Chart Toppers (Star Maker Book 3) Read online

  Giselle rolled her eyes. “Are we going to have to go through this again?”

  Kit took another sip of coffee slowly as she held the mug in both of her hands. “Yes. I knew with Platinum Magazine it would be classy, and I had an agreement with Alexa. Billboard is a different animal. They may have gone rogue on me and made me look like a total ho. You should have seen what they did with the band and me a few years ago. They made me look like this heavy metal, mistress of the night, dominatrix.”

  Giselle burst out laughing. “I remember that layout. I thought you looked cool. I didn’t think you looked like how you just described. You’re being louco… I mean crazy.”

  Sully’s timing was perfect as he strolled in easily jumping into the conversation. He looked at Giselle and snickered. “Why is she being crazy, G?”

  Giselle held up the Fed-Ex. “She won’t open this. She thinks they’ve turned her into a slut.”

  Sully giggled, looked at Kit and then back at Giselle. “She’s already a slut. I can attest to that. So what’s the problem?”

  Kit’s mouth dropped open, and she started laughing, knowing he was joking with her. She wadded up a few pieces of paper and pelted one after another at his head in rapid fire succession. He laughed and held his arm up to deflect them from hitting his face. Giselle continued laughing uncontrollably.

  She shook her head, still giggling. “Really, now.”

  He was still chuckling as he pointed to the envelope in question. “What is that?”

  They had stopped laughing, and both stared at him like he was slow for not paying attention to the original conversation. They both yelled in unison. “Billboard Magazine!”

  He giggled. “Oh, I see.” He looked at Kit and shook his head thinking she was taking things a little too far. “Babe, you saw the contact sheets. You looked fine. What do you think they did? Do you think they went back to the contact sheets of you from years ago and used those without your permission? They wouldn’t do something so stupid. Duh. Before you were CCO, you were chief counsel. You know a thing or two about legal stuff, and they are well aware of that.”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “I guess you’re right. I was a little nervous. I always feel better when you’re here, baby. You opened the last one. Can you open this one, please?”

  He shook his head and grinned. “I’m starting to think G is right.” He winked at Giselle and tore into the envelope. He pulled out the magazine and looked at it, with Giselle leaning in to catch a glimpse. He smiled. “Oh yeah, that’s my hot wife. Damn, Kit! Every guy in Hollywood is gonna want to do you now. Not like they didn’t before. This is gonna take it to a whole new level. I love the headline. That’s fucking rad!”

  Giselle giggled. “It is pretty good, Kit. I don’t know how you’ll feel about it, though.”

  Sully set it down in front of her. She stared at it, shook her head and sighed. “Oh man, really? I look like a bimbo in a red leather dress.”

  He shook his head. “No, you don’t. You look great, babe. Super hot.”

  She looked up at him. “I don’t want to look super hot; I want to look like me.”

  He laughed. “Guess what, babe. You are super hot. It’s about time you got that clue. The guys and me figured that one out a long time ago. You’re a little late to the party on that, sweetie. Definitely a little slow on the uptake, but that’s ok, you have other talents.” He smiled.

  She shook her head and frowned. “Oh and the headline. Shit. Really?”

  Sully raised his eyebrows. “I like it. It’s sexy, and it’s true.”

  She stared at him and grinned. “Yes, you’re supposed to say it’s true, you’re my husband. I don’t want other guys to know that. Do you?”

  He shrugged his shoulders and grinned. “It’s just selling magazines, honey. That’s all it is. It’s cute.” He read the headline out loud: ‘A Head For The Music Business And A Bod For Sin. The Industry’s Hardest Working Girl, Kit McKenna.’ Now what’s so wrong about that? It says you’re hard working. It’s a spin from the movie ‘Working Girl.’ You like that movie.”

  She stared at him. “A bod for sin? Me? Working girl? I sound like a hooker.”

  He chuckled. “You don’t sound like a hooker. Everybody who’s anybody in this biz knows you’re not. And it is true. C’mon, babe. You gotta admit, it is kinda fun.” His steel blue eyes lit up, and he snickered. “We should send autographed copies to your dad and James. They’ll especially love it.” He winked at her.

