Page 16 of The Cowboy's Magic Touch

“You can tell me all about it. You go on through. I’m grabbin’ a beer. Can I get you anything?”

“Uh, yeah. Do you have any wine by chance?”

“I sure do. Hank brought it over when he and his new girlfriend visited the other night. It’s a Chardonnay.”

“Sounds perfect.”

“I’ll be right there.”

“Come on, Bella.”

Though she’d been smiling, when she entered the living room and sank into the couch her expression grew somber. Trying to explain the drama with Geoffrey Palmer wouldn’t be easy.

“Here you go,” Brody declared, walking in with a wine glass and handing it to her. “Take a drink and tell me everything. But there’s no rush. In your own time.”

“Where do I start?” she mumbled, then sipped her wine.

“The beginning is probably a good place.”

“I don’t know if there is a beginning. As I said before, Geoff Palmer is one of the most powerful movers and shakers in Nashville, and he sort of, took control of my life. Actually, he didn’t sort of do it. He did it.”

“How exactly?”

“It was slow at first, just normal things, like what I should wear, the places I should be seen at, that kind of stuff, but as the months went by he started getting really possessive, even telling me who I should and shouldn’t be friends with. It became suffocating, but when I talked to my producer he said Geoff was the best and I should do what he said.”

“Did he tell you to stop talking to me?”

“He did. It made him crazy, then...”

“Then what, Annie?”

“I found the birthday card you’d sent me in the trash torn up. It was so upsetting. A couple of days later I thought I’d lost my phone but I discovered it in his office. He’d deleted you from my contacts and all your messages I’d saved. That’s when I sort of…well…freaked out.”

“Annie…” Brody muttered, feeling a mix of fury and dread. “How bad did this get?”

“Very bad, and I’m not exaggerating. I was about to call you to tell you all this when he came in still dripping from the shower and found me. He snatched it out of my hand and started screaming at me. Brody, it was terrifying. He told me I didn’t know how lucky I was to have him in my life, and if I didn’t do exactly what he said he could ruin me as easily as he’d made me a star,” she finished as tears began spilling from her eyes.

Taking the wine glass from her hand and placing it on the coffee table, he brought her into his arms.

“I should’ve known. Damn, I’m sorry, baby. I let you down.”

“No you didn’t. Why would you say that?”

“Instead of bein’ pissed because I thought you were ignorin’ me, I should’ve realized something was wrong. I should’ve made more of an effort to find out what was happenin’. To find you!”

“How? Come out to Nashville? You wouldn’t have been allowed within a mile of me, and I wouldn’t have been told you were there.”

“Well you’re here now, and I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“That’s why I came here. Not just because I was desperate to see you, but because I knew he’d come after me and go to my home. If I told mom and dad all this, dad would just reach for his shotgun. I want them to know I’m not missing, but I don’t know how to handle this.”

“We’ll figure it out, but I have to ask—did Geoff ever get violent?”

“Yeah, Brody, he did. He moved me into his mansion. I was afraid to say no. I did have my own suite, but it was weird. He never tried to have sex with me. I didn’t understand it and I still don’t. Anyway, a couple of nights before a big performance I was trying to decide what to wear. When I showed him one of the outfits, he yanked away from me, shoved me to the floor, and while he ripped it to shreds with a knife he said he’d do the same to me if I told anyone about our arguments. That’s what he called those horrible scenes. Arguments. We’d be out to dinner with other people, and he’d say something like, you’ll have to excuse Annie if she’s on the quiet side tonight. We had one of our arguments, didn’t we Annie?”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this. Couldn’t you tell anyone?”

“I wanted to, but things were getting worse and worse, then out of the blue a makeup artist reminded me about Patty Henderson. Geoff was her manager too.”

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