Documentary (41 page)

Dylan glared at his hand, but Jeremy didn’t release her wrist. He seemed intent on ignoring her discomfort. “Actually, your brother is coming over, and I’m sure you heard about what happened in New York at Kai’s show. Chase grabbed my
a—”

“Whoa. He
grabbed
you? Really?” Jeremy’s brow creased in doubt. “Are you sure that’s what he was doing? You sure you’re not just overreacting?”

“Uh, no. I was there. I know what happened.” Dylan shook her wrist out of his grasp and headed toward the Slip-N-Slide
, hoping Chase would just let her walk by without any trouble. Her blood was warming with agitation. Jeremy pursued.

“Okay, but all I’m trying to say is that sometimes girls like to make things bigger than they actually are…” Jeremy trailed off
after speaking in a condescending whisper when he caught up to her. He waved and smiled to a few passing people who were exiting their tents. Dylan’s mouth dropped open. She couldn’t believe how effortless he was with his good boy persona while being a complete asshole when he was speaking to her alone.

Dylan stopped walking and felt her muscles tense up. They were still i
n the pathway between the tents, and Chase hadn’t reached them yet because the girls who had just been waving at Jeremy distracted him. “He called me a bitch too. Other people heard him!” she said angrily. “Since apparently you think as a woman I would ‘overreact.’”

“Well…were you being one? ‘Cause you were to me,” Jeremy said matter-of-factly
, still whispering. “You’re sort of being really dramatic right now too.” Dylan growled in frustration and took several steps away from him with a dismissive gesture, but he grabbed her arm, so she shoved him away.

“Oh shit…Kai! Kai!” Dylan and Jeremy both turned to the sound of one of the twins’
frantic screams. “Ribs, get Kai! Get Kai!” After looking at Dylan briefly, Kai rushed toward Jeremy with a violent force, but the bodyguards intercepted him.

“You, asshole!” he shouted, trying to get
past them and to Jeremy.

“You
really need to let this go, Kai. You’re crazy,” Jeremy said in exasperation, but Dylan saw the fear in his eyes from behind his shield of protection.

“Remember what I know!” Kai shouted before he was thrown back with a hard shove that sent him tumbling backward. He didn’t fall, but he collided with Ribsy who immediately wrapped his arms around Kai’s body in a bear hug and locked the position by clutching his own wrist.

“Don’t do this here, man,” Ribsy shouted to no avail against Kai’s struggling. “You’ll violate your probation, dude.”

“Stay
the fuck away from her!” Kai yelled with rage at Jeremy as he broke free from Ribsy. He almost completely got away from him until both Wes and Abel joined in to hold him. “Don’t ever go near her again.” His voice was eerie in its calmness, which made it scarier. Dylan ran to him and screamed for him to stop. She felt Odette’s hand close around hers as she yelled at them too.

The bodyguards
led Jeremy past them and away from the scene, and soon, he had vanished into the crowd. A small group of people had gathered around the commotion, just outside the barrier around the tents, recording video and snapping pictures, but Kai’s friends, used to the attention, were making efforts to block access with their bodies. They were also partially blocked by the large tents, thankfully, and the people poking their heads out had missed most of it.

“I’m all right! I’m fucking all right!” Kai said, slipping out of his friends’ grasps. “Lemme go.”
He was heaving his breaths out, and he pulled Dylan into his arms. She was shaking against him as she looked up at him and tried to process what had just happened.

“You okay?” Kai asked her calmly even as anger continued to flare in his eyes.

“Yeah. Yes. I am,” Dylan said. The words he had shouted at Jeremy blasted off in her thoughts.
Remember what I know.
She started to shiver again.

“Dude…” Abel said with a puzzled expression as he walked toward them, but
Kai turned his ire on Abel as he slipped his arms from around Dylan.

“Why the fuck were you guys over here with him?” Kai shouted in his face as he shoved him.  Abel was momentarily caught off guard, but he snarled in agitation and bounded for Kai, who had taken on a fighting stance. Wes squeezed in between them
, but he was ready to physically defend his brother against Kai.

