Beyond The Music (The Rock Gods Book 7) (43 page)

Zac fought with Sebastian against the bus and struggled to take the knife away from him. The security team inched closer, looking for the opportunity to eliminate Sebastian as a threat, but Zac was in the way, and they couldn’t take the shot. Sebastian had the knife aimed at Zac’s face. Zac made another attempt to get the knife away from Sebastian and grabbed for it. He caught the blade instead of the handle and the slice of cold steel across his left palm brought him to his knees. The cut was so fast and deep Zac felt nothing more than a sharp sting followed by the warmth of blood as it began to gush from the wound. Sebastian lifted his arm holding the knife to stab at Zac again and the bodyguards went into action.

“Zac! Roll left,” Mason yelled.

Zac dropped to his back and rolled quickly. He was relieved to realize he was now underneath the Ivory Tower bus. A second later, the bullets began to fly. The guards managed to hit Sebastian with six rounds to the chest. He fell to the ground in a heap with blood pouring out of the bullet wounds and soaking his shirt with red.

Mason stepped closer to Sebastian and kicked away his knife on the pavement then he scrambled over to help Zac out from underneath the bus. One of the other guards called for the police and an ambulance. Mason reached for Zac’s arm and tugged him free of the bus. He cried out in pain and had trouble standing, but Aaron and Lincoln were right there to help Zac to his feet. Blood trickled down his arm and had soaked through his suit jacket and dripped all over his pants. Aaron went in to nurse mode. He tugged off Zac’s coat and had him sit on the steps going into the bus, then ripped the dress shirt off Zac’s torso and began to tear strips of fabric from it to make a tourniquet for his forearm.

“Keep his arm elevated,” Aaron instructed Lincoln.

Aaron ripped another piece of Zac’s shirt and did his best to inspect and clean the wound in Zac’s palm with Lincoln watching his every move. It looked bad and Zac was losing a lot of blood quickly and that caused a mountain of fear to sink into Lincoln’s gut. Sirens started to wail in the distance.

“I’m gonna pass out,” Zac warned.

“No you’re not! Stay with us, Zac,” Aaron directed. He tied the strip of cloth around Zac’s forearm and the palm of his hand. As soon as Aaron tied off the cloth, Lincoln saw blood soak immediately through the white fabric.

Lincoln’s eyes watched Aaron work. His movements were fast and knowledgeable and Lincoln was a little bit in awe of his lover right now, but the seriousness of the moment was also terrifying. To his right, Lincoln could see Sebastian’s lifeless body sprawled on the pavement with a pool of dark red blood growing beneath him. To his left, Aaron worked frantically on Zac to maintain pressure on the wound and to do his best to keep him conscious. Standing close by, Dagger was still rocking Ryan in a tight embrace with is face buried in Ryan’s neck. His soft sobs could be heard by those around them. A moment later, Dante wrapped his arms around Dagger’s back, and Ashton joined them, too.

“It’s okay, now,” Dante soothed Dagger. “We’re all going to be okay.”

The police and ambulance arrived together. Aaron sighed when the EMT’s took over care for Zac and loaded him into the waiting ambulance. What happened after that was a blur for Lincoln. He went where he was instructed to go, and answered the police questions. Hours later when Lincoln and Aaron were finally able to leave the hospital, both of them had trouble remembering the details. The one thing that was very clear for each of them was seeing the bullets pelting into Sebastian like something out of a movie, him slumping to the ground, and the enormous volume of blood dripping from Zac’s hand.

“Did that really happen?” Lincoln muttered against Aaron’s hair as they settled into the back of the transport van taking them to their hotel.

“I’m afraid it did,” Aaron said and pulled Lincoln closer to him on the bench seat of the van. “I was so scared we were going to get hurt, or Ryan was going to get cut. I’ve never felt that kind of fear.”

Lincoln looked at Aaron and rubbed at the crease in his forehead with his thumb. “You were amazing with Zac though,” he said. “So fucking professional and you didn’t look nervous or fearful at all.”

“My emergency room training kicked in and I was just doing my job.” Aaron shrugged.

