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  And then she saw movement, a flash of familiar red out of the corner of her eye. She turned and the room seemed to spin. “Justin,” she gasped before everything went black.

  WHEN AVERY CAME to, she found herself snugly tucked into her brother’s side, him leaning back against the headboard in her hotel room. Slowly blinking up at him, she twisted around, and clutched his shoulders. “Tell me I’m not dreaming. That you’re real, and that you’re alive.”

  “You’re not, and you bet I am. I missed you, sis. I wanted to get word to you that I was ok, but the FBI convinced me you would only be safe if you believed they had killed me. I’m so sorry for what you went through.” Justin kissed her forehead and wrapped his arms more tightly around her, as if sensing she needed physical confirmation that what he said was true.

  Then he proceeded to fill her in on the whole affair involving Campanella, the FBI, and his disappearance. By the time he was finished, she stared at him in wonderment.

  “Now your turn. What the hell is going on with this?” He ran his fingers through her short hair, lifting his brow inquisitively. “And JR said you’re the guitarist in Brutal Strength?”

  She nodded immediate affirmation, then slowly shook her head. “Used to be…But not anymore. It’s a long, complicated story.”

  “Hey, I’m not going anywhere. Spill it. I’m all ears.”

  Avery told him the whole convoluted tale, and he listened attentively. She even confided how she felt about Marcus and how the lead singer had responded to her confession tonight. By the time she finished, the darkness outside the windows was just giving way to the predawn light.

  “Hey, I don’t think it’s as bleak as all that. Surely, he’ll eventually come around,” Justin ventured, trying to comfort her. The way he always used to. “I’m supposed to be the pessimist, remember?” He stood reaching out his hand and pulling her up. “The sun’s rising. Let’s go watch it together.”

  Intertwining his fingers with hers, he led her to the balcony, sliding open the glass doors. They stepped out onto it together.

  Breeze ruffling her hair, Avery gazed out over the rooftops of LA, side by side with her twin, a sliver of blue ocean visible in the distance.

  After a couple of moments, Justin turned to her, his lips curled into a bemused smile. “Who’d ever thought we’d be here, huh? Sunrises in LA are spectacular. So different from New York.” Studying her eyes, sensing her profound sadness, he kissed her cheek. “Come on now, it can’t be that bad. Today’s a new day. Let’s make a new beginning for both of us, ok?”

  Avery nodded, then leaned back into her brother. The stress had completely drained her. She closed her eyes, and sighed. Feeling the warmth of the sun soaking into her skin made her sleepy. She wished she could climb back into bed and pull the covers over her head. But there was still something that needed to be said, and until now, she’d never had the confidence to say it.

  “Justin, I love you.”

  “Ditto, sis.”

  “I never said anything back in New York. But I’m not going to make that mistake again. I won’t sit by and watch you destroy yourself with drugs, Justin. I won’t. I lost you once. I won’t lose you again. I refuse to.” She took hold of his hand, pressing his palm against her cheek. “You’ve got to stop being so reckless with your life before you get yourself killed for real. Please. For me. Promise you’ll get some help?” she begged, her eyes pleading pools of emerald.

  Gaze remaining on hers, Justin didn’t say anything for a long time. He knew that everything Avery had been through was largely his fault. He’d done a lot of thinking in the last few hours. His sister was his priority. She always should have been. He saw that clearly for the first time in a long while. He realized that every bad choice he had made, the affair with Antonia, borrowing money from Campanella, even the agreement to go into hiding, had put Avery in jeopardy. None of it would have happened, if it hadn’t been for the drugs. He nodded soberly. “You’re right. I don’t want to do this anymore. I’ll do whatever it takes to get clean, sis. I promise.”

  AVERY DIDN’T WASTE any time holding Justin to his promise. She spent the morning checking him into a thirty day residential treatment program. Having just gotten him back in her life, it had been hard to leave him. It’s a temporary thing, she told herself over and over again. It’s for the best. He’s got to learn to deal with life without drugs. She didn’t want him to end up like their father.

