Red Hot Bikers, Rock Stars and Bad Boys

by Cassia Leo

  I lifted my head off her and shook her. “No way! I can’t do that. Being a military brat, you know how important loyalty is to me, Lex. You know. You don’t just hack off a brother when things get rough or ugly. It’s not noble or cool.”

  “Yeah, but he is literally your enemy now, shredding everything you’ve built from the inside out. You need to drop him before you lose everything. He’s a fairly new addition to the band anyway. Bands drop people all the time when they’re not working out, for whatever lame reason, but this is a major, major reason.”

  “Uh, I dunno, Lex. That just feels so wrong.”

  “Well, you and Matty are the only ones who’ve been in IF from the start. Talk to him or put it up for a vote with everyone else, then it’s not solely you making the decision. Something needs to get done, right away before your band falls in a pool of tar it can never climb out of.”

  “All right. You’re right. I’ll call the guys tonight. I can say right now that Matty will definitely want to meet with Momentum, to at least hear what Nina has to say. I guess I’m kind of curious too.”

  “Good.”

  After the movie, I did have a conference call, and the vote to nix our mate was almost unanimous. Bumping my vote up to a yes to match everyone else’s made me feel literally sick inside. I felt like I was betraying a core value, my code of ethics.

  With one phone call from Alexa to Nina, they were organizing a press conference for the members of Itchy Fringe for tomorrow night.

  I’d have to demonstrate to the whole world that I was a shit-faced betrayer with a lance in my fist. None of this, not one fucking bit of it, was cool with me. They were right though. No matter how kick-ass of a player he was, I had to cut that draggy millstone loose in order to save my band. But I didn’t like that I had to sell my soul in order to do it. Not cool.

  * * *

  CHAPTER NINE

  Alexa

  On Sunday afternoon, I hated going back to college and leaving Danny when he was in so much pain and struggling with simple things like washing up and putting on shirts, but he swore to me things were becoming easier now that he was getting used to having a cast.

  I called him the second I got into my suite on campus. “Danny? Did you—”

  “Muster up any less loathing for the stab in the back I’m about to publically give Puck? Nope. I’ve been burned by pros before too, so I don’t like any of this.”

  “No one’ll burn you guys. We only want to help. I was starting to ask if you’d had time yet to read my suggested speech. You can say it in your own words of course, but I just wanted to give you a basis.”

  “It’s shitty.”

  “Shitty?” I snapped. “What?”

  “I can’t stomach this, Lex. It sucks. The investigation’s still on-going. I don’t want to jump the gun here.”

  “Danny, Puck has never been good for your band.”

  “Like hell!” he yelled. “Aaahh oooww. How would you know, Lex? You aren’t there with us in the daily grind. His musicality and ideas for mixing on a couple songs took our sound and excellence up to a whole new level. He stepped in, filling Brody’s shoes, like he’d been one of us all along. He’s awesome, sick really.”

  “Maybe. But he got you nothing but bad press all summer long.”

  “Well, his mom died in March, so he was in a bad place. He didn’t even have time to grieve before we had to hit the road. I was out of control for a while when cancer bit my mom in the ass too, so I know. People hated our new music, which we barely wrote in the collaboration, and the tour was only shitty ’cause we had to play all that damn new crap. The lightning pace was too much for him. But he swears he’s clean now and going to AA and better able to deal with pressure and the rush. He said he didn’t drink that night. And I’m inclined to believe him.”

  “Some girl died, Danny. She’s dead because he couldn’t avoid a damn tree. How do you explain that? The cops must have somethin’ on him.”

  “Uh, I don’t know. I just feel like this is the worst move for me to make right now.”

  “What’d the rest of IF say?”

  “They agree with you, whole-heartedly. I don’t. I dunno, Lex. It feels like I’m taking a dump on that poor kid. I’m going along with this, but I’m not liking it one bit. I’ll work on the speech and make it my own. It’ll be shorter, much shorter. There’s no sense in going on and on.”

  “Well, you have to evidently cut ties with him and let people know you won’t stand for that kind of irresponsibility.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I saw that part in bold. Fucking hard to miss.”

