Uncovering Kaitlyn (15 page)

“The man?
How am I supposed to know?”

“Calm down.
Your Dad Kaitlyn. How’s your dad?”

“It was just
a scratch, he’s fine.”

“Don’t go
home Kaitlyn. You need to find somewhere safe.”

“I’m in a
hotel. Aaron is looking today while I’m at the studio. I’m not going to let it
defeat me this time. I’ll be fine Jamie.”

“Take care,
Kaitlyn. Get some rest.”

Chapter Nine

Kaitlyn

I ignored
the hundreds of paparazzi that seemed to surround me and went straight to the
studio. Aaron cancelled all my plans for the day and Wayne cleared staff to
help me at the studio. In the early hours everyone seemed to get together and
have a meeting about me as if I wasn’t there. As much as he hated to admit it,
Jake agreed with the others that his new home wasn’t secure enough either, so I
had to move out. Jake had just settled into his place and Dad would never be
able to leave my childhood home, so Aaron decided to find me a secure apartment
building. He was going to look into renting or buying a flat in London that had
security and was in a ‘safe’ area. Wayne said I should spend the day in the
studio away from the press and in a protective environment. I wanted to polish
up some of my songs and at least I’d now have the time to do that.

At the
studio, the press were guided away from me and four men ran out and walked me
to the door. I went straight up to the recording studio and reunited myself with
Oliver. I’d worked through every song when Wayne came in with some people.

“Kaitlyn,
I’d like you to meet a few of our other artists. We were having our monthly
lunch today and we thought you might like to join us. If not then we would
completely understand.”

I took my
guitar and followed him downstairs to a conference room and nervously stepped
inside.

“Everyone
this is Kaitlyn Fox, Kaitlyn this is everyone. I’ve got to make a quick call to
the wife. I’ll be back in five.” He walked out the door and everyone in the
room just stared at me. There were a few faces I recognised from the building
but everyone seemed as quiet as I was. Hank, the chief security guard came over
and said hello, but it was clear he had been sent here for my benefit. I went
and sat down at the table and smiled at some people. When people started to
continue their conversations or openly talk about me as if I wasn’t there I
played my guitar quietly to myself, counting down the minutes until Wayne got
back so I could leave.

“Hey Kaitlyn,
I’m Miranda. I’m in a band with my brother.”

“Hello, nice
to meet you.”

“Thanks. I
love your shoes. Where did you get them?”

I looked
down at my down at my feet, not even knowing what I’d put on this morning. I
didn’t like girl talk. With guys they would be honest and easy to read. You
could talk and they didn’t read into it. Girls could be manipulative and cruel.
They lied and over exaggerated and it made them harder to read, plus talking
about clothes was my worst point. I didn’t ever do fashion, make-up or guy
talk.

“I’m not
sure. I just kind of threw them on last night.”

“Oh, right.”

Wayne walked
back in and sat beside me.

“So
everyone, take a seat. We may not be school kids but I think we need circle
time. Kaitlyn needs everyone, and you need her. We’re going to do a quick Q and
A session. So Miranda, if you’d like to ask Kaitlyn a question.” Wayne saved me
from the snakes, only to transfer me to the lion’s den.

“What
happened yesterday?”

“A man broke
into my house.”

“Why?”

“It never
really occurred to ask him. He was crazy.” I went to get up but Wayne put his
hand on my shoulder.

“Maybe we
could have a bit more tact. When people get famous, some fans believe they know
the celebrity more than they actually do. You’ve all seen it happen to others.
Unfortunately yesterday was Kaitlyn’s time. Kaitlyn do you have a question?”

I thought
about it for a moment, and then asked the whole room who was into the fame and
who was into the music. A couple of people said both, and only a few answered
music. Everyone else gave me an ‘isn’t it obvious’ look, and I took that as my
cue to leave.

“I’ve had a
really long night. I’m going to take a break.” I walked out the room and made
my way to the studio. I sprawled out across the sofa in the production suite
and took a nap. No one but Jake ever understood what questions like that did to
someone. It hurt to think when you had to ask yourself the brutal; Why me? Dad
used to tell me that sometimes bad things happened for no reason. Life sucks
and you had to get over it. It was the story of my life.

I was hoping
that Aaron would have found me a new place, but by the evening he let me know
that he’d been to a few but hadn’t found any suitable. I spent another night in
the hotel texting Jamie until the early hours and in the morning I left to go
to the studio again.

At lunchtime
Aaron phoned to say he’d been to a flat and he’d arranged a second visit for
later this afternoon. He was going to pick me up in a few hours and Dad and
Jake were going to meet us there. I finished up in the studio and asked Wayne
to cancel an interview I had scheduled for this evening and then joined Aaron
in his car.

The flat was
thirty minutes from the record label and forty-five minutes from my village.
Aaron pointed out things such as local shops and the tube station as we
approached. There was a secure car park for residents to the side and a doorman
in the entrance. We met the landlady by the lift and we went up to the fourth
floor flat.

“There’s
only one other flat on this floor. They’re a young professional couple.” She
pointed across the hall and then opened the door to the apartment.

Inside was
spacious. The kitchen was modern and open plan. Everything was neutral but it
still felt homely.

“There are
three bedrooms and a small study.”

I walked
around and looked through all the rooms. When I walked out of the bathroom, Dad
and Jake stood talking to the landlady.

“What about
the noise?” Dad asked to no one in particular.

“All the
neighbours are polite and quiet. This used to be mine, but I’ve moved up to the
floor above. I’ve heard the neighbours maybe twice in all the time I’ve been
here.”

“We’re more
worried about Kaitlyn.”

“In what
way?”

