Page 102 of Syncopation
* * *
In fact, the first words out of Carl’s mouth when he strode onto the bus were, “You fucking perverted fuck.”
Ray’s stomach lurched and he stood, but Zavier slipped between them. Carlshoved him aside. “You fucking druggies, Ray?”
He froze. No one but the band—and of course, the guy—knew the guy had been carrying drugs. “No, I’m not.”
Carl held up the tablet. “Photo says otherwise.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Zavier said. “That’s me behind Ray, and yes, I’d swear that in a court of law.” He paused. “I’m nearly three years older than Ray and haven’t touched drugs since potsince high school.”
A little color dripped from Carl’s face. “They saw the dealer go up.”
Ohshit. Tension visibly coursed through Zavier, then there was none. “You little fucking—” He raised his fist.
Raymoved, pushing past Carl and banging Zavier up against the wall of the bus. “No. Nope. Zav. Not worth it.” He wouldn’t let Zavier end up with an assault charge, not to protect him.
“That piece of shit set you up.” Zavier snarled the words, his face red, his body shaking. “Tried to destroy your career and the band and—”
Ray gave him a little shake. “You still have the recording?”
Zavier blinked and the fight in him fled, or maybe he wrestled it under control. Hard to tell. He took a deep breath. “Yeah, I do.”
When Ray faced Carl again, Carl was white and red.Terror and anger. “It was you who told that guy to go up, wasn’t it?”
“You have no proof at all.” Carl practically spat the words.
Ray nodded. “It’s true. But we do have a recording of Zavier confronting the man before anything happened, my reaction to the drugs, and telling him to get out.” He shrugged. “So you can figure out how to get those gossip sites off my case, unless you wantthem speculating about your involvement, too.”
The fight left Carl, too. “I should have never signed you, Demos.”
“You shouldn’t even have a job, you washed-up, out-of-tune has-been.” Rage made Zavier’s words sharp.
Mish cleared her throat and rose. “I think you should go, Carl, before I decide to stick my boot up your ass. You fuck with these guys again, and I won’t be so kind.”
Where Carl had been furious at Zavier, that slipped to fear as Mish loomed over him. He managed to squeeze around Ray and flee the bus.
“Well, fuck.” Dom exhaled. “I thought we were gonna see blood.”
Zavier scratched the back of his head. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have lost my cool.”
Ray gripped his shoulder for a moment. “Role reversal again.”
Zavier dropped to the couch. “I knewhe’d come at you again. Didn’t know he was such a shit to set you up with a drug dealer.”
Yeah, that had been unexpected. Completely. He should have been as upset at Zavier, but he clung to the bubble of calm that enveloped him. “I think I need to talk to the label. Get a new manager. Find out what they’re doing about this, since Carl is of no use.” He dug his notebook out of his bag. “Butright now, we’ve got a set list to finalize and whatever shit they’re feeding us here to eat. Come on.” Better to focus on here and now. He ushered them out of the bus.
* * *
Ray seemed unaffected by the realization Carl had nearly ruined his carrier. Unfortunately, Zavier couldn’t shake the desire to wring every bone from Carl’s neck. He took another breath and followed Ray into the venue.A strange reversal of roles, indeed. He wasn’t usually given to violence. The kink was completely different—that was a shared desire and entirely consensual, and while he might hurt people who wanted that, he’d neverharmthem.
He wanted to harm Carl. Wanted justice. His body ached with anger and hatred rolled through his brain, lacing his blood with pain, enough so that he still shook asthey walked.
Dom clapped him on the shoulder. “Yeah, I know. I wanna kill him, too.”
Zavier let the laugh be bitter. “I don’t get why he’s so calm.”
“Ray?” Dom peered ahead. “Because you have his back. We have his back. Carl can’t prove jack shit. You can. We can corroborate. Nothing will come of it all.”
