What to Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection (WTRAFSOG Book 5)

by Cathryn Fox

  She put her hand to the laptop and considered changing her musical choice to something else. Before she could click a button a pounding knock came at the door. Amy jumped and Julie gasped.

  “What the hell…”

  “Someone’s at the door,” Amy said. “It echoes so loud in here.”

  Amy hesitated as she walked to the door. She couldn’t believe she let herself live in such fear all the time now.

  She slowly opened the door and saw nobody standing there. When she looked down, she saw an envelope on the floor. Amy bent down as she scanned the hallway and took the envelope. She stepped back and closed the door.

  “What is it?” Julie asked.

  “I don’t know,” Amy said.

  She turned the envelope around and it wasn’t sealed. When she opened the flap, her jaw dropped. She pulled out a ticket. A ticket to the Fallen Tuesday concert that night.

  “No way,” Amy whispered.

  “What’s wrong? Is it from Denny?”

  “Not at all,” Amy said.

  She turned and rushed to the window. She get to the second part of the envelope but she didn’t care. Looking out the window, Amy saw a black car driving away.

  “No… way…”

  “Amy, you’re starting to scare me,” Julie said.

  Amy turned and held out the concert ticket. “It’s a ticket to the Fallen Tuesday show tonight.”

  Amy checked the envelope again and saw a piece of paper.

  It was a note.

  At least I know you’ll be safe tonight.

  Call me…

  The note was simple, the implications not at all.

  “Is it from Luke?” Julie asked.

  “It is,” Amy said. “I have to call him. He wants me to call him. He gave me his phone number.”

  “You have the phone number for the lead singer of Fallen Tuesday?”

  “Yeah, I do,” Amy said.

  It felt surreal. Amy stood for a few seconds waiting to wake up. It all had to be a dream. A pretty good dream… if it were a great dream, Luke would be in Amy’s bed waiting for her.

  Amy blushed.

  “This is amazing,” Julie said.

  “This is too much,” Amy said. “Let me go call him.”

  Amy rushed from the room, leaving Julie with the concert ticket. As far as Amy was concerned, the phone number was more important. This was such a sweet gesture, but it was just way too much.

  As Amy sat on her bed, her phone in one hand, Luke’s number in the other, she had the strange feeling of being much younger. Butterflies flew frantically in her stomac, and a large smile covered her face. The problems of the real world meant nothing in that moment as she dialed Luke. Luke Nolan, lead singer of Fallen Tuesday.

  It’s too real… way too real to be true…

  The phone rang and after the second ring Amy hung up.

  “What am I doing?” she whispered.

  She threw the phone to her bed and fell back. Was she really going to call the lead singer of one of the biggest bands in the world… and say what? Tell him thanks for the ride last night. Thanks for the ticket. Tell him he didn’t need to do that. Remind him that he was in a band and wouldn’t be in Syracuse forever. Just because someone wanted to do something nice, did it imply a long term relationship? Amy squeezed her eyes shut and hated herself. She hated that she looked into everything with such depth. None of it mattered. Even if Luke wanted her at the show, wanted her backstage, wanted more, that didn’t mean he would get everything he wanted. Amy had control.

  That’s why she had hung up.

  To prove she had control.

  Her phone rang and Amy groaned. She saw it was the number she had just dialed. Of course Luke would call right back, who wouldn’t? Amy had let the phone ring twice and then hung up.

  “I’m a fool,” she grabbed the phone and pressed accept. “Hello?”

  “Amy? Is that you?”

  “That’s me,” Amy said. “Is this Luke?”

  “It’s me,” Luke said.

  His voice sounded even hotter on the phone. Now that she could make the full connection between the man who helped her and the man who was a rockstar, it was really sexy.

  Really sexy.

  “You left something at my door,” Amy said.

  “I know. I hope I wasn’t out of line. I felt kind of stupid doing it.”

  “Why didn’t you knock and wait?”

  “I don’t know,” Luke said. “I thought it would be more interesting this way. Plus, you called me.”

  “I sort of called you.”

  “Why did you hang up?”

