Facade (12 page)

“I must say Miss Day, you have a flair for the drama.” The emcee put his hand on her shoulder. “Let’s see what the judges think.”

This time, Michelle went first. “Though this is not my typical genre, if you were singing, I may add it to my label. Excellent work.”

Christine couldn’t stop a smile and focused on Perry.

He stood and held out his arms. “I have nothing to say. I’m ready to cry.”

Waiting for the last verdict, she held her breath.

Justin tilted back in his chair, turned to the audience, then back to her. “Anytime you want to collaborate, let me know.”

“Thank you, Christine. After the commercial break, our next singer will be up.” The emcee motioned off camera and the theme music for the show rang though the theatre.

She gave one last look out at the audience and bowed, hoping Erik knew that bow was for him. There was one last judge who needed to weigh in, but she would have to wait until later.

As Rat Race did before her, she exited the stage. With each step she took, the twisting in her stomach amplified. No doubt she was about ready to be faced with a confrontation now.

By the time she made it backstage, she was practically trembling, but was only met with another production assistant. “Go back to the green room and wait for the elimination. The other contestants are there now.”

Right, the green room, the elimination round, she wasn’t out of the woods yet. That’s where everyone went. She exhaled and headed in the direction of the green rooms, but right before joining everyone else, she veered and went toward the darkness to buy some time.

Chapter Fourteen

“You did it.” Nash grunted and hoisted himself behind some props way back of the stage. “Only you could make a hymn a hit.”

“It’s not a hit, and Christine did it, but I have to say she did magnificent, and the music wasn’t all bad either.” Erik let out a low chuckle as he assisted Nash into their hiding place. While he had managed to watch the performance from an old box seat in the theatre, in order to smuggle Christine out without a scene, they needed to save the drama for the stage.

“I think you make quite a duo.” Nash patted his back. “I like to think I aided in the coming together, so to speak.”

Not wanting to dignify Nash’s crude reference to condoms, he watched the last group finish. They only had to get through the elimination and then they could go home and go to bed.

“So are you going to tell me anything?” Nash poked him with his cane.

Erik shooed him away. “There’s nothing to say, everything about her is incredible. Everything.” Where he used to abhor lying in bed, now his favorite time of day was right before she woke up and he could watch her cuddled up on his chest sound asleep, her breath hitting his skin in little puffs, calm, trusting, beautiful. “You know she fits me, she understands me, she doesn’t push, but she pushes at the right times.”

He faced his friend. “She lets me take the lead. In fact, she likes it, but she’s not a pushover and knows when to stand her ground. I trust her. She’s genuine, she’s been nothing but real and truthful, and I couldn’t ask for anything more from anyone.”

“For someone who didn’t have anything to say, you have said a lot.” Nash gave him a grin.

“I’m trying not to think about the end. Sometimes I catch myself forgetting this is only finite.” He sighed and returned to looking out at the stage. The contestants were lining up with the groups on one side and the solo singers on the other.

Though he was not at the most advantageous vantage point, he could make out Christine and had full view of that horrid group she was once part of. The screeching woman and the useless man leaned and stared at Christine, then the entire group did the same. From what Erik could see, Christine seemed to turn away. If these low lives were bothering her in any way, shape or form they would pay.

“The world is finite, but I think or pray some things could be infinite. Why don’t you see where this takes you?” Nash whispered.

Many things were supposed to be infinite, or at least as infinite as their finite existence, things like faces, careers, love. He inhaled. “They’re doing the eliminations.”

These reality shows all seemed the same with the elimination countdowns. Each one tried to put their own spin on things, but essentially, they were all variations on the same theme. Before they began, they flared the flames again and Erik winced and turned to Nash. “Those really aren’t necessary.”

His friend patted his shoulder. “They’re safe enough.”

“That’s what I thought.” No one loved the fire more than he did until it consumed him.

Nash lifted his chin toward the stage. “They’re announcing the losers.”

