Raw: The Ultimate Mc Collection (138 page)

This latest stalker was the scariest of them all, and I had had my fair share.  When I confronted Rex after I found the note in my room that morning, he had no explanation for me.  He said I was all locked up in my room when he left for the night.  

Unfortunately, I didn’t remember much at all, at least not after I had fallen asleep in a tangled mess with the other three.  Rex said they had left before he did.  So, what happened after Rex left for the night?  How did the stalker get in my room? That’s what I wanted to know.

And nobody had an answer for me.

Not only was I furious, but I was terrified.  I was, luckily, in one piece, and that was saying a lot.  I wasn’t the safest person in the world, I knew this, but by the time I was done with my show for the night, and once I had a few drinks, the last thing I wanted was to spend the night alone in my hotel room.  A girl needed a little company.

And besides, I thought that was what we were paying Rex for. Protection. But after last night, I was convinced I couldn’t depend on him.

So, yeah, I was terrified, and I was pissed.  I was pissed at Rex.  I was pissed at Seth, my manager.  I was pissed at the record label.  Nobody would listen to me.  I was nothing but a commodity to them, someone to push up on a stage so the public would push their money to us in return.  

For years, I had been complaining about my schedule.  And for almost as long, I had been complaining about security.  This Jack person had been sending me stuff for months now, somehow always finding me, no matter where I was staying.  But this was the first time he had been in my room.  All the other times it had been delivered.

I shuddered as I thought of how awful things could have turned out.  He could have easily done a lot more than just tape a creepy fucking note on the door.  

This morning, after I found it, the first thing I did was confront Rex.  When I got nowhere with him, I called Seth.  As usual, he was less concerned with my safety than the numbers from last night’s show.  Sure, he made a perfunctory play at showing concern, but it was obvious he was dismissing the severity of the situation.

But me?  I was fed up.  I wasn’t about to let some crazy lunatic get near me without a fight.  I knew I needed someone I could trust implicitly, and there was only one person in the whole world that came to mind.

Colton Joshua James.

As soon as I hung up the phone with Seth, I called Ciara.  

I hadn’t talked to her in years, not since that time she showed up at the show in Vegas, telling security I was an old friend, and finagling her way backstage.  We only had a few minutes to catch up, as I had to jump on the bus to get to the next show that was hours away.  

She looked exactly as I remembered, she hadn’t aged a day.  That’s one good thing you could say about the James family.  They had good genes.  She and her brother Colt had always been good-looking, despite the fact that they always looked hungry and were wearing ill-fitting clothes.  

Things like that didn’t matter when you looked like that. 

“How is Colt these days?” I asked, hesitantly.  The last I heard he was still behind bars for making hands down the stupidest move out of any of our friends back then. 

I was surprised to see Ciara’s eyes light up when I mentioned his name.

“Jett, he is amazing!  You wouldn’t believe it.  He’s sober, he’s out!  He just got out, and he joined up with a motorcycle club. It’s hard to get a real job when you’ve got a record, you know?  But these guys he’s riding with are good for him.  They’re like a family.  They all take care of each other.  You wouldn’t recognize him.  He’s a whole different person now.”

“Oh, yeah?”  I replied.  Colt and I had always had a connection.  We were close.  Almost closer than Ciara and I were.  I was never the girly-girl like Ciara was back then.  I related more to the boys, and Colt became one of my best friends.  

We were just kids, hell, he was thirteen when he left, and I was twelve.

After the explosion, he went to jail right away, and that triggered an investigation into his parents.  They took Ciara away and locked up their parents.  And just like that, my two best friends were gone.  It sucked.

“Well, you look great, Ciara,” I told her.  And she did. It made me wonder what Colt looked like now.  She gave me her number, and we promised to keep in touch.  But I never called.  

So, I wasn’t surprised when I heard the iciness in her voice when I called her this morning.  

“Jett, what a surprise,” she murmured dryly.  “It’s been a long time.”

“I know, Ciara, I’m sorry I haven’t called,” I said.  “I’m constantly touring, my schedule is insane.”

“Oh, that’s alright, I understand.”  Her voice told me she didn’t understand at all.

“I sure do miss you, though!  I think I have another show coming up in Vegas soon, but I can’t remember the date.  I’d love for you to be my guest, okay?  Bring the family.”  Ciara had moved to Vegas with her husband and two kids years ago.

“Oh, sure, sure…” she said, her voice trailing off.

“Ciara, I need to get in touch with Colt.”  

“Colt?” she asked, her voice full of surprise.

“Yeah.  I might have a job for him.  I need some um…help.”  

“Oh. That’s weird.  Okay, well, hold on, and I’ll get his number.  You know, Jett, he’s very busy with the club.  He’s the VP now.  I doubt he has time for you.  Hold on a sec.”

The VP, huh?  She gave me Colt’s number after a moment, and I thanked her, promising to get in touch about the show soon.

I called him right away.  When I heard his voice, the past flooded through my head, and all those hours of sitting and talking in the bed of his parents’ pick up truck seemed like they had just happened yesterday.

I spilled everything. I told him about the grueling schedule, the lax security, and Crazy Jack, as I had taken to calling him.  I told him about the note I found in my room, and I smiled in satisfaction as I heard him growl with anger.

“He was in your room?!” he asked, his deep voice booming through my cell phone.