  “Hey, don’t get testy with me, Danny. None of this is my fault. I’m only trying to help you save your band.”

  He let out a long sigh. “I know. And I appreciate everything you’re doing, Alexa. I do know you’re right. I just fucking hate it. Another thing that’s pissing me off is Heather’s funeral is Tuesday, and my lawyer told me not to go. He doesn’t even want me to send flowers or whatever. That’s so damn cold-hearted. I hate not being able to do anything. I know nothing will make up for or fix what happened, but I feel like I have to give some token of support.”

  “How about if you send ’em under my name? I can text you my card number. Or just say from Your Friends and leave it generic like that.”

  “Maybe. Yeah, maybe I’ll do that. I’m going out of my mind, having my hands tied like that.”

  “I know. I know you, and that you’ll keep stewing about this one thing. But do what your lawyer says. Don’t you dare show up, not even in secret or some lame disguise at the cemetery. You know eyes’ll be everywhere ’cause this is such a public catastrophe, and someone’ll spot you and splash that all over the web. It will probably not look good for you.”

  “You’re right. But I’m bugged that I can’t pay my respects. Don’t you, um, think not doing anything is worse? Like it looks like we don’t give a shit?”

  “If I were her parents, I wouldn’t want a damn thing from any of you. Just saying. You can’t fix it. You can’t take it back. She’s dead. What can you possible say or do to make it better?”

  “Nothing. Not a damn thing.”

  “Exactly. I can tell you’re still feeling guilty for what happened, but as I keep stressing, it was not your fault. It, all of this, was Puck’s fault. That’s why you need to hack him off.”

  “Right. I know.”

  He hung up and I called Nina to make sure everything was set for the press conference and to see if there was anything left for me to do. She wanted me to do one more social media blast, which I did, and sites were all abuzz about it.

  Two hours later, she patched me into her video feed from my laptop, and I saw reporters and news crews setting up and mulling around in the hotel banquet hall where it was scheduled to take place.

  Danny was in khakis and a dress shirt, sleeves rolled up. He looked nervous, pacing and scratching at the exposed skin around his cast.

  Matty, never fancy, was in a jean jacket in the shape and style of a suit coat, but he looked cool as always. The two brothers and the keyboardist that made up the rest of Itchy Fringe were not with them. And of course, Puck was no longer in the wolf pack at all.

  When the crowd sat down and conversations petered down to whispered conversations, I could pick out biting words like ‘killers’ and ‘doomed’. Not good.

  The butterflies in my stomach created tangles and knots.

  Danny and Matty sat down at a table with their lawyer, and Nina and Raquel stood off to the side with their arms crossed. They were whispering in one another’s ears and dread punched my chest and stifled my breath for a moment. They looked nervous too. They probably had no clue if the new clients were loose cannons or not. They definitely could be, and I knew that with the sturdiness of a steel door.

  Cameras and mics were all faced towards them and every chair was soon taken.

  Danny and Matty were introduced my some male correspondent. “With me here today are the two founding members
of Itchy Fringe, Danny Zane and Matty Bitola. They have some important news to share today.”

  Danny leaned closer to the mic in front of him. “Uh, hey. Thank you all for coming to hear Matty and I address you today, especially since there’s nothing that can be said that can remove the brutal sting of death. There’s no rainbow comment here, only agony for everyone. First we’d like to express our deepest sympathies and condolences to the family and friends of Heather Frakes who tragically perished when band bus crashed on Wednesday evening. Your great loss is heavy on our hearts and always will be.” He opened his mouth and then looked down with it clammed shut. I think he stopped to compose himself. “Um, although the investigation is still ongoing into how exactly the accident occurred…”

  “You killed her with your stupidity and drunkenness, that’s how!” some dude shouted.

  Danny paused, took a deep breath, and curled his lips in at the sucker punch. He clenched his fingers tightly, despite the pain I knew was shooting through his broken right arm now. Physical agony could never match the burn of those words. “Um, uh … to move forward as a band, we, uh … we felt it best to fire and cut ties with Puck Waverly, our,” he coughed, “former lead guitarist.” I could see his jaw grind as he choked down on his slash of betrayal. He let out a sigh.

