The Rock Star and the Girl From the Coffee Shop 2: Under Pressure (12 page)

“Here. Let’s go here.” The group entered the boutique to be greeted by a security guard and two salespeople waiting for customers to enter.

“Welcome. How can we help you?”

A stunning, slender dark-haired woman stepped forward, offering her hand to Hanna first before greeting Bo and Tyson. Her English was impeccable. Unlike the women in the New York shops who gushed over Bo, the saleslady there seemed to know her target audience was Hanna – it was an interesting change. And rather surprising.

“Handbags and whatever else Hanna wants,” Bo offered when Hanna didn’t respond

straight away.

She smiled and motioned for the trio to follow her toward the bags. Each bag was displayed on the wall as if it were a work of art, while wallets were displayed in a glass case as if they were the finest of jewellery.

“She’s going to need a new wallet as well.”

Hanna didn’t attempt to protest. Truth was she was enjoying it. Maybe Bo was right, sometimes you just had to forget about money and tomorrow and simply enjoy the shit out of the life they had.

“All right then.” Opening the glass case she began to remove the wallets from inside.

“Is there a particular style you’re looking for?” As she placed several options on the counter Hanna couldn’t help but be amused to see she was wearing white gloves to handle the finely made wallets.

Style? Hanna couldn’t help but laugh to herself. Usually her style when it came to wallets was what she could afford at Walmart in the colour she liked.

“I ummm. I don’t know…” She looked up at Bo, who was smiling down at her. He

shrugged.

Realizing Bo wasn’t going to be much help, she touched one of the leather wallets, with hesitation – a brown and beige monogram one. She looked up at the saleswoman, who was waiting patiently for her to make a decision

“Can I?”

“Of course. We have that particular one in six colours, in addition to the traditional monogram.”

The shopping experience got more pleasurable with each purchase in the store. She’d never been treated like such royalty, and it felt good. She felt like the star, as Bo and Tyson looked on. It was an intoxicating feeling. If the salespeople in the store recognized Bo they didn’t let on. Either they had no idea who he was or the more likely scenario was that they were used to seeing celebrities and were topnotch at remaining professional when dealing with them.

By the time the trio left the store close to two hours later, Tyson had several more bags with a value of close to $30,000 added to his collection. The day had turned to night and it was yet another beautiful evening, the sky clear and stars shining brightly in the evening sky.

Slipping her arm around Bo’s waist, Hanna cuddled tight to his side, resting her head on his shoulder as they walked. “Thank you, Bo.”

He hugged her close and placed a kiss at her temple. “No. Thank you.”

“What could you possibly be thanking
me
for?”

“For not worrying about the money being spent or feeling like you owe me something in return.”

She shrugged. “I just feel like I’m taking advantage sometimes. Not working and living off of you. For the shopping in New York and now this...”

Bo laughed. “Hanna, you don’t. You never have. I know this sounds cliché, but it makes me happy when you’re happy. I want you to have everything you’ve ever dreamed of.”

She stopped in mid-stride, making him stop with her. Pressing herself up against him, she ghosted her lips across his. “I have everything I’ve ever wanted already. I love you, Bo Savage.”

“Love you right back, Hanna Ambrose.”

“You’re sure you won’t have a problem sharing the booth with Nadine?” Bo raised a skeptical brow at Hanna as they rode in the back of a chauffeured black Lincoln Town Car on their way to the recording studio. Today was the first day of recording for the band’s new album “Burn.”

“You mean, am I sure I can handle six hours sitting next to the doppelganger bitch without scratching her eyes out?”

Bo threw back his head and laughed loudly. “Yeah. That’s more or less what I

meant.”

Hanna grinned over at him. “Yeah. I think I can control myself.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You know I’m not the confrontational type. But if somehow Ex-Lax winds up in her coffee I can’t be held accountable.” As she said it, Hanna couldn’t help but think that wasn’t a half-bad idea. Why hadn’t she thought of it sooner? The idea of that uptight wench rushing to the bathroom every few minutes due to the atomic runs would have been a hoot. A juvenile prank? Sure, but still a hoot.

