Читать книгу Shameless - Ann Major, Ann Major - Страница 10

Stella Lamour grabbed her guitar and glided out of the storeroom Harry let her use as a dressing room. After all, a star had to have a dressing room. She tried to ignore the fact that the closet was stacked with cases of beer, cocktail napkins and glasses…and that the boxy, airless room gave her claustrophobia when she shut the door.

Some dressing room…. Some star….

As Stella approached the corner to make her entrance, she cocked her glossy head at an angle so that her long yellow hair rippled flirtily down her slim, bare back. At thirty-two, she was still beautiful, and she knew it. Just as she knew how to use it.

“Fake it till you make it, baby,” Johnny, her ex-manager, always said.

Fake it? For how much longer? In this business and this city, beauty was everything, at least for a woman. Every day younger, fresher girls poured into Vegas, girls with big dreams just like hers. Johnny signed them all on, too.

Hips swaying, Stella moved like a feral cat, her lush, curvy, petite body inviting men to watch, not that there were many to do so tonight. There was a broad-shouldered hunk at the bar. He gave her the once-over. Her slanting, thickly-lashed, blue eyes said, “You can look, but keep your distance, big boy—this is my territory.”

Johnny Silvers, her no-good ex-manager, who liked fast cars and faster women, had taught Stella how to move, how to walk, how to hold her head, how to look like a star—how to fake it.

Some star. The closest she’d come was to warm the crowd up before the real star came on stage.

Now she’d sunk to Harry’s.

Harry’s was a dead-end bar in downtown Vegas, a hangout for middle-aged retreads, divorcées, widowers, alcoholics, burned-out gamblers—a dimly lit refuge for the flotsam and jetsam who couldn’t quite cut it in real life and were too broke to make their play in the hectic, brightly lit casinos on the strip. They were searching for new lives and new loves. Not that they could do more in Harry’s than drown their sorrows and take a brief time-out before they resumed their panicky quests.

In a few more years, I’ll be one of them, Stella thought as she grimly shoved a chair aside on her way to the bar.

Her slinky black dress was so tight across the hips, she had to stand at her end of the bar when she finally reached it. She’d put on a pound, maybe two. Not good, not when the new girls kept getting younger and slimmer.

Mo, the bartender, nodded hello and handed her her Saturday night special—water with a juicy lime hanging on the edge of her glass. She squeezed the lime, swirled the water in the glass. Wetting her lips first, she took a long, cool sip.

Aside from Mo and a single, shadowy male figure at the other end of the bar, Harry’s was empty tonight. There wasn’t a single retread. So, the only paying customer was the wide-shouldered hunk she’d seen come in earlier. She knew men. He was no retread.

There was a big arms-dealer conference in Vegas. For some reason, she imagined he might be connected to the conference. He was hard-edged. Lean and tall and trim. He had thick brown hair. She judged he was around thirty. Something about him made her think of the way Phillip looked in his uniform. Maybe it was the man’s air of authority.

Just thinking about Phillip made her remember another bar seven years ago when she’d been a raw kid, singing her heart out, not really caring where she was as long as she could sing. She’d gotten herself in a real jam that night. Lucky for her, or maybe not so lucky as it turned out, Phillip Westin had walked in.

Just the memory of Phillip in that brawl—he’d been wonderful—made her pulse quicken again. It had been four drunks against one Marine, but a Marine whose hands were certified weapons. In the end Phillip had carried her out to his motorcycle, and they’d roared off in the dark. He’d been so tender and understanding that first night, so concerned about her. What had impressed her the most about him was that he hadn’t tried to seduce her. They’d talked all night in a motel and had only ended up in bed a couple of days later.

The sex had been so hot, they’d stayed in that motel bed for a week, making wild, passionate love every day and every night, even eating meals in bed, until finally they were so exhausted, they could only lie side by side laughing because they felt like a pair of limp noodles. When they’d come up for air, she’d said she’d never be able to walk again. And he’d said he’d never get it up again. She’d taken that as a challenge and proved him wrong. Oh, so deliciously wrong. Afterward, he’d asked her to marry him.

She’d said, “I don’t even know you.”

And he said, “Just say maybe.”

