The crowd's roar is like a physical wave, and I can feel it filling my body with energy. You can do this, girl. Everything's going to be fine. "ROXY!"
Nathan walks off stage, and as he passes by, I grab his arm. "Nathan!"
"Yeah?"
"Nix the pyro! Tell them, no pyro!"
I don't have time for more. The crowd is chanting my name, but I see Nathan give me a nod, and I feel a bit of relief. The moment I step out on stage, I'm swept away. I grin, all of my nervousness falling away as I wave to the crowd. "Club Jasmine, let's get Roxed!"
The crowd roars again as Wes starts the synth notes for Toxic, and I stalk toward the front of the stage, my ass swaying side to side as I start.
Everything goes perfectly. I have them in the palm of my hand by the chorus, and I work it, spinning and twirling while singing my heart out. I've been training hard for this, and all those morning runs and dance practices after work have paid off. I'm not winded at all when the final notes hit, and the crowd eats it up.
"Thank you!" I cheer, not even pausing as Gregg switches over to the percussion introduction to Rockabye. This is a new one for me at Club Jasmine, and the crowd loves it, especially as Jeff does his reggae-style verses while jamming on the bass guitar. I planned this song for the fact that it is a duet. It gives me a chance to catch my breath before going high-energy for the next few songs.
It's the performance of my life.
I walk to the center of the stage, blinded by the spotlight, sweat trickling down my forehead and sides. Despite being sweaty as hell, I feel more alive than I've felt in a long time, energized by my performance. "Club Jasmine, are you having fun tonight?" A resounding yeah roars back at me. "I can't hear you!" I yell, cupping my ear. "Can I get a hell yeah?"
"Hell yeah!"
I laugh. "All right, this next song is for some very special guests tonight," I tell the audience as I look out into the crowd. Through the glare, I can make out the women I love, all of them looking at me with pride in their eyes and smiles on their faces. "I won't embarrass them by saying their names, but they know who they are."
I turn my back to the crowd and raise my mic hand in the hair. "Hit it!"
The song starts, and I start jamming, dropping it low to the floor and bringing it back up again, pumping myself up for this high-energy song. Just as I'm about to sing the opening bar, I'm surrounded by a shower of sparks that blots out the entire stage, and a loud popping noise assaults my ears.
Followed by the blaring of a fire alarm.
"Everybody OUT!" the DJ screams, and suddenly, I realize someone used the pyro anyway and started a fire! I'm frozen in shock as I watch the audience descend into chaos.
Flames are racing up the curtains and there's a rush of screaming people trying to get out the doors. I let out a cry when something falls near me, flames whooshing from it. Almost numbly, I see Gregg, Jeff, and Wes abandon their instruments to head for the fire exit on the side of the stage.
After a moment, I shake off my shock and start to head that way. But before I can cross the stage, one of the speakers falls, sparks and flame erupting in front of me as it hits the stage. Crying out, I hurl myself out of the way just in time.
I roll off the stage to land in the middle of what feels like a stampede, people kicking me, and I can feel someone stumble, stepping on my back as they rush for the exit. I scream, worried that the next step is going to be someone breaking my leg or worse, when suddenly, strong arms are around my body, lifting me up. It's Jake, and he pulls me toward the exit as the flames continue to grow.
We get outside, Jake setting me down as thick, black smoke rolls out the doors of Club Jasmine. I look around, trying to find my family, and at first I'm panicked. I see Mom and Mindy at first, then everyone else. Except Grandma. "Where's Grandma?" I look around frantically, my heart pounding within my chest like a jackhammer, growing dread twisting my stomach.
"I'm here!" a familiar wavy but powerful voice crows. "It'd take more than this to knock me out! Now set me down, you big gorilla!"
I see Oliver, Mindy's husband, with Grandma in his arms. "Sorry, I took the other exit. Everyone was headed to the same one."
"What the fuck was that?" calls a fresh voice, hacking. "Honestly, what the fuck were you thinking?"
