Rock Me: Sexy (New Adult Rockstar Romance) (New Adult Rock Star Erotic Romance) (20 page)

He stormed off the bus, slamming the door
behind him. I collapsed onto the couch, my teeth chattering and my body
shaking. My world had just tilted upside down. I felt like I was going to be
sick.

Tyler had a few hours to blow off before
the concert, but it was raining out, so the guys were all stuck on the bus.
Alex and Tommy were in the back talking on their phones, probably with their
girlfriends, while Nick and Tyler watched a sit-com on television.

Someone banged on the door and since Nick
was sitting right next to it, he reached over and pulled it open.

Tyler was surprised to see Cassie. He
couldn’t remember the last time she had been on their tour bus.

Nick let her in. “Hey Cassie. What’s up?”

Cassie looked around nervously. “Hey
guys.”

“I didn’t know you were around. Haven’t
seen you in a while.” Tyler said.

“Yeah. I’ve been busy.” She looked back
and forth between them. “Um, Tyler? I was wondering if I could talk to you?
Privately.”

Warning bells went off inside Tyler’s
head.
What the fuck did she want?

Nick’s eyebrows rose. “Yeah, I’ll go to
the back, see what Alex is up to…” Nick couldn’t escape fast enough.

“What’s going on Cassie?” Tyler asked
warily.

Cassie was looking all around the bus.
“I’ve got to tell you something… Are you sure this is private? I don’t want
anyone to hear.”

Shit. What the fuck was going on?
“No. There’s fucking cameras in here. Is
that what you mean?”

Cassie nodded.

Tyler’s heart was hammering in his chest.
“We can step outside for a moment.”

Cassie frowned. “It’s pouring out there. Isn’t
there someplace we can go to talk for five minutes? Where there’s no cameras or
anything?”

Tyler thought for a moment. “We can go to
the production bus. They’re all busy setting up for the show. Katie might be in
there though.”

“The producer lady? I just saw her get
picked up and driven away.” Cassie looked around nervously again.

Tyler took a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s go
there.”

The quick walk to the production bus felt
more like a long walk down death row to Tyler. Cassie was about to drop some
shit on him, he was sure of it.

They arrived and sure enough the bus was
unlocked and empty. “I wonder why they left it unlocked?”

Cassie shrugged. “I don’t know. Can you
check the back though? Make sure no one is here?”

Tyler even checked the bunks. They were
alone. “So, you’ve got me freaked out. What the hell, Cassie?”

Cassie looked at him. A tear streaked
down her cheek. “I’m pregnant, Tyler.”

It was impossible. In all his worry,
that
hadn’t even crossed his mind. “No. No way. You’re not saying it’s mine? That’s
impossible.”

Cassie nodded her head sadly. “It’s true.
Remember that night right after Thanksgiving? When I gave you that ride home?”

Tyler shook his head in denial. “But we
used a condom. I remember.”

“Condoms aren’t a hundred percent, Tyler.
I’m sorry.” Tears were streaming down her face now.

“That was fucking last Thanksgiving. You
don’t even look pregnant.” Tyler still couldn’t believe it.

Cassie pulled something out of her purse.
“Yeah, I’m just four months pregnant. I’ll start showing any day now. Here’s
the sonogram. It’s a boy, Tyler.”

She handed him the glossy black and white
sonogram, but he couldn’t even look at it. “How can this be? Why didn’t you
tell me earlier?”

Cassie wrung her hands. “I wasn’t sure
what to do. I was so scared. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I didn’t know
what
you
would want to do. But I’m going to have this baby, Tyler.”

Tyler ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah,
of course. That’s what I want too. I can’t believe this. I need time to think,
Cass. But, we’ll work it out somehow.”

A sob escaped from Cassie. “You mean you
won’t abandon this baby? You’ll be there for us?”

Tyler gave her a hug. “No, I won’t
abandon him. I’m here, Cassie. You’re sure this is my baby?”

Cassie pulled away from him and looked
into his eyes. “It can’t be anyone else’s. But I’ll take a paternity test when
the baby is born. Just so you don’t have any doubts.”

Cassie flung herself back into his arms,
clinging to him. He put his arms around her to give her comfort even as he felt
his world crumbling around him, just like he always knew it would. Everything
had fucking changed in an instant.

The one thing Tyler did know, though, he
would
never
abandon his son.

In the light of a brand new day, I still
hadn’t been able to properly process the news.
Tyler had gotten some groupie
pregnant
. The night before, I had run off, desperate to get some space from
prying eyes. Michael must have taken over the producer’s job for me. Hell, the
crew was so used to the routine by now, they probably hadn’t even missed me.

Now I was panicked that Tyler would stop
by the production bus for a visit. Would I tell him? Was it fair for me to tell
him? I wasn’t even sure I would be able to even look at him without breaking
down into a complete mess. The news had crushed me. It had thrown in my face
what I had known all along about Tyler. I had been stupid to pretend otherwise.

Michael was strangely absent from the
bus. I was secretly grateful I didn’t have to endure his rants. I tried to continue
work on Episode 6, but my heart just wasn’t in it.

That’s when I got the phone call. I saw
that it was Jeff Thornton and decided to ignore it. He was probably just going
to continue to apply pressure for a huge cliffhanger ending. Today, I wasn’t in
the mood to reassure him.

When he called back two more times within
five minutes, I finally gave up and answered.

He sounded pissed. “Now you’re not even
answering your phone?”

What a fucker
. “I was in the bathroom. Give me a
break.”

He paused for a second. “Your assistant
told me what you’ve got. Use it.”

