The Song Remains the Same (18 page)

Despite the death rays, I was in a fan-fuckin’-tastic mood. It might or might not have had something to do with the fact that I’d pounded the fuck out of my woman for the last two nights, but it didn’t really matter because
she
was feeling good about herself again.

“There’s a change in the lineup for the crap stage,” mentioned Sheri. “But these guys will be going as far as Orlando, so there’s no need to rush out and see them. Kenna, would you mind giving a treatment or two today for a couple of the roadies?”

“Sure,” she replied.

“Lili and I can still check out the bands,” said Alys. “We’ll let her know if we hear anything worth writing up on.”

Sheri nodded. “Good thinking. Lewis, do you need to go out and get food?”

“Yeah. I was hoping Kenna could go with me—”

“No worries, man. I’ll go with you,” I told him.

“Sweet.”

Wrapping up breakfast, we headed outside while Sheri paid.

“You think you got time to crack and stab me today, Baby Girl?” I asked Kenna as I pulled her into my arms.

“Yeah. Around one o’clock?”

“Mmm…sounds good. Anything you want me to get you while I’m out with Lewis?”

Kenna got a pensive look on her face before she replied, “No. I don’t think so.”

I rolled my eyes. “Organic chocolate or some such shit?”

Laughing, she gave me a quick squeeze. “Pick up some organic chocolate or some such shit if you want.”

“Maybe I will.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

She was good, real good. I could feel it in my heart and hear it in my head. It was something like fiddles dancing around in there. She was happy, feeling confident, and I loved it.

“Love you,” I whispered to her after a quick kiss.

“Love you, too.”

It had been brought to my attention that we ate a lot of fuckin’ food. And by
we
, I was thinking it was more
me
. Connor could chow down. I’d seen the fucker eat just as much as I could after a show. But after shopping with Lewis, I had a new appreciation for what he and Kenna put up with.

Jason was a fuckin’ picky little shit eater. According to the chef, Jason had a thing against vegetables, but he was working through it, like with food counseling or some such shit. I’d never noticed it before, but now that Lewis had mentioned it, I did. Jason was always happy with eating garbage, like fast food and microwaved shit. I wondered if breakfast this morning would be considered a relapse of sorts.

The car dropped us off at the entrance of the tour bus area. There were too many people and other buses to maneuver safely into the lot up to our own bus, so I called a couple of roadies to help bring the food in. Steve, Gordy, Will, and Duck—long story behind that name—were there within minutes and grabbing shit. There was nothing left for Lee and myself to carry.

“Thanks, Mack,” I said to our driver before slamming the door shut.

Lewis’s phone went off, and I knew it was Pygmy when his face went all soft and full of smiles. He had it bad for her. I had to admit, the woman was a trip. She was a bit too mouthy for my taste, but I could see the appeal. She was loyal to my Baby Girl to the death, and I loved her for it.

Covering the mouthpiece on his phone, Lee turned to me. “I’m gonna go catch up with her at security.”

“Everythin’ okay?”

Lewis nodded and headed off down the trail that led to the backstage area, and I continued on to the bus, excited to see Kenna. It’d been three hours and twenty-seven minutes since I held her, and I was due for a kiss…and maybe a nipple tweak.

“Phil?”

A couple of buses down from ours, I heard a voice that sent chills down my back.

Turning my head, I saw Brigid standing in front of a smaller tour bus. It had to be Devon’s because, as far as I knew, he didn’t ride with the rest of the Cannibals anymore. Everyone had heard the rumors going around that he wasn’t getting along with Jürgen. Couldn’t say I blamed Devon for that. Jürgen was a douche of his own fuckin’ caliber.

“What?” I barked at her. The nasty shit she’d spewed at my Baby Girl ran through my head.

“I was hoping to run into you again.” She smiled.

Looking at her now, I couldn’t for the life of me remember what I had once found attractive about her.

She was dressed in tiny-ass shorts—seriously, the bottom of her cheeks had to be hanging out of them, but since I was facing her front, I couldn’t know for sure—and a strappy pink tank top.

“The fuck for?” I asked.

She looked startled that I was giving her attitude. “What’s wrong? I didn’t think there were hard feelings between us.”

“There wasn’t until you fuckin’ insulted my Baby Girl,” I told her. “That wasn’t cool, Brigid.”

“Your Baby Girl?”

“Yeah, the doctor checking your boyfriend over after I slammed his head into the wall.”

Brigid laughed, and I started to boil inside.

“Devon’s not my
boyfriend
, Phil. We’re just having some fun on tour. He flew me in especially.”

“Good for fuckin’ you. Now, if that’s all—”

“Oh, come on! Let’s catch up. I was heading into town for a bite to eat. Why don’t you join me?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Please? Devon couldn’t take me, and I’m all alone. No more than an hour, and you can tell me all about what you’ve been up to. Old friends and all that. What do you say?”

“I already said no.”

“Don’t be like that.”

She pouted, and I started to feel sorry for her. I’d always felt bad for dumping her the way I had, and maybe if I had lunch with her, I could give a half-assed explanation, and she’d leave it at that. I could tell her about Kenna and what she meant to me.

“Fine,” I grunted.

Her face lit up like a fuckin’ Christmas tree. “Great! I just need to grab a few things. Come on in—”

“I’d rather not.”

She rolled her big blue eyes. “He’s not here, silly! I told you I was on my own. Just come in and have a seat while I get a few things, and we’ll be off.”

This is a really bad idea. What the fuck am I doin’? Fuckin’ stupid.

“I gotta call Kenna,” I said.

