I hate both his tone and his threats, but I bite my tongue since this is important.
“Got it.” I motion for him to keep going. “What are the rules?”
“Of course, we’d like Phoenix to be sober and all that jazz. But more imperative than that…we’d like him to be in control.”
“Control…meaning?”
“Nothing that hits the online gossip sites, tabloids, or social media.” He makes a face. “Such as the recent video in which he had sex on top of a bar at a hotel while blitzed out of his mind.”
Lovely.
“Simply put,” he continues. “Your job is to keep him out of the news, out of trouble, and off hard drugs. I want him performing at his maximum capacity during every single show. Are we clear?”
“Yes.” Although I need him to clarify something. “Phoenix never had an issue with drugs when I knew him. How long has this been going on?”
Chandler’s professional demeanor morphs into something a lot more human. “While Phoenix never missed a party and dabbled from time to time, it’s never been this bad. Ever since we lost Josh…he’s been stuck in a downward spiral.” He rubs his chin. “Hopefully, things improve soon, or we’ll have another dead band member on our hands. Only someone with his talent can’t be replaced, so we’ll be screwed.”
“Right.”
He’s not worried about Phoenix because he gives a shit, but because his death would impact his bottom line.
Not that it concerns me. I don’t care.
He clears his throat. “Anyway, tonight he’s in a suite, but going forward, you’ll have adjoining rooms. You’ll also have the key to his room in case he locks you out.”
“We have to sleep in the same room tonight?” I bite out.
“Yes. I wasn’t aware you were joining us until last minute, remember?” He takes a breath. “Anyhoo, there are six bunks on the tour bus and one very small bedroom in the back that’s mine.”
At least it’s a whole lot better than sleeping in the same room. “Okay.”
“You’ll be expected to accompany him everywhere,” he carries on. “Even the bathroom if need be.”
Hard pass.
“I’m not following him into the bathroom.”
Those beady eyes become tiny slits. “Then you run the risk of being fired in the event he does drugs, goes apeshit, and ends up on the news again.”
Dammit. “I’ll pat him down beforehand.”
“It’s your money at stake.”
The driver slows to a stop in front of a hotel.
I’m about to gather my purse and luggage, but he stops me. “Not so fast. We haven’t gone over the most important rule.”
What’s more important than keeping him out of trouble?
“Which is?”
“There is to be absolutely no sexual relations between you two. We hired you specifically, so we don’t have to worry about that.” He crosses his arms. “Screw anyone else you want, but under no circumstances are you to ever screw him. Understood?”
Oh, I’ll be screwing him all right. Just not the way Chandler thinks.
“Trust me. There’s no way I’d ever have sex with him.”
“His suite is at the end,” Chandler says as he leads me down a long hallway.
Not that I need directions. The sounds of people partying are unmistakable.
When we reach the double doors, he hands me a key.
“Good luck.”
That’s all I get before he turns and walks away.
Thanks, Dicky.
Squaring my shoulders, I force myself to take a deep breath as I grab my suitcase with one hand and swipe the key card with my other.
The muffled noises I heard in the hallway are now so loud I wince as I cart my luggage inside.
“All right, everyone ou— ”
Words die in my throat…because there he is.
My mouth falls open as I peer up at him—and then down at the not one, but two, half-dressed women giving him a blow job in the middle of the room—while others carry on partying around them. Like this is completely normal behavior.
I’m too shocked to speak as I gape at him.
Despite my animosity—and disgust—Phoenix is still utterly gorgeous and mesmerizing.
Even more so given he looks slightly older now. Edgier.
Yet, those once intense blue eyes of his are dull.
Like the life’s been sucked right out of him…but not by the two blondes on their knees.
My stare lands on the new scar spanning from his chest to his navel.
Ripping my gaze away, I take a quick inventory of my surroundings. There are at least twenty people in the room, not counting the little threesome going on. When I look to my right, I see a man and two girls snorting blow off a coffee table. When I look to my left, I see another man snorting something off a naked girl’s ass as a line forms behind him…awaiting their turn.
In addition to drugs, there are liquor bottles everywhere.
I knew it would be bad, but not this bad.
I’m looking for the source of the music so I can shut it off and kick everyone out, but that deep, raspy—and very slurred—voice rolls over me like a boulder.
“Why don’t you come over here and join us, baby?”
Sheer revulsion and rage light me up. Of all the things he should have said to me after what he did, that’s what he chooses to start with?
My hand squeezes the handle of my luggage so hard I’m surprised it doesn’t snap off.
The fucker is lucky it doesn’t, though, because I’d beat him over the head with it.
“Excuse me?”
Phoenix sways like a tree in a hurricane, his head lolling from side to side as he fights to keep his eyes open.
It quickly dawns on me that he’s so bombed he has no fucking idea who I am.
Hell, I don’t even think he’s fully cognizant of the blow job he’s currently receiving…let alone enjoying it.
Jesus. This isn’t the Phoenix I know.
Correction—the Phoenix I thought I knew, because it turns out I didn’t back then, either.
I’d almost pity this pathetic, intoxicated mess of a guy if I didn’t loathe the asshole so much.
His head flops to the side and the glint from the lip ring he now has catches my eye. “Don’t be shy, beautiful. We’re all friends here.”
We most certainly aren’t friends. We never were.
The two girls on the floor maneuver a bit, making room for me.
Fuck that. I’d rather eat my own intestines.
Gritting my teeth, I march out the door. I spot Chandler waiting by the elevators at the other end of the hall, so I accelerate my steps.
“Wait!” I call out just as the doors open.
He looks up at the ceiling before walking toward me. “You can’t quit. Not only have you already signed the contract, it’s only been two minutes.”
“I’m not quitting.” No matter how much I want to. “But there are some things I’m going to need as soon as possible.”
Otherwise, I’m never going to get Phoenix or the situation in his room under control. Not without killing him first.
Chandler blinks. “What kinds of things?”