My mouth fell open. I’d never been so shocked in my life. Zander was an arrogant asshole most of the time. He wanted to goof off more often than be serious, but I’d really loved hanging out with him before everything had turned sour. Losing his friendship had hurt bad, not nearly as bad as when I’d lost Devlin, but it had still been a blow on top of everything else.
Zander’s apology, his asking if we could be friends again, that wasn’t something that he would normally do. He didn’t apologize for anything. Ever. But I knew that he didn’t have many true friends. He had a lot of followers, but none that really counted. When he’d lost my friendship he’d also lost that of his very best friend. He must have been lonely now without either Devlin or me in his life, I realized.
“Zander…” I honestly didn’t know how to respond. “I…” I broke off again. I wanted to be his friend again, but I didn’t trust him any more than I trusted Devlin to not hurt me again.
His hold on my arm tightened. “Just think about it, okay? I miss you, Nat.” After only a small hesitation I nodded my head. Zander gave me a tight smile and released my arm. “Thanks, Natalie.”
“Everything ready?” Axton asked as he stopped behind me.
I turned and nodded. “Looks good. You’re about to be announced so go take your places.” The local popular rock radio host was going to introduce them and then my job for the evening would be mostly over. Mostly. Meaning I wouldn’t have a million things to do, just a few hundred thousand.
Four members of OtherWorld headed out onto the stage where a curtain hid the stage during the switchovers. Devlin stayed behind, his eyes going to my arm and staying there, as if he could still see Zander’s hand on me. “What did that motherfucker want?”
My brows lifted at the coldness of his tone. “He apologized for the bet,” I told him honestly, but didn’t tell him the rest. Devlin already looked pissed off, I didn’t want to make it worse before he took the stage. It would throw him off. Which would piss off not only the rest of the band but the fans and worse—Emmie.
Devlin relaxed a little. “Alright. But if he bothers you again, let me know.” He bent his head and brushed his lips over mine in a lingering kiss. My free hand grabbed hold of the hem of his shirt and held on tight as the kiss became deeper.
Groaning as if he were dying, Devlin broke the kiss and stepped back. One big hand lifted, cupping my jaw. His thumb rubbed over my swollen bottom lip. “You’re sleeping with me tonight.”
“Only if you keep your hands to yourself. I don’t want the entire bus to hear us having sex.” Pink filled my cheeks at the memory of everyone’s knowing looks when Devlin and I had left the sleeping area earlier that day. No one had said anything; there hadn’t been even the smallest stupid comment on what had happened. That didn’t mean they didn’t know what had happened behind that warped closed door.
If I slept in Devlin’s bed tonight, they would all know that we were definitely having sex. I couldn’t be quiet to save my own life when he was deep inside of me. Last spring when we had first started out, I hadn’t really cared about people hearing us while we had sex. Harris had had his Beats so he hadn’t heard us, and Linc and Marissa had been on another bus and hadn’t been witness to my loud orgasms.
Devlin’s grin was pure wickedness. “Sure, baby. Whatever you want.” He pressed a quick, hard kiss to my lips and finally followed the others out onto stage.
I stood there, watching him take his seat behind his drums. He caught me looking and winked before turning his attention to Axton who was making some snarky comment about the way Nik had ended the Demon’s Wings set tonight.
I snorted, knowing that Axton loved Nik like a brother almost all the time, except when he had to take the stage right after him. Moments later the lights dimmed and the fans were screaming the place down as OtherWorld was introduced. My gaze was reverted to Devlin as he clapped his drumsticks together, and Axton counted them down, before letting loose on his drums.
Watching Devlin was an erotic experience all of its own. The way he turned everything else off and let himself get lost in the beat of the song. His long, dark hair flying everywhere as he let his passion for music take over. If you ever compared Jesse Thornton’s and Devlin’s skills, you could say that Jesse was definitely the better drummer—although only marginally. But Devlin was the one you wanted to see perform live. It was a breathtaking experience that everyone should experience at least once in their lives.
“You’re drooling.”
