Groupie/Rock Star Bundle (43 page)

Like the constant crashing waves of
a waterfall we came together again and again, like we were making
up for the past few months apart. This was the rare gift of our
relationship. We got the opportunity to fall in love all over again
each time we rediscovered each other. It felt familiar but yet
fresh and new. It was anticipation and excitement and fulfillment
and we took complete advantage of it. We didn’t even bother with
clothes that first night in the hotel, and I was so grateful we had
both decided to come a day early to have one day uninterrupted by
the world.

The next morning when I woke up I saw Vanni
leaning over me, propped up on one elbow, staring down into my
face. I gave an embarrassed chuckle. “What? Was I
drooling?”

He had a smile on his face as he shook his
head. “You look beautiful,” he assured. “My low-maintenance Andy.”
He brushed his fingers across my forehead to push my hair from my
face. “You’re not fake. You’re not plastic. You’re not afraid to be
you. I’ve always loved that about you.”

I blushed and looked away. I wasn’t
used to such compliments, especially from him.

His hand slipped down across my shoulder and
over my bare body to rest on the generous swell of my hip. “You’re
real,” he whispered softly. “You anchor my life.” My eyes met his.
“I got you something,” he said as he scooted off the bed and walked
naked over to his suitcase.

I propped up on my own elbow, thinking there
was nothing he could give me that meant more than our time
together. But when he handed me a small jewelry box my protests
died in my throat.

I sat up and opened the box with shaking hands.
Inside was a white gold charm bracelet. He pointed to each one.
“Philadelphia, where we first met,” he said as he pointed to a
jewel studded “P” charm. “New York,” he said as he pointed to the
“I Heart New York” charm, “for our first kiss.” He pointed to the
next one. “Las Vegas, where we first made love,” he said softly as
his eyes met mine. “Nashville,” he continued, “where I first new I
loved you.”

There were charms for each place we had been
together, that I could wear all the time and remember our crazy,
passionate, confusing, fulfilling love affair. There were tears in
my eyes when he fastened it around my wrist, and when I pulled him
down to me there was no question in my mind I had found the true
love of my life in Vanni.

We had breakfast in bed, and he fed me fresh
fruit. I felt like a bride on her honeymoon, even when he wouldn’t
let me get dressed for our big event downtown. He chased me across
the hotel room until we’d collapse giggling onto the
bed.

It was shaping up to be the happiest day of my
life.

I couldn’t even muster that much
guilt when we met up with Graham prior to the event. He could see
the happiness all over my face, which seemed to soften him somehow.
Though he didn’t say it, I got the feeling that he cared enough
about me to want me to be happy no matter what decisions I made, or
the person I chose.

He was a good man. And deep down, it made me
love him a little more.

But I was no longer confused. Though
we hadn’t talked about it expressly, I got the feeling that Vanni
was rearranging his life so that I could fit into it. He indicated
to me that he had been looking for another place to live because he
wanted to move out of Kat’s house and move on from that
relationship.

The fact that I was there on the podium, in
between Graham and Vanni, wearing the special piece of jewelry he
had purchased to honor our long, crazy journey together, felt I was
finally in position to take the place I had dreamed about for so
long.

No matter what he asked me, to
travel with him, to move in with him… to marry him… I’d have said
yes without reservation. And Philadelphia was the perfect place for
me to tell him I was ready.

The mayor stood first and told the
crowd how proud they were of a local boy who had been born to
modest circumstances, but was making such a success of himself. As
such, Giovanni provided inspiration to all young people from
Philadelphia, showing them they too could “make it
happen.”

Vanni stood and received his honors
to the roar of the massive crowd who had come to see the event.
Vanni thanked the mayor and Philadelphia, saying his roots were
strong because of this fine city and all it taught him about
strength and courage.

He turned to where Graham and I sat
and motioned for us to stand.

“I didn’t do this alone,” he
continued. “Graham Baxter, you took a chance on me when things were
a complicated mess, and thanks to your guidance and your support
Dreaming in Blue is poised to be more successful than ever before.
And I know that is because of the faith you put in us to be the
best we can be.”

Then he turned to me. “But there is one person
who has been the most instrumental in making me the man I am. And I
think it’s time you all finally got to meet her.”

He held out his hand, and even though I shook
down to my toes I walked towards him.

Then, as if in slow motion, something in the
crowd caught my eye. The throng of people parted as someone wearing
a scarf on her head and large, dark glasses pushed through toward
the front of the stage where we stood.

The din of the crowd scrambled in my ear to a
low hum when I first laid eyes on the gun pointed in my direction.
I think I opened my mouth to scream but all was lost in the
explosive blast of gunfire. I felt a force hit me from the side and
push me to the ground, where I fell somewhere behind the podium
where everyone else dove to avoid the hail of bullets.

I felt the warm gush of liquid pour over me and
I wondered briefly if I had been shot. I glanced up and that was
when I saw him slumped over me.

“Graham!” I screamed as I reached
for him.

“Andy, don’t!” I heard someone
scream from behind, and I was fairly certain it was Vanni. Everyone
cowered from the bullets that continued to spray whether from the
assailant’s gun or from the police who descended immediately upon
the scene. But all I could think about was Graham as I pushed him
onto his back to survey the damage.

“Andy,” he whispered as he reached a
hand to my face. I sobbed openly as my hand hovered over the nasty
wound in his stomach, pumping blood onto the concrete.

“Shh,” I said as I propped his neck under my
arm. “Don’t say anything. Save your strength.”

“I love you,” he said in stunted speech as his
eyelids fluttered, as if he needed to say it just one more time –
in case it was his last.

