Falling Angel

by Carmen Richter

  I jogged back onstage and looked in the VIP section for Taylor, Phoebe, Reagan, and Aaron. They all looked worried, and I smiled at them, hoping to give them some reassurance that I was okay. I knew they’d be concerned after watching me fall from my harness, and having been to my concerts before, they’d know that I hadn’t done all of my normal stunts and choreography because my ankle was hurting.

  Taylor and Phoebe grinned back at me, and one corner of Reagan’s mouth tipped up in a half-smile. Aaron still looked stressed, though.

  “This one’s for you, Taylor!” I said into the microphone, blowing a kiss at him.

  Taylor’s smile got even bigger, if that was possible, and he made a show of catching the kiss and blowing one back to me. I chuckled silently, then started singing on the next repetition of the intro.

  After singing one more song that I’d just written, which was called “Reason to Smile,” I walked off the stage, tore my microphone and earpiece off, and went to my dressing room. Yes, I needed to get to the hospital, but I needed a few minutes to decompress first.

  I sank down onto a couch in the room, and the first thing I did was grab the Chuck Taylors I’d been wearing when I got here and change my shoes. Then I pulled out my phone and opened my group chat with my tribe. These crazy people were my best friends, who I’d known since college, since I’d been playing gigs in bars and clubs, not imagining in my wildest dreams that I’d ever end up making music as more than a hobby.

  Since I’d become a professional musician, it seemed like everyone wanted something from me. But these guys? They’d never asked me for a damn thing, except for the occasional concert ticket when I was playing a venue close to our hometown, Ashview. And I was always happy to oblige, because I loved having friendly faces in the crowd. New York City was about three hours away, but I’d wanted a few of my friends in the audience tonight since it was a pretty monumental occasion, so I’d paid for a limo ride and swanky hotel rooms so Taylor, Phoebe, Reagan, and Aaron could travel in style.

  Just like I’d predicted, I had some worried messages from my friends who were here tonight. So, by this point, the rest of the gang knew too.

  Taylor: D!!! OMG ARE YOU OKAY???

  Phoebe: What the hell happened, Daph???

  Olivia: Wait, what happened?

  Dahlia: Did she get hurt?

  Reagan: We don’t know. Sam fell and got rushed off the stage during their entrance and then something happened with Daph’s harness during “Queen of the Angels” and she fell at least three or four feet onto the stage. She didn’t miss a beat and she put on a killer show like always, but she wasn’t doing all of her normal choreography.

  Elle: OMG!!! Daph, are you even alive right now???

  Harper: Divaaaaaa! Are you okay?

  I snorted at Harper’s message. She always called me “diva,” basically because she knew I wasn’t one. I took a deep breath as I typed my reply.

  Me: I’m good, guys. I think I sprained my ankle in the fall, but besides that, I’m fine. Headed to the hospital to get checked out and check on Sam now. I could tell she was hurting pretty bad when she fell. I hate doing this, but someone’s losing their job over this shit.

  Taylor: Oh, thank fuck. You’re okay.

  Me: T, Phoebs, and Reag, I’ll meet you guys back at the hotel in a little while. Hugh already called and told them to expect me at the hospital, so I don’t think it’ll take long. Probably just need my ankle wrapped and maybe get some prescription painkillers so I can still perform.

  Reagan: Okay. Just let us know if you need us to come there. Love you!

  “Sam,” I said as I walked into her hospital room. “I am so sorry, babe.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Samantha sighed. She sounded exhausted, or maybe a little loopy from the pain meds. “Everything was working during the sound check. No one could have known the shit would hit the fan like that. Heard about your fall too. Are you okay?”

  “I’ll be fine. It’s just a sprain. Would you believe the boots I was wearing actually saved me because the high ankle stabilized it?” I chuckled. “But it’s ripped jeans and Chucks for a few shows while it heals.”

  “Channeling your inner Avril Lavigne,” she snorted. “Nice.”

  “What about you? What’d the doctor say?”

