Rock Star: The Contest (Book 2 of a Bad Boy Romance) (12 page)

I
arrived
in Lakeside just a little past four in the morning. I had been getting texts from Chase, Spike and Sophie. I only replied to Spike and Sophie. Just to let them know I was safe and would be home shortly.

That morning I didn’t open up the shop. It remained closed. It had been the first time I had no motivation. By the time I had rolled into bed, I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept much on the bus. My feelings toward what had taken place went from anger to sadness. Back and forth. I had thought about what I would say, all the ways I could get back at her and him.

It was pretty obvious he had moved on.

Spike had informed me that I had made it into the finals. I was part of the final five. Teddy, Luke, Maisey, Leanne and myself. He had asked if he could help Maisey. He and she connected last night and for whatever reasons he was keen now to play guitar with her. It was just one more nail in the coffin. First Chase, now Spike. All I needed now was for Sophie to say that she wanted to quit and travel the world with Teddy.

Maybe that was why I didn’t get out of bed that morning. I hadn’t answered the knocking which was either Spike or Sophie coming in for their shift.

So they didn’t think I had been killed in Portland. Bleary eyed, I texted them and told them that I was going to be out of town today and to have the day off. Sophie showed concern, Spike was ecstatic. It meant he could spend more time with Maisey.

I drifted in and out of sleep. No doubt the town was up in arms by now without their morning cup of java. They would have to go without, make their own or visit the gas station for some of their sick-tasting excuse for coffee.

By the time I woke up, it was a little after midday. I took a shower, got dressed and had some breakfast. Outside the weather was raining. There were few people on the streets.

I didn’t find excitement in knowing that I had made the final five. It was if someone had let all the air out of a balloon. And I was the balloon.

I didn’t plan on going into town, just milling around my apartment. I had a freezer full of ice cream, lots of freshly baked muffins down in the café. I was just thinking of eating myself into a sugar high. Then vomit and do it again. At least that’s what I told myself. Instead, I found that after just a few spoonfuls that I wasn’t ready to balloon back up to the size I had just come down from. Not for any man. Especially an asshole like Chase Bryan. I gave myself a mental slap and tried to shake it off.

No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t get out of my head last night.

I needed to take a break. Get out. That’s what they said you should do when you felt down. Shower, put clean clothes on and go for a walk.

That’s what I did.

I grabbed up my keys and headed out. I planned on driving out to my parents’ place and then taking a walk around the area. It was deep inside a forest. As a kid it always been the one place I could think. No matter was going on in my life, returning to nature somehow allowed me to see the world with a new set of eyes.

When I arrived there, I parked out front and began my trek into the forest. The rain had stopped, but the ground and everything I bumped into was soaking wet. I thought a lot about what my parents had said to me growing up. Before their accident. They were the supportive kind of parents. The best kind you could have. They knew I had aspirations of getting out of Lakeside and pursuing a career in music. Though my father didn’t think it was a viable means of bringing in money, he always said he would do whatever he could to get me where I wanted to go, even if that meant they sold off things that they owned. That’s just who they were. Though they had made it very clear that the family business would be their first priority. They were attached to it and had dreams of me taking it over once they retired. They never saw retirement.

I eventually found the log that I used to sit on as a kid. Moss had grown all over it. It looked smaller than what I remembered. But then everything seemed that way once you got older. I took a seat and pulled out a notepad and pen.

With the sound of birds chirping, the forest floor moving and the morning sun’s rays poking through the cover of the trees, it was peaceful. The air was crisp and clean.

I hadn’t been writing for longer than twenty minutes, when I heard movement in the forest. At first I didn’t pay attention to it. Then when I did, I found I was no longer alone.

Chase was by himself.

I got up to leave.

“Meghan. Please. Give me a minute to explain.”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“No, you will.”

I stopped walking away.

“What? Is this where you tell me, you suddenly got feelings for another girl? How you can’t control how you feel?”

He moved closer and I stepped back. I didn’t want him anywhere near me. All the frustration of last night came flooding back in. Along with it, all the resentment and pain.

“How did you know I was out here?”

