Groupie/Rock Star Bundle (55 page)

Chapter Eight

August 22, 2010. Los Angeles.

Andy

Andy stayed at the office much later than she
had ever intended. It took her a while to compose herself after her
emotional confrontation with Vanni, and even longer to pick up the
mess they had made of the office.

Every time she picked something off the floor
or threw away something that had been broken she was reduced to a
fresh batch of tears. She had to stop and go into the bathroom more
than once just so no one would hear her cry. In the end she was
forced to scrub her face free of any makeup she had dared to wear
that day. She looked like what she felt like: a hot mess. So she
lingered at the office, going through mail and sorting through
Graham’s inbox just so she didn’t have to face any of his office
staff. Her original plan was to wait it out until six o’clock, to
ensure they’d all left first before she dared leave the
room.

Then she got Gwen’s phone call.

She practically ran over everyone in her path
as she ran out of the office, toward the elevator and out of the
lobby. She was surprised she didn’t have an accident or two of her
own as she raced toward the hospital in Hollywood. All she could
think about was just a few hours before he was so strong and warm
and solidly in her arms. And now…

She didn’t want to think about now.

If he was lucky he’d be alive enough that he
could be arrested for driving under the influence. If she was lucky
he was alive enough so she could kill him. His stupid behavior had
her in the very same spot she was two months ago with Graham in
Philadelphia. The big difference being Vanni chose to be an
idiot.

But for the second time in one year she was
frantic over whether or not she had lost someone she cared
about.

In Vanni’s case, it was someone she loved so
much she could barely breathe. And he seemed hell bent to give her
one more grave to visit and one more relationship to
bury.

Gwen was at the hospital in the lobby when Andy
entered. “How is he?”

She shook her head. “They won’t tell me. They
won’t even confirm that it’s Vanni.”

The story had broken courtesy of the parasitic
celebrity gossip organization that had taken L.A. by storm, thanks
mostly to its jumping on celebrity death reports. Legitimate news
sources tended to wait until official confirmation, but PING didn’t
seem to share that same level of journalism. Instead it relied on
its own sources and ran with any tantalizing drop of gossip in the
race to break celebrity news.

That superstar Giovanni Carnevale had been in a
head-on collision while wasted and getting a blowjob from a hooker?
That was a tasty little tidbit indeed.

Andy’s mind raced. Who would get the call that
he had been hurt? He had no family to speak of. His only real
family was the band, but even then would he have been forward
thinking enough to set up contacts for an emergency?

Her question was inadvertently answered when
she saw Leo stomp through the lobby in his heavy biker boots. Even
though he glared daggers her direction she ran to him
immediately.

“Leo! How’s Vanni?”

He shrugged her off as he gave her a dismissive
once-over. “If he wanted you to know, you’d be his contact,
wouldn’t you? Go home to your rich boyfriend and let me handle the
heavy lifting, honey.”

She backed up in spite of herself. She didn’t
know how to manage his obvious hatred of her when they were virtual
strangers. But this wasn’t about her. It wasn’t about Leo. It was
about Vanni. “If you think I’m going anywhere, you’re
crazy.”

He turned on her and advanced until he had her
nearly backed up against the wall. “Haven’t you caused enough
damage? It’s your fault he’s in there, you stupid cow. You knew he
was wasted when he was at the office today. You know damn well he’s
having trouble. But what was more important to you? Showing your
old boyfriend how good you got it now by fucking with his
career?”

That pissed Andy off. “Who are you to judge
me?” she demanded as she advanced on him, gratified in some small
way he backed up much the same way she had done. “I have been
around since the beginning, when Vanni was a no-name singer in a
bar. I’m the one who protected him through every scandal he’s been
through.”

“Yeah, think about that, sweetheart,” he
jeered. “You are the worst thing that happened to him. And I’ll do
everything I can to make sure he knows it. If he never sees you
again it’ll be too damn soon.”

He stalked off, leaving Andy at the mercy of
the hospital staff. The only thing she had to go on was that he was
a contracted artist for their label and right now she was a
representative of that label. That was the tactic she chose when
she faced off with the hospital administrator, who seemed quite
reluctant to give any information whatsoever until she had
documentation faxed over from the office.

Andy paced in the emergency waiting room for
nearly an hour before a doctor finally came to find her. “Miss
Foster?”

She rushed over to him. “Yes.”

He motioned for her to follow him out of the
waiting room. “Mr. Carnevale was indeed injured in an automobile
accident this afternoon,” he confirmed. “He just regained
consciousness and began asking for you specifically.”

“Is he okay?”

“It was a serious accident, Miss Foster. He
broke a half a dozen bones in the crash and has numerous contusions
and lacerations. Then there was the added complication of his
condition.”

She gulped hard. She knew exactly what
condition he was in when he left the office. Leo’s hateful
accusations still rang in her ears.

“His companion suffered the worst of it, I’m
afraid,” the doctor went on.

She gulped. So it was true. “How is she?” Andy
asked softly.

The doctor hesitated. “I think you should
probably speak to the authorities about that.”

Her heart sank somewhere around her colon. She
nodded and then followed him through the curtain to find Vanni
laying on the gurney.

His beautiful face was marred by black and
purple bruises across his cheek, forehead and over the bridge of
his broken nose. One eye was puffed up with a violent red gash
across it. The other looked like he had been hit in the face by a
prize fighter. One leg was elevated and one arm was secured in a
sling. His bare chest was wrapped mummy style with bandages cover
from his navel up toward his shoulder. She took a deep breath and
walked over to where he lay.