  “That is correct,” Matty took over, seeing that Danny was down and out for the count. “He’s no longer with Itchy Fringe. We are not above reproach, certainly, but our band has always been committed to professionalism, and we will continue with that mission. This new direction we are taking without the Middleton Records label will sadly be without Puck. Substance abusers have no safe haven with us.”

  “Apparently, neither do innocent girls, you misogynistic a-holes!” some female yelled.

  “Right,” Matty whispered with his eyes closing.

  Danny and Matty were both visibly shaken and refused to answer questions, cutting off their mini-conference in unison with a curt, “Thank you.”

  More ugly shouts broke came at them like darts, which rocked and sank Danny’s shoulder.

  I teared up as they stood and waved off the vultures descending with a cacophony of commotion and insults.

  They were escorted from room with bodyguards surrounding them, as well as their press team and law representation.

  Wow. That was a disaster. I’m not sure how Nina can possibly spin this or have the band come out smelling like roses within the coming weeks. How they end up responding and dealing with the negative barbs will matter in a huge way. I hope they can keep their cool. Matty’s the most protective one and he can turn grizzly bear with a snap.

  I switched my viewing to the TV because my feed was zapped off. But all I heard were horribly nasty things, so I turned it off and prayed Itchy Fringe could bounce back from this. I also prayed for Heather’s family. They could very well crush this band into nothing but dust and rubble. I’d hate for that to happen.

  I was waiting for Danny to call, but he didn’t. Maybe he was too stressed to chat.

  The next day, I kept peeking at my silent phone through all my classes and got nothing. What was his deal? I’d think he’d want to vent or whatever. But as I was heading back to my dorm, a young redhead I didn’t know grabbed my arm and literally jumped up and down as she said, “Oh my god, you must be so relieved.” She was so chipper and smiley.

  And I was majorly confused and crinkled my nose at her. “What? Relieved. About what? Why?”

  She gasped and stopped jumping. “Wait! Aren’t you Danny’ Zane’s sister? Someone told me that! And I’m a huge, huge fan, oh my god, maybe like the biggest one ever. Like, I’m talking huge. Matty’s so damn hot. If Alicia was kidding about you being related, I’ll kill that skank.”

  “Kill? No don’t do that. Yeah, I’m kinda his sister, step, but what must I be relieved about? His band was just involved in that fatal crash and is getting hammered by the press. Nothing cool about that.”

  “No! No! The bus! It wasn’t their fault. I knew it!” She pumped her fist. “Some guy did it. Go look online for the vid. I swear. You’ll see. Some guy, he tampered with the brakes and emergency brakes or something like that. Police dropped all charges on that guitarist driver they just gave the heave-ho to.”

  “Wait! Puck?” I cried. “They did?”

  “Uh huh. Some gas station owner checked his surveillance from that night for the heck of it, and near where their bus was parked, he spotted someone poking around and going under and into the engine. The tape got turned in to police. And it’s been all over the news for like an hour and everyone’s talkin’ about it.”

  “But … Puck was …”

  “Not drunk. He had no alcohol in his system, according to tests he had done at the hospital. His lawyer released the report today. So all charges have been dropped. Isn’t that cool? He’s such a cutie. Maybe they’ll get him back. You think?”

  “Oh no, oh no. Shit.” I covered my wide open mouth with both hands. “Danny’s gonna absolutely kill me! He’ll hate me forever.”

  “I doubt that,” the chirping church mouse squeaked. “Isn’t this good news? I thought you’d be happy like me?”

  “Yeah, it’s good news for them. Thanks.” I ran off, frantically texting Danny along the way. “Oh my god, oh my god. Don’t hate me, don’t hate me, don’t hate me. Please.”

  Danny did hate me. He was not picking up or responding to me at all. He was certainly pissed that I strong-armed him into firing Puck and making that kiss-off statement to the press.

  He was. And I learned that hideous truth second-hand from an equally furious Matty because Danny wouldn’t damn call me back. Or text. Or email.

