Chapter Thirty-Five
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
GEMMA
I’m ready to rip someone’s head off.
First, someone slips a gun past security, brings it into the crowd, and starts shooting in the air. Then, Bonnie gets attacked, and I’m the one who told her to stay put in the dressing room?!
I shouldn’t have. I should have sent her to the same place as Zeb. But I didn’t know if the shooter was after them, I didn’t know if there were more gunmen. I thought I was being smart when I gave each of them different places to hide.
Idiot .
Damn this fucking job. I should have been with her.
It’s eating me alive, and if I find the bastards responsible…
Except, I already know.
The wings they left on her dresser were clue enough.
I knew the moment I ran into the room, found her on the floor, and saw those pink and black wings that this was my fault. That the attack on her was more than likely in retaliation to what I just did to their friend. And while they don’t know I’m the person they’re after, they know getting to Bonnie means getting to her stalker.
I hate that she’s in the middle of this fight.
Security allowed the bands back in a little over an hour ago after doing a full sweep of the premises. They took hours scoping out every food, drink, and merch stand, every musician, roadie, family member, and even each trailer. I had Liam show security into the band’s trailers while Kade and I sat with the medics, Mads, Zeb, and Andi in the dressing room for what felt like fucking hours—Bonnie’s still lying unconscious on the couch where the medic was looking over her injuries.
The venue wanted to take her to the hospital, though the guys shut that down pretty quickly after the medic decided her wounds were superficial, insisting that it was her decision to make once she woke up.
I don’t think they wanted her out of their sights, and I can’t blame them.
I’m not sure how far past midnight it is. Though, with the amount of people standing outside their trailers and chatting, one would think it was the middle of the day.
The energy feels rattled, tense. As if everyone is looking over their shoulders and in disbelief that something like this actually happened.
Bonnie was still out when I left the dressing room. I couldn’t sit still another second, not with her wings staring back at me from the vanity counter. Kade sent Liam with me because he knows if I find them, I might black out.
As if tackling a guy with a gun wasn’t enough excitement for today.
“Stop,” Liam mutters beside me.
“Stop what?” I ask.
“Angry walking,” he replies.
I gawk at him. “What? I am not angry walking,” I argue.
“Yeah, you are,” he says. “You’re all—” He rounds his shoulders, stuffs his hands in his pockets, and walks a double-pace, making fun of my strides.
I smack him in the stomach. “Well, I am angry. They attacked my girl—someone shot up my client’s set.”
He blows out a frustrated breath. “Do you think they were connected?” he asks.
I glance back at him. “What—the shooter and her attacker?”
“Yeah.”
The question makes me balk slightly. “That’d be one hell of a fall for someone to take just for their friend to get revenge,” I reply. “Imagine asking someone to shoot up a music festival just so you can maybe assault the girl who got away from you the first time.”
“So, you’re sure it was one of them?” he asks.
“It sure as fuck wasn’t random,” I say, searching the faces of the people hanging out backstage. “They were waiting in the dressing room.”
“Maybe they were after one of the guys. Or Andi,” he says.
I laugh. “Imagine being that fucking dumb,” I say about the Andi comment. “I don’t think anyone ever wants to face Mads Tourning. The last guy that touched her is dead—by his fists . No one is that stupid.”
“But they’re stupid enough to come near someone you care about?” he asks.
My mind filters to Lance’s face before I blew it off. “They shouldn’t be,” I say. “Hey, are you sure your arm is okay?” I ask him.
He brushes me off, his arm already stitched up from the bullet graze. “Stings, but not bad. I’m just glad you and Reed saw the guy before things went down.”
I’d been in the walk when I saw him. There was something off about the way he walked… Rumors had reached us before the set that someone had been showing off their gun to some friends, though venue security had assured us they were investigating it, double-checking bags and bodies at the gate.
“Reed was pissed at the crowd,” I say, looking around a corner. “He’s never like that, and I’ve been to enough of their shows, I know. I—”
I freeze mid-sentence, mid-stride, as I hear a voice that makes a chill run down my spine.
“Oh, shit,” Liam says.