“You’re my family, Kai, and you know I love you, dude. Any other situation, I’d be right there with you, man. I really don’t want to do this, but swing at him and you’re swinging at me, too…” Wes warned as he touched his chest with his palm, pointing a reluctant but angry stare at Kai. Ribsy came over and stood by Kai. He aimed a lethal look at the Elliotts. Emotions were running too high; things had gone to shit pretty quickly. Not wanting to see any of them get into a fight, Dylan grabbed Kai’s hand and tried to pull him away. She shot Wes and Abel apologetic glances as Kai let her yank him out of the area and through the crowd, moving in the direction of the parking lot. Camera flashes
went off behind her, and she barely pinged a feeling of concern.

“What was that?” she asked him as they held hands. He was squeezing hers tightly and she leaned in
to his shoulder. “Kai, please tell me what’s going on.” So much hatred was directed at Jeremy, and it wasn’t jealousy over her. This was actual deep-seated abhorrence. And what she had heard in Kai’s voice was fear. For her.

“I sent a text to Abe to ask where you guys were, and when I got over there, I saw him…touching you. Did he try to hurt you in any way?” Kai asked, panicked. “What was he saying to you? Did he try to do something to you? Try to make you go anywhere with him?
Did he give you anything to drink?”

“I had a bottle of water from his cooler. It wasn’t opened…”
Dylan shook her head quickly, trying to gather her thoughts. “He was just apologizing for last night…”
Shit.
She got quiet as she remembered that Kai didn’t know about that.

“What, Dyl?” Kai dropped her hand and swiveled until he was standing in front of her. A group of people had started pursuing them, so Kai took
her hand again and weaved stealthily through the crowd until they lost them. They had probably gotten pictures then too. Kai walked her into an empty tent.

“Why was he apologizing?” Kai’s jaw clenched. “What did he need to apologize for?”

Her heart rate was firing at a rapid rate. “He was really rude to me last night at
Coasters
. When I was with Wes and Abel. Before we went to
Velvet
.”

“You saw him last night? What the fuck, Dyl, and you didn’t say anything?” Kai wasn’t yelling but his tone was caustic, and it scared her. He gripped her shoulders. “What did he say to you?
You’re sure that bottle was unopened?” 

She nodded quickly. “He was an
asshole. Today, he was different but the same, in a way. Nice for a minute, and then he flipped again. It was subtle. Not as bad as yesterday, but it was weird. It was like he was trying to manipulate me in a way. Blame me for Chase’s behavior,” she explained. Kai’s face went as still and hard as concrete before he strode back into the crowd.

“Kai…please, you’ll go to prison if you do anything,” she pleaded as she ran after him.
Dylan’s heart smashed repeatedly against the wall of her chest; she was still confused and shaken up. “You can’t…please.” When she reached him, she dashed into his path and threw her arms around his neck. Kai growled in frustration, but his arms closed around her and he lifted her off the ground in a tight hug.

“You just saved him.”

“Nope. Saving you,” she whispered. “If I let you go, you promise not to do anything crazy?” He nodded but didn’t speak as he put her back down. Kai put his arm around her and made a call on his cell.

“Where are you? Okay. Wait there, please.” Taking her hand, Kai led her down the beach, and she spotted Ribsy sitting alone on a stone bench facing the street outside one of the hotels.

Ribsy handed Dylan his hotel keycard when they reached him. He looked shaken up too. “Dette said she needed a moment, but you can go up there.” He cocked his chin at the building in front of them. “1206. I’m sure she’d love to see you. She doesn’t want to be around me or my crazy ass friends right now.”

Dylan bent down and hugged him. “I’ll let her have her time.
I’m sure she’ll want to see you too soon.”

“
I’m sorry about that, man,” Kai said with sincerity as they sat next to him. “I’ll call her and apologize but, dude, just trust me. I know how much you love Odette, so just ask her to stay away from him. He’s not a good guy. He’s a really, really bad guy. You’re the sensible one… Blake and everybody else, they’ll listen, if it comes from you.”

