Trusting Gibson (Last Score Book 2) (28 page)

Gibson started my music and One Republic played “Something I Need.” That played once when we were in the car. It wasn’t the first track on the album, so he would have had to select that to play to me. How did I think of that? Was he telling me he still needed me? I loved the song choice and I especially loved the drumbeat, it always made me tap along.

Gibson had obviously come to tell me something and when the song finished, I kind of prepared myself for him to say he was busy and had to go on tour, so he wouldn’t be able to see me anymore…or similar words that let him off the hook as far as I was concerned.

“Hello darlin’, how’s my girl doing?” Gibson’s words filled me with relief and my throat constricted as a sob stuck there. I closed my eyes to help my mind absorb his use of, ‘my girl.’ Gibson  didn’t stop talking for a few minutes, telling me about living with my mom and dad and I thought he must be making it all up and was just saying the first thing that came into his mind. My head couldn’t compute my parents and Gibson in the same room, never mind living in the same house.

I heard shuffling behind me, the CD player snapped shut, then “Waiting for Superman” began to play and I wondered why he was wasting his time. Wondering why he wasn’t hugging me, if I really was still his girl. I really needed a hug and by the sound of his voice, he needed one too. A tear rolled down my face, but I couldn’t bring myself to move or to look at him.

Gibson cleared his throat and there was the clipped sound of footsteps advancing before I heard the door open and close softly. Dr. Owen’s voice interrupted the silence.

“Your guest is leaving now, Chloe, but he’ll come back another day.”

In my head I was screaming.
No!
  There had been no hug goodbye, just footsteps retreating and then the swish of the door opening and the soft click of it closing again.

The finality of the door closing made me feel anxious. I had no idea when Gibson would come back or even if he would. Lying awake for most of the night, I had only one thing on my mind, the image of Gibson smiling at me as he sang just for me with twenty odd thousand people out in the stadium watching his every move. I realized I could remember vividly to a certain point.  I was sick.

All during the following day I had a knot in my stomach and an expectation that he may come back at any moment. When darkness fell and the staff changed shift to the evening team, I wouldn’t accept that he wasn’t coming. Refusing to lie down, I sat on my bed and in my head I kept saying
I want to see Gibson…I need to see Gibson
… eventually the sound came out of my mouth. I need Gibson, I need Gibson. No one was there and I repeated myself over and over.

A male nurse I’d never seen before entered the room and stood with his arms folded by the door. “Okay, Chloe. We hear you. Someone is trying to call Gibson now. It’s very early in the morning.” As soon as he said they were contacting him, I stopped speaking.

Gibson arrived sounding breathless and when he slipped into the room, he leaned against the wall. My pulse throbbed in my neck with my fast heartbeat at his presence and I continued to stare ahead. Knowing he was here was enough…then it wasn’t. Clearing his throat, he pushed himself off of the wall then knelt in front of me, smiling a half smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. They looked nervously into mine. Gibson hesitated for a moment. I wasn’t used to this timid side of the alpha male I fell in love with.

“Hello, darlin’, I heard you wanted to see me. You have no idea how happy that makes me, because I’ve been waiting patiently for this day.”

My heart squeezed tightly and pumped hard and it felt like warm blood was being injected into me. Like I was coming to life and I think I smiled.

Gibson’s voice was very soft as he watched me intently, “Take your time, darlin’, whatever it takes, I’ll be waiting.” When I heard him say that, a tear fell from my eye and Gibson’s hand made contact with my cheek to catch it. As soon as he touched me I didn’t want him to let me go, so I clapped his hand against my face.

Finding my small gruff voice again, I demanded, “Hug me, Gibson.”

Without hesitation, Gibson gave me what I needed, but I couldn’t move. I was scared and holding my breath. Partly with the effect of his touch and the rest I couldn’t understand. Once I got used to the feel of him, it felt so good I never wanted him to let me go.

