Documentary (21 page)

The House of Blues in Boston was standing room only, and that was a huge
boost of confidence for everyone in Kai’s entourage. Dylan had filmed their joyous, anxious conversation backstage and all the chaos that preceded the show when they had arrived in four tour buses. Kai mostly depended on the in-house stage crews, but he still traveled with a stage manager, who dealt with the lighting and sound crew at the venues. Also, he brought along his “promo guy,” who handled merchandise, a guitar and drum tech (the only other person he trusted with Sable and Sage), roadies to load and unload the instruments and equipment, a stylist, a barber, a few other people whose exact jobs Dylan was having a hard time pinpointing—but who were all very busy backstage—and some other people who just seemed to be there because they had nothing else to do, though she hesitated to call them groupies. And there was Ashley, of course, whose responsibilities seemed to be “a catch-all” of whatever was left in addition to keeping things running smoothly, and she was constantly bellowing out about schedules and tardiness.

Dylan looked out from behind the violet curtain as Kai’s actual band members, Heath, the bassist, and Xavier, the drummer, did a light warm up with the sound tech, even though they’d had a soundcheck earlier in the day. The crowd, washed in purple and blue lighting, emitted
garbled chatter. It was mostly young women and their bored boyfriends. Heath’s eyes caught her motion and he waved to her. He was a cutie—tall, long dreads and dark eyes—and a really nice guy. She had spent most of the bus ride over chatting with him.

She jumped when a hard tap landed on her shoulder. When she turned, Ashley was staring at her, loo
king peeved. “Have you seen Kai?” A clipboard was shoved into her armpit. “He’s on in, like, five minutes! I need to talk to the drivers about departure time for Philly and make sure the buses have what the musicians need and send all the assistants off to take care of things…” Her expectant eyes indicated that she intended for Dylan to go find him (hadn’t she just mentioned assistants?), a request Dylan wasn’t too happy to oblige.

“
I got it,” Dylan said flatly and watched Ashley slip away down some steps. She let out a sigh. Kai had barely spoken to her since the recording session. They had spent three more days in Lahaina, where he had participated in a lot of “R&R”—surfing, drinking, partying, and visiting with friends—before flying to Massachusetts for tonight’s performance. She had been trailing him for filming purposes, but she felt like a neglected puppy. The silence hurt more than she had anticipated. At least she had gotten to know Odette and Jamie better during those few days. They had spent the nights talking, drinking and laughing. Maybe the distance with Kai would put her in a place where it wouldn’t feel bad to dig into the truth behind his fight with Jeremy. Because she still couldn’t bring herself to unearth his secrets at all.

Dylan weaved through the crowd and didn’t see him until she stepped outside through a side door
, which she propped open to allow re-entry. She felt uneasy. The last time Kai did this, he had ended up in jail. Illuminated by the glow of a streetlight, his back was to her, and he was on the phone. She approached him slowly, shivering as much from the cold air as from her anxiety with interacting with him. He had given her as much thought as his shadow the past few days. In theory, she wanted friendship but would’ve settled for civility, except she didn’t want a friendship at all; she wanted more.

“I don’t want to talk about the tour, E. I miss you,” he said as he paced a few steps. “Nothing is the same without you.”

E. He’s talking to Erica.
“Kai?” Dylan whispered and he turned with his eyebrows raised. “It’s time to go on.”

He was surprised to see her, and without a smile, he nodded his head once. He stayed looking at her for a few seconds, then darted his gaze to the door and back to her, a signal that he wanted her to go.
He seemed like he was looking right through her. Gulping down her hurt feelings, she turned to go without another word, determined not to react on the surface.

“I miss you too, E. More than I can even say. Yeah. Yup. You too. Bye,” she heard him say and she clenched her teeth. It shouldn’t have bothered her, but it wasn’t like she could control the twinge in her stomach.
Mind your business. It’s not your problem or your worry,
she thought.

