Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
“ W hat happened?” Cass stormed into Osh’s hotel suite where Kit and Maya stood in the lounge area in the midst of an absolute mess.
Lamps sat askew and glass shards from the shattered plasma TV were all over the place. Some armchairs had been splattered with wine while one delicate end table was smashed into splinters. Spilled drinks, grubby pizza boxes, and half-eaten take-out containers were everywhere on the ruined ivory carpet.
The room smelled of booze and barf.
Not again. Cass tightened his fist. Not another goddamn hotel damage bill to deal with. More than the money, he worried about how it would look in the media.
He had hated leaving Tilly alone, especially now that he’d learned of her home invasion, but this, here, had to be taken care of.
His reputation was everything to him.
He stared at the hotel manager, who stood at the edge of it all in his well-cut suit as he surveyed the place from the kitchen counter with pursed lips, notepad in hand, and visibly trying to keep his temper in check as he exchanged looks with Karim.
Worse than the huge bill, the band might be banned from Cass’s favorite hotel in Montreal.
Hells . Cass was cursed with immature bassists. Forget the problems from Leo’s last-minute leave of absence for this tour. The previous bassist, Jason Nowak—who’d been with them for five years before he’d left for rehab during their last tour—had pulled a similar hotel room destruction in Detroit. The bill had been huge. A grand piano had been completely destroyed along with part of their reputation. And now Osh.
Surely Karim could find more with-it musicians.
“Sorry to have to call you over. We just walked in with the manager, a Mr. Julien. We don’t know yet how bad it is.” Maya cringed, picking up a soiled studded leather jacket from the floor. “I know you were baby shopping. But we thought you could smooth talk the manager after he called us about this mess.”
Just as he’d done in Detroit.
He cursed under his breath with frustration. They hadn’t been banned that time, but it had been a close call. Thankfully, the manager’s daughter was a fan, and Cass had sent her and her girlfriend the VIP treatment at his next show.
Maya moved to the other end of the suite to pick up some of the food scraps and straighten the furniture, giving a wide berth to Karim who was trying to soothe the manager.
Kit shook his head as he reached Cass. “I told Osh to go out to a club instead of using his room to party.”
“Not your fault.” Cass dropped a fatalistic nod. “What is it with bassists?”
“Right,” Kit said. “First Jason, then Leo, and now Osh. Freakin’ babies.”
“No shit.” Cass raised a brow as he caught Karim’s pleading look at him. Another hotel manager to charm. He forced a smile and was about to walk over to him when Maya’s panicked yelp stopped him dead in his tracks.
“Oh god.” Her tone was filled with alarm.
“What?”
“Honey?” Kit asked.
Karim and the manager turned their attention to Maya.
“It’s Noémie!” Maya fell to her knees behind the couch next to the smashed TV screen. “She’s unconscious. She looks bad.”
Cass rushed around the sofa to see Osh’s girl lying half-naked on the carpet littered with glass. She wore nothing more than a red thong and matching push-up bra that left one of her nipples exposed. Her skin was ashen, her red hair plastered to her skull as her head lolled to the side. She had bleeding cuts from the glass on the naked skin on her left side.
“Oh fuck.” He dropped down beside Maya who already had her finger at Noémie’s neck and was rearranging her bra.
“She has a pulse, but it’s faint,” Maya said. “Someone call 911!”
Karim was already on it, calling for the emergency services.
Cass reached for Noémie’s chest, sensing her fading heartbeat.
“Shit, there it is.” Kit brandished a baggie filled with prescription drugs he’d picked from the couch. “Could be fentanyl.”
“Do you think she overdosed?” Maya asked.
Dammit. Not again. Cass had loss Augusta to drugs. But he wouldn’t this time.
“Who’s got Narcan?” Kit asked.
“Let me call downstairs,” the manager said.
They had no time to wait. The girl was barely hanging on.
Cass forced himself to ignore the chaos around him. What was that bloody spell again? He could maybe jolt her back, slow down the effect of the drugs.
