The Last Rock King

by Seven Steps

  “Things like what?”

  “Like, what does all of this money mean if the people you care about are gone. I guess I spent so much of it because I didn’t have anyone I wanted to share it with.”

  His hand searched for hers in the darkness. “And now that it’s drying up, I don’t know what to do. I feel like I failed. I mean, what is a washed up rock star in debt up to his eyeballs going to do with the rest of his life?”

  “Be smart,” Cassie said.

  “What?”

  “You’re going to be smart. Invest, downsize, have a plan B. And for god’s sakes don’t marry some gold digger with a pretty face who’s going to rob you blind in a year.” She turned her head to him. “Maybe it’s time to stop being just a musician, and start being a businessman.”

  He was quiet for a while. Their hands were still clasped when the sun rose.

  ***

  The call went straight to voice mail.

  Cassie had been trying to get a hold of Brenda for hours, with no response. And now, the calls were going straight to voice mail.

  “Where are you, Brenda?”

  A knock had her raising her head to the door. She went to open it, and found her father on the other side.

  “You ready, dear?”

  “Yes.” She looked back down at her phone, worry on her face. “I was just trying to reach someone.”

  “You can try again in the limo.”

  She tucked her phone into the pocket of her tennis dress and went to pick up her suitcase.

  She felt her father walk past her. He clicked on the television, watching it with interest.

  A short-haired, caramel skinned news reporter was talking. The television was on silent, but Cassie didn’t need volume to know the truth.

  Floating next to the news reporter was a picture of Brenda.

  “Oh no!” Her hands covered her mouth.

  Her father turned around. “What’s wrong? Did you know the girl?”

  Cassie shook her head. “No. I mean, I’ve seen her, but I didn’t know her well.”

  Was this Dondo? Cassie wondered. Could he do something like this?

  Walter grunted and turned back to the television.

  “Let’s get you a cup of coffee before we head out. It’ll calm your nerves.”

  He clicked off the television, picked up her suitcase, and, with one gentle hand on her back, led her from the hotel room. They grabbed a coffee along the way, before the two of them handed their suitcases to the driver, and climbed inside.

  Dondo was already waiting for them, his head rolled to the side, his eyes closed.

  Cassie studied him in his sleep. His olive skin, his dark hair, full lips, t-shirt, shorts, and expensive sneakers.

  Was this man a killer?

  The thought followed her through the airport, and into the private plane that would take them to Germany.

  Noah was followed by the usual group of professionals that surrounded him at any given second. They had picked up a new crew of eight background dancers, six women and two men. They would stay with Noah for the European leg of the tour, and be deposited back in the UK after Noah did his final show there.

  Cassie stayed close to her father as the plane took off. Stayed close to him as he fell asleep for the hour and a half trip. She only turned her head when Noah touched her elbow.

  “Hey, the old man’s asleep, let’s go.”

  She looked behind him, saw Dondo flirting with one of the dancers.

  “I think I’ll just stay put.”

  He frowned deeply at her. “Why?”

  She sighed, tried to pick her words carefully. “What do you know about Dondo?” she asked.

  He smirked. “Dondo? He’s my best friend. Why do you ask?”

  Cassie began to speak, and shut her mouth with an audible click.

  If I say anything against Dondo, Noah will never believe me. But, maybe there’s nothing to say. Maybe it’s all a coincidence.

  “What’s wrong? You look like you’re thinking about something.”

  Cassie shook her head. “No. I’m fine.”

  Noah smiled at her, ran a finger down one cheek. “Well, why don’t you come to the back of the plane, and I’ll turn that frown upside down.”

  “In only five seconds?”

  “If you’re extra good, I think I can make it to ten.”

  “What about your lack of control?”

  “It’s a short flight.”

  His gaze held her, bending her to his will. By the time she stood to follow him, her lips were abuzz in anticipation of Noah, and his now infamous five-second kisses.

  Chapter 19

  Germany

  It was early afternoon when Cassie knocked on Noah’s door. She had just gotten back from talking to the head of security at the concert venue about the murders. She’d chosen her words carefully, not mentioning Dondo or Noah.

  “I’m afraid that someone is targeting the girls at the concert,” she’d said. She’d then recounted what happened to Kelly and Brenda. “Can you keep an eye out for anything suspicious?”

  The head of security had assured her that his team would, then waved her to the door.

  Dismissed, she thought. Like a common lunatic. What kind of security runs these places anyway?

  Her darkened mood lifted a bit when her phone vibrated in her pocket and she saw Noah’s name in bold black letters above his cryptic text message.

  Lesson in five minutes. Food will be provided.

  Their gazes met when he opened this door, his well-muscled body leaned against the wooden frame.

  “Room service?” he teased.

  She rolled her eyes, pushed past him. “Well, Mr. LaRock. What is this lesson that I’m supposed to learn?”

  Two guitars laid across the bed, one apple red and one a deep blue with a white curve along the body.

  “Forget something?” he asked, a grin on his face, his back pressed to the door.

