Bad Boy Rock Star (18 page)

"Maybe.
Or maybe not. He was a total jerk the last time I saw him. There's something not right with him."

"There's a lot that is right.
His butt, his shoulders, his eyes…"

"I mean in his head."

"I'd go there, regardless."

"Yeah, that's obvious.
But he scares me sometimes."

I wondered if I should tell her about how he attacked me but she jumped up to go to class.
  I figured I should leave too. A person couldn't spend all day stuck in a café. I felt a bit wired after three cups of coffee but I didn't feel nearly so stressed about the story in the paper. Who even pays that much attention to the papers anyway?

I paid up and left the
café, wondering if I should go home and sleep. I still felt a bit sick and it hadn't helped getting caught in the rain.

"It's her!" I heard someone yell
as I walked out the café door. Then a camera got thrust in my face.

I had no idea what was going on.
Before I could get away, others had come to join him. They snapped photos and bombarded me with questions. I put my hands up to cover my face and didn't speak.

"Where's your father, Hannah?" one guy shouted at me
, and soon the rest joined in.

"I don't know.
I don't know."

I wrapped my arms around myself and tried to move through but they closed in tighter around me
, like a pack of animals after my blood. I could feel the sheen of sweat on my forehead and my arms began to shake. I didn't know why they were doing this. I didn't know anything. I heard another shutter go off and flinched away from the sound.

My legs went weak
, as though I’d buckle to the ground, but I could only think of being strong and not letting them see they were getting to me. Surely they'd go away.
You have to be stronger than anyone,
I heard my dad say.

"I haven't done anything wrong," I muttered under my breath.
"I haven't done anything wrong."

But the questions kept coming.
I didn't know what they were even talking about. Huge sobs rose up in my throat and I kept my head down, not wanting them to see.

Then one of them grabbed me.

"Come on, Hannah, give us a story."

Why did they keep saying my name as if they knew me?
He clutched me tighter and I tried to shake him off, screaming at him to let me go.

Then someone broke through the crowd and took hold of me, dragging me away.

"Jack?"

He'd pulled the top of his hoodie over his head so they couldn't snap photos of him and pushed them aside with his body.
A couple of them sized him up and then stepped aside. He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me after him down the street.

"Don't stop.
Keep walking and look calm. We'll go to my car and get you out of here."

"I don't know anything.
I did nothing wrong. Why are they harassing me?"

"They just want a story.
They don't care. If you say anything, it will be quote for them. Did you say anything to them?"

"Nothing.
Just to leave me alone. It's wrong. How can people just take pictures of you and put them in the paper without you even agreeing? I never gave them permission."

"They're the media.
They can do what they want." Jack shrugged and I wondered if he'd dealt with the media before.

We got to his car and he
opened the doors.

"I'm glad to get out of there."

"Don't worry," he said, checking his rear-view mirror. "In a few days, it'll be something else. People don't have a very long attention span."

"I hope so."

Unless Dad got found then it would happen again. Maybe it was better for him to stay hidden. Even if he'd gotten us into this mess, I didn't want him going to jail and having to deal with the harassment. I had to find out what was going on. I needed to know the full story instead of being a dumb airhead. Someone needed to fix this mess and it looked as if that needed to be me.

"Can you take me somewhere?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Dad's lawyer.
I need to talk to him."

At first, Frank wouldn't tell me anything. He said it was better I didn't know, because then I couldn't let anything slip. That just made me realise that there might be more going on than I'd thought.

Jack had said he’d wait in the car outside Frank’s house but
when Frank started talking, I realised maybe it would take longer than a few minutes.

Frank
paced around his study, unable to settle. The whole room said successful lawyer, as though it were taken completely from an old school lawyer movie set – the heavy wooden desk in the middle of the room that looked as if it'd been in the family for generations, the leather sofa that smelt of – well, leather, but also cigars and serious business decisions, the bookcase with leather-bound tomes of legal stuff. I sat on the sofa, playing with my bag, twisting the strap in my hands, as though that would make things any better.

I waited for Frank to speak but, after he
’d offered me a drink and taken me into the lawyer room, he'd not said a word. The silence grew as solid and leathery as everything in the room.

"Where's my father?" I asked.
"Is he in town or has he gone away?"

Frank looked at me as though assessing what he should say.
He stood, leaning on the back of a chair. After a minute, it seemed as if he made a decision.

"He's in Asia.
You can't tell anyone, though. And I can't tell you where."

"I think I know."

"Maybe you do," he replied, with a half-smile that seemed to confirm my suspicions. I had no idea who that man had been though, or even what area he lived in. All I could remember was that market.

