Trusting Gibson (Last Score Book 2) (3 page)

Buzzing began to interrupt our hot-and-beginning-to-get-heavy session. Gibson broke the kiss. “Ignore it,” he mumbled as he began to make his way down my body, sprinkling sensual tender kisses and nips, sucking one breast then the other and then his cell stopped.

Reaching my belly, his fingers splayed as he took in the feel of my smooth skin and his tongue had just swept into my navel, my fingers tangling in his hair, when the buzzing began again and the hotel room phone began to ring.

“Fuck! This had better be good.” Gibson’s cell had rung twice without letting up and his head appeared out of the cover, his face registering dark feelings of annoyance that matched his aggressive movements when he reached for the phone. “Sorry about this.” Gibson swiped the smartphone and placed it to his ear, while I caught my breath.

“What the fuck is it? What’s so fucking urgent that you’re ringing me when I’ve texted you a DND and put a fucking tag on my door handle just in case you didn’t know that meant do NOT disturb me, Charlotte.”

Charlotte started talking and Gibson’s body stiffened then suddenly he sat up, his urgent attention making my skin crawl with fear because I could see something was wrong.  When his eyes flicked nervously to me for a split second his face softened, but I saw decisiveness right before he sprang out of the bed like it was on fire.

“Where? Which one? What the fuck? Did you ring Adam?”

Gibson was showing signs of stress, his arm muscles tensed as he paced the room, his fingers running back and forth through his hair. Then he held and squeezed his hard pectoral muscle before he began to rub it, as if soothing himself while he listened intensely to whatever Charlotte was telling him.

“Okay we’re moving. Cabin two. My two on the door twenty four seven until the situation stabilizes. Get the jet ready, we’re heading out today.” How absurd was it that he had something like that at his disposal? Hearing Gibson saying that about his plane made my eyes roll as I thought how crazy his life had become, but my main focus was that he seemed to be talking in code.

Worried eyes flicked over in my direction again as if Gibson suddenly remembered I was in the room with him. “I’m sorry about this.” A small smile tugged at the side of his lips, but it never changed the seriousness in his eyes. “Want to get in the shower, darlin’? We’re heading out in thirty.” The urgency in Gibson’s voice told me not to even ask what was happening, so I slid out of the bed and quickly complied with his request. Whatever was going on was so important Gibson had let it interrupt our intimate time together.

As I showered he pushed his way into the bathroom carrying a pair of my jeans and a sweater. “Here, put these on.”  I looked around from the steamed up shower glass at the outfit as he laid them on the stool by the vanity unit.

Just as he was about to leave again, I stopped him. “Am I getting some panties and a bra, Gibson?”

Spinning around to face me as I stepped out of the shower, his wandering eyes perused the length of my body then met my enquiring gaze with a look of approval. “Put a bra and panties in my way Chloe, and I’ll rip those fuckers right off of you when we get to where we’re going. I don’t do interruptions at the best of times, so interrupting me when I’m about to slide inside you darlin’…well you can imagine how pissed off I’m feeling about that right now.” For the first time since Charlotte rang, I saw his face fully relax as he gave me his sexy roguish smile as his sparkling eyes still held some heat.

“So where is the fire, Gibson?” It was strange that we’d been extremely intimate with each other, yet I didn’t feel I knew him well enough to ask what Charlotte was talking about on the phone and Gibson didn’t volunteer what was going on either.

When Gibson’s suspicious eyes instantly narrowed, he reached over pulling me into a hug. The heave of his chest at his sharp intake of breath before he spoke told me he was suppressing his true feelings. “We’re just going to have a change of scenery. That’s all. Some crazy fan is on the prowl so I’ve made a decision to move us. Taking off together will give us a chance to get to know each other better and I don’t have to be at the gig until about six tonight.”

From his clipped tone while he’d been on the phone, Gibson became anxious as he listened to Charlotte briefing him during their call. It seemed as if fans were just another occupational hazard to a rock star like him. Pulling me tight to his chest, his large hand gently cradled my head close to him in a strong, protective hold and I could feel all my anxieties disperse instantly.

