March 20, 2005
Gwinnett Arena
Atlanta, Georgia
I was disappointed to see that the stage was not set up yet. I was looking forward to playing the drums to release all the stress and anger in my body. I was about to turn around and head back to my tour bus when I saw the annoying ghost who wouldn’t leave me and Leo alone. He gave me a watch-what-I-am-about-to-do-and-you-can’t-do-anything-about-it smile. If my stare could kill he would be double dead by now.
He took a step towards Leo who was with the other roadies and fixing something on the stage. He picked up one of the roadies cellphone slowly and carefully so no one would see the cellphone flying in the air.
“Stop!” I screamed when I saw he put the cellphone on Leo’s small bag that he was wearing around his waist.
All the roadies turned around and threw me a questioning look.
“Do you need anything, Mr. Carter?” Bobby came out of nowhere and approached me.
“Where the fuck is my phone? It was just here.”
I was about to answer Bobby when I heard the owner of the cellphone spoke up. I looked at the ghost and he gave me a triumphant smile.
“Can you call it?” The owner asked the guy beside him “It must be buried somewhere under all this mess.”
I literally froze while waiting for what would happen next. Leo was still calmly working on the edge of the stage.
“Hey, Babe.” I tilted my head to the right and saw Lisa as she wrapped her arms around my waist. “I’ve been looking for you.” She added in a flirty voice.
“You sneaky thief!”
When I turned my attention back at the stage, the owner of the cellphone was already hitting Leo in the face. The poor guy was trying his best to avoid the other guy’s punches. I quickly ran up to the stage and helped in breaking them apart.
“I’d bring Leo to Daphne.” I informed Bobby as I grabbed Leo by the arm and helped him walk to where Daphne was.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Nick, you need to tell what you know.” Kevin calmly said. He called for an emergency band meeting on my tour bus right before sound check. “It would speed up the investigation, we’re off to Cleveland tonight.”
“And I’ve already told you that I didn’t see anything.” I shot back hoping he would just drop the subject. I couldn’t tell them I saw the annoying ghost put it in Leo’s bag, could I?
“I thought you saw something ‘cause you were standing there and staring at them worriedly.” Lisa butted in without looking up from her laptop.
I glared at her but she didn’t seem to mind. Can someone please remind me how a one night stand turned out to be three straight days stay on my bus? Oh yes, because AJ decided that she should stay until we get back to New York, and apparently she couldn’t stay with AJ and Kaci’s bus. But I don’t think I would last four more days with her, she should be out of my bus tonight. She wasn’t a good fuck, anyway.
“Are you sure, Nick? Some of the roadies said you yelled stop, so they thought you saw that guy took the other guy’s phone.” Howie explained.
“I saw nothing. End of discussion. I want to take a nap before sound check, so if you don’t mind you can all go now.” I said in a dismissive tone.
Brian, Kevin, Howie and AJ all got up t the same time, and each of them said ‘Later’ and ‘See you’ simultaneously. I nodded and gave them an apologetic smile.
“You, too.” I pointed at Lisa when the guys were gone. “Go hang out with Kaci or something.”
“Seriously?” She asked in disbelief.
“Yes.”
“I might not come back, Nick, if you force me to go out of this bus.” She warned me but I really don’t care anymore.
I gave her a dismissive shrug “Lock the door on your way out.”
I went to my small room and saw Andrea sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Nice way to get rid of the girlfriend.” She teased.
I checked first if Lisa was already out of hearing range before I answered. “She’s not my girlfriend. Hell, she was supposed to be just a one night stand.”
“You seemed to enjoy the service she was providing you.”
“What?! Hey, please don’t tell me you were watching me.”
“Of course not. I was just kidding.”
“Are you sure?” The thought of the ghost watching me have sex with someone was scary.
She laughed softly “By the way, Daniel said you need to finish Gary’s case before it gets out of hand.”
“Gary? Case?”
“Oh, crap! You do not know his name yet, do you?”
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shook my head
“I wasn’t supposed to tell you his name, you should be learning that on your own. But, anyway he is the ghost attached to Leo. I saw what he had been doing to Leo for the past weeks, and honestly it should be stopped. But Daniel is more worried when someone confirmed that Michael sent someone to talk to Gary and convince him to be on their side.”
“Which means?”
“That you and Leo are in danger. I wish I could help you, Nick, but you need to do this on your own.” She looked at me with worried eyes.
“How could I help him when he is not even asking for my help? All he wants is revenge.”
“You need to change his mind about Leo. You need to prove to him that Leo is innocent.”
“Is he?” I asked again. I didn’t know what to believe at this point. I could see how Gary, if that was really his name, had been treating Leo, but how could I prove his innocence?
“That you have to find out. Good luck, Nick. I really hope you could wrap this up soon. I’d be around if you need me, I’ll be closely watching you to make sure Michael’s people won’t be able touch you.”
“Thank you, Andrea.”
“You are most welcome.”
Her genuine smile made me calm for a while.
Chapter End Notes:
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