Front Man: The Complete Trilogy (15 page)

“Are you
sure? Jack’s been a perfect gentleman to you, always told you
the truth, is that it? Because the way I heard it, he couldn’t
wait to get rid of you once he’d had his way. That’s what
Jack Carter does, Sara. He uses people. All he cares about is getting
what he wants, being the centre of attention. He’s not bothered
by who gets hurt.”

“You’re
full of shit, Michael. I know what you are, remember? I saw what you
did to my friend, trying to take advantage of her when she was too
drunk to even stand up? Or have you forgotten about that already?”

“Holy shit,
that was you! I do remember your friend, great girl, but I guess we’d
both had a few too many. Look, Sara, I can see you think I’m
the bad guy here. You’re not the first woman to fall under
Jack’s spell, believe me, I’ve seen them come and go over
the years. But I can help you. There’s plenty of papers and
magazines that would pay top dollar to hear your story. Ordinary
girl, seduced by a rock star, then cruelly cast aside…they’d
lap it up. I can put you in touch with the right people.”

Sara took a deep
breath, trying to regain her composure. Her mind was racing, weighing
up different scenarios. But she knew what she had to do.

“Well that
sounds really interesting. I guess I never thought about the other
side of the story. I’m sorry if I jumped to conclusions. Um,
look, I’m feeling a bit woozy still, any chance I could get
some water?”

“Sure thing.
Come on, let’s get you out of here.” Sara willed herself
not to pull away as he slipped his arm around her and guided her to
the door. They emerged into what looked like a boiler room in the dim
light; Sara noted a workshop like area in the corner. Up another set
of stairs and a through a security door, and they stepped out into
the Pussy Parlour. Sara felt her heart leap in her chest; she was
still at the strip club! At least Erica knew where she could be
found. Michael deposited her in a chair while he switched on the
lights around the bar. Sara scanned the room, looking for any
potential exits. But she could only see the main doors, which were
securely fastened with a chain, and a fire exit wedged shut behind a
pinball machine. Safety first, Sara thought ruefully. She watched
Michael as he moved behind the bar, pouring water into a high ball
glass. How could someone so handsome, so charming, be capable of
something like this? For Sara had no doubt that Michael was behind
her kidnap, whatever he said. He was determined to ruin Jack’s
life, it seemed, and he didn’t care about the collateral
damage. Michael passed the glass to Sara, grinning at her once again.
Just looking at him made her feel ill; did he really think he'd taken
her in with his innocent act? The man really was delusional.

Sara whipped round
as a noise came from outside. Someone was banging on the door, making
the glass rattle in its pane. With surprising speed, Michael hit the
light switch behind the bar, before rounding on Sara.

"Sara! Laura!
Is there anyone in there?" Sara's eyes widened; it sounded like
Jack's voice! But the glimmer of home turned to fear as Michael's
hand closed over her mouth and he forced her to the ground.

"Keep quiet,
or you're dead." He hissed in her ear, the feel of his breath on
her neck making her skin crawl. Outside, Jack continued to hammer on
the door. There were other voices, too. Sara's heart leapt as she
heard Erica scream her name. She was so close to safety. She couldn't
miss her chance. Calling on her college self-defence classes, Sara
slowly let her muscles relax. She felt Michael loosen his grip ever
so slightly as he looked around him, plotting a way out. Then Sara
seized the moment. She threw her upper body forward, at the same time
kicking out with her heel, delivering a forceful blow to Michael's
crotch. He howled with pain, and she shook him off, running toward
the door screaming at the top of her lungs. But Michael was only
momentarily thrown off, and he came after her. Desperate, Sara
grabbed the only object at her disposal; the water glass he had left
on the bar. Whirling round, she swung the glass into the side of her
pursuers head, felt it smash and heard him cry out before stumbling
backwards. At the same time, she heard an enormous crash as the door
was forced in, and suddenly the room was full of people. She was
safe. Safe at last.

Jack burst into the
dark bar, aware only of the chilling sound of Sara's scream echoing
in his ears. It took him a moment to locate her as his eyes adjusted
to the low light. He could just make out her slim frame, cowering by
the bar, and he ran towards her. As Erica flicked on the lights, he
gasped. A livid purple bruise marked Sara's delicate cheek, and her
clothes and hair were covered in dirt. Even worse, there was blood
streaming down her right arm, and shards of glass embedded in her
fingers.