I turn to see an older man, his eyes ablaze in fury. "Who-"
"I'm the person you were trying to impress," the man hisses, coughing. "I came to watch you sing, and you try to put on a pyro show like you're a goddamn pro wrestler? Fucking amateur hour!"
I can see Jake wants to say something, but Nathan comes up, grabbing him, and he's running back into the building, Gavin and Oliver on his heels. I want to rush after them. They're trying to save the building, I guess, but I'm frozen as the man rants. "I swear, between the bad stripper dancing and the horrible caterwauling . . . I didn't think it could get any worse!"
"You know what, you bastard? Take your bullshit and shove it!" Mindy yells, getting in his face. "It was obviously a fucking accident!"
The man gives her a look and turns on his heels, stomping away. He disappears into the crowd just as the sound of fire engines approaches, and Mindy holds me as I feel like I just destroyed my life. Everything was going great. Until that.
"Oh, my God, Min, I can't believe this," I sob into her shoulder. I'm too weak to look over to see which one of my bandmates looks guilty, though I have a pretty good idea which one it is. But it doesn't matter. I feel like I'm responsible for this. "This is all my fault."
"Shh," Mindy reassures me, stroking my hair until a new set of arms wraps around me. It's Jake, and he drops a fire extinguisher on the pavement before he pulls me into a hug.
"We got everyone out. The fire's mostly under control and it looks like no one is hurt," he says, coughing lightly. "But the roof . . . the roof . . ."
"The club?" I whisper, and Jake shakes his head slowly. I feel my heart break. I'm sure he hates me. I burned down his dream! "Jake, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"
Before I can finish, Jake's phone rings and he pulls it out. He listens, his face going white underneath the streaks of black. "No . . . no!"
"What is it?" I ask as Jake hangs up, and he starts to walk away. I follow him, grabbing his arm. "Jake! What is it?"
"There's been a . . ." he whispers, seeming to lose his voice, his eyes unfocused. "Sophie . . . she's been in an accident."
Chapter 24
Jake
The cabin of Hannah's car is silent as we make our way to the hospital. I'm riding in the back because, as a heaping helping of extra suck on tonight, my car was parked in the back of Club Jasmine . . . right where a back window blew out and turned my Maserati into a wreck.
This night has been something nightmares are made of. It started off with so much promise, with the chance for a brighter future for Roxy, for Club Jasmine. Now, the club's a wreck and from what I hear, Roxy's career might have gone up in flames right along with it, and to top it off, I'm terrified about how Sophie is doing because they wouldn't tell me much on the phone.
"Jake, I'm so sorry," she says quietly. After getting the call, I turned over everything at the club to Nathan while Hannah drives Roxy and me to the hospital. "You must hate me."
The guilt in her voice tears at my fucking heart. She's said it about a half dozen times as we ride, and each time, I haven't responded. To be honest, I don't know what to say. Instead, I look out the window, wishing that Hannah could drive faster.
"Jake . . ."
"Don't worry about what happened right now," I tell her quietly, reaching out and taking her hand. "Everything is going to be okay."
Even as I say it, my stomach twists in knots. Things aren't going to be okay. The club being burned hurts on a lot of levels. We're going to lose a lot of money over it. Sure, we had insurance, but that will cover repairs, maybe. It won't cover the operating losses, the fact that nobody's coming through the door, or that I owe the staff something during the time the club's closed. And there's no insurance in the world that's going to cover the damage to Club Jasmine's reputation. There's no guarantee that even if we do get it repaired quickly, people are going to come back.
I just hope Nathan won't lose his shit. He's really taken personal pride in it, and it's the first business venture he's done that bears his real fingerprints and isn't just transactions being shuffled around on a computer.
Honestly, though, my number one concern right now is Sophie. If something bad has happened to her . . . I feel like hell. I said I was going to start spending more time with her. But outside of breakfast and our school rides, we haven't had a lot of time. Now she's in the hospital after an accident of some kind, and if something's happened to her, I'll never forgive myself.