  “I don’t know why,” Amy said. “Is that an answer?”

  “It can be. Are you coming tonight?”

  Amy blushed. Did she really just think something sexual over a simple question?

  “You want me to come see your band?”

  “We’re a really good band,” Luke said. “You’d have fun.”

  “You sent one ticket. What about my friend?”

  “Friend?”

  Amy sensed worry in Luke’s voice. For all he knew, Amy could have a boyfriend.

  “I have friends. Am I supposed to come alone tonight?”

  “That was sort of my plan. You get to sit in the very best seat, and when the show’s over, I’ll come get you and we can hang out.”

  “Hang out?” Amy asked.

  “I was thinking of celebrating the show with dinner.”

  “Dinner with me?”

  “Dinner with you… the band… know any good restaurants?”

  Amy laughed. The butterfly feeling returned to her stomach. “I know a couple decent ones.”

  “Can you get a big table at your restaurant?”

  “Well, it’s not my restaurant. My uncle was supposed to retire, but he… why am I telling you this?”

  “I don’t know,” Luke said, laughing. “But I’m listening.”

  “I’m sorry,” Amy said. “I’m kind of nervous right now.”

  Amy closed her eyes and slapped her forehead.

  Did I just admit that?

  “No need to be nervous,” Luke said. “Just be at the show. You need a ride? I’ll send a car for you.”

  “I got my car back this morning,” Amy said. “All fixed.”

  “I’d rather send you a car,” Luke said.

  “Why?”

  “Well, Amy, I was hoping that after the show we can ride together to your restaurant. Talk. Be alone. I haven’t stopped thinking or worrying about you.”

  “You don’t need to worry about me,” Amy said. “I’m taken care of.”

  “That’s good. I’m interested. I want to know if I can help… and if I can’t, at least we can have some fun for one night, right?”

  Amy opened her mouth. She looked forward and saw the reflection of herself in the mirror at the other end of the room. Here she was in a position that so many women would kill for. A chance to go to a rock concert in a way that nobody else would experience. A free ticket. A free ride to the show. A chance to meet the band backstage and hang out.

  Everything Amy had done with her life played through her mind. She had always been a good girl. She never stepped over any lines or got into trouble. The worst thing she did was get involved with Denny. She never did anything crazy, wild, or fun. Uncle Tom had warned her to enjoy her day off.

  “I’ll be there,” Amy said.

  “I’ll send a car for five. Be ready.”

  The call ended and Amy stood from the bed. She was shaking. She was stuck between excited and nervous. Part of her still thought she was going to wake up from the dream she must have been stuck in.

  A thought came to her.

  I don’t have a Fallen Tuesday shirt to wear…

  Amy laughed and then dialed the restaurant. One of the hostesses, Becky, picked up.

  “Hey Becky, it’s Amy. Uncle Tom there?”

  “Hold on a second, let me get him.”

  Uncle Tom came on the line u
pset. “It’s your day off…”

  “I need to make a reservation for tonight.”

  “What?”

  “I’m coming in for dinner. A late dinner. I’ll need the kitchen open for a little while longer.”

  “What is this, Amy?” Uncle Tom asked.

  “I’m enjoying my day and night off. Just make sure there’s a big table available and some food ready. Love you.”

  Amy hung up the phone and tossed it to the bed. Her bedroom door opened and Julie stood in the doorway.

  “So…?”

  Amy looked at Julie. “I think I have a date with a rockstar tonight.”

  Chapter Seven

  Luke was on his third bottle of water. Sound check had been brutal. Simply brutal. The sound in the arena just didn’t feel right, no matter what Luke did to fix it. He walked the entire arena three times, trying to get the sound to fill it the way he wanted. When it came time to run through a few songs, his throat felt like there was a golf ball stuck there. It didn’t hurt so much to swallow, but it was hard to sing. He struggled to hit some notes and after just two songs, he called the sound check done and went for a bottle of water.

  Mack chased after him and grabbed his shoulder.

  “Dude…”

  “I just need some water,” Luke said. “I’m going to walk the arena again. Something doesn’t feel right.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah. Go play so I can hear it.”