He leaned his head to one side.

“It’s the one place you feel safe. You can think.”

“Well, get to it.”

“I want to show you something.”

He pulled out his cell phone and began swiping the screen. Then he held it out.

It was a photo of him and Leanne kissing.

“Oh, my god. Did you come out here to rub it in?”

I began storming off, he followed closely behind.

“Wait up. Let me explain.”

“I think you’ve said enough. You are with her. I get it. I don’t need to see the photo album, or watch the movie.”

“I did what Spike said.”

I came to a halt. Spinning around on my heel.

“What?”

“Meghan. Do you know how many times women have tried to blackmail me? Sue me or make up false accusations?”

I raised my eyebrows, then squinted.

“Women, like Leanne. They don’t go away. They are always thinking one step ahead. Even if you give them what they want. They want more.”

“I bet you gave her more too.”

“Stop. Come on.”

“Go ahead.”

“Even though Spike was telling a lie. Buying time. He picked up on one thing that was true. She’s into me. But what he didn’t find was the backup copy of the video she made of us. She was going to use it. Either way.”

“She had a copy?”

“On her laptop. Well, it’s not there anymore. It’s been deleted.”

“I’m sure that pissed her off.”

“No, actually she deleted it.”

“OK. And how did you pull that off?”

“Kissing her. I told her that I was into her. That I could swing a record deal even if she lost the contest. That I had already spoken to my management and they were keen to sign her. But that if she wanted that, she would need to back off you.”

“Oh, c’mon, Chase, she must have wondered why you were doing that for me?”

“I didn’t say it was for you. I said that it was for me. Removing that file would give me peace of mind. I didn’t want to be in the tabloids over another scandal.”

“So you kissed her?”

He moved in closer until he was in front of me. I could smell his crisp cologne.

“This photo.” He pointed to it. “This is insurance. As far as she’s concerned if she says anything more, I will show the photo to the judges.”

“But that would get you and her kicked off?”

“Yeah. But at least this way, you can finish this contest. You shouldn’t have to put up with this crap. Me, that’s an entirely different thing. I deserve the bad press I have got over the years. The things you do when you’re rich and young are foolish. But you don’t deserve to go through all that.”

I chewed down on the side of my lip, thinking about all that he shared.

“So what about Leanne now?”

“I’ve told her that I will delete the photo at the end of the contest. Until then she’s to leave you alone and stick to singing. I told her that if she even thinks of going to the judges, I will see to it that she never works in the industry.”

“So you’re not together at all? What about last night?”

I was still a little skeptical. Players were known to tell you what they wanted you to think, so they could get you back into bed. He could be doing that, I thought.

He pushed the photo closer. I could tell the background was the club.

“You took it last night.”

“Yeah, if you had stuck around, you would have seen her reaction when I told her.”

I ran my hand over my head. I felt so foolish.

“I thought that…”

He brought his hand up to my face.

“I don’t want anyone else. Except you.”

He leaned in and for a brief moment I hesitated but then I gave in. Maybe that was wrong, foolish even, but I had to trust him. I wanted to trust him.

We walked back in silence to the cottage.

“Two days’ time, you will get to sing one last song. Hit that one out of the park, and you win this. You excited?”

“I would like to say yes, but more excited to see this over and done with. It’s been stressful. The lengths that a person will go is unreal.”

“That’s just the beginning. You’ll always have to be on alert. Photographers snapping you at your worst. It all sells magazines.”

We spent the next hour inside my parents’ place. I cooked up a lunch. Bacon, eggs, sausages and toast. I felt as if a load had been taken off my shoulders. I wasn’t worried now about the finals. Even if Spike had agreed to be the guitarist for Maisey on the final night, that would have been OK. There was something about reaching the end of the road. Arriving at the place that looked so far off when I first began. I was ready for a new chapter in my life. One with or without a career in music. Music would always play an important part in my life. No matter what the outcome of the final night would be. Whether that was singing locally or in cities around the world. It was all good.

Chase had talked about how he originally had signed on to do season three and four of the contest but he had decided to duck out of the fourth season. Doing one was hard enough. He wanted to get back on the road and do what he loved. He just hoped that was with me.