“You came,” he whispered as he squinted at her
through partially opened eyes.

“Of course I came,” she choked as she stroked
his hair, still caked with blood and debris from where they pulled
him from the brush.

He tried to nod but then squinted in pain.
Though his own dumbass decisions had landed him in this predicament
she still felt her heart go out to him. He didn’t deserve this. No
one did. She took his hand in hers. “I’m sorry if I upset you
earlier,” she said softly. Like with what happened to Graham she
harbored enormous guilt that she was somewhat responsible for the
condition he was in.

He shook his head. “My fault,” he mumbled.
“Always my fault.”

In his now sober state she wondered if he was
aware of the dire nature of these consequences. She wanted to say a
number of things but the timing just didn’t seem right. He looked
like he had beaten himself up quite a bit as it was. “We don’t have
to think about that now,” she said as she squeezed his hand. “The
important thing is that you’re okay.”

His eyes met hers. “Did they tell you what
happened to the… girl who was riding with me?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. Why don’t you
tell me instead?”

He gulped hard. “I’ve been so stupid, Andy.
Stupid and angry and feeling sorry for myself. Today,” he started
but then looked away. “I just wanted to forget. Forget about you,”
he added for clarification. “I keep trying to get you out of my
head. I thought I was playing it smart… these women don’t give a
shit if I never call again. They just do what I want whenever I
want. It’s been very convenient.”

She said nothing. It wasn’t even a matter of
his sleeping with anyone else that bothered her. She could hardly
ask him to be faithful while living in the house of another man.
And this was typical Vanni. Only instead of juggling dynamite with
a throng of groupies he stepped up to professionals. “It’s not very
convenient now, is it?” she asked softly.

He shook his head. He understood he was either
going to get busted for manslaughter or he was going to pay out the
ass for taking care of her medical bills from this day forward.
These were big mistakes. They came with expensive price
tags.

“I’m sorry,” he finally said. “For all of it.
The drinking, the prostitutes… trying to force you to take me back.
I’ve been a selfish asshole.”

She smiled as she touched his hair with her
free hand. “It’s okay. I’m used to it.”

He laughed a little and then grimaced from the
pain. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Andy,” he confessed with
a deep sigh.

“We’ll figure it out,” she promised with a
squeeze of his hand.

His hopeful eyes met hers. “Does that mean you
haven’t given up on me?”

She leaned down to look him in the eye. “Have I
yet?”

A tear squeezed from his swollen eye. She
captured it on one finger and wiped it away.

A police officer came in shortly after to take
Vanni’s statement. The hooker had been banged up pretty bad and was
still in a coma with a head injury. With the force of the impact
she nearly snapped her neck, but most of the trauma was to her
skull. It was iffy if she’d pull through at all, much less what
kind of shape she’d be in if she did regain
consciousness.

When Andy got to speak to the officer alone he
advised her that Vanni would need an attorney. Charges would be
filed but they were in a holding pattern waiting to see if the
woman was going to make it. Andy spent the rest of the evening
coordinating attorneys not only to take care of Vanni’s likely DWI
case but also setting up his medical directives in the future. This
accident brought it home to him that he was truly alone in the
world, much like the young prostitute fighting for her life on one
of the upper floors of the hospital. He couldn’t pretend he was
invincible anymore. He knew he needed to have someone legally able
to make decisions when he couldn’t, so he named her power of
attorney. He knew he’d catch hell from Leo for making this choice,
especially since Leo had been gunning to step into a more
responsible role in his professional life, but honestly Vanni
trusted no one more than Andy.

He stopped just short of asking her to stay for
the night and she stopped just short of offering. She hadn’t called
Graham yet, but she did speak to Maggie. As such she already knew
he was extremely agitated that she had once again been summoned to
save Vanni’s ass from his own foolish and self-centered behavior.
She didn’t want to make that worse by staying out all
night.

After all Graham needed her too.

By the time she left his hospital room she and
Vanni had reached a truce in their relationship. They didn’t talk
about the future, there were too many variables standing in the way
of any kind of happily ever after. But they knew that what they
shared went far too deep to ever really be over.

Both took solace in knowing their time together
had not come to its end. In fact this was a deeper, more intimate
connection than just sharing a bed. They were taking steps to keep
each other in one another’s lives for the long haul.

It was a significant moment. So significant in
fact Andy didn’t want to talk to Graham once she returned home. She
knew he’d see her shift of allegiance the minute he looked in her
tired hazel eyes.

It had been quite a day. She wasn’t the same
woman who left the house that morning.

But she knew she couldn’t avoid him either. She
tapped on his door a little past midnight, praying he’d be
asleep.

“Come in,” he said with a dead tone in his
voice.

She slipped into the dimly lit room. “Hey,” was
all she could muster.

“So what’s going on?” he asked point blank as
he stared right into her eyes.

She told him as much of the truth as she felt
was necessary, omitting of course that she had almost made love to
the man he resented right on the desk in his office. She explained
about the alcohol, drugs and hookers before going into detail about
what the police had told her about what they could expect legally
whether the girl lived or died.

He was frighteningly silent as he listened. No
matter how much she talked she wasn’t saying the one thing he
wanted or needed to hear. Finally, when she failed to address his
unspoken concern, he asked her outright. “So where does that leave
you and Vanni?”

She shrugged. “Same as we’ve always been.” It
was the honest truth. They loved each other; there was no getting
around that. And in some form or fashion they’d always be in each
other’s lives, especially if Graham was going to insist on her
doing anything more with the band on his behalf.