"Sara, oh my
God, what the hell happened?"

He wrapped the
sobbing girl in his strong arms, only then noticing the unconscious
form on the floor beside her. His worst suspicions were confirmed.
Michael. So, it was true.

"Sonofabitch."
He muttered, stroking Sara's hair, reigning in his anger in an effort
to comfort her. Suddenly, she pulled away from him.

"Laura. Jack,
you have to find Laura. She's...Oh God, I don't know what he's done
with her." A chill ran through Jack. Seeing the state Sara was
in, he feared even more for his little sister. He lowered Sara into a
chair, aided by Erica. He grabbed Michael's lifeless form by the
shoulders and shook him as hard as he could.

"Jack, be
careful!" Jared reprimanded him, but Jack didn't care. That
bastard would pay for what he'd done, but first he had to make sure
Laura was safe. Eventually, Michael's eyes flickered open.

"Wha...oh,
Jack, oh shit...."

"Damn right,
you're in the shit now," Jack growled. "Now tell me where
the hell Laura is before I beat the crap out of you!"

"Woah, Jack,
hey, what makes you think..."

"Shut it
Michael, it's over." Sara cut in. "We know all about your
little games now. So tell him where you sent her. You got Dan taking
her somewhere, right?"

"Tell me you
little shit!" Jack yelled, tightening his grip on the other man.

"Okay, okay,
look I'll give you the licence plate number. They're heading west,
can't have got too far. He'll stop overnight at that little motel by
the creek, remember, we stayed there once?"

"I'll get the
cops on the line." Jared said, pulling out his cell phone.

Jack looked his
former friend hard in the eye.

"Just tell me,
y? What happened? When did you start hating me so much that you
wanted to destroy everything I loved? Just tell me why, y. Why?"

"It's always
about you, Jack, isn't it? Ever since day one. We were on the verge
of getting a record deal, finally achieving our dream. But Jack Carer
didn't want to go on tour, didn't want to go to L.A. You were ready
to throw it all away so you could hang around your home town and
traipse around after Laura. You would have ruined my whole fucking
career, and for what? Your fucking stupid junkie sister!" For a
moment, it seemed that Jack would punch him in the face. Nobody in
the room had much heart to stop him. Taking a deep breath, Jack
dropped Michael to the ground disdainfully. Then he turned to Sara.

As shaken as she
was, her heart went out to him. Jack was looking at her with such a
mixture of guilt and admiration. He came closer, knelt down beside
her, and took her uninjured hand in his.

"Sara, I...I
don't even know what to say. I treated you like shit, and you put
everything on the line just to help me. And Laura. My god, you could
have been killed. I know no amount of apologies is going to make up
for that, but still. I am so, so sorry. For everything."

Sara squeezed his
hand and gave a little smile.

"You're
forgiven. I just hope Laura's alright. And bear in mind, I didn't
realise I was walking in to a kidnapping. I thought I was just going
to see some boobs."

Jack laughed, and
pulled her close to him. She breathed in his musky scent and felt a
thrill in the pit of her stomach just to be near him again.

"The police
are on their way," Jared said, hanging up the phone.

They watched
Michael be bundled into the back of a cop car. Jared, Erica and Matt
remained at the scene, answering questions, while Jack rode with Sara
in the ambulance. She hadn't wanted to be taken to hospital, but one
look at her shredded hand and the officers had insisted.

"I can't
believe you're here." Sara said, as they raced along the
highway.

"I can't
believe you knocked Michael out with a pint glass." Jack
retorted. Sara smiled.

"Look, Jack,
the police are going to find Laura. They're bound to. From what I can
tell, Michael's been controlling her all these years. Telling her
that you don't care about her, that she was best to stay away. But I
don't think he ever hurt her."

"If he laid a
finger on her, I will kill him. Look what he did to you. That...ugh,
that lowlife scum! You know he gave those photographs to the papers.
Seems like the anonymous source was him all along."

"Holy shit. He
was trying to talk me into going to the papers too, doing some kind
of kiss-and-tell about you."

