Chapter 8

The concert had begun and after walking around backstage for a bit and checking things out, she decided to join Sara in the front row. The guys were doing a ballad called ‘Yes I will’ so the music wasn’t as loud as for the faster tracks, that didn’t mean that the audience was quieter either. In fact, she noticed, it was quite the opposite so she still had to shout when she turned to Sara.

“Do you come to all the concerts?” she asked as Sara leaned towards her.

Sara scrunched her face and gave her an “Are you crazy” look before answering.

“I try.” She said honestly, “But these shows are night after night and there’s only so much you can take.”

They both turned back to the stage then as the music for “Get another Boyfriend” started up. They watched as AJ slowly slid his jersey upwards before pushing it behind his neck, exposing his wifebeater. The screams were so deafening, Abigail had to cover her ears to block the sound. She turned to Sara, who was smiling, eyes locked on her boyfriend. Abigail figured she was used to all this, as she turned to the stage. Her niece, Callie, would kill her if she knew where her aunt was. She’d be sure to get something signed form the guys to take back to her before she left. Her niece would love her for it, especially if she got something from Rick.

Speaking of the handsome devil, her eyes couldn’t seem to stray from him as he danced around the stage. She couldn’t help but watch him closely as he sung his verse, pushing his hands through his hair and deliberately dragging them down his body to the delight of the audience. Abigail smiled as she saw him turn around and shake his booty at the crowd eliciting shrills and screams.

Sara turned to her as she shouted.

“You can see it’s different for the guys. They live for this stuff!” she told Abigail who just nodded, her eyes had caught sight of something above the guys. The stage lights to be exact. She tried to look closer but the lights were too bright. She put her hand over her eyes to shield the light and squinted a little to get a better view. It was then she noticed that one set of the stage lights were loose.

The guys all moved into their positions then for the next song and she saw that the lights were dangling dangerously right above Rick’s head. She looked at him then and saw him busy waving to the crowd oblivious to the danger he was in. She started shouting his name then but her voice was drowned out by the rest of the audience where girls were shouting his name as well.

Sara heard the note of panic in Abigail’s voice and turned to look at her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked her, but Abigail didn’t hear her.

Rick looked their way then and was about to wave when he caught sight of Abigail’s face. She looked like she was saying something, but the lights were in his face so he wasn’t sure. He moved forward then and saw her moving through the row to the front of the stage where the bodyguards wouldn’t let her through. He heard gasps of terror then from the audience just seconds before he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and he fell to the floor on his knees as he heard a loud crash behind him. Sparks flew everywhere and the audience started screaming.

Someone took the mic then and Abigail heard them asking the crowd to stay calm. She looked onstage and saw some paramedics lift Rick onto a stretcher before carrying him offstage.

Sara was at her side then.

“It’s okay Brent.” She told the burly, bodyguard, “She’s with Rick.”

The bodyguard nodded.

“But that’s what I told him!” Abigail protested as they made their way backstage.

The place was a mess as everyone was busy scrambling around trying to figure out what went wrong to calming the audience down.

AJ rushed up to them and Sara hugged him.

“Where’s Rick? Is he okay?” Abigail asked him looking around frantically.

“The paramedics are examining him in one of the dressing rooms.” AJ told her.

“Which one?” she asked.

“Can’t say, but they’re not letting anyone in. Not even us.” AJ said, then ran his hand over his practically bald head, “I can’t believe this happened.”

Sara nodded.

“Do you know what exactly happened?” Abigail asked him.

“You mean how the lights came loose?” AJ asked, Abigail nodded.

He shook his head.

“That’s what they’re trying to figure out now.”

Abigail sighed in frustration as she put her hands on her hips and looked around again. She paused when she saw a guy coming down from the rafters above the stage.

“Can you guys excuse me for a second?” she asked putting up a finger. They both nodded before she slipped away.

“So that’s Abigail, huh?” AJ asked Sara.

“Yeah, Rick told you about her?” she asked.

AJ turned to his girlfriend.

“Just before the show when she turned up.” He said, “He said she was a good friend of his and that they’d met at the show in New York.”

Sara raised her eyebrows.

“Really? Abigail told me they’d met the day you guys came to LA and that they’d been introduced through a mutual friend.”

Sara explained.

They both looked at each other then.

“So you get the feeling that they’re both hiding something?” AJ asked.

“Oh yeah.” Sara agreed, remembering Abigail’s behaviour all night.

“We better keep an eye on those two.”