Chapter Four
She continued grumbling to herself as she stomped up the stairs to her cabin, unlocking the door and slamming it behind her. Her boots fell on the floor, followed by her jacket as she ran for the phone, throwing herself on the couch. Her fingers pressed the buttons anxiously, tapping her foot on the ground. "Sophia? I need a favor," she started, a smile starting to spread on her face. "I need you to look up who owns 1924 Fir Drive up here. It's a cabin that looks identical to this one."
"Hold on a second, Alex." The phone was put on hold, and she groaned as she leaned back against the arm of the couch. After three minutes, the connection was open and Sophia was back on the line. "Okay, I got two owners for the cabin. 1924 Fir, you said?"
"Yes, that's what I said."
Alex's snappy sentence was answered with a sigh. "The cabin was bought about a year and three months ago by a Mia Michelle Coltrain from Nashville, Tennessee. After that, it shows that she made a private deal with another person, but it doesn't have a name or anything."
Some of it was sitting right with her. The fact that the person who bought the cabin originally was from Tennessee, the same place that Brooklyn said she was from. But why would they do a private deal, so that the name wouldn't be accessed by the public? "Can you do a quick search for me on that name? There's something wrong here. Maybe Chris Kirkpatrick owns the cabin, then."
"I'm way ahead of you. I already did a search on Mia Coltrain. Apparently, she's a public relations director for Curb Records of Nashville." There was the Tennessee connection again. "In case you're wondering, Curb of Nashville works with country music groups and singers. It doesn't say who she works with, exactly, so she might just work for the company." Hadn't they said that all of them had worked at least once in the country music industry? "I did a search on Chris Kirkpatrick, too. He owns a house in Orlando, Florida, but not out there. All of his records are pretty public, which is ridiculous."
This wasn't helping at all, she told herself. "Okay, here's another idea. Can you cross reference the name Chris Kirkpatrick and Mia Coltrain? See what you can come up with between those two."
"You mean, do a search with the name Mia Turner. Everything for Mia Coltrain came up as Mia Turner, so obviously, she got married recently. I'll check the marriage records out in Tennessee, too. I'm sure something will come up. I'll call you when I find something."
Alex shook her head. "No, if it's an article or something, I want you to fax me a picture or something. Thanks, Sophia." She put the phone back down and sighed as she looked at the fire that was dying. "If there's one thing that I learned from writing action novels, it's that you always have to know who you're dealing with before you start with the head games. And that's just what I'm going to do."
"Hey, don't look at me," JC said, picking up the empty coffee mugs from the table. "Even on New York's worst day of PMS, she isn't that bitchy. Then again, she apologizes the day before for anything she might say or do. I'm kind of used to it by now. Besides, we're talking about two completely different kinds of bitchy here. There's the intentional bitchy, like Alexandra is, and there's the PMS, waiting for...Sam kind of bitchy."
Chris shot his eyebrows straight up when he heard that one, and choked back a laugh. "Sam? Are you serious?" Chuckling a few times, he picked an apple out of the bowl on the counter and ran it under the water, reaching for the dish towel. "SAM? You're naming...I don't even know if I want to go there with you."
His shoulders moved in a shrug. "It makes it easier on me. Hey, how would you like to have to dress incognito to go down to the store and pick up tampons? The Enquirer would have a field day with that one."
He opened his mouth to say something, but opted on shaking his head and reached for a paring knife, cutting a slice off the apple before popping it in his mouth. "And people wonder why I'm not looking to get involved with someone right now. Please tell me that you're not reading Soap Opera Digest and Elle."
"There's nothing wrong with Soap Opera Digest, and I only read Elle when I'm waiting for her to get ready for dinner." JC's face flushed after that. "I mean, I only read Digest when there's something in there about Deirdre Hall. And that's not that often. Really, it isn't." Chris just nodded and continued to cut off pieces of apple. "Damn it."
"Okay, if you're going to tell me that Sam cuts into your playtime, or that you're upset because your favorite character was just killed off in the show, to tell the truth, Jace, I don't want to hear it."
"Bite me. I have like a pine needle or something stuck in my sock. I thought I got rid of it, but it's still there." He sat down and started to lift his foot when Chris stopped him. "What?"
