“Oh. You know I only have a few hours right? I have to be up early.”
She grabbed my hand and steered us to the elevator. “Relax. You’re not going to turn into a pumpkin at midnight.”
It wasn’t an evening with friends. It was a big Hollywood-type party at a house overlooking the beach in Malibu. Sarah was well known in these stomping grounds, and, regardless of the fact that she’d arrived with me, men were hitting on her right and left. There was a DJ playing and partygoers doing lines of coke on the kitchen counter. The minute I stepped in the place, I wanted to leave. This was definitely not my scene.
Despite the fact that I spent my life on the road with a rock star, I actually lived a fairly boring and sheltered existence. Having Keith as a glaring example of drug use gone badly, none of the rest of my siblings had chosen the same path. Perhaps if Jake had been more of a partier, I would have followed suit, but since he wasn’t, neither was I. Our biggest vice was alcohol, and even that wasn’t much.
Because Jake tended to surround himself with people who had a proven record of self-control, gatherings for us on the road were more like backyard barbeque parties than full on ragers. After some particularly bad experiences with drug-addicted employees, Jake now ran his tours like one of America’s pot-friendly states. Weed was okay, but you did it at your own peril, meaning if you got caught with it in an inhospitable state or country, no one was coming for your doped-up ass. In fact, the rest of us would pretend we didn’t even know the hapless dude, and it’d be up to him to find his way back to the tour. Those guys who were found using hard drugs Jake cut loose immediately.
“Come on. I want to introduce you,” Sarah said, grabbing my hand and leading me to a group of five beautiful, leggy women. “Guys, say hi to Kyle.”
Two women acknowledged me with friendly smiles, but the other three only managed to look up for a moment to size me up before returning to their conversation.
“Kyle is Jake McKallister’s brother.”
It was as if the music came to a screeching halt. Heads craned in my direction. The bored women perked up. One unfurled her long legs and got up off the couch. I was instantly surrounded and being peppered with questions about Jake. One woman even tried swiping my phone to call him. Sarah hung all over me. I was now the most interesting person in the room, and she loved it.
As new people wandered over, Sarah began introducing me as Jake’s brother, not even bothering to use my actual name anymore. At the start of the evening my blood had been lukewarm, but by the end, it was boiling. My teeth actually hurt from all the grinding they were doing. It was becoming clear that Sarah’s motivation for bringing me here was to show me off. And normally that would have been flattering, but not when she was showing me off as Jake’s frickin’ brother.
I was on edge and ready to leave fifteen minutes after arriving, but Sarah was not ready to go. She was loving the attention my connection to Jake was bringing to the table. Since I had been driven over by Sarah, I was at her mercy.
An hour into the party, I was cornered by a half naked man, clad only in board shorts and a shirt that was open wide. Deeply tanned and obviously lit, his eyes darted back and forth, struggling to focus on mine. This guy was my dad’s age, but that’s where the similarity ended. Rich, privileged, and used to getting what he wanted, this dude was like a caricature of every drunk, wealthy, obnoxious guy who’d ever appeared on the silver screen.
“Kyle, right?”
“Yes.”
“Steve,” he said, slurring a second word, which I assumed was his last name. He shook my hand. “This is your lucky day.”
“Oh, yeah? How do you figure?”
“I can make you a lot of money. We’re talking butt-loads. You can buy your very own cocaine castle.”
His eyes scurried every which way.Jesus, dude, pull it together.
“Uh-huh,” I said. “And what would I be required to do to obtain this pot of white gold?”
“What do you know about your brother’s kidnapping?”
My heart rate shot up in an instant, and my fists clamped with fury. I seriously considered punching the asshole in his smug, plastic surgery-altered face, but getting arrested for assault was the last thing I needed before leaving for the show. I took a deep breath and then turned and stomped off.
“You’re being stupid. You have no idea what I can offer you,” he called out to me.
He didn’t deserve a response, so I didn’t reward him with one. I walked up to Sarah and grabbed her arm.
“I’m leaving.”
“What? What happened?”
“Nothing. This isn’t my scene. Are you coming, or should I Uber?”
Sarah looked at me in surprise and then glanced around. She was clearly conflicted. Really? Jesus Christ. What the hell was I doing here? I turned and walked out of the house. Sarah followed, her stiletto heels clacking something fierce on the concrete path.
“Wait up, Kyle, geez.”
My jaw was clenched so tightly that it actually ached. When she finally caught up to me, her eyed grew large as she saw the angry expression on my face.
“Did something happen back there?”
