Brooklyn Rockstar (Kendall Family #1) (23 page)

“If you’re smart, you’ll hop back on a plane and head home before Evelyn knows you cocked up,” I add.

Once I’m quiet for a beat, his lips twitch with a minuscule grin. “Can I ask you something?”

Feeling as if a cat’s got my tongue, I nod.

“What in the hell does ‘cocked up’ mean?”

A laugh sticks in my throat. Hearing the word come from his lips gives it an entirely different meaning that awakens something animalistic. I don’t think it would be proper for me to jump onto his lap given the fact we’ve only just met.

Before I’m able to form an answer, my phone buzzes on the table at my knees with Evelyn’s picture. I swipe it from the table and jump away from James, holding my finger up in warning when he opens his mouth.

“Ev,” I answer, trying to keep my voice steady as I glare her brother down, “I was just about to ring you.”

A soft, hiccuping cry is released from the other end. “I made a mistake. Shar, you have to come get me.”

This certainly can't be good.

Heart squeezing for my dear mate, I press my phone against my stomach and narrow my eyes at her relentless protector. “If you want to salvage your relationship with your sister, I suggest you take that fit arse of yours back to the airport straightaway before she knows you were here.”

His paw-sized hands run across his face before he stands, throwing me a look of defeat. Though I’d rather work my way up to getting him naked, it sounds as if Evelyn is in the midst of a crisis. My overactive hormones will have to wait, likely until I’ve become an old spinster.

“
W
hat
the fuck
?”
I shout into my phone, feeling the veins in my neck bulge.
“Why
were there a shit-ton
of photographers outside
my door?”

The minute I found those parasites on the front step, my blood was boiling. The urge to smash every last one of their cameras was almost too much to hold back. Even though no one has bothered me here before, I should’ve prepared Evelyn for the possibility of a circus. The color drained from her face when they started shouting questions. For a minute I was scared as shit that she’d pass out. What if she can’t handle this kind of exposure? There are enough things stacked against this relationship the way it is. I refuse to lose her over something I have zero control over.

She watched from the couch in a comatose state as I jerked down every curtain looking onto the beach before leaving her to call Lorenzo inside the garage.

“Fuckin’ internet has exploded with images of you and the brunette!” Lorenzo’s voice chirps through my phone. “You’re trending everywhere, brother! This is the kind of exposure you needed to get back on top!”

“You think this is something I want to fucking celebrate?
I’m trying to get Evelyn to trust me
,
Lo. She’s so freaked out that I think she’s in shock.” Clutching the phone so hard it’s on the verge of breaking, I grind my teeth together. “Why do they think she was hired to ‘fix my image’ and why were they asking about a threesome at my place
last
Sunday? That was weeks ago, before I met Evelyn! Where the fuck would they get that kind of bullshit?”

“If you think I’d tell them that I thought you should use this chick to save your career, you’re off your fucking rocker. And the three-way thing? Madison wasn’t afraid to lie. There’s an interview of her claiming it recently happened. And…man, I didn’t want to tell you this, but I think she’s the one who also posted pictures of your apartment and gave out the address.”

Uneven breaths rake over my chest. All these years I’ve managed to live a quiet life when at home and now I’ll have to worry about my picture being taken 24/7. Worse yet, worry about Evelyn’s pictures being taken. Jesus, this really will scare her away unless I get it under some kind of control.

“Stop calling her a
chick
,” I sneer between clenched teeth. “Seems you’re the only one in the fucking world who doesn’t know her name is Evelyn.”

“Sorry, man. Guess I’m not used to you being all worked up about a chi—er—woman after all these years. Cut me a little slack here.”

My chest burns with all the shitty things people are probably saying about Evelyn—at least the rabid fans like the bitch that pulled her hair outside of Leona’s. If I don’t get inside a ring soon and work this out with my fists, I’ll completely lose my shit.

“Release a statement,” I say. “Tell the world what Evelyn and I do is our fucking business and if they don’t stop spreading lies I’m going to sue every last one of their sorry asses.”