“Yes.”

“You didn’t wake up?  You didn’t hear anything?” he asked, incredulously.

“Um, well…I had a little bit to drink.  So, I was sleeping a little more soundly than usual.”  More like it was the only way I could get to sleep, I thought.

“Oh,” he replied, followed by a long pause.

“I, um…I hear you’re sober now. That’s great. Ciara told me.  She said you’re in some biker gang now or something.”

“Motorcycle club. And yeah, I am. It’s not a big deal.”

“No? I guess. I can’t imagine not drinking, but you know…the stress of the road and all that.”

“Yeah, sure, I get it.  So, Jett, why are you calling me?  Why are you telling me all this?”

“Oh. Well, I have a proposition for you.”

It took a lot of convincing, but I think I sounded so desperate, the poor guy felt guilty after a while.  When he finally told me he would fly out, I jumped for joy.  

“Yes!”  I said.  “I promise I’ll make it worth your while, Colt.  My management company will pay you very well.”

“This is just a trial thing, Jett.  I have a life here.  I’ll come down, assess the situation, and see what I can do. Maybe I can find you some permanent, effective security.”

“Okay, Colt, thank you so much!  I knew I could count on you.”

I figured I would wait till he got there to tell him that I would never trust anyone else but him.

“I’ll have my P.A., Sam, call you with the flight details.  I can’t wait to see you, Colt!”  I told him, before getting off the phone.  Excitement raced through my veins, and I realized it was the first time I had been excited about anything in quite a while.

When I got on the bus, I told Sam to make all the arrangements, gave her Colt’s number, and closed myself off in my bunk as the swaying bus lulled me to sleep like it always did.

But this time was different.  I was smiling.

CHAPTER FIVE

COLT

THREE DAYS LATER

Jett Ghianni!

Jett! 

What a trip. 

I never expected to hear from her, and I certainly never expected my cock to swell like it did as soon as the sound of her voice hit my ears.  When I agreed to fly out, I did so without fully thinking it through.  I was thinking with my heart, and my cock, letting the memory of her laughter override any good sense I had.  

We were young, but that’s what made the memories so intense. I never touched her, outside of that one first kiss. 

I didn’t have too many good feelings when I thought about my past before the explosion, but the ones that I did have almost always included the sound of Jett’s laughter.  She was so easy to be around.  She was my escape.  The three of us were always together, and when I did get a few moments alone with her, away from Ciara’s incessant babbling, it was always easy and peaceful.  I cherished those moments, and they were a big part of what got me through those nights when I was locked up.  

I had missed her.  I had tried to push her to the back of my mind, though, attempted to chalk her up to one of those people who had moved on way beyond my reach.  Even though I had hoped to somehow see her again, I never really expected to.

So, when I heard her instantly recognizable, raspy voice, telling me she needed me?  My body wasn’t going to let me ignore that.

But then she told me what was going on, and the protective side of me kicked in, and I knew, even though I initially resisted, that I would go.  How could I say no to her, when her safety was involved?

Still, it took a lot of explaining to Rusty, the President of the club.  But it worked, and he agreed to let me go for as long as I needed.  

“Well, sounds like she’s family.  You gotta go,” he said, his sharp black eyes peering at me from across the bar of the clubhouse.  

“Thanks, man.  I’ll check in often, I promise.  She wants me there right away,” I said.

“Yeah, sure, go.  We can handle things around here for a while.  If anything goes down, or changes, we’ll find you.”

I was thankful to not be under any pressure from the club, and it made it a lot easier to get on the plane that morning.

As soon as I landed and walked out of the Phoenix airport, I saw a suited man holding a sign with my name on it, and walked up to him.   He looked me up and down, his eyes raking across my leather cut curiously.  

“Mr. Colton James?”

“That’s me.”  He took my suitcase from me, and I let him. 

“This way, sir.  Ms. Jett is expecting you.”  He nodded his head, and turned towards a waiting limousine.

I smirked, and followed him.  He was stiff as a board and it took all my restraint not to fuck with him.  He was tall, skinny, and he looked like a good wind would knock him over.  I hoped this wasn’t what had been protecting Jett, because even the weakest stalker could penetrate that security.

He opened the back door for me, and I slid in.  The white leather seats were the softest leather I had ever felt.  It felt so wrong.  Leather was supposed to be rough, rugged and smooth all at the same time.  

I looked around the back of the limo curiously.  I had never been in one before. I thought about Jett again, just as I had countlessly for the last three days. She must be used to all of this by now.

The windows were almost black, and I watched as the city flew by in a tinted blur.  There was a small bar in the corner, with sparkling decanters full of liquor and shiny glasses.

As always, the urge to have a drink washed over me.  I had started so early, taking drinks from my parents’ glasses before I was even ten years old.  I developed a taste for it quickly, and as time went by, I progressed from beer to liquor.  My parents never noticed, and I learned to love the way it dulled the pain of watching them ignore us every night.  

Once I was locked up, it wasn’t as easy to find, but it certainly wasn’t impossible.  And once I went to prison with the adults, it was abundant. The adults were a lot more resourceful.  Hooch was a hot commodity amongst the prisoners, and easy to make.  I imbibed, often.  Until I finally came to my senses and decided freedom was a lot more important than being fucked up and getting in fights behind bars with a bunch of assholes.