Infinity (17 page)

“Can we go to your dressing room first? I have some last minute details on the last song that we need to iron out.”

“What? I thought we did that yesterday? And for the last time we are not taking out the raven headpieces.” Zoe poked me in the side sharply then arched a brow. “Okay, yeah, dressing room.” I turned to Big Red, “Change of plans.”

Boulder beckoned a tall gorgeous guy with tousled blonde curls, and caramel skin who was standing in the corner watching the flamboyant dancers with a frown, not looking pleased to be in their presence.

“Cruz, walk her to her dressing room while I take care of some business.” He smiled at me while leaning against the wall with his beefy arms crossed. “See you later gorgeous.”

“Yeah, later Big Red.”

When Cruz stepped closer, I was shocked to see that his gorgeous face was marred with what looked like claw mark scars across one cheek.

Zoe blinked, looking at him like a deer caught in the headlights before pulling me down the hallway while he scowled at us. She looked back at him before whispering so low that I strained to hear. “Okay, could you at least warn a girl before you unleash a bevy of hot young Viking warriors? The whole lot of them walking around just all tall and buffed and giving off some weird animal wild vibe. Whew! Just whew!” She started fanning herself.

Cruz snarled with disgust, “Women.”

I looked over my shoulder with surprise. There was no way he could have heard Zoe. “What?”

Cruz frowned, “Nothing.” He leaned against the wall watching us as we stepped into the room, firmly shutting the door in his face.

I immediately switched on the music letting the hard thumping base shake the walls as Zoe’s tall slender frame swayed around me.

I rolled my eyes, “Where’s Diego? He’s always here for girl talk.” I snickered at the word ‘girl’.

She pointed towards the door. “Out there, confused like the rest of the Viking’s groupies.”

“Oh, it’s one of those days?” I spun away from Zoe, stretching my arms over my head. “He’s not sure whether it’s like a girl or boy day?”

“This morning he was firm that it was going to be a ‘like’ a girl day.” She spun, pointing at me accusingly. “But that was before you unleashed the Vikings on us. Now he’s out there with the rest of the girl’s, panting around the Vikings like a dog in heat.”

I hip checked her, “Tragic. I don’t think the Vikings are into guys.” Pumping up the music, I looked around the crème colored dressing room chocked full of vases of crème flowers with a critical eye.

“I scoped it out, they’re not. I had to be sure before I made my stealth Viking maneuver.”

I laughed because it was totally ridiculous that Zoe was even talking about competition with her tall slender frame, dark flawless chocolate skin, and unusual hazel eyes. There was none because men kneeled at the altar for the chance at Zoe.

She rubbed her hands together making a swooshing sound, grinning at me with like a mad scientist. “I’ll be damned if I let Diego win our bet that he can convert any guy.”

My eyes narrowed, “Oh hell to the no! A Viking conversion?” We laughingly called the ‘conversion’, a bet we made to counter Diego’s arrogance and vanity proclaiming all men were one degree of separation away from bi-sexual status. “Shit, that’s a crash and burn situation out there.”

“Totally,” she did a stupid victory dance with a silly grin.

I groaned, “This is so wrong. You know that right? My poor Diego is going to get his feelings hurt.”

“Rejection’s a bitch sometimes. I feel for him, I really do,” She laughed so hard tears streamed down her cheeks. “Oh wait I lied, I don’t. That’s for him lying to Sasha last night telling her that I was into girls. As if.”

Try as he might, he was determined to fix Zoe up with a woman, even with the undisputable fact that Zoe was 100% heterosexual.

“She was going for a Zoe conversion.”

“She might as well find someone else to convert, I’m completely focused on a Viking and any one will not do.”

“Oh Sugar-Honey-Iced Tea. Which one?”

Crossing her arms across her chest, looking at me pointedly. “Cruz.”

Mid-sip, I spit out a mouthful of water. “You mean the guy that just walked us to dressing room? He was practically snarling at us.”

I dropped the bottle when she squealed all girly like, which wasn’t like her at all. Shit, the world was coming to an end.

“Yup. That angry Viking is all mines.” She pretended to slam a flag pole into the ground. “And I claim him in the name of Zoe.”

“You are fucking hilarious.”