“Like you’d even do that. I don’t think you have a vengeful bone in your body,

babes.”

Hanna chewed at her lower lip as if in consideration and finally replied with a sigh.

He was right. As much as she hated the woman, she’d never be able to intentionally hurt her.

“Maybe not, but all girls have their limits. You’ve seen the movie 'Carrie' haven’t you?”

“I have.” Bo was visibly fighting to keep from laughing again. “But you’re not

telekinetic… or insane.”

“Carrie wasn’t insane to begin with. The evil girls at the school made her that way.”

Bo clucked his tongue off of the roof of his mouth. “I see.”

“Yup. One minute she’s a normal girl just trying to make it through high school and next thing you know she’s covered in pig’s blood and just like that…” She hooked her thumb into her mouth and made a loud popping noise. “She pops.”

Bo rubbed his chin as if in consideration of her argument. “Uh-huh.”

“It’s the quiet ones you have to really worry about…”

Hooking a finger under her chin, Bo tilted her face up and lowered his lips to hers.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Hanna sighed softly as his lips brushed hers. Her heart rate immediately quickened, as it always did when he touched her so tenderly. Their kiss was short and sweet, however, as the car slowed and came to a complete halt at the recording studio.

“We’re here.” Bo lifted his lips from hers and then proceeded to undo his safety belt.

She groaned inwardly. She’d spent an amazing week with Bo in Paris, but now it was back to reality.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Finally, you two are here. Took ya long enough. We need to talk. Follow me.”

Jeremy motioned for them to follow him into a conference room where the rest of the band, Trevor, Tipp and Anthony, plus Nadine were already waiting, seated around an eight-person conference table.

“Whoa! What’s going on?” Bo frowned as he looked upon the serious expressions of the rest of the guys.
Damn, I leave for a week and it appears all hell breaks loose
.

“Sit and we’ll tell you.” Jeremy closed the door, locked it and took a seat at the table, motioning to a couple of empty seats across from him.

“All right.” Becoming more bewildered by the second, he and Hanna quickly took

seats. “We’re seated. What’s up?”

“It’s Victor.”

Bo’s jaw clenched at the very mention of their former manager’s name. “What does that son of a bitch want?”

“Twenty-five million.”

Bo’s jaw dropped. He was speechless. That was the last thing he expected to hear.

“What the fuck for?”

“His lawyer claims we were in breach of contract for terminating him.”

Bo’s shock turned to outrage. How dare that alcoholic piece of shit demand anything from them? “What kind of bullshit is that? He attacked Hanna!”

Nadine leaned forward in her chair and addressed Bo directly, her eyes shifting over to Hanna periodically, hostility evident in them. “His lawyer claims that that is beside the point. The incident has nothing to do with the way he managed the band. And, in addition, he claims that the abuse he was subjected to was excessive. There’s no proof aside from Hanna and Anthony’s word and a cut on her lip that he attacked her, but he was hospitalized for several days as a result of the injuries inflicted on him by Anthony.”

“What a crock of shit! When did this come about?” Ignoring Nadine, Bo looked from blank face to blank face. A part of him was angered over being left out of the loop on such an important event, but at the same time as his eyes landed on Hanna, he found himself grateful they had. Without a doubt, it would have ruined the trip.

“A few days ago. We didn’t want to ruin your trip so we decided to wait to tell you when you got back,” Jeremy explained. “It’s not like you knowing would change how this is going to play out in the end anyhow.”

Bo sat back in his chair and thrust a hand into his dark hair in agitation. Twenty-five million. What balls that man had to demand that kind of money!

“Well, we’re not paying that alcoholic asshole. No way.”

“We’ve hired an attorney and they’re in negotiations with him and his attorney. He’s supposed to get back to us in a few days.”

“This is bad. Really bad, Bo,” Nadine cut in, her voice chastising. “If the press gets hold of this they’ll have a field day. This is the last thing we needed in addition to Anthony’s not-so-secret drug habit and them thinking we’re having an affair.”