He knelt down and pulled something off of the bottom of his sock. "That's no pine needle, you dumb ass, that's a bracelet. I always knew you were a little slow." He looked at it for a minute. "Is this Brooke's?"
He shook his head. "New York doesn't wear gold. She prefers silver, and I know that she doesn't have a bracelet with little stars hanging off of it. The only other woman in the house was..."
"Don't say it," Chris warned. "I'd prefer to think that Joey started cross dressing instead." Shaking his head, he tossed the bracelet on the table. "Here, you take it back to her. I'd rather not step into the Dungeon of Hell."
JC made a face. "I don't understand you. What do you have against her. You have to admit-" He broke himself off, and checked the doorway nervously. "You have to admit that she's pretty cute, but you never heard me say that. If I wasn't with New York-"
"If you weren't with New York...what? I'd love to hear the end of this sentence." They both turned to look at Brooklyn and Lance in the doorway. "I've always been curious to know what the end of that is. I've broken that sentence off twice now, and the first time, he gave me some cheap answer. 'No, honey, I wasn't looking at the blonde with the big rack that has legs up to her chin. Why would I look at her, when I have a cute thing like you across from me?' If we're having a little truth session, let me join in. I never believed you. Your turn."
Lance laughed as they walked further in. "This morning, Brooke was going to be sleeping on the couch."
"I would never do that to her," JC broke in.
"Now, you're the one that's going to be cuddling up with the television remote."
"That is a strong possibility." JC caught her look and laughed nervously. "Uh...it's a certainty?"
She shrugged. "He's young, but he learns quick. So, come on, what are you guys talking about? I won't hurt you, I promise. That ax out by the woodshed...all I have to say that at least it's sharp. It won't cause you as much pain." She paused and sat down. "Well, there goes that promise about not hurting you. But I'll nurse any wounds that you may have."
"Hello, nurse."
All three of them rolled their eyes. "Shut up, Lance." JC turned back to his girlfriend. "All I was going to say was that if I wasn't with you, my world would end."
Under three breaths came the same answer. "Nice save." Brooklyn picked up the bracelet and looked at it. "I can tell you right now that this isn't mine. Unless Joey started going through my wardrobe, I think we can safely say that this belongs to Miss 'I Just Came to Apologize Because My Lawyer Would Spank Me If I Didn't' Alexandra." Her eyebrows bounced up and down a few times. "Face it, I rock. So, what were we talking about? I think I heard something about her not liking Chris or something like that."
"Actually, I was asking Chris what he has against her. So...come on, spill. What do you have against an atrrac...slightly but not more attractive than my girlfriend, female. And, if you can figure out what I just said, you're lucky."
"I know exactly what I have against her. She doesn't like me. Simple as that. I've never had someone so outright hate me before." Brooklyn cleared her throat and pointed to herself. "You don't count, because you came around and saw me for the awesome person I am?" It came out more like a question than a response, and she nodded sarcastically, a smirk playing on her lips. "Anyway, she has something against me, and I don't like that, therefore, I don't like her. Makes perfect sense, really." Once Chris was finished his little speech, he folded his hands, looking proud of himself.
The three of them stared at him for a moment, before Brooklyn leaned closer to the other two guys. "Are you sure that he's allowed out, because, I swear, if he isn't the end of civilization as we know it, monkey flies out of my butt every night." She turned back to her best friend. "I take it that the little speech you gave means that I have to go and return the bracelet. What a joy it is being me." She stood up and took the bracelet, turning to walk out of the room.
An evil smile started to grow on Chris's face as he watched her leave. "Oh, hey, Brooke, I've been meaning to ask you about Sam? I can't believe you actually let him do that."
With a frustrated scream, she threw her hands in the air. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you, Joshua Scott Chasez. It's a menstrual cycle, not a pet! You don't give it a name. Forget about Chris being the end of the world. I can't believe me," she continued to grumble as she pulled on a pair of boots and a jacket, stuffing her hands in her pocket. "Sometimes I think I'm going out with the wrong NSYNCer."