“You make it sound like it wasn’t a big deal, and it was a very big deal,” Lincoln said. “You saved Zac’s life. I was so fucking impressed with your skills and proud that you are mine.” Lincoln kissed Aaron. “Once again, you took my breath away.”

“This tour is less than a week old and already so much shit has happened.” Aaron shook his head. “I hope can we get through the rest of the tour without any drama at all.”

“I hope so, too, babe,” Lincoln agreed. “I can’t handle this kind of stress.

Chapter Thirty-Two

It was late by the time Lincoln and Aaron were finally able to settle into bed at the hotel. The last twelve hours or more had been a flurry of adrenaline-fueled drama. Half of it was difficult to believe it had actually happened and it was a miracle Lincoln, Aaron, or any of the other guys had been seriously hurt. Lincoln tugged Aaron closer to his side and kissed his forehead. The sigh that slid from Lincoln’s mouth was reflex now every time he came in contact with Aaron. The sense of fullness and contentment Aaron gave to him made him feel blessed in so many ways.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Aaron asked Lincoln. His fingers sifted through the soft hair at the center of Lincoln’s impressive chest.

“I’m fine,” Lincoln answered. He was about to elaborate when his cell phone rang. He answered it quickly and listened for a minute. “Okay, that’s good news, Dagger. Thanks for calling with an update.” They talked for another minute before Lincoln said good-bye.

“What’s going on?” Aaron asked Lincoln when the call ended. “Were the doctor’s able to save the tendon in Zac’s hand?”

“Dagger just explained to me that the doctor was able to surgically repair the tendon,” Lincoln said. “He also said that even though the tendon was sliced clean through that Zac should make a full recovery, and if it hadn’t been for your immediate medical care, Zac wouldn’t have done as well. He’s going to need a lot of physical therapy, though, but at least he’ll still be able to use his hand.”

“That’s really good news,” Aaron replied. “Tendon repair can be tricky. If it isn’t done perfectly, it can limit the patient’s mobility, so I’m really happy to hear Zac’s doctor is optimistic.”

“When we were with Zac earlier at the hospital, I suggested he use the downtime from the tour and go look for his childhood friend, Ben.”

Aaron laughed softly. “Is he interested in doing that?” Aaron questioned.

“I don’t know,” Lincoln replied. “He’ll be flying back to the states as soon as his doctor clears him for travel and recover in LA. I suppose he’ll also do his PT in LA. That will give him several weeks to find Ben.”

“Is Fizzbo going to take Zac’s place as your guard?”

“I believe so,” Lincoln said. “We talked about that at the hospital. I told Fizzbo one guard was enough for me now that Sebastian is no longer a threat, but he doesn’t want to back off on security just yet.”

“It’s hard to believe one man could do so much damage,” Aaron commented.

“That little prick has been a thorn in our sides for years,” Lincoln grumbled.

“Why was he after Dagger and Ryan to begin with?” Aaron asked. “What did they do to him to make him that angry?”

“I thought you already knew?” Lincoln lifted a questioning eyebrow at Aaron.

“I certainly know how it ended, but no one explained exactly how it started,” Aaron said.

“Sorry about that, I thought I already had,” Lincoln apologized. “It’s a really good story, though, so I’ll tell you.”

“Then I’ll go ahead and get comfortable,” Aaron smiled and adjusted the pillows behind their heads before settling back down beside Lincoln’s warm body.

Lincoln watched Aaron’s movements. The moonlight seeping in through the large windows in the bedroom made gorgeous shadows across Aaron’s face and body. It only accentuated the natural beauty of the man and never failed to make him breathless. When he knew Aaron was comfortable, he began to tell the story of how Dagger met Ryan and how Sebastian tried to pull them apart.

“Back in the day, Ryan was a top notch reporter for Music Spin Magazine in LA.,” Lincoln started.

“Wow, that’s like the west coast version of Rolling Stone magazine,” Aaron added.

“That’s true, and Ryan was well-known because of his interviewing skills,” Lincoln continued. “Ryan interviewed all the big names in the music world. His resume is a who’s-who of celebrity rock stars. Anyway, Music Spin hired Sebastian as an intern and Ryan got stuck helping train the fucker. At one point, Sebastian hit on Ryan and Ryan turned him down using the reason he was straight and wasn’t into dudes.”