Instinctively, I clung to his t-shirt in my effort to get closer and buried my face in his neck, inhaling his scent deeply, and my hand slipped under his t-shirt and I began to feel the warmth of his body. His smooth hard muscles strained his satiny warm skin. I can’t describe the feeling I had from that. Gibson clung tightly to me in return and I heard him swallow, repeatedly telling me what we were doing was as emotional for him as it was for me.

“I got you, darlin’, It’s okay. I got you.” Fat tears rolled down my cheeks as I began to cry.

“Let it out, Chloe, I’m here. Shh…I’m not going anywhere.” I did, and Gibson rocked me back and forth, kissing the top of my head and whispering that everything was going to be okay. We stayed, just holding each other like that for a long time. Eventually he released me and stood up and I looked up into his serious eyes that were watching me intently, then Gibson cleared his throat again, “I love you, Chloe. You need to try to get well so that I can take you home, darlin’.” I nodded weakly and thought that I needed to get well to be with him as well.

For weeks I had nothing, just an empty space in my head. Then I remembered and I woke sweating in fear. I wasn’t sure if it was a nightmare or it really happened, but Kace was struggling and I had a cloth over my face with a horrible acidic smell that stole my breath until everything went black.

Slowly there were snippets of Kace and I remembered he’d taken me to this weird little shack and kept me in semi darkness. Apart from mentally abusing me, he didn’t speak. I sat petrified waiting for the time when he’d force himself on me, or hit me for leaving him and being with Gibson. In my mind I was going to die, believing  there was no way I was ever going to be allowed to walk away from him a second time.

During my time with him, he terrorized me. Calling me names and played his mind-fuck games that had me cowering, fearful of when the first heavy blow was going to come. I was so frightened I stayed mute. Not a word from me to him, so his assault was completely one sided. I don’t know how long it went on for but there was a woman who kept showing up and I could hear the nervousness in Kace’s voice. She was very flirty and as Kace is a good looking guy, she was in pursuit. It worked in my favor, but not for Kace, because if he was planning something for me she never gave him peace to follow through.

Eloise she said her name was, and she made quite a nuisance of herself, which frustrated the hell out of Kace, but it got so bad, that he got cold feet and with the same speed as I was taken, I was being bundled back into the trunk of his car and driven away.

My head said he was going to throw me in a lake somewhere or off a bridge into a river. My gut told me I’d live. We drove for twenty minutes, then he killed the engine and my heart stopped and I held my breath as I waited for him to spring the lock and face me.

When daylight flooded the trunk, strong unkind hands dragged me out and sat me on the ground. I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the light, and all I saw was the lake in front of me. I thought my time had come and my breathing became shallow and fast, as fear pushed my heartbeat up into my mouth. Pulses of shocked electric-like messages shot through my head and body and the panic began to steal my breath altogether. Then—I blacked out. That was my last memory of being with Kace. He didn’t force me, he didn’t hit me—he just mentally wiped the floor with me.

CHAPTER 25 - CLEAN AIR

Gibson

Three weeks later, Chloe asked me to take her home. I had been staying with Chloe at the facility for ten days to learn how to deal with the issues that she may encounter, and I was given some strategies to help her cope. Forty-eight hours later, we had a plan. Johnny told me Len had told him that Simon was getting restless about not working, but I wasn’t interested. He was being selfish and he knew what side his bread was buttered on. We knew he’d never leave the band. He just had to learn some patience. At least we didn’t have Tori to worry about any more. Her meddling ass was kicked to the touch line as soon as the gigs were over.

After many discussions, Dr. Owen and Chloe’s parents agreed that I could take her somewhere away from Seattle, where it was secluded and we’d have anonymity. Chloe needed to get stronger and we needed to keep her away from the spotlight.

So we assembled a mental health team to take with us. They worked with Chloe doing a combination of cognitive behavioral work and psychotherapy so that it could start to manage what had happened to her. Everyone was hopeful they would be able to delve into the past with Chloe, because she needed a lot of support to move forward with her life.

It was Johnny’s idea to take her to my cabin in Breckenridge. The Colorado mountains are beautiful and I had a thing about cabins. Very few people knew I had this one either, because it was in Johnny’s name to keep the press from hounding. The media had the idea I lived in hotel rooms. I keep a permanent one in New York. ‘Strings’ in Breckenridge was my number one retreat and the place I called home.

