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“Thanks,” I mutter, hating all this public relations crap that Jim likes to throw at us. I know that our fame is hugely thanks to his talented way of manipulating situations, but fuck, it would be nice if he could do it without us.
“Come on, what do you have better to do tonight?”
“Sleep,” Jake grunts.
“You guys want to be seen as the good guys, don’t you? This is a teenage girl that has been in the hospital for five months, and the only thing she wants is to meet you guys.”
Fuck, there is no way that I’m going to let that girl down.
“You do this on purpose, don’t you?” Jake states angrily. “You’re going to rot in hell for using innocent people like that to promote your cause.”
Jim lifts his hands up and smiles, he takes this all as a game. He has no sense of humanity.
“Let’s just do this,” Joel says as he stands.
“What’s the girl’s name?” Kevin asks as he stands as well.
“Denise,” Jim tells us, opening an envelope that he’s holding. “She’s here with her nurse.” He holds up a photo for all of us to see. In the picture is a beautiful girl smiling, she can’t be more than sixteen. Her short brown hair accentuates her pixie-like features, her big blue eyes shining as she smiles at whoever is taking the photo. Even though she’s sitting in a wheelchair, it’s evident that she’s a fighter.
“Why aren’t her parents here?” I ask. If I had a child and that kid was sick, I would make sure that I spent every moment I had with them.
“She’s in the system. Her mom died just over two years ago of an overdose, and no one knows where the Dad is,” Jim updates.
“Fuck, that’s sad,” Kevin mutters. “I’m glad she won the competition.”
“Actually, her nurse won, but she asked if we could make an exception and make it all about Denise.” Maybe some people aren’t that bad after all. I will make sure to thank the nurse for bringing Denise to see us.
“I don’t want you using this girl for any promotion.” I look him in the eye so that he has no doubt that I’m talking to him.
“This is good publicity, Blue; you can’t stop this,” Jim challenges with a frown.
“Yes, he can. We don’t want to use a sick girl for publicity,” Jake backs me up, and I know that the others think the same.
“Fine, but we have to tell the public who the person was that won the competition,” Jim replies with a shrug.
“That’s fine, but you don’t need to make it more than that,” I state, only to receive a nod from Jim.
“Okay, let’s go meet Denise,” Joel says as he walks past Jim and opens the door. The minute the door opens, the sound of people still laughing and talking reaches us. I love performing, but the attention has grown old. I would prefer to perform and be able to leave with no cameras; they’re always taking pictures of me. I just want to find peace, like I usually find with my music, but instead my wolf is agitated. I feel caged, and yes, I feel unhappy. My phone vibrates as I step out of the room. Pulling it out of my jeans pocket, I see that it’s Fang, one of my brothers, phoning.
“Yeah?” I answer.
“What’s wrong?” Trust Fang to get straight to the point. “I saw the show live. You were off.” Fang is our enforcer, a mean son of a bitch, but deep down he has a heart of gold.
“Thanks,” I mutter.
“Talk to me, Bro, I thought music calmed you? If I didn’t know better, I would have said that you were high.”
“Just getting settled in.” At least I hope that is the case, because if I can’t find peace in my music anymore, then I don’t know what I’m going to do.
“You should still be here.” All the guys hate it when I leave. It warms me to know that I’m missed, and even though we argue and get on each other’s nerves sometimes, the fact still remains that we’re family. We stick together and worry about each other.
“You know I can’t stay away from the limelight for too long,” I quip.
“You don’t like the fucking limelight,” he grunts. “Just remember, we’re all a phone call away, so fucking phone if you need to talk.”
“Yes, Mom,” I grunt, but I’m touched that he’s worried. Slipping the phone into my back pocket, I walk the rest of the way behind Jake and Kevin.
“That your MC?” I glance at Joel, who is walking next to me and nod. “When are you going to introduce us?” he asks for the hundredth time, but like always, all I do is shrug as I have no intention of bringing my brothers into this life.
