Falling Angel

by Carmen Richter

  “Daph,” Chad drawled, the creepy grin that had haunted so many nightmares spreading across his face. “Long time, no see.”

  “Chad,” I choked out. “What are you doing here?”

  “I bought a ticket. Since apparently you’re too important to answer my calls now,” he scoffed as he walked up to me and hooked an arm around my neck. “Did you really think you’d get rid of me that easily, kitten?”

  I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move. I was suspended in time, in horror, as my ex-boyfriend stood there with his arm around me. It had been four damn years since I’d left him, and the terror now was just as fresh as it had been that night.

  “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to come with me,” I heard a voice I didn’t recognize saying.

  “Oh, it’s okay. We go way back. Don’t we, Daph?”

  “Get out,” I managed to squeak.

  “I paid good money to see you, Daph. So I’m going to get my money’s worth,” Chad insisted.

  He pulled me even closer to him and yanked my face around, crashing his lips on mine. Finally, my brain kicked into gear, and I tried to shove him off, but it was useless. He was too strong, and he continued to suffocate me as he plunged his tongue into my mouth. I felt someone yanking on him, trying to get him off of me, but he was fighting back, clinging to me with all his strength. So I did the only thing I could think of. I bit his tongue as hard as I could.

  “What the fuck, Daph?” he growled as he backed away.

  I saw two pairs of feet approaching, and each of them got on opposite sides of Chad. They started leading him away, but I couldn’t make myself look up to see who had come to my rescue. I couldn’t look at him again.

  “You need to come with us now, sir,” I heard that same unfamiliar voice saying.

  I was still incapable of looking up, but the two people continued to lead Chad out of the room.

  “Oh, come on, kitten. You loved every second of it. There were lots of things you pretended not to love, but you and I both know you miss it,” Chad taunted, and then I heard the door shutting.

  As soon as I was alone, I collapsed to my knees, unable to stand anymore. My breath came in short gasps as tears clouded my vision, and I felt like there was an invisible hand clutching my heart, making it beat erratically.

  I knew Chad’s family were politicians here in D.C., but I never thought in a million years that he’d go so far as to pay the amount of money I knew the record company charged for my VIP tickets just to come back and haunt me. Especially not with all the security at my shows. Why? He had to know I would just send him right back out the door, and blacklist him from ever buying a ticket in the future.

  “Daphne? Hey, it’s okay. He’s gone. You’re safe now,” I heard a soothing voice say.

  I tried to breathe, but I still could only manage small gasps of air.

  “Deep breaths. In through your nose, out through your mouth,” the man encouraged.

  I tried to obey, and I managed something that was slightly more like an actual breath. The man in front of me took a deep inhale through his nose and then let it out slowly through his mouth, and I tried to match my breaths to his.

  “That’s it,” he praised me. “Just keep breathing. You’ve got this. Can you look at me, Daphne?”

  I forced myself to raise my head and found myself looking into the anguished eyes of my new security guard. What was his name? Something that started with E. Emilio? Elijah? Edward? No, wait. Ezra. That was it.

  For the first time, I allowed myself to really look at him. I took note of his strong jawline, tanned complexion, and the dark scruff that was too prominent to be considered a five o’clock shadow, but not long enough to be considered a beard. And those eyes. Dear God, those gorgeous brown eyes. I could get lost in them for days. Not to mention his toned, muscular build that seemed to burst out of the dark t-shirt and cargo pants he was wearing. He was seriously gorgeous.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t get him off of you sooner,” he said, sounding genuinely remorseful. “I shouldn’t underestimate people’s strength like that. I’ll make sure I have a second person in here with me for your meet and greets in the future. If I even still have a job after that piss-poor performance. I’m so sorry.”

  I snapped out of my shameless ogling. The poor guy was probably shaking in his boots, worried I was going to send him right back out the door. But it wasn’t his fault that Chad was probably still juicing, just like he had in college.

  “It’s not your fault,” I managed to say. “He…he took steroids. When I knew him.”

  “Ex-boyfriend?” he guessed.

  I nodded.

