by Brooklyn Ann
Kat’s gaze flicked back to her captor, confusion momentarily halting her fear. “Richard? What the fuck?”
“You fucked him when he played in Spokane!” Richard shrieked. “You cheated on me, you lying bitch.”
Cliff’s eyes widened with even more confusion. “Wwfff?” he mumbled through the duct tape over his mouth. He shook his head vigorously and strained against his bonds.
Richard pointed the gun at him. “Shut up!”
Kat brought Richard’s attention back to her. “No, I didn’t. That was a year ago. And I left that concert as soon as it was over because you kept texting me.” Self disgust washed over her for letting him manipulate her and berate her for so long. “I didn’t even have a backstage pass. The tour manager gave it to Kinley.”
“Bullshit!” Richard shouted. “Why the hell else would he hire you if you weren’t screwing him?”
Even with a gun pointed at her, she couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “Maybe because they like my guitar-playing? And Cliff didn’t hire me. Klement did.”
“The fag bassist?” Richard said skeptically.
A startled laugh escaped her throat. That whole Klement-is-gay thing? She had a wild urge to tell Richard exactly how and why he was wrong. But that would be a bad idea under the circumstances.
“You think this is funny?” he snarled, aiming the gun at her head.
“No. It’s not funny at all. Put the gun down, Richard.” She fought the quaver in her voice. “I didn’t cheat on you. And it’s a moot point because we broke up. Six months ago. You stalked me, fucked up my car and harassed a guy who had nothing to do with this. Don’t you think you’ve gotten sufficient revenge?”
As she listed off all the insane things he’d done, fury blazed through her. She wished she was like the sword-wielding video game character she’d been named after. Wait, not a sword. The game Katana had cool fans with blades in them. But, what? She forced her attention back to the present. Who knew she’d think of such random shit when facing death?
“No!” Richard waved his gun around, the whites of his eyes rolling like a lunatic’s. “You haven’t paid enough for leaving me, for making me chase you across the fucking country…” Spit flew out of his mouth as his rant gained acceleration. His insults and accusations blurred in Kat’s ears into nonsensical noise as they had before. Only, this time she wasn’t frozen in panic like an animal in a cage. No, he no longer had that power over her. Now she was infuriated. If she could just get the gun away from him…
Slowly, she edged closer, fists clenched and ready. Her heart thudded in her ears as she moved carefully like playing Red Light, Green Light when she was little.
Just as her arm swept up to knock the gun from his grasp, he jumped back and pointed it at her again. “Nice try, cunt.” He turned the safety off with a dull but ominous click. “Now you and your fuck-buddy are going to pay.”
Kat closed her eyes, heart clenching in agony that it was all going to be over. “Klement,” she whispered.
A loud bang reverberated through the small room. Kat flinched, expecting a jolt of pain, but there was nothing. Her eyes snapped open in time to see Klement charge into the room, face contorted in rage. The sound she’d heard was him bursting through the door.
A beastly roar poured from Klement’s throat as he tackled Richard to the ground. The gun went off, a deafening boom. A second loud crack rent the air, and something sliced across her upper arm like a trail of lava.
Kat stumbled back against Cliff’s bound legs and watched in mute awe as Klement pounded Richard with his fists. His brutal blows were seemingly in time with the ringing in her ears, and the gentle, brilliant man who’d held her and laughed with her was gone. Now he was a juggernaut of violent vengeance. Blood burst from Richard’s lips. Her ex’s nose broke with a sickening crunch. A bloody tooth flew from his mouth.
Roderick and another man burst suddenly into the room. They grabbed Klement’s arms, trying to pull him off of Richard, but neither could subdue their thrashing giant of a friend. Two bulky security guards came in next, and they finally succeeded in wresting him from his foe.
The second man stepped over to face Kat’s bloody, beaten ex. A shaft of light from the hall illuminated his face, and Kat’s jaw dropped. It was Dante Deity, one of the forefathers of metal. Was she dreaming? The icy burning on her arm told her otherwise.