He racked his brain for the ancient words. For that simple, healing spell Mom had drilled in their heads since they were four years old, a bunch of boisterous boys getting into all kinds of scrapes in the late seventeenth century.
Karim and the manager crowded around them. They were all arguing loudly with Kit asking whether they should move Noémie to the couch while waiting for emergency services. Karim was worried about the press, while also talking to the dispatcher on the phone, and the hotel manager was yelling at everyone about the situation.
Cass ignored the buzzing panic around him to focus on his spell.
Lisaquiren kolipas einhchainn a. There it was. Lisaquiren kolipas.
He focused his energy and mumbled the words under his breath. Aside from Karim, no one here knew he had some magic in him. He couldn’t restore Noémie fully, but he could buy her some time until the EMTs came.
Everyone was too panicked to notice his quiet incantation. He didn’t really want to expose his world. But he had to help the poor girl.
“ Lisaquiren kolipas einhchainn ,” he muttered again, clearing the girl’s brain from the possibility of taking in any more opioids to its receptors.
A part of him wished Tilly was here. She, of all of them, would understand the magic. She was of his supernatural world. He wouldn’t have to pass, hiding his true nature all the time to be accepted, he could be fully himself with her.
But as a future mom, she couldn’t be part of this sordid side of his life.
After his own stupid carelessness had cost Augusta’s life from an opium overdose, he’d vowed to become his troupe’s conscience.
He’d never once drank to excess since then. And made sure to be alert in order to watch after them all during parties.
But in this modern day and age, he couldn’t be with his band after every single concert. And with Tilly’s big news, he’d totally forgotten to check on Osh. He shouldn’t have been so careless.
He grimaced at the guilt mounting in him and, murmuring the spell again, felt relief to see Noémie twitch slightly with a harsh intake of breath.
“Her pulse is getting stronger.” Maya was too focused on the girl’s vitals to notice he’d had anything to do with the improvement.
“Don’t move her. Anyone have a blanket or something?” she directed.
“EMS is coming,” Karim called out. “The dispatcher said they’re just outside.”
Cass looked up and caught Karim’s worried look above him. He knew what his manager was thinking. It was one thing to trash a room. But a young woman’s overdose was something else.
“Is she okay?” Karim asked Maya in a hushed voice.
“I think so.” And she was right. Noémie’s breathing was regular, and some color had returned to her cheeks.
“Poor kid.”
“Yeah.” Cass castigated himself. He should have seen that one coming. The girl should not have been here.
And where the fuck was Osh?
Cass stood and let everyone else gather around Noémie to wait for the first responders.
He crossed the large suite lounge to reach the master bedroom. The door was wide open and the spectacle before him made his fists tense with rage.
Osh was fine all right!
He was snoring loudly in the middle of the bed, wearing nothing more than a soiled white band tee, his flaccid cock against his scrawny pale legs exposed for all to see.
He was splayed wide across the mattress, his long hair tangled against the dirty pillow, with two girls asleep at each side of him. His palm was holding one of the girls’ bare bottoms, her olive skin exposed from a stretchy green dress that had ridden all the way to her thick waist.
The other girl, a skinny little thing with purple hair and dressed in leather pants and a skimpy white top, was nestled alongside him.
Cass stood above the bed watching Osh’s rangy chest evenly heave up and down. That fucker.
The bassist had convinced Noémie to follow the band and now partying could have killed her. She was probably still in high school. Too young to know better.
Furious, Cass reached for the collar of Osh’s T-shirt and yanked him straight up off the bed.
“What the…” Osh moaned in protest.
He had no chance to say more.
Without a word, Cass dragged him across the room as the two girls suddenly jerked awake with shrieks and shocked confusion.
Cass threw Osh into the attached bathroom.
“Hey man!” Osh squealed. “What gives?”
Cass strode into the bathroom. With one hand, he gripped him by the shirt as he reached into the shower to turn the cold water on full blast.
“You fuckin’ irresponsible brat,” he spat as he shoved his bassist under the frigid water.
“Fuck!” Osh screamed as Cass held him under the powerful jet, trying to fight him off and splashing water everywhere.
