A Face in the Crowd (23 page)

“Yes, you were. My relationship with Oliver is none of your business.”

“Of course, you’re right. For now on, I’ll stay out of your way. Please understand I was only looking out for him.”

She doubted that was true, but decided to let it go. This was her night, hers and Oliver’s. Holding a grudge against Andy was pointless.

He smiled and gestured to the hallway behind him. “If you’d like to come with me, I can take you back to the band’s backstage area. They’ll be joining us in just a few minutes, but this way we can avoid the onslaught of press and well-wishers.”

Lexie nodded. She’d go anywhere she needed to so she could spend more time with Oliver.

They didn’t speak as they walked down the cinderblock hallway together. There was nothing she wanted to say to Andy. She supposed if she was going to have a relationship with Oliver she’d have to accept his presence, but she didn’t have to like him. She wasn’t sure she was capable of developing a fondness for someone like Andy. Someone who only saw the bottom line and who treated people like crap until he wanted something from them.

He held a door open for her and they stepped into a simple room not more than the size of her apartment living room. There were champagne bottles, sandwiches, and other assorted foods lined up on a table, and leaning against the wall were two guitars.

“Would you care for a drink?”

“No, thank you.” She went back to trying to imagine what went on in this room before the guys took the stage. Did they warm up? Use a secret handshake?

She flinched when a pop sounded from an opened champagne bottle, her nerves clearly on edge. It seemed Andy was celebrating the band’s return to the stage.

“Did you know Oliver’s going to move to Georgia?” Andy tipped back the glass in his hand and refilled it without looking at her. “That’s right. After tonight, he’s taking a break and moving east. I guess that makes you pretty happy, doesn’t it?”

Lexie shifted her weight from one foot to the other as Andy drained his glass, again. He wasn’t smiling the way he usually was, not even his fake salesman version of a smile. In fact, this time his mouth was pinched, his voice clipped.

“It doesn’t really matter to me, though. He’s free to do whatever he wants.” He refilled and drained his glass a third time. “You see, Lexie . . . I know your name now, don’t I . . . after tonight, I’m not managing Survival anymore.”

Lexie remained quiet, but sucked in a breath.

“That’s right, this is it for me. A decade of service, of slaving away for those guys and what happens? One of them gets a hard on for you and now I’m out. That’s it. Finished.”

The hairs on her arms stood on end.

“It wasn’t enough for him to screw you, he had to screw me in the process.” He threw his glass against the wall where it exploded into a thousand pieces and fell to the floor.

Lexie jumped. “I need to go find my friend. She’ll be wondering where I’ve gone.”

When she made for the door and wrenched it open, Andy’s hands slammed it closed before she could escape.

“You can stay right here with me.”

She took a step back, then another. “To what end, Andy?”

He flipped the lock in the door handle and stalked toward her. “What would it take for me to get rid of you? How much?”

Her blood boiled. She, unlike her mother, couldn’t be bought. “There’s nothing you can give me that will make me turn away from Oliver. I love him.”

Andy threw his head back and laughed, but it was a harsh sound and too loud for their close quarters. “Everyone has a number.”

“Not this time,” she said through gritted teeth.

He narrowed his eyes. “You know what? I think you might be telling the truth.” He stepped toward her again and when she tried to move away, her back hit the wall. He placed one hand on the wall beside her head and the other on her throat. “If money won’t work, I’m sure there are other ways to get rid of you.”

He began to squeeze, the pain bearable at first, but as he continued to apply pressure her lips burned and her eyes watered. As she tried to pry his hand away from her throat he added his other, his fingers digging into her skin hard enough to leave bruises.

Her medical training kicked in as she tried to avoid freaking out. If she panicked, her body would use up the oxygen in her blood faster. In a matter of seconds, she would begin to lose vision as unconsciousness came for her. Suffocation was one thing, but the human brain couldn’t sustain a lack of oxygen.

“I think we’ll wait for Oliver here and show him that if you’re gone there’s no reason for him to leave. Without you, he can stay and go back to life as it should be.”

She tried to bring her knee to his groin, but he had her pinned.

Laughter and talking sounded outside the door and Andy glanced over his shoulder. In his own panic, he bore down on her windpipe. The door handle shook.

“Hey, is someone in there?”

It was Oliver.

Her eyes darted around as she searched for anything she could use against him until the champagne bottles caught her eye. She released his hands as black spots appeared at the corners of her vision and reached for the bottle. She hit it once, but it fell to the concrete floor and shattered.

“Lexie?” The door shook again and Oliver’s voice grew quieter as he spoke to someone she couldn’t see. Then the entire door shook on its hinges. Her body convulsed as it searched for air.

“Lexie!” Oliver’s voice was more urgent now, but she wasn’t sure she could hold on any longer. The door shook again, this time almost giving away at the center.

Andy’s face was only a few inches from her own and his pupils were dilated until they were all she could see. “That’s it, you money grubbing little whore, time to die.”

Her temper flared to life and cut through her fear. She wasn’t going die. Not today. Not when she’d come this close to happiness. She shot her hand out again in the direction of the table and this time she didn’t miss. She wrapped her fingers around the top of the cool glass and with all the strength she had left swung for Andy’s head.

At the same time the glass made contact, the door burst open and the band poured in along with what looked like half the crew and Simone.

Andy staggered and lost his grip on her, but before he could recover, Oliver hit him with enough force to send him to the ground.

Lexie sank against the wall as she coughed and wheezed the air back into her lungs.

Simone knelt beside her. “Oh my, God! Lexie. Are you all right? Someone call 911,” she called over her shoulder before returning her attention to Lexie’s neck.