Lorenzo’s quiet for a moment. “Um…for real? I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. Especially not in those exact words.” He chuckles quietly at his ill-timed humor. “Listen. You think they’re all over her now? Just wait until they know you’re actually serious about this thing. You two are the next Brangelina. It’ll create a media frenzy like nothing you’ve ever seen before. You won’t be given a moment of privacy. Your girl okay with going public?”

He’s right. I have to check with her on something that big. “Hold off until I get back to you.” I rub at my temple, feeling the start of a raging headache. “In the meantime, hunt Madison down,” I say. “Offer her whatever amount it takes to shut her fucking mouth before she spreads any more lies. If she won’t take the money, tell her we’re filing a civil lawsuit and she better find herself a good lawyer.”

“Whatever amount it takes? Bro, I don’t think you’re thinking this through. You can’t let a little pussy mess with your head like this, no matter how good it may be.”

My heart hammers in my chest. I want to crawl through the phone and ring his goddamned neck, even if he
is
my best friend. “Talk about Evelyn like that again and your ass is fired.”

Lorenzo busts out laughing. “Damn, you’ve got it bad! If Danny heard you—”

“Danny’s fucking
gone!”
I roar. “Don’t bring him up right now, I’m fucking warning you, Lo!”

“Jesus, I’m sorry, man! I get it, you’re pissed! We’ll fix this, I promise!”

I end the call, ready to bust my fist through a wall. This thing with Evelyn has barely had time to start and there’s no way I’m going to stand by helpless while it comes to an abrupt end. I’m not going to let the first woman I’ve ever loved slip between my fingers.

As I look down on my phone, ready to shove it back into my shorts, I see the voicemail light blinking and click the app. May as well see what other disasters are coming at me next. When I see the PI’s number come up, I relax a little knowing he’s just checking in.

Anxious beats of my heart stutter through my chest. What could he possibly have to tell me that can’t be left in a message? Is he onto the truth? My gut surges with the possibilities. His timing couldn’t be any shittier. I can’t just leave Evelyn to run off and meet with Harry and it seems wrong to drag her into more of my shit when she’s upset. Running my hands over my short hair, I growl. Where are your smart ass comments now, Danny?

Taking a few calming breaths, I stroll back into the house, hoping Evelyn can’t see that I’m ready to completely fall apart. “Freckles?” I call out when finding the living room empty. “Where are you, baby?”

I follow the soft licks of her voice coming from the bedroom. She’s back in the shorts and top she wore the night we left her place, standing in the middle of the room with her phone to her ear and a stuffed shopping bag looped around her arm. Her honey-brown eyes, brimming with tears, widen when she sees me.

“I have to go,” she says suddenly, ending the call before wiping at her wet face.

My eyes flip between her broken expression and the bag. “What’s going on? Why are you crying?”

“Shar sent a private car from a company down the road,” she says quietly. “It should be here in a couple of minutes.”

She’s leaving me. Heart plummeting to the floor, I take a few tentative steps closer until I’m able to touch her. Part of me wants to grip her tight and never let her go even if it is barbaric. “Don’t leave.
Please
. Remember what I said, baby. Half of what they say is a bunch of—”

“Thanks for everything," she cuts in. The saddest smile I’ve ever seen forms on her lips. “I really had fun with you this weekend. It’s just…I can’t do this with you now that I know the truth.”

The words cut deep, searing against my heart. “Nothing they said back there was true,” I promise, giving in to the innate need to hold her in my arms. “You have to believe me. Please, give me another chance. I can’t do this without you.” When I bury my face in her hair, she struggles to break free.

“Tell me if this is real or bullshit.” She draws her phone back out of her pocket and runs her finger across the screen, starting a video. The loud intro music to
Celebrity Insider
plays as a brunette reporter I’ve talked to a few times appears with a somber expression, looking as if someone fucking died. A picture of us from the beach surfaces in the right-hand corner.