  “Fractured elbow. I might need a few shows off until I can go without the pain meds,” she said apologetically. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t you dare apologize. Bailey and Willow can handle it by themselves. You take care of you. I might be canceling a couple of shows anyway. Until we can figure out what happened and why, I’m not putting anyone else’s safety at risk.”

  “Hugh’s going to have your ass for that,” she reminded me.

  “Well, he can kiss my ass. He’s not the one on the stage putting his life in the hands of the people who fucked up royally tonight.”

  “Don’t say that. Knowing him, he might actually kiss your ass,” she chuckled.

  I snorted. “True. Get some rest, Sam. Text me tomorrow, okay?”

  “I will,” she promised. “Go put some ice on that ankle.”

  I gave her a quick hug, then left and headed out the back entrance, where I’d come from, on my crutches. My ankle really was killing me.

  When I got outside, Hugh was waiting there with a private car.

  “What’s the verdict, doll?” he asked as he opened the back door for me.

  “Just a sprain. I can still perform, but I need to cut back on some of the stunts and choreography,” I told him as I sat down. “And no heels for a couple of weeks while it heals.”

  “Thank God. I heard Sam’s going to need a few shows off, though.”

  “Yeah, I just talked to her. I told her to take as much time as she needs.”

  “That wasn’t your call to make,” he scolded me.

  “She’s my backup singer. And my friend,” I reminded him. “And Bailey and Willow handled themselves great tonight without her. But we need to find out what happened and why.”

  “I had security vetting everyone. I even personally sat in on most of the questioning. We can’t figure out who did this or why.”

  I sighed and put my head in my hands. No one had been able to figure out what had gone wrong with the other two shows either, and who had been responsible for it. If we didn’t know who was responsible for this colossal fuck-up, there was only one thing I could think of to do. I hated even considering it because Lord knew times were tough right now. But I also couldn’t jeopardize not just my safety, but my band’s safety and my fans’ safety too. So I had no other choice.

  “Hugh, I need you to listen to me,” I said, looking up at him. “There’s no changing my mind about this. I want new stagehands, a new tech crew, and a new security team. Give everyone we’re letting go two months’ pay as severance and make it clear that we’ll give them a stellar reference for future employers. If we don’t know who did this, just like we didn’t know who messed with the shows in London and Paris, I don’t know who to replace. So I’m replacing everyone who could have had anything to do with it. And until it’s done and the new people are trained, you are canceling all of my shows. We can reschedule them on the tail end of the tour or during breaks.”

  “Do you have any idea how much that’s going to cost, Daphne?”

  “A whole hell of a lot less than an accidental death or dismemberment lawsuit if something worse happens,” I countered. “I’m not an idiot, Hugh. I hate doing this. I know how tough times are and I hate putting so many people out of jobs. But I have to consider my safety, my band’s safety, and my fans’ safety. And this is the only way I can think of to do that.”

  He sighed. “Okay, doll. I’ll get it done. You’ll have new staff by the end of the week.”

  “I’ll see you soon, jelly bean,” I said to Arielle, holding her tight to my chest. “I love you to the moon and back. You know that, right?”

  “I know,” she sniffled. “I love you too, Daddy. I wish you didn�
�t have to go.”

  Damn, I felt like the shittiest father on the planet. I’d never left her for this long before. I’d taken security jobs out of town, but it was never for longer than a month or two at a time. Now, I’d be gone for four months. Then I got a month off before another four-month stint. I knew my sister and brother-in-law loved Arielle like their own, but it still felt all kinds of wrong to foist her off on them for this long.

  “Me too, munchkin,” I told her. “But you know I’m taking this job because I love you, right?”

  “Yeah, I know. And it’s with Daphne! Do you think you’ll get to meet her?”

  I had to chuckle. At least being Daphne DeVille’s new head of security was going to get me some cool dad points. I swore, Arielle was the biggest Daphne DeVille fan on the planet.

  “I think I’ll have to meet her, since I’m her new head of security,” I said.