  On the cab ride back to the hotel, she noticed the time and knew the band was now on its way back to Vancouver without her. Before they’d taken off, JR had called. He remained positive about Marcus coming around, but she knew better. Not only had she betrayed the mercurial lead singer on a personal level, she had also screwed things up with his band. Hell would likely freeze over before he forgave her for those things.

  Avery turned her phone back on as the taxi pulled up to the hotel, and groaned. Twenty-two missed calls, the majority of them from Trevor.

  “You look like crap, kiddo,” he told her as he let her into his hotel room.

  She shrugged in resignation.

  “Do you mind telling me what the hell is going on?”

  Avery nodded, dropped down onto the corner of the bed, and relayed the recent developments.

  Trevor’s eyes got wider and wider as she divulged every unlikely detail. When she finished, he whistled. “You can’t make this kind of stuff up.”

  “What am I supposed to do now?” she asked him.

  He smiled grimly. “Did you get a chance to see any of the morning talk shows?”

  She shook her head.

  “Well, you and Justin are the top entertainment story. Miss V is claiming the whole gender disguise was a big publicity stunt for Brutal Strength. She started taking pictures with her cell the minute you fainted. Marcus isn’t saying anything to confirm or deny it.”

  That conniving bitch Avery thought, but then that makes us two of a kind now as far as Marcus is concerned.

  “There’s more,” Trevor continued. “Mary called. She wants me to make sure you show up at her office first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “That’s the last place I want to be, Trevor,” she told him. “No doubt, I’ll be fired.” She had a terrible thought. “Do you think they’ll press charges?”

  “I don’t think so. But you have a contract with Black Cat. If she says jump, you ask how high. She’s holding all the cards right now. I’m checking your contract for loopholes, but I think it’s pretty ironclad.” He took a hotel key card off the desk and handed it to her. “I have us booked on a late flight tonight. I got you a room down the hall. Go get some rest, and stay out of sight. The media will pounce on you if they see you. They’re going absolutely ape shit over this story.”

  “I CAN’T BEGIN to tell you how sorry I am. For everything,” Avery apologized the moment she and Trevor sat in the uncomfortable chairs in Mary Timmons’ corner office.

  The executive nodded, the slight thawing in her glacial expression, revealing taking ownership of her mistakes had been a good first move.

  “What you did is hard to excuse, Avery. And probably illegal if I chose to pursue it.”

  Avery squirmed uncomfortably in her seat.

  “But I’ve seen worse in the years I’ve been in this game, and the publicity is propelling Brutal Strength’s music to the top of the Billboard. I would’ve preferred to have gotten there strictly on the group’s merit, but I’m not going to quibble when the end result is good for the band and good for my company.” She tapped her lips thoughtfully. “I understand from Trevor that you felt like your life was threatened. You had quite a lot to handle for such a young person. But whatever happens from here on out, I expect that you’ll make better choices in the future.”

  Avery nodded.

  “Good.” She steepled her fingers and pinned Avery with her determined steely gaze. “This is tricky. I wanted a woman in the band all along, but Marcus made it very clear he’s not interested in setting persona
l differences aside where you’re concerned.”

  Avery cheeks burned, but she wasn’t surprised Marcus hadn’t softened his stance.

  “So for now,” Mary decided. “I’m going to have you do some session work with Chris Alex for his new album that won’t violate the terms of your contract with BS.”

  “Alright,” Avery agreed softly, her interest immediately piqued. Chris Alex was one of the pillars of classic rock. He had headlined for Van Halen and some of the biggest acts back in the day. If it wasn’t for her heart being broken, she’d have been jumping up in the air about the opportunity to work with him. “But what if I run into Marcus?” Avery questioned her voice laden with trepidation.

  “You won’t,” Mary assured her. “He’s taken an extended leave of absence.”

  “PERFECT ON THE first track! You’re an ace,” Chris complemented, punctuating it with a pat on the back.