Dante crouched down, peering at the floor. He was looking for the gun. When he spotted the weapon, he reached for it then shook his head and nudged it away with his platform boots. He crossed his arms over his chest and stood on guard in front of it.
Roderick raced over to Cliff and began tearing away the duct tape. Cursing loudly, he rummaged in his pockets and pulled out a Swiss Army knife.
Something warm and wet tickled Kat’s elbow. Tearing her gaze from the action, she looked down at her arm and gasped. Blood trickled in red rivulets from an angry, oval shaped wound on her bicep.
“Kat!” Klement’s voice pulled her back to attention. He jerked away from the security staff and flew to her in a rush of speed that defied physics. In the next heartbeat, she was cradled in his arms.
“He shot you!” His voice was wrought with pain. “That fucking piece of shit. Are you okay?”
“It’s only a flesh wound,” she said, in her best Monty Python impression.
Klement released her for a moment and tore his shirt off. He wadded it up and pressed it tightly to her arm before pulling her back into his embrace. “I’m sorry I didn’t get here in time. I promised you’d be safe,” he rambled. “God, he almost killed you. Please be okay. I love you.”
A drop of what felt like warm rain pattered on her forehead. She looked up to see his eyes swimming with tears.
“I love you,” he said again, looking at her like she was a priceless treasure.
“I love you, too,” she said through the lump in her throat. “I thought I’d never get to kiss you again.”
He lowered his mouth to hers, and she tasted the salt of his tears. But even sweeter, she tasted him.
A clamor of voices echoed around them, loud and insistent. Reluctantly, she broke away from Klement’s kiss. Somewhere in the chaos, police and medics had arrived. Richard was on his knees with his hands cuffed behind his back.
“You’re under arrest for malicious mischief, harassment, and attempted murder,” one officer told him before delivering the Miranda rights.
“How did you find me? Kat asked.
“You dropped your medicine outside the door.” He reached in his pocket and handed her the bottle. “Then I heard him yelling at you.”
A silver-haired female medic gently pulled Kat from Klement’s embrace and drew away the wadded t-shirt to examine her wound. Cliff and Rod, and even Deity, talked with the police. One officer approached her and Klement.
“We’re going to have to ask you both some questions to complete our report.”
“Can it wait?” Kat asked. “We have to play the show.”
Klement stared at her with incomprehension. “But you’ve been shot!”
“I was only grazed. I can’t even feel it.”
“That’s because you’re in shock,” the medic said.
Kat lifted her chin. Her level gaze met Klement, Roderick, and Cliff’s. “We are doing the show.”
Chapter Twenty-three
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Klement asked for the tenth time. “Your arm has got to be killing you.”
“I am not going to puss out.”
Actually, her arm just felt weird. Numbness alternating with burning cold pulsed beneath the bandage. Kat flexed her fingers, grateful that they all moved the way she wanted. She’d promised to meet with the medics on the side stage after the set and then talk with the police after the concert. Suddenly, she realized she still hadn’t taken her Xanax. Now that the medics were probably going to give her something for her wound, she couldn’t. Kat took a deep breath and focused on the soothing blue of Klement’s eyes. Oh
well. She’d just have to do this without a pill.
Klem ran a hand through his hair, face etched with worry. “Okay, but if it gets too bad, let me know between songs and we’ll cut the set short.”
Cliff surveyed her with awed eyes. “Damn, you’re tough.” His lips and cheeks were red and raw from the duct tape.
“The audience is waiting,” she said flatly. “Listen.”
From the stage they could hear the crowd chanting their name, clapping with each syllable. “Bleeding Vengeance. Bleeding Vengeance!”
Klement took her hand. “Well, let’s give them what they want.”
The crowd roared as they took the stage. Kat felt the reverberations beneath her feet. For a moment her heart stopped at the sight of what looked like millions of faces, though it was only thousands. Only, she scoffed inwardly.
Kinley’s advice anchored her. Just pretend we’re playing at a bar with our old band. Calm infused her. But she didn’t want to play with her old band. She wanted to play with Klement, Rod, and even Cliff. And they were all there. She just needed to conjure the bar part.