My entire body feels like it turns to fire as I pivot to my left, and there, standing against one of the trailers near the one I took Bonnie and Reed to last night… is Rad.
“Gemma…”
“You can walk away right now and say you lost me,” I say, gathering my wits. “Otherwise, I just need you to back me up. I’m not going to do anything here that isn’t just a threat.” I peer at Liam over my shoulder. “I want him dead too much to jeopardize that.”
I turn back around and advance on the asshole.
“I’m just going to rough him up a little— Hey, fuckhead! ”
A few of the people standing around him, including Rad, turn toward me.
“Ah… who are you talking to there, princess?” he asks, laughing. “Hey, fuck head. Ha. That could be any of us—whoa, what the fuck?! ”
I slam my forearm under his throat, grab a fist full of his t-shirt, and shove him into the side of the trailer as he throws his hands up.
“Easy, bitch. What the hell? What happened—did I fuck your wife, too?” he asks.
I want to cut the smirk off his face.
I scoff. “You fucking wish,” I say.
“Well, what the hell? Who the fuck are you?”
“—clear out, people,” I hear Liam telling those around us. “Clear out. Nothing to see.”
“I believe we chatted last night,” I answer. “When you called Bonnie. You were looking for someone, now I’m looking for someone. So maybe we can help each other out.”
Because I know it was you.
I know because you were the one holding her wings.
You were there, and you’re just as guilty as your stupid little friends.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says.
This fucking guy.
I jerk him into the trailer again, forearm pressing into his throat. “Fine. Play fucking dumb all you want. But I want you to memorize my face, Cutrelle,” I seethe. “Because if you or Trevor come near Bonnie again, it’ll be the last thing you see.”
His eyes widen, and it takes me a moment to realize why.
Shit.
Oh, shit .
What the hell did I just say?
Own it, Gemma.
Just fucking own it.
He’ll get worse if he thinks he’s backed you into a corner.
“Trevor?” he repeats, and his voice is entirely too calm. “Trevor… Hm… I don’t know. Not sure I know a Trevor.”
I shove my forearm further into his throat. “You know exactly who I’m talking about,” I say.
Because it’s too fucking late to back out now.
“You think he’s here?”
“Lance sure as fuck isn’t,” I say, and while his eyes darken, his smile doesn’t leave his lips. I press my forearm further into his throat. “Your little friend just ran out of my drummer’s dressing room, bleeding. I just want to help him out, maybe stitch him up,” I taunt.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he lies. “You know, there was a gunman here today, too, in case you didn’t know. You’re not saying she was attacked when she came offstage, are you?” he asks in a taunting voice. “Tsk, tsk. On your watch, too? That just makes you double the failure, doesn’t it?”
My fist curls, body flinching forward.
“Gem.”
Liam’s voice is the only reason I don’t cut Rad’s throat right here.
“Gem, Kade says she’s awake,” Liam goes on.
I blink, heart warming at the fact that Bonnie might be awake, and if she is, I want to be there.
I have to be there.
I release Rad with a jerk, and he doesn’t bother moving. A smile lifts his lips that makes me want to crawl into a hole, but I know I can’t do anything about it.
“Leave her alone or else,” I threaten him. “You got your revenge. It’s done.”
That grin of his is going to haunt me for the rest of my life.
Liam presses his hand to my arm, and I finally back away.
If I stay, I’ll fucking kill him, and as much as he deserves it, I can’t do it here. Not in the open. Not with thousands of people around us.
“Does she know?”
I stop dead in my tracks, the question ringing in my ears.
“She doesn’t, does she?” he goes on.
“Gemma, keep walking,” Liam urges.
However, I’m already turning around.
“Know what? That I’m out here looking for who attacked her?” I ask.
Rad chuckles. “Yeah. Of course, that. What else could it be?”
I stare at him for a beat, ready to wrench myself out of Liam’s grasp if he says anything else.
“Right,” I reply. “What else could it be?”
Liam tugs on my arm again, and I turn around for good this time.
“It was good seeing you again,” Rad calls out.
My feet nearly stop moving again. Liam grabs my arm, and I let him lead me out of there.
I’ll be seeing you again very soon.