“Tonight we bring you an exclusive on the budding romance between rocker Charlie Walker and the woman spotted accompanying him in the Hamptons, recently identified as Evelyn Kendall, a twenty-two year old from rural Minnesota. While Thrashtag fans celebrate what appeared to be a perfect match for their leading man,
Celebrity Insider
has obtained an audio recording between Charlie and his manager, Lorenzo Marchetta, that would suggest the relationship that has America swooning was a set-up to boost the washed out rocker’s dire career.”

As my voice plays, sounding hollow and distant, my words flash across a still picture of me and Lorenzo from my last birthday, mouths open with laughter. It’s obvious we were both wasted the way our eyes are watery and it seems we’re holding each other up. We look like total jackasses.

Then Lorenzo’s voice cuts in.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, it sounds like I answer with:

Violent lurches seize my insides. What in the actual
fuck
was that? I remember Lorenzo suggesting these things after Evelyn’s picture went viral, but that’s not anything close to how it played out. Our words have been spliced together. Someone was fucking
recording
our conversation. Madison? Gwen?

When the camera cuts back to the reporter, Evelyn stops the video and stares at me with big tears rolling down her cheeks. “You’re going to try to tell me that’s bullshit even though the words came out of your mouth, right?”

I step closer to her, digging my fingernails into the palms of my hands. I will
destroy
whoever is behind this. “I know how this sounds, but that’s not what was said. Lorenzo suggested it, but I never said those things back to him. Not like that.”

With her upper lip curled, she shakes her head, refusing to hear me. “Kind of ironic how he called you this weekend to say your label was reconsidering. Is that why you’re so desperate for me to move in with you? So your fans will see us together more often?”

I stare at her, knowing whatever I say will sound like a lie after what she just heard. Instead I try to draw her into my arms. “You have to trust me, baby. It’s all a bunch of crap.”

Her lips quiver. “Then why can’t you tell me that you love me?”

My eyes close and I draw in a deep breath. If I don’t tell her now, I’ll lose her. So why can’t I form the words that I already feel in my fucking heart?

Because love is bullshit,
I hear my father saying.
It’s something women think they need to hear to be happy. It only ruins lives.

Evelyn fights against my hold and breaks free, starting for the door. All at once she stops, hesitating. I hold my breath, waiting for her to tell me she’s changed her mind and she loves me too much to walk out. Her head turns slowly, revealing a face wet with fresh tears and big beautiful eyes burning with hatred.

“I knew you’d break my heart.”

The words are like a million razor blades slicing my chest at once. I promised I wouldn’t hurt her.

I don’t know what possesses me to simply let her walk out without even fucking
trying
to stop her. Maybe deep down I knew this moment was inevitable and maybe a part of me knows it’s useless to think someone as pure as Evelyn would want to be with someone like me.

I’m damaged goods, probably destined to repeat my father’s fucked-up life.

The sound of the back door slamming shut has the effect of a shotgun aimed at my chest. It’s over.

V
oices
in another room bring me around.

Evelyn
.

I stretch my arm across the mattress in search of her, knocking the empty bottle of Jack to the floor. Fuck!
It wasn’t just a nightmare. Evelyn really left me and I drank through the misery all day long until I blacked out.

“Baby brother?” Katie’s voice calls. “You awake?”

My eyes flip open, burning against the flood of daylight. I groan with searing pain ripping through my skull and hold my arm across my face.

I feel a warm hand on my forehead. “At least you’re alive,” my sister says with a tisk of her tongue. “Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been? Lo showed up at my house, said he’s been looking all over for you since last night. Said you wouldn't answer your phone. I made him come here with me because I was terrified I’d find you with an empty bottle of pills after everything they’re saying about you!”

“Don’t worry about it,” I say in a cracked voice, opening one eye to glare into her disappointed scowl.