  “That’s so cool that you get to protect her!” she exclaimed.

  Sure, if you called working for an entitled princess who threw a hissy fit and fired half her road crew for no reason cool. I’d seen the articles all over Facebook about how she’d just lost her shit and fired her techies, stagehands, and security team for no reason whatsoever.

  I was prepared for four months of pure hell, having to do shit like fetch her coffee…if I even lasted that long. And I wasn’t sure the pay, as good as it was, was worth the trade-off of having to be away from my daughter for so long.

  My buddy Aaron had insisted that there was more to the story than what was in those articles, and that Daphne was actually really cool and laid-back. But Daphne was his girlfriend, Reagan’s, friend, not his friend. So he didn’t know her that well. He probably only knew the persona she put on for her fans.

  But I’d have to work with her every day. I was sure I’d get to see the real Daphne. The one no one talked about. The one who did things like fire half her road crew on a whim.

  “It is pretty cool,” I said with a smile, not wanting to shatter my daughter’s image of her idol. “Look, jelly bean, I’ve got to get going. But I promise I’ll FaceTime you later, okay?”

  “Okay,” she said, giving me another hug. “Love you, Daddy.”

  “I love you too, Ari,” I said, choking down the lump in my throat. “Be good for Aunt Rachel and Uncle Tim, okay?”

  “I will,” she promised.

  I let out a sigh as I walked out of Rachel’s guest bedroom and shut the door behind me. Rachel was standing there with a sympathetic smile on her face.

  “You know we’ll take great care of her, right?” she said.

  “I know. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you, Rach,” I told her as she walked me out of her house. “I hate leaving Ari for this long, but the pay for this gig is…”

  “I get it, Ezra,” she assured me. “She’s a platinum recording artist. Between the pay and the way it’ll look on your résumé, you can’t afford not to take this job.”

  “If I last that long. She threw a hissy fit and fired half her road crew. Aaron said she’s pretty laid-back and down-to-earth, but I’m not getting my hopes up. It’ll probably be hell,” I chuckled. “But at least I get cool dad points with Ari now.”

  She laughed. “I’m sure what she doesn’t realize is that you’ll be spending very little time with Daphne.”

  “Actually, I’ll probably be spending more time with her than you think. The company wants me to take lead on this.”

  “Ezra, that’s amazing! Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I just found out yesterday. The original guy backed out at the last minute because he didn’t want to be away from his family for so long. I guess I was the best available.”

  “Don’t go selling yourself short like that,” she scolded me. “You’ll be great.”

  “If I can deal with being stuck protecting a whiny, entitled princess,” I groaned. “Anyway, I’ve got to get out of here. I have to get to the office so we can head out, and I have to drop my car at Mom and Dad’s first. Our flight leaves in two hours. She sent a private jet for us.”

  “Be safe and text me when you land in D.C.,” Rachel said, giving me a hug. “I promise Tim and I will take good care of Ari.”

  I let out another sigh and headed back to my car. I really did hate leaving my daughter for months at a time like this, but I couldn’t take her with me.

  “Ready to meet our new slave driver?” I asked the guys as we got out of the van at the arena Daphne was performing in tonight.

  “Don’t judge the girl before you’ve even met her, man,” Hector laughed.

  “Normally I wouldn’t, but who fires half their road crew on a whim?” I countered.

  “Maybe there was a good reason for it,” Garth said optimistically.

  “I doubt that.” I opened the door and held it for the guys before walking in.

  “You’re the guys from Eagle Security?” a short, thin man with brown hair and glasses that were way too big for his face asked as he walked up.

  “That’s us,” I said.

  “Which one of you is…Ezra Ramsay?”

  “That would be me,” I told him.

  “Hi, Ezra,” he said, holding out his hand. “I’m Josh Griffin, Daphne’s tour manager. I work directly with her manager, Hugh Shapiro, who couldn’t join the tour.”

  “Nice to meet you.” I shook his hand. “This is my team. Hector Gonzalez here is my number two, and this is Garth O’Brien, Frankie Edwards, Neil Yates, and Pete Banks.”

