Page 16 of Follow the Rhythm (Fairview City Omegaverse #2)

“A re you sure you should be up there?” I called to Ursula, who was eight feet in the air on a rolling scaffolding tower, adding the finishing touches to the huge, gnarled tree set piece.

“Can it, Tiny. I notice you didn’t volunteer to help,” Ursula called back.

She’d bullied or bribed the venue into allowing us a full run-through of production, and the stage was crawling with techs.

Stevie, the brutally efficient stage manager, was giving orders through a headset, but she also kept looking up nervously at Ursula, then looking at me to do something as if I had any control in the situation.

We’d already played the videos of my illustrations on the massive projector screen to test them at the full dimensions, and I honestly couldn’t wait to see how they’d look behind the live band.

Kieran, Ellis, and Grace were about to arrive for their portion of the run-through; we just needed Ursula to stop fiddling with the fucking tree. She’d been at it for almost an hour.

“Seriously, I don’t think anyone is going to be able to see that kind of detail from the crowd,” I yelled over the sound of a drill somewhere offstage.

“But I’ll know it’s wrong,” Ursula retorted.

I was relieved not to be traveling on the tour for a lot of reasons, but mostly because I knew Ursula would be impossible to please. Stevie had made it clear she could handle things on her own, but Ursula insisted a designer needed to be on hand for any issues that might arise.

I’d get to see the first show, though, and Grace was trying to convince Austin and me to come out to see a show near their hometown, too.

“Done,” Ursula said finally, and slipped her tools into the pockets of the overalls she always wore.

“Thank god,” I muttered.

The next moments seemed to happen in slow motion. Ursula climbed over the railing of the scaffolding to get to the ladder on the outside with no problem, but a few rungs down, she missed her footing and slipped.

“Shit,” she yelled, and I instinctively moved forward.

She tried to hang on with just her arms, but her grip gave out too fast. Her body fell, and she landed directly on her left hip. She cried out, almost loud enough to cover the audible crunch of bone.

“Oh god, are you okay?” I asked, rushing to cover the last few feet between us. I knelt beside her and reached out to do something, even if I had no idea what.

“Don’t touch her!” Stevie yelled as she ran to us. “Someone call an ambulance.”

“I’m fine. I don’t need a fucking ambulance,” Ursua said through gritted teeth. Her face was pale and already covered with a fine sheen of sweat. She tried to roll over.

“Don’t even think about it. You just fell like eight feet, so yes, you do,” Stevie said, placing a hand on her back to keep her in place. “Go get Charlie,” she ordered.

I nodded and ran backstage to where I knew Charlie was working. Despite my best efforts, whenever we were in the same place, my awareness always circled back to him. My only consolation was that it seemed like he had a hard time ignoring me, too.

But now was not the time to think about that. I darted into the bowels of the venue and followed the faint trace of Charlie’s scent.

I found him on the phone in a backroom.

“I’ll call you back,” he said immediately when I burst in and hung up. He rushed towards me and reached out to touch my arm. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. But Ursula fell from some scaffolding.” I led him back out to the stage.

Things had deteriorated in the few minutes I’d been gone. Techs were standing around, watching, but keeping their distance. Ursula was white as death and groaning under her breath. She’d curled over on her right. Stevie was still kneeling by her side, almost as pale.

“The ambulance is on its way,” she told Charlie.

Charlie joined her at Ursula’s side. “You okay, Urs?”

Ursula shook her head. “I fucked up. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. We’re going to make sure you’re alright,” he said kindly.

“I’m going to help flag down the paramedics,” Stevie said, and I took her place next to Charlie.

“That you, Tiny?,” Ursula asked, her eyes finding mine. I grabbed her hand, and the papery feel of her skin made my anxiety worse.

“Yeah, I’m here. You’re going to be fine,” I said, but I didn’t even sound convincing to myself. “Now stop talking and wait until the ambulance is here.”

Ursula sighed and closed her eyes.

Charlie placed his hand on my back. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, why?” I asked, annoyed.

“Your scent is… You seem anxious,” he replied.

Oh, great. He was in tune enough with my scent to tell when I was stressed. I waited for the usual sense of violation that usually accompanied an Alpha trying to sniff me out, but it didn’t come. Instead, it just felt kind of… nice that he was checking on me.

That was so much worse.