But he was no match for vampire strength.
“Whoa, man.” Kit had come in to see what the shouting was all about. “You mean business.”
“How’s Noémie?” Cass still held a sputtering Osh down in the shower, this time forcing him to his knees on the tile floor.
“They just wheeled her out,” Kit said. “They think she’ll pull through.”
“Fucking loser,” Cass spat at Osh, letting him go.
“What the fuck is up with you?” Osh looked at him under the water with haze, his hair dripping against his chest and down his thighs coarsely tattooed with scraggly snakes and thorns, not sure if he should get up.
Cass stepped back and leaned on the wall as he watched Osh peel off his soaked T-shirt, lose his balance and drop naked on all fours on the shower tiles.
He then slowly picked himself off the shower and tottered on his feet as he barely managed to rise.
“You’re a fucking mess, dude.” Kit moved to turn off the shower and toss him a towel.
“Why did you do that for, Cass?” Osh whined, rubbing the terry cloth on his face.
“Sober up, man,” Cass snapped. “You need to take care of your shit.”
“Can’t the maids do that?” Osh sulked.
Cass took a deep inhale.
“Dude,” Kit said. “Read the room.”
“Well.” Osh was looking at them with a pinched mouth, his eyeliner dripping into the crevasses of his prematurely aging skin.
“Get dressed,” Cass ordered.
Osh wrapped the towel around his waist and rubbed his forehead as he crossed the bathroom.
“Whoa, what happened in here?” He surveyed the bedroom littered with empty liquor bottles, overturned ashtrays, and spilled take-out containers. The girls had scattered away somewhere else.
“ You happened, dumbass!” Cass seethed. “Kit, tell Karim to check in about Noémie. I’ll deal with management after I take care of this asshole.”
“Sure, man,” Kit said before exiting the room.
“Hey, slow down there.” Osh lifted a palm up. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Keep telling yourself that, buddy.” Cass seethed with frustration between clenched teeth.
“What did I do?” Osh leaned back on his heels and crossed his arms at his chest with a sneer on his face.
“You had drugs in here last night,” Cass pointed.
“Well, yeah.” Osh shrugged casually, dropping the tough guy act. “You know that. Weed and stuff.”
“No. Pills.” Cass couldn’t believe the guy’s lack of awareness. “Noémie is being taken to the hospital right now. She might not make it.”
“Wait, what?” Osh’s sparse brows knitted together in obvious confusion. “Who?”
“Noémie,” Cass repeated. “The girl you’ve been hanging out with for the last week. Seems like you dropped her last night?”
“Hey, she was annoying me.” Osh dismissed the thought of the girl with a wave of his hand.
“Good god, man,” Cass cursed. “She was on something. Fentanyl maybe. You should have watched out for her.”
“Hey, I don’t control what people bring to my parties.”
“Yeah, you do. You’re responsible for all of them. Noémie’s just a kid, asshole.” Cass raked his hair. Guilt ate at him. He couldn’t ignore that he was just as responsible by not forcing Osh to be held at a higher standard. “We should have sent her packing earlier. But I didn’t think you’d ransack the place with your guests last night. And nearly kill her!”
“It was just a party, man. Sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll, dude.” Osh pumped the air with his fist. “That’s the life!”
Fuck me. What a jerk. Cass looked down at him, the asshole’s bare shoulder turning a bad shade of purple, probably from landing on it when Cass had thrown him down. He wanted to fire Osh on the spot. But Karim would be royally pissed if he did without a good replacement lined up for the Halloween show next weekend.
“You’re this close to being fired, Osh.” Cass got right into his face. “If Noémie doesn’t pull through, you’re out. You better pray she does and make it up to her. We pay you well. That money goes to her hospital bill and her family’s expenses. The rest will go to fix the mess you made to this suite.”
“Hey man. Chill.” Osh was less confrontational this time. “Haven’t you done worse?”
“No. I haven’t.” Cass cringed inwardly. Not in centuries, anyway. Had he been responsible back then, he could have prevented Augusta’s death.
