Love Song (Rocked by Love #2) (15 page)

Audrey
had been awake for hours by the time the alarm clock pealed, signaling the
start to another new day. Sleep had come in small doses while her thoughts had
run rampant, darting from clothes choices for the bands, to the slurs on her
windows, to the sexy, solid man sleeping beside her.

She hit the off button
and rolled out of bed.

"Too early,"
Luke murmured from beneath the covers. "We're still on California
time."

Her lips twitched. She
wished they were still in California. Things seemed happier for her out there.
"You can sleep in if you want. I have to go to work."

He sat up reaching for
her. "I think it's better if you wait until the spray paint is gone before
you go in."

"As hurtful as it
is, I can't let it stop me. I need to reorganize some things." She pressed
a kiss to his hand. "Go back to sleep. Maybe you can meet me later for
lunch."

"No, I'll go in with
you. I have a few calls to make anyway." He tossed the covers aside and
rose. "I'll give you space and hang out at the coffee shop. Then do my own
thing until lunch, when I'm going to convince you to play hooky for the rest of
the day."

"Think so,
huh?"

"Don't underestimate
my powers of persuasion." Strong hands clamped on her waist and dragged
her against him.

She wrapped her arms
around him and enjoyed the feeling of solid male still warm from sleep. "I
like your persuasive powers."

"Enough to climb
back in bed? The sheets are still warm."

Nipping his lip, she
laughed. How was he always able to make her forget about the bad things?
"Let me make a dent in my to-do list at the studio. That way, if I play
hooky later, I won't feel too guilty. Everyone is coming in tomorrow to select
clothes for Friday's show. I want to be ready."

"That reminds me, I
have a radio interview at three o'clock today with the local rock station to
promote Friday's show. An in-station interview for an hour, taking calls and
discussing the new band."

"Better set an alert
in your phone. I don't want to be responsible for you missing it."

When she stepped out of
the cab half an hour later with Luke, the ugly slurs hidden behind large sheets
of cardboard taunted her. She tightened her hand in his.

"You don't have to
go in today." He rubbed her back with his other hand. "Putting off
the organizing for a few days won't hurt anything."

"No. I'm going
in." She unlocked the door, surprised when Luke followed her inside.
"I thought you were going to the coffee shop."

"I am. When Renee
gets here."

"I'll be fine on my
own." But she was glad he was staying.

When Renee breezed in
twenty minutes later, he kissed Audrey goodbye. "I'll be back at
noon."

She locked the door
behind him and glared at the red paint covered by cardboard obscuring her view
of the street. Pretending to be fine hadn't worked. Luke had seen through her
ruse. She hadn't told him the organizing was a start for packing up the studio.

Renee stood at her desk,
checklist in hand. "What's up with the list?"

"My lease is up in a
few months. I'm not renewing here."

"I don't blame you.
That graffiti is bad energy. Where are you thinking of moving the studio?"

"I'm not sure yet.
But it's time to start looking."

"I'll keep my eyes
and ears open." Renee settled onto the floor two feet from her empty chair
and sipped her tea. Audrey had given up trying to figure out Renee's quirks.

"Do me a favor?
Don't mention anything to Luke. I don't want him to think I'm spooked about the
spray painter."

"But you are
spooked."

"But I don't want
him to worry."

"Got it. We're
totally cool. Unflappable women just checking out some new digs."

Laughing felt good.
"Yes, we are. If you don't mind, I want to double-check the inventory to
make it easier to estimate the number of moving boxes and the moving truck size
we'll need."

They worked side by side,
not stopping for a break until the mail arrived at eleven-thirty. Audrey dusted
her hands on her pants and dropped the letters onto her desk. She'd also
received a large package.

Renee pointed at the box.
"What did you order? Anything fun?"

"I'm not waiting on
anything. I have no idea what this is." She turned it over, seeking the
return address. No name, just a New York City street she didn't recognize. She
grabbed a box cutter and sliced across the top and then dug through a layer of
newspaper. She instantly recognized the material and pattern of one of her
designs. Frowning, she pulled out the fabric. The bronze dress sprinkled with
sequins was identical to the one she'd worn to the fashion show. It had been
one of her best-selling pieces from the Fall collection.

It was in tatters.

Her breath caught. Large,
ugly gashes crisscrossed the chest and back of the dress. Dried drips of
brownish red were splattered all over it...

Like blood.

Icy cold shot up her
spine.

A single sheet of paper
lay at the bottom of the box. She reached for it with tingling hands. She
didn't want to read it. Didn't want to know. But she couldn't look away.

Stay away from Luke or
next time this will be YOU.

"What's wrong, Aud?
You've gone white." Renee's voice came from far away.

Spots appeared in front
of her eyes. Audrey's heart pounded as fast as a needle whipping through a
straight seam.

"Oh, shit."
Renee took the dress from her hands and eased her into a chair. "Deep
breaths and put your head between your knees. I'll call the police."

She nodded, or gave some
semblance of a nod.

Numbness overtook her
body.

The hate would never
stop.

She couldn't handle it
anymore.

***

Luke
spent the morning on the phone with the contractor who'd renovated Irisa and
Dom's house. Halfway into the lengthy chat, he'd realized having Audrey in on
the call would have helped immensely. Still, he received an estimate on how
long it would take to convert the lowest level of his home into usable studio
space for Audrey. He'd wanted her there anyway, but the vandalism had pushed
him to get the project done immediately.