The emcee, who reminded Erik more of a weasel than a talent, motioned toward the bands. “The group leaving us tonight is Water Song.”

Erik shrugged. The ones leaving were forgettable at best. Not bad, not good, nothing.

The group came forward, shook hands with the emcee and made their way off the stage.

While the emcee then went over to the solo acts, Erik focused on Rat Race. They continued to look over at Christine and talk among themselves. Maybe he was being paranoid, what else did he expect with their history? Still, he noted to keep his eyes out for them.

After a ton of fanfare and recapping the night’s performances, the emcee finally got to the task at hand. “All right, we had some wonderful acts tonight, but unfortunately someone has to go home.”

“One hundred says it’s the one who sang the country song.” Nash leaned in.

Erik pursed his lips. The country singer was melted vanilla ice cream, but she had a sticky sweetness about her. “All right. I’ll go with the boy who sang the ballad.” May as well keep it interesting.

“Bet. He’s too much of a pretty boy.” Nash shook his hand.

“Tonight, the singer leaving us will be Marla Needle, our pop singer.” The emcee went over and put his arm around the girl.

“I forgot there was a pop singer.” Nash laughed.

“Me, too. That’s probably why she was eliminated.” By the judges’ reaction, he knew it wasn’t going to be Christine. Now they only needed to keep the momentum. Erik tilted his head in Nash’s direction. “Go get the car. Hopefully it won’t be too much longer.”

“When do you think I’ll be able to meet Christine?” Nash got out of his hiding space. “Why don’t you give her some of what she gave you and tell her who you really are.”

“Why don’t you go get the car?” Erik pointed in the direction of the exit. “Take the way I told you.

“Fine.” Nash hobbled away.

Erik remained hidden, but without Nash there, he was able to maneuver himself to where the contestants would leave. Once he saw Christine say her goodbyes, he would rush to their meeting spot.

While he waited, he considered Nash’s question. Would he ever tell Christine who he was? His stomach twisted. Right now he was only Erik, the man, her lover with the destroyed face. When she left his life, he would still have his identity intact, would never have to worry about being found.

If she knew he was Erik Renevant, lead singer of the one-time super group Spectre, he would forever be exposed. Worse yet, would she look at him and wonder what she could have had if he didn’t ruin his face? Would she always see what he was?

Too many thoughts crowded in his mind, but they all stopped the second he spotted Christine. Even before his life changed, he would have wanted her.

The solo acts lined up, and the director of the whole shebang went to Christine. “Good work on making it to week two. We will follow the same procedure as last week. Here’s your assignment.” He handed her a yellow card. “Broadway Musical.”

Though hoping for ballad or a rock song, Erik practically high fived the universe. This would be easy.

In the shadows, he followed Christine. Right before he was going to crawl down to his place to meet his girl, someone barked her name.

“Christine.”

Erik leaned over to find the blond bothersome boy blocking her way, and he balled his hand in a fist, priming himself to act if need be.

“I’m sort of in a rush, but good luck in the competition.” Christine wrapped her cloak around her.

Erik nodded. Good girl, get rid of him and come to me.

“Yeah, how long have you been in one?” The boy had the gall to cross his arms.

“What do you mean?” Her soft voice barely reached his ears.

“Have you been in so much of a rush that you forgot to tell me or anyone else you quit the band?”

Erik shook his head. What was this fool speaking about?

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you.” She took a step back.

“So just disappearing without a word, making me wonder, and then showing up here as our competition was the way you decided to break the news?”

Unfortunately, Erik heard his words loud and clear. He specifically told Christine to break off ties with these people. She never told them?

“Did you have this planned all along?”

At the boy’s question, Erik focused on Christine. He asked, no he begged her to tell him the truth, how many opportunities did he give her to say something, anything?

“No, things just happened.” Her shoulders slumped down as if she was trying to make herself as small as possible.

“Guess you got a better offer.” Ramon shook his head. “I got to go.”