  “Thanks,” Avery replied cringing at his choice of words as well as his touch. He’d gotten a little too familiar since the video. “Ready to call it a night?”

  He nodded. “You wanna go grab something to eat with me?” He flashed her his gleaming megawatt grin.

  She shook her head. He’d asked her out every day since they started to work together.

  “Hey you can’t blame a guy for trying.”

  She didn’t, but she wasn’t interested. No matter how good looking Chris was or how talented, he just wasn’t the one she wanted. The one she would never have.

  Suppressing a sigh, she reminded herself that she wasn’t going to allow herself to be sad anymore. She couldn’t afford to backslide. She’d slip right back into the abyss of self-pity if she let herself.

  What she needed to do was re-harness the energy she’d had earlier in the week. The ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ indignation. After all, how dare Marcus dismiss her without hearing her defense? Who had appointed him as judge and jury?

  When she’d been in that frame of mind, she had readily agreed to the video Mary and Chris had suggested. She’d wanted Marcus to see it. To see her with another attractive man. Maybe it’d make him think twice about how he’d so readily thrown her into the discard pile with the likes of Miss V.

  But that had been then, and this was now. Sleepless nights. Anxiety. Always wondering when she’d run into him in the studio and how he’d react. Her worst fear was that he’d look right through her. As if he’d never known her. As if the time they had spent together had never happened.

  She slid off her stool and unclipped her Ibanez from the strap, the familiar motions making her feel a little bit better. She was on her way to the other side of the recording room when Chris spoke again.

  “I’m worried about you, Avery.”

  Her stomach clenched tighter. She thought she’d been doing a better job lately hiding her feelings behind a façade. “I’m alright,” she lied. She hoped as the days passed by that it would get easier, but it hadn’t. She had to accept that her memories were going to be all that would be left of Marcus. No more of his rare Marcus smiles coming her way. No more shared laughter. No more feeling as though she was were right where she belonged when she was with him.

  Just the constant ache and the pain of being cast aside.

  She closed the latches on her guitar case and said goodbye to Chris, trying to avoid the concerned look in his eyes. She couldn’t confide in him. She didn’t want to lead him on. But mostly, she didn’t want to hear her deepest fears voiced out loud.

  She stared out the taxi window on the drive back to the Sutton, mind flipping through the list of everything she’d lost. Him. Always him. The band. Dwight’s steady presence. JR’s irreverent attitude. Even her brother was at the moment unreachable since the facility he was in didn’t allow any contact from the outside.

  After paying and thanking the driver, Avery slid her guitar case onto her lap and got out. She blinked back tears. Riding in the backseat each day always made her think of Ray. She hoped he was ok. She hoped he was taking good care of Marcus.

  She was going to have to accept that there was no place she could go to escape him.

  His voice haunted her restless dreaming. His image inhabited every shadow in her mind.

  Even as she stopped to speak to a man sitting on the sidewalk, she imagined that the grey car she saw out of the corner of her eye was Marcus’ Mercedes.

  “MARCUS,” HIS MOM called. He froze in the farmhouse entryway. He knew that tone well. “Come in here a sec. I want to talk to you.

  He slid into one of the chairs in front of her desk at the b&b pretty sure he knew what was coming. Frankly, he had been lucky to have avoided it this long.

  “How much longer are you planning on moping around here?”

  “Mom,” he started.

  “Don’t Mom me, Marcus William Anthony. Don’t you think this has gone on long enough? I think it’s past time for you to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and get on with your life.”

  “You’re right, Mom.”

  She nodded curtly. Immediate agreement was the only acceptable answer when she got like this. “Your dad and I have talked. We both saw with our own eyes how happy you were out here with Avery. That’s what we both want most for you, Son. To be happy again.”

  “I know that.”

  “Your sensitivity is what makes your music so special. But it’s also what isolates you from people. Being a celebrity doesn’t help either. I think it freaks you out that Avery scaled those walls you’ve erected around yourself so easily. No matter how you might want to convince yourself otherwise.”