“Maybe,” she’d purred.

Maybe had been good enough for Phillip, at least for a while. He’d been living on his elderly uncle’s ranch alone and supervising the cattle operation because his uncle, who had been ill, was in a nursing home. Everything had been wonderful between Celeste and Phillip until suddenly Phillip had received a call and had gone off on a mission. Alone on the ranch, she’d gotten scared and had felt abandoned and rejected just as she had when her parents had died.

If the days had been long without Phillip, the sleepless nights had seemed even longer. She hadn’t known what to do with herself. She wasn’t good at waiting or at being alone.

Then a pair of grim-faced Marines had turned up at the door and said Phillip was missing in action. She’d been terrified he was dead—just like her parents. A few weeks later Johnny had driven into town, promising he’d make her a star, saying Larry Martin, the Larry Martin wanted to produce her. He’d convinced her to go with him to Vegas. The rest was history.

All of a sudden her throat got scratchier. She knew better than to think about the past. She swallowed, but the dry lump in her throat wouldn’t go down.

How could she sing…tonight? To a man who reminded her of Phillip.

She asked Mo for another glass of water, but the icy drink only made her throat worse.

Did it matter any more how well she sang? This was Harry’s. There was only one customer. She picked up her guitar and headed for the stage.

Just when she’d thought she couldn’t sink any lower, she’d lost her job two weeks ago and the only guy Johnny could convince to hire her was Harry, a loser buddy of his.

“I can’t work at a lowlife place like this,” she’d cried when Johnny had brought her here and a cockroach had skittered across her toe.

“You gotta take what you can get, baby. That’s life.”

“I’m Stella Lamour. I’ve done TV. You promised I’d be a star.”

“You’ve got to deliver. You’re just a one-hit wonder. Wake up and smell the roses, baby.”

She’d kicked the roach aside. “All I smell is stale beer.”

“My point exactly, baby. You gotta fake it till you make it.”

“I’m tired of faking it and not making it. You’re fired, Johnny.”

“Baby— Stella Lamour, the one-hit wonder.” He’d laughed at her. “All right. Fire me. But take the job, baby—if you wanna eat.”

She’d taken the job, but every night it was harder to pretend she would ever make it as a singer.

Now, Stella turned on the mike and got a lot of back feed. When she adjusted it, and it squealed again, the broad-shouldered man at the bar jammed his big hands over his ears but edged closer. Again, the way he moved, reminded her so much of Phillip, her knees went a little weak and her pulse knocked against her rib age. Oh, Phillip….

Don’t think about the past or Phillip. Just sing.

Why bother? Nobody’s listening.

“I’ll start off with a little number I wrote,” she purred to Mo and the man. “Back in Texas.”

The customer stared at her intently as if he liked what he saw.

“I wrote this seven years ago before I came to Vegas.” She fiddled with the mike some more, and then she began to sing, “Nobody but you/Only you/And yet I had to say goodbye…”

She forgot she was in Harry’s. She was back on the ranch on Phillip’s front porch where the air was hot and dusty, where the long summer nights smelled of warm grass and mesquite, and the nights buzzed with the music of cicadas.

“I thought love cost too much,” she purred in the smoky voice she’d counted on to make her famous, to make her somebody like her mother had promised. “But I didn’t know.”

Then she realized she was in Harry’s, and her failures made her voice quiver with regret. “Everywhere I go/There’s nobody but you in my heart/Only you.”

Somehow she felt so weak all she could do was whisper the last refrain. “And yet I had to say goodbye.”

Phillip was the only good man, the only really good thing that had ever happened to her. And she’d walked out on him. Big mistake. Huge.

She’d wanted to make it big to prove to Phillip she was as good as he was…that she wasn’t just some cheap tart he’d picked up in a bar and brought home and bedded…that she was somebody…a real somebody he could be proud of.

She frowned when she heard a car zoom up the back alley. Oh, dear. That sounded like Johnny’s Corvette sportscar. The last thing she needed was Johnny on her case. Sure enough, within seconds, the front door banged open and Johnny raced through it on his short legs. His thick, barrel chest was heaving. His eyes bulged out of their deep, pouchy sockets. The poor, little dear looked like a fat, out-of-shape rabbit the hounds were chasing, but his florid face lit up when he saw her.