Dylan hurried to the door when he ended his phone call, fearing they would run into each other there. She slipped back into the club and didn’t turn when the door clicked open
and then shut behind her. Dylan made up her mind that she would have a good night and enjoy his music anyway. Kai was up on the stage in a few minutes, slinging his guitar around his neck. After the lowering of the lights on the crowd and hollering from some girls, Kai apologized, making a joke that it was all Sable’s fault, and that he’d had to wait for her to get ready.

Dylan worked her way through the crowd, surreptitiously recording them with her iPhone and only taking a few glances up at Kai once he started playing. She had to admit that he was magnificent up there. He m
ade light conversation and joked in between songs, and even drank a little. She totally understood why he had used the breathing analogy as she watched him play. She trembled as she wondered if he could somehow see her, or if he cared to. She wanted him to and she hated that. The crowd was swaying and singing along to Kai’s raspy voice and eating up all of his stage presence, especially when he sat on the edge with Sage and sang to a woman in the front. Her friends were hardly coy with their jealousy. Everyone was definitely entranced.
I know the feeling,
Dylan thought with a sigh.

“Dylan Carroll!!” A slim arm slipped around her waist. “What the heck are you doing here?” Dylan gasped happily when she found the face and threw her arms around his neck. It was her classmate, Brian, from CSFC.

“Hey! I’m working! Oh my gosh, I didn’t know you were from Boston!”

“I’m not…but he is.” Brian motioned at the guy he was sitting with. “This is my boyfriend, Eddie. I’m just visiting. He’s a huge Kai White fan.
And I think I am now, too.”

I’m probably in the minority at the moment
. Except deep down, she knew that wasn’t true. Eddie opened his coat and revealed one of the shirts she had seen the promo guy selling in the hallway outside the Music Hall.

“He had on an Evernight one earlier. Saw that one, paid $40 for it and changed in the bathroom.” Brian shook his head in playful disgust. “You’re working here?” he asked. “At the House of Blues?”

“No, with Kai,” she said, and Eddie’s mouth dropped open as they shook hands. His expression looked like the precursor to a catatonic state. Jesus. Women
and men
were apparently powerless to resist him.

“So can we meet him or what?” Brian asked, nudging her with his elbow. Eddie got a hopeful gleam in his eye and Brian looked at her anxiously. She couldn’t remember if Kai planned to mingle with the audience after the show, though she expected that he would.

“I’ll see what I can do. Let me go talk to the tour manager,” Dylan muttered quickly when she spotted Ashley. It was a polite way to dodge the question. She waved to Brian and Eddie before she slashed across the room. Ashley greeted her with a bounce of her eyebrows. She didn’t plan to ask her about a meet-and-greet session, but there was something else she wanted to know.

“Ashley, how long have you been working with Kai? Were you here when Erica was?” Dylan asked.

Ashley narrowed her eyes on her. “Slight overlap. She had already resigned and was just finishing up some last minute duties when I got here.”

“What do you know about her?”

Ashley’s eyebrows came together. “Just that she was close friends with Jeremy Bunyan and Kai. She had pictures of them both on her desk in L.A. I saw them in a box when I interviewed for the position.” Ashley sighed and pressed her lips together, making her boredom and irritation known. “Look, knowing other people’s business really isn’t in my job description.” She finally smiled but it lacked genuine amusement or kindness. “Unless, of course, it’s
inappropriate.”

Two Minutes – Chapter 12

When the show ended, many in the audience, including Eddie, rushed Kai for pictures and autographs. Someone started a chant of “encore,” and Kai had gotten a standing ovation from the crowd. One girl had him sign her bare breast, while another unfurled her tongue on his cheek as her friend snapped a photo with an iPhone. He was groped and prodded and licked and kissed for several
very long
minutes. Dylan’s jealousy raged from the pit of her stomach, and she wanted to punch all of them. The scene played out wonderfully in her mind: diving over tables, hair pulling, and sitting on a pile of beat up girls victoriously. But she understood their enthusiasm.

