Under the Cornerstone (42 page)

We are five songs into the set when I look over once again at the side of the stage. I haven’t seen Noely or Jimmy since before we took the stage. Something’s not right, I feel it in my gut. I look over at Rich between songs and he looks uneasy too. Then we both look back at Ryan, who returns the same expression.

Something is wrong.

Ryan nods his head to the side of the stage at the head roadie, Aaron. We look at him, and he quickly looks away from us. I begin to walk to the side of the stage when Aaron ducks into the shadows. The stage lights make it impossible to see where he went.

Five more songs.

I have to reach deep to find the energy and my usual easy disposition with the crowd. I can’t stop worrying though. I engage the crowd a little extra tonight, so they don’t sense the tension up here. I keep looking to the side of the stage for Noe, Jimmy, or Aaron, but nobody is there. I also continue to exchange looks with the twins who also don’t seem any less tense.

Three more songs.

I signal for the lights to go down between the next two and text Jimmy and Noe to ask where they are. I see Ryan do the same behind his drum kit.

Two more songs.

Throughout the next two songs I keep looking to the side of the stage. I even look down in the first three rows to see if they’re down there. Nothing.

“Thank you, Phoenix! You were fucking amazing!” I yell out over the mic and get the fuck off stage.

Ray and his band mates from
Raid Night
are on the side of the stage.

This isn’t good.

As I get closer, I see another band,
Drying Tight
, from the tour behind
Raid Night
.

Fuck.

Ray steps in front of me, “Johnny, listen man…”

“Where’s Noe?” I ask.

“There was an incident,” he says.

“Where’s Noe?” I ask from between clenched teeth.

“Where’s Jimmy?” Ryan asks.

“Jimmy’s okay,” Ray says, but it’s more what he doesn’t say that’s the fucking problem.

“Noe?!!” I scream.

“Look, Leo… he was fucking with her and..,” he begins, but I heard all I needed to hear.

I run through the crowd towards the complimentary room and then to the dressing room.

“She’s out by the bus,” Ray says right behind me.

I turn around and run back through the crowd following me. I weave between people and scream for them to get out of my way. I finally reach the door I need to exit through to find the buses, but when I open it I don’t see her.

Where is my girl?

I see a figure close by the buses and realize it’s a bleeding Leo handcuffed to the bus’s large side mirror. I run towards him and right before I reach him, hands pull my body to a stop. I fight against the hold as more hands join in and scream my name.

“Let me go!” I fight back. “Let me fucking go!”

“Johnny!” Somebody yells.

“I’m going to fucking kill you!” I scream at Leo. “I’m going to kill you! You don’t touch her!” I yell.

“Johnny, stop man!” someone else pleads with me, but I continue to fight against the multiple people holding me back from killing the asshole who hurt Noe.

“You don’t fucking touch Noe! She’s mine motherfucker! She belongs to me! I’m going to kill you! Fucking kill you!” I scream over and over again as people pull me back.

Every time I think I gain an inch, I’m pulled back even more.

“Grab him here,” I hear Ray’s voice from behind.

Then he’s standing in front of me. He puts his hand on my neck and pulls my forehead to him so he can talk quietly.

“Listen to me for two minutes. If you still want to kill him, I won’t stand in your way,” he says.

I keep fighting to get to Leo.

“Johnny, two fucking minutes man. Then he’s all yours. Stop fighting for two minutes and listen to me. Let me tell you about Noe,” his voice is so calm that it finally takes effect on me.

I stop struggling, but the hands don’t leave me.

“You good?” Ray asks.

“Where’s Noe at?” I ask while I try to catch my breath.

“Leo cornered her in your dressing room when you went on stage. He tried to force himself on her. Look at him, man. What do you see?” he asks.

I take a look at Leo and realize he’s bloody as fuck. He looks like he might pass out at any moment, but he also looks terrified.

“Who beat his ass?” I ask.

“Noely beat his punk ass with a chair. It took seven of us to get her off of him. If we didn’t pull her off when we did, she would’ve killed him,” he says.

I let his words soak in and close my eyes.

“Where’s my girl?” I ask.

“Not yet. You can’t go around her until you get your shit together. Right now, she’s sitting behind your bus with Jimmy and Aaron and some other roadies and musicians. Nobody is going to hurt her. I made sure of it.”

