Superstar (2 page)

Thad gave her a long considering look. For
the first time he realized just how lost she was. The wistfulness
in her tone was surprising coming from someone who had achieved
superstardom on an unprecedented scale.

“So what are you going to do now?” he asked,
not sure he wanted to know the answer.

“The only thing I can do. Sing.”

Chapter Two

Four Months Later

“Do tell me B.T., what part of fuck no are
you having difficulty comprehending?” Bryan snarled.

Thad sighed as he
walked into the rehearsal studio wondering what Bryan and B.T.,
their flamboyant manager, were fighting about now. Not that it
really mattered. It was always something. It was just past nine in
the morning and it was already indescribably hot outside, but the
studio was chilled to a temperature generally reserved for morgues.
The room was small, especially by L.A. standards, but the acoustics
were exquisite and the electronics were the best to be had. Storm
Crow had been using the facility since its inception and were
loathe to practice or record elsewhere, even if the gray egg carton
walls and cork floors had seen better days.

“I understand perfectly well what you’re
saying, guys. I just want y’all to seriously consider it,” B.T.
said.

“We’ve thought about it old man, we simply
don’t want that young lady on the tour,” Jon said in his usual soft
voice. “She’s seriously bad news and would harsh the hell out of
our mellow.”

“And we don’t appreciate the way you leaked
the story to the media,” Twist added.

Thad dropped his bag next to his guitar. Of
course, they were fighting about Sioux Dupree. He was pretty pissed
about that too.

“I didn’t--” B.T. started.

“Don’t lie!” all four band members said in
unison before their manager could complete the denial.

“Guys, I’m just saying we’re beginning the
North American leg of the tour and our opening act is down with the
flu. Sioux Dupree is ready and eager to open for you. What could it
hurt?” B.T. said. Somehow the earnest expression looked out of
place on his face. Thad wondered about that. Their crafty manager
used to be much better at playing sincere.

“What could it hurt?” Bryan bellowed. “That
woman is nothing but trouble. It’ll only be a matter of time before
she’s back in rehab. I’ve been in business with a junkie before. I
have no interest in doing it again. We don’t need an opening act.
We can go on without one,” Bryan said.

“It’s not the same. She’s an opening act,
not a part of the band. You’re not going into business with her.
Besides you don’t even know her Bryan,” B.T. insisted.

“She’s been stalking me for years. She tried
to give me a blowjob at the VMAs and she was just a teenager then.
God only knows what she’s up to now.”

Thad sucked in a deep breath and raised his
brows. This was news to him. He’d known Sioux for a while and she’d
never mentioned this. Swear to God the woman was like peeling an
onion. Despite himself, he felt an emotion he immediately
recognized as jealousy. Jealousy? He’d never looked at her
that
way
before. Well,
that
was a lie. It was impossible not
to see her as the beautiful glamorous woman she was, but it wasn’t
like he had any kind of relationship with her. He shook his head
and refocused on the conversation.

“Well, did you take her up on it?” Thad
wished the words back before they even left his mouth. Why the hell
had he asked that? In all honesty he didn’t want to know, and it
wasn’t like it was any of his business.

Bryan stared at him as though he’d grown
another head. “Of course not. She was a kid, besides I let that
groupie shit go a long time ago. I took her back to her mother. She
was so fucking wasted she probably doesn’t even remember it.”

Thad ignored the sigh of relief that welled
up in his chest as B.T. returned to the conversation. “She’s clean
now. Hasn’t used in a couple of years. She needs a comeback.”

“I’m sure she does, but not in my band. How
the hell did you get caught up with her anyway? I knew she’d got
her claws into Thad…”

Thad shifted restlessly under Bryan’s bright
blue gaze. “That’s not true,” he interrupted, annoyed by all the
speculation in the media about him and the former pop superstar.
“I’ve seen her at a few parties and we’ve hung out, but it’s not
like we’re dating or anything. She’s tried to get me to help her
get to you, Bryan.”

Bryan rolled his eyes.

“Not sexually, at least as far as I can
tell. She wants to play with us,” Thad continued as he began to
hook his guitar up to the amplifier.

“What’s that again? Why the hell is she
after us? She’s a pop singer,” Jon said, a frown peeping out from
under his overly long bangs, which gave him a sheepdog effect.

“Yeah, but she claims she really wants to
sing rock,” Thad said.

Bryan turned to B.T. again. “Have you heard
her?”

“Would I be talking to you if I hadn’t? I’m
telling you, son, she’s good. Really good. You know having her open
will bring all kinds of publicity to the tour.”

“We don’t need publicity,” Bryan said.

“Publicity is never a bad thing and it’s
damned hard to come by when you need it.”

“It is when its name is Sioux Dupree,” Bryan
said.

“Have you seen the way the paparazzi follow
this girl around? The ticket sales for this tour will go through
the roof,” the manager continued.

