“What?” I lean my head down in an attempt to see her face better. “What did you do at the Austin show that made a fool outta you? Do me a solid, ‘cuz that was weeks ago, and I don’t remember anything but meeting a really adorable, really sweet, really devoted fan of mine.”
She shakes her head again, causing her hair to fall like a shiny, brunette curtain around her face.
Well,shit. A crying girl isn’t exactly a sexually receptive girl, so I’m going to have to change tactics.
I drape her wrist around my neck and switch to wrapping my arms around her back. “Ava, Ava, Ava…” I sweep her hair over her shoulder before pressing my cheek against the side of her head and finding her ear. “You know what, sweetie. I think you’re a shy little thing. I think you’re a little homesick, and probably a little overwhelmed. But I really want you to try to let all that go and just let yourself fall into the carefree fun of this week. All right? Tomorrow, we’re gonna be rehearsing the songs for the new album, and I know you’ll love that. If there’s one thing I know about you, it’s your love of all this music. The reason you love it is the same reason I do, that everybody here does, and if you’re feeling overwhelmed, just try to think of that. Whaddya say?”
She doesn’t say anything, but I can feel that she’s relaxed against me. Her head is turned toward my neck, and her cheek is resting on my clavicle.
“Whaddya say, Ava doll?” I repeat, giving her back a firm up-and-down rub.
She’s still silent, so I lean my face even farther down. Her eyes are closed, her features are relaxed, and her lips are slightly parted. She looksasleep.
“Ava?”
She blinks her eyes open.
“You awake?”
She slides her glassy eyes up to mine. “Is Vin your real name?”
My brow pulls low. “Huh?”
“Meyer keeps calling you Vin.”
“Oh.” I’m not crazy about fans knowing my legal name, but Ava’s so sleepy right now that she might not even remember. And besides, it’s sort of inevitable that these folks are going to hear it some this week anyway. “Yeah. It’s Vincent.” I release one arm from her back to hold my hand in between us. “Vincent De Luca. Nice to meet you,MizzAva Herald.”
She gives me a small smile as she places her hand in mine, and I start leading her through more upbeat steps.
Her cheek remains planted on my collar bone. “Vincent is a super classy name. It actually really fits you. Why do you go by Lucky instead?”
I feel the easy smile fade from my face, and the innocent question causes my mind to take a trip back in time.
* * *
It wassixty seconds of nothing but chaos.
The gunshots going off. Meyer tackling a guy, only to get knocked the fuck out. Gia screaming bloody fucking murder.
Me on my back on a darkened street in East Harlem.
The frigid asphalt warming underneath me thanks to a deepening pool of my own fucking blood.
Then, the coldest cold I’d ever felt in my life.
I woke up in a hospital two days later. Meyer was pacing the room and rubbing two-days’ worth of unshaven hair on his chin. He was sporting a puffy, bright purple right eye and a split lip.
“They got all your shit, Vin,”he informed me.“By the time the cops and paramedics had gotten there, they were long gone.”
I rubbed my forehead, groaning and wincing at the sharp, throbbing pain in my chest and side from where four bullets had been extracted.“It was Richie’s fuckin’ guys. We just need to report it to the cops, and we can get it all back.”
He dragged a chair across the room to sit next to my bed and crossed his arms over his chest.“You know the cops ain’t gonna do shit about stolen property.”He lifted his hand in a defeated gesture at my torso.“And you’re not fuckin’ dead, so they don’t have to start a homicide case. They ain’t gonna do shit. You know that.”
I groaned again, knowing he was right.“Then I’ll go after the mother fucker myself.”
“And what good is that gonna do for you?”
“I need my shit, Meyer. I’m fuckin’ broke.”