"Bastard. I
knew he was jealous of me, that much was obvious, but I never thought
he'd stoop to this."

"I'm so sorry,
Jack."

"Sorry? What
have you got to be sorry for? If it wasn't for you, I might still be
none the wiser. I owe you everything, Sara. And if you'll let me, I'm
going to try my hardest to make it up to you."

"Well, I have
to say, I like the sound of that. Listen, Jack...can I ask you
something? Something personal?"

"Of course.
Anything."

"Backtrack...the
song...it's about Laura, isn't it."

The haunted look
returned for a moment, before Jack smiled.

"Yeah, yeah it
is. I wrote it for her, just before she went missing. Nobody ever got
it before." He looked at her with something like admiration.

***

At the hospital,
Sara was cleaned up. A kindly doctor stitched and bandaged her hand,
and a nurse applied an ice pack to her swollen cheek. Jack hovered
around her the entire time, much to the delight of all the female
staff. He was clearly agitated, checking his phone every five seconds
for news of Laura. But he still took the time to sign autographs, and
popped up to the children's ward to say hello to the awestruck
patients.

"I should do
this more often." He sighed, as he returned to Sara's side. "I
don't give enough back, I really don't. But anyway, how are you
feeling."

"Almost human
again, " Sara said, smiling bravely. "Although I must look
terrible."

"You look
beautiful, as always," Jack whispered. Leaning towards her, he
pressed his lips gently to hers, and Sara's heart melted.

"Sorry, is
that allowed? " Jack asked.

"Well, you did
just rescue me, so I'd say I can allow it."

"Sara. It's
you who rescued me. I know it's cheesy, but its true. I was so stupid
to let you get away."

"You sent me
away." Sara hadn't meant to say it, but all the hurt of the past
months welled up inside her, and it just slipped out.

"I know, and
I'm sorry. I was scared. Scared that I'd hurt you, that I couldn't
make you happy. I'm still scared, to tell you the truth. But if you
can find it in you heart to give me another chance, I will try to
make you the happiest woman on earth."

Sara answered him
with a kiss, deeper this time, their tongues caressing eachother as
Jack ran his fingers through her hair. He pulled her gently on to his
lap, wrapping one arm around her waist as the other gently cupped her
breast.

A pointed cough
interuppted their happy reunion, and Jack looked up to see Jared
hovering in the doorway.

"I see you two
are getting on okay." He said with a grin.

"We were
just...um...waiting for Sara's discharge papers," Jack mumbled,
blushing, "but are you okay? Is there any news."

"Everyone's
fine. In fact, there's somebody here to see you."

A young policeman
wheeled a chair into the room. The girl sat there looked a lot
younger without all her stage makeup. Sara spotted a couple of
scrapes and bruises, but she didn't seem seriously hurt, and she felt
a wave of relief. She looked over at Jack, and saw his lip was
trembling.

"Laura,"
he said, and his voice cracked with emotion. Setting Sara down
gently, he approached his sister cautiously, as if she might flee
again at any moment.

"Oh Laura, I
thought I'd never see you again."

"Jacky, I'm so
sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing, I thought you didn't
want me any more." Laura began to sob, and her big brother took
her in his arms and held her tight. Sara saw there were tears in
Jared's eyes as well; they'd all been imagining this moment for a
long time.

"I should give
you two some time to catch up," Sara said softly, heading
towards the door.

"No, Sara,
wait!" Laura reached out and caught her by the arm. "I'm so
sorry you got mixed up in all this. I didn't know...I guess I didn't
know what Michael was capable of. Or Dan...he hit you,d idn't he?"
Sara nodded and Laura shook her head angrily. "Man, I trusted
those guys...if you hadn't come along, I don't know what would have
happened to me. Now I'm here, Jack's here...thank you Sara. Thank you
so much."

"It was
nothing, honestly," Sara shrugged, embarrassed. It was pure luck
that the story had a happy ending; it could all have gone down very
differently.

"Nonsense,"
Jared said warmly, putting his arm around Sara's shoulders, "you're
the hero of the hour. These two are back together, Michael's been
exposed as the rat he is. You did good, kid. Now come on, let me take
you for a cup of coffee. Then as soon as the doctor gets you signed
out, we can go home."