  She raised an eyebrow. “Did I?”

  “I believe that the customary greeting is a kiss.”

  “I like to think of myself as unconventional.” She smiled.

  “Too bad. I’m very conventional.”

  She suddenly found herself wound in his arms.

  “Hello,” he whispered. He ducked his head, kissing her slowly, leisurely, as if they had all of the time in the world. When he pulled away all thoughts of murder flew from her mind.

  “I have a surprise for you.” He was gone, walking across the room and to the bed.

  She huffed, suddenly very uninterested in any surprise that was longer than five seconds.

  He picked up the red guitar and held it out to her.

  “We are going to learn to play guitar today,” he said.

  “We?”

  “Yes, we. I’m teaching you.”

  She shook her head. “You should know that I am not musically inclined.”

  “And you should know that I’m an excellent teacher.”

  She took the guitar from him, holding it with reverence.

  “Be careful with that,” he said. “It’s my favorite. I wrote four albums on that guitar.”

  He picked up the blue guitar and sat cross-legged on the floor. She joined him, holding the guitar tight to her chest, squeezing her fingers against the strings.

  He winced.

  “Okay,” he said. “Lesson number one. How to hold the guitar.”

  He placed his on the floor next to him, and went to sit behind her. He pressed her shoulders down and wrapped his arms around her, showing her the correct hold.

  “Now the body of the guitar needs to be straight, so loosen up a bit, sit up straight, get comfortable.”

  “Couldn’t we do this on a chair?”

  “Can’t correct you in a chair,” he said. “Besides, I like this better.” He kissed her shoulder, silencing all further arguments.

  “Okay, so the names of the strings. The top one is an E.” He strummed it. “A, D, G, B, and E.”

>   “There are two Es?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why are there two Es?”

  “Because they’re two different octaves.”

  “Why aren’t the letters in order?”

  “We will learn that in lesson two.”

  She laughed. “There are two lessons?”

  “No questions. Now,” he pointed to the first, thickest line at the end of the guitar, “this is the nut, that’s like the…”

  Her laughter echoed through the room.

  He restrained his own chuckles. “You’re impossible,” he whispered.

  “I’m sorry.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “Go on. Yes, the nuts.”

  She blurted out a laugh, felt his chest shake behind her.

  “I have been playing guitar for sixteen years and now, I can’t even. I’m done.”

  “No, no, wait. Okay. I’m sorry.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll be serious. Yes. Go on.”

  He sighed, quickly going through frets and how to place her fingers.

  “Okay, so, you got all that?”

  “Yes. Got it.”

  “So, we’re going to play a D chord.”

  He put his fingers on top of hers, gently pressing the tip of her pointer finger down on the G string. Her third finger went to the B, her middle finger on the bottom string. He picked up a pick, pressed it into her hand.

  “Okay,” he said. “Now strum.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. You’re fine. Strum.”

  She took a deep breath, ran the pick down the strings.

  It let out a pleasant sound.

  “Good. You’re a natural.”

  “It was just one strum.”

  “I can tell. Now, let’s do one string at a time. Remember, wrist, not elbow, loosen up, you’re doing great.”

  She strummed again, smiled when it came out just as pleasant.

  Noah taught her with patience. He praised her when she played the right note, and adjusted her fingers when she played the wrong one. Within an hour, she had picked up three chords, and played them with some fluency.

  “This was fun,” she said, pride coloring her voice. “I never thought that I’d play a guitar.”

  “This is just the beginning. If we practice every day, you’ll get better and better. Eventually, who knows, you may want to start a band, or join a band, or play back up on my album, or, you know, whatever.”

  She nodded her head. “Maybe.”

  He gave her a final kiss on the indent of her neck before standing, stretching, and picking the guitar up from her. He played a few chords, and laid it back down on the bed. When she stood, he handed her the blue guitar.

  “For you,” he said. “So you can practice.”

  She took the guitar from him, tried to strum, failed.

  “Apparently I’ll need a lot of practice.”

  “We’ll get there,” he said. “Don’t worry. Three lessons a day, two hours a lesson. In a year, you’ll be amazing.”

  “I don’t know. I’m leaving soon.”

  She wanted to take the words back as soon as she said them. His smile fell, his mood changing.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I forgot about that.”

  He turned, laying his guitar in a case, and smoothing down the blanket. “I guess I’ll order lunch. I gotta go do sound check in a little while.”

  “Okay.”

  She sat on the bed as the silence laid heavily upon them.

  She was leaving. She’d known it the entire summer, looked forward to it.

  Now, the thought turned her world a little greyer.

  I have to leave, she thought. I’m going to be a doctor. I have to leave.

  ***

  After a short nap, Cassie exited her room, on her way to the concert. Upon opening the door, she found a blonde, wide-eyed teen clutching a black suitcase to his chest.

  “Hello,” he said, his English broken. “My name is Hans. I have a delivery for Walter Washington.”

  “I’m sorry,” Cassie said, eyeing the suitcase. “He’s down at the other end of the hall, in room 214.”

