Romance: Gibson's Legacy ( New Adult Contemporary Erotic Romance) (Last Score Book 1) (12 page)

Smiling into my cell, I felt slightly weird that a guy I had never met could make me feel this engaged. Finding it very strange that I felt good about myself and that someone I didn’t know could have an effect like that on me. I loved the rich deep tone of his voice, it was warm and there was something familiar in it. “Hey, Paul. How’s it hanging?”

My jaw hung silently in disbelief as soon as my words were out. Where the hell had that phrase come from? I had no idea and to say it to him after the last conversation was…well an epic fail on my part. Paul coughed and sputtered, like he’d been drinking something and gave me another belly laugh, trying to get himself under control.

“God, Chloe, that’s too fucking funny, oops, sorry, my bad, I didn’t mean to swear.” Continuing to chuckle, he asked, “Where are you?” I smiled looking at the spacious wide area around me.

“Umm, in prison…where else do you think I’d get all this time to answer Toby’s wrong numbers? What the hell does this guy do anyhow?” My question was met with a silence that seemed a little odd, and then I heard him clear his voice.

“Ah, well…not very much if you ask me.”

I exhaled and smiled again, “Thought so, he’s too busy taking phone calls to work.”

“So…” Paul said, changing the subject.

“So,” I answered back playfully.

“Where are you? I mean…where are you, really?” Suspicion took over and I became cagey again.

“New York.” Paul snickered down the line at me.

“I know…you told me that. I mean where are you and what are you doing?”

Swallowing noisily, I wasn’t sure whether to tell him I was in Central Park because that would pinpoint me, but it was a big park so I answered. “I’m in the park.” My voice sounded wary.

“I thought I could hear ducks, or are they geese?” Good guess, Paul. Grinning, I looked at the beautiful birds out on the lake. “Both.”

“So, Paul… was there…a reason for this call, or did you just want to hear my voice?”

“Well there was a reason, and yes that’s it, actually.” Confused, I asked him to clarify what he meant. “I did call because I wanted to hear your voice, and well… to apologize for my pretty stupid off- the- cuff remark to you the last time about phone sex… and to tell you that I’m sorry.”

Smiling, I was glad he sounded so remorseful about it. It said a lot about him as a person. And, even although he’d apologized in a text, he wasn’t beyond repeating that to me, so that I could respond. While I was thinking he spoke again.

“Tell me something about Chloe. Anything.”

Frozen by his request, I wasn’t sure I was ready to share anything about my life, but like I thought before, the guy was on the phone and would never know me in real life. Besides not all men were like Kace. “So, this random guy rings me and it’s a wrong number right? And he admits to a stupid gene, and then proves it ‘cause he calls me again, so anyway…” Paul cut me off.

“Okay, I got it. I’ll go first. I understand you’re nervous, but we’re on the phone so it’s safe, right? I mean no one is going to get mauled or anything, and there will be no awkward end of night date thing going on, we’re just two people talking.”

Raising my brow I asked, “So you have nothing better to do than talk to some woman that’s a wrong number?”

Chuckling softly he said, “You’re getting the idea, and no I don’t. Not right at this minute. And, to be honest, I can’t think of anything better to do than to talk to you.” It was a nice statement so I decided to play along.

“Smooth answer Paul. Hmm…let me see then, okay…My best friend is called Ruby.” Chuckling at my disclosure, he mirrored back.

“My best friend is called…Toby.” I could hear the smile in his voice and it made me smile in return, liking his slight tease at me.

“Tell me something else,” he coaxed, his voice encouraging me. Twisting my lips, I thought about that.

“I’m unemployed.” He immediately came back sounding concerned.

“Do you have money to eat and live and shit?” Taken aback by his sudden concern, I had to offer some reassurance.

“Sure, I have plenty to keep me going for a long while.”

I heard him exhale heavily. “Well, that’s good. What do you do?”

This was getting personal. “Ah, that would be question three and you’re now two behind.” Clucking his tongue on his palate, Paul thought about what to share with me.

“I have a dog and a car.”

Giggling at his odd choices to share, I asked playfully, “Is that in order of importance, Paul?”

