GRAYSON
On instinct, I leaned forward and caught her slight frame. She weighed next to nothing as I lifted her away from the dead fuck and gently set her against a wall, making sure she didn’t fall as she slumped over. Once the girl was secure, I turned my attention back to the security guard.
It wasn’t the first kill under my belt. My past was littered with carnage—a truth very few knew about me. Not even the rest of the band. Drums had been an escape from my duty growing up, while the rest of the time I was the muscle.
The darkness sent in to extinguish the light.
Bellerose had been my saving grace, and now with the money and fame I had, no one could force me into that life again.
But it didn’t mean I’d forgotten my skills... carefully honed over a lifetime. I’d known how to hit this fucker with just the right angle and strength to hurt him badly. The plan hadn’t been to kill him, but I also didn’t regret it.
Thankfully, there were enough cameras in here that I could easily claim defense of Billie.
Her name settled uneasily inside. There were two parts to her in my mind now: thebeforewhere she was the manipulative destruction of my brother and thenowwhere she was clearly not as evil as she’d always been painted. Either that or she was a fucking excellent actress.
My observation time had been brief, but I’d seen enough to start forming some of my own character assessments, and I really didn’t think she was acting. She was too…sad.
Not that I’d trust her. I didn’t trust anyone. But I wouldn’t throw her to the wolves, no matter how badly Jace wanted her out of our lives. I’d had the time to decide if I would step in or not, and there really hadn’t been a hesitation in my mind.
“What the fuck happened?” Rhett roared as he raced over, having just seen us. “What happened to her?” He paused as if realizing that Billie wasn’t the only one passed out. “Gray… is that guy dead? Holy shit, that’s Roger!”
More people hurried over, but they hung back, forming a half-circle around us. Most of the crew and extras knew better than to get too close to me. “He attacked Billie,” I said shortly. I didn’t like to waste words or energy, but this would require more than my usual short sentences. “He was going to rape her first and then take her to Angelo. I heard his threats.”
A half-truth. It wasn’t hard to guess what Roger’s intentions had been, considering the Ricci family had put Billie’s picture out on blast with a reward for her “safe return,” as though she belonged to them. Like a lost dog.
Rhett dropped to the ground beside Billie, reaching down to gently lift her up into his arms. My brother wore a frantic expression, one I hadn’t seen in a long time, and I knew that some of his demons would be triggered by this event tonight. A woman in his care getting hurt took him to a dark place that we struggled to get him back from, but hopefully, when Billie awoke and was okay, he’d be able to deal.
Until then, we had a dead bodyguard to worry about.
Tom pushed through the crowd, and when he caught a glimpse of what was happening, including the unconscious girl in Rhett’s arms, he immediately started to send the onlookers away. “Thank fuck the groupies are busy with Jace,” I heard him mutter. He turned to some of the security. “Make sure they stay that way.”
The twins hurried off, but not before Rhett shouted. “You’re both fucking fired. Fucking. Fired.”
His voice rasped as he repeated the words, but when the twins turned back to Tom, our manager just shook his head. In the end, Rhett had the final say, but we all knew he never made rational decisions when he was upset. Best to wait for the morning.
For now, we’d see if I was about to end up in cuffs.
By the time Tom had cleared the space of everyone except Rhett, Florence, and me, an uncomfortable silence had fallen. “I’m going to need you to tell me right now what just happened,” the stupid fucker we’d had to hire because of the label said to me. He pushed in closer in an attempt to get into my face, and as the icy anger I tried not to release too often floated to the surface, his face lost all color, and he backed off in an instant. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t completely stupid.
“He attacked Billie,” I repeated, fucking hating that I had to speak directly to him. “He was going to rape her and then take her to Angelo. Must have figured he had Jace’s blessing. I just hit him once to stop him from hurting her.”
No need to mention anything else. No one knew my past or my experience, and I had no intention of changing that any time soon.
Who the fuck expected a drummer to be two steps short of a contract killer in their previous life?
Possibly a skill I’d put into action again soon to get rid of Tom so I didn’t have to hear his whiney fucking voice.
“Okay, that’s fine,” Tom said, breathing deeply as he squeezed the bridge of his nose between his right hand pointer finger and thumb. “We can totally explain this. I’m going to have to call the police and an ambulance. I need you two to get down and try and resuscitate this asshole like we give a shit about him dying.”
At that point Rhett spun on the spot and stalked off. “Hey!” Tom called. “We need to wake her up and get a statement.”
“Fuck off.”
That was the only reply we got before they both disappeared from view. “Yep, later,” Tom called. “Later is a good idea—before the cops arrive, though. She needs to be singing the same tune as Gray.” Tom’s words turned into mutters, sounding half-crazed. “Okay, I need to handle this. You do exactly what I fucking said. Fake some damn CPR.”
He had his phone in his hand and was already dialing, starting to pace as he got emergency services on the line. Flo dropped down then, about to try and give the dead guy mouth to mouth before she recoiled and shook her head.
“Oh, hell no,” she muttered. “Is that vomit?”
