Rocked in Pieces (3 page)

Julia, who’d reappeared in sky high boots, grabbed his arms from behind and tugged him backwards. “Rick, leave her alone. She gets the message.”

I arched an eyebrow and looked at her, past the mass of pissy man-mountain. “Isn’t love supposed to mellow people out?”

“Don’t act like we’re friends, bitch. I don’t like you either. I just don’t want him to waste his breath on you.”

Well, that was as clear as a knife in the eye. Hoping to lighten the mood, I smiled. “What’s the big deal? Is it because I called your boyfriend a ‘roided out grumpy-cat?”

No one laughed. This wasn’t going well at all. I’d only met half the band so far and I’d struck out both times.

Fortunately, before I could stick my foot in my mouth any more, Becca walked into the room with the other two members of Dream Defiled. Dex Winters, bass player and Becca’s boyfriend, entered holding hands with her. When she saw me notice, she let go and crossed her arms in front of her. Always the professional.

Behind them was Matthew, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist. He was the cipher of the group. And because of it, the one I paid the closest attention to. He didn’t have Joe’s effortless charisma, Dex’s wounded animal sex appeal, or Rick’s raw masculinity, but he did have… something.

When I’d spent hours watching performance videos and interviews with the guys, I always found my attention drawn right to Matthew. And even in this room, though he was quiet and seemed to be trying his best to fade into the scenery, I couldn’t keep from staring at him.

He was of average height and wiry. His sandy hair hung in his face as he stood with his hands in the pockets of low slung jeans that revealed a tiny strip of skin below a novelty t-shirt. His face was blank, unreadable. Big hazel eyes with sinfully long lashes above an even nose and a pair of soft-looking lips. His chin, firm and chiseled, gave the only hint of what he might be feeling. It was tense and jutted out slightly as if he was trying to keep from speaking. Or screaming.

“Okay, great. We’re all here. Let’s sit down and chat, what do you say,” Becca said, interrupting my examination.

Everyone except Rick and Julia sat down. She stroked a perfectly manicured finger along his bare chest and then left. He crossed his arms and stood in the entranceway menacingly.

“Ellie, do you want to start?”

I nodded and licked my lips.
Dazzle them, girl. Turn it on.

“Sure, thanks. Guys, I really appreciate you taking the time to sit down with me now. As I think you know, we’re not doing any actual interviews until later. My cameraman and I will be heading over to the venue with you for rehearsal. We’ll be filming the whole process, but try not to get in the way. When you’re done, we’ll all sit down for some really quick interviews. I’ll just be looking for a couple of sound bites from each of you for the site.”

“Site? I thought this was for television,” Joe interjected.

I turned and looked at him. “It kind of is. It’s for
Hot Sheet TV
. A brand new site with entertainment news, all in video format.”

“You mean gossip,” he said.

“Some, yes. But real news too. And in depth stuff like this tour. We’ll have fun short videos to get people to the site and keep them with longer series and information.”

“What about the live stream?” Becca added.

“Oh, right. Those will just be for special occasions. For the re-launch we’ll be streaming almost all day. Giving the fans a look backstage and at how the show comes together. Plus we’re running a feed of the whole performance, so people who can’t get tickets will be able to experience it all in real-time.”

“Everything else will be taped?”

“Almost. I’ll do a few live shots here and there, mostly for actual television channels who are covering the launch of the site. Promos, I guess you could say. Honestly, the best thing is all of this is new for us too. So we’ll see what works and what doesn’t.”

“Sounds more like you don’t have any idea what you’re doing to me,” Rick said.

Matthew frowned at him, which gave me a little thrill for reasons I wasn’t interested in exploring at the moment.

“It’s a new site, that’s true. But the people behind it are pros. And I’m new to working in front of the camera, but I wouldn’t be here if I couldn’t handle it.”

“Where would you be, back at your computer writing lies about us?”