Laughing again, he said, “That’s three times you’ve said my name. Does that mean you’re my friend now? Not waiting for a response, he quickly interjected, “Your turn.”

Smirking wickedly into my cell, I mirrored him back. “I have no car and no dog.”

“Enough questions for today?” Paul asked, sensing my closed answers as an indication I wasn’t ready to share anything else. I nodded and said yes, but liked the “for today” part. Strange how I felt a little pang of regret that our call was coming to an end, but I definitely hadn’t trusted anyone with anything that was worth knowing about me at that point.

“Yeah, my driver will be picking me up soon.” Paul’s voice sounded surprised. “Your driver?”

Smiling, I clarified, “Yeah, I’m not rich or anything, he’s my taxi driver and he’ll be here soon, so I need to get going I have some errands to run. Nice talking to you, Paul.”

Hearing him breathe in deeply, he asked, “So, are we friends now? If so, maybe you could add my name to my number on your phone?” Pausing he added, “Call forward friends?” I could agree to that.

“Okay Paul, and thanks for the chat.” I touched the red call end button and dropped the cell in my bag; still smiling as I stood up and knocked the crumbs from my pants, I made my way to the entrance where I had agreed to meet Hank. He was waiting for me and it felt good that, even though he was only a taxi driver, he was someone I could depend on for the moment.

Falling into the sedate lifestyle I was carving out, I had Hank drop me off at the library. After gathering some research, I went home and started to plot a chart of ideas for a book. I became so lost in it, that I nearly forgot to eat until I couldn’t ignore my rumbling stomach.

Taking sandwiches and soup to bed, I tried again to watch a movie on my laptop, but I fell asleep, my mind playing catch up after more than a year of abuse and living on my nerves.

It wasn’t until the following evening, around 11:30 that Paul contacted me again, this time by text.

Has anyone told you that you have the sexiest voice ever?

Pretty sure that he’d texted me by accident, I reacted strangely, feeling more than a pang of jealousy at the woman who should have received that message instead of me. Shaking off that feeling I told myself I was being absurd, the guy on the phone wasn’t really interested, I was just someone he was passing the time with.

Besides, he could look like Quasimodo from the ‘Hunch Back of Notre Dame,’ but he had the voice of Gibson Barclay.

Sighing, I leaned over to my nightstand and swiped the screen of my tablet. Finding the app to my music, I found the song I was looking for. As soon as the music intro started, I lay back and closed my eyes. “Inches From Paradise,” the song that made M3rCy superstars, filled the room and my imagination wandered back to the time when Gibson looked into my eyes and in my mind we had shared a moment.

The words were amazing and although the credits said that he wrote the song, the man-whore I had known about then, wouldn’t have been capable of the feelings behind those words in that song.

Unspoken moment, in a thunderstorm, a moment remembered, that still keeps me warm, I’ll never forget that sweet soulful look, a chance of a stolen kiss that I never took.

Living my life without regrets, until the moment our lips almost met, and then you were gone, but the fresh smell of rain still makes me wonder, where you are now and if for that second you had felt the same.

Unlike the rest of his songs, this one had an element that clicked with me. Lyrics of a love song, instead of his usual rock songs full of metaphors for fucking women, drinking and broken fucked up relationships. This song had a different, slower tempo, sad sounding melody and softer music. Not a rock ballad per se.

All I knew was that I connected with it, and I never thought I’d ever hear myself say that I had something in common with Gibson Barclay. It was the song that saved my life and kept me sane. When life was terrible, I’d put it on and lie flat on the floor with my arms stretched out to the side and imagine myself floating whilst it played. Those few moments of escape were everything to me.

CHAPTER 12 - SHE HUNG UP

Gibson

Crazy I know, but she sounded a great girl. I loved her voice too. There was a sweet way with her. And, damn, she hung up on me! I snickered to myself. That’s got to be a first…ever. Doubt she’d do that if she knew who I really was. Actually, that was a really arrogant thought, and then thought she might hate my music and what I did.