He couldn’t die. That was insanity. Just two
seconds ago we were all smiling and happy – and here he was
uttering what could be his final words?

And they were to me.

“I love you too,” I said through my tears.
“Graham… don’t leave me…”

I felt someone pull at me and I turned to see a
panicked Vanni as he tried to get me away from the scene. “Andy,
come on!”

“NO!” I screamed. I wasn’t going to leave
Graham. He had lunged in front of me and taken the bullet that was
meant for me. There was no way I’d let him bleed to death and die
alone. I wasn’t about to let him die, period. “Graham, stay with
me,” I said as I pressed my hand against his wound. I didn’t know
if it would help but I wanted to stop the bleeding.

The wail of the sirens grew nearer. Salvation
was just minutes away. “Graham, please. Don’t close your eyes. Stay
with me. Graham!” I screamed and his eyes fluttered closed. “I love
you! Stay with me!”

I felt Vanni’s strong arms circle my waist as
he tried to pull me away from an unconscious Graham. I fought and
kicked but he was too strong and picked me up effortlessly and
dragged me away.

With another loud shot and a blood curdling
scream, it was all over.

I slumped into Vanni’s arms and
slipped away into darkness.

Philadelphia – June 17, 2010

The nurse came in to check my vitals. She gave
me a reassuring smile, but would not answer any questions I had
about Vanni or Graham. She patted me on the arm and said she’d get
the doctor, and told me to try and rest.

I was half tempted to rip the IV out
of my arm and take off the other wires that were hooked up to the
machines, but truthfully I could barely move. When Graham had
fallen on me it had felt like a brick wall came down. I already
knew I had been injured in some way, although I knew by now none of
that was from a gunshot wound.

But it didn’t matter, I thought as
tears welled up in my eyes. I might as well have been shot with how
hollow I felt inside. Graham Baxter was perhaps the kindest man I
had ever known, who had always looked out for my best interest to
the point he was willing to step in front of a bullet for
me.

And I had done nothing but hurt him. Our whole
relationship had been a series of my either using him or running to
him to help another man. He had done nothing but love me, and
already I had disappointed him, teased him, betrayed him, broken
his heart and now… possibly killed him.

I might as well have fired the gun
myself.

The doctor finally entered a few
minutes into my pity party, and he too offered me a reassuring
smile. He explained that I did have a broken rib from the impact of
my fall with Graham, but aside from some internal bruising I was
very lucky to walk away from the incident as injury free as I
did.

“And what about Graham?” I asked. “The one who
was shot?”

He sighed as he perched on the bed. “The
situation is still critical,” he said. The entry of the bullet went
into his spine, and they’ve taken him into surgery to help control
the bleeding and remove the bullet, if possible.”

“Will he be okay?” I asked.

“The first few days are critical,” he repeated.
“Your friend has lost a lot of blood.” He patted my leg. “We’re
doing everything we can, Miss Foster. Meanwhile you do what you can
to get better.”

I nodded. “And Vanni?”

The doctor smiled even wider. “If you mean that
long haired man sitting outside in the waiting room, he’s fine.
Except he’s worried sick about you. But I think that’s one problem
we can easily remedy.”

He departed and a minute later Vanni rushed in.
He was still covered in blood, Graham’s blood I thought to myself
with a lump in my throat. He knelt by the gurney and took my hand
in his. I could tell he’d been crying. “Oh Andy,” he said. “I’m so
sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.”

I shook my head. “Don’t apologize,” I said
softly as I touched his hair. I felt like I should apologize for
trying to stay with Graham and proclaiming my love for him, but I
couldn’t form the words.

Truth was I did love Graham, and I didn’t
regret a thing I said to him. Especially if it was the last thing
he ever heard, which it very well could have been.

“It was Talia,” he said. “Despite everything we
did she showed up anyway. I can’t believe she nearly killed
you.”

I closed my eyes and leaned back on the bed.
“Where is she now?”

“They shot her. She’s dead. It’s
over,” he said as he took me into his arms.

But the damage was far from over. Even though
Vanni and I were okay, Graham stayed in surgery for 12 hours as the
doctors tried to repair as much of his spine as they could. When it
was over they couldn’t promise us anything. He may never walk again
if he woke up, and waking up itself was iffy.

They released me the following day, after
observation, but Vanni and I both decided to stay at the hospital.
We waited in the ICU waiting room sitting side by side and silent.
Both of us felt enormously guilty about Graham’s condition, and it
was driving a definite wedge between us.

He didn’t ask me about my
proclamations of love, even though I knew damned well he had heard
it. Instead we said nothing and let the weight of our guilt and
uncertainty hover over our heads like the sword of
Damocles.

He brought me tea and food, because
I steadfastly refused to leave the waiting room until we knew
Graham had awakened. As such Vanni wasn’t leaving me anymore than I
was leaving Graham. He took care of all the rescheduling of the
tour, and sent the guys home to wait for news of when it would
resume.

The tabloids had a field day, and
actually uncovered what we had not been able to previously. This
included the mysterious, and now questionable, death of Talia’s
husband, who had gotten mysteriously sick and lingered for months
until he finally died.

The court ordered an exhumation, but the
tabloids seemed fairly convinced they’d find she was slowly
poisoning him to both get rid of him and get her hands on his
insurance money. It was the kind of thing gossip rags jonesed for,
and with this headline making stuff they had hit pay
dirt.

Los Angeles authorities re-opened Tawnie’s
suicide when her hotel roommate from the event that had found the
body said that Tawnie and Talia had quarreled several times over
the fan weekend. This included the day she ended up taking her
life.

Now that we could all see how deeply disturbed
she was, we could easily tie the missing pieces together in
retrospect, but it was too little, too late for way too
many.