“I didn’t know he was over
there. Honest. I had heard his tent was closer to the main stage, but I guess he booked more than one.” Ribsy gripped Kai’s shoulder, and his fingers dug in. “And what the fuck are you really saying, dude?”

“I’m saying what I’ve been trying to tell everyone for a while. Jeremy is dangerous. My lawyer told me I have to be careful about what I say about him publicly
, even to my friends, because of defamation issues, especially if I make an
accusation
without an
accuser
, but he’s a fucked up person. He’s not someone women should be around. He’s
violent
with
them.” Kai’s stare bored into Ribsy. “In the way I suspected years ago.”

“Oh my God,” Dylan whispered to neither of them. Once Kai’s words settled over her, Dylan’s insides tightened, and she thought she would stop breathi
ng. A chill lashed her spine. Suddenly, the pieces began to filter in, creating a completely plausible reality in her mind.
Remember what I know. Remember what I know.
Could it be?
Thailand. Erica pushing everyone away. The fighting in the alley. The secret he and Erica shared. The reason he wanted Dylan to stop looking into it. It wasn’t his secret;
it was hers
. Jeremy had hurt Erica...or worse. She could sense it. It
was
something worse. Jeremy had…raped Erica? A wave of dizziness enveloped her, followed by a tugging in her chest.

Ribsy’s head dropped. “I remember you told me what you thought a long time ago, and you said recently
you thought he had done something bad…” His eyes turned to Dylan momentarily before going back to Kai. “Did he…did he
rape
somebody?” Ribsy whispered the word, like he couldn’t stand to say it out loud. “He did, didn’t he? Ugh. Who? Like a girl at a show? That girl from a long time ago? Is that what you guys were fighting about?”

“I don’t want to play a gues
sing game, Ribs. Just needed to share. And now, you know what I know. Thread carefully with your words, but I need your help on this,” Kai said, standing. He offered his hand to Ribsy when he stood too and pulled him in for a one-armed hug. “I gotta go. Just remember what I said.”

Dylan waved goodbye to Ribsy before the two of them
walked to the parking lot. She didn’t know what to say, so they simply walked in silence. Kai kept his eyes straight ahead, focused, and she struggled to keep up with his fast pace as they held hands. Her mind never wavered from her theory about Jeremy. When they reached the bus, Ashley was talking to Heath outside of it, and she immediately stomped up to them with an angry expression, meant mostly for Dylan. At this point, being fired was low on the scale of importance. She scolded herself for being too jealous before to see that Erica was just a friend in need, reaching out.
How could I have been so foolish? I’m such a fucking idiot.

“Not right now, Ash!” Kai barked.

“I knew it. All this fucking time. I knew it! I just had to bide my time,” she said, gloating. She cast a hostile smirk at Dylan before she raised her cell phone, but Heath jerked it away. “Well, I guess we all know which skills really got you the job.”

Dylan jumped in front of Kai and pressed both her hands over his mouth when she saw the gleam of wrath overtake his eyes. He let her move him back several steps. Kai glared at Ashley, pulled Dylan’s hands away from his mouth and kissed one of them defiantly. It amused Dylan enough for her to laugh a little in spite of how awful she felt.

“Dammit, leave it alone, Ash,” Heath warned. He shoved her cell phone in his pocket. “Just leave it alone. Dylan will explain when she has a moment. Chill the fuck out.”

“I’ll explain tomorrow,” Dylan confirmed with her voice
steady, even as her own fury was burning inside. Ashley was justified in being upset at her for breaking a rule but implying she had earned anything on her back had ventured into territory that would lead Dylan to do something that was more than worth firing her for. “Then you can do what you have to, Ashley. Just give me tonight.” Ashley didn’t seem appeased, and she extended her hand to Heath for her cell but he shook his head.

“We’ll both explain. And don’t
ever
fucking talk to Dylan like that again,” Kai added dourly. He nodded a thank you to Heath before he let Dylan step ahead of him onto the bus. She walked him straight into his bedroom, and after a pause of hesitation, she took the spot next to him on the bed. They didn’t cuddle or talk or even move closer together. There had to be at least six or seven inches of space between them. She simply reached out and interlaced her fingers with his, holding his hand in the silence.