I took a deep breath. “Look, I get it. You guys only know me from what I’ve written. And gossip blogging isn’t exactly doing the Lord’s work. I won’t apologize for it, but I also won’t pretend I don’t understand how you feel. This is different.
HSTV
isn’t about spreading rumors. It’s about showing people the real story. Looking behind the hype. Seeing the truth. That’s what you give your fans at your shows. This is just expanding the audience.”

“Seeing the truth?” Rick took a half step forward before stopping himself. “You mean like buying and showing pictures of people mourning at a private funeral service?”

Becca stood up and called his name.

I held a hand up to her. I knew this would come up and I was ready for it. Not only had I outed Rick and Julia as a couple, the article I wrote about Ryan’s death pretty much got me this new job. I’d have to be an idiot to expect anything less than a strong negative reaction. And as much as I didn’t want to have to deal with it, in the long list of bad shit that’s gone down in my life this ranked very, very low.

I looked at Rick and then each of the others in turn. “I know it must have been hard to see those pictures and read that story. But the whole world mourned with you. They all saw how much you loved your manager and how much you leaned on each other to deal with losing him. I’m really proud of that article. It was honest and respectful. And as much as it may hurt, it was news. Ryan’s death was real news. And now all your fans know his name. Know how much he meant to you. I hope you can see that as a good thing.”

My eyes scanned the room again, curious how that had gone over. Joe was nodding. Dex was sitting up straight and looking at me for the first time. Matthew was smiling faintly.

Rick, on the other hand, seemed unmoved.

“This is bullshit. I’ll dance like a good trained monkey when I have to, but I’m not sticking around for this.”

He glowered at me and held out his arms as if daring me to respond. I kept my mouth shut. He grunted something and stomped off down the hallway.

Dex laughed. “Meeting adjourned? I’ve got a date with a freshly restocked minibar.”

A while later I’d spackled on more makeup and changed into something camera-ready. I was standing in front of Dream Defiled’s tour bus, rattling off the alphabet for Steven. He was half-hidden behind his camera, getting some audio levels before the band arrived.

“Are we good?” I asked. “I’m starting to hypnotize myself over here.”

He flashed a ‘thumbs up’ and then flipped me off.

I laughed. “Nice.”

He lowered the camera and smiled at me. “We’re ready. Everything looks and sounds great.”

“Good. Here they come.”

The band followed Becca over to us. I stepped to the side so Steven could catch them climbing onto the bus. No one looked at me. Once they were on, I shifted back into frame and rolled through a brief intro, explaining where we were and why. Then I turned and boarded the bus myself, carefully.

As I passed the driver I signaled and he shut the doors as we’d arranged. I stood there for a few moments until my phone vibrated. I checked it and read a message from Steven that the shot was good.

I thanked the driver and he opened the door again. Becca and Steven climbed up and she headed towards the main seating are where the guys were while Steven and I chatted briefly about where I should sit for the short ride to the stadium.

It was kind of funny, really. On one hand we had a huge responsibility and budget to match, launching this new project. But on the other hand, it was just me and my brother out here, not even a producer to guide decisions. Some people might have found that more stressful, but I liked it. Being in control, not having anyone looking over my shoulder made me happy.

Once the camera was situated and my chosen spot was lit, I told Becca we were ready to go. I noted a bit of irritation in her voice and decided we needed to be quicker. The last thing I wanted was for the band to feel like we were holding things up.

As we pulled out from the parking lot, I leaned over and spoke to Steven. “From now on, we need to pre-plan setups better. And if we can’t, we’ll just have to wing it, count on production to fix any lighting issues.”

“Agreed.”

Behind me there was silence.

I turned and looked. The band members were draped comfortably over furniture, but no one was speaking. “Guys, we’re not getting any audio during the ride. Feel free to do whatever you’d normally do on the bus.”

Rick snorted.

I bit my tongue and turned back to Steven. “Want to get some footage, just so we have it?”

“Yep.”

