April, Dani - Superstar (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (27 page)

Scott walked behind Chrissie and his brothers and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. Although, he sensed that he was not dressed expensive enough for an establishment like this. Chrissie was rushing ahead, drawn to the crowd and the noise of the nightclub like a magnet.

“Hey, look, that’s Chrissie Murphy!” Someone in the crowd spotted her the second she stepped up onto the curb. Immediately, the flashes from the paparazzi cameras started going off with Chrissie in the bull’s-eye.

Chrissie smiled for them and waved to everyone. The crowd around them got bigger, and the three brothers started to lose their place next to Chrissie as more people crowded them from every side. Then Chrissie spotted a group of people she evidently knew and ran off to hug them. When she was away with the other group, more club-goers who knew her came up to inquire about her well-being. It seemed everyone at this place knew Chrissie Murphy, and she knew everyone.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you gentlemen to go to the back of the line.” This was a club bouncer who had approached them. All three of the brothers were large and well-built men, but this guy was so big he even towered over Ethan.

“Well, we just got here,” Brad told the bouncer.

“I’m sorry. Please, sir…” The bouncer motioned to the end of the line which was about a block down the street by this time.

The brothers looked at each other. There wasn’t much they could do or any arguments they could make with this man. They would have to go.

Then Chrissie was there at their side. “It’s all right, Marcel. They’re with me,” she told him.

“Miss Murphy…” The bouncer took on a deferential tone. Then he looked over at the brothers. “I apologize, gentlemen. Please proceed.”

Chrissie laughed and hooked her arms with Ethan and Brad. “Sorry, guys. You ready to have a good time? Come on. Let’s go.”

The inside of the club was loud and over-the-top spectacular. It was dark with flashing lights and packed to the gills. Scott couldn’t even hear himself think with the blaring dance music playing and hardly had room to move in the crush of people.

Scott had to struggle to keep up with Chrissie and his brothers as he brought up the rear. He realized if he got separated from them he would probably find himself kicked out on the street within a few minutes.

My God, this place is a million miles from our secluded little cabin up in the mountains.

“Back here, guys,” Chrissie told them. “Follow me.”

“You mean there’s more to this place?”

“Yes. The front part is just for ordinary people. We don’t have to party out here. The private room in back is for us.”

Two more bouncers were standing in front of a door in the back covered by a velvet curtain. Chrissie gave them each a pretty smile, and they pulled back the curtains for them to enter.

“Order anything you want,” she told them. “I have a running tab here, and tonight, everything is on me.”

The private room was not nearly as crowded as the front one was. The music was just as loud, and the flashing lights in the dark room were even brighter. There were flat-screen TVs mounted to all of the walls, and dance videos were constantly playing over and over again. The private room was large and seemed to be broken into a series of secluded booths, all of which were full.

It was dark in there, but each time a floodlight would illuminate their space, Scott got a good look around him and at some of the faces in that room with them. Scott had always followed pop culture, music, and films, and inside that room were at least two dozen famous personalities. Scott had to swallow back the intimidation he felt. Yes, he most definitely did not belong here.

Chrissie showed them where their booth would be and then motioned them to all follow her out onto the crowded dance floor. Ethan and Brad followed after her like kids going to a circus. Those two numbskulls still hadn’t figured out that none of them belonged here yet. They didn’t yet realize their vacation was over, as was their relationship with Chrissie Murphy. Again, Scott wished he had the old Chrissie back with him, the girl who wore his torn, old jeans and played in the snow with him and his brothers. He realized he had never really known this Chrissie Murphy. None of them had. This was the superstar. The girl they had known had enjoyed the time of her life in a one-bedroom cabin, watching grade B horror movies in front of the fireplace, and making love while the cold wind howled outside.

Was that girl he had started to fall in love with really dead now? Scott wondered and was afraid he would not like the answer.

* * * *

Scott sat in Chrissie’s Jacuzzi, staring out the floor-to-ceiling window down at the lights of the city of Los Angeles arrayed before him like stars in the night sky. It was later that night. It must have been about four in the morning. She had kept them out until after two at the clubs. They had hopped from club to club all night. He had seen a thousand wild sights that he had never seen before and would probably never see again.

When they got back to Chrissie’s home, she wanted to make love. Ethan and Brad were more than happy to comply. The whole club scene had apparently made them horny as hell. Scott, on the other hand, had excused himself, and she told him to make use of the Jacuzzi off her bedroom. As he sat naked and let the water jets pour over his tired body, he heard the sounds of his brothers making love to Chrissie in the next room.

“What’s wrong?” It was Chrissie. She was naked and headed to the Jacuzzi to join him.

“I’m fine,” he lied to her. She stepped into the water jets with him and took a seat across from him.

“Beer?” She wrinkled her nose at his choice of beverage. “I’m sure Margarita had some champagne out in the fridge.”

“I like beer better,” he told her.

“Don’t you find me attractive anymore?” She reached out a hand and ran it up and down his shoulder. “I was disappointed you didn’t want to join us in bed.”

