Romance: Gibson's Legacy ( New Adult Contemporary Erotic Romance) (Last Score Book 1) (15 page)

“Listen, I’m just going to brush my teeth and get into bed. Let’s meet back here in five minutes and it will give you a few minutes to think about whether you want me to know, then I’ll call you back. If you decide not to share, we’ll just talk about something else or we can play the twenty questions game, I haven’t done anything that stupid in years and my stupid gene needs an airing again.” Paul snickered softly into the phone.

“That is, unless we should just wrap it up for the night and I can let you get some sleep. I’m really stupid because I’m just assuming there’s no hot guy in your apartment right now. Although… if there was, I wouldn’t have gotten this far into our conversation,” He teased playfully again.

“No, definitely no hot guy here,” I said with a slightly grating tone. Kace was hot to look at, but after what happened to me, I didn’t care what someone looked like, it was how they made me feel. Kace had made me feel depressed and worthless.

“Brushing my teeth and getting into bed with you sounds great.” As soon as the words came out I was kicking myself again, feeling stupid and I hadn’t meant it to sound flirty, but it must have. “I mean, lying in bed with you talking sounds good.” We both snickered at my double faux pas again.

“Yeah? Hmm… one step at a time, I don’t sleep with people for the first few phone dates darlin’.” Making light of my mistake, Paul teased me and I was grateful, so I ended the call before I could put my foot in it any further.

Wandering into the bathroom to brush my teeth, I was still feeling a little embarrassed. Slipping my tank top and pajama bottoms on, I climbed into my big snug bed with a glass of red wine and felt butterflies in my belly as I waited for Paul to call back.

More significantly, no man had asked what I thought about something in a while and I realized how important it had become, that he wanted my opinion. Even if it was only about Gibson Barclay and music.

Fifteen minutes later he still hadn’t rung back and I thought maybe he’d found something better to do or I had put him off. Switching off my bedside light, I plumped my pillow and settled down for the night feeling more than a little disappointed. Drifting off to sleep, I woke with a start when my cell rang again.

As I answered the phone, I knew there wouldn’t be the same connection as earlier. Obviously, my insecurities made me feel unsure about talking to him, especially when I considered how let down I had felt when someone I didn’t know, who had said they would ring back, hadn’t been prompt enough.

“Sorry, got side tracked.” Paul said curtly, “You were saying?” I really didn’t want to go there about Kace by then. The moment between us had gone.

“Well, the song thing? Sorry, if you don’t mind, I don’t want to talk about that right now, is that okay?”

Sounding reassuring, he said, “Sure, whatever you want darlin.’” and then quickly changed the subject and asked if we should play twenty questions.

From that moment on, the way Paul was able to read my moods during our calls was amazing, considering we knew very little about each other. Our calls went from small two minute conversations to long drawn out ones about anything that was on his mind or sometimes we just talked about music and movies. During those times we shared tiny snippets of information and built this great connection, which the both of us could manage.

Something that began to become noticeable was his dependability for ringing in the morning or late at night every day. I began to check the clock and bathe and take care of chores outside of those times.

Patterns of contact between us began to emerge. All the calls were either very early in the morning or late at night. One thing was clear, I had never rung him. Paul worked odd hours and worked as part of a team. I was partly enjoying the fact I didn’t know exactly what he did, it added a little more to the mystery to the whole thing for me.

Five weeks after our first call my cell rang at a time when I would have expected Paul to call. Answering, I was surprised to hear it was the telephone company, telling me I had won a competition to see M3rCy in concert. And, I was going to meet the band and have dinner with them.

Actually, the prize was for four people to fly to LA to see M3rCy in concert and hang out with the band for the weekend. I wondered how Gibson felt about hanging out with random people who’ve won a competition on his days off.

Hearing the clipped tones of the brash New York accent telling me the details of my prize, I interrupted to explain that I hadn’t entered any competition.

I was thinking it was either a hoax call or a mistake, until she explained that the entrants were automatically entered if they had purchased a new phone deal and handset, within a two month period that the competition had been running. Suddenly, the prize was a genuine win.

