After chugging down my bottle of water in one, I dragged my shoes on and headed out. Neil was waiting for me by the lift and together we made our way downstairs to one of the smaller conference rooms where Claire was apparently waiting for us. We were the last to arrive and the first person I noticed when we entered the room was Jake. I allowed myself a quick glance up and down his body, admiring how fucking hot he looked in one of those black suits he always wears and trying not to imagine them lying on the floor next to him. The second person to catch my eye was our manager, Philip. If Phil was here, something was seriously wrong.
“Ok, now we’re all here,” Matt began, rubbing his hands together. “Let’s get this party started.”
Hmm, well Matt seemed to be his usual twat of a self. That ruled out this meeting being about him.
“Ok, guys, something potentially serious is going on,” Claire said, followed by a heavy sigh. “We’ve been receiving some threats. Most likely some kind of stupid prank, but you need to be aware of what’s going on.”
“What kind of threats?” Gavin piped up.
“Death threats,” Jake said firmly, taking over the conversation.
“Jake,” Claire interrupted. By the way she shook her head I suspected she didn’t want us to know the full extent of whatever the hell was going on.
“They need to know, Claire.” Turning his attention to us, he continued. “It began a few months ago. At first it was a few letters. In my opinion the efforts of an amateur. They started out quite cryptic, but now they’re making it pretty clear what they mean. Before the show yesterday we found a dead cat in Sawyer’s room with a note attached to it.”
“Holy fuck!” Daz said. “What do they want?”
“They’ve not said. It’s likely nothing, you know things like this come with the territory,” Jake tried to assure. I’m sure it worked for the rest of the group, but I knew his eyes, and the way they were drawn down slightly told me this was a real concern for him. “The police are aware of the situation and we’re interviewing additional security recruits when we arrive in LA.”
“Fuck ‘em,” I said. “It’s probably just some stupid kid.”
“I thought the same, until it became apparent they have access to your itinerary. They’ve been sending these letters to places you’re scheduled to stay that only yourselves, appointed staff and security would know about. As yet, we haven’t worked out how they know that information, and discovering that is my first priority.”
“Look guys,” Phil interjected, causally waving his hand. “We don’t want you worrying about this. You should know what’s going on, that’s all. You have a great team behind you. Nothing’s going to happen.”
“I agree.” And I really did. I trusted our security team undoubtedly. “I don’t know about you guys but I’m not gonna give this shit another thought.”
“So can we go back to bed now?” Matt groaned, stretching his arms above his head and yawning. “I’m fucking beat.”
“Yes, I suppose so,” Claire said. “What about you, Kip? Do you have anything to say?”
“No,” he bit. He’d been silent with his arms folded across his chest the whole time. What was with him?
“I’m outta here.” Matt was the first to get up from the table, closely followed by Pete. Eventually we all followed suit, Jake and I purposely keeping distance from each other, and then I headed back to my suite to get ready for tonight.
We’d been sitting backstage in the arena for almost an hour waiting for Elle to arrive. She was never late, and it worried me. I tried calling and got voicemail which only made it worse.
“Sorry sorry sorry!” she called, rushing into my dressing room where we were all waiting for her. A young guy trailed behind her, pulling a suitcase behind him. He was young, early twenties max, he had hand and neck tattoos and tapers in both ears. “I had to pick Ryder up from the station, take him to the hotel so he could sign the NDA Claire had drawn up and then my phone died. So guys, this is Ryder,” she announced, gesturing her hand towards him. “He’s my junior stylist and I’m bringing him along on the rest of the tour. I’ve cleared it with Phil and Claire.”
We all greeted him with a mix of hey’s, hi’s and a ‘wassup’ from Matt. He came to each of us, briefly shaking each of our hands.
“It’s great to meet all of you,” he said with a wide smile. “Massive fan.”
“Thanks,” I replied, wondering why Elle hadn’t mentioned him before.
“Guess we’d best get cracking,” Elle said, bending down to the case Ryder had brought and pulling out her styling gear. “Ryder, you’re with Sawyer and I’ll get started on the other guys in another room.” Great, so I was getting landed with the new kid. “There’s no way you’re ready to spend any time alone with Matt yet.”
“Hey!” Matt piped up. “You know girls only diss guys when they secretly want to chow down on their man-meat.”
“Maybe when I was fourteen, dickwad.”
Soon enough, the room cleared, leaving me alone with Ryder.
“So,” he began, standing behind me and making eye-contact in the large mirror I was sitting in front of. He had a deep, smooth voice. The judgemental side of me assumed he would talk like a prissy, what with him being a hairdresser. “How do you want it?”
“I don’t care,” I said. “Elle just tends to do whatever the hell she wants with it.”
“Got it,” he said, blowing out a short laugh, clearly understanding that you don’t really say no to Elle.
“So how long have you worked for Elle?” I asked while he combed and tugged at bits of my hair.
“Coming up to three years. I trained with her. She’s a cool boss to have and a pretty good friend too.”
“She sure is. Don’t know about the boss part though. I imagine she’s quite the hardass.”