A yellow sludge dripped from the corpse’s lips, and I remembered how he’d staggered away from Billie before I hit him. Huh. Smart girl.
Ignoring Flo’s mutters of disgust as she sat back on her heels, I gave a vague attempt at compressions to Roger’s chest. The fragility of ribs under my hands reminded me not to press too hard. I didn’t need to fuck him up more before the investigation.
The hum of people further down the hall reminded me we weren’t alone, but eventually the security got them all out of the way, leaving us to cover up my crime.
A few minutes later, the paramedics we always had at our concerts burst into view, racing across with their equipment. Florence started to fake sob like she was upset, but there wasn’t a single tear in her heavily kohled eyes. In truth, all of us were too fucked up to be very upset by the death, especially when it was a piece of shit like this. Security betraying us was old hat, and we were over it.
The paramedics took over from us, slipping an oxygen mask over his face and pulling out a small defibrillator to shock against his chest. They were feeling for a pulse and exchanged a glance when there was nothing, but they continued to try and bring him back anyway.
Wasting time and money on someone who should have been fucking swallowed before conception.
I might have been forced into shit I’d never wanted to do in my past, but I had a line and I never crossed it. My uncle, the one who’d dragged me into his life of crime, knew that, and when I’d gotten too dangerous to be controlled, he’d let me walk away. Not that I’d given him much of a choice in the matter. And now he was dead.
Thisbastard, though? He’d done this for money and, probably, the thrill of attacking a smaller person than he was. Weak and pathetic.
After about five minutes the paramedics exchanged a few quick words with Tom, and then the police and ambulances arrived. The corridor was cleared completely, and I turned to find Jace standing there alone, the oddest look on his face as he stared down at his former personal bodyguard.
“He attacked Billie?” he finally said, a rasp I hadn’t heard before in his voice. “She didn’t try to run off back to Angelo or something?”
I loved this guy, but he was straight up a fucking moron over this chick.
“I witnessed enough,” I told him shortly. “He attacked her. He washurtingher.”
Jace’s emotions shut down. I recognized the signs. He didn’t say anything else, and as the police approached us—two guys and a woman who were first on the scene—he spun and stalked off.
Florence, who was cuddled close to Tom, let her gaze follow Jace’s departure, her expression finally revealing real and deeper emotions. She might have terrible taste in men, but she was a solid friend. She worried about all of us.
“We’re going to need your statements,” the first cop said, his hat pulled down low over his shaved head. He looked to be in his mid-forties but was fit enough that I knew he wasn’t lazy. He’d be thorough, that was for sure.
“Don’t say a damn word,” Tom snapped as I opened my mouth. “We need our lawyers present.”
A frustrated sound slipped out from between my lips, but it was low enough that it seemed Tom was the only one who caught it. He backed up from me again, shooting a worried look between me and the cops. “It was self-defense,” I said shortly. “He attacked one of our crew, and I stepped in to shove him away. When he went down, he must have hit his head at the wrong angle.”
Tom jumped in quickly. “There’s video footage, and the crew member in question was knocked out as well and can give a statement when she comes to.”
The male cop exchanged a glance with the other two cops before he nodded. “You’re all going to have to come down to the station so we can get your statements.”
“Not a fucking chance,” Tom snapped again, his cool completely frayed. “This is Bellerose. You take them to the police station, and it will be absolute bedlam. As it is, just having you show up to their concert is bad enough. This has to be done with the utmost discretion, or I swear to fuck you’ll be paying with your badges.”
The cop narrowed his eyes at Tom. He seemed to feel the same about Flo’s boyfriend as the rest of us but also seemed smart enough to understand that Bellerose showing up to his station would cause a lot of problems.
“Okay,” he said with a firm nod. “I want all of you in a conference room at your hotel in the next hour. We will be in to question everyone, and it’ll go from there. I’m not ruling out hauling all of you to the station, depending on what story I get. I’m also going to need the security footage.”
Tom nodded, and before I could hear another word, I turned and stalked away.
Seemed it was going to be a long fucking night, and I had some energy to work off before I ended up in cuffs. The way I was feeling now, I’d be dropping bodies again if shit went sideways.
I needed a boxing bag and twenty minutes. Otherwise, I’d be in jail for life.
thirteen
BILLIE
Consciousness returned to me with the force of a freight train. Or a punch from Grayson. I sat up with a sharp, panicked inhale even before my eyes opened. A firm hand pressed against my shoulder, gently pushing me back down to horizontal as someone murmured reassuring words.
Confusion rippled through me as I blinked my eyes open. Why thefuckwas Jace Adams telling me that I was safe? Shit, I must have hit my head when I fainted.
“What…?”The fuck?
