Looking For Trouble (35 page)

"Cozy how?" Wade asked loudly, knowing he
was torturing himself, but he couldn't help himself. Even though he
told her to move on in no uncertain terms, he couldn't fucking
believe that Jess had done that so soon, when she said she fucking
loved
him
.

"Sat on the same side of the booth, and the
guy had his arm around her, cozy."

Wade growled, and mumbled, "I hope they're
fucking out of town by the time we get there."

"Yeah, me too," Cole said sympathetically
then added, "What the hell happened with you two anyway?"

"I don't want to talk about it...suffice it
to say I was a fucking idiot."

Cole chuckled then said, "Okay then--subject
changed."

Will sat in the back of the truck by him, on
the drive to Bowie, cooing and laughing while he played with his
toys, a vivid reminder that Angel wasn't in his life anymore, and
he just barely kept his shit together. Misery tore through him like
a chainsaw through a pine tree, and Wade didn't know how he was
going to get through this seeing Will on a daily basis. He leaned
his head against the back of the seat and closed his eyes, praying
that sleep would make him forget, for a little while at least.

When they hit the city limits, Will tossed a
toy at his head and he woke up, then picked it up and handed it
back to him. His happy little eyes tugged at Wade's heart and he
pinched the baby's nose between his fingers and said, "Gotcha
nose!" and Will giggled.

It was a game he played with him...and one
he'd played sometimes with Angel. Wade felt a wet drop land on his
hand and looked down, then wiped his eyes with his fist, but it was
useless, the drops kept coming. When Cole looked at him in the
rearview mirror, he quickly averted his eyes, and Wade felt like a
damned crybaby. He hadn't cried since he was in diapers, but he was
now.

Sabrina didn't look back there, but she
twisted her arm around the seat and had a small pack of Kleenex in
her hand. He grabbed the pack and ripped it open, then pulled out a
few and wiped his eyes, then blew his nose. When they passed
through town, he was glad he still had them in his hand, because
his gaze snagged on a leggy blond hugging a muscle bound Spanish
guy standing in front of a moving van in front of the bar. He
looked back after they passed by and saw it was Jess hugging that
guy, and his heart shattered like a light bulb on a tile floor,
when the guy kissed her on the lips.

A roar worked itself up from his toes and he
yelled, "Turn around!"

"Not doing it, man...you're not in any shape
for a confrontation...get better then I'll personally drive you
back to Dallas to tell her off."

"I don't want to wait that long, it might be
too late...and I don't want to tell her off, I need to
apologize!"

"You can call her, because I'm not going
back, Wade."

"
Fuck!
" Wade shouted, then felt Will
jerk beside him and looked down into his wide eyes, and tears
welled up in his again, then he said, "I'm sorry little guy...Uncle
Wade is a crazy man right now."

"Crazy or not, Uncle Wade better watch his
potty mouth," Sabrina admonished him.

"Sorry, Bri..." he said then leaned his
sorry ass head back against the seat trying to get himself under
control.

***

"That's the last of it, Carlos...where's
Jazzie?" Jess asked with a smile she didn't really feel. It had
been ten days, since she'd seen Wade, and she missed him something
awful. After she found out he made it out of surgery okay, and his
prognosis was good, she stopped calling the hospital. She had to,
because every call made her want to run over there and hug him with
relief.

She was sad too, because all of his effort
to get her out of his life, because he was going to be paralyzed,
was for nothing. But it had given her an insight into his mindset.
In his eyes, love was only pertinent to the good times in
life...when there wasn't any trouble, and his opinion of her was
that she was a useless, immature girl, incapable of making smart
decisions for herself.

Well her first smart decision, he'd helped
her make. To cut him out of her life, and try to move on alone...to
take charge and get things done. The last week had been incredible,
and the following week would be even more so. She had teamed up
with Doug and Travis, and they'd found all kinds of evidence
against Ray Turner that showed he'd embezzled nearly half a million
dollars from her, not the hundred thousand she though he had.

Those songs he'd sold, had brought in
astronomical sums, and were still bringing in royalties. Doug had
the account numbers for the accounts he'd transferred the money to,
and was working with the feds to get all of them frozen. Travis
found all kind of deleted emails about the sale of the songs on the
old computer, and printed all of them, as well as some ledger files
that had other funds he'd transferred from her personal
account.

In a couple days, they'd have all they
needed for the feds to prosecute him for wire fraud, money
laundering, tax evasion, and other related charges. He was going
down for a very long time, the agent they were working with told
them.

Jess and Jazzie had done some internet
research on Gold Bee Records, the label she was under contract with
and found out that they
were
a legitimate company, and had a
couple of big name artists with them. She'd called Mr. Zucker who'd
been with Ray that night at the bar and talked to him for two
hours. Once they got past the niceties and contract issues, she
eased her way into a discussion about Ray Turner.

Not surprisingly, the man wasn't overly
impressed with him, and she dropped pieces of information about
their past association. He hadn't been shocked with the information
she'd given him, but he was very interested, and before they hung
up, she wound up giving him the full rundown, and he'd asked her to
send him demos of the three new songs she'd written.

He wanted to play them for a couple big name
clients, one of which was looking for a new opening act when they
went on tour soon. Travis had scheduled the studio time for
tomorrow, and she'd have the demos to him by the weekend, so she
was pretty excited about it. Things were coming together for the
band and for her. Too bad when her star hit the stratosphere, and
she had a feeling that was about to happen, she'd be alone.

Jess put the last mike stand in the back of
the truck, then Carlos pulled down the rolling door and latched it
then wiped his hands. "Ready to head back to Dallas?" he asked her
with a grin.

