Facade (16 page)

Without expecting it, the tears welled up in her eyes. The magic was gone. Last week she had a car, a carriage with a nameless, faceless driver that took her and her masked prince anywhere she wanted to go. Now it was gone, nothing would ever be the same. Nothing.

“Hey, what’s wrong? I usually don’t cause women to cry until at least our third or fourth meeting.” Nash squeezed her hand.

She shook her head, let go of him and turned away, leaning against the cool metal of the car.

Behind her, she heard him get out, and he walked in front of her, his limp evident. As she knew, Erik wasn’t the only one who got hurt that fateful day.

In a short acknowledgment of his situation, he shrugged. “You can’t cry before your performance, because it’s not good for your voice. You have to win. You don’t know how much I bet on you.”

Her lips almost twitched in a smile. Almost.

The back door to the theatre opened and dressed in his long coat and keeping his head down, Erik appeared. “I suppose no introduction is needed.”

Not wanting Erik to see her crying, she pressed her finger into the corner of her eye and breathed through her nose, still the tears wanted to fall.

“We best get going. Can’t be late.” Erik opened the door for her.

Without any delay she got inside, and Erik took his seat beside her. Were they together? Were they just going through the motions? Were they just biding their time until this competition was over? The questions in her head piled up, and she stared at the one man who had the answers.

He looked into her eyes. For one second she swore she thought she saw him soften, and she put her hand palm up on the seat between them.

His eyes darted between her face, her hand and back to her face. “Let me fix something.” He slid a little closer and wiped the makeup under her eye.

No doubt if she spoke, she would burst out in tears. How she was even going to sing tonight was beyond her.

“You’re going to do amazing tonight.” Rather than take her hand, he patted her arm.

She shrugged. Part of her wished they never started the competition.

“I know it’s not the song you wanted to sing, but I think it’s a much better choice.” He nodded and adjusted her bangs.

If she were truthful, she would tell him she didn’t even want to sing anymore. This week was sure to be a bust, and at the moment she was praying to be sent home, if she had one.

The car came to a stop outside their destination. Before getting out, Erik stopped her. “I need you to do something for me.”

All she could do was nod, but her breath caught. Maybe he needed a kiss, a hug, anything that told her they were together.

“I would appreciate you not telling anyone of mine or Nash’s identity.” He lifted his chin.

She cleared her throat. “I would never do that to you.” If he didn’t see the obvious, maybe they just weren’t meant to be.

“That’s not what your original song choice told me.” His voice lowered, hardened, rolled over her.

“I wanted to be part of you, not betray you.” The tears welling up again, she knew she better go and got out of the car. With nothing more to say, she went inside, not even bothering to ask if he would be there after the performance.

Like at the masquerade party, people gathered around her congratulating her on her last performance. Somehow without speaking, she checked in, handed her music to the production assistant and went to the green room.

A couple other performers were inside. She nodded at the others and took a seat at the edge of the sofa, realizing she forgot to grab a bottle of water. Her throat dry, she went to stand when the door opened and Rat Race entered.

Not in the mood, she sunk back into the couch cushions trying not to make eye contact, when Carly and Ramon sat down beside her.

“Hey.” Carly elbowed her. “Can we talk?”

She turned to her nemesis and glanced over at Ramon. He smiled and gave her a thumbs-up. “All right.”

“We are heading into the final three, I know I was hard on you when you disappeared, but as Ramon here told me, the negativity will do us no good. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we ended up in the finale together? After all, I could say we discovered you.” The woman smiled. “Let’s just move on.”

Even in her frame of mind and craving anything positive, Christine’s radar went up at Carly’s kind words. Still, there was no reason to keep an enemy and she nodded. “I would like that.” She didn’t need to offer anything more.

“I was also thinking that maybe you could introduce us to your man, I hear he’s quite a magician with music.” Carly bounced on the couch.

