Page 55 of Mason Wilder
Tessa wanted to believe that more than anything in the world. She couldn’t bear the thought of Mason getting his heart broken, or deceived, especially since he was still mourning Aunt Mary. “Do you really think she’s changed?”
Sindy thought about it for a long time, then shrugged one shoulder. “She looks a hell of a lot different from that messy drunk girl I saw on the video, so, yeah.”
“What video?” Tessa’s eyes widened with surprise, and her voice raised an octave.
“A video your mom played of Immortal Angel’s early days. Before they were signed. You were there. But you ran out when your dads started grinding on each other.”
Tessa grimaced. Love was freely shown in her family, which is something she thrived on, but, her dad and Papi’s stage antics sometimes were a little too erotic for her to witness, especially from their early days before the label necessitated some inhibitions in front of an audience.
“Kendall only appeared for a few seconds,” Sindy continued, “but, I saw how upset your mom got when I asked who the girl was on the video. She didn’t want to say anything about it, but Lucas pressed her.”
“What did she say?”
“Just that the girl on the video was Mason’s birth mother. She wouldn’t say anything else and she wouldn’t rewind the video when Lucas asked. And she told him not to mention it to Mason.”
Curiosity ate away at Tessa, and she wondered if she’d seen Kendall in some of the old footage without being aware of it. “Guard the doorway.”
“What?”
Tessa went to the console that sat against the wall underneath the giant flat screen. “Make sure no one’s coming.”
Sindy gave her a wild-eyed frantic look, but did as Tessa asked. “Hurry up!” she whispered.
Tessa had no idea what any of the dozens of DVDs contained, except that they were all marked “Immortal Angel” with adate. She grabbed three of the older ones, closed the cabinet and rushed toward the door. She looped her arm through Sindy’s and continued briskly walking. “Let’s go.” They went up to Tessa’s old room, which was exactly as she had left it. Her laptop wasn’t here though, so she was forced to play the DVD on the flat screen. Not ideal when she didn’t want anyone to know what she was doing, but she didn’t have any other options. She locked her bedroom door for added measure.
The first DVD was of Immortal Angel playing at a bar packed with people. She watched it on mute and scanned the throngs of people when the camera left the stage and shot the crowd. They all looked the same, fists raised in the air and shouting. Some were shoving each other in an aggressive mosh pit. It was dark, and it was hard to distinguish individual faces. She wasn’t sure if she could pick Kendall out of a group of people. All she had to go by was the one photo that Mason had showed her of Kendall with him as a baby, which was a vague memory at this point. “Would you recognize her if you saw her again?”
Sindy shook her head. “I doubt it. But she had some sort of confrontation with Audra and Kira at the front of the stage. That’s what made me ask about her.”
Tessa didn’t know what she was looking for, but scanned the video anyway, fast forwarding most of it. The first DVD showed nothing to indicate that Kendall was in the mix of people, so she played the next one. This time, she focused closely on the screen whenever people in the bar were shot instead of Immortal Angel. She doubted she’d find anything, but she enjoyed watching it.
A neon sign on the wall announced the name of the place. This was the legendary Quadrangle, a bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn that was as famous as CBGB’s and whose reputation lived on long after its demise.“Look. There’s Alyssa.” Tessa perked up at seeing the gothic beauty in her younger days. She didn’t know who anyone else in the frame was, but Alyssa stuck out with her long black hair. More people entered the frame and spoke to Alyssa. Background noise prevented Tessa from deciphering the conversation, but she recognized Audra and Kira as they joined the group, which made a huge smile span across her cheeks. “There’s Audra and Kira!” She pointed to the screen with the remote.
“They look younger than we are,” Sindy commented.
“I know, right? They probably are. They’re several years younger than the rest of the family. I think they were still teenagers when—”
A female voice suddenly came through the audio louder than others. The slurred words clearly indicated she was drunk, and Tessa strained to listen.
“What are you doing back here?” Kira asked, sternly.
“I was invited,” the drunk girl answered.
“No you weren’t,” Audra said, adamantly joining her sister and forming an alliance. “Backstage is off limits unless you’re invited by the band.” She held up the lanyard around her neck. “You need a pass.”
“I don’t need an invitation.”
Sindy pointed to the TV. “That’s her.”
Tessa’s back stiffened and goosebumps rose on her arms as she listened to Kendall argue with Audra and Kira. Her voice had a higher pitch, almost whiney, and her words bore a heavy Brooklyn twang instead of the elegant British accent Kendell spoke with today.
“Go away, Kendall.” It was Tessa’s mom’s voice from behind the camera.
Even though Tessa already knew it was Kendall, the affirmation gave her certainty. She rewound the video and replayed it from the time Kendall showed up on the screen and scrutinized it.
“What are you doing back here?” Kira asked.
“I was invited,” Kendall replied, her nose up in the air.