My heart started beating faster.
No,
he wouldn’t! Would he?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play games with me, Katie. You’ve
got the video of the girl telling Tyler she’s pregnant. That’s going to be our
season ender. I’m ordering you to use it.” Thornton was deadly serious.

Nausea was rippling through my stomach. I
fought to sound calm. “There’s no such video.”

Thornton’s tone was controlled, but
threatening and aggressive sounding. “Don’t fuck with me! You’ll be the loser
in that match, and you’ll fucking regret it. I’m giving you one fucking chance
to use the tapes or you’re fired. I want to see the rough edits for Episode 6
with the new video in it by tomorrow.”

I tried to remain composed and reasonable
sounding. “The ending is already worked out. I’ve gotten you this far already
with fantastic numbers. I’ve made this show a hit and I know the ending that I’ve
come up with is the one the viewers will want to see. I promise you this is
going to be fantastic.”

My hand shook as I listened to his
menacing answer. “It’s not up for debate. Put the video in or you’re finished,
Katie. Not just with me. With your entire fucking career. And don’t think Hugo
will be able to bail you out of this one. You’ll be done. I fucking promise
you.”

There would be no convincing him. “It’s
so nice of you to threaten me, Thornton. But I’m the Executive Producer. I have
final say of what goes into the show.”

Thornton practically barked. “I’ve got my
lawyers already drafting your termination papers. I’ll give you till tomorrow
morning to decide your own fate. Are you willing to sacrifice your whole
fucking career for your precious principles? Because no one else will give a
shit about your principles. You’ll be black-listed forever. Play the game,
Katie and we all win. I’m going to use that tape whether you’re with me or
not.”

Thornton hung up.

I sank to the chair feeling completely
helpless. Michael had gone ahead and taped Cassie’s pregnancy revelation behind
my back. That meant that Tyler already knew. And it was going to get aired all
over Rock Star Diaries.
My show
. Tyler would be devastated.

I probably sat around for close to an
hour, not doing anything. My brain seemed to be completely failing me. But
somehow during that time, in some small dark corner of my mind, an idea must
have coalesced. Because when it finally emerged, struggling to the surface of
my conscience, I immediately jumped into action.

It took me over five hours to find all the
footage. I didn’t have time to stop and watch it, but it was filmed from
stationary hidden cameras in the production bus. Cassie and Michael had set
Tyler up. He had no idea that he had been filmed.

I found video from two cameras and audio
from five different sources. Michael had been extremely thorough for the short
amount of time he had to set this up. I had been working with audio / visual
equipment for the past nine years of my life. I knew it inside and out. I felt
fairly confident that I had found all traces of the footage.

I copied one of the loops to watch later
and then systematically destroyed every last frame of the footage. I knew
exactly where all backup and archive copies were stored on the computers. I knew
how to erase every last vestige of the video from the physical equipment.
Unless Michael had made a copy specifically for himself, the recordings were
gone. Like they never even existed.

Next, I searched for any trace evidence,
any little trail in the computer’s files to check if Michael had made copies.
It was doubtful that he would try to cover up the fact that he made copies if
he did. I couldn’t find anything, so I felt pretty confident that I had gotten
it all.

My shoulders ached by the time I was
done. I had been so worried the whole time that Michael would return and catch
me erasing the video. Now that I was done, I sagged against the chair feeling
limp.

My career was finished. Maybe if I had
just refused to air the tape and then got fired by Thornton, I could’ve clawed
my way back up. If Thornton had been able to air the footage, he probably would
have just forgotten about me. But now, there was no way. He would be furious
that I had thwarted him. It would be personal for him. I wasn’t even sure if
what I did was criminal or not. It technically wasn’t my property. Would
Thornton try to sue for damages?

I had taken a huge risk. I had
irreparably damaged my career. Hell, it was over. I wouldn’t even survive in
the documentary world with this hanging over my head. Not even Hugo could
rehabilitate my career now. Shit was going to come down on me hard.

I knew one thing. I wanted to be out of there
when Michael came back and realized what I had done. I had seen his eyes, wild
with rage, before he had stormed off and I didn’t want to meet that side of his
personality ever again.

I was exhausted, but I needed to keep
moving. I picked up my phone and called a cab. While I waited, I went to the
back of the bus and packed up my bags, nervous that Michael would come back at any
moment. If he came back, I would just pretend I was quitting. Hopefully, I
could slip away before he found out what I did. When I finished packing, I went
to the kitchen for one last item. I pulled out an unopened bottle of wine from the
cabinet. I had a feeling I would need the numbing effects later that night.

It took forty minutes from when I called for
the taxi to arrive. The driver managed to fit all the pieces of my luggage between
the trunk and the front seat, and then I gave him the address for the hotel
that I would spend the night at. As we pulled away, I asked the cabbie to stop
at the concert stadium side entrance and wait until I came back. I flashed my
pass to all the security guards along the way, until I was at the side stage.

Sam was there, monitoring the crowds.
“Hey, Katie.”

I watched Tyler, working the stage and
singing to the crowd. I couldn’t hold back the tears as I watched him for what
I knew might be the last time.

“Sam, did they finish the set, yet? Is
this the encore?”

Sam shook his head. “I think they’ve got
one more song till they come off. And then two more for the encore.”

I closed my eyes and let Tyler’s voice wash
over me. A horrible lump was forming in my throat.

“Hey, Katie, are you okay?” Sam had
grabbed my elbow.

I could barely talk. “I came by to say
good-bye to Tyler. I’m leaving tonight. Do me a favor and keep an eye on him,
okay?”

Sam looked genuinely concerned. “What do
you mean, you’re leaving tonight? What’s going on?”