“Yes, of course,” she rasps. “I understand that, I want to know what happened too. It’s all very strange. There’s something there that doesn’t quite fit.” She’s clearly been thinking about it too. “Someone knows what happened, and I just know that if we could get to that person then it would be okay.”
As she gives me an imploring look I feel compelled to continue on. “Well, I’ve thought about that a lot and that could work. There was some bar maid named in the article wasn’t there? She could know something… but at the same time I think that if it’s all related to organized crime then maybe she won’t speak. Maybe, if they like getting rid of witnesses, she’s gone too. You never know.” I don’t like that option, but I can’t deny it’s possible.
“Oh yeah, of course. I guess I never thought about that.” Her eyes flick towards me under her eyelashes, making her look absolutely adorable. “But you are going to America, right? That’s your plan? I mean, that’s all you can do, isn’t it?”
Of course, she knows that, she understands me well. “Yeah. I am. And I have a plan of what I’m going to do.”
“Okay shoot.” She gets more comfortable and stares at me, waiting for me to explain. “What are we doing?”
“We?” I don’t mean that, I mean this is something that is just for me. “No, just me.”
“Kian.” She takes my hands in hers. “You aren’t going through this alone. You know as well as I do that this is a journey that we need to go through together. You know that it affects me just as it does you. I need this mystery solving just as much as you do.”
“But it’s dangerous…” I try to let her know just why I’m not including her.
“I know it’s dangerous.” She rolls her eyes at me. “I know what the stakes are, but I also know that I need to do this. This means a lot to me, I need this mystery solved. And at the same time, I’m not letting you go into something dangerous alone either.” She pulls me to her and wraps her arms around me. “I cannot lose you. I just can’t. You get that, right?”
“I do get that,” I do my best to reassure her. “But reserve your judgement before you agree to this. I want you to hear my plan before you make a decision.”
“I’ll listen,” she warns. “But I’m coming.”
Chapter Eighteen - Tia
This is insane, I think to myself as I pace up and down backstage. I should not be here, why the hell am I doing this? I mean, I know the reasons that I’ve given myself but really? Is there any way that I can get out of it now? Can I turn back and change my mind?
“Are you okay, babe?” Kian asks while placing a gentle kiss on my shoulder. “You look nervous, is there anything that I can do?”
My ragged breaths get even shorter and sharper as I turn to look at Kian. The green and gray eyes of his are still and calm. He’s the one about to put himself on the line here but he looks cool, calm, and totally collected. How is it possible that I’m the one who’s a hot mess here? I turn to face him ad grip onto his arms, trying to soak in some of his calm.
“I should be the one calming you down,” I gasp. “Are you okay? Is there anything that I can do for you?” I glance towards the curtains, listening to the roar of people on the other side. “It’s really busy out there. Are you going to be alright?”
He breathes deeply and nods. “Yeah, I think so. I mean this is the biggest crowd that I’ve ever played for but then I’m not being me, am I? That, plus the reason I’m actually doing this, is driving me forwards, getting rid of any anxiety.”
When Kian first told me his plan I thought he was insane, but now I can see that he’s right. His crazy ass scheme might actually work here. Pretending to be Stephen, letting the press know that he didn’t die in the attack and that the police got it wrong certainly drummed up some attention. As far as I’m aware everyone has heard about the gig. It’s the sort of fame that Stephen could have only dreamed of. If it’s got the attention of everyone, then it must have got the attention of the killer too. If Stephen saw something that they’re scared of the cops finding out then this should draw them out. And if it does, the authorities will be waiting. It’ll put an end to a very long winded mystery that needs solving.
I just desperately hope that it works. There is so much that’s riding on it. Including us.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” I reply while pushing myself up onto my tiptoes to kiss him gently on the lips. “I’m glad you aren’t scared, but don’t be reckless. Please be careful.”
Maybe I have attachment issues when it comes to Kian but I really can’t just lose him. After everything that’s happened up until this point, it’s hardly any wonder that I’m clinging to him like there’s no tomorrow. He the source of my happiness, he gets rid of my loneliness. I’m not ready to say goodbye to that now… maybe not ever.
“I will be,” he whispers to me, placing his hand on the small of my back. “I promise you. I’m only going out there to sing a few songs anyway. It’s the cops doing the hard work.”
I mold into his body, allowing his embrace to comfort me. With his arms gripping onto me I feel a little bit safer than I did before but I’m not sure that it’s enough. I just want to cling to him and not let him out there. He’s mine, I want to wrap him in a bubble and keep him close. New Zealand feels like my bubble, our bubble. I feel much more exposed in the US. Maybe it’s because I know that my family is here and so are all the problems that I left behind, but since I’ve been back I haven’t had any involvement with any of them and that’s how I intend it to stay. I don’t want to see my father again and I’m quite happy to keep it to odd phone calls with my mother. It’s just easier that way.
“Have you heard the people out there?” he says with a chuckle. “It’s mad, isn’t it? So many people. They all want to see the dead guy.” His expression falls but he quickly regains himself. “I guess I’ll just have to give them the show of a life time.”
