Star Power (12 page)

T
rent sat in the back, taking it all in. Charly and Liam played up the show, said how fun it was to watch themselves on television, and explained how life changing it was. Every time the conversation between them started to dwindle, she'd switch topics. She had to make Trent want a piece of the limelight enough to ask for it, otherwise she wouldn't have enough bargaining power, she told herself.

Liam hung a left, then a right, and sped down the road. It was dark out, nothing but the moon and stars lighting their way. “I know you don't want to hear this, Charly,” he said, winking. “But since I've been on television, my female pull has quadrupled. You should know,” he said, catching himself because Trent was a fan, and the unspoken rule of the show was the world was supposed to wonder if Charly and Liam were really an item. Their possibly being together, combined with all the on-camera flirting only brought up the ratings. “As many as you've had to fight off.” He laughed.

Charly jokingly punched him in the arm. “Very funny. Ha ha. I thought you were going to let me drive,” she said, pleading with her eyes.

Liam crinkled his brow and rotated his head left and right so hard, Charly was sure it was going to unscrew and fall off. “Didn't you just get out of jail for driving?”

She glared at him. “You promised, and I
need
to. Really, really need to . . . for the show. Um. Um . . .” She grasped for a believable lie. “At some point, I have to drive to the stores, so they want me to practice,” she said, knowing it was an awful tale, but how was Trent to know? He didn't work in the entertainment business.

Liam exhaled, then reluctantly pulled over. “I don't know, Charly . . .” he said, putting the car in park.

“It'll be fine, Liam. Trust me. I didn't go to jail because I can't drive. I went to jail because of Rory using me,” she said, emphasizing
using
for Trent's sake. She needed him to feel like he'd been used so he could fess up.

“Rory?” he said from behind, making a tsking noise. “Doesn't surprise me.”

Charly didn't respond as she climbed over the arm console and sat on the driver's side when Liam got out. She adjusted the mirrors, then moved the seat forward until her feet touched the pedals. “Strap in,” she said to Liam, then put the car in DRIVE and pulled off. “So, yeah, Trent. Rory? She had me drive for her and I got locked up. I can't believe she used me like that. I'm surprised you didn't hear.”

“Oh, I heard. Just not all of it, apparently,” he said, then pointed his finger. “When you get to the stop sign, turn left.” He was quiet for a second. “Ya know, Charly, that's really messed up that she played you like that.”

Charly nodded, then tapped her foot on the brake, gently and quickly, making the car jerk. “What's wrong?” she asked no one, then pressed the accelerator again causing the convertible to coast smoothly. “Um. Nothing, I guess,” she said, then sped to the stop sign, looked both ways, then turned left as Trent had instructed.

Liam looked over at her, then leaned his upper body over the arm console and eyed the dashboard. He moved back into his seat. “That's strange. There's no warning lights on, and it wasn't jerking earlier.”

Charly nodded. “Well, that's good to know,” she said, sneaking and tapping the brakes again as she spoke. The car jerked and bounced under the press of her foot, then stopped when she shoed the brake to the floor. She banged the dashboard. “C'mon, you can't be serious!” She put it in PARK.

Liam looked at the console again, shaking his head. “I don't get it.” He rubbed his head in irritation. “This can't be good. How far are we from your house, Trent? Or civilization? Whichever comes first is good.”

Trent sat up, looking around. “We're on Potters,” he said, like that meant anything to anyone beside himself. “So that means we're far away from everything.” He started patting his pockets. “It's no biggie though. We have a mechanic in another town. He'll come get us,” he assured, still rubbing his hands on the outside of his jeans pockets, then his shirt. “Man. I must've left my phone, and I don't know his number. And he's bootlegged too—meaning he has no registered business number, so calling information or Googling it won't help.”

Before Liam could maneuver his arm around the console to open it from Charly's side where the button was located, Charly beat him to it, and took out his phone. She gave his screen a quick look, then shook her head in disgust. “I can't believe there's no reception in this town!” she yelled as if she were out of her mind, throwing Liam and Trent for a loop. She reached into her pocket, then took out her cell, and glanced at it. “Absolutely none! There is absolutely no reception on my phone or yours. And we're in the middle of nowhere!” she snapped again, holding both phones in one hand, and reaching for her bag with the other. Liam looked scared, and reached onto the floor. He retrieved her bag, and handed it to her. “We don't have
any
bars,” she lied, stuffing both Liam's phone and hers into her purse.

An uncomfortable look masked Liam's face. He cleared his throat, then shook his head. “Dead? Really? Both of them?” His expression said he wanted to question her, but he didn't. Instead, he reached toward Charly. “Can you pass me my phone?”

Charly went selectively deaf, then banged the steering wheel. “Liam, what are we going to do?” She sounded as if she were going to cry. She turned and looked at Trent. “Well? Someone say something. Trent? C'mon. It's because of your friends not being your real friends that we're out here. If they weren't using you, we wouldn't have had to take you home. That's why we're here, right? So, you have to come up with something!” She knew she was making him feel bad, but she needed Trent to get angry. His face was a mask of defeat.

Trent shrugged, then threw up his hands.