The boy left, and Christine stood there for a moment. She put her hand to her chest and lowered her head, looking down at the floor.

Without anything left to see, Erik went to their meeting spot. No doubt she would be there until one day she disappeared on him. Maybe she would get a better offer than the deformed former musician who wanted her to shine. Everything was finite no matter how hard one wished for infinity.

Chapter Fifteen

Once again, they were driven by the mystery driver. Once again, Erik barely said a word on the way home. Once again, Erik left her standing on the stage feeling like a fool.

However, this time, she wasn’t going to take it. They couldn’t go from making love to him shutting her out if the wind changed directions, especially if she didn’t know what direction to take.

After having to finally face Ramon, she wouldn’t take any more anxiety from the man she was with. Nothing good came from hiding. She knew that now. Hands on her hips she faced the exit Erik took. If he followed his normal modus operandi, he would return any moment.

Sure enough, not a minute later, he appeared with a bottle of wine and two glasses. “I thought we would celebrate you making it to the next round.” His voice fell flat.

“Is something the matter?” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

“You may want to take off that cloak, don’t want to get overheated.” Rather than look in her direction, he focused on the bottle.

“Then maybe you should take off your coat, because you’re already there.” Though she was boiling with the cloak, she refused to take it off.

“On second thought, maybe keep it on. You know some cloaks hold magical powers and that one may help make your disappearing act all the more convincing.” He pushed the bottle aside and at last looked at her.

“Disappearing act?” Not understanding what he meant, she shook her head. “What do you mean?”

“Let me ask you, how far were you going to get in the competition before you decided you could do it on your own or you got a better offer?” With metered steps, he approached her.

“Better offer?” The man was talking in riddles.

“It had to be better to be a solo act than shoved in the background as some backup singer.”

He had heard her and Ramon, and she exhaled. “That’s not how it was!”

“Then tell me, did you or did you not simply vanish on them without as much as a note to tell them you quit?” As if praying the answer would come to him, he held his arms out and looked up to the ceiling.

Without a doubt, she only had this one opportunity not to lie to him, after she already withheld the truth. “I did.”

At her words, he faced her.

“I didn’t want to confront them. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with us, and it was easier not to deal with it.” She closed the distance between them. “Carly was horrible to me, and I didn’t want the confrontation. I saw them at the audition and managed to avoid them, but tonight Ramon confronted me. I’m glad it’s over and I’m sorry I didn’t do as you asked. I should have.”

“You know I don’t care about them. They are nothing to me. What concerns me, Christine, is that you not only betrayed me by lying to me, but you disappeared on people who relied on you.” He lifted his chin.

Nothing he said was untrue. “Erik, I said I was sorry. I made a mistake. It was a bad one. I wouldn’t do that to you, ever.” Why did everything have to become huge? When were they just going to settle down and have a life?

“Sure, right, no problem.” His tone dripped sarcasm, and he returned to the wine.

“So, that’s it?” Her teeth scrapped together, and she shuddered.

“What more is there to say?” At last, he uncorked the bottle, poured the drink and held a glass out to her. “You did well tonight.”

While her first thought was she wanted to run out of the building, she knew that was exactly what she couldn’t do. She also couldn’t stay there, and share a glass of wine, and act like everything was fine. What did he want, her blood? “Save my wine, I’m going to go clean up. Note, I’m not disappearing or vanishing, I’m just going to walk away for a few minutes and maybe when I return, you can truly accept my apology.”

She paused long enough for him to say something to make it better, but when no words came, she turned and walked down below the theatre.

Adrenaline coursed through her and before going to her room, she tried to work some of the extra energy off by stomping through the underground maze. With her reluctance for the dark, Erik made sure to keep the space lit, even in the darkest corners.

Her situation with her old group had nothing to do with Erik. Yes, she avoided the confrontation, yes, she got called on it, but wasn’t this more of a laugh it off moment rather than something that was a game changer? She made a mistake.