The Complete Groupie Trilogy (98 page)

So now, Julian was tired of waiting. She was disgusting with her bloated tummy, but he was too horny to care. He kissed her hard, and then bit her lip as he pushed himself inside her.

“Julian, no, please,” she begged but he was beyond hearing. He grunted as he rode her hard. She didn’t struggle, it was useless and she feared it would endanger her child even more. She did what she always did whenever she was forced to have sex with anyone she didn’t want to – which up until Vanni was just about everyone. From her dad to Julian to all the creepers they tried to con ever since she had hit adolescence, she checked out entirely as they had their way. Her body had long been a vessel she could remove herself from if anything upsetting might be happening to it. No matter how they used her, her spirit rose above it all, to dream of a happier place where she didn’t have to pay her way with her sex – when someone could love her without taking anything away in the process.

Within merciful minutes, he was done. He rolled off to the side. “Not bad for a fat chick,” he said with a sleepy yawn as he slapped her thigh. “Maybe I should give ol’ Andy a go myself.”

He turned his back to Holly and went promptly to sleep.

She held her breath as she felt her tummy. She needed the reassuring kicks from her son. They were slow to come but at last she felt the angry little kick that let her know
the disturbance was unwelcome.

“For you and me, both, kid,” she said
as she caressed her baby bump.

She climbed out of bed and escaped into the bathroom to clean up. As she sat on the toilet she found the paraphernalia on the side of the tub. She was no stranger to the bloody syringe, the spoon and the tie-off he’d left discarded after his one-man party.

She knew in an instant that Leo had provided the heroin. Now that they no longer needed Holly to get Julian into the band, Leo had moved on to controlling the next link in the chain. Just like he did with Vanni, he’d get Julian hooked on drugs again so he could manipulate him like a puppet.

She cursed the day she ever met that man.

When she wiped herself clean she found a pink discoloration on the toilet tissue. Her breath caught and held, wondering if the tell-tale cramps would follow. If Vanni had been there, she could have called to him. He would have run to her, he would have carried her to the bed, called the ambulance, taken care of her and her child. But Vanni wasn’t there. She was by herself yet again, this time in a much nicer bathroom before. Her eyes squeezed shut as she remembered hemorrhaging in the bathtub, her body wracked in painful cramps as she tried not to cry out and arouse Julian. She checked herself again. The discharge, or more likely, Julian’s semen, was still lightly tinged pink but not bloody. She counted every heartbeat as she waited those agonizing minutes that followed. The cramps never came, only a stronger, forceful kick from her son. Then, and only then, did she clean up Julian’s mess and head back to bed.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Los Angeles, California

April 18, 2011

Graham, Vanni and Ivy sat across the large conference table from Donny and Raelynn Wilke and their lawyer, Eleanor Mercer, at the offices of Mercer, Vintner and Spiegel. Eleanor Mercer was known as a legal firebrand in Los Angeles, a defender of the downtrodden against the entitled elite, who had won quite a lot of money for those seeking recompense from those celebrities who had done them wrong. She pounced all over this case months ago after Raelynn’s heartfelt interview right after finding out her daughter Baylee was the nameless prostitute critically wounded in an accident with Giovanni Carnevale.

She had no patience for the womanizing bad boy, who had clearly plucked a desperate girl from the streets to do unspeakable things while he was intoxicated. She glared down her thin nose at him where he sat across from them, quiet and contrite, as instructed by his own lawyer, Ivy, to be.

“If you go with the original offer, we can write you a check today,” Ivy told her. “Five million dollars is more than adequate to pay for the hospital bills and provide a decent living for her relatives to relocate to care for her.”

“Five million dollars ain’t enough to pay what he done to her,” Donny gritted between his teeth. Eleanor held up her hand to silence him.

“You can’t put a price on our daughter,” Raelynn spat.

“But apparently you can,” Vanni muttered, and both Graham and Ivy touched either of his shoulders to silence him.

