Heavy Metal (A Badboy Rockstar Romance) (5 page)

“Sure thing, I’m not going anywhere.”

*****

The phone call went about as well as I’d expected.

Standing outside behind the restaurant, I had to hold the phone away from my ear while Carl raged at me on the other end.  He called me every name in the book, told me the whole ordeal at the diner had been my fault and demanded to know where I was. 

When I refused to tell him, he got even angrier.

Finally, I’d had enough.

“Carl, I have to go,” I told him, interrupting his hateful rant.

“Don’t you dare hang up!” he yelled.  I could practically imagine the vein in his forehead bulging as he paced back and forth, his face sweaty and red as his nostrils flared and the vein in his forehead bulged.  “You don’t hang up until I tell you that you can hang up, got that?”

Brandon was inside waiting for me.  He had treated with nothing but respect.  He had been a saint, really, my knight in shining armor.  He was nothing like Carl.  I couldn’t imagine him ever calling me names or trying to intimidate me.  Brandon didn’t make me feel sad or ashamed.  In fact, he made me feel quite the opposite.

He was inside waiting for me and we were going to ride roller coasters together.

So I did something completely out of character for me.

“I’m hanging up now,” I told Carl firmly, my voice only shaking a little.  And then I did.

Chapter 04

When I went back inside the restaurant, a scene of utter chaos awaited me.

I heard them before I saw them:  hoards of squealing, excited teenage girls.

That was when I realized they had descended on the table where only a few moments earlier, Brandon and I had been eating breakfast in peace.  Now he was autographing t-shirts and posing for pictures with his fans under Steve’s watchful gaze. 

Unsure of what to do, I hung back.  Clearly Brandon was a huge celebrity – even bigger than I had thought – and I was an out of touch moron for not recognizing him.  As I looked on, Steve pushed his way into the crowd, grabbed Brandon and rescued him from the shrieking mob of teenyboppers. 

“Sorry ladies but I’ve got to go!” Brandon shouted, giving a wave.

To my amazement, the young women refused to let him leave, a couple of them even grabbing onto his limbs in an attempt to keep him there.  As they pushed and shoved one another in an attempt to get close to Brandon, I found myself afraid they would rip him to pieces! 

But Steve quickly put a stop to the madness, expertly pushing the girls aside and clearing a path so that Brandon could escape the restaurant.  Clearly this wasn’t his first rodeo and he knew exactly what to do to rescue Brandon from a scary and potentially dangerous situation.  Suddenly I liked Steve a whole lot.

For a moment I thought that would be it.  I thought Brandon would make a hasty exit and would completely forget about me in the pandemonium.  But I was mistaken.  As he and Steve hurried past, Brandon grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him.

“Get in the SUV,” Steve ordered as we rushed out the door.  “I’ll send someone to pick up the other car later.”  Then he turned around and shouted, “Hands off, ladies!  That’s enough!”  Some of them listened, but most of them didn’t.  Excitement and hysteria had taken over, and now there was no reasoning with the frenzied girls.

We ran to the SUV Steve had been tailing us in.  Steve tried to get Brandon to climb in, but he resisted.  “Hayley first!” he ordered, making room for me to scramble into the backseat.  Only after I was in did he climb in beside me, shutting and locking the door behind him.

“Are you okay?” he asked, looking pretty calm despite the craziness we’d endured.

“Yeah,” I replied breathlessly.  “That was insane!”  Then I jumped as a bunch of young girls came running up to the SUV and squashed their faces against the tinted windows, peering inside as they shouted declarations of their love for Brandon.

“Sorry,” he said apologetically as Steve could be heard shouting outside.  “I was trying to keep a low profile, but someone in the restaurant must have recognized me.  You know how it is – one person posts a sighting to social media and the next thing you know, a whole pack of them are hunting you down.”

“Actually, I
don’t
know how it is,” I pointed out.  “Is this seriously your everyday life?”

“It kind of is the new normal for me, yeah,” Brandon confirmed.  “It has been for the past three or so years.  At first the band were only known locally.  Our songs were played on the college radio station and we played shows on the weekends...but then some corporate bigwigs heard us and everything basically blew up overnight.”

“That’s crazy!”

“It’s completely nuts, I know.  You’d think I was in a boy band or something, the way some of the fans chase after us,” Brandon said, making a face.

“You pretty much are,” Steve piped up as he slid behind the wheel, catching the tail end of our conversation.  He was cool, calm and collected, acting as though he
hadn’t
been fighting off hoards of crazed fans only moments earlier. 

“You take that back,” Brandon joked.

“It’s true,” Steve insisted.  “You might not play pop music but it doesn’t matter.  Fans will be fans, and your fans are the craziest ones I’ve ever seen.  They put pop loving boy band crazies to shame, really.  Hang on you two, I might have to jump a few curbs to get us out of here.  The road is pretty much blocked.”

“Shit,” Brandon muttered.  “Sorry about that, Steve.”

“We’ll have to increase security for the rest of the tour,” the bodyguard replied, his eyes on the road.  “We can’t risk things getting out of hand again.  Especially not now, after everything that’s happened.”

“I know,” Brandon sighed.  He didn’t sound happy about it.

“Where am I taking you?” Steve asked a few minutes later, once the fans were behind us.  Some of them had actually chased after us, trying desperately to get one last moment with Brandon.  I was still stunned by the whole thing.  In fact, I was so stunned I didn’t even notice I was being addressed.

“Hello?” Brandon said.

“Huh?” I blinked.

“I asked if there’s any place you would like to stop before we hit up the amusement park.”

“Uh...no, I don’t think so,” I said after racking my brain and coming up empty-handed. 

“Then amusement park it is,” Brandon announced, a glimmer of excitement in his eyes.  “Hayley, we are going to have
so much
fun!”

