Ravensong (34 page)

Joshua could tell he was drunk and his
muscles tensed involuntarily.

Ray elbowed the stage manager again.
“Can you believe I had to hear about the concert from a neighbor?
He came and told me my son was playing the stadium. My son? No
matter what you do, you can still draw them like flies to honey,
eh? But you can’t get your own father a backstage pass?”

“
What do you
want?”

Ray smiled. He could be so damn
charming when he set his mind to it. “To see my son play to 50,000
people. What more could any father want?” His eyes narrowed. “You
look like hell. You using again? I read somewhere that…”

“
Shut up!” snapped
Joshua.

Ray’s eyes narrowed. “I also want some
money. You can give me what you’ve got in your pocket, then write
me a check when the concert is finished.” He pretended to look out
at the audience. “$50,000 seems fair, a dollar a
ticket.”

Joshua moved closer to him. “You can
go to hell. I’m not giving you a dime.”

Ray’s face underwent an alarming
change, contracting and twisting as rage spiraled through him. He
struck Joshua with his fist, knocking him to the ground. The band
members surged to their feet and Elena dropped beside Joshua.
Grabbing him by his shirt, Dominic shoved Ray into the closest
wall.

“
Lay a hand on me and I’ll
sue,” shouted Ray.

Joshua touched his mouth and winced.
Looking at his hand, he wasn’t surprised to find blood on his
fingers. Working his tongue around his teeth, he checked for any
loose ones.

“
What the hell is he doing
here?” came Julian’s voice.

Joshua looked up in time to see Julian
descending on him. With Elena’s help, he managed to gain his feet.
Julian’s eyes widened and he caught Joshua’s chin.

“
Shit,” he muttered,
turning Joshua so he could look at his face.

Joshua pulled away, but Julian didn’t
notice, rounding on Ray where Dominic had him pressed to the wall.
“His face is worth a million dollars, you ass, and how is he
supposed to sing with a split lip? Who the hell let this bastard in
here? I want to know. I’ll have their job!”

The stage manager dropped his gaze,
shifting anxiously. “I didn’t know…no one told me…”

“
No one told you!” shouted
Julian.

“
Let it go, Julian. It
wasn’t his fault,” said Joshua, taking the tissue Robert handed
him. He pressed it to his lip. “Let him go, Dominic.”

The bodyguard looked over his shoulder
at Joshua.

“
Let him go,” Joshua
repeated.

Stadium security had arrived with
Julian. They surrounded Ray as Dominic slammed him hard into the
wall and released him. He smoothed his clothes and glared at
Joshua.

Joshua pulled away from Elena and
moved closer to his father. Ray continued to glare at him, daring
him with his look to strike him in return.

“
Don’t ever come near me
again,” Joshua said in a low voice.

Ray gave him a scoffing look, but
Joshua glanced at the police officer. “Get him out of
here.”

They grabbed Ray’s arms and pulled him
toward the exit. As Joshua watched them go, Julian grabbed his arm
and spun him to face him. He grabbed Joshua’s chin again, turning
him to see the cut.

“
Shit,” he said once more.
“Get me a medic.”

Joshua pulled away from him and walked
toward his dressing room, flanked on either side by Elena and
Dominic. Once inside, Joshua leaned against the dressing table,
pressing the tissue to his lip. It was still bleeding.

“
Do you think he broke your
jaw?” said Dominic, his teeth clenched in fury.

Julian had followed them inside and he
gave Joshua an alarmed look. He truly seemed concerned the Joshua
might really be hurt. Joshua knew he was afraid the concert might
have to be canceled and the money returned.

“
No,” he said, then glanced
at Elena.

She had tears in her eyes. He reached
for her hand, but he was distracted by the appearance of Elliot in
the doorway. He didn’t come inside, but he stared at Joshua with a
worried expression on his face.

“
I’m all right,” he told
Elena, brushing a tear away.

She nodded, but he could see she was
shaken.

“
How many times has that
bastard done that to you?” asked Dominic angrily.

Joshua shrugged. “A few.”

“
He do that when you were a
kid?”

Joshua met his bodyguard’s gaze.
Slowly he nodded.

Dominic’s hands clenched into fists.
Elliot looked like he might be sick.

The medic appeared in the doorway and
pushed inside.

“
His lip is split. How the
hell will he be able to sing without bleeding all over everything?”
demanded Julian, looking over the medic’s shoulder.

The man gave Julian a quelling look,
forcing Julian to take a step away, then he took Joshua’s chin in
his hand and felt along his jaw. “Any loose teeth?”

Joshua shook his head.

“
I can put a wound glue on
the cut to hold it together. It’s the same stuff they use on
athletes so they don’t bleed on the field. It’ll hold until the end
of the concert. I don’t think you need stitches.”

Joshua nodded.

“
You’re sure it’ll hold?
What about swelling?” questioned Julian, hovering again at the
medic’s back.

The medic rolled his eyes at Joshua,
but spoke to Julian. “It’s gonna swell. He can put ice on it during
sets, but there’s no way to stop that. I can only keep it from
bleeding.”

“
Shit!” said Julian, pacing
back and forth across the small room. “A million dollar
face…”

“
Go ahead,” said Joshua,
nodding at the medic.

The man cleaned the cut and then
applied the wound glue. “Let it set for a moment.”

Joshua nodded.

“
Call me if it breaks open
again,” he said, then pushed out of the tight dressing
room.

“
I want you to press
charges,” said Julian.

Joshua frowned. “It’s not worth
it.”

“
Not worth it? God
damn it, your face is worth millions to
Avalanche
.”

