat. “Smart girl.”

“She’s just the kind of person who likes to take care of other people. She does it with her brother. She does it with the band. She’s just a nice girl. That’s all.”

“You don’t owe me any explanations, Vanni,” she said. “I’m the ex, remember? And according to some sources you’re better off without my ‘gold digging ass’ anyway.” He looked confused so she handed him the first tabloid, which basically accused her of picking Graham because of his money. The next one accused her of carrying on an affair with Vanni behind Graham’s back because sources had reported she’d been at the hospital every day. It even somehow managed to uncover that she
’d been made power of attorney.

Vanni scowled as he read the headlines, which made him seem like the sympathetic victim in the scenario. “Fucking parasites,” he muttered as he threw them on the floor. “What does Graham say?”

She was surprised by the question. They never talked about Graham after that first day. It was just accepted that she’d stay with Graham while doing everything she could to help Vanni. And Graham was loath to discuss anything after she spouted off to him the night of the accident. “We don’t talk about it,” she finally confessed. “But Maggie tells me he’s throwing significant anger into his PT these days.”

“Maggie?”

“His nurse.”

Vanni nodded. Of course he has a nurse. “I guess I should think about a nurse when they finally spring me from this joint. Provided I don’t go directly to jail.”

That remained the blade over everyone’s heads. The girl was in a coma but she was hanging in there. At this point the likely charges were the DWI and reckless endangerment, so his lawyers were trying to get him rehab and community service rather than jail time. Vanni was scared though he tried his best not to show it.