Rock Her(40)

He read through a few of the notes and made a mental note to check out the book sometime. There was some really interesting stuff here. Then he flipped through dozens of pages until he found a note that mentioned him. Then he thumbed back to the beginning of the section.

He read through them, amused at how Annie kept track of the important things. Then he stopped and studied one page because the note there caught his eye.



‘Kip Jones is almost certainly not his real name. He claims to come from a wealthy family and owns many companies and businesses. He has asked me not to print any of his history and his wealth, but I cannot help but think that this will be the crux of the book. Information like this will make it a blockbuster. Who this guy really is may be totally unknown. Even, it seems, by his band members. It should be a simple thing to figure out who he truly is. I know he owns a restaurant, Sampson Flight, Inc. and a taxi company, among others. Ownership of a company is public knowledge. Once I get the chance it will just be a matter of searching the public records.’



“I Don't Care” By Apocalyptica featuring Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace



Kip’s heart sank. He felt betrayed. And for once in his life, he wasn’t quite sure how to handle the situation. Regardless of what he just discovered, he liked Annie. And he meant it when he asked her to live with him.

He heard the shower shut off in the other room and he closed the notebook and threw it back down on the floor with the clothes. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, trying to take stock of what he’d just learned. Annie intended to write all the she knew about Kip.

And so what? He asked himself. Why do I care so much?

Then Kip realized that he didn’t care so much anymore about the information of his true identity getting out. Now, it was more important that Annie was going to tell it even though he asked her not to.

Kip did not get angry easily. The last time he was truly angry was the last conversation he had with his father. And it held true even now. He realized, as he thought more about it, that he wasn’t angry. He was hurt.

But why was that so disturbing to him? Since he was released from the hospital in Germany and he started his new life as a rock and roll star, Kip had not gotten close to anyone. There were plenty of women, girls even, but they were always play things. He had never truly cared about them. The last close relationship was with his father, before he ruined that, too. Since then he had been on auto pilot.

Yes, Kip gave. But only his money and his time. He had never gave himself since before his father and him had a falling out which included his girlfriend breaking up with him. And he was about to. He was about to give all of himself to Annie, before he picked up her notebook.

Now he didn’t know what to do. For the first time in his life, he just didn’t know.

He looked up and saw Annie standing there naked, hair wet and hanging over her shoulders, dripping water down her breasts and belly.

“I’ll be ready in a minute. You?” she asked.

“Uh, Yes. I am ready to go now. I can go hail a taxi and have it waiting.” Kip said coldly.

Annie noticed the chill from him and cocked her head. Then she realized she must be imagining it, and she smiled at him. Kip smiled back and stood, walking toward the door.

Annie turned to walk back into the room to dress. After she took two steps, she stopped and turned back to the living room. Her eyes fell upon the notebook lying on the floor.



As Kip stepped out into the hall and pulled the door closed behind him, Jack ran up to him.

“Good morning, buddy! Damn, God knows I didn’t expect to see you up this early,” Jack said.

“Morning Jackie,” Kip said. “How was your night last night?”

“Shit, a hell of a lot less action than you had yesterday.” Jack said.

Kip stopped walking and turned to him. “You know about yesterday?”

Jack was taken aback. “Hell Kip, the whole fucking world knows. It’s been all over the news yesterday and this morning. You’re a hell of a bigger star today than you were yesterday.”

“No shit?” Kip asked, truly surprised. Although he shouldn’t have been. He did the news interviews at the mall. He was just more surprised that a shooting would have been such a big deal. He still hadn’t adjusted after all this time since he’s been back from Afghanistan, where shootings were an everyday occurrence, and his involvement was normal.

“Kip, what did you expect? You shot a terrorist that was shooting up the mall, for fucks sake.”

“Terrorist?” Kip asked. “Is that what the news said?”

“Yes, Kip.” Jacky said, confused. “Kip, how could you be involved in something like that and not watch the news reports of it? You’re a fucking hero all of a sudden!”