Bo’s eyes narrowed at Nadine. “It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if you planted that photographer at the hotel just to snap that picture.” As the words came out of his mouth the thought that it wasn’t such a crazy idea quickly followed. Would she? He watched her expression and for the briefest of moments he thought he saw a look of guilt flash in her green eyes, but as quickly as the look appeared it was gone and a tight smile appeared on her face.

“That’s ridiculous. Have you forgotten that the band’s success equals more money for me? I’m not going to risk my career for you. You should get over yourself, Bo.” She huffed and leaned back in her chair, taking a sip from her bottle of water. “That picture looks as bad for me as it does for you. I’m being made out as a home-wrecking whore.”

If the shoe fits
, he grumbled inwardly, biting his tongue to keep from saying it out loud and starting something he didn’t want to deal with. However, the more he thought about it and the longer he looked into her eyes, he knew it was true. She had planted the photographer. She was the only one who knew where he and Hanna would be and what times; it would have been easy for her to tip the guy off to their house hunt. It seemed stupid of her considering, as she said, it was bad publicity all around, but at the same time…

He looked over at Hanna, who was sitting straight in the chair next to him with a look of worry and guilt in her expression. Was Nadine hoping to push Hanna to her breaking point? Would Nadine stoop to such levels to "win"?

Yeah, she would. He had no doubt about it in the least.
Dammit, why did I let them
convince me to hire her?

“You’ve been called worse, Nadine,” Anthony commented, mimicking what Bo was

feeling.

Nadine turned to her left to glare at Anthony. “You guys called me to manage the group, asshole. Don’t you forget it!”

Standing, Jeremy spread his hand out palms up. “Look guys, we all need to calm

down. One thing at a time. Right now the pressing issue is Victor. The rest is bullshit that can be figured out later on. I, for one, don’t want to give him one red cent let alone pay him twenty-five million. Focus on the issue at hand.”

Bo sighed and looked over at Hanna and the group began to chatter among

themselves.

Feeling his eyes on her, Hanna turned to face him, gave him a weak smile and

shrugged.

Bo leaned into her and whispered, “We should have made it two weeks…”

~*~*~*~*~*~

By the time the impromptu meeting ended and Hanna was seated in the control room with Nadine and several technicians a headache had begun to form, sending a throbbing pain across her forehead. The last thing she wanted was a confrontation with Nadine so she opted to sit as far from her as possible, not speaking or looking in the other woman’s direction. Out of sight, out of mind – she hoped. Her anxiety was kicking in – hardcore –

and the last thing she wanted was the other woman noticing.

The band began recording and as the day progressed without a word to her from the doppelganger, Hanna began to relax. Periodically, Bo would shoot a smile in her direction. With each look or wink he sent her way, she found herself blushing like a schoolgirl. She’d have thought after the amount of time they’d been together that his effect on her would wear off, but that wasn’t the case and it felt good.

Feeling the effects of several bottles of water, she excused herself, left the control room and made her way toward the bathroom. She made it halfway down the hallway when she heard the door open behind her and the click-clack of heels on the tiled floor.

Ahhh, fuck. Just ignore her
, she coached herself and picked up the pace as if the bathroom would be her rescue.

“Hanna. Wait up. We need to have a word.”

Hanna cringed.
Here we go.

Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, Hanna spun around to see Nadine pulling a brown envelope out of her purse as she quickly approached.

“What do you want, Nadine?”

“To talk.” Nadine looked around them and motioned for her to follow her into the bathroom.

Heaving a loud sigh, Hanna obliged.
Might as well get this over with
.

“We need to discuss your future with Bo.”

“I don’t think my future…”

“Just look at the pictures.”

Hanna got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach as she accepted the envelope with great hesitation. Something about the glimmer of triumph in the other woman’s eyes sent a spike of anxiety through her. With shaky fingers she opened the envelope and gasped.

The first photo was of her completely naked making love to Bo at the house in the pool.

Every inch of her body was exposed to the camera, as she was fucked in several

positions. Her lips formed a large O as it appeared she was hitting her climax.

She glanced up after looking at the first five photos and scowled at the other woman.

“It was you, wasn’t it? You set Bo up!” she growled through clenched teeth. The underlying hint of venom in her voice scared even her, but Nadine seemed undisturbed by it.