When I told Chloe we were flying to Denver, her brow creased with worry. At that point, she was afraid of her own shadow outside the facility. Once I explained my home was there and the acreage, and that I’d had managed to keep the place secret for four years from the media, I saw her visibly relax. Apart from the guys in the band, Johnny, Jerry and Charlotte, no one knew I was connected to the place.

“Trust me.” When I whispered softly into her ear, I heard her swallow before she leaned back and gave me a solid look. Chloe’s serious stare pierced my soul and for a few moments I held my breath, because she was my life and she held my future in her hands. Eventually she nodded and I sighed heavily and drew her back into a hug. “I got you, darlin’,” I said affectionately, rubbing her back.

Travelling to the mountains was the one thing that made me really happy before I met Chloe. Summer was awesome with plenty of stuff going on, camp outs, fishing and hunting and I had some awesome mountain bike trails that I challenged myself on. It made a change from running and with the altitude there it was a tough regime, because although the air was cleaner, it was also thinner and my body had to work harder.

When Chloe saw the cabin her pretty blue eyes went wide and she placed her hand over her heart. “It’s…it’s beautiful Gibson.” Cocking my head to the side, I had to agree. It was a magnificent 11,000 square foot, Douglas fir log home. Part brick on the bottom and elevated log at the top, it stood more than forty feet from the ground to the roof. A large wrap around deck with multiple seating areas faced the five highest peaks in the awesome mountain range that dwarfed everything before them.  In the yard were massive round fire pits and a twelve person hot tub faced five highest peaks in the awesome mountain range that dwarfed everything before them.

If it looked awesome on the outside, the inside was even more impressive. Floor to ceiling windows, forty feet wide by twenty-five high, brought the mountain peaks into the great room. Impressively decorated, but with comfort and relaxation in mind, the oversized suede deep-pile cushioned couches and plush deep piled rugs in rich reds and creams made the room welcoming. The main suite had a sauna in the bathroom, a small den and an office. On the other side of the great room were five bedrooms with bathrooms and a games room. The great room was open plan with a dining room and kitchen which completed the large space.

So for three months Chloe, her counsellors and I worked on helping her regain some of her strength. The official line for the media was that M3rCy was having a break due to our grueling tour schedule. The press seemed to accept this and backed off for a while. Len and Mick were still okay about taking a break, Simon was less than impressed, but like I said, he’s a pretty selfish guy, much like I was before I met Chloe.

Every day Chloe did something new to face her demons, and her strength inspired me. Every night we lay on the round patio bed watching the stars in the night sky on the decking, or while sitting close to each other in the hot tub. Sex was a mute subject.  Every night I went to bed with my balls and my dick screaming at me in protest because her hot little body was snuggled close to mine, but there was no way I was pushing her for anything.

For a highly sexed guy like me, that was pretty tough to handle, so my right hand and the shower became my intimate date on a very regular basis. Len and I talked about it, because I sometimes wondered if she’d ever want to have sex again.

“Jeez, Gib…best not let the press get the scoop on this, they’ll have you headlining with impotency due to wearing your dick smooth.”

Len couldn’t imagine going for five days without sex, never mind almost five months. Until it happened to me, it was beyond my comprehension. I had a newfound respect for monks.

It was frustrating that they never got to the bottom of the tests they did at the hospital when Chloe was brought in. Dr. Owen said that there was no evidence that Chloe had been sexually abused, and there were no physical marks on her when she was found. When he told me that particular piece of information I wanted to fist pump in celebration, but that would have been distasteful to Chloe and highly inappropriate.

I’m glad I didn’t, because he then went on to say that just because Chloe had no physical signs and no semen, didn’t eliminate the possibility of assault. Kace could have used a condom and she was missing for five days, so if intercourse had taken place early into the kidnap, there may not necessarily have been anything to see. They did a pregnancy test, which was negative. I hadn’t even considered that outcome. Imagine the feelings involved for Chloe if that had been the case.