Her man. Did she dare tell Carly she wasn’t sure he was her man anymore? At least she knew what Carly wanted. “I’ll see what I can do.” She braced herself on the arm of the couch and forced herself to stand. Tonight’s performance would have been better if her song involved crying, or better yet maybe she needed the hymn tonight because all she could do was pray things worked out. “I’ll be back. I need to find some water.”

“Oh, I have some. I just got it from outside.” Carly pulled a bottle out of her bag and held it up to her. “I just opened it, but I didn’t drink from it, here you go.”

The door to the green room opened and the production assistant stuck his head in. “Christine, you’re up after the next group, let’s get on deck.”

She got up and stepped toward the exit.

“Here Christine, I’ll get another one.” Carly jumped up and handed her the water. “Good luck.”

“Thanks.” She followed the production assistant to the wing of the stage, glancing over at the passageway she would take later to meet Erik, if he were there. With a sigh, she opened the bottle and gulped down the water. She might be able to sing
a cappella
, but that was only because she knew Erik was there watching her, supporting her. What about tonight?

She leaned against the wall and watched the show. The strangest feeling of calm overtook her, almost like she wanted to curl up and go to bed. In fact, as the moments stretched on, she knew she had to lie down. Exhaustion overwhelmed her, and she wondered if a body could only take so much anxiety before it finally shut down. Even being on the streets wasn’t as bad as the last few days slowly watching the person she loved slip away from her.

“Christine, you’re on.” The production assistant waved his hand in front of her face.

She glanced at him. “I was really thirsty. Now I’m really tired.” Why did she say that?

“Well, I’ll make sure we have some water waiting for you, but now it’s time to sing.” He gave her a little push.

Suddenly, she found herself walking out onto the stage or maybe she was floating. The clapping seemed loud, too loud and that water did nothing to quench her thirst. Everything was surrounded by a fog, and she cupped her hands over her eyes searching for Erik. Was he there? Did he leave her? Was she back on the streets?

Off in the distance, maybe miles and miles away, she heard the emcee say her name. Her music started, but it wasn’t the music she wanted, she wanted to sing the Spectre song, not to out Erik, but to connect to him.

Where was he anyway?

Something told her she needed to sing. Her cue barreled toward her, but when she opened her mouth nothing came out. She had to lie down, and her knees gave out.

“Christine!” Somewhere out there was Erik, but her entire world was engulfed in a fire and smoke before everything went black.

Chapter Twenty

“I want to go on record saying that I think you’re an asshole coupled with a total douchebag.” Nash poked Erik with his cane.

“According to your calculations, I’ll have it coming out of both ends then.” Erik shooed Nash away and kept his focus on the stage. He did exactly what he promised he wouldn’t do and sent Christine out there with little practice.

“Maybe you should just go, and I’ll make sure she gets a place to stay tonight, because frankly, you’re useless.” Nash growled at him.

Erik turned. Even in the darkness, he could see Nash glaring at him.

“What? You slept with her, so now you don’t need her anymore?” Nash stepped forward.

“That’s your department.” Erik straightened up.

Nash came closer. “She was crying you know. How do you expect her to sing?”

Honestly, he didn’t know the answer to that question. He didn’t know what he was doing. “She knows who I am. She knows who you are.”

“So? So, what?” Nash lifted his arms. “So what if she knows? Are you that concerned about her or are you that concerned about being outted with your less than perfect face?”

“I don’t see you running back to the woman you love.” Erik went for Nash’s jugular.

Never flinching, Nash continued to stare at him.

“She won’t be seen with me, and then she’ll leave.” The words simply left Erik’s mouth.

“Really? Because right about now, I bet you she would be god-damned proud to be seen with you. It’s your issue with your face, no one else’s. You’re going to make her leave, and when you do, I won’t be there, because you brought it on yourself.” Nash shoved him.

Rage burned though him and Erik grabbed him by the collar.

“After her amazing performance last week, we are proud to welcome back Christine Day.” The emcee announced.

Both men turned toward the stage.

Christine seemed to be swaying on unsteady feet.

Her music started.

“Your mix sucks on this.” Nash pushed him away.

