Page 6 of Play Fast (Brooklyn Dawn 2)

“You’re all hilarious, but no, I’m not looking to hookup tonight.”

That last word sounded so final. The room grew quiet, as if everyone understood what it meant. Because they all most likely did.

Today was a day far too important for something as trivial as casual sex. As for that bottle of Glenlivet I’d seen him toting around? That was a different story.

Sweaty Oz, with his shirt wide open to bare his damp chest and that small silver cross he always wore, along with some other pendant on a black cord. The cross had been Kerry’s. I remembered him taking it off her body and pocketing it while I yelled at him that it was hers and she needed it with her in the—

I choked and brought up my hands to cup my mouth. God, I still couldn’t think of that word. Or that Kerry had ended up in one when she was just a kid.

He’d ignored my shouts then. Pretended not to see my tears. Just as he would now if I cried. I’d always envied him that stoicism, because heaven knows I couldn’t ever be that emotionless. I wore my heart on my sleeve for everyone to see.

And stomp on.

Kerry had given me something that last night. I hadn’t understood why. She loved the necklace so much, but she’d told me she wanted me to have it when she was gone.

I’d always assumed she meant to California. She was so happy and excited. So optimistic about the future.

Everything will be better now, Flanny. It’s going to be so good.

Worst of all, I couldn’t even wear the necklace. Kerry’s essence was so ingrained in it that putting it on felt as if I was wearing clothes that were too big. Ones that would never fit, no matter how much comfort they gave me.

There was no comfort to be found here tonight.

From next door, someone spoke too quietly for me to make out the words. Lindsey, maybe. Then a scrape of chairs and more muffled talking before Jamie chimed in again. “Dude, just tell us to shut the fuck up. You know we’re morons. Hey, if you want, we can go find you a chick. I suggest a big-breasted one.”

Lindsey laughed. “Right. So you can get jealous?”

“Hardly. My tits are magnificent.”

Despite the uncomfortable tickle in my throat at thinking about Oz cruising for some faceless curvy woman, I had to smile at their efforts to make him feel better. They were closer than it seemed on the surface. Their joking around was just a way to unwind.

Oz wasn’t one to talk much—at least I assumed, based on how he’d always been with me—but obviously, at some point he had told them the story. Maybe even when I arrived.

That Daisy chick killed my sister. Be careful around her.

Another voice joined the fray. Lila’s. She said a few things I couldn’t discern, and then she mentioned Noah, my second cousin through marriage. Indirectly, he was how I’d gotten this job. At least he’d vouched for me when Ripper was scouring my past to see if I was really a serial killer in training.

Their security was far more intense than I would’ve guessed for a record label, but Noah had told me a few difficult things had occurred in recent years that made Donovan Lewis, Ripper’s head shark, “wary”.

Of course Noah was about as talkative as Oz. Were all men so close-lipped or did I just bring it out in them?

“What the hell do you mean we need more security? We’re a rock band, not a police state.”

Even if I hadn’t recognized the voice, there was no mistaking Jamie’s level of irritation. I had to agree with her. How could they possibly need more? Even with the crazy stuff that had gone on before—the full extent of which I didn’t even know—the sheer amount of bodyguards and barriers at their shows was crazy. The stage was literally ringed with guards, a few of them the size of The Rock. I couldn’t even imagine where they would include more. At the rate they were going, they’d have to infiltrate the tech crew or stand right on stage.

Lila spoke for a couple minutes, her voice measured and low. So low I couldn’t make out more than a few choice phrases here and there.

“Recent concerns have led to…”

“We’re bumping up the alert level…”

“More than the usual kind of crowd control issues…”

And scariest of all to me:

“This is probably just the beginning.”

The beginning of what? I couldn’t even fathom. Neither could the members of Brooklyn Dawn.

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