Her hands set on her non-existent hips. “Oh no you don’t, mister! I warned you not to go hurting that girl and I’m no dummy—you drank yourself silly because you
know
you damn well you fucked up! Why are you laying here feeling sorry for yourself instead of out there trying to help Evelyn deal with this shit? She’s new to the fame thing! Poor girl’s probably sick with half the things they said! Don’t even get me started on that ridiculous conversation they’re playing of you and Lo!”

No shit. The high pitch of her agitated voice beats against my aching skull like nails on a chalkboard. Why can’t she just leave me alone to stew in my own misery? “Jesus,” I say with a groan, rolling away from her. “You’re destroying my head.”

“Listen, we need to talk,” Lorenzo says, suddenly inside the bedroom. “I’ve already called your lawyer about that bogus recording. She’s dealing with it. But we have another problem that can’t wait. Since you wouldn’t answer your phone, that PI you hired to find Danny called me, said he has information you need to hear A-SAP. He wants you to meet him
today.
Said he’s going to be at his office until you show. Must be something big the way he sounded like there was a fire up his ass.”

“You think he found Danny?” Katie asks in a higher voice.

My guts churn with her excitement.

Christ. Just grow a pair and tell her,
Danny says.
Fuck the old man. He never did anything good for you when he was alive anyhow.

“Mind your own fucking business,” I snap back at him.

“Excuse me for giving a shit about your friend!” Katie snarls behind me. “I’m starting to understand why Evelyn isn’t here. You’re acting like a major dickwad! What’s going on with you, Charlie? You better start answering some questions before I go looking for her myself!”

“You’re right!” I say, popping upright. “She left because I fucked up! Are you happy now, Kate?”

She flinches with my outburst, tears filling her eyes. “No, I’m most definitely not.” Arms, crossed, she spins around to leave the room, almost knocking Lorenzo down. I jump with the sound of the garage door slamming behind her. Seems I’ve achieved expert level in making women angry.

“Get dressed,” Lorenzo says, shaking his head. “You’re going back with me.”

O
n the agonizingly brutal
ride back to the city I try to sleep, but guilt for making Katie cry and driving Evelyn away creates a tight ban across my chest. And then there’s this big thing the investigator knows about Danny that makes me want to push Lorenzo out of the way and slam on the gas pedal so we aren’t stuck waiting behind bottleneck traffic.

About the time we pull up to the curb outside of Harry’s office in Chinatown, I’m crippled with regret for not chasing after Evelyn. The two hours she spent riding by herself was too much time to think I didn’t care enough to stop her. Maybe if I hadn’t given up so easily, I could’ve found a way to convince her to stay.

“Yo, we goin’ in or what?” Lorenzo asks, tapping his thumbs against the steering wheel.

I glance up at the brightly painted building surrounded by banners with Chinese symbols. What if this big breakthrough on Danny’s case is exactly what I’ve been fearing ever since I hired him for show? What if Harry managed to unearth the ugly secrets I’ve tried to keep buried?

“I better go in alone,” I tell him.

Lorenzo nods like he was expecting it. “Sure thing. I’ll be out here when you’re ready.” He reaches out for my shoulder and squeezes. “Listen. He’s going to give you good news about Danny. I can feel it. Go up there and get it over with. Then I’ll help you figure out a way to get Evelyn back.”

Three flights of stairs up the small apartment Harry rents as an office and the sickly-sweet smell of rotting produce doesn’t get any better as I push open the etched glass door. The gray-haired lady behind the receptionist’s desk spreads her lips in what looks like more of a grimace than a smile. Every time I’ve come here she’s reminded me of my grandma Walker in her outdated style and ill-fitting dentures.

“Go on in, Mr. Walker. He’s been waiting for you.”

The second I open the door to Harry’s office, he shoots up from behind his cluttered desk, towering over me. The old guy’s cool as shit and never afraid to say what’s on his mind. The former police chief from San Diego moved to New York on a whim, piercing his ear and deciding he’s done taking orders from The Man. I’ve seen him charm waitresses as well as his surly receptionist and can’t help but admire his smooth style despite being seventy-something with hair as white as cotton.

