Star Struck(BBW Rocker Romance)(56)

“Ethan doesn’t know I’m talking to you. He isn’t even here. He left immediately after our performance.”

Mandy’s heart sank. She wondered if he’d rushed off to meet Zuriel somewhere. “He obviously couldn’t wait to get away,” she murmured ironically.

“It’s not what you think,” said Jaime. “He just…knowing you were close, I could tell how much it got to him, not being able to…”

Jaime sighed with something like anger but not at anyone in particular. “I know about Zuriel coming to see you. The things she said. I feel partly responsible that she thought she could get away with something like that. How dumb I was thinking that this would end in any way right for Ethan. What right had any of us to think you couldn’t be just what he needed? Who cares if you may never really fit into what we felt was ‘our world’? All that really mattered was that you fitted in Ethan’s.”

Mandy shrugged. “Maybe briefly, I did fit. But Zuriel’s taken her rightful place by his side. Whatever you say was bad between them, maybe they’ve found a way to make it right. They’re older now. Wiser. And I’m just some girl who caught his fancy but could never hope to really hold him once the chips were down.”

“Is that why you ended it? I was so sure Zuriel couldn’t get to you. I almost couldn’t believe you let her plant the insecurities that must have made it easy for you to walk away from what you had with Ethan.”

The disappointment in Jaime’s voice was like a slap in the face. Mandy drew in an angry breath but managed to say calmly, “I’m not superhuman, Jaime. Ordinary people like me have it even harder trying to hold one’s own when it comes to feeling not good enough. They were going to make everyone believe I was with Ethan for what I could get. And one day, maybe they’d have made him believe it, too. I guess I didn’t want to stick around long enough and wait for the inevitable to happen.”

“And what was inevitable? Ethan breaking your heart…or both of you ending up happy ever after?” asked Jaime. His smile was rueful. “Well, I guess we’ll never know.”

Mandy’s eyelids lowered. Jaime was right; not that he’d come right out and said it, but it was true: she’d given up too easily. Everything had happened so fast – falling for him, being in love. At the first hurdle, she’d crumbled. She had given away a chance at happiness because it had been easier than staying and fighting. She’d been so blind. How could she ever get Ethan to forgive her?

“Every day in the last few months I woke up wondering the same thing: how could I have let him go?” Mandy murmured with a faraway look on her face. “Maybe I never really believed enough. Zuriel just gave me a good excuse. I let her win, Jaime. Ethan deserves better than a woman who couldn’t stand up to any obstacle to their love.”

“You made a mistake, Mandy. Like anyone could do. Ethan doesn’t need someone perfect,” Jaime told her with a gently teasing smile, releasing his hold on her just as the music ended. “But he does deserve someone brave.”

Mandy’s heart swelled with hope; she could learn to be brave…though she knew she’d need a lot of bravery to face Ethan again and try to make amends. But then a feeling of panic overcame her as she said, “The world tour is about to begin …the band’s supposed to be leaving the country tomorrow.”

Jaime’s curvy lips tilted in a smirk. “Then I guess you don’t really have much time.”





Chapter Fourteen



Mandy felt much too conspicuous in her sophisticated red dress and heels walking into the hotel lobby. But since it was already close to 9 pm, the grand surroundings looked free of too many people. She walked up to the desk to make the needed inquiries.

She’d seen Ethan’s unmistakable Lamborghini outside. She knew he was here. All she needed was to find the hotel bar and take it from there.

When she saw the huge, bald-headed man standing at the doorway of the bar two minutes later, she heaved an inner sigh. Ethan was fond of going around without Vernon whenever he could get away with it. His familiar face now creased in a smile of recognition when he saw Mandy.

“Jaime sent me here, sort of,” she explained with a shy smile. “Is um…Ethan inside?”

“Building up to getting plastered,” said Vernon wryly. “Good thing you’re here so maybe I won’t need to worry about having to air-lift him to his suite later. He’s been staying mostly at this hotel on and off for weeks.”

“Oh,” Mandy said softly. That sounded weird. With each second that passed, the need to see him grew stronger and stronger. “I can go in, then?”