  That’s all he had to say to send Kit into loud peals of laughter complete with tears that lasted for a good while. She finally composed herself, still chuckling. “That was a good one, babe. You got me on that. I could just picture the horrified looks on their faces. So classic.” She giggled again. “Thanks for the good laugh. That was pretty brilliant.”

  He came up behind her and started massaging her shoulders. “So, you’re not going to pull it, right? You’re going to let Billboard push it out?”

  She grinned. “Yes, yes. I’ll go forward with it.”

  He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “See, it wasn’t all that bad. When does this hit stands?”

  Kit looked over at Giselle. “Did they include that information with the extra copies?”

  She looked through the stack of complimentary copies that they had provided Kit and found the insert. Her eyes widened. “Oh, shit.”

  “What is it, G?”

  She looked up at Kit and chuckled. “It hit stands yesterday. They’re apologizing for getting this out to you late.”

  Kit shook her head and buried her head in her hands. “Oh no.” She looked up at Giselle. “I don’t know what’s going to happen today as a result of this. Let me just state for the record that I apologize in advance. I remember what happened last week when that issue of Platinum hit stands. Holy shit-storm.”

  Giselle grinned. “It’ll be fine, Kit. Yes, call volume was a bit heavy, but it’s no big deal. Don’t sweat it, baby girl. I’ll take care of it with your publicist.”

  Sully leaned forward and gave Kit a sweet kiss on the cheek. “Welcome to fame, honey.”

  She looked up at him, wide-eyed. “I’m not ready for this, Sull.”

  He grinned and chuckled. “That’s the beauty of it, Kitty-Kat, no one ever is.”

  * * *

  Kyle Nicholls walked into the break room and let out a long sigh, barely able to keep his eyes open. He reached for the coffee pot to pour a cup that he hoped would serve as a pick me up, but highly doubted its ability to fulfill that need. He was in the midst of a thirty-six hour rotation that had two hours left. He heard the chatter of his fellow colleagues in the background and elected to ignore it. He didn’t exactly feel social.

  He wanted nothing more than to sleep but knew that wasn’t a possibility. He headed out, toward the nurses station with coffee in hand, sipping and willing himself to stay alert. One of the nurses noticed him approaching and greeted him with a smile so big it made him uncomfortable. She clearly had a crush that he was in no mood to entertain at the moment.

  Normally, flirting was part of his daily duties that he relished. He was quite popular with the nurses and his fellow female colleagues. Today was different, though. He was maxing out and his seventy-plus hour workweek was catching up. He was due to hit eighty hours the following day and knew his boss would kick him out to get some rest.

  Emily, a nurse he had befriended at the beginning of his residency and quickly became his confidant, appeared out of nowhere and playfully shoved him. “Wake the fuck up!”

  He laughed and gently shoved her back. “Please tell me it doesn’t show.”

  She giggled. “It doesn’t, but I know you well enough now to see it. I would say drinks after our shifts, but I think you’d end up collapsing into your beer.”

  He chuckled. “We’ll see about that. I may get a second wind.”

  They continued to chat as she took her seat behind the large station. She handed him a chart and nodded. “Need yo
ur John Hancock on this, sir.”

  He quickly perused the chart, signed his name in a flourish and handed it back. She continued her line of conversation, but something caught his eye. He noticed one of the nurses, obviously on a quick break reading Platinum Magazine. When she turned the page and opened the magazine again so he could see the full cover in view, his breath caught in his throat, and he dropped his coffee.

  The warm, dark liquid spilled onto the floor around him, and Emily jumped into action with a few of the other nurses while Kyle stood frozen. She seized his arm and pulled him away. “Are you ok? What just happened back there? Maybe you should cut your shift early.”

  His beeper went off, and he shook his head as he glanced at it. “I gotta go.”

  She shook her head and looked up to meet his troubled sage green eyes. “You look rattled. What the fuck just happened?”