Didn’t think I’d ever really met a woman that just wanted me for me. Maybe that’s why I wanted to talk to her so much. I was getting a kick out of talking to someone who sounded so normal without all the adulation shit that I usually got. She was bright and funny and didn’t want anything from me. So, I was getting a real buzz out of my mystery wrong number. Realizing I was smiling, I shook my head.

I’d never been so thankful to anyone for doing something wrong before. Toby’s PA gave me his new number wrongly, so it was a pure fluke, but Chloe, there was just something about her. She had a cute way about her, not to mention a sexy laugh, but there was something in her voice that made me feel that something was wrong. I really liked talking to her, she was very real. Not like those plastic girls that were always hanging around in droves, wiggling their asses at me, and asking me to sign their tits.

Man. Why did girls do that? What the fuck? Why anyone would want to screw a rock star with the reputations that fly around about us is beyond me. At first, when I hit it big I was like a kid in a candy store, trying everyone, not knowing which type of girl to go for next.

Nowadays sex only happened if I was in a good mood, there was good conversation, the sexual chemistry was there between us, and I’d had a fair amount to drink. Drinking made me feel horny so I tried not to do much of that either since I realized that.

I wasn’t proud of the girls I’d been with, and although it was just physical, I always tried to be honest and they knew up front that there was never going to be anything more than that moment with me.

So that was why I was really thankful to Toby’s PA for her fuck- up. Looking at the number I kept calling, I admitted to myself I’d been doing on purpose since after the first time.

Chloe was a girl I knew nothing about, but she had become a welcome distraction from the crazy life I led every day. I had no idea what it was about her or what she looked like, or what her life was like. She just sounded an upbeat girl with a great personality. Suddenly I wondered if she had a partner. I hoped not, because I hadn’t wanted to create drama by calling her.

Somehow I figured she must have been involved with someone, a girl like her. I then thought I should have been more thoughtful about that, asking personal questions. It had never occurred to me that her partner may be around. Hell, maybe she was married. I needed to ask her those questions. I knew I couldn’t go around hijacking someone else’s relationship because I didn’t have one.

What the hell was I thinking? I needed to be more careful. It was a fucking wrong number. Yet, there I was deliberately calling her. Hooked. Then I decided I definitely needed a break when was thinking about someone I knew nothing about and have called by accident. Thing was, she was a smidge of normality, a tiny strand tied into a normal existence I knew nothing about.

When I mentioned Chloe to Toby, he thought it was hysterical. The thought of someone else continually getting his calls really appealed to him. “Poor woman,” he groaned before laughing his ass off. Toby hated his phone because it never stopped ringing.

He stupidly kept the same number for years on his phone and constantly complained about old friends who suddenly were down on their luck and looking for a handout. I’d been telling him to get a set up like mine.

Everyone rang Charlotte, my PA, and the cell I have, I use to call out on. It’s blocked from accepting incoming calls unless I punch that particular number into an accepted callers list, but I can get text messages on it. Besides only a very few have the number for me.

Actually, there are eleven now; if I include Chloe.

Chloe’s the first normal ‘non friend’ person I had spoken to on the phone in years. She had no idea who I was or what I was, and that fact drew to me to her, like a camel to water. Talking to her gave me a few moments of escapism from my mad world.

Calling Toby after talking to Chloe, I tried to sound upbeat. “Hey, dude, wazzup?” Toby sounded upbeat as usual. No idea where he got his energy levels from.

“Just calling to tell you we’re definitely going to be in LA next week.”

Toby’s voice came back rushed and animated, “Great, I can’t wait to see you, bro. Are you staying here? How long do you have?”

I smiled because I couldn’t wait to see him. “Gig Friday, then two nights and we’re off to Rio on Monday.” Walking across the room, I lifted my iPad off the chair and sat down and leaned back into it.

“Fucking, Ace! We’re here until Friday so we’re definitely partying when you get here.”

I grinned widely and felt pretty stoked about that because Toby Francis and I only saw each other a few times a year due to our crazy schedules. We hadn’t seen each other since last February and it was April by then. Fourteen months since the last time and it was the longest time apart we’d ever had.

We spoke on the phone almost daily, or tried to, depending on the time zones we were in. If we hadn’t talked we emailed. In this business, the normal and mundane things such as, talking to your friends was so damned important.