Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
“ A dam!” LT banged on the bedroom door. “Wake the hell up!”
It was dark, but a small amount of light leaked in around the edges of the curtains. “What time is it?”
“Get up,” Cooper slammed open the door.
Adam looked for Mattie, but she wasn’t there. She’d left to take a call from her sister. When? He must have fallen back asleep..
“What the hell is going on?” He scrubbed his face with both hands and pushed out of bed.
The entire band shuffled into the bedroom. All of them looked anxious and serious, but it was Brandon’s wide-eyed, frantic stare that made Adam’s blood run cold. “What’s wrong? Where’s Mattie?”
LT held out his phone for Adam to see.
He instantly recognized the waterfall at Lanmou Bay, and Mattie’s beautiful backside. He snatched the phone out of LT’s hand and checked the LA POP website.
Mattie’s worst fear had just gone viral .
A snarling beast of anger prowled through his chest as the implications hit home. If the photographer had this shot, he probably had others. Piper had woken Mattie in the middle of the night. Piper had to have seen this and called to tell her sister.
Mattie hadn’t come back.
“Where is she? What time is it?”
“She’s not with you?” Cooper looked around as if he expected Mattie to pop up.
“Dammit!” He pushed past Cooper and LT. Brandon and Flynn leapt out of his way. “I promised her this wouldn’t happen. I told her I had her back.”
“You’re in your underwear,” Brandon said.
“Who gives a fuck?” He didn’t have his shoes either, but he wasn’t about to let that stop him. He ran down the steps into the early dawn, spotted a golf cart, and rushed to it. Gravel and sand bit his feet, but he didn’t care. He had to get to Mattie.
Cooper jumped into the cart just as Adam took off. “Where we headed?”
Adam shoved the accelerator to the floor. The cart puttered along at the same speed. “The office. She went to take a call from Piper. Not sure when. Doesn’t this damn thing go any faster?”
“Maybe if we get out and push.” Cooper pointed at something on the horizon. “Is that what I think it is?”
Adam almost ran off the path trying to get a look. Sunlight glinted off metal, and the sound of whirring blades, faint but growing louder, wafted over the waves toward them.
“Shit, shit, shit.” Adam reached the crossroads that split the path in two and went right toward the docks and landing pad instead of left toward the Big House and the office. “ She’s leaving.”
The helicopter landed before they even reached the docks. “This thing is too damn slow!”
“Run for it. You can cross through the beach.” Cooper said.
Adam stopped in the middle of the path and jumped out. “Find that fucking photographer!”
“On it!” Cooper called after him.
Adam took off running across the path to the beach, then sprinted toward the landing pad.
Mattie led a small group of people that included Veronique and Abayomi toward the helicopter. Her hair and sundress billowed out behind her.
“Mattie!” he shouted.
She didn’t hear him.
He stumbled over something, caught himself, and kept going.
The pilot opened the helicopter door as the blades came to a stop, and a small step unfolded to allow Mattie access. A few more steps and she’d be whisked out of his life.
“Mattie!” he bellowed.
She glanced over her shoulder, and stopped. Her face was a mask he couldn’t decipher.
Abayomi and Veronique both turned. Veronique glanced at Mattie, spoke to Abayomi, then waited next to Mattie with passive patience.
Abayomi moved to intercept him. “Please, Mr. Adam. You should not be here.”
Adam ignored the man. “Mattie! Wait.”
Mattie blinked. “Why are you here?”
Her voice sounded cold and detached. Almost clinical. She must be in shock.
“I’m coming with you.”
“Mr. Adam, the helicopter is about to depart. It is not safe near the blades. Please. Step back.” Abayomi gestured to the side of the pad.
Mattie stared at him with a blank expression. “Why would you do that?”
“I saw the photo.” Adam sidestepped the butler and rushed across the remaining space to Mattie. “You shouldn’t be alone right now, and there’s no way I’m letting that asshole get away with this.”
“Why not?”
He reached out to take her into his arms, but she flinched away. “What’s wrong?”
“Get away from me, Adam. Leave me alone.”
“Let me fix this. I have to fix this.”
“How would you do that?” A spark of emotion flashed through her eyes. “Set up another photo shoot? Maybe create a new hashtag? You can do that without me now, can’t you? Devon does.”
She turned toward the helicopter.
“Wait a second.” He tried to catch her arm, but Abayomi got in his way.
“Mr. Adam, we must step away. Now.” the man said with firm authority.
Mattie whirled to face him. “Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?”
Adam side-stepped Abayomi. “Find out what?”
“Stop the act, Adam.” She sounded bitter and so unlike herself that he couldn’t believe it was the same sunny girl he knew. “I know this whole trip was nothing but a PR stunt. Did you think you could use me for publicity and keep fucking me too?”
What she’d said was so unfair and so wrong that he almost choked. “What the hell are you talking about?”