Gibson led me out of the bathroom and I was surprised to see two trendy looking females in our hotel room pulling all his stuff out of the closet and packing up all of our things. Drawing breath I was about to ask him what was going on when he gripped my upper arms and pushed me away to look down at me. Creases in the center of his brow gave away Gibson’s stressed feelings.

“Let’s get out of here. I want to be alone with you and it’s too damned crowded in here.”

One of the girls looked up at him, giving him the most salacious smile. There was a familiarity in it and Gibson scowled at her. Instantly their little exchange made my heart sink and I had the feeling that if I continued to be with him there were going to be many more such moments.

My mind was flooded with doubt that I would ever learn to cope with running into previous conquests of Gibson’s, then reminded myself what was going on between us was probably a very temporary arrangement anyway.

Weaving through hotel kitchens was becoming the norm with Gibson. One thing I was acutely aware of was that Gibson hadn’t let go of me for a second. His huge protective arm held my body close to his as we made our way through another hotel kitchen in transit to the car, then stepped back to make sure I was entering the SUV first, his guiding hand ensuring that I was supported to do so.

Gibson sat heavily on the leather seat and I heard the puffing sound it made as the air escaped. At the same time his arm slid along the back, his hand landing on my shoulder, giving me a small gentle squeeze in reassurance. “You okay, darlin’? It’s takes a bit of getting used to… sneaking around like this, huh?”

Nodding at him I was impressed at his intuitive words because I was feeling a little overwhelmed again. Since meeting Gibson again my life had gone from ‘shit’ to ‘it’ to coin a phrase Kace would have said. ‘It’ being everything and shit being… well my lowest point ever.

The previous year had been the darkest of my life so far, and to live this surreal experience with Gibson now was beyond my comprehension. I had been stuck in an abusive relationship with my long-time boyfriend Kace, when I received an unexpected inheritance that enabled me to run away.  And now I found myself being carted around by the guy I fantasized about when I was eighteen.  It was the most outlandish thing that could have ever happened to me.

Gibson Barclay, a small time musician in a band called M3rCy and a secret crush of mine became a mega star. By some weird twist of fate had accidently been given my phone number five years later by his best friend’s personal assistant.

Gibson had seemed to find comfort in a series of crazy little anonymous phone calls after his initial wrong number call, but when he clicked who I was, he arranged to meet me without me knowing, he knew who I was.

Strangest thing of all was that he had recognized it was me on the phone and I’d never spoken to him back then. Once, when Gibson had heard my favorite song from one of M3rCy’s albums playing in the background during our call, he asked me about it. I explained that I had once worked in a bar where M3rCy had played before they were famous.

From our conversation Gibson realized that I was the cleaner who kept walking in on him having sex with various groupies that hung around him at that time, and he then had the advantage of knowing he had been acquainted with me in the past.

Obviously Gibson didn’t disclose who he really was on the phone and if he had, we probably wouldn’t have continued with our phone relationship, but he didn’t tell me who he was and I had thought I was talking to some random wrong number who happened to sound a bit like him.

Gibson Barclay wasn’t someone I’d have been happy to associate with back then, because he was so openly promiscuous and made no excuses about his lifestyle and that shocked me. I had already seen enough—too much really—of how he treated women, but that didn’t stop me from fantasizing about him.

As a male specimen I had never seen anyone that was more perfect than Gibson. Stunningly, handsome to look at with his perfect tanned skin, sensual grey eyes and roguish grin, the physique of an athlete and the intensity of the way he looked at me when he made eye contact. His combination of looks and musical talent left me breathless.  I just couldn’t stop staring at him.  Since the first time I saw him, whenever he walked in the room he’d always made my heart stutter.

Gibson’s entertainment skills both on and off the stage were charismatic, charming and funny and his forthright approach to people made him many fans. Looking back, he was always successful since I’d first known of him.

Girls literally fell at his feet and guys were in awe of Gibson. When he was in a group, everyone was riveted by his stories and the way he filled the room captivating everyone with his magnetic presence. Definitely a leader, there was no dispute who was the alpha male when Gibson was there.