That afternoon we made love again.

* * *

I
couldn’t believe it
. She was into me. It had to be a miracle. I kept pinching myself hoping that I didn’t wake up. How could a girl like this be into me? I had changed the way I looked, I guess. But it seemed I had caught her attention on stage. Or was that all that she was interested in?

I had arranged to meet her outside her hotel that afternoon. She knew that I was playing guitar for Meghan, but had asked if I would be her guitarist for the finals. I have to admit the thought of not playing with Meghan was tough. Telling her even worse. But these things didn’t just happen to me. A hot girl from California, wanting to spend time with me? For once I wasn’t having to chase down a girl. Or convince her to give me her number. She had given it to me willingly and suggested that we go out for lunch.

It was refreshing.

Now here I was, standing inside her hotel, waiting for a girl that by all accounts could have dated any other guy. I had brought her a flower. A red rose. That was what they loved, wasn’t it?

The doors to the elevator opened, and she came out.

I
had
a big smile ready to go when she came out into the lobby, and the moment she laid eyes on me, I delivered it.

“Spike.”

She was wearing tight jeans, a white blouse and dark brown ankle boots. Her dark hair hung around her shoulders, as perfect as any photo I had seen in magazines. I handed her the rose and she smiled as she tucked it into her hair.

“Maisey, you look…” I tried to search for words but to be honest I just wanted to lick her like a big ice pop. “How the heck do you do that?”

She grinned. “What?”

“Look so… delicious.”

She burst out laughing and jabbed me on the arm.

“You have no filter on what you say. I like that in a guy.”

“You do?”

We began walking out of the hotel.

“Conversation with the last few guys I dated was like trying to get blood from a stone. One of them was so quiet, I swear he must have come from a line of church mice. I had to keep asking ‘what did you say?’ Then the next, I couldn’t get him to shut up, it’s not that I don’t mind if they carry the conversation, but please, make it about something other than yourself.”

This was like getting a golden ticket. Within a matter of minutes she had told me what my predecessors had done wrong.

“I hope I don’t disappoint you.”

“You haven’t so far.”

I liked her, a lot. There was something about her. She had a vibe that felt good to be around. A killer smile and deep green eyes that were like a wide expansive forest. I could easily get lost in them for days, and no, I wouldn’t want to be pulled out.

It was strange how life worked. I’d spent my entire life in this town. I had been through the three small schools that it had, and met several beautiful girls. But I had always been the one chasing them. Never the one grabbing the attention of the girl. I would be lying to say that I wasn’t blindsided by Maisey’s interest in me. Even skeptical.

Over time I had got so many rejections, I had begun to build a wall around myself. I had envisioned myself growing old around Sophie and Meghan. Watching them get married and have kids, while I sat on the sidelines as the so-called uncle, you know, Spike the good guy, the one who probably jerks off to porn, or has to settle for some beast of a woman with two heads and snakes growing out of them.

Now here I was, with a girl, I mean a woman, that for whatever reason was completely blind to all the annoying aspects of my personality. Or, maybe she would see them as the date went on. My eyes widened at the thought. This was a date. A real date. I felt almost stupid thinking about it. Like it was a big thing. I mean, guys my age had usually been on hundreds of dates with girls.

Sure, I had taken Sophie out several times but it didn’t feel like this. Sophie was beautiful but she always felt like a close friend, even a sister. In many ways hanging out with her had been a means to get closer to Meghan.

Meghan.

The thought of her passed through my mind. I didn’t feel guilty. She had made it clear, despite all my attempts at changing her mind, that her and Chase were together.

“So where do you want to go?” she asked.

This had always been a challenge for me. Where do you go in a small town? It didn’t have all the glitz and glamor of the city. No museums, no art galleries or exceptional places you could entertain a woman. The pressure to come up with something exciting had always been a tough one in Lakeside. Add to that dating girls who came from Lakeside and it was a recipe for a disaster, as they knew there was nowhere to go. So you ended up at a bowling alley, or a pizza joint or simply hanging out by a lake. When really all you wanted to do was go back to a house, have a bite to eat and then tear each other’s clothes off and get funky. But I couldn’t say that, even though that’s what I was thinking.