"Is there a warrant out for his arrest?" I asked.
Surely, he'd not have put me in a position of harbouring a wanted criminal. I didn't want to get into this any deep than I was, even though he was my father.

"No," said Frank.
"He's under investigation but they haven't found anything yet."

I twisted the strap of my bag tighter around my fingers.
I wasn't sure how much of this I really did want to know and I had to steel myself to hear the worst. This nightmare just got deeper and deeper.

"Is there anything to find?"

"Look, Hannah, there is stuff. It's not bad stuff. It's normal business practice but it might not be entirely within the law. If they dig around enough, they will be able to find a few things to pin on him. It depends on how thorough they want to be. But, if they do that, a lot of dirt on a lot of people will come out. It's not just your dad involved in all this."

I sighed.
I was all a mess. I didn't want to be in the middle of it. I'd never asked to be involved. They could take it all back – all the designer clothes and the fancy schools and the cars and the ponies. I'd much rather have a simple life, without the scandal and fuss. I'd been a princess but maybe it hadn't been worth it if this was the price I had to pay. Maybe it would've been better to live in an ordinary house with an ordinary life.

"So, what should I do? I got swarmed by press today.
Can I sue them for defamation? Why do they keep after me when I don’t know anything?"

Frank paced the floor again.
I'd feel much better if he'd just settle down.

"I think you should lay low for a while.
Keep out of the public eye."

"The public eye! I just went out for coffee.
I should stop drinking coffee? Never leave my house?"

They knew the area I lived in.
They knew where to find me. Soon enough, one of them would follow me and find out where I lived. Then they'd talk to the people in the building – none of them would have the sense to keep away from the press – and there'd be photos of my squalid living conditions all over the paper. And I'd never have a minute's peace for them all being there.

"It'd just be for a week or so, until it blows over."

"I can't go out for coffee for a week? What about the band? I'm their manager. I can't keep a low profile with that. I have to go out and do things. This is such a mess."

"It's only a week.
Do you have any friends you could stay with?"

I thought about that.
I could hardly stay with Jack and Eric, after what happened the other night. I didn't want to be around Jack Colt when he brought chicks home with him. Plus, I couldn't ask him to sleep on the couch for the next week. Angie would let me stay but her flat was so tiny. I'd be in the way and we'd get on each other's nerves, which I really didn't want since she just started talking to me again.

I shook my head.

"You could stay here. I'd put you up in the spare room. It'd be fine for a week or so."

This may seem really awful
, since Frank had never actually done anything and always acted so nice to me, but he creeped me out. Even when I was a kid and I didn't know about creepy "uncles", I didn't like being alone with him. He'd never touched me. He'd never even suggested anything wrong but there was something about him, a look in his eyes that I didn't trust. I'd much rather not stay with him. He'd already offered a few times before but I'd refused. It made me angry that he offered now but hadn't said anything about a beach house when I moved into my crummy room. I'd known he got off on seeing me poor and hopeless.

"I don't want you get into any more trouble with us, Frank.
I'll manage. Maybe I could move out of my flat. I only rent by the week and it's not like it's a very nice place, anyway. Since all the press know I'm around that area, I'll get right out of there."

He nodded in agreement.

"That's probably a good idea. Maybe take a week off. Go on holidays."

"I don't have enough money to go on holidays and beside
s, I have manager work to do. We have some record company people interested in the band. I want get onto that before the idea goes cold."

Frank sat down on the sofa beside me.

"Hannah, they were interested before.
When it was just a band that looked like it could make the big time. They are no longer that. They are connected to the scandal. I don't know if they'll be such hot property now. Have you heard from the record company?"

I shook my head.
"But they might just be busy?"

Frank shook his head slowly.

"People like that are never busy if they think they'll make money out of you. They will say they’re too busy though, until they work out if this is a good thing or not. None of them will have the guts to make a decision until this all plays out. Maybe you'll add a touch of infamy, maybe you'll be the kiss of death…"

I gulped.
That was the last thing I wanted to hear. The band was all I had. My livelihood, my friends, my reason for getting out of bed in the morning, were all tied up in that band. I didn't want to be the one to ruin it for everyone but, if I gave it all up, what would I do with my life?

"If you want to get away, I have a place down the coast.
Maybe that's best, after all. It's very private, a nice beach right outside the door, and all the mod cons. Including a coffee machine."

He handed
me an envelope with the keys and I put them in my bag without even thinking.

"There's a map in the envelope.
I know the weather is bad at the moment, but you'd be out of all this and have time to think. Take a friend or two, it's a huge place. You might as well use it."

