Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 79253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
I check my watch. My second set of the night is about to start.
“I’ll keep an eye on you,” I tell Jack. “Stay close.”
He nods and we leave the dressing room together. Soon the patrons are descending on Jack with more drink orders and suggestive comments. I head to the stage. The rest of the musicians are in their places—they’ve taken to staying out of my dressing room ever since Pierce stopped showing up—and I offer them each a weak smile.
Poor Pierce.
Poor everyone.
I’m going to stop Rouge. Even if I get myself killed in the process, I’ll do it. One death to stop a hundred more. If I had listened to Jack that night all those years ago, I could have prevented the loss of countless lives.
I squint. A crossed set of drumsticks rests atop Pierce’s set. That’s odd. He couldn’t have taken the drums home with him, but he would have taken his drumsticks, right?
I hold up a finger to the other members of the band, indicating we’ll get started in just a second. I pick up the drumsticks. Maybe they’re evidence. They’re milky white, and Pierce’s name is engraved in the sides.
But as I handle them, I realize something.
These drumsticks aren’t made of plastic, or wood, or metal.
They’re made of animal—or possibly human—bones.
And as I run my fingers over the engraving, a dark thought spears into my brain.
What if these drumsticks aren’t Pierce’s?
What if they are Pierce?
24
HARRISON
A small clatter resounds from the Hearts section. I look up. Bianca is standing among the musicians in her band. Her face is sheet white. She quickly bends over and picks something up, placing it on top of the drums, before she crosses over to her mic and begins her set.
“Ladies and gentlemen, my apologies for the noise. I guess there’s a reason I’m not in the band!”
Light laughter from the Hearts patrons.
Whatever happened, I’ll get the story later. Bianca is safe, and that’s all that matters.
I continue serving drinks through the rest of her set. Bianca sings beautifully, though her voice is a little shaken. Something must have really spooked her. I look up as she wraps up her set, and she’s staring directly at me.
She darts her gaze toward her dressing room door.
Right. She wants to talk.
I nod before returning my focus to the Clubs patrons. I fill a few more drink orders before I’m able to steal away into Bianca’s dressing room.
She jumps off her pink chaise and wraps her arms around me the moment I walk inside.
“Oh, Harrison!” she lets out with a sob.
“What’s the matter, babe?” I slide my hands over her arms.
She wipes her eyes, steadies herself. “It’s Pierce. My drummer.”
“What about him?”
“I told you he stopped showing up the night after I sang the unauthorized song.”
“Right.”
“I saw a pair of drumsticks he left on his set. Or at least, I thought he left them.”
“What do you mean?”
She takes a deep breath, lets it out on a shaky exhale. “He… I mean, the drumsticks… The ones I found… I think they were made of bone, Harrison. Pierce’s bones!”
My stomach sinks. “Fuck. It’s a message.”
“Yeah, and it’s pretty damned clear. Fuck around and find out.” She lays her head against my shoulder. “Maybe we should just make a run for it. Run away, get on a plane to some exotic place. Somewhere Rouge will never find us. Live out our days in peace.”
I sigh. I’d like nothing more.
Spending my days in some tropical locale with Bianca, sipping mai tais on a white-sand beach, letting the world and all its cruelties roll over us like water off a duck’s back.
But…we can’t.
“We’re the only ones who know what your sister is up to,” I say. “We have a moral obligation to confront her about it, do everything in our power to make her stop. So many lives hang in the balance.”
She sniffs a few times. “You’re right, of course. I just wish we’d met under different circumstances.”
“You and me both.” I tip her chin up and kiss her on the lips. “But we’ll make it out of this. Both of us. We’ll live a long and happy life, have lots of kids. And we’ll bring them up in a world that’s a little bit safer than the one we’re currently in.”
She blinks away the last of her tears. “Kids?”
I wrap my arms around her waist. “You do want them, right?”
“I’ve always thought about it. But I never thought it would be possible given my job. Given the way I… At least, the way I used to…”
I place a finger to her lips. “All in the past, babe. If you want kids, I want to be their father. It’s a big conversation, one we can save for later.”
“If there is a later,” she mutters.
“There will be, damn it.” I squeeze her body to mine. After a few moments, her breathing has eased, and her heart beats in tandem with my own. I finally release her. “Besides, those bones might be a good thing.”