Real Time (12 page)

Both men sat down as Kate left. “Pretty girl.”

“Talented as hell, too. She trained to be a concert pianist once.”

“Then what is she doing in a rock and roll band?” he asked.

“Funny you should ask,’ Nick said grimly. “Ten years ago, her ex-husband pushed her down a flight of stairs and crushed her hand so she could no longer play concert pieces. Incidentally, he’s the same guy who almost killed her last night.”

“Sounds like you had quite a scene here.”

“He got one of the maids to let him on the floor and he tried to kidnap her. Seems he’s a bit unstable where she is concerned – he was ranting about how no one walks out on him, which she basically did. When one of my security people tried to intervene, they wrestled and the bastard stabbed him in the thigh. Kate closed off the artery to stop the blood, bleeding herself from the scratch she had gotten, and held the artery all the way to the hospital until the surgeons could get a clamp on it. She literally saved Brock’s life with her own hands.”

“There’s something else,” Trevor said gently. “There’s something other than anger on your face. The way you feel about her is more than professional, and this scared you.”

Nick looked sharply at him. “You’ve hardly said two words to me for the past twenty years and you can pick up on that when no one else has?”

“I don’t see you day in and day out,” Trevor answered. “So?”

“She is the essence of what’s good in my life,” Nick admitted on a sigh. “We were supposed to get married last week, but other things got in the way. And, until we get do, I have this crazy block which won’t let me sleep with her while we’re on tour. Right now I’m her employer and the idea smacks wrong. So to have this happen and I can’t do much to comfort her, it’s doing nothing to resolve my temper.”

“You won’t get any negative comments from me, Nick,” Trevor said. “I’m glad you’ve found someone who makes you happy. I know the last go around with this didn’t end on a good note and you’ve been alone a long time.”

“No, it didn’t,” Nick agreed. “I never thought I would find someone else. Someone who could see past all the glitz and the fame.”

“I have to go,” Trevor said standing up. “I have classes this afternoon, so I need to get back. I just wanted to see you for a few minutes.” Nick stood up and Trevor pulled him into a quick hug. “Go take care of your girl. Who gives a damn what anyone thinks.”

Nick walked Trevor out to the elevator before making his way over to Kate’s old room. The door was propped open and Nick stepped inside, coming to stand in the doorway to the bedroom. He watched while she put her clothes and things back into her suitcase; the maids usually did their unpacking. Last night, security had given her a new room so she wouldn’t have to come back to this one. There were caution cones on the floor where Brock’s blood had seeped into the carpet.

“How are you doing, love?”

“I’m good, Nick. Not an experience I would like to repeat,” she answered, pausing in her efforts to look at him. “And I’m immensely thankful Brock took that moment to come into the sitting room for the night – I don’t like what happened after though.”

“I’m not too keen on it myself,” Nick replied, closing the sitting room door and coming to stand next to her. He pulled her into his arms and his mouth found hers. There was a multitude of emotions coming through, but Kate didn’t waver as she returned it. After the kiss, he continued to hold her to him. “I am still so angry. Scared
and
angry, actually.”

“I had a few nightmares myself last night,” she said. “You didn’t sound very good at breakfast.”

“It was taking all my will not to blow up until I got the band out of the room,” he admitted. “Security will probably be a little scarce today if I’m around. I don’t like yelling at people – I shouldn’t have to and most of the time a look will get the point across. I wasn’t very friendly to my brother either – every time one of them is around I’m always sure there’s an agenda I won’t like.”

“What did he want?”

“He came to apologize for what happened after the funeral. I was almost floored when he said it, like a dream.”

“Why do you suppose he did?”

“I have no idea. He said he didn’t think what Phillip did was right. And, from the sound of things, Trevor was drawn into it without any knowledge of what Phillip had planned to do. He threw out the olive branch to try to start being friends.”

“Big step.”

“It is. I need to find out what he told my mum – it’s how he found me here. She knows not to give out my locations when I’m touring, so he’d to have been pretty convincing for her to disclose that. And the fact he’s my brother wouldn’t have made a difference – she knows we’re not close.”

“I’m glad he made the effort. You seemed relaxed with him,” she observed.