“The paparazzi follows me around, at least
they do when they can find me,” Bryan snorted. “Tickets for this
tour have been sold out for months.”

“Yeah, but we can always add dates. Sales of
the album are still softer than I would like.”

“Nobody sells albums anymore, B.T. We all
know that. The money is in touring,” Jon said.

“And that’s why adding Sioux Dupree to the
bill will be a goldmine. When that hits Twitter, everybody is going
to lose their tiny little minds, and the money will start rolling
in,” B.T. said.

Bryan looked around the room at the other
band members. “What do you guys think?” he asked with a sigh.

Thad thought about it for a long moment.
Despite his annoyance and unaccountable jealousy over the whole
VMAs thing, a sense of loyalty and fair play compelled him to say,
“I think we should give her a shot. You know, listen to her, see
what she’s got,” he said. And he wasn’t going to spend too much
time examining whether he had any other motive.

“Somehow I’m thinking you’ve already seen
what she’s got,” Twist said with a sneer.

Thad forced himself to inhale for a count of
three. The fact that he hadn’t ripped Twist’s throat out with his
teeth became more miraculous by the second. “That’s not true,” he
said. “I told you, I guess you’d call her a friend. She seems nice
enough.”

Bryan gave him a sharp look and Thad
immediately knew what the other man was thinking. He was right. He
shook his head in disgust when the other man said, “You stay away
from her. She’s nothing but trouble.”

“Man, I’m not the eighteen year old kid I
was when I first joined the band. I’m twenty-four years old and
have been choosing my own companions for a while now,” Thad shot
back, annoyance heating his face. “I still think we could at least
give her a chance. Why not? What do we have to lose?”

Bryan frowned at him, then turned to B.T.
again. “So what the hell are you getting out of this? Her dad is
her manager and that sonofabitch is at least as devious as you are,
so he’s not letting go of his cash cow. I know damned well you
don’t even get out of bed in the morning unless there’s profit
involved.”

B.T. gave Bryan a narrow-eyed stare. “Your
assessment of my character isn’t particularly flattering.
Legitimate, but not flattering. Her dad isn’t her manager anymore.
She dropped him after she crashed and burned three years ago, but
that’s not why I’m helping her.” Thad watched as he took a deep
breath and slowly let it out. “It’s Brodie.”

All four band members stared at him in
disbelief. Thad couldn’t believe that even B.T. had the nerve to go
there. Thad hadn’t been in the band when Brodie died of a heroin
overdose. He’d actually replaced the second lead guitarist, but
Brodie was one of the founding members and his ghost was
ever-present.

“I’m sure you know you need to explain
that,” Thad said when the rest of the members seemed to be at a
loss for words.

B.T. nodded. “This kid was a total mess.
More than anything she wants to get her career back as a rock
musician. To be honest, I think it’s the only thing that’s keeping
her clean. I don’t want to have another young person’s death on my
conscience,” he said.

“So you’ll put it on all our consciences,”
Jon said.

“There are things even you can’t say Bobby
Tom,” Bryan said through gritted teeth. “How dare you use Brodie’s
corpse to help you make money?”

Thad watched as florid color rose in B.T.’s
face. Apparently Bryan’s words had gotten under his skin. “What the
fuck are you saying? You know damned well I loved Brodie as much as
the rest of you. He was like a son to me. There are few things I
won’t do to make money, and this girl is a goldmine, but that’s not
why I want to help her.”

Thad knew they all saw the tears shimmering
in the other man’s eyes before B.T. lowered his gaze. The man was
as shifty as they came, but his emotions about Brodie were genuine
and they all knew it.

“You’re right guys. It’s wrong of me to try
to get y’all to help her,” B.T. said. Thad almost rolled his eyes.
Now that was pure manipulation. He could tell from Bryan’s
expression he knew it too, therefore Bryan’s quick capitulation
came as a surprise.

“Fine,” Bryan said. “When can she come in to
play for us? And can she sing rock? We are
not
opening with
a pop act.”

“Actually, she’s here right now, in the
hall.” B.T. stepped out of the studio and into the narrow dimly lit
hall that bisected the ancient building. There was another studio
across the hall and a rarely occupied office. Thad assumed B.T. had
Sioux stashed in one of the other rooms.

Thad shook his head, not sure why he was
ever surprised by B.T.’s ability to strategize his way through any
situation. When the manager returned to the room he had Sioux
Dupree in tow. Thad stared, barely recognizing the diminutive
singer. Her usual wild mane of cherry Coke colored hair was tamed
into long skinny braids that she’d pulled back into a ponytail. Her
face was scrubbed clean of makeup and she was wearing a plain white
sleeveless t-shirt with black jeans and low cut lambskin boots. The
large acoustic guitar she had slung over her back almost dwarfed
her fragile frame and nearly rendered her unrecognizable as the
lead singer of the best-selling girl band of all time.