Read Online Turbulent Sea by Christine Feehan - Free Book Online

head.
    He was miserable. Joley could feel desolation rolling off him in waves. His distress was genuine, not feigned to get back in her good graces. Denny had a weakness for women, but he'd made a commitment to Lisa and told the band members that he wanted to be faithful to her, because she mattered to him. Joley had believed him and now, feeling his unhappiness, she still did.
    "Denny, had you been doing drugs?"
    He shrugged. "Nothing much. Less than I normally do at a party. I have no idea what happened, but I told her. I called her last night when I got back to the room." For a moment tears swam in his eyes, and he blinked and looked away from her. "I wanted her to hear it from me, not read it in the tabloids, and I know they got my picture, the bastards. I spend my life hurting people I care about."
    Joley frowned, not liking Denny's explanation of what happened. He might be a hound dog, but he always took responsibility. If he said he was sick and dizzy and the memory was foggy, she was suspicious that someone had slipped him a drug without his knowledge. But why? "You might have had a little help this time," Joley said before she could stop herself. Again she glanced at Brian, whose gaze slid away from hers. Was Nikitin up to something or was she simply overreacting because she didn't trust the man?
    "Whatever happened, I think I've lost Lisa, and I can't blame her." The drummer's eyes swam with tears.
    Joley's heart jumped. She'd never seen him cry over a woman. They were about to go out and perform for thousands of people and Denny was falling apart right before her eyes.
    "It isn't over until it's over, Denny. You have a chance with Lisa. She's worth fighting for. We'll all help you. Is she here tonight? Did she come?"
    Lisa had promised to be in Chicago for their concert, and Denny had been looking forward to seeing her. The band had been in Europe for weeks and Lisa hadn't been able to make New York, so Chicago was to have been their reunion.
    "She flew in last night. I called her at the hotel, which only made it worse. I have no idea if she decided to come to the concert. If she did, she didn't pick up her backstage pass and she didn't check in with Jerry. I asked him to watch for her." Denny sounded more miserable than ever.
    "I'll do what I can to help you, Denny," Joley promised rashly. "Jerry can find out if she picked up her ticket or not. If she's here, I'll do what I can to persuade her to give you another chance, but if you mean what you say about her, stay away from the parties. Leave when I do. Come back with me and we'll play Scrabble or something, anything at all to keep you out of trouble."
    The other band members nodded. "We can play that Monopoly game, the one that never ends," Rick said. "We'll party with Joley."
    Denny snorted his derision, but he looked much happier.
    "Yeah, cuz Joley's such a partier." Brian said. Onstage the warm-up band broke into their final number. "That's the windup song, we're on in a few. Come on."
    He put out his arm and they huddled together with Joley in the middle of their circle as they always did before each concert. It had become a tradition and they all were superstitious now. If they didn't come together like now, arms around one another with Joley in the center, Brian giving his standard pep talk, they all knew it was going to be a terrible show, everything that could go wrong would. Joley, like a lot of performers, did one standard sound check when possible, not wanting to chance ruining her voice. They ran through their songs, but tried not to have to repeat too much.
    "Let's do it," Brian yelled and they took off running for the stage.
    Joley hung back listening to the screams and booming applause as her boys took the stage. She loved to hear the way the crowd went wild when her band picked up their instruments. They worked hard, contributed so much, each a genius in his own way, and she was proud of their music. The music swelled and she heard her name. Joley