“I’m not a very good gypsy,” Kate confessed. Cid’s crew was setting up her shop as she sipped coffee in an attempt to wake up. Her body was protesting, her internal clock thrown so far off, she didn’t have any hope of recovering.
But she had to work on the day they were building the concert stage, so it was up with the sun.
“You’re going to do just fine.” Percy offered her a long-distance pat on the shoulder. “Being on the road is hard, but the work I’ve seen is fabulous.”
“Thanks to your shopping.”
Percy made a happy sound on the other end of the line. “Wouldn’t miss it. Steve keeps asking when we need to go again. I think he’s fantasizing about those studs a little too much.”
“Well, I’m sure you can put his passion to good use.”
Percy laughed. “You know I will.”
The last of her shop was unloaded. The crew was unboxing her machines and setting up the cutting table. It took less than an hour, because she and Percy knew how to design a set kit.
She laid out a new hide, smoothing the winkles and studying the surface intently before laying out a pattern. Drake wanted a small pocket running down the right leg for his drumsticks. Kate considered the pattern, making a couple of new pieces to form the pocket.
“You’re intense when you work.”
Kate looked up to find Taz halfway into the suite. She lowered the shears she’d been about to start cutting with.
“Yes.”
“It shows in your work. You love what you do.”
Coming from Taz, it felt like a double compliment. He was more private than the other members of the band.
“I was wondering”—he pulled a tablet from his jacket, looking like he was working up the courage to ask her something—“if you can do something like this. If you have time.”
He laid the device on the table. She came around and looked at the picture of Loki from The Avengers.
“I like to cosplay when we’re not on tour,” he confessed.
Kate nodded. “And you want to be the bad boy.”
“I am the bad boy.”
Kate shook her head. “No, you’re not.”
Something passed through his eyes. It darkened his expression momentarily before he shook it off. “I’ve messed up pretty bad when it counted.”
“We all do.”
He offered her a shrug before leaving. For a moment she felt like going after him. There was something dark inside him, a pain that ran deep. But it was the type of demon only he could defeat.
Maybe he’d tell her more about it when she finished his Loki coat.
* * *
“Thank you, Milwaukee!”
The fans roared, and Syon left them screaming for more. Kate fought her way to the backstage entrance. She squeezed through the opening—two of Cid’s guys were blocking it and unwilling to move aside more than two inches, it seemed.
But the swarm of bodies behind her made it understandable. They tried to follow her, the men holding them back with pure bulk.
Syon looped an arm around her, pulling her close for a sweaty kiss. She followed him into the performance room, where Cid was ready to run the show.
“I’m out tonight.”
Cid turned around, looking at Ramsey like he’d lost his mind.
“Don’t think I heard you, mate,” Cid said incredulously.
“You did.” Ramsey wiped his makeup off. “I’ve got something I’ve got to take care of.”
“Yeah,” Syon joined in. “We’ve got stuff to deal with.”
“Someone’s got to meet the press,” Cid insisted.
“Fine,” Syon said. “I got that.”
Cid wasn’t pleased. Not by a long shot. A tide of red darkened his complexion, but Syon didn’t give him a chance to argue. He turned and jerked his head toward the doors. Ramsey was moving instantly, heading for the door with a hard expression on his face. Kate lost sight of him as they piled into a black SUV and made their way to the hotel.
The normal buzz was missing. Kate felt like the only one not in on the secret. But she didn’t get long to ponder it. Their driver pulled around the huge semicircle in front of the hotel and opened the doors to the delight of the fans.
“Got to talk to the press.” Syon dropped a kiss on her temple before letting Cid’s crew pull him away. The paparazzi were out in good number, snapping pictures of Drake and Taz as they made their way through the huge entrance doors of the hotel. Fans squealed and stretched out to touch them, some of the girls lifting their tops.
Drake stopped and smiled at one. Taz considered him for a minute, judging him sober enough to look out for himself. The girl smiled knowingly, boldly licking her lower lip. Drake offered her his hand, and the security guys let her slide through the barricade.
Kate followed behind them, but not too quickly. The high from the concert was still buzzing her. She didn’t want to be separated from Syon.
But a glance over her shoulder showed him facing several cameras. Their overly bright lights were blinding, the soundmen holding up their huge fur-covered microphones.
She needed a shower.
It was a flimsy excuse, but enough to get her through the doors. The roar was dimmer inside. The hotel security was doing a good job of making sure the fans stayed outside. She flashed her key card at one suited man and started toward the elevators.
“You’ll listen to me, and listen well.”
There was a middle-aged woman tearing into Ramsey. Next to her stood an older man and several other people, two of them actually holding Bibles.
The woman had her finger out and was shaking it at him. “I brought you into this world. It’s a disgrace and a shame the way you act. You are coming home with us tonight. You are going to get right with the Lord. Is that clear?”
Kate should have kept out of it. Kept her mouth shut. It wasn’t like Ramsey couldn’t take care of himself or summon some of Cid’s goons with a flick of his wrist.
But he stood there, letting the group converge on him. They were all talking at once, actually shaking their Bibles at him as they closed in like a pack of wolves.
Only Ramsey was like a panther, more than able to take them out.
And he stood there. Taking it.
Damned if Kate didn’t feel her respect for him rising. Ramsey was quick to cut down anyone who got in his face, but he was holding his tongue with his family. That made him a decent fellow. Someone with a sense of honor.
The connection between him and Syon was making more and more sense. They only had each other. And not only did they only have each other, but also the rest of the world could be as vicious as it was welcoming to them. The crowd around Ramsey was working itself into a fever.
“Ramsey, don’t forget I need your wardrobe checked in.”
He snapped his head around. Her heart twisted when she caught sight of his face.
He was in hell. That unique sort of torment that could only come from seeing people you cared about turn on you.
For a moment, she thought she was going to get the brunt of his temper, or at the least, a middle-finger salute.
“And who is she?” the people standing in front of him demanded.
“Costume coordinator,” he informed them. “I do follow some rules. Been nice. Bye. Hold the elevator, Kate.”
He started toward her at a run. But his expression was one step short of devastated. He slammed into the car as Kate hit the button to close the door. He braced his hands on the hand bar, facing the back wall as the car started to pull them upward.
“Sorry if I overstepped.”
He drew in a deep breath and shook his head. “Better that you did. I was about to say something…disrespectful.”
“But true?”
He choked a little and turned around to lean against the handrail. He offered her a half grin that really lifted only one corner of his mouth. “True to my way of thinking. Which isn’t what my parents want.”
“How’d they get past Cid’s guys?”
Ramsey shrugged. “They’re my parents. I’d be a real asshole if I left instructions for them to be kept out.”