I blinked, forcing my gaze from Devlin. Harris stood beside me, his hands thrust into the front pockets of his jeans. I shut my mouth, worried that I might have actually been drooling, but knew that he had probably just been kidding. “Hey.”
Harris grinned. “Hey, yourself.” The grin slowly faded when he saw how tired I was sure my face looked. “How’s the headache? Dad said that you had a migraine last night.”
I lifted a brow. “You actually talked to your dad today? Willingly?”
The sixteen-year-old almost clone-like version of the man I was in love with shrugged. “Sometimes. When he told me that you two were back together I figured I would try to be a little nicer to him. If he convinced you to take his sorry ass back, then I should give him another chance too.” He lifted a hand to touch his fingers to my forehead. “So how’s the head?”
I shrugged. “Not nearly as bad as it was last night.”
“Good. You need to take better care of yourself, Nat.”
I glared at him. “You need to stop talking to Linc.” My phone vibrated and I pulled it from my back pocket to find a text from Emmie. I sent a quick reply, letting her know I would take care of what she needed me to, and replaced it before making a quick note on my clipboard so that I wouldn’t forget. “I have to go.”
“Yeah, sure. You do work your magic. I’m gonna hang out here for a few songs and then head back to the bus,” Harris assured me.
“Okay. Pizza should be here in the next forty-five minutes. Do me a favor and eat a little salad with it, okay? You need something green in your diet every now and then.” I grinned as his face twisted in disgust.
“You sound like Layla, but okay, Mom. I’ll be sure and eat some leafy greenness.” His grimace turned into a teasing grin when I frowned at him.
“Smartass,” I grumbled, but couldn’t help the small smile that tried to lift my lips.
“You still love me,” he called after me, laughing.
“A little.”
One minute I was talking to Pock, the roadie in charge of Wroth’s guitars, the next my phone was getting blown up with both texts and phone calls. Frowning, I pulled my cellphone out of my back pocket and glanced down to see Code Red on my screen.
My eyes narrowed and my heart started racing as I tried to remember what a Code Red was. Emmie and I had decided on a code system since all the kids were with us on this tour. I knew that Red wasn’t good. It was beyond bad—the worst code that there was for us. But I just couldn’t remember what it was. One of the kids was hurt?
It was the most likely scenario and I took off running toward the buses, figuring I would find the source of the code faster than texting Emmie back. It only took a minute, maybe a minute and a half to reach the buses. The first thing I saw was Emmie standing outside of one of the buses, her phone to her ear while the majority of the security from the venue was standing around the bus like it was the freaking limo that carried the damn president in.
My heart turned to lead when I realized it was Shane’s bus. Was my brother okay? Was Harper? Jenna? Fuck, please don’t let it be Jenna.
I was out of breath by the time I reached Emmie. Not because of the sprint I’d just done, but because I was so scared that something had happened to someone I loved. Emmie spotted me coming before I’d even reached her and lifted the phone from her ear. “Get all the roadies together now. I want to know if anyone saw anything. The least little thing out of the ordinary I want to know about.”
I nodded. “What happ
ened? Are they okay? Where’s Jenna?”
“The only one who got hurt was Ranger,” Emmie told me, her eyes cold in her beautiful face. “Shane and Wroth are with him at the local emergency vet. The bus is torn all to hell. Harper is on Drake’s bus with Jenna. After you get the roadies together, I want you to go check on her. All the guys are over there. They’ll keep her safe until Peterson is free.”
“Safe?” What the fuck did that mean? “Emmie, what the hell is going on?”
My boss blew out a frustrated breath. “Some lunatic tore the bus up, stabbed the dog and then left a message written in the dog’s blood on the bathroom mirror.” She swiped at the screen on her phone and a picture popped up. She turned it so that I could see it and I nearly threw up.
The message that had been written on the bathroom mirror chilled my blood and I swayed for just a moment before stiffening my knees. “You’re next bitches” was written with Ranger’s blood.
“Someone’s trying to hurt Harper?” I whispered.