  Luke went to the last row at the highest point of the arena. From the vantage point, the rest of Fallen Tuesday looked like small toy figures on stage. The sound was good, finally. It was Luke that had the sound problems… with himself.

  Luke sat down and thought about Dr. Hornsbury’s warning. He thought about Amy too. Part of him couldn’t believe she was going along with all this. Getting that ticket, leaving the note, waiting for the call, it all felt strange to do, but Luke wasn’t sure how else to do it. He didn’t want to just show up at Amy’s door with a ticket. It would seem like he was stalking her or something of the like. It was bad enough that he had met Amy when she was scared of whatever situation that had been following her.

  The band continued to play and Luke continued to think. He touched his throat and knew he had to get through the tour. When the tour ends, he’d go see Dr. Hornsbury. He’d take everything to the band and to Frank. They could still go into the studio and write. Luke could still write lyrics and prepare himself for vocal sessions. That would be the smartest thing to do. He just had to get through the rest of the tour.

  Luke coughed and it hurt. He closed his eyes. He swallowed the rest of the cough down, but that wasn’t cutting it. He coughed again. The pain so bad. Luke made a fist and punched the seat in front of him. He leaned forward and stared at the concrete.

  “Damn,” he whispered.

  He licked his lips and tried to let his throat calm. The urge to cough hit him again and Luke had to let it go. He coughed as hard as his body needed. He expected a lung to come out of his mouth, but when he stopped coughing, he felt a little better. When he opened his eyes though there were three small droplets of blood on the ground. Luke hurried and wiped his lips and saw a small trace of blood. He wiped the blood off his hand and stared at the blood on the ground. He slowly moved his shoe over the droplets and twisted his foot, smearing and dissipating the blood as though it was never there.

  If he didn’t see blood then it wasn’t there.

  “Just a few more shows,” he whispered.

  Luke made it back down on the floor, where the Fallen Tuesday fans would stand, push, raise their hands, sing songs, and sweat together. He watched the band on stage. They were done playing and they were all looking to Luke for his thoughts on the sound. For a moment Luke felt like he could cry.

  “Sounds good,” he yelled, instantly regretting it.

  He winced and hung his head. He drank more water as he walked to the side of the stage. Mack was there waiting for him, concerned.

  “You don’t look right, my man,” he said. “You look worried. Tired. Sick. I don’t know.”

  “I’m fine,” Luke said. “I invited that woman here tonight. I gave her a ticket and I’m having a car pick her up.”

  “You’re nervous about that?” Mack asked. “There’s going to be thousands of women here that would do twice as much for half your effort.”

  “I know,” Luke said. He looked to the stage. “Sounds good now.”

  “Yeah, it does. It’ll be a good show.”

  “Great show.”

  Gray, Trent, and Jake came over, Jake with a guitar hanging from his back.

  “What do we think?” Trent asked.

  “All set,” Luke said. “Let’s go rest before the show.”

  “I need a drink,” Gray said. “A stiff one.”

  “I second that,” Mack said. “To the bus, my friends.”

  Everyone started walking, Luke cut into the bathroom. He had the urge to cough but was afraid to do so in front of the band in case blood came out again. He didn’t want to imagine that scene.

  In the bathroom, Luke hung over the sink for a few seconds. He took deep breaths, hoping the coughing feeling would go away. It did, for about two seconds. Luke closed his eyes and coughed. He hesitated to open his eyes, but then he heard knocking at the door. It opened and Mack’s voice rang out.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Nothing,” Luke said. He turned, and as he did, he saw blood in the sink. “I was just washing my hands. I touched something up on one of those seats. Kind of gross, man.”

  “Okay then. Let’s get going.”

  Luke left the bathroom as Mack held the door. Luke ran to catch up to the rest of the band. He needed to shake it all away. Nothing mattered more than the band and the show. The high of rock n’ roll, and the passion from the fans, it would lift him beyond the pain and blood.