  He swallowed hard, and his tone was urgent. “Can you get me a copy of that magazine that Helen was reading?”

  She nodded. “Of course I can, but why?”

  He shook his head. “Em, I have to go. We’ll talk later.” He scurried off and stowed away in the supply closet for a moment to collect his thoughts. He buried his head in his hands. That magazine cover triggered the past that he still wanted back.

  Seeing Kit McKenna in well-deserved, music industry regalia made him tremendously proud on one hand and desperately depressed on another. His heart ached so deeply for her he felt paralyzed to move out of the moment. He yearned to reach out to her and knew that was impossible—it could never be done. He shook his head, rubbed his eyes, composed himself and walked back into the hallway, into the hustle and bustle of the hospital. Burying himself in work was the only answer.

  The sound of seventies and early-eighties classic rock served as a nostalgic soundtrack as he sat on his sofa hours later, grateful to be alone, sans a roommate that night in his apartment. A lone lamp illuminated the two magazines that lay open next to him. He sipped his fourth glass of straight bourbon with the bottle in close range, knowing he was completely drunk at this point and not caring.

  He stared at both articles about Kit once more and sighed, then flipped to the front of Platinum Magazine reviewing the details about the publication. He stared at Alexa’s name in print as CEO and founder. The discovery triggered a faint trace of a grin on his face. He remembered how hard she worked on The Chicago Maroon when she was a student at The University of Chicago and how determined she was to have her own media empire one day. He was happy to see her dream came true and was still thriving.

  He had been so severely out of touch for countless years now. He told himself it was because he was wrapped up in his climb within the medical community, but he knew that was a thinly veiled excuse.

  He turned a blind eye on purpose, so his heart could heal from a devastating loss that still hadn’t gotten any easier. He felt like his heart got ripped out all over again earlier that day. He thought the adage that time heals all wounds was a cop out and sorely overrated.

  He had been plodding along quite nicely in his denial for years until those magazines entered his life, and now all those wounds were reopened and he felt like he was slowly bleeding out again.

  He buried his head in his hands for a moment, then reached out to make a call. His true past haunted him and while he knew he couldn’t talk about it, having company would keep him from taking any extreme measures.

  He didn’t like the road his thoughts were traveling down. He knew Emily’s presence would keep him from doing something stupid. Calling a private eye to hunt down Kit or Alexa or both of them and pry for information was tempting. Despite his driving desires, he couldn’t take action even if he wanted to. He still missed Kit everyday and wondered if it would always be this way. He sadly knew it would. Seeing her on the cover ignited all of those feelings he had pushed down for years.

  Emily arrived ten minutes later and walked into his apartment. She stared at him. “Crap, you’re stinking drunk. Kyle what is going on with you? This is so not like you.”

  She approached and noticed the magazines. “Ok. What’s up? I understand that these are the culprits.” She picked up Platinum and pointed to Kit. “Do you have a thing for her? Is this like some weird celebrity crush or something?” She scanned the article and chuckled. “Dude, she’s big time.”

  His continued silence had her concerned as he stared straight ahead, his sage green eyes glazed over. She took a seat next to him, placing both magazines face down on the coffee table. She placed her hand on his knee. “You look like your dog died. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so sad in all the years we’ve worked together. What happened?”

  He shook his head and chuckled, gazing over at her as he slurred his words. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you. Can we just talk about something else? Not the magazines, not the girl on both covers… Yeah, not the girl on the covers. Anything but her. Make me laugh. You’re good at that, Em.”

  He snuggled up to her and closed his eyes as he clung to her. She chuckled and shook her head. “I think maybe I should be telling you a bedtime story instead. Here goes, buddy.” Moments later, he was passed out cold.

  CHAPTER 12

  The clean resonance of the ‘A’ note on the piano string captured Kit’s attention, and she grinned. She was sitting at her grandmother’s Steinway that now belonged to her very own husband. It had been tuned, and the notes sounded beautiful and rich, eager to inspire a composition.