Joshua narrowed his eyes on the
manager. Not weeks ago, he’d been trying to replace him. What the
hell was this about now? His eyes lifted to Elliot. The guitarist
was still staring at him.

“
What about a restraining
order?” asked Dominic.

Joshua shook his head. “We just need
to make it clear to the management that he’s not welcome
backstage.” He felt his jaw. It was beginning to swell.

Elena touched his arm. “Joshua, I
think you should do something more. They’re right. You need to make
sure he’s never able to get near you again.”

He looked into her eyes. Reaching up,
he brushed his hand over her cheek. How much longer could she take
the train-wreck that was his life? He pulled her into his arms and
held her tightly.

“
I don’t want to go into a
courtroom, Elena,” he whispered into the top of her head. “Please
understand.”

She tightened her hold on him and
pressed her face into his throat. “Okay,” she said.

Joshua’s eyes lifted to Elliot’s
again. Elliot looked down, then turned away and left the dressing
room.

“
I’ll get some ice,” said
Julian over his shoulder as he followed him out.

Joshua rested his head
against Elena’s and closed his eyes. Ray’s visit was more than odd.
In all the years Joshua had been with
Avalanche
, not once had Ray shown up
at a concert. In fact, the number of odd occurrences were
increasing. Was Julian responsible for this too?

He’d seemed so surprised when he’d
arrived. Was he that good of an actor?

CHAPTER 14

Joshua’s jaw ached as he
waited in line behind Elena to go through the metal detector at the
airport. His head felt fuzzy and his eyes burned. He was so damn
tired. He wished they’d had another day before moving to the next
location, but the tour couldn’t be stopped now. He’d already cost
them one show.

He lifted a hand to finger the bruise.
People in line kept looking at him. He wasn’t sure whether they
were wondering what happened, or just trying to determine if he was
who they thought he was.

Shifting his pack on his shoulder, he
leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. He hated
flying. He hated airports. Since 9/11, it was impossible to get
through the airport check-in without hassle.

“
You okay?” asked
Elena.

He nodded.

When the line moved forward, she
tugged on his elbow and he moved up behind her, wrapping an arm
around her and pulling her back into him for comfort. He placed his
forehead on her shoulder and closed his eyes again.

“
Please have your tickets
out,” said one of the attendants working the metal
detector.

Joshua lifted his head and looked up.
Only two people were in front of Elena. Swinging his backpack off
his shoulder, he pulled it in front of him and unzipped the top
compartment. He reached for the ticket without looking, pushing
aside a change of clothes and a notebook he used for jotting
lyrics. His fingers touched on something cold and smooth. He
frowned and curled his fingers around it, pulling it to the top of
the bag. When he opened his hand, he saw that it was a vial,
containing some sort of fluid.

His heart slammed against his chest
and his eyes widened. Elena moved forward and Joshua’s eyes snapped
up to the metal detector. Only two people were between him and the
airport police.

What the hell was in the
vial?

A cold sweat broke out across his skin
and he knew what it held.

Glancing around, he marked a number of
policemen standing to the side of the metal detectors. In the next
line over, Elliot frowned at him, but Joshua ignored the look, his
heart hammering in his ears. He shifted and searched the entire
terminal, lighting on the bathroom at the end of the
hall.

Hiding the vial in his hand, he swung
the backpack to his shoulder and shoved his way through the people,
muttering apologies. They grumbled angry comments in return, but
let him pass and soon he was in the open part of the terminal. He
chanced a glance at the police.

They were staring back at him, alerted
to his sudden movement. Joshua lowered his head and hurried to the
bathroom door, resisting the impulse to run. He couldn’t allow them
to stop him before he made it inside. He couldn’t be found with
this vial.

Slamming the door open, he hesitated
inside and searched around for a stall with a door he could lock.
He pushed past another man leaving the bathroom and threw open the
stall door. He shoved the door shut and slid the bolt to lock it,
then turned and threw the vial into the toilet. Pressing the
handle, he watched the water flood into the bowl, sucking the vial
down into the drain. Bracing his hand on the top of the toilet, he
tried to still his rapid breathing and brushed the sweat off his
upper lip.

Then he became aware of the black
utility shoes waiting beyond the door of his stall. Joshua knew
what that meant. Closing his eyes, he leaned over the bowl and
forced himself to be sick. He knew it was a desperate attempt to
save himself, but he had to try something.

Pressing the handle again, he tried to
compose himself and turned, reaching for the bolt. His hand shook
as he pulled it back and opened the door. Two men in black suits
were waiting for him outside, but Joshua pushed between them and
walked to the sink. Setting the backpack on the floor by his feet,
he turned the water on and bent over, rinsing his mouth and
pressing the cold water to his aching jaw.

The black shoes stopped beneath him
and a hand reached down to pick up the backpack. Joshua braced
himself on the sink and turned the water off, then he looked up
into the officer’s face.

“
Joshua Ravensong?” the
officer asked.

Joshua nodded.

“
Come with us
please.”

Joshua reached for a towel, hoping
they wouldn’t notice how his hands shook, and dried off his face,
then he turned and threw it in the waste basket, moving toward the
door with them right on his heels.

The band was waiting outside when he
left the bathroom, but he only had time to glance at them before
one of the officers pushed him in the back. One moved in front of
him and led the way to the end of the terminal and to a door. The
door opened on a white tiled hallway and they passed many closed
doors until they came to one with a glass window in it. Joshua
could see holding cells and a number of people sitting behind
desks, watching monitors.

The officer in front of him opened the
door, motioning him through. A few people looked up at him in
interest, but Joshua could only stare at the cells. Would they put
him in one? What about his backpack? Was there anything else in the
backpack that he didn’t know about?