  He also had a feeling that Amy would help ease the pain…

  Mack snuck into the bathroom and let the door shut behind him. He knew it was bullshit Luke needed to wash his hands. Luke never washed his hands. It was the lamest thing he’d ever heard in his life. When he saw Luke’s face and paired it with the way he had been acting the past day or two, Mack worried Luke was messing around with drugs. He wasn’t the same Luke. If he was messing with drugs, that would be a situation the band would have to face together. Sure, they liked to drink. They liked to party. They enjoyed themselves. However, drugs never became part of the picture, mostly because they couldn’t afford drugs.

  Until now.

  Luke had plenty of money, more than the rest of the band because of the Chasing Cross shows he played.

  Mack looked around the bathroom. He used his foot to lift the toilet seat. The water was clear. The trashcan was empty. Then came the sink. At first, Mack wasn’t sure what he was looking at. It was a few red spots. Like someone had dripped…

  “Blood,” he whispered.

  Mack reached with a finger but caught himself.

  He didn’t know it was Luke’s blood.

  If it was, where did it come from?

  Maybe Luke had done something embarrassing and cut himself. Maybe he was too afraid to say something… but probably not. Mack had a terrible feeling inside. Luke had hurried into a bathroom and now there was blood in the sink.

  “Shit,” Mack said. He looked up into the mirror. His face was white. “What’s happening to Luke?”

  Mack turned the water on and let it wash the blood away. He left the bathroom and walked the hall slowly. There was something wrong with Luke. He had trouble singing the other day. He had trouble with the sound check. Now there was blood in a bathroom sink.

  Mack kicked the backdoor open to the arena. He was pissed off. He made fists, wishing he had his bike with him. On the next tour he would definitely make it happen. Right now was the kind of moment when he needed to go for a ride to clear his mind. So much had happened with the band in the past six months. Now they were wrapping up their first re
al big tour and were set to hit the studio for another album.

  Fans screamed Mack’s name, snapping him out of his trance. He saw four people standing at the gate. He noticed that cars were already starting to pull into the parking lot.

  Talk about dedication…

  Mack went to the gate and signed autographs for the four fans. He took two pictures, laughed, and then hurried to the tour bus. The second he climbed up the steps his eyes searched for Luke. He sat facing the window, lost in thought.

  Maybe he was high.

  Maybe he was hiding something.

  Maybe he was afraid.

  Mack walked to Luke and smacked his arm. “You sure you’re okay?”

  Luke looked up at Mack. “I’m fine, man. Just fine. Ready to play tonight.”

  Mack nodded. One thing the bandmates had never done was lie.

  Luke had just lied. Mack knew it.

  He wanted to be angry, but he was more concerned… whatever was going with Luke must be really bad.

  Amy stared at her watch. After pinching herself all day, a black car pulled into an empty parking spot at five o’clock. Amy froze at the window.

  Luke was true to his word.

  The driver’s door opened and Amy rushed to her door. She didn’t want to inconvenience the driver. Amy left her apartment and with each step she took to leave the building she felt her heart racing faster and faster. By the time she saw the driver, her mouth had run dry. She was nervous. So nervous.

  “Ma’am,” the driver said. He opened the backdoor and pointed.

  Amy walked to the open door and let out a small cry. There on the seat was a folded Fallen Tuesday t-shirt. She climbed into the car. She stared at it, shaking her head. She had admitted to Luke that she didn’t own a Fallen Tuesday t-shirt. Now she did.

  The entire ride was like a fantasy. The black car pulled into the arena lot and was able to bypass all the cars waiting in line. The parking lot was flooded with cars and fans. Amy was in awe. People really loved Fallen Tuesday.

  The car continued around to the back of the building before finally stopping. Amy reached for the door handle but then stopped. Was is the driver’s job to open the door? She didn’t like the idea of someone opening a door for her. She could do it herself. Just as she tried to pull the handle, the driver opened the door. He helped her from the car and then walked her to a side door labeled VIP and the second Amy stepped inside, she was asked for her ticket and then shown to a small gathering of about twenty people, all wearing Fallen Tuesday shirts and hats. They had posters, signs, and CDs.