No doubt she expected the romantic walk down by the beach, or being shown some incredible rare exhibit that she had never seen. When reality was I wasn’t into that. Sure, I could be romantic from time to time. But it was hard to maintain that persona. Dating girls was like eating dinner. Occasionally I would get hungry and go and buy myself some food, but I didn’t want to stand in a kitchen cooking up some exquisite meal as though I was trying to impress a house full of guests. I just wanted to eat. The same with dating. I just wanted to take her out, eat, play a few video games and have sex. Not exactly in that order but you get what I mean. But I couldn’t say that to her. She would have been running for the hills. No, they all want the fantasy. The guy in a suit, whisking them off to some overpriced, exotic location. Eating a meal in a restaurant, where the bill is as expensive as buying a house. Drinking wine that hasn’t been cracked in forty years. God, it was exhausting.

I had been thinking about it all day, leading up to taking her out. I knew the question was going to come, and here it was.

“Um...”

“You know, we can just hang at your place.”

“My place?”

A flash of how I had left the place. Dirty clothes all over the floor. A sink full of dishes that had been sitting in there for the past two days. Dog hair all over the furniture. And the bathroom. Oh crap. I didn’t even want to imagine her face if she went inside there. I would have had to offer her a hazmat suit. It was pretty bad. But that was the home of a single man. A guy who didn’t have anyone to provide a woman’s touch. It needed a touch all right. A flame.

No, I couldn’t take her back there. She would have thrown a fit and run for the hills.

Now Meghan’s parents’ place. That was a great place. I had been out there a few times and from what I remembered it was always immaculate. It smelled as fresh as the day it was bought. Why was that? Why did some people’s houses seem clean, organized and free of clutter? How did they ever manage to find the time? Between juggling my job at the coffee store, writing songs, working out and handling all the everyday demands, I was beat by the end of the day. I could clean down the counters, maybe toss a few dishes in the sink and wash them every couple of days but that was it. I had considered hiring a maid.

“Yeah, um. Give me a second.”

I unlocked my beat-up Honda and she got in. I immediately phoned Meghan.

“You want to borrow the keys to my parents’ place?”

“Just this one time. I would owe you massively.”

“Why not just take her to your place?”

“Do I need to even answer that?”

“Ah, right. Yes. Probably best you don’t infect the poor girl with Ebola. Sure, swing by and I’ll leave them on the counter in my apartment. The door is unlocked.”

I got off the phone and slipped into the driver’s side.

“All good?”

“Yep, I just need to pick up something from work.”

It was a short drive to the coffee store. I arrived and shot upstairs. I was in and out in less than five minutes. Meghan wasn’t around. Sophie was serving customers. She was blissfully unaware of me entering or leaving. Though she had been lost in thought a lot recently, since she started dating that Teddy guy. I wasn’t sure what to make of him. It was odd but I gave a crap about who she dated. I didn’t want anyone to hurt her. She still meant a lot to me. I don’t think I had even worked through my feelings for her after we broke up.

“So where are we heading?”

“You’ll see.”

As we drove out we chatted. The conversation was smooth. It wasn’t filled with awkward silence. I could never stand that. It had happened once when I took out a girl who was gorgeous. My mind just didn’t seem to want to function that night. I had taken her to the bowling alley. All the way there I was searching for things to talk to her about but for the life of me I couldn’t come up with anything. And anything I did say to her was the opposite of what she liked. I could see why some people weren’t meant for each other. She was gorgeous to look at but both her and I couldn’t carry on a conversation to save our lives.

We sat there the whole night drinking and just filling in the time with useless conversation. I was glad to see the end of the night. It hadn’t started that way but damn, it had finished badly.

* * *

O
nce we arrived
at Meghan’s parents’ place, I jumped out and ran around to let her out. However, she was already out.

“Nice to see you acting like a gentleman, but it’s not necessary. I’ve always done things myself. I don’t expect a guy to open a door for me. I don’t expect them to pay the bill, or bring flowers all the time.”

