“I didn’t mean to hurt you, but I just don’t think I can be with you…”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Bryan shouted. “I knew this would be tough on you, Callie, but I thought you had more backbone than this.” He ran his fingers through his damp hair in frustration, his efforts adding to its disheveled look. “Yeah, the reporters suck, but it’s not the end of the freaking world. They will eventually go away and suck some other poor bastard’s blood.”
Callie couldn’t believe he had the audacity to say such a thing. “Backbone? How dare you? Do you have any idea what I’ve been through these last few weeks? Do you?” she shrieked.
“Yes, Callie, I know exactly how bad it’s been. Remember, while you were giving me the brush off, I was talking to your roommate. At least she had the decency to talk to me,” he snapped back irritably, his entire body practically crackling with his anger.
“No, I don’t think you do. You couldn’t possibly know what it’s like to have hundreds of people in your store all day long…”
Bryan interrupted, “Callie, I live with it every freaking day! I’ve been dealing with it for at least ten years, ever since the band hit big, and pretty much even before then.”
Callie continued as if he hadn’t said anything. “Reporters beating on the windows, hiding in my closet…and a redneck sheriff going through my garbage. I’m not a rock star, and I shouldn’t have to put up with this!” she shouted.
Bryan was caught off guard. “Reporter in your closet? Sheriff in your garbage? Nobody told me about that. Are you okay?”
“Do you care, Bryan? Do you really give a damn?”
“Callie, I don’t even believe you could ask a question like that. What the hell else do I have to do, woman, to convince you how I feel? Frankly, I’m getting tired of the whole damned routine,” he retorted wearily.
Callie closed her eyes. He had every right to be angry. She was being incredibly unfair to him. “You’re right, Bryan, I don’t have any doubts about how you feel.”
Bryan threw his hands into the air in mock wonder. “Well damn! Stop the presses. Callie finally admits that she knows I love her. I guess I should be grateful for that anyway,” he returned snidely. “So what is it, what’s the problem, Callie? Why are you doing this to us? Don’t you think I deserve some type of explanation?”
“Bryan,” Callie sighed, moving closer to him, “it’s a lot of things. You know I had doubts from the very beginning…”
Bryan gritted his teeth. “Doubts I thought we overcame a long time ago.” He didn’t know how much more of this he could take.
Callie, sensing that he was at the end of his patience, decided to compromise. “Bryan, I really don’t know what I want, okay? Maybe to you this is all normal, but for me, it’s been really freaky. Can I please have some time to work it all out?”
Bryan was in no mood for anything short of unconditional surrender. “Jesus, Callie! You’ve had weeks, while I’ve just been hanging on wondering what the hell was going on. What more do you need to work out? Look, Callie, do you have any idea what I’ve gone through to get here? I landed in Atlanta barely an hour ago, caught absolutely the last flight after our show! Thank God for the time difference or I never would’ve gotten out. At the airport, I hired a taxi to get me here. I’ve got to be back in New York by this time tomorrow night. I’m tired as all get out, but I had to talk to you.” Bryan paused and took a deep breath as he realized he wasn’t being totally fair to Callie either. After all, she didn’t even know the whole story. He flopped back on the sofa. “The worst thing is, I haven’t even told you what all is going on. You’ve got to hear everything before you make any decisions.”
Callie looked at him apprehensively. What more could there possibly be? She didn’t know if she could stand it if this situation got any worse.
Bryan didn’t really want to tell Callie about B.T.’s involvement in this whole fiasco; she was already skittish enough and ready to bail on him. But if he kept this from her, it was bound to flare up someday and then she’d accuse him of lying to her. As he tried to collect his thoughts, his eyes drifted over her legs left bare by the short terrycloth robe she was wearing. She was sitting lotus-fashion with her legs up on the sofa facing him. He ran one finger up and down her firm calf. The feel of her skin beneath his hands was still a powerful lure, and he was momentarily sidetracked as he began to recall how that warm golden brown skin felt under his lips. He’d always thought Callie’s skin looked like cinnamon dipped in honey, and after the long drought he could think of nothing that would taste better.
