Mr. Rockstar (12 page)

“
Belle, no, don’t do this,” he said, knowing exactly what she meant. Knowing all the things she didn’t say.

“
I have to,” she said, clenching her teeth against the pain.

He touched a finger to her cheek.
“Belle.”

She shook him off.
“I can’t—” She took a shuddering breath. “I have to go home.”

He sat back.
“You’re going to let your fear run your life?”

She glared at him.
“I can’t live like this.”

“
I can’t force you to stay. But I want you to know, Belle, I love you,” he said, voice low. “It’s only been a little while, but I know how I feel.”

A tear ran down her cheek, but she didn
’t bother to wipe it away. She couldn’t say the words back. Wouldn’t. It would hurt even worse to go if she said it, even though in her heart she knew she felt the same.

“
I’ll wait,” Marvin said then, unexpectedly.

“
What do you mean?” Her voice cracked.

He shrugged.
“Love is rare. And it doesn’t just go away. I know my life is not what you want, but if you change your mind, I want you to know that I’ll be waiting for you.”

“
Marvin, no, don’t say that.” Isabelle choked, hand over her mouth. Was he insane? “I want you to be happy.”

He snorted, pain chasing across his face, and her heart broke all over again. In that moment, she hated herself, but Marvin must have seen it, because he touched her cheek again, thumb rubbing over her lips. Soothing her.
She didn’t deserve him.

“
Belle, I love you. I’ll be here.” He kissed her and she began to cry in earnest. He hugged her and then got out of the car. She watched him climb the steps of his fairytale castle, confused and hurting.

Why would he make that kind of promise?

It wasn
’t until her plane left the ground that she figured it out: she might be willing to leave, despite her love, but she had no say over how he felt. It was his choice to love her, regardless of what she said or did.

Free will i
s a bitch.

Chapter Eleven

Five weeks later, autumn was in full swing and Isabelle was miserable. The decaying leaves were a fitting match for her mood as she walked down the block to Fiona
’s house. She’d had to park a little ways down because everyone on the street was raking leaves into a pile in front of their house for community pickup. It was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining. The sky was so blue it hurt her eyes. She kicked at the debris on the ground, wishing more than anything that she wasn’t such a coward.

“
Isabelle, come around back,” Fiona waved from her front porch, then disappeared inside.

Isabelle dropped the hand she
’d lifted in greeting and sighed. Her best friend was kind of pissed at her. Had been ever since she got back from L.A.

At least I don
’t have any more paparazzi following me around,
she muttered as she trudged through the vegetation on Fiona’s front lawn. Her plan to hide out in L.A. didn’t work exactly the way she’d expected, but when she ran home again, the publicity didn’t follow her, either. Inexplicably, the paparazzi had just suddenly disappeared.
Because Marvin told them you weren’t his girlfriend, don’t pretend ignorance, Belle
, she told herself bitterly. Marvin had saved her from thousands of miles away.

When she’d realized what he’d done, she’d had
a bad moment. She’d only been home for a day when she saw him on the news, talking about his breakup with his girlfriend. When he mentioned her name, he looked straight into the camera and contradicted every single thing he’d said to her about waiting. About love. In truth, she had no idea whether he’d lied to her in the car, or if he’d just said those things so the damn media would leave her alone. In the silence of her room at night, she liked to think that he’d done it to give her peace and that he still loved her. She was so damn selfish, she could barely stand herself.

“
Here, you’re going to help me tackle this disaster.” Fiona shoved a rake into her hands the moment she stepped into the backyard. “I had no idea trees were such a pain in the ass. Todd and I should’ve stayed in our apartment. I have blisters on my blisters from raking this shit.”

Isabelle smiled.
“This is why you invited me over? To put me to work? Where is Todd? Shouldn’t he be helping?”

“Todd’s working overtime, which sucks,”
Fiona said. “And besides, you deserve the pain. I still can’t believe you left the rich, handsome, talented, rock star hottie who begged you to stay and be his girlfriend. Clearly you are insane.”

Isabelle sighed and started raking.
“It was like living in a fishbowl. In one week, I had more people take my picture and comment on my weight and job and everything about me than I’d ever had before in my entire life. It was horrible.”

“
He lives in a freaking castle!” Fiona wasn’t listening to Isabelle’s excuses. “You let your fear of people turn you into a coward.”