There had been some concern about who would turn up to his shows. Heath had told her that Jeremy’s fans, or people who had simply taken up his cause following the fight, had started coming to Kai’s performances and appearances to cause trouble. The band expected the same kind of antagonism on the tour.

“Look at him. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t dump me for Kai before the night is over,” Brian said when he hooked his arm around her neck and cocked his chin at Eddie talking to Kai. “Come dance with me.” Blues music was firing out of the speakers, and Brian took her hand. She cupped his neck with one hand and laced her fingers on the other with his, even though she was too lethargic to dance from watching Kai get smothered by all those girls.

Brian dipped her back and pulled her up. “And what is that look right now?” he asked, as he pivoted so that her back was to Kai.

“What look?” Dylan said, turning her eyes toward Brian. He was smiling.

“The same one Kai White has on
you
right now.” Brian shifted a suspicious glance between her and Kai. “If I didn’t know any better—”

“You don’t know anything, Brian,” Dylan said, unable to keep a straight face. “I need to get ready to head out.” She hugged him. “I’ll see you at school after break! Tell Eddie I said nice meeting him.” She was glad when he didn’t argue and simply plopped a kiss on her cheek. When she peeked over at Kai, he was staring right at her, looking unhappy.
He is surrounded by beautiful women and the show went really well
, she thought. He should’ve been on top of the world. And was that really how she looked too?

The entourage stayed around another thirty minutes, and Kai was definitely in his element as he mingled with the remnants of the clearing crowd. The jitters she had seen earlier backstage when they arrived were nonexistent, and she was happy for him that the first night had been a success. Ashley had been stressing over ticket sales with someone on the phone, and Dylan had overheard that some places had undersold
.

Ashley ushered everyone to the buses, except the roadies (and hangers on), who had to break
down all the equipment. They would always be the last ones to leave. Kai, Xavier and Heath essentially shared their bus with the driver only, and it was the most extravagant one. It was a double decker, black and nondescript on the outside with darkened windows. Inside, on the lower deck, there was a bedroom, a few bunks with mini TVs, an eight-seater lounge in the front with laptop tables, a TV with video game systems, a smaller lounge with a TV, stereo system and video game console, and a small bar alongside a kitchenette and a restroom. On the upper deck, there were more bunks, a sleeping area for the driver and a lounge at the very back. The other three buses had bunks, entertainment, a kitchen, a bathroom, a private lounge and a few other amenities, but they were nowhere near what Kai’s bus had.

             
Dylan climbed onto one of the buses that wasn’t Kai’s personal one, and it was incredibly rowdy. Everyone was still on the high from the amazing show, but Dylan wanted to go to sleep. Her heart sank when someone started yanking beers off plastic rings and passing them around.  She was on Hawaii-Aleutian time and wanted to re-orient her inner clock, but even on a sleeping pill she would never be able to get comfortable with this noise. Philadelphia was up next and six hours away, and it would be another long day leading up to the show.

It was a grueling tour schedule over the next
several months, but only several weeks for her. A performance and appearance blitz orchestrated by Nina to show Kai’s dedication to his music. Kai had been scheduled to go on tour prior to the fight, but Nina had squeezed in additional activities after the fight, too. Dylan would have to film and edit at the same time to get it all done in time for her deadlines. She was still grateful for the opportunity, but she cursed her naiveté in believing that this job wouldn’t be as hard as it actually was. Because Kai’s fans were younger adults, too, the places he was playing allowed eighteen and up age groups for events, which had enabled Dylan to accept the job in the first place. Kai’s schedule was a worthwhile challenge to the effectiveness of caffeine. His obligations demanded early mornings and late nights, but one benefit of traveling with him was that she would get to stay in luxury hotels at his expense sometimes. At least her heart was getting better at not immediately seizing at the thought of spending more time with him. It usually started seizing
after several minutes
of thinking of spending more time with him.