Ravensong (31 page)

Julian and his companion climbed on
the stage and stopped between Elliot and Joshua. “They’re doing a
sound check right now,” Julian explained to the man.

Joshua blinked his eyes, not sure he
wasn’t seeing things. The man had hair as long as his, done in much
the same fashion, although his was a bit more brown than black. His
eyes were a hazel color and his features were very similar to
Joshua’s own. In fact, they could be brothers if one didn’t know
better. The stranger gave Joshua a smile.

“
Hi,” he said, moving
towards him and holding out his hand.

“
Yeah,” said Julian, “this
is Ravensong, the man you’ll be replacing.”

Joshua shook hands with his look-alike
and glanced at Julian. He didn’t know what he felt about the whole
situation. He wasn’t about to agree to this European tour, but it
was hard to relinquish control of his music to someone
else.

“
I’m Lucas,” said the
singer, beaming at Joshua and shaking his hand vigorously. “I’m so
damn happy to meet you. You’re a living legend, man, a living
legend.”

Joshua gave him a forced smile and
waited to be released, but Lucas didn’t seem in any
hurry.

“
Christ,” whistled Ralph at
his shoulder. “Did you do this on purpose?” He motioned at Lucas’
clothes and hair.

“
Ralph!” snapped Julian,
but Lucas didn’t seem upset.

“
Damn straight I did. I’ve
always been a fan. You can rock the house, man, you can really rock
the house. Besides, I figured I stood a better chance if I looked
like the real thing, eh?”

Joshua finally managed to free his
hand. Ralph draped an arm around Joshua’s shoulder.

“
Don’t get carried away. We
ain’t heard you sing yet,” said Ralph sharply.

Lucas started to answer, but Julian
interrupted him. “You don’t need to hear him. He’s already been
hired.”

“
What?” said Elliot, moving
closer to them.

“
I’m happy to sing
with you,” offered Lucas, sensing the tension. “In fact, I’d love
to sing with
you
especially.” He shifted his gaze back to
Joshua.

Joshua and Ralph exchanged a
look.

“
You hired him without
consulting with the rest of us?” demanded Elliot.

Robert and Michael left their
instruments and closed the circle.

“
Lucas was the most
qualified, knew the most about the band, and had the look. Besides,
he’s got a great voice.”

“
Well, truth be told” said
Lucas, “I knew the most about Ravensong. I’ve studied everything
he’s ever done.”

“
I’ll bet,” muttered Ralph
in Joshua’s ear.

Elliot positioned himself in front of
Julian. “We haven’t even signed the contract for the tour yet, let
alone agreed to hiring a new singer. We already have a
singer.”

Joshua glanced at him in surprise, but
he wouldn’t meet Joshua’s look.

“
Why do we keep having to
repeat this? We don’t have a singer for the European tour…or
rather, we didn’t until now.”

Elliot’s eyes widened. “You’re going
to pass him off as Ravensong, aren’t you?” He threw a hand in
Lucas’ direction.

“
Of course not. That would
be fraud. It’ll be clear in the programs that Lucas Pratt is the
lead singer.”

“
Not many people buy the
programs. Enough of them will be fooled.”

Julian gave Elliot a moronic look.
“We’ll be doing interviews and photo shoots, Elliot. They’ll know
it isn’t Ravensong.”

“
But until we get over
there, you won’t have to say anything. They look enough alike that
it won’t be obvious to the booking agents,” said Robert, backing
Elliot.

Julian shrugged. “That’s not my
problem.”

Joshua felt completely out of place in
this conversation. They were discussing him, but no one seemed to
care that he was present to hear it. He wanted to sneak away, but
Ralph’s arm around his shoulder and Lucas’ focused attention
prevented that.

“
Let’s just finish the
sound check,” he suggested. “We still have a show to do
tonight.”

Julian’s attention snapped back to
him. “That’s exactly why I brought Lucas out. I thought he might
finish the sound check. That way he’ll know how we run it when
we’re in Europe.”

Joshua was speechless. He felt Ralph
tense and Lucas looked like he’d been slapped, but he didn’t know
how the others were reacting. A rush of fury replaced his
shock.

He didn’t say anything
–
he couldn’t
. If
he did, he’d quit on the spot and he didn’t want to do that without
thinking it through. He knew that was what Julian wanted him to do,
but he didn’t want to give him that satisfaction.

Shrugging off Ralph’s arm, he shoved
between Julian and Lucas, moving to the edge of the stage. He
didn’t look back, but he knew Lucas turned immediately to watch
him.

“
Josh,” came Elliot’s
command. Joshua stopped on the first step, his heart leaping into
his throat. “I’m sorry, Lucas, but we haven’t agreed to your
employment yet. We already have a lead singer to take us through
the sound check. The same lead singer who will be singing with us
for the foreseeable future. I’m sorry you were misled and I hope
you find something that suits you real soon.”

“
Elliot!” began
Julian.

“
I wouldn’t go there right
now,” said Robert in a low tone. “Not if you want a concert
tonight.”

Julian didn’t answer. Joshua turned
around and looked at the band. Lucas shifted uncomfortably, then
gave a hesitant nod. Turning on his heel, he headed toward Joshua.
When he stopped in front of him, he held out his hand
again.

“
No hard feelings,
right?”

“
No,” said Joshua, shaking
his hand.

Lucas laughed. “Thought it was too
good to be true.”

Joshua gave him a smile. “I’m
sorry.”

“
Don’t be,” he said,
finally releasing him. “I got to meet you.” He reached into his
pants pocket and pulled out a battered card. “Here’s my number. If
you ever want anything, just give it a ring.”

Joshua took the number. “Thanks,” he
said, then frowned after him as Lucas bounded off the
stage.

When he turned back around, Ralph was
shaking his head. “How many phone numbers do you get in a day?” he
joked.