“Baby, do you have any idea how much I want to make love with you?” he whispered, his voice raspy with desire.
Callie gave him a longing look. She was more than willing. Being with Bryan had awakened all her carnal desires, and her body craved the physical satiation he offered.
“No.” He shook his head firmly, needing to convince himself more than anything. “Much as I wish it was otherwise, there’s no way we can get through this without talking first. I just hope you don’t get pissed off and stop speaking to me again when I tell you what happened.”
“Bryan, I wasn’t angry with you, I just…”
Bryan placed a gentle finger against her lips to silence her. “I know. Well, actually, I don’t know, but you haven’t heard the whole sorry mess yet, either.” He sighed heavily. “Just relax and let me tell you a story.” She might not have been angry before, but Bryan had no doubt that by the time he related B.T.’s perfidy, he’d be lucky if the fireworks didn’t set the building ablaze. He then relayed the tale of B.T.’s complicity in their story being published in the tabloids.
“Why that…” For the first time that she could recall, Callie was at a total loss for words. She hadn’t felt this confused since that day in first grade when her father accidentally dropped her off at the wrong school. “I can’t believe this. You mean he put us through all this just to break us up?”
Bryan felt compelled to defend his former manager. After all, fair play was fair play. “Actually, he didn’t start it, he just didn’t try to stop it.”
Callie’s eyes widened in amazement. “Don’t you think you’re splitting hairs here? What possible reason could that man have for trying to break us up?” Her teeth snapped together as the obvious motive occurred to her. “It’s because I’m black, isn’t it?”
Bryan really didn’t want to get into this area, recognizing its relationship-wrecking potential. He thought back to the conversation they’d had that day they’d gone to get Callie’s hair done. God, he’d been so naïve! “Callie, I know you tried to tell me all this…but I didn’t listen. It never occurred to me that anybody would give a damn who I fell in love with. I really did think all that was ancient history and didn’t have anything to do with us. I was such a frigging idiot. Baby, I’m sorry…”
Callie shook her head as she interrupted him. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about. How would you know? You didn’t have any experience with it. I, on the other hand, knew better.” She continued regretfully, “I don’t know why this caught me by surprise. I should’ve been expecting it all along.”
Bryan shook his head mournfully, his self-disgust evident. “Well, you did tell me, but I was just…I don’t know, I was just so happy that I couldn’t believe that anything like this would happen. And I never thought they’d go after you. Baby, I’m so sorry I didn’t take better care of you. My only excuse is, I thought B.T. had my back. I won’t make that mistake again.”
“Hmmmph, I just can’t believe this guy. If he had problems with our being together, why didn’t he say something earlier?” She sat up as a thought occurred to her. “Did he say anything to you about us?” Surely Bryan wouldn’t have kept something like that from her.
“No, he never said anything to me about us being together hurting my career or really anything at all. He seemed indifferent, but that’s how he’s always been about my relationships, unless it was with somebody he could use for publicity. Not that I would’ve given a damn if he had said anything. But I know he didn’t mention it to me because he knew it wouldn’t have done any good,” Bryan replied, his rising anger evident in his tone.
“Well,” Callie said resignedly, “I should have been expecting this. I know how people are.” She paused for a moment. “Did you tell Tonya about this?” she asked sharply. She’d be deeply hurt if her friend had kept such earth-shattering news from her.
“Good God, no! What do you think I am, nuts?” He couldn’t miss the irony of that comment. “Okay, so I am nuts, but I do actually function quite well despite my assorted personality disorders. Besides, even Charlie Manson would be sane enough not to tell Tonya something like this. It was all I could do to get her to talk to me in the first place. If I’d told her about B.T.’s involvement…” He shuddered. “It’s too awful to contemplate.”
Still confused, Callie frowned as she struggled with the niggling little inconsistencies in the story. “But, Bryan, he called me, he told me how to deal with the reporters and everything. What was that all about?”
Bryan was mesmerized by the hint of cleavage visible above the rose-colored fabric of her robe.
“Bryan? Are you going to answer me?” she asked insistently.