“Charlie! What the hell happened? Where’ve you been? You look like shit, boy!”

I shake my head. “Long story.”

“I heard some of it play out on TV.” He sits on the edge of the desk, arms crossed and lips bending with a scowl. “Why do you think I’ve stayed single all these years?”

“Lay it on me, Harry,” I say, massaging my neck. “What’d you find on Danny?”

The deep wrinkles around his eyes tighten. “Son, you’re going to want to take a seat for this. You won’t like what I have to say.”

Heat pricks the back of my neck.
Doesn’t sound good, brother,
Danny says.

Too anxious to sit, I shake my head. “Just tell me.”

“I didn’t see it coming until this recent hubbub came out about your personal life.” Reaching behind him, Harry snags a stack of papers off his desk. He removes an 8x10 photograph from the top and hands it to me. “I’ve been following Gwen Porter.”

A full-on-rage strikes me with the mention of her name. In the picture she’s sitting in a sedan outside of a church, phone pressed to her ear as she watches the building. Then the familiarity of the church clicks into place. Everything around me turns red. My eyes dart up to meet Harry’s.

“Why the fuck is she standing outside of Evelyn’s place?”

Harry’s hazel eyes sharpen with a plea to stay calm. “After I saw Madison Johnson on the celebrity news channel, blabbering on about some sexcapade you had with her and another woman, I decided to dig into her history to try to figure out what she’s about. She has an older sister who was college roommates with Miss Porter. I remembered the article she wrote that put you in a bad light, so I did a little digging on her too. Turns out this wasn’t the first time she was involved with someone from Thrashtag.”

He hands me another picture and my gut hardens. In a somewhat grainy shot taken in what looks like a dance club in the city, Gwen’s long legs are wrapped around Danny’s waist. His tongue’s down her throat, hands up her short skirt. The longer I stare at the picture, it erases any doubt that I’m looking at my brother with the older reporter who has it out for me.

“She was sleeping on and off with your brother for over a year before he disappeared,” Harry reports. “Seems like it was a regular booty call whenever he wasn’t on the road. I paid her a visit at her office, tried to get her to answer a few questions about Danny. She was real cagey, ran right outta there like her hair was on fire. I
did
manage to get some interesting information out of one of her close friends, a woman by the name of Christine Horovitz.”

When Harry hands me another picture, the dull pang in my skull becomes sharp. It’s the brunette I invited to my house with Madison.

“I’m guessing you recognize her. Didn’t take much to break her down. She said it was Gwen’s idea to set you up, make it look like you slept with those two women after Madison slipped you a roofie. She told me Gwen knew where you lived because she’d been there with your brother.”

My fingers dig into the photograph, leaving deep dents.

“Any guesses when Christine last saw Gwen with your brother?”

Running a hand over my short hair, I shake my head, waiting for the room to swallow me whole. My head’s so messed up it’s like I’m looking down on everything from above.

“You think she had something to do with Danny’s disappearance?” I choke out.

“Don’t know that for sure, but I’d be willing to bet on it. Gonna need more time to look into it, see if she has a solid alibi.”

Alibi. He thinks she killed Danny.

Feeling ready to puke my guts out, I point back at the pictures. “None of this explains why she was sitting outside the church where Evelyn lives.”

Harry leans back, pushing his hands inside his pockets. “She’s been watching your girlfriend’s place the past few days. Couldn’t tell you why, though based on everything I’ve learned, I’d guess she’s up to no good.” He scratches his head and gives the surveillance pictures in my hand a sideways glance. “I checked in with the British roommate, told her to watch out for jealous groupies. There was a big dude there, said he’d keep an eye on them. The Brit rolled her eyes and told me it was okay, that your girlfriend had gone to the Hamptons with you.”

Except that she’s not there anymore. And she hasn’t been for over 24 hours.

I hear Harry shout something after me as I race out the door, but my heart’s hammering, pumping blood through my ears so hard I can’t think straight.

The crazy bitch is going after my girl.