I step back as we hear the announcer calling out Stephen’s name. It’s weird to hear him mentioned like that, it stirs all kinds of sadness inside me. Despite what’s happened since I’m still sad that he’s gone. I really don’t think he deserved to die at all, no matter what he saw. He was a good guy, at least he seemed that way to me, and I’m sure he had so much more to offer the world. His life was cut needlessly short which just isn’t fair.
Still, hopefully if this goes to plan, and me and Kian fix this then everyone can move forward safe in the knowledge that we have the answers we so desperately need. Kian needs it, I need it, I’m sure his family desperately needs it. Without these answers, no one can move forward. We’ll all be stuck in a limbo forever, never moving on.
“Good luck out there,” I whisper sweetly to him. “I’ll be in the crowd waving up at you.”
I want to tell him that I love him because I’m pretty sure that I do, but I don’t say it yet. One, it’ll feel much too much like a goodbye, which this isn’t, and two I don’t want to freak him out. I know that he likes me, but I don’t think that he loves me and I don’t want to put the pressure on. Things are already strained enough between me and Kian. Not with our relationship but with the external factors surrounding us… this for example.
Instead, I will have to be content with just thinking it while pressing my fingers to my lips an shooting out continual kisses to him.
I love you, Kian Jones, You are my everything. I really don’t want to lose you right now, not when I think that you could honestly be the one for me. The happy ever after that I never thought I would get. I love you, I love you, I love you. I just can’t wait until I can tell you that for real. I will eventually, just when the moment is right.
I move backwards as Kian grabs his guitar. He nods at me does a silly little salute, which admittedly makes me laugh a little, but I do so with tears in my eyes. This has all moved too quickly, the plan came together too fast. I feel like we need just a little more time. I blow him a kiss and let him go, wishing it didn’t have to be this way.
Once I hear
him up on the stage I push my way through the backstage area out towards the crowd. I see the undercover cops everywhere as I go which reminds me just how serious this is. It wasn’t easy to get the police to agree to such a hair brained scheme but once we convinced them that Stephen’s murder was part of something much bigger, which we both really believe it is, then they started to come around. I really hope tonight produces results for them too or they won’t be so willing to help us again. This cost the force a lot of money and man power, I don’t want it all to be for nothing.
“Excuse me,” I mutter as I push past people. “Scuse. Thank you. Excuse me, scuse.”
Eventually I make it as close to the front of the stage as I can manage. It seems that Kian was right about one thing, people really do want a piece of the guy who’s seemingly risen from the dead. It sickens me a little, but maybe I would have been the same if I wasn’t bang smack in the middle of this situation. Maybe I would be with everyone else, with my camera phone held high taking pictures of the man that one small newspaper once reported had been killed.
As I watch Kian, I think back to the moment we went to the bar where Stephen was actually killed, trying to find Katie. I wasn’t keen to find her, I didn’t know what it would be like to find the woman who saw his dead body, but it was an avenue we had to at least try… but of course we got nowhere. The bar is no more, it’s too fire damaged to be anything at the moment, and no one around seems to know a girl called Katie at all. Kian thinks that her vanishing act is all part of the bigger picture, the mafia as he thinks it is, but I’m not so sure. I would much rather think that she’s just gone somewhere else to start a new life.
My eyes focus on Kian and I lose myself in the moment because it’s preferable not to worry about anything else. As I do, I remember the magical moment I saw Stephen playing for the first and only time on the cruise ship. As I watched him up on the stage, singing his heart out to people that were probably way too old to really appreciate his music, I felt happy for the first time in a very long time. He awoke something inside of me that I’d put to sleep long before.
Stephen Jones had such an impact on me that I ran all the way to New Zealand just to be near his memory. Somehow, even after all of this, I want to find a way to keep his memory alive. He doesn’t deserve to just be forgotten, it really isn’t right. I don’t know what I’m going to do just yet, but I’ll definitely do something. I owe him that much. Maybe it was only one night, but if it wasn’t for that night then none of this would have happened. I would probably still be in my parent’s home feeling miserable about my directionless life.
I hope you’re watching this, Stephen, I think while glancing my eyes up towards the sky. I hope you see how much your brother loves you. As an after thought, I add, I hope you don’t mind me and him either. We didn’t mean to fall in love, we just did. It just happened, but it’s the best thing for the both of us. We make each other happy. I hope you can understand that.
I don’t know if I imagine the warmth that circles me at that moment or not, but I choose to believe that it’s a sign. I choose to take it as a blessing because that’s what I need it to be,
The crowd goes wild as Kian rocks it, some of the girls even chant Stephen’s name. From my brief meeting with Stephen and everything that Kian has told me about him, I just know that he would have loved this. For Stephen, this would have been a dream come true. It’s just a shame that he had to die for it to really happen. Maybe if he’d remained alive he would have got here eventually but I suppose we’ll never know now.
His dream died with him.