  “Great to meet all of you. Sorry to ask you to come in when you just landed, but Daphne asked to meet with her new crew personally before sound check and the meet and greet. She’s pretty hands-on,” Josh explained.

  “Likes everything a certain way?” I scoffed.

  “No,” he said quickly. “Not at all. She’s super cool and easy to work with. I think she just wants to reassure all of you that your jobs are safe. She hated having to do what she did, but after what’s been happening at her shows and no one knowing who was responsible, she didn’t see another way to ensure her safety and her crew’s safety.”

  “You might have to get me up to speed,” I admitted. “My daughter’s the Daphne DeVille fan, not me.”

  The guys on my team snickered. They gave me a hard time for doting on Arielle so much—except for Hector, who was one of my closest friends and her surrogate uncle. But it was just me and her, so as far as I was concerned, it was just called being a good parent.

  “Daph wanted to explain all of that to you herself, actually,” Josh told me. “But before I take you to meet her, I have non-disclosure agreements for you all to sign. You’re welcome to read over them, but they’re pretty standard. What happens behind the scenes stays behind the scenes. Just for her protection.”

  “Understood. We’re used to NDAs,” I told him.

  We quickly signed the papers, then handed them to Josh. He scanned over them, making sure we’d all signed and initialed where we were supposed to, and then put them in a manila envelope.

  “Okay, looks good,” he announced. “Come with me. Daphne’s waiting in the green room.”

  He led us into a large room with a bunch of cushioned chairs, tables, and televisions, plus air hockey and foosball tables. On one table in the middle of the room, there was a huge stack of pizza boxes, and the whole room smelled like pizza, which made my stomach growl. And sitting in one of the plush chairs off to the side was the rock star my daughter idolized.

  Daphne was tiny, almost like a pixie. All of the professional pictures I’d seen of her showed a woman who had a commanding presence, just demanding the attention of everyone around her. Now, she looked almost timid. And, though she had a concert tonight, she was dressed in a dark gray hoodie, sweats, and sneakers, and had no makeup on. If it hadn’t been for that wavy, shoulder-length blonde hair with those famous pink highlights, I wouldn’t have even recognized her. Even though I’d already known what she looked like before walking into this room, I’d never seen a picture
of her like this before. And I was blown away by her natural beauty.

  “Daphne, the new security team’s here,” Josh said.

  “Hey, guys.” Daphne smiled as she got up to greet us. She was a good four inches shorter than she looked in her pictures. “You can call me Daph. We’re not formal around here. I’m sorry, I’m horrible with names, so it might take me a little bit to put names with faces.”

  “I’m Ezra Ramsay,” I introduced myself. “And I guess I’m your new head of security.”

  “Nice to meet you, Ezra,” she said, grinning and shaking my hand.

  The second my hand touched hers, it almost felt like an electric shock. I felt warmth flood through me where she’d touched me, like someone had just cranked the heat in the room up. I’d never experienced anything like it before.

  “And this is my team,” I said, then introduced each team member.

  Daphne was all smiles as she shook hands with everyone. Then she sighed.

  “Look, I know there have been some rumors flying around about why I did what I did, replacing half of my road crew,” she started. “So I want you guys to hear the truth from me. I hated doing what I did, but I didn’t see another option. At a few major shows recently, there have been serious equipment malfunctions. At my show in London, one of my guitarists got badly electrocuted by a faulty wire. At my show in Paris, a gate that was supposed to be a barrier between the stage and the audience collapsed and put five people in the hospital. And then at my show at Madison Square Garden, a couple of vital pieces of equipment were tampered with after we did the sound and equipment check, causing one of my backup singers to fall and fracture her elbow and me to fall from my harness and sprain my ankle. My manager, Hugh, personally questioned every person on the tour who would have had access to that equipment, and no one would admit to knowing anything about it. My intention was just to fire the people who were responsible, but when we couldn’t find out who those people were, my only other option was to replace everyone. So, here we are.