“I know.” He moved closer. Christine tripped and put her hand over her eyes as if looking for someone.

“She’s looking for you.” Nash went to his side. “What’s wrong with her?”

Something was wrong, definitely wrong. Something was wrong with his Christine. His muscles tensed. “This is my fault.”

The music continued, and she grabbed her microphone. Actually, she braced herself on the microphone stand. She was going to fall.

“Erik.” Nash’s tone let out a warning.

No way would he allow her to blow her chance, ruin the competition. It couldn’t end like this. They couldn’t go down like this. “Nash.”

“Do something,” Nash growled.

He gave the area a quick scan. Right when she missed her cue and her knees buckled, he dashed forward toward the pyrotechnic machines, and flipped all the switches. The entire theatre became engulfed in firelight and smoke. “Christine!” He did the only thing he could and ran out on stage, catching his love before she hit the floor.

She slumped in his arms. For both of them, he knew he needed to get them out of there. If they stayed, there would be too many questions and not enough answers.

While chaos broke out in the theatre, he ran back toward his hiding place.

“Get out of here. You can move faster, I’ll get back later.” Nash pushed his car keys into Erik’s hand

With a firm hold on Christine, he jumped down his trap door, rushed out to the car and laid her down in the backseat, checking her twice before he got in the driver’s seat, something he hadn’t done in years.

He had to act fast. All too soon they would shut down the place for security. No time to second guess any of his actions, he drove.

Clutching the steering wheel, he somehow managed to drive them home without breaking every single traffic law known to man, but nothing mattered except getting Christine to safety.

Nothing mattered.

Even if he was caught rescuing her, nothing mattered.

He drove to the back of the theatre and hit the steering wheel. When acting on his own instinct without time to think about his face or being found out, he would risk everything to be with her. “Oh, Christine.” He got out of the car and, using great care, scooped her up into his arms. Before another moment passed, he had to make sure she knew. “I’m so sorry.”

As he entered their home, she stirred at last. “Erik?” Her eyes barely opened, and she reached up.

“I’m here.” He grabbed her hand and kissed it. “What happened?”

“I was so thirsty.” Her voice sounded strained as if she struggled to speak. “And you were gone.”

“I’m here, I’m sorry about everything.” Keeping her in his arms, he took her below the stage, and into her room. He pulled down the blankets and got her in bed, carefully taking off her clothes and covering her up. Did he take her to a hospital? Call a doctor? Whatever was wrong, this was more than anxiety over their relationship, and he started to stand to figure out what to do next.

“Erik!” She grabbed his sleeve. “Don’t go. What if I don’t find you again? I was looking, and you weren’t there.”

In all this insanity, somewhere along the way, he found the one person who wanted him, or she found him. Unable not to give her exactly what she wanted, he lay in the bed beside her, and gathered her up into his arms again. “Tell me honestly, did you take something?” She appeared drugged and unfortunately he had enough experience with Spectre to know the signs.

She turned on her side and held him tight. “I was so thirsty, and you weren’t there.”

“I think we should go to a hospital.” Why he didn’t go there first he didn’t know, but he auto-piloted to the first safe zone.

“No, I just need to sleep. I just need you.” She tried to pull him closer. “I do love you, even if you don’t love me.”

He gave in to her wants and slid down, allowing her to have maximum contact with him. “I love you more than I ever thought possible, Christine.”

“You love me?” Her voice cracked, and she sniffed. “Really?”

“You are my life.” He caressed her. “I loved you from the second I heard your voice, and I’ll always love you.”

Tears collecting in the corner of her eyes, she pressed her palm to the good side of his face, and kissed him before falling asleep.

He lay there wide awake and listened to her breathing.

Chapter Twenty-One

“I spoke with the show this morning. They seemed to think you’d been kidnapped, but I assured everyone that your manager and your lover had you and you were safe.” Erik carried Christine across the stage and gently placed her on a chaise lounge. “Let’s set you down right here. Don’t move.” He adjusted her robe, then held his finger up, and rushed away.