  She played a quick song, nothing fancy, simply something to make sure the piano was in tiptop shape. She and Sully had been spending so much time in the studio out back that the exquisite instrument had been more neglected than usual.

  It was now November, and they were approaching the end of the year at lightning speed. The recording of the album had been fast and furious without any breaks. For the most part, she, Sully and Jimmy had been working on it daily. Writing, reworking problem areas, re-track after tireless re-track all to get the songs just right.

  Kit kept pushing them, able to see the finish line that they struggled to perceive. Two more weeks and they could lay off. Then her life and Fred’s life would become fully engulfed with mixing.

  Producing this album had served as more of a challenge than she had originally anticipated. The process pushed her to the edge constantly. She found herself writing, singing and creating like she never had; her inspiration motivated from joyful experiences rather than a way to channel emotional pain as it had in the past.

  She felt excited and overwhelmed at the same time. She remained wholly grateful knowing she had Sully by her side. If she hadn’t, she was certain she would have lost her mind by now.

  The press and media attention that ensued as a result of her featured covers on Billboard and Platinum magazines had finally died out after six solid weeks. During the height of the media circus, Playboy Magazine had called and wanted her to be Miss December, posing in a naughty red Santa suit. She politely declined despite the band encouraging her to do it for sheer entertainment value. She and Sully were in agreement that it was a big no-no.

  She and Giselle were relieved and grateful that the phones had quieted down. Now, they had to start plotting for the next perfect storm that would soon be upon them. The album was still on schedule to release in February and provided all mixing sessions with Fred went smoothly; the album would drop in the first week.

  Tour planning was upon them, and this was the week when it all started. Kit and the band were in consensus that they should push out immediately, a week after the album dropped. Suddenly feeling overwhelmed, she elected to avoid it all. Playing the Steinway in the front room sounded like much more fun.

  Giselle walked out and grinned when she saw Kit playing. She almost didn’t want to interrupt her, but knew it had to be done. She walked up to the piano and leaned against it. “You play beautifully, Kit.”

  She looked up at Giselle and grinned. “Thanks.” She continued to play, but more softly. “Are you the w
ork police coming to tell me I’m in trouble and to get back to my desk?”

  Giselle chuckled. “Kind of. There’s something I want to run by you. You know I normally try to figure out situations before I give them to you.”

  She continued to play and nodded her head. “Yeah.” She loved that Giselle very rarely came to her with stupid questions and was gifted at putting pieces of the puzzle together to present a whole scenario.

  Giselle’s face became more serious. “I can’t figure this one out, Kit. And it involves Sully.”

  She stopped playing and stared at her. She had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her expression shifted from whimsy to concern. “Have you talked to him about this?”

  “No. I wanted to talk to you first, Kit. You probably know things I don’t know and frankly, my loyalty is to you.”

  Kit took a deep breath and let it out evenly. This wasn’t sounding or feeling good to her. “Ok. Why don’t you show me what you got?” She got up from the piano and headed into her office. She sat down in the chair across from Giselle’s desk. “Talk to me.”

  She started. “This has been going on for about two weeks now. At first I thought it was nothing, you know how the press can get. I kept blowing them off. And then I got a call from an attorney today.”

  Kit sat back, suddenly feeling more comfortable hearing that there was an attorney involved. If there was anything she knew how to navigate well, it was legal situations. She spoke calmly. “Is someone trying to sue him?”

  She nodded, still looking grim. “Yes.”

  Kit frowned. Giselle was a happy go lucky and downright sarcastically funny girl. She very rarely looked this solemn and Kit didn’t like it. “For what? Is this a copyright infringement deal? ‘Cuz if it is, it will be no contest. I’ll be able to…”

  Before Kit could finish her sentence, Giselle cut in. “Kit, it’s a paternity suit against Sully.”

  She stared at her for only a moment and then shifted her eyes down to the ground trying to comprehend the complexity that lie in the innuendos beyond the words spoken. Her head was spinning, and she wanted to run from the room to escape the ominous thoughts that hung in the air above her. She took a deep breath and let it out evenly. “And you believe this is actually credible?”