“Looks like it.” Emmie nodded grimly. “The cops will be here soon. Peterson called them in hoping they can find some useful prints. Seller is sending me a team of security and an additional guard for Harper. I’m going to have to have the entire bus redone. It’s not livable right now.”
I fisted my trembling hands and stiffened my spine. Now wasn’t the time to fall apart because some psycho was after my sister-in-law. Harper had crazies hating on her every day. That was why she had a personal bodyguard in the first place. Right now I had to focus on the things Emmie needed me to do.
I scribbled a few more commands onto my clipboard and then set off to get all the roadies gathered together. Twenty roadies were spread out all over the place, but I eventually found them all and told them to meet on their buses. Once I’d made sure that they were all there, I sent Emmie a text telling her they were ready for her to talk to and then went to Drake’s bus.
I could hear Harper cursing before I’d even opened the bus door. I knew she was upset from that alone. Harper rarely swore, but when she did she could put Emmie to shame. I stepped onto the bus to find the living room crowded with my family. Nik, Jesse, Drake, Lana, Layla, Lucy, Jenna, and Harris were all sitting around while Harper paced the length of the living room and back again. Looked like Harper had picked up Shane’s habit of pacing when he was agitated over something.
Spotting me, Nik jumped to his feet. “Do you know anything? Is Emmie okay? Did she hear from Shane yet?”
I didn’t know how much Emmie wanted me to share with everyone yet and I really didn’t know all that much so I answered the last two questions. “No, she hasn’t heard from Shane yet. She’s pissed off, but otherwise okay.”
Harper turned at the sound of my voice, her violet eyes bright with a mixture of tears and anger. “Shane’s okay? Please, Natalie. I’m going out of my gods damn mind here. I can’t reach Shane on his cell. I need to know he’s okay. I need to know what’s going on with Ranger.” Tears spilled from her eyes. “Look, I know Emmie is busy trying to deal with everything else, but please. Find out what’s going on before I start climbing the walls.”
I wrapped my arms around her shaking body, needing to hug her at least once before I started promising her I would help her find out as much as I could. Her shoulders sagged a little as I held onto her tightly. “I’ll do what I can, Harper.”
The door opened and Dallas, Axton, Marissa, and Linc rushed into the living room. Dallas practically jerked Harper from my arms and into her own. “Are you okay?” she demanded. She stepped back to do a visual exam of her best friend, her eyes full of tears. “Are you hurt?”
More tears fell from Harper’s violet eyes. “I’m fine. I just need someone to go check on my husband and my dog. Emmie said Wroth is with him. Wroth! He can’t handle Shane if he’s even half as upset as I am right now.”
Marissa’s eyes widened. “Wroth is with him?” She bit her lip, something she was doing a lot of lately. It was both annoying and adorable. I wished she would stop doing it. Her lip was going to have permanent teeth impressions if she didn’t. “Someone needs to go over there with them. Does anyone know where the vet is?”
I pulled out my phone and started texting. Within a minute I knew the address of the vet. I scribbled the address onto the corner of the top sheet of paper on my clipboard and tore it off. “Linc, help Marissa get a taxi,” I told him, knowing that Marissa wanted to go so that she could help Wroth. From the looks on all the other Demons’ faces, they wanted to go too, but knew that they would be better off staying with Harper. It was what Shane would have wanted, for them to protect the most precious thing in his life.
Harper stopped Marissa before she made it to the door. “Tell Shane I love him. Make sure he’s okay. He…” A sob escaped her and she rubbed her hands over her face before continuing. “I just want him to be okay.”
I followed Linc and Marissa out but while they went off to grab a taxi I went back to Shane’s bus. The cops were already there and Peterson, the tall mean-looking bodyguard who had promised to protect Harper with his life, was talking to some guy in a suit. Emmie stood between the two men, listening intently. When I reached them Emmie took my hand and held onto it tightly, the only outward sign that she was having an emotional breakdown behind those big green eyes of hers.
