“Now?” My heart is thumping in my chest and in my ears.
“In about ten minutes.”
“Okay,” I say, and I rush to the lifts, pushing the button for my floor. “Thanks, Kevin!”
I’m pretty sure when I look back at him before getting into the lift, there’s a small smile on his face.
The phone starts to ring while I’m still unlacing my boots. I rush over to it, tripping over my laces and landing in a lump on the bed. It’s why I’m breathless when I finally speak.
“Pia?”
“Hey, Cassie,” she says in her deep, rumbling, accented voice, and I’m instantly melting like butter. “You okay? You’re breathing very heavily.”
I scoop the phone up and cradle it in my lap as I get comfortable against the headboard. “I’m okay … I’m just…” I pause.In shock that I’m hearing your voice on the end of a phone line, I want to blurt. But I don’t. “I just got in.”
“Listen,” Pia says, and there’s some muffled sounds. I wonder where she is. How she’s sitting? Who is she with? Is she alone? “We read about Vik. What the fuck happened?”
The speed with which my heart falls takes me by surprise. So that’s why she’s calling.
“Oh, yes, we don’t really know. Kevin is keeping a lot of details from us; I think on purpose. But I’m pretty sure Stephan knows more than he’s letting on.”
“Hmm,” Pia says, and there are more rustling noises. “And are you okay?”
I don’t know why, but the directness of her question takes me aback. “Yes,” I say honestly. “I’m annoyed he’s making the tour extra … complicated. But I can’t say I’m surprised. I feel like he’s been on a path of self-destruction for a while. It all feels a bit inevitable.”
“Inevitable,” Pia repeats thoughtfully. “So you’ve got another drummer?”
“Yes. Actually, maybe not. I don’t know.” I sigh and slide down the bed so I’m more horizontal. “And I’m not sure I care.”
“Oh, but you don’t want to ruin your sell-out tour,” she says sarcastically, and again I hear scratchy rustling sounds.
“Where are you?” I ask.
“London. Some hotel. It’s nice. I’m in bed right now.”
My cheeks flush warm and, no doubt, very pink. “You have a show tonight?”
There’s a pause. “Tomorrow night. It’s nearly midnight here.”
“Oh, yes, of course.” I look down at my hand as I play with the curled phone cord. “You know, you didn’t have to call me.”
“I wanted to.”
The flash of a too vivid memory. Pia close. Her body hot and her smile sly and beautiful.And I always get what I want…
I smile. “I’m glad you did.”
“I was afraid Vik had gotten you all in trouble.”
I blanche, realising this thought hadn’t crossed my mind. I feel suddenly very naïve. “Do you think he could?”
“I don’t know, Cassie. I just don’t trust him. Or his brother.”
“That makes two of us.” I sigh. “You know, they never used to be like this. Once upon a time, we were all good friends.”
“What is it you English say,” she quips. “With friends like that, who needs enemies?”
“I believeyou’resupposed to be my enemy,” I tease back.