Charly tsked, then shook her head. “I'm sorry, Trent. I just hate to see people taken advantage of. Especially people like you and Nia,” she said, trying to make him spill about how Nia had been used. “We really don't mind taking you home.” She eased the keys out of the ignition, then opened the driver's door.

“Where are you going?” Liam asked.

Charly dug in her purse, then pulled out a phone. “I have Rory's number locked in. I just want to walk to see if I can get reception. You can stay there or come with.” She paused, pressing her lips together. “Well, maybe not. I kind of have to tinkle, too. Plus, I'm only going to walk a few feet. I'll be in your view the whole time, except when I take my behind-the-bushes break,” she assured, then made her way down the road where they could still see her, but not hear her.

She could see Liam and Trent talking, and hoped Liam was pulling information out of him. She held her phone up in the air as if she were really looking for reception, but she wasn't. Her phone had never lost it, but she needed Trent to think so. She felt bad for not letting Liam in on her charade, but she didn't have time to preplan, and Trent was too close for her to divulge without being overheard. “I got some,” she yelled, waving her arm. She pretended to dial, then pressed the phone to her ear. She was playing dirty, and she knew she should've felt bad about it, but she didn't. Someone was toying with her too, according to the Skittles wrapper, and she believed it. Her not being able to get to Nia like she needed to and all the other sideline drama didn't allow for her to play fair. She had a mission to accomplish, and nothing was going to stop her. “Oh, no!” Charly yelled, then stomped back toward the car. “Can you believe this?” she asked. “Those . . . those . . . I can't even call them what I want to call them. I told them we were stuck on Potters. I think that's what you said—right, Trent?” He nodded. “Well, they said that's too bad. They're not done partying, so we're on our own.”

Trent huffed, and anger engulfed him. Charly didn't think she'd ever seen someone who looked so angry, never mind actually felt that way. “Who?” he barked. “Who said we were on our own?”

Charly paused, summoning her inner actress. She'd been doing reality television for so long, her acting skills had gone unpracticed. She put her hand to her chest, reared back her head, then sneered, exposing all her teeth. Like a wicked witch, she laughed eerily, then tailored it until it sounded of disgust. “I called Rory's phone, but Mya answered.”

Trent now stepped completely out of his character. He wasn't just angry, he was beyond infuriated. He rubbed his chin with his hand, then bit his lip. Finally, he broke, and cursed loud and rapidly, saying words and phrases Charly had never heard before. He nodded. “Okay. It's like that. A'ight,” he said, losing all of his boy-next-door charm. “And after they used us!” He looked at Liam, then turned to Charly. “So you wanna know what went down between Mya and Nia?”

H
er upper body was housed between the car hood and the engine. Liam held up the cell phone, trying to give her light while she tinkered with wires, the oil cap and, finally, some other part she couldn't have identified if her life depended on it.

“After that, Mya refused to let Nia drive. The next thing you know, because of Mya's stupidity, her and Nia were wrapped around a tree. The car had literally bent in a semicircle. That's where Nia got that scar from.” Trent kicked at a rock. He was venting, letting everything out, and he didn't seem to want to stop. He'd told them the whole story and, it was obvious Mya's partying and being under the influence was normal behavior for her.

“So why was Nia there again?” Charly asked. “Liam, go try to start the car.” She reached in her pocket, then threw Liam the keys. She looked over her shoulder at a pacing Trent, waiting for him to answer.

Trent stopped and held Charly with his stare. “Nia went because she
had
to go, and she didn't want to. I remember that like it was yesterday because I'm the one who told her not to go . . . I'm also the one who tried to stop her from getting in the car.” He looked in the sky as if remembering. “She'd even offered to drop off Mya at the party, but their parents, back then, wouldn't dare go for that. Nia and Mya were like Noah's ark passengers—in twos. If one twin went, the other had to. So each weekend they took turns deciding where to go. That night, it was Mya's turn, and Nia wasn't pleased with the choice.”

The engine purred, making Liam and Trent come to life. Charly swiped the grime off her hands like she'd really done something, then smiled. She wasn't smiling because the car started, she was grinning because she'd gotten everything she needed from Trent. “Come on,” Liam urged them from the driver's seat.

“I never understood why they had to share a car because their dad has plenty of chop,” he said, referring to how much money Nia and Mya's father had, then got in the car. “Liam, if you keep heading straight for about three miles, then take a right, we'll be there.”

 

As soon as Trent got out of the car, Charly sat in silence. Neither she nor Liam spoke for what seemed like eternity because she was so tired. But she needed the quiet to reflect and plan. After miles, the dark streets were finally lit. Charly sighed, glad that they'd finally entered civilization, and were now passing office buildings. She turned and looked at Liam, hoping he could shed some light on the matter. She'd heard everything Trent said, but the story was fragmented. In over an hour, all she'd learned was that what she was working with wasn't pretty. The sisters were rivals because of Mya, and her losing her driving privileges made sense to Charly, but what she couldn't understand was why Mya disliked Nia so much. Nia was the victim, not the other way around.

“Still makes no sense, huh?” Liam asked, finally turning onto the street the hotel was on. “Just like the car stalling on us back there. I just don't get it.”