Brooklyn hurried her way along to Alex's cabin, and climbed onto the steps, hearing a voice inside. She paused for a moment, noticing a slightly open window. "Okay, so what kind of information did you get for me?" she heard Alex ask into the phone. There was a slight pause before she talked again. "No, I don't care about that. I'm more concerned with this Mia Coltrain...Turner...whatever person."
The country singer's mouth dropped open, and she leaned a little closer. Why in the world would Alex want to know about her publicist? Mia wasn't that well known, except in the inside part of the country music industry. "You have an article? Fax it over, then. No, I don't care if it's smudged, just send it to me. Let me ask you again, are you sure that this is the Mia Michelle...whatever the hell her last name is, that you were talking about before? The one that owned the cabin."
Her brow furrowed as she flattened herself against the cabin's wall, inching a little closer to the open window. She was sure that if someone was passing by, they would find it funny to see a full grown woman dressed entirely in black from head to toe, pulling some sort of Mission: Impossible stunt to listen in on a phone conversation that involved one of her best friends. "Yeah, I can barely read the article, but...wait, now who the hell is Austin Turner?" she asked.
"Oh, hell no," Brooklyn whispered. Now she was getting information on her older brother? She considered marching in there and seeing what she was doing, but she didn't have enough guts to really confront someone, unless she was raging mad. She wasn't there yet, just curious. "Okay, so Mia Coltrain married Austin Turner, and became Mia Turner. I understand that much, it's not like I'm slow or something. You already told me that Mia Turner works in the PR department at...what was it...Curb of Nashville? Right, so what does Austin Turner do? Recording artist, musician...what?"
She was so far off base, it wasn't even funny, she thought to herself as she inched just a little bit closer to the window again. "Wait, you're telling me that the mysterious person came up again? The person with no name? What you're telling me is that the person that owns the cabin down here, and the person that owns part of Austin Turner's restaurant is the same person, right? So who the hell is this person. It doesn't make sense, Sophia."
Brooklyn was cheering her best friend on inside as she thought about what Alex had said. She knew that her name was protected from being public information on the cabin, and had to be, thanks to the media frenzy that had been following her in the past year. She never knew that her name was protected on Toaster's, the restaurant they owned in Nashville. Apparently, it helped to be a silent partner, for the most part, at least. "You're absolutely sure that this mystery person isn't Chris Kirkpatrick?" She paused again. "Wait! Is there a Josh or Joshua connected to Chris or Mia or Austin? Besides the fact that Chris was at their wedding, thank you very much. Apparently, all of NSYNC was at that wedding, and there's one name there that's too smudged to read. It looks like they printed 'Austin Turner' twice though."
A hand clapped over her mouth. She knew, without a doubt, that her name was on that article that had been faxed to her. Not only was she Austin's little sister, but she was also Mia's maid of honor for the wedding. The only thing that Brooklyn couldn't understand was WHY Alex wanted this information.
"Yeah, if you find out anything else, call me, all right?" She heard the phone being hung up and her eyes widened as she started to back away from the window. Moving slowly, she tried to be as quiet as possible, until she got to the steps, which were hidden from that window. She let out the breath she was holding and started down the stairs before her hand moved in her pocket, and she felt the bracelet. A look of apprehension covered Brooklyn's face as she looked at it, before she shook her head and tossed it towards the steps, throwing it into the soft snow on the porch before she took off down the driveway, running as fast as she dared to.
Once she was on the main road, she slowed down and then stopped, putting her hands on her knees as she tried to slow her breathing. Her mind was working a mile a minute, trying to figure out why Alex had wanted so much information on her brother and sister-in-law, not to mention her best friend AND her boyfriend. The only time anyone wanted so much information on her or someone she was close to was when...
That was it, she figured. Who else needed so much information, but a reporter? It was too bad that Brooklyn was blessed (or cursed, depending on how you looked at it) with an overactive imagination, because she started to jump to conclusions that would seem ridiculous to anyone else. "She might have even orchestrated that car accident. Why not? It wouldn't be the first time someone tried something like that so that they would have a story." Her head shook as she continued walking. "Maybe she even left her bracelet on purpose. Oh, damn, I have to tell everyone." It was also too bad that she liked to gossip.