“Oh, it won’t be funny if I see any of those slimy women out there circling him.” Her eyes narrowed, “It won’t be funny at all.” She nudged me and smiled, “And you want the gorgeous Big Red.”

My chest tightened, “Damn, am I that obvious?”

“Nope. I know you. Plus you got that ‘I want that’ look in your eyes. You know the look you get when you see an outfit parading down the runway at fashion week.”

“Oh. My. Gawd. Yes, I want that and bad.” I flopped down on the sofa covering my face with my hands, “I’ve never seen anything like him in my life. When he walked up to the car door, I had the wild urge to throw my panties on the ground and scream come and get it. Seriously, never in my life have I felt the instant snap of attraction like I’m experiencing right now.” I peeped at her through my fingers.

Zoe’s eyes widened as she plopped down. “Oh shit. This is majorly huge.”

My stomach clenched with the truth of the matter, I hated the fact that he made me want him this bad. “Well put it this way. If it had been Big Red that I was dating, the v-card would have been history.”

She pulled my hands away from my face and stared. “So where do we go from here? Vitals?”

After some crash and burn dating situations, we decided that before we pursued any guy we would do some snooping to find out all the information that they could before deciding if a guy was interesting enough to pursue. Being a celebrity was hard enough without finding out that the guy was a stalker or a stage one clinger.

But this time, I paused when I felt the heart palpitations commence. This can’t be a good sign. “Okay, vitals. Lots of vitals. Because before I go all in I need to know as much as possible about him. The last thing I want is to find out that he has a girlfriend, or worse, married with children.”

“Did you get that vibe from him?”

“Not exactly, but there was something about him that’s bothering me. And I can’t put my finger on it.”

“I’m on it. I’ll tap my sources. Do some digging and find out all the info on him.”

I sat up, “Good and in the meanwhile, I’ll pull back on the flirting a little. I’m not going to set myself up for disappointment.” This would give me a little time to cool things down and hope that my mini lust fest would go away, like, real quick.

She scowled, “Pull back? You’re joking right?”

I jumped up and walked away, “No, I’m not. You know how I am. I don’t let guys in, so I need to pause this before I start liking him a lot. I don’t want to go through....” I didn’t even hear her walk up behind me until I felt her hand on my shoulder.

“Mason hurt you really bad.”

My shoulders stiffened, “I don’t have anyone to blame but myself for that. I was a stupid kid with a stupid crush. I moved on.”

“That’s exactly the problem, Infinity. You didn’t move on.” She walked around, forcing me to look at her, “In fact, I think that you made him your manager as a constant reminder of what you call a stupid crush. So he didn’t want you. That’s his fucking loss. Let that go, and let someone else in.”

She knew, all this time when I smiled and pretended. She knew. I tried to slow my rapid breathing and I tried to distract and throw her off my pain. “I forgot about Kir.”

“Don’t even mention Kir because you knew that was a crash and burn situation before you even started." She paused, "Let’s get real, sugar. That’s why you even started dating him. You were bored and filled the bored void with the man whore for a while.”

“It takes you to keep it brutally real.”

“That’s what real friends do. Keep it real.”

“The thought of me and Big Red freaks me out.” I sighed heavily, “He’s the big league. Like take no prisoners, make you blackout in the middle of sex serious. So I need to be sure that I’m in it to win it before I give him the green light.”

She kissed my cheek, “Honey, you deserve this. You deserve the chance to find happiness and love. It may not be with him, but I do know that if you don’t open up and give him a chance, you’ll never be truly happy.”

“Message received. I will pursue once vitals are complete.”

She grinned like a Cheshire cat, “Good.”

“Good. Now let’s go to sound check.”

I opened the door to find Cruz staring at me.
I smiled at him and he snarled as he stalked down the now empty hall. Zoe nudged me with her elbow before easily catching up with him.

“Cruz?” Zoe asked.

“Yes?” he grunted without looking at her.

Zoe’s eyes narrowed, I could tell she was annoyed by his tone and more importantly his obvious lack of interest. “Are you in a hurry to get rid of us?”

He stopped and looked at her from head-to-toe. “First, I’m here to work...for that one,” He nodded his head towards me. “So I’m not interested in anything but that, understand?”