*****

“Have you ever been here before?” Brandon asked me a short time later as we strolled through the gates of the state’s largest and most popular amusement park.  It looked like something out of a storybook with its colorful rides and immaculately landscaped gardens.  It was breathtaking.

“No, never,” I replied.  Then, looking around in awe, I offhandedly commented, “I expected it to be a lot busier.  There aren’t even any lineups.”

Brandon began to laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“We rented out the park today so there wouldn’t be any security issues,” he explained patiently.  “Otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to come here – it would have been too much for our team to handle.  So today it’s just you, me, a couple of my bandmates and their buddies.”

“Well now I feel dumb,” I admitted, blushing.

“Don’t,” he smiled.  “By the way, you’re really cute when you blush.”

That, of course, only made me blush more.

I was all too aware that Brandon was watching me with an amused, affectionate grin. 

“Oh my goodness, look at that carousel!” I gasped suddenly when the gigantic, beautiful structure caught my eye.  Each horse appeared to be hand-painted and boasted its own unique and majestic look.  And the entire thing was covered in lights. 

It was only the early afternoon and already it was stunning.  I could barely even imagine how breathtaking it must look at night, lighting up the landscape with its carefully attached miniature white lights.  Exquisite wasn’t even a strong enough word, as far as I was concerned.

“Do you want a ride?” Brandon asked obligingly.

“You don’t mind?”

“No, why would I mind?  Go ahead, hop on,” he urged. 

When I didn’t immediately move, he put an arm around my shoulder and gently guided me over to the gorgeous carousel, pausing only to say hello to the ride attendant.  Then Brandon hopped onto the structure with ease.  Right away, he extended his hand to help me up.

“I know it’s probably dumb that I’m in my mid-twenties and giddy about riding a carousel,” I said apologetically as I climbed onto a pink and white stallion with flowers in its long, flowing mane.  “It’s just that I’ve always wanted to ride one.”

“You never have?” Brandon asked, surprised.

“No.  I didn’t have the most privileged childhood,” I shrugged, not wanting to sound like I was trying to make Brandon feel sorry for me.  Then I let out a startled shriek as the music came on and the carousel suddenly and unexpectedly began to move.

Brandon laughed at my reaction and I felt his arm slip around my waist, holding me steady.  “Easy,” he murmured reassuringly as he stood beside me.  “I’ve got you.  You’re not going to fall.  I’ve got you.”

When the carousel ride came to an end, I was beaming from ear to ear.

Brandon couldn’t seem to take his eyes off me.

“So how did reality live up to the fantasy?” he asked, helping me down.

“It was great!” I replied enthusiastically, unable to stop smiling.

“Have you ever been on a rollercoaster?” he asked with a gleam in his eye.

I shook my head.

“Oh, you are going to love it,” he promised.  Then he asked, “You don’t have like, a heart condition or anything, do you?  And please tell me you don’t have issues with motion sickness?  Because that might not end so well...”

“No, nothing like that,” I assured him.

“Okay, good.  Then I stand by what I said.  You are going to love it!  C’mon!”

A few minutes later, Brandon and I were strapped into the front car of a very large and impressive looking rollercoaster.  After the attendant had come over to make sure we were securely fastened in, he went over to the control booth and started the ride.

At first it was little more than a slow and steady crawl to the top of the mountainous structure.  But then, as we were approaching the top, I started to get nervous.  I looked at Brandon and saw that he appeared to be on cloud nine, eager anticipation written all over his handsome face.

He extended his hand and I took it gratefully.

He gave it a squeeze and shot me a reassuring, happy grin.

Then we went sailing over the side of the rollercoaster, hurtling toward the ground so fast that it left my stomach doing summersaults.  But it also gave me a huge adrenaline rush, and by the time we reached the bottom I was screaming and laughing all at once.  The thrill of what we had done left me giddy and carefree.

“That was incredible!” I giggled as Brandon undid my safety strap for me. 

“I told you it would be fun,” he chuckled, climbing out of the car and then helping me to my feet.  “What do you feel like trying next, the Ferris wheel?”

“Sitting down sounds like a good idea,” I agreed.  “My legs are a bit shaky!”

Just as he had done on the carousel, Brandon slipped an arm around my waist.  “Is that better?” he asked, letting me lean against him for support. 

Not trusting my voice, all I could do was nod.  It was, in fact, infinitely better.  The closeness of his body and the gentleness of his touch were making my entire body tingle, waking up feelings I had thought were permanently comatose.  I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that.

“Should we buy some cotton candy for the ride?” Brandon suggested.

I shook my head immediately, always afraid that one little slip up would do me in.

“No?  Okay.  I wish I had an ounce of your willpower,” he told me. 

I knew he had meant for that to be a compliment, but after years of having Carl scrutinize my eating habits and criticize my weight, I hated discussing anything food-related.  Of course, Brandon had no way of knowing that.  And I didn’t feel like talking about it. 

Instead, I pointed to the nearest distraction I could find.  It happened to be a festively decorated games booth where vendors tried to lure park guests in with promises of gigantic stuffed animals and other eye catching prizes.

“Want to play the ring toss?” I asked.

“Sure,” Brandon agreed, easy-going and open to whatever I suggested.

As it turned out, I was pretty terrible at the ring toss.  Brandon’s aim was only slightly better than mine, which wasn’t saying much.  But he was determined.  He refused to leave until he won me a stuffed animal, and eventually, he managed to do exactly that. 

I chose a tiny stuffed lion with a big furry mane. 

“Ferris wheel time?” he asked.  “I think I’ve made a big enough ass of myself at the ring toss.”

Giggling, I tucked the lion under my arm.  “Ferris wheel time,” I agreed.