I get into the mood, I shake my arms, I move my hips, I fall in line with the others. Dancing is the only way that I can forget a little bit how serious this is. I need to stop getting tied up in knots before I throw up over everyone, really ruining the festive mood. Of course, my eyes keep flicking back and forth as I try to locate anyone that looks out of place, anyone that might be suspicious, but I don’t see anyone. Everyone just appears to be having a good time which is a good thing as well as a bad thing.
If something is going to happen, it needs to happen soon before I lose my freaking mind.
Chapter Nineteen - Kian
So far, so good, I think to myself as the crowd goes wild. It all seems to be going to plan… except of course I can’t forget that the plan isn’t actually to give this crowd a good show, it’s to lure out Stephen’s killer. Or killers. I haven’t ruled out the fact that it might be more than one person. Of course, it feels good to be adored. I thought I’d thrown my dream to be famous away long ago but I can feel it coming back to life as the spark of thrill races through me. Maybe once this is all over, it’s something I can pursue again.
What was that? Every strange movement grabs my attention which is annoying because it’s a packed out concert hall of people acting crazy. Every crowd surfer, every person with a sign, everyone that leaps up too high… they all grab my focus which hopefully doesn’t take too much away from the music. Nothing, again, just keep on playing.
Eventually my eyes are drawn to Tia’s as the magnet pulls me back in and I’m instantly calmed all over again. The woman has such an amazing effect on me, I like her far too much. I stare into her eyes lovingly as I sing, remembering that night at Serena’s, when she sat in the coffee shop watching me, the very same night that our relationship changed from something platonic to something much more special.
I love her, I realize starkly. I actually, fell in love with her. I don’t know why I haven’t realized it before, I don’t know why it’s only just hit me now at a moment when I can’t share my feelings with her, but it has. It’s hit me hard and fast in the face, leaving me a little breathless. I love Tia with everything that I have. I want her to be mine forever.
Of course I do, it’s obvious. I wouldn’t have risked everything to be with her if I didn’t. I’ve fallen head over heels for the girl that my twin brother liked, at least for one moment he really liked her, and now I just want her to be mine. A determination settles over me, I decide that what I really need to do when I get back to New Zealand to take her to meet my family. I don’t want to hide anymore, I just want us to be together and I want the whole world to know. Our love is precious, it shouldn’t be hidden. Me and Tia are perfect together,
I hope you approve, Stephen, I think, hoping that if he really is stuck until this plane until we solve it all then he’ll more than likely be watching this right now. I know I would be! This is your dream come true… I’m just sorry that it’s too late.
I play for him, I play for our bond, I play because of our fights, I play because I ignored the one text message that he sent me which actually meant something, I play for my twin and to hopefully trap the bastard that put him in his grave too soon.
I also hope that you aren’t too mad about me and Tia… you know this wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t everything to me. If I didn’t love her, I would have stayed away.
An electricity sizzles through the air which I use to spurn me on. I play louder, better, I sing harder and the crowd goes absolutely wild. They’re loving every single second. I can even see Tia dancing away out there which is saying something. I’ve never seen anyone so anxious as her as we made our way over to America. She barley spoke on the flight, she didn’t say much as we went to see the burned out remains of the building where my brother lost his life, and she’s been ashen all day long. Because of all of that it’s nice to see her let her hair down. I want her to enjoy herself and I’m glad that it’s because of me.
I become overwhelmed with an excitement about what our life will be when we get back to New Zealand. Images fill my head of us fully immersing ourselves in one another’s lives, of us meeting friends and family, living together, getting married, maybe even starting a family… my eyes well up, I like the idea so damn much that I feel about ready to weep with joy. I might not have ever been the playboy that Stephen was but I haven’t really thought about settling down either, but I suppose that’s just
because the right girl hasn’t come along. Now she has, now she’s here and I’m ready to give her all of me…
Bang!
The noise is so loud I don’t know what it is at first. It rings through my eardrums at an alarming rate, freezing me to the spot. I try to move my head from side to side so I can work out just what’s going on, but it’s almost as if I can only move in slow motion. For a weird moment it’s as if time has stopped completely and there’s nothing I can do to restart it.
Then my guitar crashes to the ground with a thud, creating a massive racket and allowing the noise to whoosh back into my ears once more, almost knocking me to the ground.
Is that screaming? I think desperately as I try to search the crowd. What’s going on? Everyone is rushing off in every direction as if they know something I don’t. My brain hasn’t quite processed what’s going on so nothing is making any sense right now, all I know is that something has happened. As the man up on the stage, I feel like it’s my obligation to put it right and to do that I need my guitar.
I lean forward to pick it up which I instantly realize is a mistake. A searing pain tears through the left side of my body and when I glance down to see what’s wrong I see a redness that I know shouldn’t be there. A sticky, warm redness that’s oozing from my body at an alarming rate. I clutch the area where the blood seems to coming from which only makes it gush out more ferociously as if I’ve aggravated it or something.
Have I been shot? I think desperately as I stagger back and forth. Now that I’ve seen the wound I can feel it harder and it’s making my brain dizzy. My stomach feels sick, I want to vomit everywhere but I’m in too much shock to do so. Where are the cops? Aren’t they supposed to stop this?
Yours Forever Page 11