“How bad did he hurt her?” I croak out.

“He roughed her up. She’s got a few bruises, but she said she’s had worse. Right now that bad ass woman of yours is chain smoking and drinking a bottle of tequila while demanding Leo release Blood Feather from your contract. She’s telling everyone she’s your new manager,” he lightly chuckles.

“Goddamn straight she is,” I answer, still mad as fuck.

“Breathe, man. I know if that happened to any woman I loved I’d want to kill him too. I get it. We’re men and it’s in our DNA to protect what’s ours, but is that what’s best for her right now?”

I don’t answer him.

“Who does she need right now, Johnny?” he asks.

I swallow, “Me.”

“So what’s more important? Beating his ass again, or taking care of her?”

“Noe.”

“Right answer. She already beat his ass like a grown man. Let him live with the fact that a woman handed him his balls on a platter, besides his balls won’t be much use to him after what she did. He won’t be fucking with a woman anytime soon,” he laughs.

“Noe fucked him up that bad?” I ask just to be sure.

“She would’ve killed him if we didn’t pull her off. It took me twenty minutes to get her to walk away. She was determined to kill him, man,” he says with a serious tone.

“My girl fucked him up,” I say and my chest fills with pride.

She didn’t let another motherfucker do this and get away with it.

“She did. What’s more important right now?” he asks again.

“Noe.”

“Will you walk around the building with me? We’ll smoke a cigarette or two, have a few shots and calm you down. You gotta be in your right mind when you go to her. You have to be the calm one, because she’s still fucking pissed and she’s out for blood. You have to be level headed and do what’s best for her.”

“Let’s go,” I say and the crowd surrounds us as we head away from Leo.

They disperse as soon as we step around the side of the building.

“She’s still mad?” I ask and look down at my shoes while I smoke.

“She’s demanding that he release you from the contract and if he doesn’t, she says she’s going to cut his dick off and let him bleed out,” he chuckles.

“She said that?” I ask in shock.

“Verbatim.”

I smile.

“She said either way, Leo is gone. He either signs off or dies, both will release you guys from the contract.”

I chuckle, “She’s always been so fucking smart.”

“No offense man, but watching her drink straight out of a liquor bottle, chain smoke, threaten homicide, and pace up and down the bus is hot. She’s feisty as fuck.”

“I know,” I smile.

“You’re calmer so you should know, she has bruises on her neck and some on her arms and back. You don’t look at that shit when you go to her. Look her in the eyes. Be the calm man, because she’s a fucking hurricane right now. Be her calm.”

I pull him into a man hug and thank him, and then he walks me towards the buses. I know when we’ve reached our bus, because twenty men surround it, but I can’t see Noe or Jimmy.

Chapter Forty-Three

“Give ‘em a minute,” Ray says and the men scatter quickly.

When the sea parts I find Noely pacing up and down the side of the bus. She looks
exactly
like she wants to kill someone. My dick goes raging hard.

“Where is that little dick motherfucker at?!!” she yells and throws her arms up in the air.

I smile at how pissed off she is, because a year and half ago, she cowered and tried to hide it. Now, she’s out for blood and she’s not taking no for an answer.

Fuck it’s hot.

I look over to Ray, who smiles at me, pats me on the back, and then leaves to give us privacy.

Ryan and Rich join me at my side and their movement signals Noely to our presence.

She throws her hands up in the air and yells at us, “I want that motherfucker to release you out of your contract now!!!”

“Okay,” I smile at her.

“Okay?!! Just okay?!! Now, Johnny! I swear to God if he doesn’t, I’m going to cut his cock off with a butter knife and let him bleed to death. Jimmy’s already agreed to bury the body,” she points to Jimmy serious as fuck.

I smile and look past her to Jimmy, who’s smiling like a fucking kid in a candy store.

“What are you smiling at?!!” she yells.

“You beat his ass?” Rich asks with a smile in his voice.

“Yeah?” she answers and puts her hands on her hips.

I see the bruises on her arms and remember what Ray told me, so I look at her eyes, so full of rage.

“You don’t think I can beat a man’s ass?” she asks Rich with a bitchy tone.