“But Ryan is married to Dagger,” Aaron stated.

“He is. They’ve been married for a few years now, but when Ryan met Dagger, Ryan believed he was straight because Ryan had only been with women . . . until Dagger.”

“How the hell did Ryan meet Dagger in the first place?” Aaron asked.

“He was hired to do an interview with Dagger for Music Spin,” Lincoln explained. “Dagger said there was chemistry between them from the get-go, although Ryan did his best to run from it. From what I know, it took quite a while for Ryan to accept he had feelings for Dagger and I give credit to Dagger because he was incredibly patient with Ryan. There were a lot of late night phone calls and secretive meetings in the beginning, but eventually Ryan caved to Dagger’s charms. It was during that time when Sebastian hit on Ryan, and I guess Sebastian didn’t take the rejection very well, especially when he found out Ryan wasn’t as straight as he proclaimed and that he was fucking around with Dagger.”

“So all of these attacks have been because Ryan turned Sebastian down a couple of years ago?” Aaron asked.

“Partly because of Ryan turning him down,” Lincoln corrected. “I think the tipping point in all of this is when Sebastian lost his internship and was sent back to the UK because no one else would hire him. But, before he left the states, he managed to inflict a lot of damage to Ryan and Dagger, and he even somewhat dragged Alex into it, as well.”

“How so?”

“He completely outed Ryan and his relationship with Dagger and the sudden attention Ryan got because of that caused Ryan’s boss to let him go,” Lincoln said.

“Ryan was fired because of that?”

“Yeah, and he was outed to the world with media camped out in front of his apartment for weeks,” Lincoln continued. “The same media outlets that Ryan worked side-by-side with were now making him the news. It was pretty fucked up. And, in the middle of that shit storm, Sebastian got a hold of a major secret about Dagger’s past and wrote a story for Music Spin about it, which resurrected something Dagger wanted to keep buried for eternity. Instead, it became front-page news and that’s when Sebastian was handed his walking papers from Music Spin. Apparently, the boss had no trouble reporting the music news as long as his reporters didn’t become part of the story. Pretty fucked up and it took a while for the dust to settle, too.”

“What was Dagger’s big secret? I mean, everyone already knew he was gay, so it couldn’t be that,” Aaron said.

“Dagger was born Liam Whitmore,” Lincoln stated.

“No way! He’s not Dagger Drummond?”

“He legally is now, but that wasn’t his birth name.”

“Why the hell did he change his name?” Aaron had lifted himself up onto one elbow and was staring at Lincoln’s face.

“When Dagger was a teenager he was caught fucking his boyfriend by a couple of their classmates,” Lincoln continued. “These assholes laughed and called them names and there was a fight between Dagger’s boyfriend and one of the other kids. Dagger’s boyfriend was shoved, he fell and hit his head, and died instantly. Dagger became so enraged that his boyfriend had been killed, he nearly beat the kid to death that pushed him. Dagger did time in jail for that assault. It outed Dagger’s sexuality to his family and they turned their backs on him, never once visited him in jail, nothing. So, when Dagger was released from the county jail two years later, he took off and changed his name, and that’s when Dagger was born.”

“Holy shit, I had no idea,” Aaron said.

“Dagger has since reconnected with his parents and the wounds are healing, but it was after that when Sebastian started hiring thugs to attack us,” Lincoln said. “Hard to imagine Sebastian could be that psychotic to blame Dagger and Ryan for his shitty life.”

“Well, Sebastian paid the ultimate price,” Aaron added.

“I should probably feel bad Sebastian died, but he’s put us all through such hell for a few years now, it’s difficult not to acknowledge the relief that comes knowing Sebastian is gone,” Lincoln said. “I know Sebastian is just one of many lunatics out there, but at least now there’s one less.”

“You said Alex got drawn into that mess?” Aaron asked.

Lincoln chuckled. “Oh, you’ll love this part. Alex’s preferred relationship is a three-way, which is why he is now married to Chase and Danni. Well, before Chase entered Alex’s life, Alex was with a runway model. I think her name was Mia or Pia. I forget, but she liked to watch Alex with men and Sebastian was one of those men.”