Chapter 21
Dylan
There’s almost always something that goes wrong before a band’s set. Usually whatever it is gets fixed before the band hits the stage, and everything goes smoothly. No-one finds out about it.
Tonight, nothing’s happened. I kept expecting something to go down. I couldn’t relax about it until Tailspin’s set got underway. I double-checked everything. Of all nights, nothing can go wrong now. Not on the first night of the festival.
I quite can’t believe it. I do a triple-check. It’s all going off without a hitch.
Now that I’m satisfied that everything’s all good, I can enjoy the show. They’re kicking ass up there.
I don’t know if Ian’s tried to pull anything. If he did, he failed. Or someone stopped him, more likely. I know he’s gunning for Jett, for at least as long as we’re here. But for now, it’s all good.
I head backstage after their last song. Jett’s nowhere to be seen. I find Shayla where I expect to, in his dressing room. Eyes glued to her phone.
“Great show tonight, huh.” I sit down beside her.
Shayla tilts her head up to face me. Instead of being happy, she looks like she’s going to cry. “What’s up?”
“You need to see this.” She hands me her phone.
What the fuck.
My heart sinks.
“There’s nothing we can do, is there?” She sounds defeated.
I keep clicking through the screens, trying to find the end of it. I give up after the tenth one.
“No.” I hand her phone back to her. I don’t want to see any more of it.
“It’s Ian, isn’t it. He did this.”
“I’d bet everything on that, yeah.”
“Why would he say things like this about Jett? Why’s he spreading stuff around like this? He’s not even talking about us being in a threesome, or you guys being together.”
“Because it’s who he is. Ian plays dirty. I think even he was smart enough to realize that most people wouldn’t care if he started a rumor that Jett’s gay. So he had to find another way to trash him. And the only way to do that is to make this kind of crap up.”
Shayla starts scrolling again. “But it’s so bad. How can he be so bothered because of what you said he saw? Jett touching your hair? That’s nothing. Less than nothing. He must be crazy.”
“Yeah, that’s not something a straight guy would ever do. Any guy knows that, and Ian especially would be well aware of what it means. He hates the idea of two guys together. He hates a lot of things, but that’s at the top of his list. Even something small like what Jett did is enough to get him really upset. Because he knows what it means.”
“But why did all these rumors spread so fast?”
“Sound Off is a big deal. Everyone’s writing about the first night of it and how it’s coming off. The timing really worked out in Ian’s favour. He’d have had a much harder time of it if Tailspin wasn’t playing here tonight.”
“There has to be a way to stop this.”
“There isn’t, Shayla.” I slide my arm around her. “You know there isn’t. Not once it’s out there.”
“But these are obvious lies. Terrible ones. This one site says that he’s a drug dealer. This other one says he’s spent years in prison for it. And the other sites are picking this stuff up and repeating it too. They can’t be allowed to spread lies like this about Jett.”
“That’s exactly why Ian did this. They’re lies, sure. But there’s no way Jett can prove he wasn’t in prison. How do you prove something that didn’t happen? Or that any of this isn’t true? It’s way easier to prove what did happen. And yet nobody’s asking Ian to show that what he’s saying is true. They’re just taking everything he says at face value, because it’s something crazy and interesting to gossip about.”
The door swings open and Jett comes in. He’s elated.
Until he catches sight of us. “Hey. What’s wrong?”
Shayla shuts her phone off and sets it aside. “It’s Ian.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that little fucker up to?” Jett squeezes in beside me.
“He’s trashing you online. It’s not good.”
“So what? Did he out us? Call us all sinners?” Jett’s still grinning. “Tell everyone we’re going to go to hell?”
“No. It’s nothing like that, Jett. He’s got his sites set on you. He’s not even trying for the gay thing. But he’s gone really far with his lies.”
Jett catches Shayla toying nervously with her phone.
“Let me see that.”
After a quick glance at me, she hands it over. Jett’s face falls as he scrolls around.
“Wow. I set fire to a church when I was ten? Stole from my parents? Nice to know I was such a delinquent kid.”
“It’s crazy stuff, Jett. Most people aren’t going to believe it. It’s too over-the-top.” I rub at his tight shoulders.
“Yeah. Most. Not all.” He tugs at his shirt. “I didn’t expect this. I thought the worst Ian would do is try to fuck up our set or something like that.”
“Me too. He didn’t do a thing.”
Jett gives Shayla her phone back. “He’s sure put some weird stuff out there about me. And there’s just so much of it. If I read all that about someone, I might be like WTF is with this guy. But the worst thing is that all these sites made sure to say that I’m with Tailspin. This is dragging the band down with me.”
Shayla wraps her arms around Jett. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
He snorts. “Only if you want to help me beat Ian into the ground.”
“Good plan.” I like the thought of that. “But it’d get recorded, and then he’d use it as proof of you being a violent asshole.”
“Oh, I’m violent too? Guess I didn’t read that far.”
“Yeah, that came later on. It looks like he threw anything out there that he could come up with to see what would stick. But you know what, we just have to see what happens. Yeah, it’s out there. But your fans are here to see you play. After you rock it tomorrow night, this’ll probably blow over.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. They’re here to see us play. No-one’s gonna care.” Jett sounds about as convinced as I am of that.
Which is not at all.