“Baby!”

Oh, no. He definitely wanted something!

“You and I are through,” she mouthed.

Johnny lit a cigarette. Then his short, fat legs went into motion again and carried him across the bar toward her.

He was a heavy smoker, so running wasn’t easy. When he reached the stage, he gasped in fits and starts, which made his voice even more hoarse and raspy than usual.

“Take a break, baby…” Pant. Wheeze. “I’ve got to talk to you.” Puff. Puff.

Fanning his smoke out of her face, she turned off the mike and followed him to her end of the bar.

Johnny ordered a drink and belted it down. He ordered a second one and said, “Put some booze in this one, you cheap son of a—”

“Johnny, you can’t talk to Mo like—”

Mo slammed the second drink down so hard it sloshed all over Johnny’s cigarette. Mo was big. A lot bigger than Johnny. He had a bad temper, too. His face had darkened the way it did when he had an impossible customer and had to play bouncer. Stella was afraid he’d pound Johnny.

“Easy, Mo,” she whispered, wondering why she was bothering to defend Johnny, who’d brought her so much bad luck.

Mo whirled and went to tend to his other customer.

Johnny lit another cigarette. “Thanks, babe.” Wheeze. Gulp. “I need money fast.”

“I don’t get paid till Monday.” She clamped a hand over her mouth. “It’s none of your business when I get paid.”

“I got you this great new gig. Your ship’s about to come in. You gotta help me, baby.”

“That’s what you said when you stole my royalties to buy those stolen tires and to pay your—”

“How was I— No-o-o. Baby!” Puff. Wheeze. “I borrowed a little cash to pay a few gambling debts. That’s all! Honest! Now a couple of unreasonable guys are making insane demands on a poor guy trying to make his top girl a star—”

“I’m not your girl anymore!”

“Are you going to help me or not?” He was so charged with fear, his eyes stuck out on stems.

When would she ever learn? She hated herself for being such a softie.

“How much?”

“You’ve gotta big heart. You can’t say that about many girls in Vegas.”

Just as she slid her fingers into her bra and pulled out what little money she had, the front door banged open and two men in black, who instantly made her think of snakes—and she hated snakes—oozed inside.

“You’d better pay me back this time,” she said.

“Sure, baby.”

When the snakes yelled Johnny’s name, he grabbed the money and ran out the back way, screaming, “She has it.”

The two men raced past her after him. There was some sort of scuffle. Bodies thudded against a wall. The men shouted. Johnny squealed in pain. Then his super-charged, fancy black Corvette drove away fast, tires spinning gravel.

She was asking Mo for more water when the two snakes slithered quietly up behind her, grabbed her arms and shoved her against the bar.

“Hey, take your hands off me!”

Both of them had black, beady eyes. When their gazes drifted up and down her body, her heart raced.

“Johnny says you and he…. He says you’ve got our money.” The man who held her had olive skin, a big nose and lots of pimples.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She began to shake. Everybody in Vegas knew guys like this didn’t play around.

“Nero has methods to freshen a girl’s memory,” the taller snake said. “We’re in the collection business. We specialize in gambling debts. Our customers lose. They borrow. If they don’t want to pay, we motivate them. End of story.”

The taller man was potato-pale. Gold-rimmed glasses pinched his nose as he stared at her breasts. “Name’s The Pope. You’re cute. You could work some of Johnny’s debt off…if you get my drift.”

“How much money does he owe you?” she whispered. Her heart was really knocking now.

The Pope named a preposterous sum that made her gasp.

“Johnny says you rolled the dice for him,” The Pope said. “He says he gave you our money. Pay us, and we’re out of here.”

“I don’t have it.”

“Then get it. If you don’t, we hurt you. Understand, sexy girl?” Nero said, pinching her arms.

She shivered. Oh, dear. They weren’t kidding. Her eyes flew to the front door and to the back. She had to run. But before she took even one step, they read her mind.

“Oh, no you don’t—” Nero grabbed her by the hair, intending to haul her out the door with him, when she bit his hand and then screamed for help.