"Yeah, just give me a minute...I need to go
talk to somebody at the police station real quick, and I'll be
right back," she said then leaned up to kiss his cheek. "You round
up Jazzie and the crew, so we can take Den to pick up the rental
rod."

Jess walked across the street to the
station, then went inside. There was an older woman behind the desk
and she asked her, "Is Cole in?"

"No, he took off today to go to Dallas and
pick up Wade," she told Jess, then looked her over from head to
toe. "Who are you?"

"Jess Sparks...is Gabe in then?" she asked
hopefully. She wanted to get a report on Wade, and tell them
bye.

"He's out on a call right now, he'll
probably be back in thirty minutes or so, if you want to
wait..."

"Nah, we need to head out, I just wanted to
stop in and say goodbye...would you give them that message for me?
Jess asked her hopefully, then she fished a little, "So Wade got
out of the hospital today?"

"Yeah, he's gonna be staying with Cole and
Sabrina til he's back on his feet," she volunteered.

Jess huffed out a relieved breath that he'd
have someone to take care of him, while he recovered. "Okay,
thanks, um...."

"Julie Beth, I'm the dispatcher," she said
proudly then smiled.

"Thanks Julie Beth," Jess told her then
turned around and walked back outside into the bright sunshine.
With one more look around the town that had almost stolen her
heart, as surely as Wade Roberts had, Jess walked back across the
street to her future.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Three weeks after she bid Bowie goodbye for
the final time, and recorded the demos in Dallas, Jess was sitting
in another studio, this one in Nashville with musicians for hire,
cutting Take My Breath Away, as a single for a yet to be named
album she had to finish writing songs for.

Mr. Zucker was chomping at the bit to
release it to several radio stations who'd agreed to play it, one
of them was national. Ray didn't know it yet, but him signing her
with this label was the best thing he'd ever done for her. She knew
that hadn't been his intention, but it worked out that way in spite
of him.

They were also going to be the opening act
for a popular female country artist who was relatively new, but had
two singles at the top of the billboard charts right now. The
artist was going from being an opening act herself, to a headliner.
The tour started in two weeks, and Mr. Zucker anticipated the
tickets for the concerts to be sell outs at all of their
venues...and they weren't tiny auditoriums or bars either. That
meant she and the band were going to get some hefty paydays very
soon.

Travis was too, she was going to make sure
she paid him back for taking care of her, while she was down, and
that she paid him for being her manager. He'd lost a lot of money
supporting her and trying to help her reclaim her career. He was
back in San Antonio now, and she was glad he'd reclaimed his life
too. She'd hired a new manager, a woman who was sharp as a tack and
just as brassy. Lizzie Thomas didn't take crap from anyone, when
she walked in a room people paid attention, and that was just the
kind of person she needed representing her and the band.

Jess had also hired a nanny who was going to
travel with them to help with Angel. That would give her the time
to write, and practice with the band, but still allow her to keep
Angel close and spend time with her. Tamara was with Angel right at
the hotel, while she was here in the studio.

Last week, Jess had seen a doctor in Dallas
and he cut the cast off and x-rayed her ankle, then told her he
wasn't going to put another back on, because it was pretty much
healed. He just gave her an air splint he told her to wear when she
wasn't on stage for another week or so. She was almost back to her
old self now, and it felt damned good. Her 'Wade breakdowns' only
happened about every other day now, so that was getting better
too.

Jess shook her head to clear it, then picked
up her acoustic guitar and plugged it in, before she nodded to the
guy in the sound booth that she was ready to go. They stopped and
restarted several times, trying to get the vocals just right, and
she knew the problem was all hers, so she took a bathroom break to
get her head together.

Singing that damned song always sent her
spiraling into thoughts of Wade, and how much she missed him. She
needed to focus, and the only way to do that was to remember. Jess
splashed her face with cool water, then took a deep breath and let
it out slowly, before she stiffened her spine and went back into
the sound booth, and put on her headphones.

"Let's do this..." she said into the mike,
then strummed her guitar and closed her eyes, picturing herself
singing the song to Wade, as he stood at the base stage staring up
at her lovingly with his sexy chocolate colored eyes, like he had
in Bowie. The visualization helped, and her voice turned low and
smoky, sexy, as she drawled out each verse, and the chorus
perfectly.

Nobody, stopped her this time, she sang the
song all the way through and felt it deep down inside as she sang
it. When she got to the last line, she got choked up, but it gave
her voice a neat scratchy sound, and she felt tears burning behind
her closed lids. After she finished, there was complete quiet in
the studio, and then loud applause from everyone, even the
musicians playing with her.

"That one's gonna be platinum, sugar...you
watch and see. I've been doing this a long time, and that was
magic," the master sound tech told her over the microphone in the
sound stage. Jess smiled really big, and sucked up the tears that
wanted to escape.

It sure was magic, she thought, then took a
deep shuddering breath. "Thanks, ya'll...I'm gonna head back to the
hotel, unless you need me anymore?'

"We're gonna need you a lot real soon, but
not on this song, it's perfect...and thank you, Jess," he told her
with a smile.

When she got back to the hotel, Tamara had
all their stuff packed up, and they took a taxi to the airport. The
flight home wasn't that long, but she was dog-tired by the time
they touched down and deplaned, because she hadn't been sleeping
well. She took Angel from Tamara and the girl got a cart for the
suitcases. "Thanks for taking such good care of Angel while I
worked," she told the younger woman.

"She's a baby doll, I loved it...thanks for
giving me the chance to be with ya'll," she told Jess with an odd
look to go along with her words. Jess studied her for a second
trying to figure out what it meant, but shook her head, and blew it
off when Tamara walked to the baggage claim to get their bags.