Donny hopped from his chair, knocking it down behind him. “You shut your fuckin’ mouth or I’ll shut it for ya!”

One of the security guards that had been hired by Graham stepped forward. Donny continued to glare at Vanni, staring down his flared nostrils. His mother touched his arm but he shrugged her off. Finally he picked up the chair and sat.

“What I hear your clients saying is that there isn’t enough money that will satisfy them as a fair judgment,” Ivy began, and once again Donny blew up.

“He didn’t even go to jail! Look at him! He’s sittin’ there in his fancy clothes, perfectly healthy; everything’s been swept under the rug. People don’t even know her name.”

Again Eleanor lifted her finger to silence him. “Baylee is now in what the doctors call a persistent vegetative state. She can open her eyes and breathe unaided, but still requires a feeding tube. As long as she stays in this state she will need constant medical care in a full-care facility. Our concern is if she should ever rouse from this state and start to gain awareness or function. The physical therapy to recuperate would be intensive.” She glanced at Graham. “You are aware at how costly this can be.”

“And what are the chances for recovery, especially after such a long time?” Graham asked.

“No doctor who has examined her has been willing to say this current state is a permanent one. Like a spinal cord injury, it is unpredictable. She may linger on a feeding tube for decades or she may regain full consciousness in a week, month or a year.”

“And we’re not going to take her off a feedin’ tube just to make your life easier,” Raelynn glared at Vanni. “Miracles happen. We pray every day. It’s in God’s hands now.”

“So as you can see, my clients would like the assurance that Baylee is provided for no matter what the circumstance.”

Ivy nodded. “We fully agree. Which is why we’re willing to amend the offer,” Ivy said as she slid a piece of paper across the desk. Ever since Eleanor had withdrawn her first offer, Ivy had been very proactive drafting another, even more generous, proposal. “It allows for such contingencies as, and if, they are needed.”

Instead of giving over a lump sum to an executer like Eleanor Mercer, there were two trust funds, which would earn interest and benefit from investments to provide more income when not in use. One provided life-long care should she remain in a PVS, the other provided any recuperative care should she ever come out of her coma. At the time of her death, what remained from either trust would be liquidated to pay the family.

And it still gave the Wilkes a multi-million dollar payday for pain and suffering, which they could spend however they wanted. It meant signing away eight of his ten million dollar advance from
Fierce
, but as long as Vanni could pay for his new home with Andy and both of his children, he was willing to part with it in order to make up for what had happened with Baylee.

He knew it never could, but he felt better knowing he was offering more than they had originally asked. He wasn’t being forced to do the right thing; he had done the research and crafted the proposal with Ivy himself.

Eleanor looked over the offer, which she folded and put into her briefcase. She turned back to them with a poker face that gave nothing away whether or not she found the offer agreeable. “I will need to present this to my clients, of course.”

“Of course,” Ivy said as she gathered her own briefcase. She rose and shook Eleanor’s hand. “I’m sure we can reach an amicable agreement,” she said.

“As much as one can be reached,” Eleanor responded. “There is still an innocent young woman whose life is forever altered just because she got into a car with the wrong man.”

Vanni opened his mouth to remind the Wilke family that Baylee’s problems started way before she got into his car, otherwise she wouldn’t have been walking the streets in the first place. But Graham grabbed his arm and guided him from the room before he stoked Donny Wilke’s antagonism yet again. It didn’t matter how the events came to be, just that they did. There was plenty of blame to go around, and Vanni rightly should pay for his part in the whole sordid affair.

But Vanni was starting to wonder if it would ever be enough. He said as much to Graham on the way back to the studio. “Did you see the look in that kid’s face?”

Graham nodded. “Yeah. I’ve seen that look before. Right before a gun went off.”

Vanni closed his eyes and rested his head against the seat in the company car. “I’m really starting to worry for the safety of my family,” he finally confessed.