“She’s a
musician.”

“I thought
you came from the studio? It’ll be fine, singing shouldn’t bother anyone, and
the walls are fairly sound proof.”

“No offence
but I kind of hate being referred to just as a singer. Yes, I sing, but at
three in the morning I’m playing my guitar. On a Saturday morning it’s the
violin and here it’ll probably be grand piano.”

“You’re
getting a grand piano?” Dad smiled.

“Yes. I’ve
been playing more recently.”

“Sorry, I
didn’t realise. I think you should be ok. We’ll have to check with the
neighbours, we might have to ask you to only play the louder instruments at
certain times. I’ll speak to the neighbours; I don’t have a problem with you,
even at like three in the morning.”

I thanked
the landlady and Jake took me around the flat. We walked into the master
bedroom and Jake opened the doors and pointed out an en-suite. There was another
door in the bedroom and I opened it to find a walk in wardrobe.

“I don’t
have enough clothes to live here.” I joked as Jake admired the three walls full
of drawers, shelves and hangers.

“Aaron will
be pleased if he gets to make you go shopping.”

“Don’t tell
him, I’ll pay you to be quiet. So are you going to pick out your room?”

“I get my
own room!” He faked excitement and I laughed with him. We walked around and we
made plans for each room.

“I could see
me living here. I can’t believe I’m leaving the village though. We grew up
there and I can’t even live there anymore. It sucks, you know?”

“I know
Kaitlyn, but this will be good for you. It’s London, the world is literally on
your doorstep and I’ll be over most days. You won’t be able to get rid of me
that easy.”

“I just
thought moving out would be exciting, that I’d spend months looking for the
perfect place and that it wouldn’t be in the city. I hate that I have to move.”

“What do you
mean by you have to move?” The landlady came over to join us.

“She wasn’t
safe in her house, it wasn’t guarded enough. Some nut-job broke in a few days
ago. We think it’ll be too easy for someone else to do the same. Here there’s a
doorman, four floors and a lot of neighbours. Plus it’s closer to a police
station.”

“I guess you
want to be in here pretty quickly then. I usually like to spend at least a week
getting organised with the paperwork and stuff but if you want this apartment,
I’ll hand you the keys now and you can be in here tomorrow.”

“Really?
That would be so good thank you.”

Aaron and
Dad came over to help sort the paperwork, and I insisted on paying the six
month lease upfront. I didn’t like having to think about payments each month
when I had the money now. When I spoke to the accountant Aaron found me a
couple of weeks ago, I told him I never wanted to be given credit. If I
couldn’t afford it straight off, I didn’t want to know. It’d been crazy the
first time I saw all the extra numbers on my bank statement. I was earning
royalties from my song and as it was released independently with the help of
Aaron, I was receiving a lot. I had earned from interviews and the movie on top
of that and had got the accountant to put aside the advance from the label so I
didn’t have to worry about having spent that if the album was never released.

“So now you
just need furniture.” Dad said as he drove me back to the hotel.

“And
everything else, like plates and new towels and cutlery. Don’t forget clothes
to fill my wardrobe.”

“Why don’t
you give that girl from the reunion a ring? Go shopping together, or
something.”

“Bethany?”

“Yes, she
seemed nice. You said you were friends before.”

“We spoke in
class. I never once saw her outside lessons.”

“You only
need to try it once. She hasn’t been in any papers. It can’t do you any harm.”

“I’ll find
her number in the morning and see what she’s doing.”

“You should
call your bank as well.”

“Why?”

“My guess is
you’ll end up buying a fair bit tomorrow. You don’t want then stopping your
card.”

“Ok, I’ll
ring them tomorrow as well. I have an interview in the evening on another chat
show. They’re sending another cast member over. I think they’ll try Jamie
because he’s British.”

“I thought
they realised we love American celebrities over here.”

“I know. I’d
rather they sent somebody other than me, but I’m here and they’re not. They
haven’t even finished filming and they’re starting to promote it.”

“You’ll be
fine. Who’s going with you? I’m free if you want.”

“Aaron is
still organising it. He’ll be there but I haven’t had chance to ask you or Jake
yet, with everything going on. Other shows are trying to call me in because
I’ve cancelled two in a row now. Aaron and Wayne had to get a lawyer for
yesterday’s show. They want compensation for unreasonable grounds of
cancellation and lack of notice. Like I was supposed to tell them a month ago
that the nutcase was going to break in.”

“What did
Aaron and Wayne say?”

“Aaron has
made it clear it doesn’t want me to reschedule and Wayne is giving notice to
the label that anything to do with them must be approved by him first. He says
they’re a last resort.”

“I’d be
happier if me and Jake could go with you tomorrow. I don’t like leaving anyone
alone.” Dad had his scratch looked at and cleaned and otherwise he was just
shaken like I was.

“Sure, I’ll
clear it with Aaron. He’ll sort it out for us.”

Jamie

When I was
told I had to fly to London to do an interview about the movie, I was ecstatic.
I’d been worried sick about Kaitlyn and although I’d spoken to her every day
and text her almost hourly, I needed to see for myself how she was. If Ryan
could hear my thoughts he’d say I was whipped and I don’t think I’d even argue
it. I’ve never loved anyone more than I love Kaitlyn and it scared me to think
what that could mean. Several times over the last two days Ryan had asked me
what me and Kaitlyn were and each time I replied that we were friends. I denied
being her boyfriend and pointed out that I wasn’t boyfriend material if he ever
brought it up. I like people not knowing about us, the more people knew the
more chance that someone would screw it up for us. I’d witnessed several
relationship be torn apart by magazines and the like and I wasn’t going to let
that happen to us.