  The teen’s cheeks reddened, his eyes flicking to the end of the hall.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said. He bowed slightly before quickly jogging away.

  Cassie shook her head. She took out her phone, texted her father that his delivery was here, and walked to the elevators. The show would start in a little while and she didn’t want to be late.

  She rushed down to the garage, then drove herself to the venue.

  Just the thought of seeing Noah again brought butterflies to her stomach.

  Why should it? she wondered. Maybe we’re moving too fast? After all, I’m leaving in a few days.

  The sad thought followed her as she arrived at her first aid station.

  Another woman was sitting in her office, thumbing through a magazine.

  “Hi,” Cassie said, eying the women sitting in her seat. “I think that this is my station.”

  The woman’s English was heavily accented. “Not anymore.”

  Cassie turned to find her father approaching, a weary look in his eye.

  “What’s going on?”

  “It means that your salary has been paid through the end of the summer, and you have been released from your nursing duties.”

  “What? Who ordered that?”

  “Noah. He seems to think that you would be better utilized sitting in the audience rather than working as we’d previously agreed on.”

  Cassie’s anger went into orbit.

  “What? I know that I didn’t do a whole lot, but I did my job when it called for it.”

  “That you did.”

  “And he has no right to fire me.”

  “There is where you’re wrong. He had every right.”

  She ground her teeth, turning around in circles as she tried to wrap her head around the injustice.

  “Aren’t you going to do anything?”

  “There’s nothing that I can do but tell you that I warned you. I told you to stay away from Noah, but apparently, you two have been sneaking around behind my back, haven’t you?”

  Cassie stayed silent, her eyes on the floor.

  “I thought as much. You know, I tried, I really did. I tried to protect you from him, to keep you on the right path. But, once again, I’ve lost control of the situation. First the sales, then the label, now you.”

  He began to mutter wildly, squeezing his hands together around an invisible neck.

  Cassie placed a nervous hand on his shoulder.

  “Walter. Walter, look at me.”

  He snapped out of his rant, looked her in the eye. Embarrassed, he straightened his back, cleared his throat.

  “Sorry. I’ve been under a lot of pressure lately.”

  “I know it.”

  “And I just want you to be happy.”

  “I know it.”

  He shook his head. Pressing the tickets into her palm with a force that made Cassie yelp, he said, “Stay away from Noah. It’s for your own good. He’ll use you and throw you away. You don’t need that in your life. You are going to turn out right, do you hear me?”

  Her brows furrowed, her mouth turned down in a frown. “We’re just friends. But, even if we weren’t, Noah and I are both adults. We can make our own choices.”

  “Not here. This,” he gestured around him, “is not some Yale campus full of inexperienced trust fund babies. This is my world. I say what’s right and wrong. I decide what goes. And I have decided that you and Noah are not to spend any more time together, got it?”

  “Whoa, Walter.” She spat his name at him. “You don’t get to parent me now. Where were you for the last sixteen years?”

  “Are you going to throw that in my face every time I say something you don’t like?”

  “Only when it’s relevant.”

  He itched the back of his neck, his eyes slits on his face. He shook his head at her. “Cassie Washington, you will heed me. Noah LaRock is not fo
r you. Stay away from him.”

  “Isn’t he supposed to be your protégé?”

  “That’s why I’m telling you to stay away. I know him. You don’t.”

  “I know enough. What? Do you think he’ll leave me like you did?”

  Walter threw up his hands. “I can’t win with you. I can’t win with any of it. If you won’t listen to me, then I’ll send you on the first plane back to Greenwich. You can bet on that.”

  “We’ll see if Noah allows you to send me away or not. Go ahead. Ask him.”

  They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity until finally, Walter turned away, his feet moving swiftly toward the stage, leaving Cassie with the oddest feeling in her gut.

  What’s his problem?

  Her eyes dropped down to the tickets in her hand. She felt bad for the things that she’d said, but that didn’t mean they weren’t true. Walter couldn’t hope to parent her now. The only thing he could do was try to be her friend. They were way past anything else.

  With her tickets in hand, Cassie waited until her father was out of sight before she followed his path. She’d see Noah’s show, and then she’d give Noah an earful. After that, she would try to save a life.

  ***

  The concert was amazing. There was no doubt about that.

  With each new song, the stage exploded in color. It settled in a soft, foggy blue for the ballads, and pulsed angry red for the up-tempos. Sometimes the stage would turn into a turquoise sun, sometimes it would burst with fireworks that seemed to go on forever. For one song, it turned completely white. For the encore set, the stage erupted with fire, while lights searched the crowd.

  The crowd was a living, breathing organism, controlled with an iron fist by the sounds that came from Noah’s lips. They jumped when he commanded, screamed when he ordered, flung their hands in the air, and danced when he pleasured.

  By the end of the set, Cassie’s heart pounded, her soul felt alive, and she had formed quick friendships with the girls around her. They were here for a common purpose. To worship at the feet of Noah LaRock. She fell in line, joining them as they did their obeisance.