Bryan wiped a hand across his face. “Sorry, baby.” He grinned sheepishly. “I just got distracted for a moment.” He frowned as he recalled her last question. “Yeah, B.T. had to come back around. Dude didn’t really have any choice in the matter. Maria had him by the short hairs.”
“Maria?”
“Yeah, believe it or not she threatened to divorce him if he didn’t make things right.”
“Wow.” Callie couldn’t think of anything else to say. During their encounter in L.A., Maria had given her the impression that she was blindly devoted to her husband. So much for first impressions.
“I know, I couldn’t believe it, either.” Bryan continued ruefully, “Old boy hunted me down in Houston and asked me to help him. Then he got us on Saturday Night Live and all the gigs on the talk shows. He also called off the reporters.” He held up his hand to silence her when she opened her mouth to speak. “And no, he didn’t have Lainie Ellison kidnapped to take the heat off us.”
Callie screeched in amazement, “Good grief, Bryan! I never thought he had!” Had things really gotten that bad? Did Bryan truly believe his manager was capable of such a monstrous act? Or was he just seeing his manager through his anger and pain?
The television mogul’s daughter had been returned that morning, unharmed. The situation was very mysterious, and rumor had it that her father had paid a monstrously large ransom to get her back. The family had made no comment, other than that they were happy to have their daughter back. It was shaping up to be much more than a seven-day wonder, with speculation running rampant that she’d been sent to drug rehab, or had run away to escape her father’s overbearing management of her life. There was even some talk of a secret boyfriend, or maybe even a pregnancy, but those rumors were summarily dismissed because Myron Ellison kept very close restrictions on his daughter. Whatever the circumstances, Callie could truly empathize with the girl and her family. She hoped they’d be able to rid themselves of the paparazzi quickly. Surely Myron Ellison’s money would help in that area.
Callie studied Bryan’s wan features. Though he tried not to let on, the pain he felt from B.T.’s betrayal was obvious. Bryan was wearing his hair down tonight, and it hung like dark silk halfway down his back. It was mussed from the rough towel drying and his repeatedly pulling at it as they worked through the complex emotional issues that were keeping them apart. Bryan’s feelings and loyalties ran deep. He and B.T. had always had a strong relationship, and he’d tolerated behavior from his manager that no one else could have gotten away with. She had no doubt that Bryan had a great deal of respect for his manager, but she also knew that Bryan loved B.T. deeply. This had to have been a hellish situation for him.
“Bryan, how are you feeling about all this?” she asked quietly.
Bryan took a deep breath, raising his shoulders, then lowering them, as if forcing himself to relax. He moved to get up as he tried to change the subject. “You got any food around here? I didn’t get a chance to eat and I’m starving.”
Callie grabbed his arm, pulling him back down onto the sofa. She gave him a disapproving look. “Bryan, you know better. I know you’ve got to be hurting. B.T. is like a father to you. Has been for years. You can’t just tell me that he’s betrayed you this way and you’re perfectly okay with it.” When he still didn’t respond, she gave in begrudgingly, muttering under her breath about his obstinancy as she got up from the sofa. “Okay, I’ll make you a sandwich, but you know we’ve got to talk about this.”
By the time Callie returned from the kitchen with a ham and cheese sandwich, piled high with lettuce and tomato just as she knew he liked it, Bryan had moved over to the window. He pushed the light muslin curtains aside to stare out at the streetscape below. Maple Fork was, of course, bedded down for the night. The rain had finally ceased, and the town gleamed wetly under the illumination of the artificial gas streetlights. When he realized she’d returned with the sandwich, he moved to the sofa and sat down. He took several bites and chewed for long minutes. Then he took a couple of sips from the fresh mug of coffee she’d brought with the sandwich. He had used the food as a distraction, but he really was hungry. The meal served on the airplane had been inedible and he hadn’t wanted to take the time to eat once he arrived in Atlanta. Consequently, his last meal had been early the previous day. Finally, when he was about halfway finished he glanced over at her expectant face. He had no choice but to resume the conversation.