The sirens of the ambulance sounded from outside, which saved me from replying. Paramedics rushed in, and we got out of their way as quickly as possible. Charlie stuck close to my side as we watched them work, and I found myself taking long inhales of his scent to calm down.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked, not quite touching my back with one hand. I nodded shakily. The adrenaline was receding.

“Jess!” I heard a voice yell. Of course, it was Kieran.

He emerged from backstage and barrelled towards us on those long legs, like a Viking on the hunt.

Before I could stop him, he had one hand on my shoulder and one cradling the side of my jaw.

“I heard the sirens. Are you okay, love? What happened?”

“I am fine,” I said, more annoyed than ever. I shook off his hands and stepped back. “Ursula’s hurt, not me.”

“Love?” Charlie repeated, looking between Kieran and me; he looked as if he’d been slapped.

Kieran noticed Charlie for the first time and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Stop it,” I snapped. “We’re not doing the jealous Alpha thing; neither of you has earned it.”

“I’m not jealous ,” Charlie spluttered.

“Do you want to ride in the ambulance?” Stevie asked me. The paramedics had Ursula strapped to a stretcher and were wheeling her out. “Someone should go with her.”

“Absolutely,” I said and escaped the stew of Alpha pheromones bubbling up around me.

“You were incredibly lucky,” the doctor told Ursula. “Especially for a woman your age.”

Ursula rolled her eyes and scowled at the X-ray image of her pelvis. There was one long crack in the right side of her hip, the wing that jutted out to the side.

“Because of your age, I’d like to do surgery to stabilize the bone and make sure it heals properly. We’ll insert some screws here,” the doctor mimed inserting screws with his finger.

“Is surgery necessary?” Ursula asked. She was on serious medicine, but her face was still contorted in pain. I was glad I’d come, even if my motivation had been a bit selfish in the moment. I’d started to really like her in the weeks we’d been working together.

“If you were a decade younger, no. But you’re already at higher risk for fractures and falls, so I’d like to be conservative,” the doctor replied.

“Do you need to decide right now?” I asked sharply. “Her daughter is on her way. Can she just rest for a few minutes?”

Ursula’s daughter lived a few hours away. I didn’t want Ursula to make any big medical decisions high off her ass on pain meds.

“Of course. I’ll be back in a couple of hours,” the doctor said and left.

“Prick,” I muttered. Ursula was like sixty, not an ancient old woman.

She huffed a faint laugh, then glared at me. “Don’t make me laugh; it hurts.”

“Sorry, he’s just acting like you’re some fragile old lady!”

“Tiny, I’m seventy-three. I am a fragile old lady.”

I gaped at her. “You’re lying.”

“Fiona wanted me to retire years ago. She’s going to use this as an excuse to push the issue. You need to promise me you’ll make sure this tour looks fucking fantastic, especially if it’s the last production I have my name on,” she said fiercely.

Panic. Sheer panic. “I have no idea what I’m doing, though.”

“Bullshit. You’ve learned so much over the last weeks.

You won’t have to do any of the technical stuff, just make sure Stevie doesn’t start changing things to make her job easier.

And don’t let the fucking costume people make Ellis look like a deranged fairy like they did on the last tour,” she growled.

“Charlie will be on your side. And I’ll make you a list.”

“Ursula, I can’t . I’ll just fuck everything up worse.”

“Stop being a coward. You’ve got a good eye; you know the vision for the show. Buck up and do this for a fragile old lady,” she said, and grabbed my hand. Even through the haze of pain, her eyes were lit with a burning passion.

“Are you sure they'll be okay with me taking your place?” I asked, looking for another angle.

“Who?”

“Exactly! I don’t even know enough to know who might be pissed off.”

Ursula smiled wickedly. “Tiny, I’ll let you in on a little secret. No one knows what they’re doing. Ask for forgiveness, not permission, or you’ll never get anything done.”

I closed my eyes briefly in frustration. “I still think there has to be someone better than me.”

“Ah, fuck you. You want me to stroke your ego? Not gonna happen. But I thought you had more guts than this,” she said, turning her head away.

I clenched my jaw and took a deep breath through my nose.

“Fine,” I bit out. “I’ll do it. But I’m not happy about it.”

Ursula smiled smugly and settled deeper into her pillows. “I knew it. You’re too easy. Now, let an old lady sleep.”