She ran into their cabin and the first person that she ran into was JC. "You have to hear what I just heard," she squealed, grabbing him by the arm and pushing him into the downstairs bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind her.
"Okay, is this where we both get naked and jump in the shower, because if we are, I have to go upstairs and get my video camera," he said with a grin.
Her eyes widened. "How can you talk about stuff like that when I have incredibly important news to tell you. Just sit down, shut up, and listen for once." She waited until he lowered himself onto the edge of the bath tub, looking at her expectantly. "Okay, so this happened when I went to take the bracelet back. I was just about to knock on the door when I heard that Alexandra was on the phone, and you know how I hate to interrupt anyone. Anyway, I heard her mention-"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down for just a second. I can't understand you if you talk that fast, but let me see if I understand what I DID hear. You were standing outside Alexandra's cabin, meaning...you weren't inside, right?"
Her eyes rolled. "I do believe that standing outside and not being inside is the same thing, sweetie. So what? Besides, you're interrupting me, and I SO need to tell everyone."
JC stood up, chuckling. "New York, no matter how much I love you, I have to tell you this. Eavesdropping is wrong, or so my mother taught me. Besides that, she didn't know that you were there, and it would be kind of...mean spirited to start spreading stories around that you're not supposed to know."
Brooklyn's mouth dropped open, and her hands fell down at her side. "What if I heard that she killed someone. You know, like she was telling the person on the phone that she killed someone."
"You watch Law and Order and The Practice. And Judging Amy, and Judge Judy...anyway, you should know that anything that you would hear would be inadmissible in court for the fact that it's not a privileged conversation. New York, come on. I'm sure that you heard something trivial and you're blowing it way out of proportion."
Staring at him, she crossed her arms under her breasts and slumped, trying to come up with some sort of comeback or intelligent sounding sentence. "Uh..." Well, that worked, she thought to herself. "Look, I'm not blowing ANYTHING out of proportion, because I KNOW what I heard, and frankly, it worries me." She decided on another tactic, and walked slowly up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and looking up with the smile that would usually get her anything. "Jace," she started, running a finger down from his chin, down his throat and chest. "If you loved me, and I mean, REALLY loved me, you would want to know what I heard, because then you can help me make my way through all my muddled thoughts. And I...it's not working, is it?" she asked.
He continued looking down at her. "I'm sorry, I kind of lost track of the conversation when you called me by that name. You were saying something about mud and snow tires?"
"Muddled thoughts, oh love of my life. And I mean that with all the sarcasm in the world at this point. If you'll excuse me, I'll go find someone that wants to listen to me." She pulled her arms away and turned quickly, before unlocking the bathroom door and walking out.
JC was still shaking his head inside the bathroom. "I must be getting old because I know that I had the perfect opportunity for a little privacy with her, and what do I do? Ask her about mud and snow tires? Sometimes, I even wonder about myself."
Meanwhile, Brooklyn had tracked Chris down and let herself into his bedroom. "Christopher, as my very, very, very best friend, I want you to listen closely. I was already rejected for JC, and I need someone to tell this to. For me, gossip is like money when you're an impulsive teenager. Burns a hole in your pocket, and you just have to spend it. Well, this is burning a hole in me, and I need someone to hear what I have to say."
"Jump up," he told her, moving over on the bed so that he wasn't in the center of it.
With a sigh, she did as she was told and leaned back against the headboard, putting a pillow behind her. "You don't know how much I love you now that I know you're listening. Oh, you're reading Broken Window. I liked it more than the first Cort Demers book he wrote. Uh, I'm getting off-topic. Listen, I found something out about Alexandra."
Chris raised his hand. "Don't even go there. I already have a plan."
"P...plan? What the hell are you talking about. Never mind, this is just too big to keep to myself. Look, I heard her talking about-"
"Brooke, I'm sorry, but I really don't want to hear it. I've already made my mind up about Alexandra, and you won't change my opinion any because you don't like her. Which, actually, I find surprising, because you like practically everyone."
