Page 47 of Rock Star

I creased my brow. “Axel and his family wanna find out what happened the night Ella died.”

Camila lifted her chin and stared at me in the mirror. “Axel and the guys were high on blow. Just like they always are.”

“Always are? No. They’re clean now…” I angled my body away from her.

She rolled her eyes. “Not from what I’ve seen. They were snorting lines only a couple days ago. I saw the evidence when I went to get them ready before the first Wembley concert…”

Oh. My. God.

“I don’t believe you,” I blurted out, gripping the armrests of my chair.

She sneered. “Just ask Axel. He won’t deny it.”

Nausea swelled in my stomach and a cold feeling of dread settled over my skin. Except, for some reason, I didn’t trust Camila. I’d thought for a while that she didn’t like me. I’d put it down to her friendship with Ella and not warming to me because I was a sub.

“I’ll finish getting ready on my own, thanks.” I said coldly. “I suggest you go give Hayley a hand with the guys…”

“Yeah, I’ll do that.” Camila folded her arms. “But you should ask Axel about his cocaine habit. I know from experience that an addict will always be an addict. It’s a part of them…”

“Please.” I held up my hands. “I don’t need your advice. You stick to your job and I’ll stick to mine.”

“Sure. Won’t be difficult, sugar. This is your last performance with the band.”

She flounced out of the tent and I finished applying my makeup, my wrists shaking and my thoughts in a whirl.

I trusted Axel.

Trusted that he was clean of drugs.

But why would Camila lie?

I would just need to get through the concert and then talk to him, I decided, getting to my feet and taking a sparkly black dress from its hanger.

Oh, God. I should have asked her where she’d been the night Ella overdosed.

I dug my nails into the palms of my hands, pissed with myself.

My stomach was churning so much I almost puked.I resolved to act like a professional and carry on as if nothing had happened. As I’d told Camila, I’d do my job. It was what ChiMera paid me for and I’d freaking do it to the best of my ability. This was my last live performance with them… I’d be returning to the States tomorrow.

Axel came back from his interview just before we went on stage. We had our usual group hug and the crowd roared as we took up our positions.

I stared at him. Had he been doing coke?

No, he’d told me he was clean… and I believed him.

Believed him and not Camila.

I relaxed and settled into the performance.

I’d never seen a crowd this size from a stage before. It looked more like I’d have imagined a weird, multicolored pre-harvest prairie than a field full of people.

Stretching as far as the distant horizon.

Half-lit under the night sky by flashlights and phones.

Twice the numbers we’d been getting at our stadium concerts.

Scaffolding, spotlights, video screens and huge speakers towered into the darkness above me, making me feel insignificant as I stood behind my mic.

There was no catwalk, so Axel prowled the front of the stage. The audience was loving him, girls perched on guys’ shoulders, flags and weird balloons waving above the crowd as they sang the chorus to ‘London Lovers’.

London lovers, in a hurry

Time stood still and I crushed her to me.

The bridge fell down, but I carried on

Underground where I belonged.Axel spread his arms wide, and that’s when I heard it. A distant rumble of thunder.

Holy shit!

Without warning, the heavy sky unzipped itself and rain sheeted down.

All over the crowd.

The front of the stage.

The pedal boards.

The mics.

Everything.

Another crash of thunder and my heart almost beat out of my chest.

Carry on.

Act professional.

Don’t freak.

Axel came to stand right next to me and he held me with his eyes.

“You’re the one that I need,” he sang the words to the song, but he was singing them to me… I could see it in his expression.

Rooted to the spot, I nodded to him, telling him with my own eyes that I’d got this. I would face it out. I was scared but I’d be okay.

The set continued and Axel kept his shirt on. It was plastered to his body, showing his ripped pecs and abs.

He lowered himself; he was soaking wet and so were his fans. They were glued to him like his tee, and when he told them to crouch down, they did so in unison, only to leap up with him on the command, “Jump!”

Through sheer force of will, I managed to carry on through the storm. If there’d been a lot of lightning, I would probably have totally lost it. The thunder made me shake uncontrollably and beads of sweat broke out on my forehead. I wanted to run off the stage and hide myself away, but I didn’t. Instead, I swallowed my fear and focused on the task at hand.

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