Joshua smiled at him and pocketed the
number. His eyes drifted to Elliot, hoping to see some break in
Elliot’s hostility, but the moment they made contact, Elliot turned
away. Joshua hated the stab of pain he felt over Elliot’s
rejection.

As he took his place again, he felt
Julian’s stare. He met it, forcing Julian to look down, but not
before Julian made his hatred startlingly clear.

* * *

Elena hesitated at the top of the
arena, squinting to make out the strange scene in the middle of the
stage. A man was walking away from the stage and he looked very
much like Joshua, if a little taller.

“
Hey, Elena.”

Elena glanced down to see Alec sitting
a few rows beneath her. “Hey, Alec,” she said, making her way over
to him. She hunkered down at his side. “Who’s that?”

Alec made a snort of disgust. “The guy
Julian wants to replace Ravensong.”

“
What?”

“
Yeah. It’s just because of
his looks, you know? I tried out for that job, but right in the
middle of my audition, Evan barged in and took Julian
away.”

Elena was torn between watching the
scene on stage and the man beside her. “You auditioned for Joshua’s
job?”

“
Why not? I told you I
could play as good as him. And I sing too. You should have heard
me, but Julian didn’t even notice.”

Elena exhaled. Some part of her felt
sorry for Alec and his misguided dreams. “Why do you want to be in
a rock band, Alec? It’s not as great as it seems.”

“
Because I have the talent.
I just need the chance to show it to someone.” He shifted in his
seat, his expression intense. “You think I want to keep schlepping
amplifiers around?”

“
No, but there’s other
types of work.”

“
This is what I’ve always
dreamed of, but because I don’t have the looks, I don’t even get a
shot. Only guys like Ravensong get noticed.”

Elena touched his arm. “That’s not
true, Alec. Looks mean very little in the rock
business.”

“
Really?” His face twisted
into a grimace. “Why do people keep telling that lie? Looks mean
everything.” He cocked his head at her. “Why else would you break
off an engagement with a doctor for a heroin addict?”

Elena started back in surprise.
“That’s none of your business.”

“
Hey, you were the one
giving out advice. I just said what we both know. You’re not with
Ravensong because of his intelligence.”

She rose to her feet and braced her
hands on her hips. “Listen here, Alec. You’ve got to stop giving
interviews to these tabloid paparazzi. If the guys find out the
things you’ve been saying, it might cost you your job.”

“
What do I care? This job
sucks. I only took it so I could get a chance to show them my
talent.”

She softened her expression. He seemed
immune to threat, so she needed to try a different approach.
“Please don’t give anymore interviews, Alec. Promise me. It can
only hurt Joshua and I don’t think you really want to do
that.”

Alec scoffed. “Yeah, I’m really
worried about him. He doesn’t even know my name. I tried to give
him some of my music once. I even put it on the piano for him, but
he just set it aside, didn’t even look at it.” He turned away and
shook his head. “I don’t owe that junkie anything.”

“
Stop saying that!” she
snapped.

He gave her a cold smile. “Why?
Because it’s true, because we both know that one of these days he’s
gonna go back on the junk? Believe me, I can’t wait. Then maybe
they’ll give me a real audition.”

She started to tell him exactly what
she thought of him, but she hesitated. Somehow he’d gained access
to the media. If she alienated him anymore, she feared he’d say
more hateful things about Joshua and she didn’t think Julian would
be inclined to stop him. Julian certainly wouldn’t be inclined to
listen to anything she had to say. Not now.

For the first time since she quit, she
regretted it.

CHAPTER 13

The package was waiting for him in the
dressing room, sitting in the middle of the table. He glanced
behind him at the closing door and caught a glimpse of Dominic
taking a seat. He didn’t know why a feeling of anxiety skittered up
his spine, but he’d never received a package in the dressing room
before.

Crossing to it, he stared down at the
address – typed, official, with a postage stamp in the proper upper
right hand corner. He didn’t recognize the address, but based on
the name of the street, he figured it belonged to the
stadium.

He tilted it and looked at the return
address. He didn’t recognize the name of the company, an acronym –
BPI, but it also looked official. As did the packaging. The box was
small, square, and taped along each seam.

He placed it on the table again and
backed away from it. Strange things kept showing up in his dressing
room and he didn’t understand why. Dominic had been with him since
he left the hotel, but he hadn’t been guarding the dressing room.
Anyone could have put it in here, anyone at all.

He turned and started for the door,
but stopped himself as his fingers closed on the handle. Why was he
getting so spooked? He had moved the package all over and nothing
had happened. Someone had probably sent him a gift of some
kind.

Drawing a deep breath, he
released his hold on the knob and returned to the table. Grabbing a
pen, he used the tip to slice open the tape and parted the
flaps.

A bubble wrapped bundle dropped into
his hands. It didn’t weigh anything and he stared at it in
confusion. Placing it on the table, he tilted the box toward him
and looked inside, certain he would find a packing slip.

The box was empty.

Reaching for the bubble wrap, he tore
the tape off and pulled it apart. Staring down at the object in his
hands, he let it fall to the table and stepped away from it. In the
middle of the bubble wrap was a syringe.

He took another step back and his
thigh hit the edge of a chair. Sinking down into it, he couldn’t
take his eyes off the syringe. The roar of blood in his ears
deafened him and black spots danced before his eyes.

He realized he was panting and tried
to slow his breathing, but a cold sweat broke out over his skin. A
strange metallic taste filled his mouth and he realized his hands
were shaking as he closed them over his knees.

Forcing his eyes to close,
he again tried to calm his breathing.
Okay, think, Joshua. The syringe is new. The cap is still in
place and there’s nothing in the tube. It’s just a prank – just a
sick, demented prank someone’s playing on you.