Excitement buzzed through my body, jolting my heart and making it bang hard in my chest with the shock of it. I could hardly text Ruby to tell her my fabulous news because my hands were shaking so much.

Ruby answered the phone and as soon as I told her the prize, she screamed so loud I jumped with fright at her sudden outburst. “OH! MY! GOD! You are going to come face to face with Gibson Barclay, Chloe. How do you feel about that after all this time?”

Face to face was the part I was trying to get my head around. As soon as the operator had told me we were meeting them and spending the day with them, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to deal with that particular scenario at all.

What the hell would I find to talk to Gibson Barclay about for a whole weekend? Worse than that, I’d probably be having flashbacks to scenes I had witnessed with his various women, most of them in very compromising positions.

Ruby knew me well. “And you can stop thinking you can’t do it. I know you too well, Chloe Jenner. You think you’ll freak out at the sight of him right?”

Truly? I had no idea what I’d do, but my saving grace was that he’d never remember me anyway.

Mumbling, I asked Ruby who else to take. Then I remembered Gavin from the plane. “Oh! Got it. I’ll ring Gavin and his roommate.” Talking fast and animatedly I told her about my flight with him to New York. Once I had finished my call with her, I padded barefoot into the kitchen and pulled Gavin’s number from the fridge door magnet.

“Hey, I was hoping I’d hear from you again. You’ve been in my thoughts a few times. I’ve been wondering how you were fairing here in the ‘Big Apple,’ all by yourself. Are you able to meet me for lunch later?”

Smiling at the way Gavin just fell right into conversation with me like I was an old friend swayed my decision. I agreed to meet him at a local delicatessen which had a fabulous coffee house at the back.

Expecting to see Gavin waiting, I was a little tense that he wasn’t there when I arrived. I was even more apprehensive when he turned up with another guy, who looked pretty similar to an actor who was in tons of movies; in character roles, but his name escaped me.

Eddie; or Ed as Gavin called him, was a production manager at Madison Square Gardens, which was probably the biggest indoor venue for music in New York.

He was hilarious and had the measure of Gavin. Poor guy couldn’t get anything past him. Explaining the reason for my call, Ed stood up, ran his hand through his hair and said, “Get the fuck out of here. You’re joking right?”

Puzzled, I turned to look at Gavin who was grinning widely at Ed and chuckling at Ed’s mouth that was mouthing words but was silent by then. “What am I missing here? Is someone going to fill me in?”

Gavin grinned again and filled me in, “We were discussing this at breakfast this morning. Ed was complaining that he sees tons of live bands a year, but has never seen M3rCy; his favorite band, by the way. Every time they have played New York it’s been at MetLife in Jersey which seats three times as many people as Madison Square Gardens.

“Well this isn’t the New York gig, this is at The Staples Center, in Los Angeles,” I corrected realizing I hadn’t included that part. All I had told them was that I had won four tickets to see M3rCy and hang out with the band and I’d neglected to tell them that we were being flown to LA for the weekend as well.

Once I had finished filling them in on the details, I thought that Eddie was going to have a coronary.

“Fuck, Gavin…did that plane you were on land at the end of a fucking rainbow? This is incredible. Not only do you meet a stunningly hot chick who’s just run away from her guy, she’s hit the fucking jackpot with tickets to see my favorite band. We are going right?” Turning to Gavin briefly for his reaction, he didn’t wait but turned back to me and said, “Well fuck him, I’m in whatever he’s doing.”

Smirking, Gavin rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger and turned his attention to me. Biting back a grin, he nodded his head from side to side as if deliberating. “Yeah, if it’s alright with Chloe. We’d love to come. Well, I would, I think Ed here is still on the fence.” Giggling at the way he was being playful with Ed, I felt I’d done the right thing in asking them to come with us.

We discussed meeting the following evening for dinner, so that Ruby could meet the guys. The concert was still a week away, but I didn’t want her to feel awkward with them. Having dinner would hopefully break the ice, and I had a feeling that she and Eddie would hit it off when they met.

