Groupie/Rock Star Bundle (48 page)

Andy sighed as she glanced up at him. She
didn’t want to bring it up to him, especially now, but it was his
record company and he certainly had a right to know. “It’s Iain. I
guess things aren’t going very well at their Hollywood Bowl
performance.”

“What’s the problem?” he wanted to
know.

“Vanni’s drunk,” she finally said. “Iain said
he’s never seen him this wasted.”

Graham chortled in disgust. “Sounds about
right. He can’t stand that you stayed here with me so he’s going to
try and make you choose which romantic hero to save.”

“This isn’t his being manipulative. Believe me
I’m no stranger to that. I think he’s in trouble.”

“So what are you saying, Andy?” he demanded.
“What is it you want to do? Fly to L.A. and hold his hair as he
pukes?”

She shook her head. She had made her choice.
The way she calculated it she wouldn’t even see him again for
another two months at least. Vanni was just going to have to be a
big boy all on his own. She said as much to Graham.

Again he chuckled. “I’ll believe that when I
see it.”

Andy artfully dodged any more discussion about
Vanni or the band by suggesting she go get Graham something a
little more edible from outside the hospital. He agreed,
begrudgingly. He didn’t want her to leave, especially after that
text from Iain, but he was starving. Apparently he didn’t think his
little stunt with the food tray all the way through.

This time she planted a kiss on his mouth and
promised she’d be back with a greasy, yummy Philly
cheesesteak.

The minute she was out the door, however, she
was on the phone with Iain.

“What’s going on?”

“He’s ripped, that’s what’s going on,” Iain
told her. She could hear the loud sound check going on behind him.
“I’m afraid he’s going to plunge head first right into the
crowd.”

She couldn’t imagine. “He’s that
bad?”

“Worse,” Iain confirmed. “And I’ll tell you
this. I don’t think that Leo guy is helping matters at all. He’s
willing to let him drink even more.”

Andy’s mouth thinned into a firm line. She’d
only met Leo once and hadn’t been all that impressed with him,
probably because he was fairly dismissive of her. “Keep me
updated,” she instructed. “We should be back in L.A. after you guys
get done with the UK gigs. I’ll be able to do more when I’m not an
entire country away.”

“Honestly, babe, I don’t know if you can do
anything. It’s up to him now. And he doesn’t give a
shit.”

She wasn’t worried. She felt pretty confident
that she could still get through to Vanni. He was mad at her but
she knew he still loved her. They would work it out.

They always had.

They just had to get in the same room again so
he could see that her staying with Graham hadn’t changed her
feelings for him. That had to mean something, right? Even though
they couldn’t be together?

When she got back to the hospital Graham was
dozing. When he was asleep the lines in his face, many of which
deepened since the shooting, smoothed out and he was once again the
man she had grown to care about so deeply.

Was it love? Who was to say? It really didn’t
matter. This man nearly gave his life to be her hero. She wasn’t
going anywhere. And that was a kind of love that was real and
solid, even if she dreamed nightly of being wrapped in another
man’s arms.

She checked online to see how the concert was
going through the different social networks. Alarm bells sounded in
her head when she realized even the audience could tell he was
wasted. She had only really seen him drunk in private once, at her
hotel in Los Angeles after he caught her kissing Graham, but she’d
never ever seen him blow a performance. He was the consummate
professional.

Someone even uploaded video. She could only
watch for a painful moment or two before she had to shut it off.
His singing to a groupie after everything they went through with
Tawnie and Talia was completely irresponsible. That he gave her the
same kind of kiss he had always given Andy just added insult to
injury. She couldn’t decide if he was being childish or just
stupid… both were legitimate possibilities.

Either that or he was deeply hurt – and she was
the cause. She gulped down familiar guilt and pocketed her phone
before she woke Graham for his dinner.

Chapter Three

August 13, 2010. London, England.

Vanni

They only had six European dates over six
weeks, but Vanni’s drinking managed to effectively challenge the
first five. He showed up drunk, he fought with the band, he snapped
at the groupies. During the week when they had interviews with the
press he was late if he showed up at all. This left the
interviewers scrambling that they couldn’t get time with the guy
the audience wanted to see most. Somehow, though, with the
excitement of the band finally heading overseas, they managed to
sell out each venue and leave the crowd clamoring for
more.

The more elusive Vanni made himself, the more
attractive he was. Their tunes rocketed to the top of the charts
both stateside and wherever they happened to tour.

Worse, the frustration he used to take out with
actual women found its way onto the stage. He offered the promise
of ultimate sexual fulfillment but stayed at arm’s length. It had
groupies swarming in droves. He grew more brazen, leaving the
romantic hero stuff at the wayside. He wanted to rock hard and work
out all his brooding aggression in front of an audience of tens of
thousands of screaming fans. He left ballads off the set lists,
even though the girls clamored to hear their favorites like
“Wanting Her.”

Instead he tried out new material he was
writing like a madman in his hotel-ridden drunken stupors. The band
could barely keep up and the errors were numerous when they played
live. The precision he once prided himself upon also fell by the
wayside. He was dangerous and raw and unpredictable.

The girls couldn’t get enough of Giovanni
Carnevale. He was the bad boy rocker in every sense of the
word.

By the time they got to London, the last date
on their tour, Iain knew what he had to do. He had already flown
Alana and George over to stay with his folks while he secretly
spent his week in the city looking for a place to live. Though they
were selling out arenas and on top of the charts, the whole
environment around Vanni was just too volatile. Iain just didn’t
see it getting any better, especially once they got back to L.A.
and Vanni had to deal with Andy’s living with Graham right under
his nose. All the guys worried it was going to get worse before it
got better, and he hadn’t signed onto this kind of roller coaster
when he joined the band three years before. He was a family man
now. If he had to do studio work to pay the bills, that’s what he
would do. It was never about the fame for him anyway.