But the woman grabbed my arm and pulled me, so I followed her onto the bus.

It was pretty standard in here, nothing over-the-top at all. Devon’s shit was all over the place—old guitars and picks, papers and magazines. Nothing seemed weird or depraved or anything like I’d figured he’d have. Just…normal. The rest of the guys in Cornered Cannibal weren’t fuckin’ normal. Far from it.

“Have a seat,” Brigid said.

I plopped my ass down at the table.

A stack of sheet music sat on the tabletop. Reading over some of it, I could hear it in my head, and it was fuckin’ beautiful. For such a motherfucker, Devon was beyond talented. None of this shit was Cannibal style. It’d never see the light of day if Jürgen had anything to say about it.

“Fuck me,” I whispered, picking up a sheet and looking it over. “He’s been workin’ hard.”

Brigid came out from the back in a pair of decent fuckin’ jeans. I hadn’t looked to see if her ass cheeks had been hanging out of the shorts she’d had on. Before Kenna, I hadn’t really thought about how chicks dressed around us. I guessed I’d accepted it as normal. But my Baby Girl and her friends and even Sheri now were some of the sexiest women I’d ever had the pleasure of meeting, and they covered their tits and asses. Kenna’s wide-legged jeans and plain tank tops looked badass and hid her treasures from others while still showing that she was all woman.

Just thinking of my Baby Girl slammed guilt into my gut, and I dug out my phone to give her a call. She had the right to know what the fuck was going on. But then a sheet of music caught my eye, and fuck me, it was some crazy-ass gorgeous shit. My jaw dropped a little, and my phone lay on the table, forgotten.

Brigid leaned over and gathered up Devon’s music. I couldn’t blame her. I wouldn’t want Devon looking at my shit. She smiled softly, a knowing sort of smile. She wore a heavy floral perfume that would make Kenna gag if she smelled it. It kind of made me want to gag, too.

Kenna always smelled good, even when she didn’t.

“If he knew anyone saw this…” she said.

“Yeah, no. Absolutely. He’s been writin’ a lot, yeah?”

“For a while now. He told me your new album inspired something in him, and his head has been going into overdrive. He really does admire you and the rest of NOLA’s. The new guy you have has a reputation for being quite brilliant.”

I nodded. “He is. He’s Kenna’s brother.”

My hand went for my phone, only it wasn’t where I thought I’d left it. Looking through my pockets, I still couldn’t find it.

“Have you seen my phone?” I asked her.

She shook her head.

“I swear, I just had it…”

“Come on. I’m starving. I heard this place has really good hamburgers. With all this American food, it’s a good thing I don’t live here, or I’d be fat!”

“Yeah, my Baby Girl has a degree in nutrition. Everythin’ is organic and unprocessed. She makes all our food from scratch. She’s a fuckin’ amazin’ cook. My favorite is her spicy seafood gumbo. Fuck, I’d kill for some of that shit.”

Brigid got a real sour look on her face. “She sounds unreal.”

I looked her dead in the eyes. “She’s very much real even if I do have a hard time believin’ it myself. And like I said, I didn’t appreciate the shit you said about her that night at the hotel.”

“I didn’t know she was your girlfriend, Phil.”

We made our way to the parking lot where the roadies and groupies parked their cars. Brigid was driving an expensive Mercedes, no doubt courtesy of Devon.

“What does that have anythin’ to do with it? You went runnin’ at the mouth at a complete stranger who was makin’ sure your boyfriend didn’t have a concussion! It was fuckin’ rude, plain and simple.”

“I didn’t know she was a doctor either! She had her hands all over him. I thought she was just another crazed fan!”

“She was with
me
! You didn’t see the rest of them goin’ apeshit over your boyfriend—”

“He’s not my boyfriend! I don’t do that sort of shit anymore, not since
you.
”

I rolled my eyes and got into the Mercedes. “Don’t give me that shit, Brigid. It’s not like either one of us were in love.”

“Speak for yourself,” she snapped.

I felt a sharp twinge in my chest.
Did she really think that what we had was love?

Looking at her, I couldn’t believe she’d ever had real feelings for me because she only had feelings for herself. She’d been with me for what I could give her. Brigid only had one person on her mind at all times, and that was herself.

“Let’s just get this over with,” I grouched, feeling cornered. Wherever this was going, it wasn’t good.

Then, why am I goin’ at all? Why am I in this fuckin’ car, goin’ to lunch with someone I want nothin’ to do with?

Pulling out her phone, she typed something into it. “I’ll tell Devon to look for your phone. Maybe it got knocked to the floor or something,” she said.

“Don’t bother. He doesn’t need to know I was there at all.”

“Too late,” she replied, smiling sweetly.

That smile irritated the fuck out of me.

Kenna

It was one o’clock.

Phil was never late, and he never ignored my phone calls.

Where is he?

Lewis was here. He, Lili, and I put away the groceries, and he said that he and Phil had come back together, that he’d been heading back here when Lewis went to meet Lili.

I called again, and this time, I heard his special ringtone for me, “Kashmir,” right outside the open bus door. Relief washed through me, and I nearly tripped to get to him.

Except it wasn’t Phil.

Devon was holding Phil’s phone. By the look on his face, he wasn’t amused.

“Where’s Phil?” I asked, my voice hardly able to squeak out of my throat.

“That’s a good question, Doc.”

My heart…he felt sick. I felt nauseated as it dropped somewhere in my gut. The universe slipped off-kilter, tilting at a bizarre angle. I was in a parallel place where Technicolor could not be visualized.