“It isn’t that, Chrissie. I think you’re beautiful. You were never more beautiful than when you stood up to that old witch of a PR woman this afternoon.”

Chrissie laughed at the memory. She slid across the water and took a seat next to him, resting her head on his chest. “I asked Ethan if you guys could stay out here with me for a while,” she told him. “I practically begged him because I know I’d feel better if you guys were with me now. But he told me you all had to start back tomorrow.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Ethan and Brad have to get back to their jobs, but they told me you don’t have a job.” She looked up into his eyes hopefully. “Why don’t you stay out here with me for a while? You could just kick back and relax, and having you with me would be like a really big help to me. My life is about to undergo a lot of changes, and I need you with me now to give me strength, Scott.”

He took a swig of his beer and did not answer her. He just kept staring out the window at all those lights he was looking down on. She reached up to him and took the beer out of his hand and took a swallow of it herself.

“You really like that better than champagne?” she asked.

“I don’t belong here, Chrissie,” he finally explained to her.

“Don’t be stupid.” She slapped his chest under the water. “This is my house. You can stay here any time you want to. If it’s my dad you’re worried about, well, don’t worry. I plan on speaking to him tomorrow, and if he won’t listen to me, then I’m just not going to see him for a while until he can stop acting like such a dumb dad. But it won’t be easy for me. I’ve never stood up to anyone before, and I’ve never made any decisions in my career. I really need you with me while I go through all this crap now, Scott. Please stay with me?”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with your dad, Chrissie.” He put his arm around her and she cuddled up against him. “I just can’t stay with you here.”

“What is it?” she kissed his chest and asked him.

“Next month I’ll be twenty-two years old. I still live at home with my mother. I’m unemployed. I still don’t have a bachelor’s degree. I drive a fifteen-year-old Honda, and I have less than two hundred dollars to my name. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I’m pretty good with computers and graphics. I’ll probably eventually be able to get a job that pays pretty well for Canyon Creek…but, Chrissie, I can’t kid myself. I’m not in your league, and I never will be.”

She sighed and snuggled in against him tighter. They were silent for a moment as she seemed to digest what he had told her. “I think you’re more talented than I am, Scott.”

He wanted to say
Nice try, but I don’t believe you
. However, he kept his mouth shut and just stroked her body beneath the bubbles of the Jacuzzi.

“I’m really not very talented,” she told him. “Oh, my voice is decent, and I’m learning how to act. The only reason I’m famous is because of my dad. He pushed me in my career from the time I was three. I never got a chance to be normal. Now I never will.”

“And I never will be a superstar,” he said and realized they had just summed up why their relationship would never work, why it was over and after tomorrow they would most likely never see each other again.

* * * *

A bright southern-California sun was shining over the circle drive in front of Chrissie’s house the next morning. Scott was relieved his brothers had seen the need to leave early that day and not prolong the pain of inevitability. He had given both Peaches and Cream a last pat on their heads and then walked Skipper out to their truck.

They were alone on Chrissie’s property as her servants had the day off. She walked out to the truck with them. The guys had already loaded up their bags.

Chrissie was wearing a short sundress, and when the rays of the sun hit her golden hair, Scott knew she had never looked more beautiful. He longed to take her back into the house and make love to her one last time, but of course he knew that could not be. He and his brothers had been extremely fortunate to have these few days with her and to get to know the woman behind the superstar, but that all-too-brief period of their lives was over now.

Scott watched as Brad took Chrissie in his arms and gave her an enormous hug. She seemed to be returning the embrace with even more strength. Scott knew his brother well enough to know when he was hiding his emotion behind a tough-guy exterior. Already, Chrissie had tears in her eyes.

“You’re going to be okay now?” Brad asked her, still not releasing her from his protective grip.

“Yes, I will.” She nodded, and her voice was choked. “And don’t you dare forget about me, you hear?”

Brad took her back in his arms. Scott didn’t think he would ever let her go. “If you ever need anything, you’ve got my number,” he told her.

“You’ve got my number, too,” she told him.

Brad just nodded and continued to squeeze her tight. Scott looked down at the well-manicured lawn at his feet. He didn’t like to see so much emotion flooding through his brother’s normally calm exterior.

When Chrissie left Brad’s arms, Ethan was there, and she fell into his. They clung to each other for a few moments without words. More tears were pouring down Chrissie’s face.

“I’m going to miss you, tough guy,” she told him in a small voice.

“You’ve got plenty of tough guys out here.”

“None that are as honest as you.”

“You know, Chrissie…” Ethan started to say something. Scott was surprised to hear a crack in his big brother’s voice. The only time he had ever seen Ethan look like this before was on the day their dad died.

“What?” She looked up into his eyes.

He shook his head. “Just promise me you’ll take care of yourself.”

“I’m going to be just as tough as you from now on,” she promised him.

“I’m not worried. I know you will be.” He gave her a kiss on the lips.