The tragic memory returned. His troupe had had their usual late-night party after the performance and, as always, he’d gotten himself so drunk, that he didn’t wake up until late the next afternoon, still in his evening clothes, passed out somewhere right in the middle of the play’s décor. Not so different than Osh today, he huffed, disgusted at himself.
Augusta had been found in her dressing room. Dead.
It hadn’t taken much for the authorities to rule it an opium overdose. They didn’t bother to investigate further. To them, she was just one more floozy meeting her maker.
And Cass had liked the great Augusta James. She was talented. With her whole life ahead of her.
Had Cass not been so drunk, he would have checked on her. Made sure she reached her small flat safely.
She could have lived to enjoy her fame.
So he’d sworn off the late partying. And knew he would never again get in that situation.
But no matter how careful he was to check on his crew, it seemed he could not stop the people around him from crossing the line.
Osh was scrambling to find some clothes when Karim walked in. “He’s okay?”
“Yeah. Just hungover.” Cass was still staring him down, unable to shake the resentment that had taken over him. He’d seen similar situations many times. Young girls getting caught up in the limelight. Getting burned by it.
Was he now more affected because he was going to be a father? That poor Noémie, she was someone’s daughter.
“I’m sorry, man,” Karim said, lowering his voice as he usually did when he had bad news. “But paparazzi saw the girl being wheeled into the ambulance. Maya and Kit were with her. They’ll know it’s us.”
Shit . It would be all over the media within minutes.
Tilly would find out.
And he’d just managed to convince her to stay with him. That they could raise a child together. But now, she’d never believe his was a healthy environment for a kid to grow up in.
Hells, he didn’t think this was wholesome, either.
How did Hervé do it with his brood of four?
He kept them all away, that was how. His wife didn’t mind. She missed him, but she had her own family around, with grandparents, uncles, and aunties to keep the whole family grounded.
And Hervé wasn’t the front man. The tour could still go on with a replacement if he were needed at home, at least for a few days.
Not so much Cass.
And Tilly, she was not the type to stay behind. She had her music career and wouldn’t quit for him.
Baptême, what should he do? He looked around the ruined hotel room with dismay. His kid could not be near this kind of life.
“Is the hotel manager still out there?” he finally asked Karim with a sigh. “I’ll have to finesse something with him.”
“Thanks. Yeah, he really likes you,” Karim informed him. “Something about his sister-in-law who can’t shut up about you. Maybe use that angle.”
“Sure.” Cass nodded as he dropped one last look at Osh who had found his vape and was smoking maniacally while looking at his phone and trying to ignore him. Cass actually felt sorry for the hotel staff who had to deal with guests like his bassist.
“Karim, can we just contract our own cleaning crew in here?” he suggested. “Coordinate with management? That mess is a lot for the staff. Can you take care of it? Marjo’s with Tilly visiting houses for sale.”
“Yeah sure. Can you go see Noémie at the hospital when you’re finished here?” Karim asked. “It’ll look better. I’ll send some press. Craft a release statement for you.”
“Yeah, no problem.” He had no choice but to check in on the young woman. It was not the first time they had worked together to manage a crisis.
He’d truly wanted to run back to Tilly and plan the birth of his child with her. But he also actually wanted to make sure Noémie was okay.
She’d been used by Osh. Used and discarded, like so many girls who hung around rock bands to catch a little bit of the celebrity.
And Cass did take part of the blame for her accident. He still didn’t know if she was of age. He should have asked for her ID the minute she even boarded the tour bus in Québec City.
Dammit, could he really be a responsible father if he couldn’t even keep a groupie in his entourage safe?
He crossed Osh’s filthy bedroom into the equally trashed living room where the Grand Montreal manager was waiting for him.
His heart sank. There obviously wouldn’t be any time to get back to Tilly to look at houses this afternoon.
All right, he grumbled to himself. Let’s do this . Time for damage control.
“Mr. Julien.” With a fake smile plastered on his face, Cass extended a warm handshake to the hotel manager who was writing furiously on his notepad, likely cataloging the damage. “I’m so sorry about the wreck. I hear your sister-in-law is a fan?”