Page 76 of Not Another Rockstar
She rolled her eyes at his annoyingly cute statement when she was trying to be serious.
“I should hurry. We’ve got a celebratory dinner to get to,” she said. She hadn’t even decided what to wear, and her concealer was in desperate need of touching up since all the stress was causing her to break out. She was beginning to think she should buy stock in pimple patches.
“Go up the back staircase and you can beat your brother.”
She hated sneaking around, but they had enough to deal with right now, so she padded upstairs. She had only just closed the paint-stained door behind her when her brother knocked.
After enough Chinese food to feed an army, they all sat around the dinner table listening to Nick raise his champagne glass in a toast to Phoebe. She gripped Axel’s hand resting on her thigh as her brother thanked her for helping make their dreams come true. She didn’t feel like she deserved so much credit, but it did feel good to be acknowledged and get to celebrate with them.
“To put an end to my emotional rambling, we have something for you,” Nick said, taking something from under his chair.
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Phoebe said, but she unwrapped the square with a stupid grin.
“It’s a mock-up of the album case.” August nudged her excitedly.
She turned it over and saw the list of ten songs written on the tail of a coiled snake.
“It’s beautiful. You should all be proud of yourselves,” she said, only to freeze when she saw the fine print. Under‘songwriter’, it read ‘Phoebe Fletcher’ beside ‘Cillian Hunt’. The work they had done together, immortalised.
He deserved to be honoured. He’d been her inspiration, and those few weeks spent creating this last album were memories she would always cherish. Those moments with him, writing in the sun, his proposal, had been magical. She wanted to remember him as he was in those moments, carefree and so full of passion and love. It was like they’d placed a manifestation of her heart in her hands.
“You didn’t have to do this, but thank you. I know Cillian wasn’t perfect, but he loved all of you, us, and he’d have given anything to see this finished. This can’t be easy for any of you, especially with the upcoming concert and all the harassment, but I’m so happy to have you all in my life and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
She wiped her tears. If she didn’t get a hold of herself her mascara would be halfway down her face.
“Yes, we did have to do this,” Nick said. “This was long overdue, and this is the first step towards a fresh start for all of us. Cillian will always be a part of us, and we can honour him by standing by each other and giving him the best send-off at the concert.”
They toasted to new beginnings. For the first time since Munich, Phoebe felt like everything was going to be okay. That was until they left the restaurant and were immediately accosted with blinding flashes and deafening shouts. Phoebe struggled through the crowd of photographers.
“Back up!” August growled at a pap who got too close to her.
“Phoebe! Ms Fletcher! What do you say to the person who burnt down your exhibit? Are you going to press charges? The gallery refused to comment, but this is the second time your art has been targeted.” The fragmented questions were pieced together from many voices.
“What are they talking about?” Phoebe asked Olivier, who was protecting them.
He didn’t answer, too focused on getting them to their cars.
Axel took her hand while the others protected her from the onslaught of questions. She wanted to stop him, to ask what they were talking about.A fire? A gallery?We’ve only been at dinner for a few hours. How could something have happened in such a short time, and how had the press found them?Only those in attendance and their security had known about their reservation at the Golden Elephant tonight.
Axel bundled her into the back of the car and slammed the door with a muffled curse. Nick and August got in the car behind them, and Phoebe glanced out the back window to see them pull off safely.
“Fucking vultures. Someone at the restaurant must have leaked our location,” Axel said, climbing in beside her.
The driver pulled away from the curb, careful not to hit any of the paps surrounding the car as they tried in vain to snap a shot through the tinted windows. Phoebe checked her phone and found Lena’s many missed calls and messages. Not wanting to be interrupted with any more bad news, she’d turned it off for their celebration, and instantly regretted it.
“Is everything okay?” Axel asked as she put the phone up to her ear.
“It’s Lena. She left me a couple of voice messages.”
“I’m so sorry, but the Reid Gallery caught fire. I didn’t want you to hear it from the media first. Please call me back. When I’m finished here, I’ll come over.”Lena’s panic sent shivers of dread down Phoebe’s spine.
Swallowing the news, she wished she hadn’t eaten so much. The image of her last remaining paintings going up in flames sent a violent spasm through her hand, and she dropped her phone.
“I need to go to the Reid Gallery!” Phoebe called out to the driver, who quickly turned the car in the opposite direction without argument. She fumbled for her phone, making sure the volume was up high so she didn’t miss another call.
“Phoebe, what’s going on?” Axel asked, and she wished he’d gone with her brother.
“There’s been a fire at the Reid Gallery, and I need to be there. They’ve got the last of my paintings for next week’s show. Lena’s there, I need to know she’s okay,” Phoebe fretted, hoping no one was hurt, and that the gallerist hadn’t taken her works out of the protective crates.