“
That’s not true.” She raked harder, ripping up the leaves violently.

“
Hey, don’t wreck my lawn,” Fiona said, pointing to the spots where Isabelle’s rake had torn up the grass.

Isabelle stopped altogether.
“Did you ask me to come just so you could yell at me some more? Because you’ve been yelling at me for weeks now.”

“
Because you’re an idiot. Even Todd thinks so and that’s saying something.” Fiona raked more leaves into a huge pile in the center of her yard.

“
We only dated for a week,” Isabelle retorted.

“
Still an idiot,” Fiona sang. “He was perfect for you and you ran because you couldn’t deal with him being famous.”

Isabelle shoved up the sleeves of her jacket and started raking again. What could she say? Fiona was right. Last week she
’d made up her mind to call him, see if he would talk to her, and then she’d discovered that she had an even bigger problem than running away from the man she loved. She bit her lip, wondering how the hell she was going to bring it up.

They raked in silence for a few minutes, then Fiona sighed.
“Look, I didn’t ask you over to yell at you. I actually have some good news.”

Isabelle stopped raking again and rolled her shoulders. All the stress was getting to her. When she looked at her friend, Fiona had a weird little smile on her face that she
’d never seen before. “Good news?” God, she hoped so.

Fiona put a hand on her abdomen and smiled.

Isabelle’s heart started pounding. “Oh my God!”

Fiona nodded, laughing.
“Yup! I’m going to be a mom. You’re going to be an aunt!”

Isabelle dropped the rake and ran over.
“Congratulations!” She hugged Fiona just as the tears started running down her face. When she let go, she couldn’t help it. She started bawling like an idiot.

“
Isabelle? What the hell?” Fiona stood there, bewildered. “I know some people cry when they’re happy, but I get the feeling that’s not what’s happening here.” She pulled her into another quick hug that made Isabelle feel even worse. She didn’t deserve a friend like this.

“
Honey, what’s wrong?” Fiona asked.

Isabelle shook her head and just blurted it out.
“I’m pregnant, too.”

Fiona
’s eyes widened and then she shrieked with delight. “You’re screwing with me, right? Seriously?”

“
I’m not joking. I took three pregnancy tests in a row.” Isabelle was hiccupping now, crying and laughing at the same time. She didn’t know if she was relieved that someone else knew, happy for Fiona, or about to have a nervous breakdown.

“
Holy shit! You’re having Mr. Rockstar’s baby!” Fiona jumped up and down, and then she tackled Isabelle, hugging her so hard she couldn’t breathe. “Our babies are going to grow up together.”

Isabelle sobbed harder.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. I was going to call him, even before I found out, but now he’ll just think I went back because of the baby.”

Fiona shook her.
“You’re going to call Mr. Rockstar and tell him the truth. From what you’ve said, he’s not the kind of guy to jump to conclusions, right?”

Isabelle nodded. Fiona continued.
“Then, you’re going to make him buy you a house about five minutes away from me, and you’re going to shuttle back and forth from here to L.A. like all the rich and famous do. And live happily ever after with him, because you know he loves you.”

Isabelle choked on a laugh.
“That’s all, huh?”

Her friend
’s smile softened. “You have to call him. Didn’t he say he’d wait for you? I mean, wow. Who does that?”

“
I know.” She swallowed, hard. “But I’m so freaking scared, Fiona. I really hurt him.”

Fiona sighed.
“I know, but you gotta do the right thing.”

Isabelle nodded and wiped her face.
“He’s going to hate me. I don’t even know how it happened. We used protection the whole time.”

“
Oh please, condoms? One slip up and
boom
. Insta-baby.”

Isabelle smiled weakly.
“We were careful. I swear.”

Fiona hugged her again.
“Maybe your subconscious knew what you really wanted and sabotaged all your carefulness.”

“
That’s absurd,” Isabelle said, making a face.

Fiona opened her mouth to say something, but then Isabelle
’s cell phone rang. She held up a hand. “Hang on. You can keep yelling at me in a minute.”

Fiona laughed. Isabelle dug her phone out of her pocket.
“It’s Ian,” she told her friend, then swiped her finger across the screen. “Hey, bro. What’s up?”