“It’s a start. I told him I’d think about it,” Nick said, pausing to look at the bandage on her neck. “Can I see how bad it is?”

“I was planning to take it off anyway before the show. Put a scarf over it if I need to,” Kate said in confirmation.

Nick reached up and gently started to release the tape holding the gauze to her throat. He was going slow to not irritate the skin and he was inwardly holding his breath, preparing himself for what he was going to see. Once he pulled the gauze loose, the cut wasn’t too bad – it looked much like a scratch from a cat’s claw. It hadn’t been very deep and appeared to have already started scabbing over.

“It doesn’t look bad, love,” Nick said, smiling to reassure her. “Looks like you and a cat got into it.”

He watched as she stepped away from him to look in the bathroom mirror. “Still going to put a scarf over it. It feels much better with the tape off.”

“I’ll bet. I have to go call the studio and some other folks, then I might crash for a bit. You’ll be all right?”

Kate nodded. “I’ll be fine. I’m going to see about getting a car and going out to Stuarts.” Stuarts was a London store who sold her brand of jeans. “Seems I am down a pair of jeans and a shirt,” she said with a smile.

Nick kissed her again and ran his hand down her cheek. The terror was started to ease now he knew it wasn’t more than a scratch and it was helping to drop his anger level. He opened the door and left, going to his room and planning to get a couple hours of sleep. The remainder of the day was quiet and the band left as normal for the Hall where they were playing the second of a three night stand. Nick was out in the hallway, smoking a cigarette when Sam came over and whispered into Nick’s ear.

Nick swore under his breath, stubbing the cigarette out. He could sense his anger coming back, seeping back into him. Nick told Sam not to say anything until after the show; he would tell Kate that her ex-husband had committed suicide in his jail cell. Nick had no idea what this was going to do to Kate’s mental frame of mind. She already felt bad about Brock – this could push her controlled emotion over the edge.

* * *

A
fter the show, Nick took Kate’s arm and motioned for her to go toward the big meeting room at the hotel. Sam followed and the three of them entered the room together. Kate knew something was up – Nick didn’t usually interact with anyone after a show unless something was going on. And then it was usually one on one – so having Sam in the room did not bode well. Nick led her over to one of the over-stuffed chairs and Sam remained posted at the door to keep people out.

“Okay,” Kate said. “What’s going on?’”

“I have to tell you something and it’s not going to be good,” Nick started.

Kate’s first thought was something had happened to one of her parents and she could feel the tension starting in her stomach. But she had been with Nick long enough to know she had to wait until he found the right words to tell her. “Whatever it is, Nick, give it to me straight. Don’t try to wrap it up with a nice pink bow.”

“Kevin Miles committed suicide this afternoon.”

Kate was stunned. This was not what she was expecting and did not know what to say.

“And it gets worse, love. This is going to be all over the papers by morning and it’s going to be a hell of a mess before it is done.” Nick looked at her evenly. “Sam and the guys will keep the reporters off you as much as they can, but it’s possible they will get to you the next time we leave. You need to be prepared for the onslaught.”

“Suicide,” she said softly. “I can barely believe it.”

“The lead detective called Sam before the show. They found him hanging by his belt in the cell,” Nick said, trying to keep his tone level. “Because he was only in a holding cell and not an actual jail cell, they didn’t take away his belt, shoelaces or any other personal effects, other than his wallet. They also found a bunch of stuff in his apartment that indicates he’s been stalking you for the past six months. The detectives went over this morning to his apartment looking for any substantiating evidence as to why he attacked you.”

“Since New York.”

“And I probably made it worse then, although I didn’t mean to,” Nick said explaining. “I called the director of the London symphony the next morning we were there, and basically told them to pull Miles back to London, so there wouldn’t be a chance of any more encounters with him. I give lots of money to them as a charity donation - they didn’t want to lose that.”

“I knew he was angry I slipped away from him after the accident ten years ago,” Kate said, in an introspective tone of voice. “He tried to see me when I was in the hospital, but my lawyer was able to get a restraining order until the divorce hearing. I dropped out of sight after they discharged me – I didn’t use credit cards and paid cash for everything so I couldn’t be traced.” Kate smiled. “My lawyer even got me a fake ID with an address in Brooklyn so he would think I lived there. I would hate to think he stalked out the apartment building looking for me.”