Zoe planted her hands on her hips, squaring off with him. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Self-explanatory, Chica.” He snarled as he waved his hand towards the stage.

I cleared my throat because they were looking at each other like MMA fighters at the beginning of a match. "Okay, moving on." I grabbed her arm pulling her onto the stage where the music and lights were in the effect and the dancers stretching.

Zoe sputtered, “What a jack ass.”

“I know you like a challenge, but that one is beyond your rehabilitation miracles. Call it a wash and leave him alone.” I saw her eyes narrow and I knew that she was going full throttle to get him. Not because she liked him, but because he didn’t like her. Once she got him, if she got him, in typical Zoe fashion, she would drop him faster than a washed-up child star.

“Ms. Infinity, I’ve been waiting for hours.” Raul said in his whiny voice, looking over at the menacing security detail nervously.

I looked at Raul with distain. Speaking of washed-up child stars. “That’s what I pay you to do. Wait for me to give instructions.”

I really should have fired him days ago, but I was in a bind when Justin just up and disappeared. I could tell by the squint in his eyes that he was going to do what he did best, bitch and moan about my creative vision for the show. He pretty much had a heart

attack when I told him that, like all of my concerts, the theme had to incorporate ravens, from the huge raven prop that would be suspended from the ceiling, to the outfits for the back-up dancers. Ravens plagued my dreams all my life, followed me when I was awake, so it seemed only fitting that this show, of all my shows, should incorporate something that oddly gave me comfort, ravens.

I stared at his black-and-blue face. “What’s with the face?”

He puffed his rotund chest, “Difference of opinion solved caveman style.”

I rolled my eyes and obviously, from his badly battered face, he lost. “Okay, whatever. Let’s get this over with.”

“I quit,” he squeaked. The dancers looked from me to him nervously.

I strutted over, jabbing him in the chest. “Let me get this straight. You waited around all this time just to tell me that you quit?”

He sniffed indignantly, “I’m a professional. Besides the Collective thought it best to tell you in person.”

From the corner of my vision I saw Cruz and several guards rearing to kick his ass, but I held up my hand stopping him. “Okay I get it. The Collective beat your ass and sent you here as a warning to everyone here to get out while they can.” I snarled, “Message received. Now get to stepping you pretentious ass wipe.”

“I should have never agreed to work for Superstar trash.”

“Problem?” Zoe cracked her knuckles.

Savannah eyes narrowed, with fingers twitching, strangely looking like she was one step away from kicking his ass, which was comical given the fact that she was hundred pounds soaking wet compared to his rotund stature. “I would be very careful with insults slimy fox. With one flick of my pinky, I can skin you alive and use you for a hat."

He stuttered, backing away from Savannah like he was going to piss in his pants from fear. “Stay away from me you dirty witch.”

I sneered at him, “Oh hell to the no. First you insult me, then my employees? You’re done. By the time I put out the word, you won’t be able to get a job putting on shows at a county fair. Get the fuck off my stage and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” I turned my back dismissively, strutting away.

He screamed hysterically, “You’re dead. You’ll see. The Collective said so. Get your hands off me you filthy wolf.”

Wolf? I turned around to see Cruz dragging him away.

Zoe shook her head. “Another one gone.”

I felt his gaze before I saw Boulder standing at the edge of the stage with his arms crossed and legs akimbo. My legs weakened as perspiration dotted my brow as he dared

me to accept what he was, what they all were. He nodded then walked away into the darkness.

“Infinity? Are you okay? You’re all flushed like you’re about to faint.”

That’s putting it mildly, because if this whole thing was what I thought it was, mom had some freaking explaining to do. I took a calming breathe, falling apart would not do, not right now.

“Yup, but I’m good,” I responded with way more cheerfulness than I felt. Channeling my stage persona, I calmly strolled over to the microphone.

I glanced over my shoulder at the live band, “We’re going with the new song first.”

The stage instantly hushed when Zoe and Diego took their place behind me. A slow melody wafted through the air as Diego lifted Zoe over his head with her looking down at him with a smile. Her arms were spread out like the raven I wrote about in the song. I rolled through the notes in the ballad, building to a crescendo, lost in the lyrics of love lost. Forgetting all the drama brewing around me and doing what I did best, sing. Smiling softly as Diego and Zoe twirled around me.