“Weird.”

“You think?”

“Don’t all women love that?”

“Yeah, I’m not saying it’s not nice but it seems so forced, don’t you think?”

I nodded. “I guess.”

We went into the house. She hadn’t said a thing about the place. If it was nice, bad or whatever. It didn’t faze her.

“I mean, let’s face it. People go through all these routines. They act nice, say all the right things, crack jokes and exhaust every possible thing they can do to impress a guy or girl, only to run out of things to talk about later, or completely stop doing the nice things they used to, once they are comfortable in the relationship. It’s a farce. A joke really.”

“You have a point there. I always felt it was a little over the top as well.” I paused at the door. “I’m glad I met you, Maisey.”

She smiled. Something inside however didn’t sit right with me. Maybe I had just gotten used to women expecting certain things to be done for them. She didn’t expect that. Was that normal? I didn’t see it. When we got inside I was pleased to see that everything looked clean and organized. Meghan always did take after her parents who were clean freaks. Though I had seen her apartment in disarray a few times. That usually happened on her down days. That was how I could tell for certain if she was feeling down. She hid her pain well, but it showed up in another form. Chaos and clutter.

“You want a drink?” I searched through the fridge. There were three bottles of beer and half a bottle of red wine.

“Oh, yeah, grab the wine and the beer.”

Both?

“I’m just going to freshen up.”

“Sure.”

I took the time to find a few glasses and then tried to figure out what we could have for lunch. Inside the fridge, there wasn’t much. Meghan didn’t get out here all the time so she only carried the basics. There was some moldy cheese, a few slices of ham and a carton of pasta. I grabbed it out and gave it a sniff and nearly curled over. It was foul smelling. I tossed it in the garbage.

She was taking a while in the bathroom. Then again all women did that. I had dated one girl who had gone to the bathroom and never came back. I soon found out that she had ditched me and jumped out the window. I mean, c’mon. Jumping out of a window seemed a little extreme. Then I had a girl lock herself in the bathroom at a club. I kid you not, I had a bouncer, a waitress and some drunk girl trying to convince her to come out. She said that she couldn’t handle me any longer. Like was I that much of an annoyance. OK, maybe my dancing had been pretty bad and I had stepped on her toes several times that night, as well as knocked a drink on her dress — but worse things have happened, right?

I grabbed up two bottles of beer and wandered down the hallway to the bathroom. I don’t know why I didn’t call out. I just decided to knock. What I hadn’t expected was the door would be unlocked. As I rapped my knuckles against the door it opened. Thinking I was going to find her sitting on the toilet, I clenched my eyes shut.

“Sorry.”

“It’s OK.”

I opened one eye and wished that she was on the toilet.

She was perched up on top of the sink with drug paraphernalia around her. I knew it. I knew that’s why she was so accepting. The girl was as high as a kite. She didn’t care. I could have taken her to my place and I don’t think she would have batted an eyelid. In fact, she probably would have felt at home. That’s where all the druggies hung out. In dingy apartments. Sharing needles and covered in their shit. At least that’s what I thought, or had seen in the movies.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“It’s just a little pick-me-up.”

“Pick-me-up? Maisey, that’s heroin.”

“Try some. It makes all of the bad shit disappear. C’mere. You will love it.”

“Fuck that.”

I wasn’t one for drugs. I might have had some issues with tidying up my apartment and girls, but I was no druggie. Beer was my choice. And even then I didn’t drink a ton of it. But drugs, that was completely off-limits. I had seen too many friends through high school go down that road and they never returned. Many lost their lives. That was all I needed to see to convince me to stay clear of it.

“Whatever.”

She had always had her arms covered when I had seen her. Now I could see why. Dark marks where needles had gone in, peppered her arms. She had been doing this a long time. This wasn’t new to her.

“Shit, I can’t have you doing that here. This is my friend’s house. Hell, why would you do that?”

I thought I was going to get a response, but instead she collapsed into her world of heroin. Shot up, she was probably now floating on some fluffy cloud. However, I wasn’t. I was very much grounded in the reality of the situation.