Oliver’s eyes were wild when he joined them. “Lexie, are you okay? What am I saying? Of course you’re not okay.” He ran his hands down her arms and scanned her body for other injuries. “I’m so sorry this happened.” He moved her hair to the side in a manner gentler than she would’ve thought possible for a man of his size, and studied her neck. “I’ll kill him.”

Oliver’s voice was low and dangerous, leaving little doubt he meant what he said, but she’d had enough violence for one day. “Don’t,” she managed with some effort, “he isn’t worth it.” She laid her hand on his arm and then he scooped her up off the floor and carried her to the couch.

While she sat beside Oliver, he kept her hand firmly in his as though afraid to let go of her. Simone hung back with the rest of the guys from the band as several crew members kept Andy pinned to the ground. When the police entered the room, everyone waited in silence as Andy was handcuffed. As he was led away, his face bloody from Oliver’s fist and the side of his head bleeding from where she hit him with a bottle, Oliver’s shoulder’s tensed.

“It’s okay,” Lexie squeezed his hand to reassure him. She wasn’t scared of Andy, some silly desperate man, not when she had Oliver beside her. Almost losing him was scarier than anything Andy could potentially do to her.

As the police dragged the man away who had tried to take her life, she stood and stepped in front of him. With Oliver by her side and her eyes boring into Andy’s, she found her voice, “I’m not going anywhere, asshole.”

Simone and the guys cheered and then after wishing her well, left her and Oliver alone.

With her hands braced between his, he brought his head down to rest against hers. “Lexie, I’m so sorry.”

She stroked his cheek. “No. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for pushing you away and letting my fear get in the way of how I feel about you.”

“It’s in the past.” He turned his head to the side and kissed the palm of her hand. “Besides, I hadn’t given up. If you hadn’t come here, I was going to be on the next plane to Atlanta.”

“You’re a very determined man, Oliver Honeycutt.”

“I am when it comes to you.” He grinned and laced his fingers with hers. “Let’s get out of here.”

She glanced over her shoulder where the broken champagne bottle littered the floor and then let Oliver lead her out of the room. As he’d said, it was in the past. All of it. Donna, her fear, Andy. None of it mattered.

He didn’t stop until they were out on the stage. The house lights were still burning, but the crowd was gone. She could hear the crew moving the band’s equipment around behind the curtain and smell the fresh air where the large garage style door was open.

“Can you believe,” she started as she looked out on the empty space, “that not so long ago I was out there? Just another face in the crowd among thousands.”

He pulled her against him and she tilted her face up toward his. “You were never just a face in the crowd. You were the only one I saw.”

He kissed her then on the stage. The first place they’d met and the place where they’d come together to start again.

Encore

Lexie slipped a final pin in her hair to hold the flower tucked beside her braid in place. She couldn’t believe she’d been in California for the last three months and now she was about to get married. In the span of six months her life had turned upside down, or rather, life had started. Everything before seemed like limbo compared to the life she led now.

“Hey,” Simone said from beside her as she ran the mascara brush through her lashes a final time. “Did Oliver tell you about Andy?”

“No, what?” Lexie had barely thought of Andy since moving to L.A. He was no one to her.

“Bailey said they found out why he went so berserk. He was almost half a million dollars in debt.”

“Oh, my gosh. How?”

“Apparently, he has a major gambling problem and no one knew.” Simone stood and straightened her long skirt. “They’re sending him to jail. I thought you’d want to know.”

“Thanks.” So that was that. Andy was going away. Donna was somewhere down in Florida dating a man who owned a yacht and she, Lexie, was about to marry a man she loved beyond reason.

With a final glance in the full-length mirror she stood, ready to walk down the aisle and start the next part of her life.

“You look beautiful,” Cathy leaned in and air kissed her cheek.

“I second that,” Simone handed her the bridal bouquet and turned to leave the tent where they’d gotten ready. “Here we go.”

The sound of a guitar filled the air as the wedding music began. Simone exited first leaving Lexie alone with her future mother-in-law.

“Thank you for agreeing to walk me down the aisle,” suddenly nervous, she fiddled with the ribbon hanging off of her flowers. “I know this is unusual.”

Cathy beamed at her and held out her arm for Lexie to take as they stepped out of the tent to make their way to where Oliver and Bailey were waiting near the water’s edge.

“Sweet, Lexie, nothing in the world makes me happier than you marrying my son and joining our family. I will always be grateful to the woman who took care of both of my sons.”

They smiled at each other and continued on, bare feet digging into the sand as they made their way to the makeshift altar where Oliver was waiting. He smiled as she neared, dressed in khaki pants and a button up shirt open at the collar, looking more handsome than she’d ever seen him. She wasn’t sure if it was the outfit, the setting, or her own happiness at becoming his wife, but it was already the best day of her life.

Cathy placed her hand in Oliver’s and retreated to her reserved chair. This was it.

His hand was warm on hers, safe. It was a hand she looked forward to holding the rest of her life. As they exchanged vows in front of their best friends and family with the ocean waves crashing and the sun shining, her heart was full.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

Oliver wrapped his hand around her shoulders and dipped her back for a kiss, their first kiss as a married couple. She would never get tired of hearing that. They joined hands and made their way back down the aisle.

“So, what do you say, Sexy Lexie? Are you ready to start a life with me? I promise it’ll be an adventure.”

She stopped when they reached the dunes and stood up on her toes to wrap her arms around his neck. “There is nothing I want more.”

He kissed her again and then they walked through the sand taking their first steps toward their new life together.