Turbulent Sea Read Free

around it. Joley could almost feel the building expanding and contracting with every boom of the bass. Even the windows vibrated. She sat in the car with the door open and studied the house. Nikitin would know she'd come. His security people would have radioed the house immediately so Nikitin could be ready to greet her. It would be a victory of sorts for him. Finally. Joley Drake. He'd been pursuing her for months. Another celebrity he could be photographed with.
    "Are you getting out, Joley?" Steve asked.
    She met the driver's eyes in the rearview mirror and made a face. "I don't know. Maybe. Do you mind just waiting, Steve? I feel bad for dragging you out tonight."
    "That's what you pay me for," he reassured her. "If you want to sit here for a while, it's fine by me. I was surprised you wanted to come," he added, a note of worry in his voice.
    It had surprised her too, but she'd lain awake staring at the ceiling until she'd wanted to scream in frustration. She rarely slept, was a total insomniac, and she couldn't do anything but pace back and forth in her hotel room. The frantic call from Gloria begging her to find Logan had been all the excuse she'd needed. Gloria's daughter was in the hospital having Logan's baby and had already called the media and was making a scene, threatening to kill herself if Logan didn't show up.
    Joley told herself she'd come to the party to make certain Logan knew what he was doing, to send lawyers and security as well as her manager, but she could have done it all with a phone call or two. Lucy had already agreed to turn over the baby to him, and the papers had been drawn up, but everyone knew Lucy wouldn't go away that easily. There would be one scene after another.
    Joley shook her head as she turned her attention to Nikitin's grounds. There were people everywhere. They milled around the rolling grass, some making certain to be seen by the mob at the fence. A few hopeful starlets and male models even signed autographs through the gate. Cries and pleas and drunken laughter were every bit as loud as the booming music.
    She spotted Denny Simmons, her drummer, walking in the distance with a blonde, not his current girlfriend. She bit her lip hard. She didn't want to know any of them cheated. "Men are dogs, Steve. That's why I don't date anymore. Hound dogs."
    He sighed, watching Simmons. "They have too much, Joley. You know they drink too much or do a few drugs and they don't have a clue what they're doing."
    "Denny's been divorced once already and he acts as if his girlfriend is his world, but look at him now." She narrowed her eyes as Denny stopped to kiss the girl, skimming his hands over her ample breasts. The woman jerked his shirt out of his pants and her hand went to his zipper. "Damn him for this. I really like his girlfriend, and she has a child. I'm never going to be able to look her in the eye again."
    Men were dogs— all of them. Not a one could be trusted. Well, maybe her sisters's men, but not the ones Joley fell for. She liked them hard-edged and dangerous and that added up to… "No, not dogs, Steve. I like dogs and they're loyal. Snakes is a better word for what men are."
    "Maybe you shouldn't be here.'"
    She detested the compassion in his voice. Her rapid rise to fame had created this situation, and now their lives were little more than tabloid fodder. She tried to steer the other band members away from the life of excess, but it had been impossible when everything came so easy. And men like Sergei Nikitin knew how to use fame and popularity to get what he wanted. He'd supply the drugs and women and even the pictures for the tabloids if it furthered his own cause. And once he got his claws into a person…
    "Men can be weak," Steve said.
    So could women, Joley surmised. Or she wouldn't be here, chancing ruining her life. And for what? "That's just a cop-out, Steve. Everyone has choices. And everyone ought to know what the people in their life are worth. And men should have more