CHAPTER 15 - STUPID DECISIONS

Gibson

Fuck me! It’s her. Oh. My. God. Chloe. The girl from Beltz Bar. Closing my eyes, her image flooded my mind, and I remembered the beautiful girl with the watchful stare. Of course her sweet, soft voice was like music to my ears. An honest voice, but there was a hint of sadness and I wondered what had happened to her.

I felt elated when she answered the phone and then my heart sunk like a stone, when I heard her talk about me like the man whore that I was…that wasn’t easy. Strike that. The way she spoke about me was fucking hard to listen to. Normally, I couldn’t give a shit what anyone thought, but oddly, for some reason that girl affected me.

Five years and my old reputation was still embedded in her brain, just like the image of her staring at me was in mine. Nothing I could do about that. Initially, I was going to call her out, and tell her that I knew who she was. Tell her that I had noticed her watching me all those times, but I was enjoying our little chats until she said that stuff about me.

I’d never run from controversy before, but she kinda got to me with her comments, so instead of finishing the call, I left her hanging mid conversation by telling her I had to go do something else.

There had never been a previous occasion when I choked because someone cast aspersions on the way I lead my life. As far as I saw it, it was my life not theirs and if they wanted to live in their ‘grey colored world,’ pretending they were happy that was up to them. Not me. If I wanted something out of life I took it.

Chloe said she thought I was hot. Well ditto, the girl was fucking gorgeous. Curvy but slender, great ass in jeans, perky braless tits in her little white tank top and toned arms. Silky sun kissed blonde hair and a golden glow about her. A
sexy
girl. And, what was even more of a turn on was the fact that she had no idea just how appealing she was.

Beyond hot, Chloe was a sizzling piece of ass, and I never got near her. Pity every time I noticed her I was kinda busy with another female. The first time I noticed her was when I was bouncing a hot redheaded groupie on my dick in the alleyway at the back of Beltz Bar.

Vague cloudy memories of the girl I was fucking at the time; how she looked, red hair, other than that there was nothing memorable about her, except maybe the way she screamed when her pussy clenched tightly when she came again and again within that last couple of minutes before we were interrupted.

Actually there was nothing cloudy about Chloe, I noticed her straight away, when she had pushed open the emergency exit. The noise of the heavy metal door sprung back and she stood completely still, by the look on her face she had no idea what to do next.

Stepping back and uncoupling myself from the girl I had been getting jiggy with, and I stood her on her feet and I stared past her at Chloe for a split second. What was I supposed to say? “Sorry you saw that? Sorry, but you shouldn’t have been looking? Want to join in? Hell, I didn’t know, so I just kinda smirked and felt pretty shitty that she had to see me being so raw like that.

So, I dropped my head, zipped up my fly and buckled my belt before walking back along the alleyway, leaving them both still standing there.

It was great that she followed our music, shame my reputation followed with that as well. Feeling pretty pissed, because even after five years she still affected me and I hadn’t been able to shake off that look she gave me.

Hearing how she spoke about me affected me in a way I’d never expected. Her words squeezed at my heart in my chest, because I knew that there was nothing I could do to erase what she’d seen, not once but several times.

Standing, I walked over to the window and laid my forehead on the cold window pane. Stunned, I couldn’t think for about a minute, then an idea began to flow that I had to pursue. Calling Charlotte, I told her I needed a private investigator to find out Chloe’s surname and I wanted to know the phone company she had her phone through.

I figured it couldn’t be that hard because I knew exactly what day she had bought her phone, she’d told me I was her first call. I had gathered from later conversations she’d come to New York City the same day. So there were a couple of leads for him to work with.

Then I remembered she was at UCLA in 2009 and worked at Beltz’s Bar. One call to Matt the owner, and I’d have her name in no time.

Fifteen minutes later, my heart was thumping in my chest with excitement and I knew Chloe was Chloe Jenner. Matt was cagey about giving me any other information, but I told him that she had ‘connected’ with me recently, and was coming to LA to see our gig. I pretended to him that I didn’t want to look a complete shit by not knowing her name and I had begged him for her number.