As Cliff approached the microphone, she knew it would be impossible to pretend she was in a tavern. But a dream, on the other hand… That could work.
“Thank you for waiting so long!” Cliff roared in his best stage voice. “We were held up by a madman. I was tied up!” He held his wrists together, miming captivity.
The masses gaped and clapped.
“Our new guitarist was shot!”
The crowd looked to her, and she displayed her bandage. They erupted in cheers. Kat bit back a laugh. Cliff was turning their harrowing experience into entertainment to make up for their tardiness. It was actually quite brilliant. Everyone was going to hear about the incident anyway. The press was all over the place. She’d even seen Marianne nosing around.
“But our bassist brought the guy down with the wrath of a vengeful demon!”
Klement gave Cliff a dark look before playing an ominous riff.
Cliff maintained a tense silence before pointing at Rod. “Our drummer brought salvation!”
Rod rattled off an impossibly fast drumbeat.
“And now we come for Vengeance!” Cliff leaned over, grinning maniacally at the audience as they shrieked in ecstasy. “Bleeding Vengeance!”
Klement started the bass riff for “Bring Out Your Dead.”
Right on her mark, Kat’s fingers raced across the fret board in that beloved shredding riff that she’d played since she’d fallen in love with this band. The crowd went insane, cheering and moshing like her most spectacular daydreams.
I’m doing it, an awestruck voice spoke in her head as she played the last chord and tossed guitar picks to a cheering audience. Not only that, but it’s fun!
Cliff launched into a brief eulogy for Lefty before they played his memorial song. Kat didn’t have to fake mournful despair as she played the solos she’d painstakingly composed. Solos that she hoped did him justice. Lighters sparked below in the pit and on the rolling hills before them like a thousand stars. Kat didn’t think she’d ever seen anything so beautiful.
At the end of the song, the applause was deafening. Well, Kat saw a few glares directed at her and was booed by what sounded like two people in the audience. She decided that they could go fuck themselves.
The rest of the show passed in a blur as she lost herself in the music. The noise of the crowd, the stage lights and smoke, the evocative thrum of Klement’s bass, it all put her into a euphoric trance. It was only for the last two songs that her arm started to hurt. The cold had vanished and turned to a blazing burn again. But that pain was nothing compared to the intense high she had from the show.
She made it through the encore, though her fingers started to tremble. That kinda made a cool effect on her riffs at least.
As the notes of the final song bled away, the band all joined hands and took their bow.
The applause felt like an earthquake. Kat’s knees suddenly turned watery, and her arm shrieked in pain. She must have swayed or something, because Klement looked down at her arm and frowned. The bandage was red and soaked with blood.
With slight nods between Klem, Cliff and Rod, they all left the stage. The medic scolded Kat as she removed the bandage and gave Kat a shot, along with two pills. Afterward, Kat barely understood a word the woman said. Her wound got disinfected and stitched up. Kat could see the stage, and she watched Viciӧus play their set. Kinley looked so badass that she wished the medic would hurry up with her arm so she could clap and cheer.
By the time she met with the police, Kat was so loopy from the pain meds that she forgot her fear of them. By the time they concluded their questions, she couldn’t even remember what she’d said. Whatever it was, they seemed satisfied.
There was no sign of Richard. Hopefully he was locked up in the back of a police car or already in a jail cell.
After the cops left, the band went to the backstage area and met countless eager fans. The guys signed t-shirts, posters, breasts—except for Klement—and even a few guitars. To Kat’s surprise, over half of the fans asked for her autograph as well.
“Did you really get shot before you came onstage?” a teenage boy asked.
When she confirmed, he declared her to be badass and hardcore. She tried not to laugh. Maybe it was the drugs that made it sound so funny.
Their crowd trickled away and flocked to Viciӧus, who was coming backstage. Kinley ignored the fans and hurried over with a huge grin.
“You played a whole set after getting shot? Way to outdo me, Kat.”
“I didn’t—”
Kinley’s arms enfolded her so tight she couldn’t breathe. “If anything happened to you…” She broke off with a sob, pulled away and wiped her eyes. “We’ll talk after the backstage stuff.”