  “I’m not…”

  “I’m not finished. I want you to hear me out.” He scooted back in his seat, and she dipped her chin. “I know how black and white you see the world. Lies and deception are bad. I agree wholeheartedly. But in this case I think the reasons she did what she did are understandable. I think if you examine your heart instead of ignoring it, you’ll agree with me.”

  She was right, and as always her insight into his psyche put him completely on the spot.

  “Believe me, I get you. It’s not easy for me to show affection, either. Though I’ve always tried to let you and Dwight know by my actions how much I love you. It’s crystal clear to me how much you still care for Avery, whatever clothes she happens to be wearing. I’m not here to defend her. I won’t tell you what you should do. But I think you do need to ask yourself which is more important, being happy or being right.”

  “YOU WERE AT the farm over a week. That’s antisocial even for you,” Dwight told Marcus when he encountered him in the hall outside the Black Cat Records break room.

  “I haven’t been very much fun to be around lately,” Marcus replied. “Mom kicked me out. Told me to quit hiding, and gave me the old ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ speech.”

  “Ouch.” Dwight winced. “Sorry, man.” He had been in contact with his mom all along. In fact, they had talked the night before. Everyone agreed it was past time to give Marcus a nudge in the right direction.

  “What have you and JR been doing?” Marcus asked, interrupting Dwight’s thoughts.

  “Oh, not much. Just counting the money coming in. The publicity’s making us rich.”

  Marcus’ attention wandered toward the break room where he noticed the crowd of people gathered around the monitor. “What’s everyone watching that’s so interesting?” He pushed his way inside, looking up at the wall mounted display.

  What he saw made it difficult for him to breathe. Avery’s image filled the screen, her fingers assaulting the strings of her guitar with a vengeance. Combative guitar riffs exploded out of the break room’s sound system.

  She looked amazing, her jeans and t-shirt exquisitely hugging her curves. Hell, even dressed as a guy, she had been way too pretty. He’d been an idiot not to have figured it out. Something in her beautiful emerald eyes looked different, though, and her smile was a pale caricature of the one he had come to know.

  Marcus wasn’t familiar wi
th the song, and wondered how she had gotten around her contract restrictions to do the video.

  Marcus tensed, forgetting that insignificant detail for a moment when the camera pulled back for a wide shot. Avery was facing Chris Alex, acting like she was really into him as their fingers flew over their respective fretboards. Were they an item now? And who gave her approval to perform in his freaking video?

  His blood started to boil as Dwight came over and stood beside him. Leaning in, his brother explained. “Chris is in the Black Cat portfolio now. Mary insisted that Avery do the video to help promote his new album. But I can tell by your expression that you didn’t know, and that you’re a little upset. I find that odd because I thought you were done with her. Anyhow, I thought you’d given your approval for her to work with another band.”

  Marcus shook his head, but his gaze remained locked on the monitor, and his jaw suddenly dropped. Holy effing crap! Cat calls and appreciative whistles rained down all around him. He stared at the screen. He couldn’t have looked away even if he wanted to because his Avery was climbing up out of a swimming pool, dripping wet, brushing back her hair, and barely dressed in a tiny red bikini.

  Marcus was totally transfixed, his hands burning thinking about how many times he had been so close to her and that sexy body.

  Dwight glanced sidelong at him, his amused smile framing his lips. “Mary Timmons mentioned she had a little something in the works for you. She said, ‘If eye candy is what Marcus thinks a woman guitarist is for, then eye candy she shall be.’ Dwight chuckled. “You ok, bro?”

  Marcus didn’t answer. He couldn’t.

  “You look a little shook up. Want me to nab some oxygen?”

  Marcus blinked, snapping out of his trance to growl at the onlookers. “Don’t you guys have something better to do!” He didn’t like the other guys ogling Avery. He couldn’t believe her. What had possessed her to agree to wear that skimpy suit? Might as well be naked. Not that there was anything left to the imagination with the way it clung to her body. Someone needed to have a serious talk with her. Did no one around her love or care enough about her enough to tell her she was being exploited?