On a howl of pain, he let her go. Since The Pope was blocking the exit, she ran toward the ladies’ room. Nero would have chased her, but the wide-shouldered customer who reminded her of Phillip had sprung from the bar, stuck out a booted foot and tripped him.

“The lady said to let her go,” said a hard voice as the short, dark thug went sprawling into chairs and tables that toppled on top of him.

“Stay out of this. The witch owes us money.”

It was an exciting conversation. She would have loved to have stayed and listened, but it didn’t seem smart to stick around. There was a window in the ladies’ room just big enough for her to squeeze out of.

Once she made it to the ladies’ room, the shouts from the bar got louder. Mo must have tackled the other guy.

“You a cop?” The Pope yelled.

“He’s got cops’ eyes. He moves like a cop, too—”

“We gotta blow this joint.”

“What about her?”

“Later—”

As Stella stood on the toilet and opened the window, she heard gunshots pop in the bar. In a panic, she shoved her guitar through the window. Then she scrambled out of it herself, only to lose her hold on the window frame and fall so hard, she nearly broke her ankle.

She got to her feet, straightened her ripped gown and then fluffed her hair. When she reached down to get her guitar, it wasn’t there.

A large hand curved out of the darkness, and she jumped about a mile and then moaned in pain because she’d landed with all her weight on her bad ankle.

“Easy. I won’t hurt you.”

The big, handsome guy from the other end of the bar, the one who’d tripped Nero, held out her guitar.

She grabbed it and hugged it to her chest.

“Need a ride?” he asked in a hard, precise voice.

“As a matter of fact—” She blurted out her address.

“You can’t go home. Can’t stay in Vegas, either. Not with those guys after you. They’ll kill you…or worse.”

She gulped in a breath and then followed him to a sedan that was parked in the shadows. “But—”

“Do you think those guys are going to quit if you can’t give them what they want?”

She swallowed.

“Honey, they know where you live.”

“You’re scaring me.”

After he helped her into the front seat of the vehicle, he said, “Didn’t your mama ever teach you never to ride with strangers?”

“I didn’t have a mama.”

He shut her door. “Everybody has a mama.”

When he slid behind the wheel, she said, “I was five when she died.”

“Too bad.” He started the engine and revved it.

“You don’t know the half of it. Foster homes. Cinderella. The whole bit. Only without the prince. But when I was little, I used to sing with my mama on stage. She told me I was going to be a star. And…and I believed her. But she died….” Her voice shook. “On a cheerier note, if you’re a bad stranger, I can always beat you up with my guitar.”

He didn’t laugh as they sped away. “That’d be a waste of a good guitar.”

“Thanks for saving me.”

“So, where to?”

“The bus station.”

“And then?” he persisted.

“Texas.” She was surprised by her answer. Texas?

“Is that home?”

“Not exactly. But I have an old boyfriend with a hero complex.” Phillip—he was the only man she knew tough enough to save her if those guys ever caught up with her. Oh, dear. Phillip—

“The poor sucker your song’s about. You left him, didn’t you?”

“He’ll still help me.” He would. She knew he would.

“What if he’s married?”

“He’s not.”

“And you know this how?”

She stared out her window at the bright glitter of Vegas. She wasn’t about to admit she’d kept tabs by reading the Mission Creek newspaper online, so she bit her lip and said nothing.

When they got to the bus station, he got out with her and carried her guitar to the ticket window for her. Pulling out his wallet, he said, “You gave your sleazy manager all your money, didn’t you—”

“No, but I left my purse in my, er, dressing room.”

He counted out five one-hundred-dollar bills.

“I don’t need nearly that much.”

“It’s a loan.” He handed her his card.

“I’ll pay it back. All of it. I really will….”

His face was grim as she read his card. “A.T.F. You’re A.T.F.” Her voice softened when she read his name. “Cole Yardley.”

“Good luck,” was all he said before he strode away.

“Thank you, Mr. Yardley,” she whispered after him. “Thank you.” Although he’d refused to open up, something about him made her long for Phillip.

She broke the first hundred and bought a one-way ticket to Mission Creek, Texas, where Phillip now lived. Phillip’s uncle had died, and he’d inherited the ranch and made it his home.

Oh, Phillip—