Pucker and the Pop Star (Frostbitten #4)

Prologue

The Live Show

Something virtually unprecedented was

Because, if they weren’t experiencing some form of mass hallucination, that meant they had just seen the show’s musical guest, world-famous pop star Joel Beckett, punch the celebrity host, Quentin Hartley, in the face.

At least, that’s what it looked like.

Quentin, who was an attractive twenty-five-year-old with thick brown hair and a roguish smile, and who had charmed the audience all night with his comedic timing in the sketches, stood stock-still on the stage, his hands clamped to his face. Blood seeped through his fingers.

Beside him was Joel Beckett, also attractive, also twenty-five, with sandy hair and startling green eyes. His arm was still raised, frozen, and his bright eyes were wide, shocked.

No one in the audience knew what they were supposed to do. Was this a part of the show? they all wanted to ask their neighbors. They thought the sketches were done. Quentin and Joel had been performing their final monologues when it happened.

Surely it was fake!

It had to be fake, because there was no way that Friday Comedy Live had just broadcast an act of physical violence to 5.1 million viewers.

Oh boy, some of the audience members thought, the network is not going to be happy.

Backstage, producers and production assistants were frantically trying to figure out what had just happened. Should they cut the broadcast? Should they call for a medic? Was Quentin’s nose broken?

If it was…surely he could handle it, right? After all, he was a hockey player. It was a violent sport.

Everyone was waiting for someone else to act first. Quentin stood there, blinking, more blood starting to run through his fingers.

Joel hadn’t yet lowered his arm, though it was starting to shake.

Backstage, a production manager made the call to cut to a commercial break early.

And onstage, Joel finally broke the silence. The singer-songwriter’s famous lips, which had sung so many eloquent songs into countless microphones, parted, and he said, “Oh, fucking shit.”