Page 86 of Revel
An hour later, it’s the final performance of the night and we’re in the middle of the song we do with all artists. Somewhere between the chorus of “Pour Some Sugar On Me” Breckin approaches me. I’m covered in whipped cream thanks to Revel, but it’s Breckin’s eyes that stop me in place, his demeanor off when he corners me near the drum riser.
Something pulses inside me, a realization, an inclination of what’s to come, yet I don’t see it. At least not until it’s too late. Breckin smiles vindictively. He touches my arm, my shoulder, my neck, yet I don’t move. He takes his finger, slides it across my chest and licks the whip cream from his finger. I remain rooted in place, silent, unable to react and wondering what the heck he’s doing. And before I can react, he slams his lips to mine.
“Breckin!” I shout, shoving him back away from me, my hand flies to my mouth, wiping away the kiss and the whipped cream from my mouth. “What the hell?”
Pulling me closer, I finally understand his intentions, his motive when he whispers vehemently in my ear, “Do you want me to treat you like he does? Drop to your knees and I’ll treat you like the whore you are.”
Jesus. What’s with men today? Are they all drinking the same wine of idiocy?
Raising my arms, I loosen his grip. “Let me go, asshole!”
I hear the sound before I noticehim. Frantic, I search the stage, but all that remains, the broken fragments of his grandfather’s Gibson.
That didn’t happen.
Revel didn’t see it.
I can tell myself that over and over again, but it doesn’t change the fact that hedidsee it and he has every right to be angry about it.
Here is where my life changes. Again. I never saw it coming, but I guess with change you never see it coming. How can you? If you saw it coming, you might have stopped it, and you don’t fuck with karma and chance.
It starts with a kiss, but it’s going to endsomuch worse.
There’s fire in Revel’s eyes but his heart, it’s so cold. Clearly out of control, I know now he’s capable of doing something crazy, I’m just not in time to stop him. The fear, it gets the better of me and I begin to cry because I can’t stop him from what he’s about to do. He’s gone too far.
“Rev, stop. Don’t make a scene,” I tell him, rushing toward him and stepping between him and Breckin. The band continues at the orders of the stage managers, despite the commotion on stage and the audience. At this point, they probably think it’s part of the show.
“Get out of the way,” he spits back at me, his eyes on Breckin, rampant and convulsive. But then his callous eyes slide to mine, and I don’t even recognize this guy. “Move. Now, Red.”
“Revel!” Patrick screams from the side-stage, rushing toward him. “Think about this. Walk away.”
Realization hits me of what’s about to happen and where we’re at.
Holy crap. This is bad. Really bad. We’re in the middle of a concert.
“This is suicide. Don’t touch that kid.” Patrick grabs Revel’s face only to be shook away. “He did that on purpose to get a reaction out of you.”
Revel’s eyes never lift from Breckin, intent and intimidating. “Yeah, well, this motherfucker is about to find out what Revved really means.”
Behind the drum riser now, Cruz beats on the drums, but his attention is on his lead singer, wondering what’s going to happen next. Revel isn’t hearing Patrick’s pleas though. He manages to shake him off, or maybe Patrick gives up, I’m not entirely sure. Maybe he thinks Breckin deserves what’s about to happen when he shouts at Revel.
“You think I’m scared of you?” Breckin snaps, his eyes focused on Revel. “C’mon, Rev. You know you want to hit me because I got that cherry before you did.”
I twist around, glaring at Breckin. “You’re an idiot! Stop provoking him.” The cherry remark doesn’t even register at first, and when it does, I suddenly want Revel to beat the crap out of him.
Sensing a fight is about to break out, Ben steps toward me, his large arms holding me protectively to his side as he drags me from the stage. “Come with me.”
“I can’t. Let me go.” I struggle against his grasp only to have him hold me tight and block my view of Revel. “I have to stop this.” Despite wanting Revel to give Breckin what he has coming, I know this outcome and it ends with Revel in trouble. Worse than he’s ever been before.
“You need to get out of here is what you need to do,” Ben whispers, his dark eyes narrowing in on me in warning. “Just stay back. He’s not in his right mind. There’s no way he’ll listen to you now.”
Yeah, I know.I don’t see what starts it, or who, but Breckin’s shoved against the drums and so it begins. All I know is there’s years of pent-up frustration between those two and it’s coming out with every blow until it becomes something more, something unstoppable, something deadly if not stopped. I can’t let this happen. I can’t let him destroy his career over something like this. Not over Breckin. Not over me.
“Please, Ben,” I beg, twisting in his embrace to face him. “Let me go! Do something, stop him!” I point to them on the ground. “You’re a security guard, stop him! Arrest him or something.”
His eyes shift from me to Revel. He doesn’t move. “Just let me get you out of here. Your dad will fire me if I don’t get you out of here.”
There’s a crash behind Ben, but I can’t see around him to see who or what it was. I stand my ground and shove against Ben’s chest. “He won’t fire you, Ben. You work for me and I’mnotleaving.”