  “Why wasn’t he blacklisted from your concerts?” he asked. “Not that I’m blaming you for what just happened. I’m just curious.”

  “I haven’t even seen him since I broke up with him in college,” I explained, sniffling. “The thought of him buying a ticket to one of my shows honestly never even occurred to me. He never came to see a single one of my gigs when we were dating. But I’ll get Hugh on it as soon as I can make my hands stop shaking enough to make the call.”

  “Do you want me to call the police? That was sexual assault, Daphne. You could press charges,” he pointed out.

  I pondered it for a second. It would serve the asshole right. But I knew I didn’t need another scandal. Not right on the tail of this last one. As long as he’d been thrown out tonight and I could get him blacklisted from coming to any more shows, I didn’t care about him going to jail.

  “He’s gone, right?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Hector and Garth dragged him out and made it clear that he’s not allowed back in. I snapped a picture of him before I came back in, and I’m going to send it to all of my guys, and have one of them posted in the VIP section tonight in case he tries to get past the venue security. He’s not getting back into this arena tonight, I promise you.”

  “Then don’t call the cops. I hate to sound like my asshole of a manager, but I don’t need another scandal. Not after I just replaced half of my road crew,” I sighed.

  He chuckled weakly. “Okay. It’s your choice. Can I get you anything? Water? Something to snack on?”

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry he showed up on your first day. Not the best way to start a job. I promise, it’s usually way less exciting than that.”

  “Nothing like just jumping in with both feet to let you get a feel for the job, though,” he said, one corner of his mouth turning up in a half-smile.

  I snorted. “Pulling my juiced-up abusive ex off me isn’t jumping in with both feet. It’s getting thrown from the boat into shark-infested waters.”

  “Well, I like to think I’m a pretty good swimmer, either way.”

  “You are,” I sniffled. “Thanks. For helping me. Um, would you mind walking me back to my dressing room? I know you still have to finish your sweep before we open the doors.”

  “My team can handle it,” he said with a kind smile. “Come on.”

  Ezra helped me stand back up and then opened the door for me. The other guy who had been stationed outside the room gave me a concerned look.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Still a little freaked out, but I’ll be okay. Thanks for your help.”

  “That’s what I’m here for,” he said.

  “I’ll be back to help finish the sweep in a few, Garth. I’m going to take Daphne back to her dressing room,” Ezra said.

  Garth. The blond guy with the goatee was Garth. Blond, goatee, Garth. I repeated that in my head a few times, like a mantra, hoping his name would stick in my memory.

  My heart leapt into my throat when Ezra and I walked back into my dressing room. Sitting there on the vanity was a huge gift bag with a card leaning on it.

  No. I couldn’t handle this. Not after Chad. I couldn’t deal with another creepy gift too.

  “Everything okay, Daph?” Ezra asked me.

  I tore my eyes away from the gift bag and looked at him. Again, he looked
genuinely concerned.

  “That wasn’t here when I left,” I whispered.

  “Give me a second,” he said, then pulled his radio off his belt and spoke into it. “Ramsay to Team Angel.”

  “Gonzalez here. Go ahead,” came Hector’s voice. That was an easy one to remember, because he was the only Hispanic guy on the team.

  “Angel and I just got back to the dressing room, and there’s a gift bag on her vanity. She said it wasn’t here when she left. Anyone know where it came from?” Ezra asked.

  “Yates to Ramsay. Josh dropped that in her room while she was at the meet and greet. Said it was a delivery from a friend,” someone else said.

  “Ten-four. Thanks, Neil,” Ezra said. He put his radio back on his belt and turned to me. “Want me to stay while you open it? Make sure it’s nothing bad?”

  I nodded. “I’d appreciate it. Right before my last show, I got a super creepy note with some roses. I just want to make sure it’s not something like that.”

  “No problem,” he assured me with another of his gorgeous smiles.

  I took a deep breath as I opened the card, and then I immediately sighed in relief. It really was from a friend. Actually, more than one friend.