Graham didn’t even bother asking him which one, because he shared these same concerns. Andy had already been caught in the crossfire before. Who would save her if she ever found herself there again?

And with a baby…

Neither man wanted to utter the words they were thinking. And neither man could forget the crazy look in Donny Wilke’s face. Eleanor would surely make them see this offer was much better for them, and unexpectedly generous, but Vanni learned a long time a
go you can’t reason with crazy.

Crazy doesn’t stop until crazy gets what crazy wants.

He knew that Donny Wilke was not interested in money. He wanted to see Vanni pay for what he had done, painfully and completely.

The best Vanni could hope for was keeping his family safe. For the first time since he made the public announcement about Andy and the baby, he was sorry that he pulled them into his spotlight. He vowed he wouldn’t put Holly and their son into harm’s way if he could help it. That secret was out but unofficial – he had to hope that would be enough for now.

He was unusually quiet that evening after he and Andy had returned home. They shared a simple, home-cooked dinner, and he retreated to the patio as she cleaned up. He was staring blindly out at the ocean when she finally joined him a half-hour later.

She crawled onto the hammock right into the crook of his arm. “Is everything okay?” she asked softly.

He pulled her closer. “How could it be anything else?” he asked as he kissed her upturned nose.

“Was it the meeting with the lawyers?”

“No, I told you. They’re just reviewing our offer and they’ll get back with us. Their lawyer played it cool when she saw it, but I think they’ll go for it. How could they not?” She nodded as she wrapped her arm around him. He sighed. “I guess I’m just tense. Everything is in a holding pattern. This case with the Wilkes, and waiting for the show to premiere. Getting into our new house. I’ll feel a lot better when things are more secure.”

She nodded. She understood. She reached up to touch his face with her hand, and the moonlight glinted off her ring. He took
her hand in his and kissed it.

“And after we’re married,” he said as he looked down at her. “Have you thought anymore about a date?”

“I don’t think I can plan a wedding with all this other stuff going on,” she told him. She had tried, but it just seemed more practical to wait. They had more pressing concerns.

“Are you kidding? Kelly’s a born magician. She keeps all these balls going in the air. You can throw her one more.”

“Balls? More like flaming torches. And I don’t pay her enough to throw her one more.” She looked up at him. “Is there a hurry?”

“Call me old-fashioned but I’d like to marry the mother of my child before that child is old enough to ask me why I haven’t.” She giggled. “Besides. How much effort does it take to go down to the JOP and sign some papers?”

“Such a romantic,” she teased. “Better write that down. Sounds like a new hit song for Dreaming in Blue.”

“I’m serious, Andy. Let’s just do it already. What are we waiting for?”

“I don’t ask for much, but I want a proper wedding. With Iris and Jacob and my grandmother.”

“And Graham to give you away?” Her face promptly fell and she tried to struggle out of his arms. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”

“Very,” she said, but she let him pull her back down into his arms. “We’ve walked a really hard road to get where we are, Vanni,” she said as she twirled her finger along his chest. “We deserve something nice, don’t we?”

He hugged her tight. “You deserve the best, babe,” he said as he bent for a kiss.

“I’ve got the best,” she said against his lips.

He forgot about his worries as they made out to the sound of the ocean. In fact he forgot about anything other than the woman in his arms, who knew just where to touch him to make him crazy with desire.

They had enjoyed the second trimester of her pregnancy in many ways, but particularly in the bedroom. Her nausea had abated, and she found herself hungering for him in ways she never had before. Her body was more sensitive, making their lovemaking more intense. And Vanni loved exploring the changes in her body. Her breasts were larger and her hips were more rounded. He especially loved watching her stomach grow from week to week. He would spend hours cuddling with her, his hand spread out over her tummy, feeling their daughter kick and move around in her cozy first home. Vanni had always worshipped her womanly curves, and pregnancy had perfected what he already considered a masterpiece. So every time she reached for him he was a ready and willing lover.