Page 46 of Rock Star

“Your sister said those same words to me,” Mum whispered in my ear. “Please don’t let history repeat itself.”

What the fuck did she mean by that?

“I’m going come out about her.” I shot Mum a determined look. “We just need to work through some issues first.”

I stood apart from my family while Mum introduced them to Phoenix.

Sudden goosebumps prickled across my skin.

I spun around.

Camila had detached herself from Hayley and was glaring at me.

Shooting daggers at me with her eyes.

Fuck.

Was it her who’d seen me leaving Firebird’s room this morning?

Fucking fuck.21Tingles of excitement flourished through me. Glastonbury was said to be the most celebrated annual outdoor event in the history of rock ’n’ roll, and I was freaking stoked to be here. I sat in front of the mirror in the dressing room tent backstage, waiting for Hayley to come and help me get ready. We’d all arrived a short while ago by helicopter, descending through heavy cloud.

My stomach fluttered. Over two hundred thousand people were at the festival, most of them camping in the small tents they’d brought with them and erected in the designated camping fields around the site. Not all of them would be at our concert—there were others going on at the same time in different performance areas—yet, even so, we were about to headline on the iconic Pyramid Stage and this would be our biggest audience yet. I couldn’t believe I was soon to tread on the same boards where David Bowie, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z had once stood.

It occurred to me this was what Woodstock would have been today if Max Yasgur hadn’t decided to go back to running a dairy farm after being ostracized by his hippie-hating neighbors. Except, in addition to contemporary music, Glastonbury hosted dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other arts. Leading pop and rock musicians had headlined here, including Radiohead, the Killers, the Cure, Foo Fighters and Metallica, alongside thousands of others on the smaller stages. Glastonbury received extensive media coverage—we would be appearing on national TV—and, at this minute Axel was doing a live interview with the BBC.

I thought about him and our day with his family yesterday and my heart stuttered. Sara had invited the entire band, as well as Camila, Hayley and our security team for lunch at the mansion in Surrey where she lived with Blake and Declan. After we’d eaten, we’d walked to the village church and had taken flowers to Ella in the graveyard. A poignant moment, and everyone had hugged and cried and told her how much they loved and missed her. Hayley and I had never met Ella, so we kept a respectable distance. Camila had sobbed as if her heart would break, and I remembered Axel telling me how close she and Ella were.

Now, I stared at my reflection in my dressing room mirror.

Where had Camila been on the night Ella overdosed?

I turned around as the flap to my tent opened, expecting to see Hayley.

My smile wavered.

Camila had come through the entrance.

“Where’s Hayley?” I asked, confused.

Camila’s hazel eyes narrowed. “She’s helping the guys.”

“Oh.” I blinked rapidly. “Why?”

“I wanted to talk to you privately.” Camila placed her hands on my shoulders and met my gaze in the mirror. “I saw Axel leave your suite at dawn the other morning.” Her nostrils flared. “I hope you realize what you’ve gotten yourself into…”

My belly gave a lurch, “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

She carried on staring at me in the mirror, picked up a comb and, with trembling fingers, started running it through my hair. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed the way he looks at you all the time like he’s fucking you with his eyes.”

My mouth fell open. “It’s just a game he plays.” I kept my tone steady. “I’m his muse…. it’s all about the music.”

“Ha.” Her laugh was sardonic. “I bet.” She began twisting my hair into an updo.

Time to change the subject.

“Axel’s mom told us something about Ella.”

Camila’s eyes popped. “What?”

“She mentioned that Ella was in love with another woman,” I said matter-of-factly.

Camila gave my hair a painful tug, making me wince.

“Ella was a junkie,” she said shrilly. “Her only love was heroin.”

I let out a gasp. “You knew she was shooting up? Why didn’t you tell Axel?”

She patted my hair, reached into her bag and extracted a tube of foundation. “Because I knew that if I couldn’t stop her, he wouldn’t have stood a chance in hell.” She snapped her gum and worked the makeup into my face. “Ella needed to go to rehab. But she refused. If I couldn’t get through to her, no one else would have managed.”

I tilted my head to the side. “What about Kimberly? Was she the woman Ella was seeing?”

“I don’t know.” Camila dropped her gaze and rummaged in her bag. “Why are you asking?”

---