Her hands slammed down on the bed angrily. "My God, two...count them, TWO men have cut me off in the past five minutes. Now, I'm sorry, but that hasn't happened to me since I was fourteen and had those God awful buck teeth and big ears. All I want is for someone to listen to me. I know something about her, and I know that she's lying to us."
Chris rolled over and looked at her. "I'm sorry, but it was pretty obvious that she was lying to us about a lot of things. I wouldn't be surprised if her name wasn't Alexandra, or at least, people don't call her that. Look, it doesn't matter. Just leave her alone, and then you don't have to deal with her."
She stood up and started to stomp towards the door. "I swear, sometimes I wish that men were never put on Earth, because you're all a bunch of ignorant assholes!"
"And I have absolutely no idea what I did wrong."
Brooklyn stomped out into the hallway and leaned against the wall. "Fine. I guess I'm the only one who can do something about this, then." Immediately after she said that, she rolled her eyes. "Oh, God, I've been watching too much Days. I'm starting to talk to myself again. This can't be good."
By the end of the night, three people had three different plans to get under someone else's skin. Of course, no one knew the plans of anyone else. Hell, Alex didn't even know that Brooklyn AND Chris were going to be attacking her, in different ways, of course, and for different reasons. Still, she had a plan of her own, and she was going to continue with it.
Life wasn't supposed to become so involved ad complicated for a writer, she thought to herself, but she HAD to keep her identity a secret. She couldn't let anyone know who she was, and what she did. It could be the downfall of her entire career. And then she had her editor in her ear about writing someone's biography, an account of the real tale.
That was an offer that she just might have to take. She had never written anything remotely close to a biography before, but maybe it was time to expand her horizons. It didn't seem like Cort Demers was going to be doing much for her in the next little while. He was stuck somewhere between her imagination and her creativity, unwilling to come out and visit. Unwilling to have his words printed onto screen, then paper, where they would be read by millions of people around the world. The character didn't want anything to do with Alex, and it was beginning to do more than just piss her off.
What else could she do? All she needed was more information on the project and then she could decide whether or not she wanted to take it. But she didn't want to write it. How could she write something that didn't interest her? Even in her high school English classes, she wrote about what she wanted, whether the teachers wanted that or not. She wrote about Cort Demers because she wanted to. She couldn't see herself writing someone's history when she didn't want to. But it seemed to be the only possible solution for her now. It seemed to be the only way out of her rut.
After all, it was just writing someone else's words. There couldn't be a major block in her mind when it came to that. All she would have to do was research the person's history, ask them a few questions, and boom, instant best-selling biography. Maybe. She wasn't sure if the fans of Alex M. Colwell's novels would take too kindly to something different. Sometimes, fans were fickle that way.
Shaking her head, she got up off the couch and moved towards the CD player, slipping in a blue disc and skipping ahead to track fourteen. Pearl Jam's "Better Man" filled the air quietly as she moved back, settling herself down into the almost suffocating amount of pillows.
She had to get her mind off of writing for a little while. That was the reason that she came up here, wasn't it? No, Alex had to focus on her plans to figure out Chris Kirkpatrick, and most importantly, why she didn't like him. Maybe it didn't come as a surprise to her that whenever she thought of him, she thought of the star quarterback for her high school, and how much she disliked him. How much he tormented her, and others that weren't "normal" in his opinion. Just because she had a mind and something intelligent to say meant that she was ostracized from his group of devoted followers and fans.
Well, screw him and screw Chris Kirkpatrick, she thought to herself with a satisfied smile. She was going to figure out her enemy, and then bring him down. Too bad she didn't know what was in store for her when it came to Chris and Brooklyn.
My sincere thanks go out to the person that I first heard mention of the name "Sam" from. Now all those conversations that I heard when I was younger are beginning to make more sense. And to think that all of us in high school thought that we were smart with "My Aunt Flo from Red River is visiting for awhile." Simple is best, I suppose.
Other quick note- Pearl Jam owns all the rights to "Better Man"...unless someone else wrote it, or whatever. Either way, I know the song from "Pearl Jam- Live on Two Legs". Kick butt CD, if you've never listened to it. "Better Man" is definitely my favorite song on it.
Chapter Five
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