Liberty wanted to clap. Sometimes she didn’t know how he kept doing it, putting so much of himself into his music and into his performances night after night.
“Well, you don’t have to worry I’ll put you in a negative light. It’s been fun interviewing you, Devin.”
“The pleasure was mine, Daisy Sue.”
They both stood.
“Will you make sure my publicist at the record label gets a copy of the article?”
“Of course.” She shook his hand. “Good luck on the rest of the tour.”
Devin waited until she’d ducked out before he crossed over to Liberty. “What’s the status on the equipment trucks?”
“Gone. As is the band bus. Reg is waiting for us.”
“Cool. Let’s go.”
They exited the tent.
“I probably should’ve walked Daisy Sue to her car,” he said. “Why the hell is it so dark out here? Did they shut off the yard lights to save money?”
“No idea. I can’t even see the neon glow from the midway.” She listened. She couldn’t hear the noise from the carnival games or the music blaring from the rides either. The silence, especially this time of night, set her on edge.
Three more tents were spread out between the back of the grandstand and where the bus was parked. They picked their way through the deserted area; the only sound was the shuffle of their feet in the dirt.
Just as they cleared the last tent, Liberty heard a heavy step and a scrape behind them. She whirled around.
A man wielding some kind of club appeared from the shadows and headed straight for Devin.
Liberty’s instincts kicked in as the man charged. Since his focus seemed to be solely on Devin, she held out her foot and tripped him. He went sprawling, but fell only to his knees. She followed through by kicking him in the lower back above his kidney. He let loose a howl of pain before he hit the dirt face-first.
Then she pressed her stun gun into the back of his head as she removed the spiked club from his hand. “Don’t f**king move or I will send seventy thousand volts through you.”
He puffed out, “Fuck off,” and tried to twist his body away from her.
She stomped on his fingers and jammed the stunner more deeply into the fat rolls of his neck. “I said: Don’t. Fucking. Move.”
The guy slumped to the ground.
She’d fallen for that trick before. “Put your free arm above your head. Palm flat on the ground.” When he hesitated, she yelled, “Do it now.”
He slowly reached up.
Liberty didn’t ease up on him one bit as she looked over at Devin.
He’d completely frozen.
While she was relieved he hadn’t interfered with her doing her job, his state of stock wasn’t helping. “Devin,” she said sharply.
He snapped out of it and met her gaze.
“Call the cops.”
The attacker ran his mouth as he struggled. “Of course you’re gonna call the cops. You’re a f**kin’ pussy just like I thought you were, McClain. Ain’t man enough to take me on.” He snorted. “You’re a pathetic loser if you’re gonna let this chick fight your battles.”
So tempting to flip the switch and zap this motherfucker. See if that made his lips stop flapping.
Devin pulled out his phone.
“You think the cops will arrest me? I’ll be a hero for taking a whack at you. They know what you did when you played here three years ago. How you invited a few girls onto your bus—most of them underage—fucked them and then kicked them to the curb on your way outta town.”
“That’s why you came after him? Your girlfriend or sister was one of those girls?” Liberty asked.
“She was my f**king wife,” he spat. “What kind of hard-up piece of shit f**ks another man’s wife?”
“Evidently, your wife has a thing for hard-up pieces of shit, doesn’t she?”
“Shut your mouth, whore.”
Do not stun him just for fun. Do not stun him unless he makes a move toward Devin.
“There’s a police unit stationed at the carnival tonight,” Devin said. “They’ll be here shortly.”
The small bout of silence was too good to last.
“I could’ve gotten to you earlier,” the man bragged. “Been watching you since your big bus pulled in. You needing a big bus must mean you’re trying to make up for your tiny dick.”
Devin squatted just out of the man’s reach. “Your wife seemed to like my little dick well enough.”
Jesus.
The man roared and bucked to get free, spittle and nonsensical words flying from his mouth.
Liberty didn’t dare look over and glare at Devin for his taunt because she had her hands full keeping this moose contained. “Calm down.”
“I had you in my sights,” he wheezed out, ignoring her. “One clean shot from the back row and your brains would’ve been splattered on the stage.”
Her blood turned to ice. “Are you carrying a gun?”
“What do you think, you dumb bitch?”
I think I’m an idiot for not patting you down right away.
Her gaze swept over his body. Nothing in his back pockets. She couldn’t maneuver her body to check to see if he wore a holster on the front of his torso.
“I shoulda taken the shot when I had the chance,” he snarled.
That did it.
Liberty depressed the button and watched him twitch like a bug on a hot griddle.