Charly's frown was guilty. Her brows were raised, eyes were saucers, and her lips were poked out. “Sorry . . .” she said, shrugging.

“What? What did you do, Charly St. James?” Liam asked. He didn't look angry, he looked lost, and she loved it.

“The car never stalled, and the phones always had reception. That was all me. I did what I had to do to get what I wanted . . . from Trent,” she admitted. “But I'm going to hook him up. See what I can find for him to do on the set. Star power.”

To her surprise, Liam nodded. His expression said he was impressed. “Remind me to buy you dinner.” His lips spread into a smile. He reached over, then grabbed her hand and put it to his mouth. Charly thought she was going to die when his soft lips kissed it. “That was a professional player move, Charly. I'm impressed. You got what you wanted from Trent, but the rest still doesn't add up. Does it?”

Charly shook her head. She didn't have an answer, and didn't feel like figuring it out. It would take time to get to the truth, and Nia too. Charly looked at her watch, and saw that it was too late to pop over there now, but she certainly wanted to. She needed to look Nia in the face, appeal to her, twist her arm or whatever it took to get the information she needed. Trent had given her the basics, but didn't understand why Nia was the way she was or why Mya was the head bee in the house. She tsked. For some reason she knew Nia wouldn't talk, but then again, Nia might've been unaware of her sister's dislike herself, Charly reasoned. The shift of power was directed at Mya, who was clearly the stronger of the two.

The car pulled to a stop in the front of the hotel. “Go ahead, love. I'll park and meet you upstairs.”

Charly looked at Liam and shook her head. “I'm good. I'll go with you. It's not like my feet are hurting or anything.” Liam reached over and touched her face. “Ouch!” Charly replied.

“It's swelling. I'm sure the front desk has an emergency kit,” he said, mashing his foot on the parking brake.

Charly had her purse in her hand and was out of the car in seconds. “Done. See you in a few.” Her face swelling was all she needed to hear to make her hurry. She was pushing through the rotating door, and headed to the counter when she caught sight of Heaven. “Oh, no.”

Heaven looked at her, then did a double take. “Charly!” she said, her usual dead-sounding voice filled with life. “I didn't expect to see you so soon.”

Charly looked at Heaven, sure she'd fallen and bumped her head, forgetting how morbid she usually was. She was definitely out of character. Charly guessed it was going around. First Trent, and now Heaven. “Uh . . . hi. I guess,” Charly said, looking around.

Heaven jerked back in shock, then put her hand over her heart as if she were having a heart attack. She smiled, and Charly was sure she was going to pass out. She didn't think Heaven knew how to grin. “Oh, my . . . what happened?” Heaven asked, feigning surprise. “I've never seen you at a loss for words.”

Charly just wide-eyed her, wondering who this girl was in front of her. Heaven hadn't been at the party, so she couldn't accuse her of being on drugs. She crinkled her brow, then leaned on the counter. “Do you have any Band-Aids and antiseptic?”

Heaven burst out laughing. “For you, Charly St. James, we have anything.
Any
thing.” She went into a room situated off to the side, then reappeared in seconds. In her hand was a first-aid kit. “Here,” she said. “You need any help?”

Charly just stared at her.

Heaven snapped her fingers in Charly's face. “Wake up, Charly. You must be tired because I know you're not on anything. You're no pill popper. I already got a call to confirm.” She nodded. “Good for you. And good for you for beating down Rory too. I had you all wrong. You and Liam.” She pressed her lips together. “I apologize for that, and I should know better too. People are always judging me before they know me, and I hate that. So if there's anything I can do for you, name it. I owe you at least that much.”

Liam walked through the door, looking tired. He was dragging his feet and rolling his suitcases behind him, which told Charly he must've been coming back to her room because, the last time she'd heard, the hotel was booked.

Charly leaned on the counter. “Is there any way you could find Liam a room? Did anyone check out?” She paused. “We'll be willing to pay, of course. We're not into taking the hotel's money or advantage of you being so nice. I just need him to get some rest, and him sleeping here in the lobby won't do.”
Because there's no way he's crashing in my room again—not with all this attraction,
she wanted to say, but opted not to.

Heaven started punching the keyboard keys. She pressed her lips together, really concentrating. “Well . . . we did have a no-show yesterday. They're paid up until the day after tomorrow, and they still haven't checked in.” She shrugged. “You do understand it doesn't mean they won't show up tonight? So I can't guarantee he won't be interrupted, but I can guarantee he'll at least have a place to lay his head. For now.”

Charly nodded, then rubbed Liam's arm, who had finally made it to her side. “Cool. I thank you so much. If there's anything I can do for you, Heaven,” she said, waiting for Heaven to finish making the card key for Liam's sleeping quarters.

The machine clicked twice, then spit out the hotel key. Heaven took it, stuck it in a minifolder, then handed it to Liam. “For you,” she said with a smile on her face. Liam returned the grin, and looked as surprised as Charly had when Heaven first greeted her with niceness. “And you,” Heaven said to Charly. “There is something you can do for me; you can get to the mayor. He has all the answers you want. Politicians aren't just liars, they're great hiders.”