She nodded and it seemed to be more for her sake than his. “Okay.” She jumped up, offered him a hand. “Nathan has something to tell me about Roy. It won’t be good. Will you join me?”
His head was still spinning around her last declaration. He reached for her hand, but stayed where he was. “Those women are vicious. Almost as bad as the tabloids. Stay away from all of it, Charlee, and I’ll protect you from it as much as I can.”
Her eyes turned to frozen lakes. “I assure you, I’ve endured worse. I’ll deal with those women. You don’t need to protect me from everything.”
He rose and used his height to punctuate his stance on this. “I do and I will.”
A muffled titter floated up. He angled his head and glimpsed a twitch in her lips. The little brat was chuckling. He reared his hand back to swat her ass, and she darted. In a flash of red hair, she disappeared around the wall of bushes. Fuck, she was fast. He chased her, his own lips pulling away from his teeth.
Up the path and through the front yard, he couldn’t tear his eyes from the sway of her ass through her strides. He tripped over the curb of the sidewalk. Righting himself through a forward lurch, he picked up his pace and caught her at the front door.
She was frozen, muscles tense beneath his grip. He followed her gaze to the entertainment room, where Roy Oxford’s face stretched across the sixty-inch widescreen.
Nathan stood before it, a hand on his hip, the other pointing the remote, adjusting the volume.
“Your sources are accurate, Meredith.” Roy’s smile oozed from the screen and crawled over Jay’s skin. “Negotiations began this morning. Oxford Industries will acquire Windsor Records.”
58
“Dickless psychopath.”
Charlee realized she’d spoken her thoughts out loud when Jay and Nathan swung their heads toward her. Their faces held the same shock that had arrested her at the front door. Roy’s retaliation was expected, but beginning acquisitions of The Burn’s label in less than a day? That was one hell of a quick play.
The clatter of silverware pulled her attention over her shoulder. Faye slid a plate of eggs, sausage, and cantaloupe across the island to Tony. The aroma of fried pork seasoned with red pepper hung over the counter in a cloud of lip-smacking spiciness. A reminder she hadn’t eaten since the flight the prior night.
Seated around Tony, Jay’s bandmates shoveled through their own plates of breakfast grease. All eyes were on the TV as Nathan rewound the clip and started it again.
Charlee’s situation with Roy affected the entire household. A heavy weight of guilt made her want to crawl in the corner and disappear, but that kind of weakness wouldn’t help anyone.
“Go eat.” She pushed Jay toward the island.
He glanced at her hands where they rested on his arm and gave her a small smile. She’d touched him without thinking, and he wasn’t having a meltdown. At least, they had that.
Without moving her hands, she faced Nathan. “When did this air?”
“Twenty minutes ago.” He paused the image of Roy’s face pinched in concentration and stared at it as if it held some hidden solution to all their problems.
“He’s in his home office.” She gestured at the leather wallpaper and rich wood shelves in the background. Had there been a slave between his legs, sucking him off while leashed to a chain? Dread rolled over her in shuddering waves.
“We had him tailed after we left your apartment yesterday,” Tony said around a mouthful of melon. “We assumed he went back to San Francisco, but we couldn’t confirm his arrival. This is good news. We know where he’s at.”
They knew where he was twenty minutes ago. Charlee wasn’t sure what her expression held but Jay set his half-filled plate on the island and tugged her under the mantle of his arm. “San Fran is a six-hour drive from here. An hour and a half by plane.”
He was telling her she had a couple hours before she needed to worry about Roy circling the property in person. She nodded.
When she turned back to Nathan, she noticed the vacant veranda behind him. Where were all the girls?
“We sent the visitors home,” he said, perceptive as always. Worry lines creased the corners of his eyes. Something else was going on.
Her head throbbed. “Nathan, how’d you know about the record company acquisition before it was publicly announced?”
“I didn’t.” He powered off the TV. “This isn’t the news I received this morning. Sit down, Charlee.” He pointed to a deep cushioned chair in the living room.
Her hands shook as she dragged her bare feet over the wood floors. Was Roy already blackmailing the band? Had they decided to turn her over to him? A violent surge of fear choked her breath. Worse, was the alarming pressure behind her eyes at the thought of being separated from Jay.