“I wanted to tell you earlier, you were bloody fantastic,” Roderick cut in.
Cliff nodded. “Damn straight. You played like you belonged there.”
Klement bent down and kissed her cheek before surveying the others. “Should I have the record company send a contract?”
“Hell yeah,” Rod and Cliff said in unison.
Kat’s breath whooshed out of her body. A contract meant they wanted her to join the band permanently.
Before she could process that amazing news, she heard gasps behind her. Dante Deity approached. Kat had a sudden hazy memory of him in the electrical room, making sure Richard couldn’t reach the gun. That couldn’t have been him. Could it?
“It’s sure been an exciting evening, hasn’t it?” he said, smiling at her.
She nodded, losing her voice.
“We haven’t been introduced yet.” He extended a hand. “I’m Dante Deity.”
“I know.” She shook her head. “I mean, I’m Katana James.”
His sharp black eyebrow rose even as his blue eyes glittered with amusement. His hand was warm and firm in her grasp. Curly black hair framed a classically handsome face as his lips curved in a devastating smile.
Klement put a hand on her shoulder as he spoke to Dante. “She’s our new guitarist.”
“Yes, I heard. You’re very talented—and incredibly tough, to play your first big show with a bullet hole in your arm.”
“It was only a flesh wound,” Kat said weakly, this time unable to muster a British accent. She leaned back against Klement’s chest.
Dante laughed and patted her on the shoulder before looking up at Klement. “So, now that Bleeding Vengeance is back in action, would you like to take part in a charity concert with me? It’s going to be called Metalfeed and will raise money for the homeless.”
“Sounds awesome. We definitely owe you for stepping in for us after Lefty died. Put us down as a tentative yes. I’ll still need to check with our tour manager,” Klement said. “I’ll call you as soon as I know for certain.”
Kat blinked. He had Deity’s number? This new world she’d entered was so surreal, but she was happy to be in it.
After D
eity left to do the closing show, Klement grinned down at Kat. “You think I’m a workaholic? Just wait till you get to know that guy.”
Kat laughed. “I’ve heard. Kinley got to interview him last year. I was so jealous.”
“Well, he was definitely impressed with you,” Cliff said.
Rod nodded. “It pays to get on his good side. The man’s a legend.”
Kat turned and wrapped her arms around Klement’s waist. “I’m more impressed with this one.” She rubbed her cheek against his chest. “I don’t think this night can get any better.”
Actually, she knew she’d likely have a delayed panic attack after the incident with Richard, but even that was all right because she knew Klement would be there to bring her out of it.
As if to concur, Klem’s reply rumbled against her ear. “Let’s go back to the hotel and I’ll prove otherwise.”
And he did.
Epilogue
Kat smiled across the table at Kinley and Quinn as they passed the turkey. Quinn didn’t get along with Kinley’s dad, so they’d decided to celebrate Thanksgiving at Kat’s house. Kat’s mom was pleased for the company.
Even better, Klement had been able to join them. He sat between Kat and her mother, who had liked Klement right away. Although her judgment of men wasn’t always the best, Kat still felt a measure of relief. Her mom had hated Richard from the get-go.
Klement seemed to take to Esmeralda James in return, though at first he was overwhelmed with her instant scolding about how skinny he was and her determination to feed him. His bewilderment with being instantly mothered was at first amusing until Kat remembered that his own parents had neglected him.
Her thoughts broke off as he leaned over and kissed her cheek. Kat didn’t think she’d ever be unaffected by his touch.
The long-distance relationship was working better than she’d thought. Instead of forgetting about her like she’d feared, Klement called her every day, regaling her with tales of his cats’ antics and the progress of his multiple projects. He’d even flown out to visit her twice. She’d flown down to see him, too, shocked to discover that he’d turned over one of his software endeavors to his sisters and cut his crop down to three plants so he could spend more time with her. He seemed to be smoking less too. Their time together was so relaxing and happy that she barely needed her Xanax when she was with him. But when he was gone, she missed him so much it hurt.