Then there was me.  Plain ol’ Chloe that wasn’t unpleasant to look at but a little quiet, the only time Gibson had ever looked like he noticed me was when I caught him giving private performances to his lady friends all over the place.

Once I had thought about it with my history of Kace and my experience of being around Gibson in the past it didn’t give me confidence that I would be around him for long.  So I think I was trying  to mentally prepare myself that soon I’d be going back to my quiet life, and wondered how I’d cope with yet another layer of grief—this time, at the loss of someone that made me feel happier than I had in a long time.

“Come on, share. What’s on your mind, Chloe?” Turning to face Gibson, I saw the serious dark look on his face as his brows creased and realized I’d obviously let my mind wander.

My confidence about my ability to keep someone like Gibson interested, already low, was waning further.

I didn’t have the skills to know where to start with someone that had probably tried every position in the Kama Sutra and invented some new ones of his own.

“Just wondering what it will be like when I go home…you know…how I’ll deal with everything; the media, Kace, where I’ll go, what to do… boring stuff like that.”

Gibson’s brows frowned more and his questioning eyes narrowed. “You want to go home?  Aren’t you happy here with me?” I felt a pang at his question but I had to focus on my likely reality.

Jeez, of course I was happy but it felt tenuous and I had to hold something back in reserve because my gut told me there were tons of complications, mainly in the form of females. So I gave him a half smile, “Yeah, I’m happy.”

I was…to a point so I stored the thought for another time.

CHAPTER 3 - IN THE WOODS

Gibson

Interruptions were common place in my life, but Charlotte was pushing things to the extreme when she rang my hotel room as Chloe and I were starting to turn up the heat. My personal assistant had been told never to call me in the morning unless it was a life or death situation, so when my cell rang I tried to ignore it. When it rang again alongside the hotel room phone, I knew it wasn’t good news.

As I scowled and chewed Charlotte up for her untimely call, she halted me in my tracks when the conversation included Ruby, Chloe’s friend and the fact that Chloe’s apartment had been vandalized. Initially it was thought to be a random act but for the fact that whoever had done it had set Chloe’s college portfolio on fire.

Chloe was new to New York and only knew four people. Ruby her friend from college, a guy called Gavin who she met on the plane on the way to New York and his roommate, Eddie. I met Ruby, and the rest of them when I had pulled a stunt to meet Chloe by saying she had won a competition with automatic entry, after purchasing a new phone. The prize was to meet M3rCy with three friends. It never even occurred to me she’d bring two guys with her.

Ruby had gone to check on Chloe’s apartment and when she found that it had been trashed, she suspected Kace was involved. She had called Charlotte instead of Chloe because she knew that Chloe was delicate and she thought we were still in Rio. I think Ruby thought that I’d kept Chloe with me because of Chloe’s fear that Kace would come after her, but it was much more than that.

Charlotte convinced the police that she and Ruby would be dealing with things in Chloe’s absence as she was overseas with me. That was bending the truth we’d already landed back in the USA.

Ruby said the only people who were close to Chloe would know what her college work meant to her, and although there was no direct evidence to link him, she strongly suspected Kace. A local sheriff in Florida made a call to his place, but according to neighbors, Kace hadn’t been seen since the day the story broke about us.

Private investigators had done a fair job of helping Chloe to be more anonymous, but with the media all over her I had inadvertently led Kace right to her door.

It was most likely that Kace had been doing some investigating of his own. It wasn’t rocket science to figure out how to find her after that, because the media had been all over the hotel she was staying at when she came to see us. It wouldn’t have been hard if he’d been watching on T.V. to find out where she was staying and he could possibly have found a way to access the hotel’s computer system containing her home address.

Until I knew the full facts I wasn’t taking any chances by telling Chloe, no point until I knew exactly what had happened. Best place for us was to stay completely out of the picture until show time. We’d flown back from Rio to Chicago the day before and were due to play at All State Venue in the evening but without knowing where Kace was, anywhere that was obvious around Chicago had to be reconsidered again.