Oblivion, maybe, because he sure as hell didn’t want to wallow inside his own headspace right now.
“You know what Sally’s like.”The last thing he wanted was for her to insist on accompanying him to the local hospital to get checked over.Bitch that she was, she’d sit there grinning at his discomfort while he was probed and prodded and forced to communicate while a bunch of doctors who knew fuck all about him threatened him with a psych evaluation.
They only had to catch a glimpse of the old scars on his inner arms, andbam, he was labelled high risk.They were nothing but two faint silver ribbons these days, barely noticed by anybody.
Goddammit, he wasn’t about to wind up suicidal over some prick shoving him around.
Xane seemed about to say something, but evidently changed his mind.“Just tell me when you’ve had enough, okay?”
Sure.Whatever.How about now?Know where he could find a bath of ice-cubes, because he needed to do something to stop the crawling sensation over his skin?If he was numb to the core, at least he wouldn’t feel it any more.Logical, see?
“How’d you find me?”he asked.Rock Giant had appeared out of nowhere, with Xane and security on his heels, but he couldn’t figure out how or why.
Xane drew his tongue along the ridge of his front teeth.“Allegra Hutton called me, out of her friggin’ mind.Told me you were being mobbed.”
He hadn’t hung up.
Still didn’t entirely make sense.
“Fastest way to find you was to take a look at the CCTV.”
“I didn’t know Allegra had your number.”Nor was he sure he liked that fact.Not because he was afraid of Xane making a move on her, but because he didn’t like the idea they might end up exchanging messages about him behind his back.
“Graham apparently passed it on when we were negotiating the contract with her.Do you want me to call her back, or are you going to do it?”
Spook disposed of the wad of bloody tissues Xane had left him holding after his little clean up routine.He could see his reflection in the brushed steel of the reception surroundings.He looked like a goddamned spectre—beyond pale with luminous blue eyes in darkened sockets.
“I can’t talk to her right now.”He wasn’t about to explain the ins and outs of the conversation they’d been having prior to the world going tits up.Although, judging by the way Xane was looking at him, he’d either already guessed or Alle had told him.Spook shook his head as a warning.After a moment, Xane got out his phone and tapped out a message.“I’ve let her know you’re safe, and that you’ll call in a few days or so.”
Or never.“Thanks.”
Allegra, and this obsession he had with her, wasn’t healthy.It had to end.Look what had happened.
The rest of the band arrived, along with Dani and Ginny, Ash sporting a pair of shades, which he immediately offered.Spook ignored him, focussing instead on the amount of micro-pore tape wound around Rock Giant’s knuckles.The band’s manager, Graham Callahan, brought up the rear, seeming to fill twice as much space as the rest of them with his presence.
“Drama’s over, boys.Perp’s on his way to lock-up, so dust yourselves off, and let’s get your arses to this corporate piss-up.And play nice, now.The tour’s been storming and things are good at the moment.We need to keep things ticking that way until the new single drops.”
What new single?
“I hardly think we’re much in the mood for a party,” Rock Giant grumbled.
“Spook’s fine.Aren’t you, Mr.Mortensen?”Graham insisted.
Spook turned away, unable to stomach the sympathetic looks cast in his direction.Graham was being a dick, but that wasn’t anything new.Brushing woes under the carpet was his speciality.It never mattered which of them was in shaky town, just as long as they could pull their act together to go on stage, do the interview, lick the correct arses.It’d been Graham who’d first floated the idea of letting Ash go when he’d been struggling.Arsehole.
Graham evidently took his silence as compliance.Spook guessed, in a sense, it was.Expedience, like he’d said to Xane.
Rock Giant muttered under his breath, something that incorporated shit-face, and boggart breath.
“There’s still a crowd out there,” Dani pointed out, as they all edged towards the door.
“No way,” Luthor protested.“I am not running the fucking gauntlet.Plans?Suggestions?Anybody?Why are we exiting via the front?What was wrong with the back door?”
“Yeah, we know all about your preferences,” Liam humourlessly quipped.
Luthor scowled.
“You need to be seen.”Graham patiently explained, like Luthor was five, and hadn’t spent half his life playing gigs or hanging backstage at them.“The fans like that.It’s their chance to get close to you.”
