Page 92 of Sky Full of Stars

“The fuck?” Nick shouts.

“Are you serious?”

“No, I’m making this up as a God damn joke. Of course I’m fucking serious, Aiden, I just got the call about it.”

This is bad. Really fucking bad.

Nick has his hands on his head. “My Warwick?” he asks.

“I don’t know,” Bianca is stabbing at her phone again. “We’re trying to figure out what was taken. I’m waiting to hear from the local police.”

“Shit…Fuck!” Nick turns to me, his eyes wide in distress.

He’s had the Warwick Corvette bass since he turned fifteen, it was one of the last gifts his mom gave him before she died, it belonged to his grandfather. It wasn’t about the value of that thing, which was in the high thousands, it was the sentimental value making it priceless. I put a hand on his shoulder. This isn’t just about a few things being stolen either, this is about most of the equipment we brought with us, the things we need to put on our shows. How the fuck has someone managed to steal all of it out from under us?

Arch comes to the room next. “I just heard something fucking insane, tell me it’s not as bad as they’re making out.”

I glance at him and shrug. “Bianca is trying to figure it out.”

“My fucking bass, man,” Nick sat heavily on the bed.

I exchange a look with Arch, he knows what Nick is referring to and puts both hands on the back of his neck. It was always just Nick and his mom since he was three years old. She was his life. She supported him through everything and was so proud of him, of all of us.

She’d looked after us when we were kids. It hurt us all when she got cervical cancer and eventually succumbed to it after a three-year battle, but for Nick, it was the end of the world. We lost him to severe depression for months. If his guitar is gone, who knows what might happen.

“It may still be there, Nick, we’ll find out,” Arch tries to reassure him.

Bianca hangs up the phone and looks at Nick, then glances at me and Arch. She knows. She’s been with us a long time. She knows what that guitar means to Nick. She heads down to meet the equipment manager and will let us know if the Warwick is gone.

Arch opens the mini fridge and grabs three water bottles. He tosses me one and holds one out to Nick. His phone rings.

“Jordan,” he says and passes the phone to me. I answer and Jordan starts shouting about the equipment. How he found out is anyone’s guess.

“Where is Nick?” Jordan asks after I explain what we know.

“He’s here.”

“Fuck,” Jordan whispers. “His bass?”

“We don’t know.”

“Fuck,” he repeats. “I’m gonna get on a plane.”

“There is no point doing that right now.”

“The fuck there isn’t. This is big, man. My drums are there too. I’m getting a flight Adam.”

“Get a flight to London,” I tell him. I can’t keep him away, I shouldn’t either. If the guitar is gone, Nick will need us. Our next gig is in London so there is no point Jordan coming here, we’d be gone before he arrived. He agrees eventually and asks me to tell Nick he loves his ass. I relay the message.

Nick half laughs and looks up. “Pretty fucking stupid getting messed up over a guitar.”

“It’s not just a guitar,” Arch says softly. Nick needs to be reassured he isn’t being an idiot over a musical instrument. “And we’ll get it back.”

Eventually we realise we’re in Bianca’s room and head back to my suite to await news. I try to call Jenna but she doesn’t answer, I hang up and toss the phone on the bed.

“You’re seeing Jenna in London?” Nick asks. I nod. “That’s good, she’s good for you. She’s nice.”

Nick hasn’t said much one way or the other about Jenna. I’d only really spoken to Archer about my relationship with her. “Yeah, she’s…”

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