Page 58 of Syncopation
Chapter Fourteen
Their day of freedom was over and Carl was back. That smooth, fake voice grated up Ray’s spine to his skull as he stood by the tour buses. They were nearly packed—just the final check to make sure they had everything and no equipment had wandered away.
There was a nasal quality to Carl’s voice Ray’d heard when they’d found videos of Tenacious Dreams, and now he couldn’tunhear it. Wasn’t horrible, a gray dagger across Ray’s vision, but it also wasn’t surprising that Carl ended up in management. Maybe vocal training could have fixed it, but who knew?
When Carl strode up to him, Ray almost didn’t flinch. “You’re on time,” Carl said.
Ray rolled his eyes. The early-morning summer sun was heating up the humid Texas air. “It’s a fucking Christmas miracle.”He stared back as Carl’s face darkened.
“Well, I guess you didn’t get any action last night, huh?” Carl gestured at Mish and Zavier, who were laughing at something on Zavier’s tablet. Dom was already on the bus reading.
Those two, together? No way. Zavier wasn’t Mish’s type. And if Mish was Zavier’s, Ray had seen no signs of that.
He had felt exactly how much Zavier had wanted him,though. And the memory burned through him with both shame and desire. He shouldn’t get on Carl’s nerves, but at least that man knew he was a fuckup. Ray turned around and looked Carl up and down. “You offering?”
From the murderous look on Carl’s face and the way his right hand curled into a fist, Ray guessed he’d said the wrong thing.Fuck. He stepped back out of instinct and held up his hands.
An instant later, Zavier was next to them both. “There a problem?” His sudden presence and deep voice was like that of a hulking bodyguard.
Must have had the same effect, because Carl shook his head. “Just complimenting Ray on his punctuality.” He broke away and headed toward the crew bus. “Where’s the equipment manager?”
Ray let out a breath. Wow. Okay. No joking like that around Carl,especially not in anger. Zavier had teased along the same lines earlier, but Carl hadn’t reacted likethat.
Zavier raised an eyebrow.
“Um—he was insinuating you and Mish had fucked and made fun of me for not getting any. So I asked him if he was offering.”
Mish must have heard the tail end of that when he came over, since she snorted. “Nice.”
Except it hadn’t been. They hadn’tseen the fury in Carl’s eyes. “He’s either really homophobic or—”
“—really in the closet,” Zavier finished. “Or his dislike for you is deeper than we thought.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Ray checked himself when Zavier frowned and blew out a breath. “Sorry. The snark comes out too fast when I haven’t had any coffee.”
Zavier pointed at the bus. “Then by all means, let’s get youcaffeinated.”
Those words should have bothered Ray, except Zavier said them without any malice or judgment, like heactuallywanted to get Ray coffee.
He watched Zavier board the bus. “I don’t understand him,” he said to Mish.
“Honey, you don’t have to. All you have to do is trust him.” A wink and a smile, then she was following Zavier’s path into the bus.
Well, guess coffee itwas. Ray boarded and got himself settled. Everything was stowed where he wanted it, including his notebook. Memories of the day before trickled through and he took out his phone.
Yup. The lyrics—such as they were—were still there. “Hey, Dom?”
“Yeah?”
“You got your acoustic guitar handy?”
Dom dropped his book and shuffled off the couch. “No. I’ll pull it from the hold.” In a flash,he was gone.
Zavier had another one of his questioning looks as he put together the coffee, but Mish answered, “Songwriting. Ray fiddles with the melody on the guitar.”
“Saves your voice?” Zavier said. He set the pot and pressed a button. A couple moments later, it glugged to life.
“Yeah, basically. And lets me see—hear the notes. I don’t nearly as well when I’m singing.”
