The Gathering Dark Read Online Free

line.
    On the radio the song ended and she was surprised when the deejay’s voice cut in.
    ‘That was Nikki Wydra with ‘Shock My World.’ And we’ll have more of the hits of today coming up on WXTC, right after this.”
    Keomany laughed out loud and glanced down at the radio. “No shit!” she said, as though it might actually respond. She shook her head and turned her attention back to the road.
    “No shit,” she said again.
    It had been a long time since she had heard the name Nikki Wydra . Somehow, though, she had always known that one day she would hear it on the radio.
    Her unease now quickly forgotten, Keomany left Wickham behind, dwindling to a dark point of nothingness in her rearview mirror.
    “Oh my God, I’m gonna puke.”
    Nikki Wydra sat on the edge of a metal folding chair with her head in her hands, her breath coming in quick, short gasps. Her face was flushed, she could feel the heat in her cheeks, and her eyes were wide with a kind of panic she hadn’t felt since playing Dorothy in the seventh-grade production of The Wizard of Oz at the Haley Middle School.
    “You’re not gonna puke.”
    That comforting voice, and the equally comforting hand that gently rubbed her back between her shoulder blades, belonged to Kyle Shotsky, the drummer with her band. Though she could not see his face, not with the way she was bent over, breathing fast and trying not to throw up, Nikki still took some solace in Kyle’s presence. She knew that face intimately, the warm brown eyes and perfect hair, the small dimple on his chin. He reminded her of Billy Campbell, the actor who had played the dad on Once and Again years ago. Most people didn’t even remember that show, but Nikki wasn’t going to forget Billy Campbell.
    The fact that Kyle looked a lot like Billy Campbell probably had a lot to do with why she had slept with him in the first place. Though she liked to tell herself it had nothing to do with why she’d hired him to play with her band.
    Nikki’s breathing had slowed. Her stomach hurt, but suddenly she did not feel quite as nauseous.
    “You’re not gonna puke,” Kyle told her again, his firm hand gripping her shoulder now.
    “Maybe you’re right,” she replied, amused by the surprise in her own voice. Nikki glanced up at him, saw the concern there and that all-encompassing warmth. “Thanks.”
    His strong fingers caressed her face. “Hey. It’s what I’m here for.”
    “No. You’re here to play the fucking drums. Just like I’m supposed to be here to sing.”
    Frustrated, Nikki carefully stood up and began to slowly pace the length of the green room at El Dorado. The room was little more than a converted storage area with a couple of small tables, a shitty little old TV set, a bunch of folding chairs, and a curtain in case someone wanted to get changed without the other members of the band seeing them. There was a ratty sofa against the far wall but it stank like cat and was stained with what might have been coffee in the best-case scenario, and blood in the worst.
    Nikki had seen enough blood in her lifetime, thanks.
    The only things about the El Dorado’s green room that didn’t suck were the bowls of peanut M&M’s, the fresh-cut flowers, and the beer and spring water in the fridge. It might have been the most popular club on the scene in Philadelphia, but it was just like a hundred other clubs she’d played in her life.
    “I don’t get it,” Kyle said, voice probing but still gentle. “Why’s tonight different? I’ve done dozens of live gigs with you and I’ve never seen you freak like this.”
    “I fucking hate Philly!” Nikki shouted, shaking her head in a little tantrum so that her blond hair lashed across her face.
    Kyle grinned at her. “It’s the City of Brotherly Love.”
    She glared at him. “I hate it.”
    “It’s your hometown, Nikki. That’s why we’re opening the tour here, remember?”
    “I remember, all right? That’s why I feel like I’m gonna