“
Isabelle,” he said, and immediately she knew something terrible had happened, just from that one word. He never sounded like that.

“
What’s wrong?” she asked, throat closing up. “Are you okay?”

“
It’s Marvin. There’s been an accident.”

Four hours after her brother called, she was on a plane to L.A. The moment her brother told her Marvin was in a coma, she stopped worrying about what anyone thought. All she knew was that she had to get to him, had to tell him she loved him. She didn’t care if people recognized her, didn’t care if anyone followed her or took her picture. None of that was important now.

Her brother had said Marvin was driving home from some store when someone ran a red light and hit the passenger
’s side of the car. All the air-bags deployed, and Marvin seemed fine at first, but then he’d collapsed on the way to the hospital. Just before he lost consciousness, he’d asked for Belle.

The thought that Marvin needed her and she wasn
’t there tore her apart. Sitting on the plane for hours, not knowing his condition was torture. Trying to smile and act like her entire life hadn’t just fractured into a thousand horrible shards was even worse, but as soon as she got off the plane in Los Angeles, she was recognized by the photographers who hung out at LAX. She had to hold it together.

“
God, please let him be okay,” she murmured as she dragged her carry-on down the corridor, ignoring the flashes going off in her face.

“
Isabelle! Are you going to see Vin?” … “Rumor has it you and Vin broke up, is that true?” … “What can you tell us about Vin’s condition?”

“
Belle!” Ian called out to her and she turned toward him, beyond relieved to see him there.

“
Ian, oh my God,” she said and he enveloped her in a hug.

“
We can go directly to the hospital,” he said, eyeing the photographers grimly.

She nodded.
“I’m okay. Don’t worry about them.” She turned him so that the people around them couldn’t see their faces. “Ian, I need to see him.” She brushed her hand over her abdomen, wondering if she should tell her brother about the baby.
No, Marvin deserves to find out first
, she decided. Even if he never woke up… She ruthlessly suppressed that train of thought.
He’s going to wake up and we’re going to live happily ever after
, she told herself, repeating Fiona’s words in her head again.

“
Charlie’s here, with the car.” Ian gestured to the exit. “Give me your bag.”

She handed him the handle, still ignoring the shouts and flashes going off.
“Your incognito status is blown,” she said, smiling slightly.

“
Fuck that,” he said, angry. “I don’t give a shit. The best friend I ever had is in a coma.” He walked her to the car and then Charlie was there, looking like death warmed over.

Isabelle nodded.
“Yeah, I understand.”

Ian dragged her bag over the curb, not replying.

Isabelle sighed, then turned to Charlie. She touched him on the arm as he grabbed her bag from Ian. “Thanks, Charlie.”

He nodded
curtly, obviously upset. “I should have been with him.”

“
It’s not your fault, Charlie. He was just running out for some freaking apples.” Isabelle pulled him into a hug.

“
Yeah, well, tell that to my gut.” Charlie hugged her back and then opened the door for her and Ian. “After you.”

She
knew that nothing she could say right now would make him feel better. The only thing that would help would be if Marvin woke up.

Once they were settled and Charlie eased out into traffic, Ian cleared his throat. “The people at the hospital can’t make any decisions.”

Isabelle frowned.
“They can’t? Why?”

Ian gave her a look.
“He set you up as his next-of-kin.”

Wait, what? Isabelle felt sick.
“He picked me?”

“
Yeah. Marvin had his lawyers do all the legal stuff that makes you the person to decide what they can and can’t do in case of… well, anything.” Ian slumped in the seat and ran his hands through his hair.

She didn
’t know what the hell to say. Or think. Why would he do that? She’d left him. Isabelle put a hand over her mouth, swallowing hard against the nausea roiling her stomach. “Why did he do that?” she asked, struggling to figure it out.

Ian gave her a hard look.
“He told me you’d come back. He believed it. He had me believing it.”

Isabelle stared at her brother.
“He was right,” she whispered, barely able to get the words out.

Ian slid his hand into hers.
“When?”

She sighed.
“I was going to call. Earlier today, actually. I went to Fiona’s to talk to her about it. She’s been telling me all along that I’m an idiot.”

“
You are,” Ian said, half-teasing, half-serious. “But I love you anyway.”

She leaned into him.
“Is he going to be okay?”