Sometimes it was hard to remember that Emmie was just as human as anyone else. She was so efficient, so solid and dependable when everything was going to hell around her. When things got crazy she was in the zone. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t torn to shreds like everyone else. I knew just from the way she held onto my hand that she was not just pissed off but upset.
She’d dedicated her life to doing everything she could to help the Demons. She loved them all. They’d been her family when she’d needed someone the most. They had raised her, treasured her, and made them one of their own. When this lunatic had hurt Shane and Harper by destroying their bus and possibly even killing their beloved dog, they had hurt Emmie just as badly.
I took in everything the deputy chief had to say. From the evidence in the bloody message, it looked like the psycho was also a smart psycho. They had been wearing gloves because there were no fingerprints. The cops were going to check all video cameras that were around the venue but tens of thousands of people had been in attendance tonight. Two detectives were already questioning the roadies, but the likelihood of finding out who was responsible for tonight’s destruction was going to be slim to none.
Emmie wasn’t happy with that news, but she understood. Or so she said. Once the deputy chief left, with Peterson with him, Emmie’s grip on my hand tightened. “Okay, here is what we’re going to do. When Seller gets here we are going to put a security camera at the door of every bus so that we can see who comes and goes. I’m getting us headsets so that we can communicate better during shows. I want me and you to be in contact with every member of Seller’s security team at all times before, during, and after each and every concert.”
I nodded, scribbling down notes as she continued to outline what she wanted done.
When Emmie’s phone rang several minutes later she made a soft sound and blinked rapidly as she put the cell to her ear. “Shane?” She listened for a moment, her green eyes brighter than I’d seen them in a long time. Her face scrunched up for a second in emotion before she clenched her jaw. “Okay…Yes…Okay. Stay close to Wroth. I don’t know if this idiot is just after her or the both of you…I love you.” When she lowered her hand she swiped her free hand over her eyes.
“Is everything—?” I broke off, not sure how to ask the question. I knew everything wasn’t okay. My brother and his wife had been through sheer hell tonight. We all had in one shape or form.
“Ranger is going to make it. Nothing vital was hit. Shane’s upset still, but he’s better now that he knows Harper is safe and the dog is going to live.” Her shoulders slumped for a moment. “I think he’s going to quit, Nat. Not that I could blame him after this. I’m about
ready to quit myself.”
I nodded, knowing exactly where she and my brother were coming from. This life was full of all kinds of ups, but just as many downs. Developing stalkers and other crazies that wanted to hurt you or someone you loved was just part of the many downs of any celebrity’s life. Shane had had to put up with more than his fair share of demented chicks making threats to Harper from the day his engagement to her hit social media. Now, however, it wasn’t just threats. It was real. Someone had hurt a member of Shane’s family. Ranger was just as much a child to him and Harper as Mia and Jagger were to Emmie. That same person had intended to hurt Harper just as bad.
It was a long time before I made it back to OtherWorld’s bus. By the time I climbed on board the bus, the living room was just as crowded as Drake’s had been. All I wanted was a shower and to fall into bed, maybe even grab a bite to eat if that wasn’t asking too much. I hadn’t eaten since my small bowl of cereal before we’d reached the venue earlier that day.
Everyone raised their heads when I stepped onto the bus. They had probably been waiting for me to come back to find out exactly what had gone on. I knew that the cops had told everyone they needed to get to their own buses and stay there, but because of the media that was already circling like vultures no one had been telling anyone anything.
My gaze skimmed over everyone until it landed on the only person I needed to see. Devlin was sitting in the recliner, his face tense as he watched me. When those aquamarine eyes met mine, I felt myself start to crumble. It had been a long night, and I’d kept all the fear and tears at bay while I rushed to get everything that needed my immediate attention done.
Now, with nothing left to do for the night but sleep and the man I wanted to simply hold me and tell me everything was going to be okay just feet away, I felt the tears fill my burning eyes. My throat tightened with all the pent-up emotion I’d held inside for hours now. Devlin stood and crossed to me, his strong arms going around me instantly. I bowed my head and leaned my forehead against his hard chest as the first tear spilled onto my cheek.
The Rocker Who Shatters Me Page 13