She looked at him like he was the shit on the bottom of her shoe. “Donnelly works for Lucas Austerberry. He arrived here two days before we did. Nice move, telling him to back off when we first got here. It really made me feel safe.”
The word “safe” cracked like a whip. He took a step back, caught off guard by the accusation and the contempt in her voice. “Lucas? You can’t really think—”
“How stupid do you think I am? Never mind.” She looked away. “I already know the answer.”
His jaw tensed. “Lucas might be an aggressive ass, but he knows where the line is. He wouldn’t do something that low.”
Even as he said it, doubt rushed through him. Lucas could be savage at times. His tactics pushed the edges of convention, but they made things happen. He was the reason Delusions of Glory hit the map so hard and fast. Adam hadn’t questioned how he made it happen. He hadn’t cared. Until now.
She huffed out a breath. “You really expect me to believe that?”
Heat rose along the back of his neck. “I didn’t know anything about it until the photo dropped on the damn internet, same as you.”
“Yeah, right.” She narrowed her eyes. “How long did it take to cook up this little scheme of yours? Did the whole band help?”
“It wasn’t a scheme. I don’t know that damn photographer and I had nothing to do with that photo.” His voice rose with frustration.
“Why should I believe you? You’ve lied to me about everything from before we even met.”
“I haven’t lied to you.”
She so clearly didn’t believe him that a growl of frustration rumbled in his throat.
“Did you take the time to read the post that went along with the photo, or were you too busy staring at me naked? ”
“I barely glanced at it.” He glared at her. “Then I ran to find you because I knew what it meant. I knew how devastated you’d be. I wanted to—”
“They congratulate you on finally landing the woman you’ve had a crush on for years. Years . It must have been exciting to finally screw your high school crush. Was it everything you fantasized about? I really hope it was worth it. It’d be a shame if all this went to waste.”
He stilled as the venom in her words struck him. “Yes, I liked you in high school. So did a lot of guys. What’s wrong with that?”
“You used me.” Her voice was low and dangerous. “You tricked me into coming here. You found the thing I wanted most and you dangled it in front of me like bait, and like a sucker I took it.” She shook her head. “No wonder you never wanted to work. The songs were just an excuse to get me in the sack and make a few headlines.”
“I did not trick you.” Her words were gasoline on the angry fire building inside him. “I’m not Devon Morales!”
“You sent the photographer away so I’d let my guard down.”
“That’s not why I—”
“You took me to that beach. You…we…” A tear rolled down her cheek, and she brushed it angrily away. “How hard was it to set up that money shot? The angle of it only works if we’re under the waterfall, and the backlighting didn’t hurt. It really shows our faces. I’ve been thinking about it for hours. It’s a fantastic shot. A hint of boob and leg, just enough to be sexy but not quite sleazy. I have to admit it would make a great album cover. Devon will be jealous.”
“You think I’m the kind of man who would treat you like that? That’s really messed up. ”
“Would you even have thought of working with me if you hadn’t fantasized about me in high school?”
“You’re the best lyricist in the business, of course I would have.” He glared at her. “What about you? Would you have worked with me if I hadn’t offered a free vacation?”
“Yes! We would have worked in the damn studio or that stupid karaoke bar you usually go to, or some other neutral place like I always do. I would have gone home at the end of the day. I never would have been here, and there sure as hell wouldn’t be any naked photos of me on the internet.” She flashed him a look that ripped a hole right through his chest. “You know, I thought you were different. I really thought I could trust you.”
She turned away.
“Yes, I had a crush on you,” he shouted at her back.
She stopped but didn’t turn around.
“From the second I saw you on stage. From the first note I heard you sing. And yes, when life threw the chance to meet you my way I seized it because I was never going to get another one.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “So you admit it.”
“I admit that I’ve wanted to get to know you for most of my life. And since you asked the question, yes, it was worth it.”
Mattie sucked in a breath, but he went on before she could interrupt.
“Even if we did get screwed by that photographer. That makes me so angry I can’t even process it. I want to find that guy and shove his camera right up his ass. I want to beat him senseless with it. I want to make sure he never, ever gets to do that to you or anyone else ever again.”
She made a choked sound and turned away.
“I had nothing to do with that shot.” He lowered his voice. “I’m sorry it happened, but I’m not sorry I met you. I’m not sorry I got the chance to work with you. I’m not sorry I got to know you, and I’m sure as fuck not sorry I got the chance to love you.”
Her shoulders shook. “That makes one of us.”
“Mattie…”
“Go away, Adam. Whatever we had…whatever it might have been…it’s over.”
She climbed into the helicopter. The pilot shut the door.
Abayomi took Adam’s arm. “We must back away, Mr. Adam. We can’t stay here. It’s not safe.”
He allowed himself to be led to the side of the landing pad, where he watched Mattie fly away.