Alana had already given her blessing. The life
of a rock star wife was not exactly her dream come true either. She
had George now and he was her focus. She couldn’t care less about
being a career woman like Iris; she wanted to be a mom. She was
already thinking of adding another to their brood. And she knew
with all certainty she didn’t want to do that in the fake and
plastic land of Los Angeles, California. She was tired of the fans.
She was tired of the fame. And quite frankly, she was tired of
Vanni.

Vanni was predictably late to the meeting that
Iain had arranged prior to the show on Friday, which just happened
to be the thirteenth day of the month. Even for those in the band
without any superstition whatsoever, it sounded eerily
ominous.

He was also predictably drunk, with a bottle of
the ever present expensive champagne in his hand. Iain sent a
disapproving look to Leo, who had made sure that Vanni had easy
access to all the liquor he wanted at the expense of their live
performances.

Leo in particular was another reason Iain
wanted to leave. He would have tried to talk to Graham about it had
the situation been different. Leo Newman was a liability, both to
the band and to Giovanni himself. He drank and partied just as hard
as Vanni, and managed to keep himself busy with the groupie
castoffs Vanni no longer wanted to indulge.

“So what’s up, brother?” Vanni slurred as he
looked over at Iain. He called him brother, and had for years, but
these days there was precious little emotion behind it. Vanni was
now on auto-pilot.

“I’ve decided to leave the band,” Iain told him
quietly. The other members looked on, awaiting Vanni’s reaction.
They already knew what was going to go down, and some had even
considered their own escape routes.

“Leave?” Vanni repeated. “Why?”

“Look around you, mate,” Iain said. “This is
not the band we wanted to be.”

“Rich? Successful? In demand the world over? Oh
no,” Vanni sneered. “Nothing to like about any of that at
all.”

“There’s more to life than money,” Iain
insisted in the same even voice. “And you know it.”

“So this is about your little family life,”
Vanni said as he hopped out of his chair and began to pace. “You’re
going to leave us now, right as we’re getting started, to go play
house?”

Iain also stood. “I will do what I think is
right for my family. I have a bigger priority now than Dreaming in
Blue. I’m home,” he said as he pointed out the window toward
London. “And that’s where I plan to stay.”

Vanni grew even more agitated. “And what the
hell are we supposed to do without you?”

Leo stood. “Don’t even worry about it, man. I
got someone lined up in Los Angeles, ready to roll. He’s a studio
musician but I’ve worked with him before. He’s hardworking and
doesn’t complain, especially about success.” Leo sent a
contemptuous glare in Iain’s direction.

Vanni didn’t care.
He was totally focused on Iain. “So how long have you been planning
this,
brother
,” he
added for emphasis.

“Since Philadelphia,” Iain answered honestly.
“It was a wakeup call for me, even if it wasn’t for you. I joined
DIB to make music, not dodge bullets.”

The calm comment struck the bull’s eye. “Fuck
you, man.” Vanni’s voice was low and angry. “You know that wasn’t
my fault.”

“Wasn’t it? How many times did you let that
crazy woman near you, near the people you claim to love? All for
what? Your precious ego?”

Vanni smashed the bottle down on the ground and
charged him. “Take that back!”

Iain shoved him so hard he lost his tenuous
balance and sprawled on the floor. “You can’t take back a bullet,
brother. And it doesn’t matter how much you drink or how wasted you
get, you can’t change the past. The band will survive my leaving.
The real question is will it survive you?”

Vanni struggled to his feet. “Get out,” he
instructed, but Iain didn’t move. “I said get the fuck out! You
want to leave, then go!”

Leo stepped forward. “Dude, he’s gotta stay for
the last show. We can’t replace him at this short
notice.”

Vanni’s mouth turned up in an evil smile. “We
can replace him.” He glared around at everyone else in the room.
“We can replace all of you. But you know who you can’t replace? Me.
That’s right. I’m the star of Dreaming in Blue and everyone knows
it. That’s why you want to leave,” he finished as he turned back to
Iain, who merely shrugged.

“Think what you want to think, mate. Replace us
all. You can even try to replace Andy if you want.” That hit home.
“But eventually you’re going to have to face your own demons before
it’s too late.” Iain turned on his heel and headed toward the venue
for a sound check.

The other guys filed out silently behind him,
while Leo lagged behind. “Eh, fuck him,” was his advice. “Only a
stupid rat jumps from a ship that ain’t sinking. Trust me, by the
time we get back home and you meet my guy you’ll see this has
worked out for the best. You’re pulling these guys… you don’t need
more dead weight.”

Vanni nodded as he scoped the room for more
alcohol. His trip to the floor brought him frighteningly close to
being knocked sober, and he wasn’t ready for that yet. The only
reason he had been able to get through the last six weeks was
through the numbing fog of intoxication. Nothing scared him more
than waking up and feeling these betrayals and this abandonment for
real.

He wasn’t a good boy so he was being left once
again. The scenario was painfully familiar.

Leo saw the need in his face so he reached
behind his back for a flask of whiskey. “Here you go, man. Good for
whatever ails you.”

Vanni threw it back effortlessly. It felt good
as it burned its way down his throat. He smiled at Leo. “Thanks,
man. Sometimes I think you’re my only friend.”

Leo patted him on the back. “I am. And don’t
you forget it.”

The concert that night was even worse than the
others before. Vanni kept changing the song list by starting songs
that the guys hadn’t played in years. In one instance he started a
song they had never played at all, and ended up singing a cappella.
The crowd ate it up. The rest of the band got even by playing “Let
Her Go if You Can’t Treat Her Right,” the song they had written for
Andy. Vanni seethed as he sang it through gritted teeth, which only
added to the drama and intensity of the song.