CHAPTER TEN
Tobias
I dropped off Kane who promptly got into his vehicle and tore out of his garage like a man possessed. If he were going after Dys, this would not end well. All of Jacine’s hard work would burn away into the smog-filled LA air, leaving Alexander and Wells the laughing stock of LA.
I heard what my friend at the company who books the Bowl act said. The whole thing at Angelo’s made for interesting press, but the only people who benefited were the newspapers. Rock stars were known to be volatile, and a certain amount of mischief was considered colorful. But playing the public at large at risk? That made any band a bad bet.
And Jacine had three of them on her hands.
Something wasn’t right, though. Kane wasn’t heading to Dys's house. And as we traveled the torturous curves of the roads of the Hollywood Hills, I finally realized where we were headed.
Jacine’s.
This was outrageous. What did he hope to accomplish there? I notice him standing too close to Jacine, but then again, she was just that beautiful.
But the fight with Dys was over-the-top. And now he was headed into more trouble.
I swear. If he does anything to upset Jacine, I’ll pound him into the ground.
But even more incredible is the fact that another car sits in the driveway, a god damn red Ferrari, the one that Rory Holmes drove. What the hell was Rory doing here?
Stepping out of my car, I hear Kane knocking on the door and shouting for Holmes to come out of the house. Dys stood to the side looking equal parts amused and pissed, though I don’t know why.
The door jerked open, and an incredulous Jacine stood framed in the doorway, and Kane stepped forward. She was one woman facing two guys not known for their emotional stability and my long-buried protective instincts surged, and I tore down that driveway to the two men.
I skidded forward on the white gravel when I heard her.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Holmes,” called Kane.
“Cole! Stop this.”
“Don’t be like this, baby. You don’t know this snake like I do. Did he pull the massaging the feet thing on you?”
“Baby?” sputtered Dys.
Kane glanced over his shoulder.
“Sure. In case you haven’t noticed this woman is fine.”
“Oh, I noticed, asshole. So stay away.”
“Me? I’m here first.”
Jacine stared at both of them in disbelief and raked her silky hair with her hands.
“What the fuck?” said Holmes as he came to stand behind Jacine.
“You!” said Kane shaking his finger at Holmes. “Get the fuck out here and keep your hands off her.”
Holmes's eyes blazed with anger. “And who are you to say anything about it?”
A sick feeling swirls in my gut as I realize that Jacine is in the middle of a dangerous situation. These dickheads go off before the starting gun. And the stakes for Jacine were very high. The whole focus of her plan to rehabilitate the PR of these guys was to get them to co-operate on one project. In a town where one misstep meant millions in lost revenue, her failure would take a big chunk of the armor and cachet of Alexander and Wells.
Franklin would be furious. And that was the last thing my health challenged friend or his overextended daughter needed.
I consider my moves, because as volatile as this situation is, I could make it worse by stepping in. Working with creatives I learned that the stress of having to perform 24-7, to present an image that might not match the inner man lends volatility to the public persona. Only Jersey, by his father’s long association with the PR firm, knows that I mean no harm.
But before I can decide anything, Jacine pulls up her five foot, seven-inch frame and fire flashes through her eyes.
“All of you, get off my property now!”
I groan because this is not the way to treat three impetuous rock stars. She knows this, but I see the stress in her eyes too, and for the first time in my life I see Jacine Alexander unravel.
“But, sweetheart,” said Dys.
“Sweetheart?” protested Kane.
“Yeah, sweetheart. Want to make something of it?”
“Who the fuck cares!” snapped Jacine.
Holmes put his hands on Jacine’s shoulders, which was a mistake.
“Get your hands off me!” yelled Jacine. And though the scrub and trees of the hills usually sop up sounds, her high voice reverberated against the walls of the slopes of the Santa Monica Mountains.
I groan. There is a reason why you usually can hear a pin drop in the Hollywood Hills. It’s because the neighbors, sensitive to the star-studded antics of LA, keep things eerie quiet. You might hear traffic on the road, or the occasional barking of a dog, but otherwise you would think you were in the middle of the country, which we were not.
It was suburbia. Oh, decidedly upscale, but Mr. And Mrs. America, just the same. Stars live here on sufferance.
But do Kane, Dys, and Holmes recognize that? No. And before I know it Holmes pushes past Jacine and shoves Kane, who falls into Dys, who pushes him back into Holmes.
And that’s when the fight starts.
“Stop!” screamed Jacine, but that only made things worse. Giving lie to reports that LA police are slow, on this day within five minutes a police car pulls into the driveway flashing its lights.
It didn’t take long for our worse fears to manifest and the Terrible Trio, bruised, sweaty, and dirty were hauled off to the local lock-up.