I sat up straighter in the padded leather seat. “Am I okay here?”

Steven picked up the camera and looked for a moment. “Um, you look kind of isolated. Like you’re not part of the group.”

“Story of my life,” I muttered, smiling. I turned again. “Would anyone mind coming up here for a few seconds?”

Unsurprisingly, no one jumped at the chance to come sit with me. I rolled my eyes. “You don’t have to talk to me, just sit here for two minutes.” I looked at each member of the band in turn to see who might be willing. They ignored me. And then my gaze swept over to Matthew. He was looking right at me. I raised an eyebrow.

Matthew shrugged and stood up. He walked towards me, his gait slow and languid. I wondered briefly how many hundreds of hours they’d spent on tour buses, practically living on the big moving apartments. Now, I’d learned, they mainly traveled by private plane for long trips and the luxurious buses like this one were reserved for short hauls and photo ops.

The quiet blond sat down in the chair directly across from me and for a second I found myself flustered as his intent gaze locked onto me. “What do you want me to do?” he asked, voice low and smooth.

I blinked a few times before I could answer. “Nothing, really. You can talk to the guys or to yourself.”

“As long as we’ve been together, those are much the same thing,” he said drily.

I laughed and felt a real smile stretching my face wide as I forgot all about Steven’s camera and the bumping of the bus along the road.

“Thanks for helping me out,” I told Matthew. “I appreciate it.”

“This isn’t exactly difficult.” He smiled. “Besides, I wanted to tell you something.”

My stomach did a little flip that I chose to blame on the giant burger I’d eaten for lunch. “What?”

Matthew leaned over towards me, his hair sliding down over one eye. “Don’t let the boys get to you. We’re all a mess of nerves and it’s not about this video shit. You do your job, we do ours. Okay?”

I nodded. “Okay. And… thank you.”

He shrugged again. “No big deal.”

But to me it was a big deal. And even after I’d told him he could go back to his real seat, I felt grateful. It was only the first day, but that moment of kindness made me feel so much better. Like maybe this wasn’t an impossible task. Besides, if I could get the famously shy Matthew Daniels to speak to me, anything was possible.

Once we got to the venue, the real work began. After conferring with Becca and Steven, I had thirty minutes for a brief group interview on the bus before we all headed inside for the band’s rehearsal. After that we’d go back to the hotel on our own to upload footage while they did whatever they did.

I had a long list of questions, but wanted to be careful not to push too hard too soon. All the television shows and movies about interrogations said it was important to develop a good rapport with your subject before going in for the kill. Seemed like good advice for dealing with suspected murderers and prickly rock stars both.

What impressed me, once we got started, was how professional the guys managed to be once the lights were on, the mics were hot and the camera was rolling. The general iciness I’d been feeling melted away as if by magic. Joe turned on his charm to eleven and had me almost blushing in seconds.

“Joe, how excited are you guys to get this show going?”

He grinned broadly. “Words can’t really express it, Ellie. While we all appreciate the time off, and needed it, we live for playing shows for our fans. It’s like breathing for us, so yeah, we can’t wait.”

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

“What about nerves? Are you guys too experienced to get pre-show jitters?”

This time Dex chimed in. “I’m not. We still have two days and I’m already a nervous wreck.”

“I’m not sure I believe that,” I told the gorgeous Brit.

“I swear. Like Joe said, this is what we live for. So it’s a big deal. We want to put on the best show we can, every single time.”

“Well, considering there are people already lined up to see you, I think your fans feel the same way.”

I was starting to get into the groove now and began to relax. Of course, everything was surface and easy. I didn’t ask about pressure from their label, or how much money had been lost when they’d canceled half the tour dates. I didn’t bring up the tension between the members of the band that had boiled over into public arguments and reportedly – fist fights. And, of course, I didn’t mention Ryan’s name. Or the car accident that had left Matthew himself injured and their manager with a blood clot in his brain that eventually killed him.