Then he
called Irisa and Zander to report in on Audrey. In painstaking detail, he told
them what had been happening. Sweat beaded all over his face while Zander
insisted they think about getting Audrey a security guard and Irisa exclaimed
her relief about the authorities now being involved. He felt like he needed
another shower. More importantly he needed to figure out who was behind the
spray paint. Close to noon, he ended the call and then walked back to the
studio.

From down the
block he saw two cops walk through the previously locked door. Fear choked his
heart and he ran hard, flinging back the door and taking the stairs two at a
time. He knew he shouldn't have left her alone. Not even with Renee. He burst
inside the studio, screaming her name. "Audrey?"

Four pairs of
eyes turned toward him—two cops, Renee, and his precious Audrey, pale and
shaking.

He moved to
her as fast as he could. "What's going on? Why are the cops here,
again?"

Audrey pointed to a
tattered bloody dress in one of the officer's gloved hands. "I had a
special delivery. A stay-away-from-Luke-special."

The one cop showed him a
sheet of paper. "This note was found in the box."

Stay away from Luke or
next time this will be YOU.

Fuck. "What can you
do with this?"

The first cop answered.
"The only identifying information they used is two crumpled pieces of
newspaper from last Sunday's circulation. The return address is a fake. Ms.
Pierce gave us a list of the clients who ordered that dress. We'll go through
the list, but considering the dress has been available on the secondary market,
that's not a lot to go on. We'll test everything for prints, but if there's
nothing in the system, there's nothing we can do."

"What about the
blood?"

"That could be
anything too. We're not sure this is real blood but we'll have it tested."

"The message was
clear enough." Audrey's hands shook and her body trembled. She rocked back
and forth.

Luke wrapped his arms
around her. "We had an incident yesterday with the spray paint on the
front window. The property manager called it in."

"Yeah," the
second cop nodded. "But we'll need the three of you to come down to the
station to give statements."

Luke nodded.
"Whatever you need."

Two hours later, after
enduring another retelling of the cyberattacks and watching Audrey's shaking
slow to a stop and cool stillness set in, Luke accompanied Audrey and Renee
from the police station and back to the studio. Renee found work in the front
room, leaving him alone with Audrey in her office. This had gone way too far.
Anger and fear mixed together into a dangerous cocktail. Luke pulled her into
his embrace. "Nothing's going to happen to you. I promise."

"How? How exactly
can you promise that?" Her voice rose octaves higher. "Things keep
getting worse, not better."

"I can help."
He held her tighter. "It's okay. We'll fix this."

"It's not okay. And
you can't fix this." She wrenched free. "Every time I post a picture
online, I'm being attacked. My name is dragged through the mud every day. It's
hurting my livelihood and it's killing me inside. I thought I could handle that
part, but this..." She gestured to her studio window. "This is it.
They win. I'm spooked."

"Audrey—"

"That bloody dress?
I don't need some rabid fan gutting me because she thinks you're her true
love."

"That's not going to
happen."

"Really, how can you
prove it?"

"We can hire a
security guard and get you a guard dog."

"No. That's no way
to live. I love you, Luke, but I'm not going to wait around to see which type
of kitchen knife they use to fillet me." She laughed. A bitter, desperate
sound. "It's over. They've won. I'll fulfill my obligation to you and the
band for the show, but our relationship is over."

Desperation clawed at
him. He grasped her hand. "Don't do this. I'm here with you.
With
you. Like I promised."

"I absolve you of
your promises. Go back to California, back to your beach, back to your fans.
What I said all those weeks ago is true—we don't always get what we want."
Tears shimmered, turning blue eyes into pools. She pulled her hand free from
his and swiped underneath her eyes. "I'll miss you. I'm glad we gave it a
try. But I can't live in constant fear for my life."

His own eyes grew
damp—something that hadn't happened in more years that he could remember. He
closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. She'd said she loved him.
Loved
him. And she wouldn't stay. Couldn't stay. How could he let her go?

He opened his eyes and
grabbed her by the arms.

She pulled away.
"Give me a minute. I'm going to the restroom."

His phone rang.
What
now?
He glanced at the screen and swore. The fucking radio interview.
"Hello?"

"Hi, Mr. Thompson.
I'm checking on your estimated arrival time. The show is live in twenty minutes."

Goddamn. Fucking. Hell.
"I'm on my way."

He backtracked to the
front room and found Renee. "Tell Audrey I had to go. I forgot about the
radio interview. Tell her we're not finished with our conversation. I'll be
back as soon as I can."

"No problem. I'll
take care of her until you're back." Her smile indicated she hadn't heard
any part of his conversation with Audrey.

He ran for a cab, intent
on finding a way to cut the interview short.

By the time he returned
to the studio, an hour and a half later, it was locked. Audrey and Renee had
gone.

Anger and fear twisted
into one again. She was probably at home. No need to panic.

As soon as he set foot in
her place, he knew she'd been there. Her perfume hung heavier in the air.

His suitcases were stacked
on the floor in front of the couch, close to the door, far from their place in
the bedroom. Seeing them there was like a sucker punch to his stomach. On top,
lay a note in her flowing script.

Luke,

I'm staying with Renee
tonight. I wasn't sure how late you'd get in from your interview, so you can
sleep at my place, but please move your things to a hotel tomorrow morning. If
you need clothes for Friday's show, I'll see you at the studio tomorrow at noon
for the bands' appointment. Regardless, please drop my key in my mailbox after
you lock up in the morning.