“No, I don’t think that at all. I think you almost just killed his ass though,” Rich chuckles.

“I’m glad all of you think this is so fucking funny!” she throws her arms in the air and starts pacing again.

I look at all three of my friends who try their best to hide their laughter. She’s hot and it’s funny as fuck that she beat Leo’s ass.

“So you’re our new manager?” I ask her and take a step towards her.

“Fucking right I am,” she answers and then uses her fingers to point at the three of us. “Any of you got a fucking problem with that? I already run this motherfucker. He didn’t do shit for you.”

“Okay,” I say.

“Okay?” she asks and glares at me.

I take another step towards her.

“Okay.”

Rich seconds, “Okay.”

Ryan thirds, “Okay.”

Jimmy adds, “She knocked his ass the fuck out. It was glorious. I got it all on video too.”

She throws him a dirty look and I take another few steps towards her.

She turns to see I’m in her space and takes a step back out of surprise.

“Jimmy, let’s go handle this contract business,” Rich says.

“On it,” Jimmy says and starts to gather his crutches for his fake broken leg.

I take another step forward causing her back to hit the bus. She looks up into my eyes and I see the rage start to leave her.

I take one more half step and lay my forehead on hers.

“Talk to me,” I plead.

“He… he tried to…” she tries to tell me, but as the rage leaves her the fear replaces it.

“I know. Tell me how you’re doing.”

“I’m okay, I think.”

“You beat his ass, Noely baby. I’m so fucking proud of you,” I say as I continue to stare down into her blue eyes.

“They had to pull me off of him,” she says. “I wanted to kill him.”

“Me too. I had to get my shit together before I could come back here and see you. I’m sorry,” I admit.

“For what?” she asks and frowns.

“For not walking straight to you. Ray made me see you needed me to check on you and take care of you instead of giving Leo another beating.”

“I’ve been waiting for you,” she says and looks down at my lips.

Don’t do that.

“Yeah?” I give her a crooked smile.

“Yeah,” she says like the air was knocked out of her. She frowns and looks down, but I don’t take my eyes off her. She tries to change the subject, “I want that fucking contract, Johnny. I’m not playing when I say Jimmy and I will kill him.”

“I know,” I placate her.

“Okay,” she says as the fight once again leaves her and her eyes find mine.

“You’re okay,” I say and wrap my arms around her tightly.

“I’m okay,” she sighs.

“You weren’t on the side of the stage. I fought a panic attack because for once I knew something was wrong, but it wasn’t you leaving me. I was able to get through it because I knew you weren’t leaving me. We all knew something was wrong.”

“I’m okay,” she repeats.

“For the first time in years, I wasn’t afraid you’d leave me, Noe.”

“I’m not leaving you, Johnny. I’m right here,” she says and I close my eyes and let her words settle deep inside.

I hear a throat clear, but I open my eyes and stare back into hers. I don’t turn my head.

“Yeah?” I ask.

“Leo agreed to release us from our contract as long as Noe agrees not to press charges,” Rich says.

“Can I hit him one more time?” she asks and I have to take a step back so I can double over in laughter.

“Um…” Rich answers.

When I can talk I look at her and realize even though I was already in love with her, I fell in love with her all over again today. I fell in love with the strength she didn’t know she had. I fell in love with a woman who almost beat a man to death with a chair. Then I fell in love with a woman who still wants to kick his ass after he gives her exactly what she asked for.

“Sure you can,” I say.

“Fucking right I can,” she says and marches out in front of Rich and me.

We follow her around the bus where roadies and the rest of the musician’s mill around, but Jimmy puts his hand out to stop her.

“Can’t fuck him up again just yet. Ray and the guys just went on stage and he said he didn’t want to miss a thing,” Jimmy explains.

“Fuck that,” Noe says and begins to stomp off towards Leo.

I grab her by the crook of her elbow and swing her around to me. Then, I pull her tightly to my chest and place my chin on her head.

“Let me go, Johnny.”

“If you take the time to think this through, Ray has given you a golden opportunity. See, he’s given you time to think past your anger and think about the best way to handle Leo from here. You could go over there right now and kick him in the nuts for shits and giggles or you could plan the most devious revenge and make it count. Those kind of plans take a little time,” I tell her.