The Farther I Fall Read Online Free PDF Page B

adjustments.
    â€œAnyway.” Cathy pulled a wrench from her back pocket and went to work. “Sometimes it works when one partner is in the business and one isn’t, sometimes it works better when both people are in the business. Craig and I are lucky. We get to work together, and usually tour together.”
    â€œHow long have you been dating?”
    Cathy laughed. “Oh, nobody dates in this business. It’s either one-night stands or full relationships.” Gwen couldn’t tell if she was teasing or not. Cathy went on. “We’ve been together about three years. Working together for four. We spent some time on tour before we decided, what the hell? He’s a good man.”
    â€œYeah, he seems like he is.”
    Lucas was directly beneath her on the stage, fingers moving adroitly over his keyboards. She tried not to stare, and tried not to think about what else those fingers might be good at.
    â€œYou must not go for the good ones,” Cathy said. “Not if Lucas is your type.”
    â€œHe’s not my type.” Gwen pulled her eyes away. “A man like that is strictly ornamental.”
    ***
    The better part of the guest list crowded into the green room looking to join in the after-show party. Chatter filled the air as everyone ramped up for a meandering trip from the green room to assorted hotel rooms. New York had been a colossal pain in Gwen’s arse. The theater manager had settled up, and the money was tucked away safely in her jacket. She leaned against the wall nearest the lighted mirror and shifted to ease the bite of the jacket against her aching shoulder.
    The party was just getting under way. Gwen smelled cigarettes and pot, but there was no haze over the room yet, and everyone was holding a drink. She planned to nurse her single beer for as long as she could; she felt a bit like a babysitter. Across the room Craig was chatting up two girls dressed in various permutations of skimpy and black.
    Cathy and Sally were tossing popcorn at the guitar tech, who was trying his best to impress the house engineer, who’d been working monitors throughout the show. She looked like she could break the guitar tech with one arm. She also looked unimpressed. Every so often, Cathy glanced toward Craig. Despite her earlier comments about him being a good man, he did have a habit of flirting with the fans after shows. Everybody knew Cathy wasn’t crazy about it, but nobody said anything. There were a lot of open secrets. Gwen supposed when you spent weeks and months in close quarters with the same handful of people, the only concession to privacy was to not talk about what you knew. It hadn’t been so different in the barracks.
    Lucas, still sweat-drenched from three hours on stage, was sulking on the couch, clutching a towel around his shoulders. A rep from some small indie label sat next to him trying to start a conversation. Gwen almost felt sorry for the rep. Lucas barely even feigned interest in the man.
    He hadn’t bothered to change out of his stage clothes, although leather pants that tight had to be uncomfortable. Most of his stage makeup had melted away under the hot lights, but there was still eyeliner smudged around his eyes. Gwen itched to either wipe it away or snog him senseless. Maybe both at the same time.
    Lucas stood up, cutting off the label rep mid-sentence and stepping up and over the battered coffee table. “Get out.” His voice cut across the party noise, which dulled in response. The partiers, some dozen in all, looked at him. “I said get out.” They started to shuffle out with a few mutters. Sally rolled her eyes and murmured to Cathy. It sounded like “not again.” Gwen shrugged up from the wall to follow them. “Not you, Sergeant,” said Lucas. “Someone has to keep an eye on me, right?”
    â€œRight,” said Gwen, and settled back against the wall with a swig of her beer, feigning casualness