  Daph,

  Just a little something to remind you we love you. Go kick arse at your first show back. Wish we could be there for real, but since we can’t be, we sent this little guy in our place. We named him Michael. You know, the King of the Angels, to go with our Queen of the Angels.

  Xoxo,

  Taylor, Olivia, Phoebe, Dahlia, Harper, Elle, and Reagan

  I chuckled as I read the note. Obviously, Taylor had been the one to write it, or at least had input on it, since the word “arse” had made an appearance.

  “It really is from a friend. More than one, actually,” I sniffled as a couple of tears stung my eyes. “My best friends.”

  Upon opening the gift, I could definitely tell Taylor had something to do with picking it too, because there was real Cadbury and Galaxy chocolate in it, accompanied by an adorable stuffed elephant (my favorite animal).

  “Is that…European chocolate?” Ezra asked as I pulled the candy out of the bag.

  “English, actually. My best friend, Taylor, is from England. He still has family there and they send him good chocolate on the regular. He’s the one good thing that came out of my relationship with Chad.”

  “One of Chad’s friends?”

  I snorted. “No. Definitely not. Um, I walked in on Chad…with Taylor. Taylor was obviously beyond drunk, and they were half-undressed. Chad was clearly into it, but the second I found my voice and asked what the hell was going on, it was like a switch flipped and he just turned into this raging lunatic, blaming Taylor for the whole thing and calling him a faggot. Then he punched him in the face and tossed him out of the apartment. Again, he was obviously juicing, because Taylor’s not a small guy, but he was just throwing him around like a rag doll. I told Chad to go fuck himself and dumped his ass. I should have left him the first time he left a bruise on my arm from dragging me out of a party, but it took seeing him cheating with my own two eyes to make me realize what an asshole he was.”

  “And you stayed friends with Taylor after walking in on him with your boyfriend?” Ezra questioned, raising an eyebrow.

  I laughed, sniffling a little, as I sat down at my vanity. I knew that made absolutely no sense to anyone who didn’t know the whole story.

  “I know how it sounds,” I told him. “Um, that wasn’t the end of it. Taylor played football at our college, and Chad started spreading rumors about him, telling anyone who would listen about how Taylor took advantage of him. There were even stories flying around about Taylor slipping him a roofie. His entire team turned against him, and soon it was pretty much the whole school. He told me later that he got beaten up more than once too.

  “But I saw it and I knew that wasn’t how it went down. The look on Taylor’s face that night…it was more than just being embarrassed that they got caught. He was terrified. Of Chad, yes, but also of what happened in general. I could tell he was still figuring himself out, and Chad took advantage of that. I knew how that felt, because I remembered that feeling when I was coming to terms with being bi. There was a girl in high school who took advantage of that, made out with me, and then told the whole school.

  “Anyway, I saw Taylor in the library at our college one day and I could tell he needed a friend. He needed just one person on that whole campus who knew the truth. So I went over to talk to him. And we just clicked. I know it’s the weirdest story ever, but it doesn’t even matter how we met now. He’s my person, you know? The one person I can talk to about absolutely anything. I mean, I can talk to that whole group who sent the gift, but I’ve always been the closest with T.”

  I didn’t know why I’d just told Ezra all of that. But somehow, it didn’t feel wrong. Maybe because he’d been so sweet after I’d had my panic attack. Or maybe because he’d told me about his daughter and her mom earlier. But, again, I felt an inexplicable pull to him that I couldn’t deny.

  “You’re lucky to have such good friends,” Ezra said, looking a little sad. “I lost most of mine when I became a dad at seventeen. They all wanted to go out and party, and I had Arielle to watch. Honestly, the guys on my team are my closest friends. And your friend Aaron too.”

  “Nothing wrong with that,” I said, smiling. “They seem like good guys. And I know Aaron’s a good guy. He’s been really good for Reagan.”

  “They are good guys. And I swear to God, we’re going to do a better job of making sure no one else hurts you,” he said, sorrow lacing his voice. “Anyway, I should get out there and help them finish the sweep. Are you okay now?”

  “Yeah, I’m good,” I assured him. “Thanks for everything.”

