“Do you drive?”
“Yeah, but—”
“I’m going to take your number off Aaron’s phone, and I’m going to have someone give you access to my car in the garage and where you need to pick it up. Aaron needs you with him for this.”
“Yes,” Mel said, far more confident this time. “If you get me to the car, I can get there.”
“Good man. I need to get my hysterical boyfriend in a cab, and I’ll call you back in about half an hour. Good deal?”
“Deal.” Mel ended the phone call and I tossed the phone on the counter.
“Violet was scared,” Aaron said. “She was scared and I couldn’t do anything to make sure she wasn’t. I couldn’t protect her or keep her from being in the middle of this. She shouldn’t be in jail! Oh, God, she can’t go to jail. She’s just seventeen.”
“Stop, Aaron. Just stop for a moment, please. Take a deep breath,” I said, kissing the top of his head. “Breathe. You couldn’t have been there. Even if we were stateside. This is nothing you have to take on yourself.”
“She’s all I have left. I don’t even care that my parents are dead, but I care that she may have been the one to do it. The one who was so fucking frightened by my father she felt like she had to put a bullet it in him!”
“Aaron, I’m getting Vincent to send a lawyer. She’s not talking, you heard the detective. If this was self-defense, it will be open and shut and she may not have to spend a day in prison. You need to be there for her.”
He took a deep shuddering breath, and smeared the tears off his face. “I need to be there for her, but I’m part of this band…”
I leaned in and kissed him hard. “I was so afraid you weren’t getting that. Youarea part of this band, and we will figure out what to do about the last concerts. You need to go home and we’ll be there as soon as we can for you. Mel will be waiting in Philadelphia. Smoke is waiting for you on the airplane. Your only job is to find your sister and help her. We will handle everything else. Got it?”
He nodded, and grabbed me close for another kiss. “You called me your boyfriend.”
“I sure did.” I smiled. “We can hash out details later. Right now, let’s finish packing and get you to the plane.”
He grabbed my hand as I started to stand. “Try not to cancel the concerts. See if you can figure something out?”
I nodded and helped him to his feet. Aaron was out the door and in a cab in less than five minutes, and as I watched the cab pull away, I realized Ora, Rand, Holland,andFord were standing in the lobby with me. I looked over at them.
“What the hell are you buttheads doing down here?”
“We heard the commotion in the bedroom,” Ora said. “What’s going on?”
“Aaron’s sister has been arrested for the murder of their parents.”
Holland’s eyebrow shot up. “That’s a fine kettle of fish.”
“Yeah,” I grumbled.
“What’s the game plan?” Ora asked.
“Doxx?”
“I gotta call Vincent and get a lawyer out there, and call Mel back with access to the car so he can go with Aaron.” I looked at the cell phone in my hand. “I guess we need to call Dietrich and figure this out. He said not to cancel the concerts, but what’s our options?”
Holland held up a finger and pulled his cell phone out of the pocket of his hoodie. He dialed someone, and waited with the call on speaker.
“Yo, Fingers!”
“I hate you. But I need your help, Taylor. Wanna play two shows with us in Nice and Madrid?”
I smiled. These guys had my back, and I knew I could focus on getting Aaron what he needed.
Aaron
Mel had been waiting at the stairs of the small charter plane on the tarmac. I was so, so numb. He grabbed my suitcase and bustled me on to the plane so we could get in the air.
