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I am not in the mood to spend the night faking excitement, drinking and smooching with people who would jump at the chance to cancel me with fake rumors just to give their own failing careers a leg up. But I promised to be here for Skye, so I put on a brave face and try not to think about how Eden’s face lit up or how fast Jude ran to bring up those cinnamon rolls.
That they baked together.
Lou is there, and for once, when I see her I see a familiar face I can trust. She performs two of her songs, and then it’s time for theHeartbreakerperformance. It’s an unplugged, intimate version, which is usually my favorite way to sing this song.
But not this time.
I go through the lyrics on autopilot, trying not to look in Eden’s direction. She’s standing at the back of the club, as close to the edge of the crowd as she can without drawing attention to herself.
What’s happened to her?What has she been doing all these years that we were apart?I wonder as I sing.
I know what I have been doing: I have been hating what she did to me… Hating her, actually. I’m so ashamed to admit it now, but that’s what it was. Hate. I’d been hating her. Or thinking I did, which is dumber.
And worse, much worse.
But now, for the first time, I wonder what’s been happening to her all these years. Howherlife has been. If it’s been treating her well. At all. Because as broken as we both were back then, I have a feeling that she is so much more broken now. How did I not see it at once?
When she fainted at my concert?
When she flinched at my sudden movement?
When she tried to make herself look smaller?
When she’s barely said a word to anyone and hasn’t even tried to pick one fight with me?
My voice shakes suddenly, and Miki looks up at me sharply. There are no backup singers here, no stage lights, no giant screen. It reminds me of that night in Corfu, and a fierce nostalgia for Dimitris, Yiannis and their cramped little attic room seizes me. I shake my head clear of the stupid thoughts and concentrate on singingHeartbreaker.
To her.
And the crowd loses its mind.
Pretty soon, the club is pulsing with the movement of hundreds of bodies dancing to my screams of:
Heartbreaker
Heartbreaker
Heartbreaker
I sing the chorus and everyone screams along with me. The entire club shakes with our voices, the music coming from my guitar, and Miki’s beat on the drums. My eyes drift closed, savoring the grotesque beauty of this moment.
And then, all hell breaks loose.
People have gathered outside, an increasingly uncontrollable crowd of fans and paparazzi, as per usual. But I know that the club’s heavy security as well as my own team have it under control. Or at least, so I thought. So, I didn’t pay any attention to the clamoring going on outside. But something is different about this night, this crowd.
Something has got them all riled up.
Out of the blue, the fans become violent, all of them together. They force their way into the club, breaking down the door and overpowering the security detail. I stop singing. I just stand there frozen, as they suddenly spill into the club. They start running over chairs and tables, screaming. They are coming for Eden.
They surround her.
It all happens in the blink of an eye. I take my eyes off her for a split second, to see what’s going on at the door, and the rabid fans circle her all at once, a human avalanche descending on her. The next minute, she’s gone. I don’t see her.
I only see the pile of human bodies surrounding her.
People are grabbing at her, tearing her clothes, screaming obscenities in her face.
My heart jumps in my throat.