  Ezra left, and I grabbed my phone. The first thing I saw was a text from Hugh.

  Hugh: Everything going okay at your first show back, doll?

  I rolled my eyes as I backed out of the text and opened the group chat with my friends.

  Me: So, I got a bunch of English chocolate and an adorable stuffed elephant named Michael delivered to my dressing room today. Any of you know anything about that?

  Reagan: Nope. Not a thing. *angel halo emoji*

  Phoebe: I think you’ve finally lost it, Daph. *laughing crying emoji*

  Dahlia: *Chris Farley shrugging and saying “no idea” GIF*

  Taylor: Yeah, what’s this English chocolate you speak of?

  I giggled as I typed my response.

  Me: Hate to break it to you, Phoebe, but I lost “it” back in high school. ;-)

  Me: Seriously, thank you guys. I needed it today. Chad showed up at my meet and greet and kissed me. I think he was juicing, because it took two of my new security guards to pull him off of me.

  Olivia: Chad? As in your asshole ex, Chad?

  Me: Yep.

  Elle: Ewwww! Doesn’t he realize you’d rather screw a rusty nail than him ever again?

  Harper: Aww! He wanted to get his little dicklett wet.

  Harper: *five-second video of her wiggling her pinky finger around*

  I snorted. Harper was hilarious. I never knew what was going to come out of her mouth. Or appear in this chat.

  Taylor: Fucking Chad! Hope you cut the arsehole’s fucking dick off before you threw him out.

  Reagan: You okay after that?

  Me: Yeah, I’m okay. My new head of security talked me through the panic attack I had and made sure I got back to my dressing room in one piece. And then I saw the yummy chocolate and my new buddy Michael. You guys are the best.

  Reagan: It’s because we love you. *kiss emoji*

  Me: In other news…holy shit, is my new head of security hot. I’m in so much trouble.

  Harper: Go on…

  Harper: *Blanche from Golden Girls eating popcorn GIF*

  Taylor: Got a photo for us to drool over?

  Me: And I’d be able to explain taking it how?

  O
livia: Who said he has to know you took it? Smile, hottie! You’re on candid camera!

  I almost spit out the drink of water I’d taken laughing at Olivia’s message. I supposed I could try to get a picture for these crazy ladies (and one gay gent) to drool over.

  Reagan: My man’s friends are all fiiiiiine! But no, I don’t have a pic of this one to share. We’ll have to rely on Daph.

  Dahlia: What’s his name?

  Me: Ezra.

  Phoebe: Damn, bitch. Even his name is sexy as fuck. I hate you a little right now.

  Me: *laughing crying emoji* Love you too. And I’ll try to sneak a pic for you guys at some point soon. Anyway, I’m going to set an alarm and try to catch a cat nap before the show. Panic attacks are exhausting.

  Olivia: *Sully from Monsters, Inc. hugging Boo GIF*

  Dahlia: *monkeys hugging GIF*

  Taylor: *Ezra Fitz and Aria Montgomery from Pretty Little Liars hugging GIF*

  Elle: Get some rest, Daph. We’re here if you need us.

  “I’m still waiting for a picture of Mr. Hot Stuff,” Taylor whined over the phone. “It’s been over a week! Why are you holding out on me? Fuck, even Alex wants to see him!”

  I laughed. “Sorry. I haven’t had a chance to take a picture without him knowing. Usually when I’m with him, he’s paying pretty close attention to me. You know, like he’s getting paid to do.”

  “It’s because he can’t take his eyes off you, you sexy thang,” he teased.

  I couldn’t help it. I was one of those people who had to start singing when they heard anything that even remotely sounded like a song lyric. So, I started singing Hot Chocolate’s “You Sexy Thing,” which made Taylor laugh.

  “Nerrrrrrd,” he cackled.

  “Says the gamer,” I giggled. “You’re one to talk, Yulashin.”

  Yulashin, a female elf warrior, was his character in an online role-playing game called Everquest 2. He played a lot with Elle, one of my friends from college who basically lived on her computer. Surprisingly, they actually met through the game, even though they had speech class together at Ashview University before he dropped out.