I nodded, still not convinced.
How could I tell the guys about this? Of course, it made sense with Frank spelling it out like that.

"Hannah," he said as I was leaving.
"At the moment, you are more of a liability than an asset to that band."

It was as though he could read my thoughts.

When I got back to the car, Jack was playing on his phone. I banged on the window and he jumped in fright.

"How'd you go?"

For a moment, I thought about telling him everything. Well, the bit about me being a liability to the band anyway. I really did think about telling him, and usually I'm not a coward but, as I looked into his brown eyes, so full of concern, I couldn't say anything to sever this connection. I'd think about it and tell him later.

"He wants me to go to his place by the beach.
He says it's pretty secluded but I'm not sure. Do I want to go to a secluded place down the coast? It could be really scary." Secluded means axe murderers can get you, and your body isn't even found for months.

"Sounds like paradise to me."
Jack grinned and brushed his hair out of his face.

"You need a
haircut," I said.

"What?
Cut the famous Jack Colt hair? Have woman all over this city fall into despondency? This hair is my fortune, babe. It's my ticket to pantie town."

I slapped his arm.
He could be so cheesy sometimes.

"Why don't you come with me?"
I asked, without thinking about all that entailed. "Oh, that's probably not a good idea, right?"

"Why not?"

"You're busy and you don't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere."

"No, no.
It's perfect. We don't have any gigs until Saturday and I can drive back for that. And I've got some new songs I've been working on. Some peace and quiet at the beach is exactly what I need."

My heart skipped.
I didn't know what I was feeling though – anxiety or happiness or nervousness – or a volatile cocktail of them all. I mean, all alone in a shack in the middle of nowhere with Jack Colt? That had to be scary. What if he went nuts when we were there alone? But Eric had said it was only if he got disturbed in his sleep.

Still, what happened to "don't fall in love with me, Hannah"?

"Maybe we could all go to the beach.  Eric and Angie and, well, I guess even Spud." That’d be okay. There’d be a buffer zone. There’d be no shenanigans with all those people around.

"
Good idea. But I think Eric has a big project on at the moment. We could ask him but it wouldn’t really be fair… he might feel obligated…"

I sighed. I guess I couldn’t ask Angie to drop everything either. 

We dropped by my place. Luckily, those reporters hadn't worked out where I lived yet. Because of the dodgy landlords, I had nothing in my name there. I paid rent in cash, I had no utilities connected and only had my mobile phone. I couldn't have picked a better place to live if I didn't want to be tracked down. I threw some clothes into a bag and got together some makeup and ended up back at the car in record time, just in case anyone was nosing around.

That went smoothly but then we got to Jack's place.
I went in with him and waited for him to get his things together. He needed to pack his guitar and notebooks and everything he needed for songwriting. I sat on the couch and watched some daytime TV and didn't even notice Eric come in.

"Hey, Hannah, how's things?" he asked.

"I'm getting out of town. It's been too intense for me."

He smiled and sat on the couch beside me.

"Sounds like a plan. Anywhere in particular?"

"Yeah, heading down the coast to my uncle's beach house.
Sounds like a good hiding spot."

Eric pulled out his phone and checked his messages.

"By the way, have you heard from the record company yet?"

My heart froze. I remembered Eric's support from this morning at the café. How he said he'd always stand by me. I should tell him the truth about the record company. I should let him know that I was destroying the band's future. But, yet again, the words wouldn't come out.

"Hey, I only called them today.
Those guys must be all kinds of busy. I'll call them again tomorrow if I don't hear anything."

My voice sounded fake but Eric didn't seem to notice.
He looked at me without making eye contact and started to say something but didn't finish. He was acting very weird.

He cleared his throat but, when I looked at him, he looked away.

I turned my focus back to the TV, to a story about a woman who became a hooker for Jesus. Was this stuff for real?  To be honest, Eric didn’t seem as if he had any project he was working on if he could sit around watching this stuff.  Maybe I should’ve told him he could get back to work.

"Hannah," he said and I turned again.

He gazed down at his phone, not at me.
I waited for him to talk.

"Hannah, I need to tell you something, it's kind of hard for me…"

"Hey, ready to go?" Jack had his guitar slung over his shoulder and a small bag in his hand. He called down from the landing.

Eric looked up at Jack and then at me.
All the muscles in his body went stiff.

"What were you going to say?
We have to get going before dark."

I smiled at him encouragingly but he'd stood up.
His eyes flashed darkly at me, almost as if he hated me. What had happened? All the muscles in his body had stiffened and he hovered over me like he wanted to speak but then he just walked off.