“Kate, love, this is a lot to absorb in a short amount of days. Are you sure you’re all right?”

“I’m sure I will be,” she answered honestly. “Am I going to go do something stupid, like disappear or hurt myself? The answer is no. To be honest with you, Nick, I’m actually relieved. This is hard but I know there’s an ending and I don’t have to keep looking around corners for him.”

Nick motioned for Sam to leave. Sam opened the door and stepped out quietly. Nick stood up and pulled Kate up with him, putting his arms around her, holding her against him. “You can stay with me tonight,” Nick said softly, “If you want.”

Kate smiled, knowing she had been right -this broke the block. But she knew better than to act on it. “There is nothing I would like better; to lose myself in the warmth of your arms,” she answered. “But I’m not going to give any kind of ammunition to the tabloids.” She brought his head down to kiss her and the kiss seemed to go on forever before she broke off, stepping away from him and leaving the room.

In the morning, Sam brought copies of the morning paper along with a handful of tabloids. On the front of all of them was a photo-shopped picture of Kevin, brandishing a wicked looking knife and one headline was ‘
Crazed Musician on the Rampage’
. Kate rolled her eyes when she saw it and had to give a lot of credit to Nick’s security people. They had managed to keep her name out of the mess, although there were lots of references Kevin had attacked someone in Nick Marshall’s backup band who happened to be in London for some performances.

“I don’t know how this junk sells,” Kate said to no one in particular.

“Sex and violence,” Trent added. “Makes a story much more intriguing.”

“How can intelligent people read this stuff?”

“That’s the problem, love,” Nick chimed in. “Most of them are
not
intelligent. They live hard, boring lives and think this is entertainment.”

“I’m sorry to have brought it on,” Kate said. “Last thing I wanted was an episode from my past creating news.”

“Don’t let it bother you, Kate,” Andy said, coming over to put his hand on Kate’s shoulder. “I’m sure Nick can find something to bump your issue off the front page with.”

Nick threw one of the grapes from his plate at Andy and everyone started laughing. Kate knew Nick did his best to ignore what was written about him and made great strides to not do much in public so as not to fuel the fire. But it wasn’t unusual to see some false tidbit about him.

A
fter finishing up two weeks in Great Britain, the group moved on to Belgium, France and Italy. The first two countries were uneventful and put them at the halfway point when they got to Italy. Nick’s music was immensely popular in Europe and it didn’t matter the shows were all in English. The music lineup was different here, as Nick was not using his own concert equipment, instead paying to use whatever was available at each venue. The songs which were dependent on the regular piano were cut from the program and others put in its place. It was not a hardship for Kate since she could sight read and Nick had given her his music after she had signed the master contract. Everyone kept their instruments with them at the hotel and the road crew would set them up when they arrived in each city. European tours were a little more difficult because Nick flew everyone from city to city in a private jet. He had learned the hard way not to have a truck full of stage equipment trying to pass security checkpoints. More than once, he had equipment confiscated by greedy officials and that inconvenience was difficult to work through - usually ending with him having to buy more at ridiculously high prices to make the show each night.

It was a slow, rainy day in Naples, Italy. They had done a show the night before and there was another one tonight, before heading to Rome. Even though the weather was bad, the rest of the guys wanted to go sightseeing and had left after breakfast. Kate didn’t like going out in the rain and opted to stay back. She was in the large sitting room they used as a general room, playing solitaire. She had the television on for noise, but the channels were limited and none she could find in English. She was enjoying the slow day and smiled at Sam when he came into the room. Sam was Nick’s main security, usually not too far from wherever Nick was, and he also seemed to be a really nice guy. Most of Nick’s security were large, imposing guys that normal people wouldn’t want to mess with and Sam was no exception, standing at six-foot-five and weighing about three hundred pounds. He was definitely not someone you would want to meet on a dark night. During shows, security did a good job of keeping the fans off the stage. Four would stand along the seating floor and two toward the back on the stage; no one got past them onto the stage.