  He tossed me into a total blackout that gave me the most severe panic attack of my life. I was practically hyperventilating in my room and crying uncontrollably with tissue in hand. I was trying to calm my frantic pulse and stop my steady stream of tears and ugly, soul-crushed sobs. Oh my god. I felt like I was going to die. Danny was my … everything. I never realized I’d ever be in a place where I’d actually crave his shouts. Shouting was far, far better than the gashing, deafening blow of silence and unresponsiveness.

  I couldn’t stand not hearing from him. I can’t take being dropped. I can’t. I can’t. Not after she fucking did that to me without a word. She left Bill a note, but not me, her own daughter. No kiss goodbye. No card. I got nothing. So I hate to get cut off like this without a word. What she did ruined me and left me with a scab that can be ripped open at any time, and Danny tore it off and chewed it up, and left me bleeding and all alone. I can’t take this!

  And he left me hanging for four days of sheer hell and unspeakable torture.

  When his number finally graced my phone, I was so brittle and weak and afraid to speak because I’d only burst into tears. I answered my phone without saying anything.

  “Lex?” Danny said.

  I let out a long breath and said, “Yeah,” but even that small word cracked. My throat felt dry and my voice, lacking in power and tone.

  “You know how pissed I am with you right about now?”

  “Have a pretty good idea,” I said flatly. “But … you called me. Does that mean you’re no longer as pissed? Are you a little calmer?”

  “Hardly. Oh my god, I just don’t even know what to say to you right now. You made me fire Puck! And I didn’t even fucking have to?”

  Danny made me cry and I blubbered out, “I’m sorry. That was always your choice though. I didn’t make you do anything. I only suggested. Please don’t be mad at me! Please don’t hate me, Danny. Please!

  “Uh, I feel like I could rip out your throat.”

  I crumpled to my knees and coughed as my sobs slashed their way out. “I know. I know you’re mad, and I’m sorry. You can’t … cut me off like that though. You can’t!” I screeched and pounded the floor with my balled up fist. “Don’t. Please.”

  “Lex,” he groaned.

  “You have to know what this kind of shit does to me. It messes
me up so bad. I can’t even take it. I have abandonment issues or something like that. I can’t lose you. Just the thought of it sends me into a panic, but you are actually putting me through hell.”

  “I’m not cutting you off like that, like her. I swear! I just need … distance. That’s all. I can’t even think right now. My stalker sent me a threatening note, and that compelled me to call you. I had to make sure you were all right.”

  “Well, I’m not, Danny. I’m fucking not.” I wiped away the snot dripping. “I’m a damn mess. You only called me because of some psycho’s threat? Are you kidding me? Why not just to clear the air? Why not just to talk?”

  “I can’t … drop it like that. I can’t. Not yet. Uh … man, I have to work really hard to strangle all my poison words right now. I just need space and time to cool down, so I don’t tear your head off.”

  “My head? Really? You’ve already slashed my gut and ripped out my heart too. What’s one more vicious swipe, Danny? Take your best shot.”

  “I’ll, uh … call you next week or somethin’ maybe, all right? I can’t talk about this right now. I have to … process and … chill out.”

  “Whatever, Asshole. Aren’t we supposed to conference with Nina this week?”

  “I’ll see. I don’t know. I don’t even want to hear anything from PR peeps right now. I just lost my guy. He’s done with us, which I don’t blame him. You’re okay for now, right? Nothing’s happened to you? I mean, you haven’t been threatened or anything or spotted anything suspicious?”

  “No, of course not. Nothing. But … you’re scaring me?

  He huffed. “I’m sending security to keep an eye on you, just in case.”

  “An eye on me” I cried, getting back up to my feet. “Fuck that! It’s bullshit.”

  “Well, I don’t know what’s goin’ on. Don’t know if you heard, but today they caught the guy on the video that’s everywhere, and he’s swearing it wasn’t all his fault and that some chick paid him fifty g’s and his mom needed the money to save her house or somethin’ like that. Fifty grand? That’s insane. She fucking tried to take us out. I know it. This is no joke and is becoming deadly serious. Until I figure out what’s what, or who’s out for blood, I’ve gotta keep you safe. He won’t be intrusive, I promise, but I need someone to keep an eye on things, an eye on you.”