Free Outsider by Olivia Cunning Page A

him and directed him
to the wall, he probably would have fallen over.
    “How
is that possible?” Sed said, massaging his forehead with one hand. “I saw him a
few weeks ago. He was perfectly healthy.”
    Trey
exchanged a concerned look with Brian. It took a lot to rattle their
overconfident leader, but Sed was obviously struggling to keep himself
together.
    “I
have to perform right now, but I’ll be on my way home as soon as I finish
here.” He paused, listening. “No, no, don’t worry about it. I’m glad you didn’t
wait to call. How’s Mom holding up?”
    Trey
stepped forward and clasped Sed’s shoulder. Trey knew Sed would never go home
midtour except for an emergency. What was going on?
    “I’ll
take care of everything, sis,” he said. “Just hang tight for a few hours. I’ll
be there.” He listened for a moment. “I love you too.” He hung up and took a
deep ragged breath before shoving his phone into his pocket.
    He
shrugged off Trey’s hand and pushed off the wall, walking stiffly toward the
backstage area.
    “Sed?”
Trey called, hurrying to catch up with him. “What happened? Why do you need to
go home?”
    “My
father,” he said, his voice tight. He shook his head and closed his eyes,
stopping to lean against the wall again.
    “Is
he hurt? Sick? If you need to leave right away—”
    Sed
shook his head. “I’ll go after . . .” He swallowed hard and a
tear leaked from beneath his mirrored sunglasses. “After . . .”
    “You
can’t perform when you’re all freaked out,” Trey said. He knew a thing or two
about trying to perform when you couldn’t. “Go be with your dad. You’ll feel
better if you see him.”
    “I
won’t.” Sed shook his head vigorously. His fingers disappeared behind his
sunglasses as he pressed them into his eyes, and he struggled to suck air into
his lungs. “It’s too late to see him. Too late to say goodbye. He’s . . .”
    Trey’s
lips went numb as he stared at Sed in disbelief. The word he’d left unspoken.
It wasn’t . . . 
    “You
should go home,” Brian said. “Your family needs you.”
    “I
can’t just leave.” Sed pushed off the wall and started walking again. “We have
a show.”
    Jace
dashed in front of him, forcing Sed to stop once again. Beneath his dark beard
stubble, Jace was as pale as the platinum tips of his spiked hair. He shook his
head, his brown-eyed gaze searching Sed’s face, and then he wrapped both arms
around Sed, latching his hands together behind Sed’s broad back as he hugged
him. Trey stumbled against Sed’s left side as he added the support of his own
embrace. The big guy probably would have been able to keep his emotions locked
inside himself if Brian and Eric hadn’t joined their huddle of misery.
    Sed’s
trembling intensified until his entire body was quaking. Trey squeezed tighter,
hoping to lend him strength and peace, but he doubted anything he could do
would make Sed feel better.
    After
several minutes, Sed’s trembling stilled, and he squirmed out of their group
hug. “Let’s go,” he said, his voice steady. He took a step forward, his legs
also steady.
    Jace
and Eric hurried after him, but Brian grabbed Trey’s arm before he could
follow.
    “We
can’t let him perform in the state he’s in,” Brian said.
    “Maybe
it will help,” Trey said. “Make him feel like everything’s normal for that hour
he’s on stage.”
    “I
don’t know how anything can feel normal for him right now,” Brian said. “He has
to be in shock. I’m in shock, and I didn’t even know Phil very well.” Brian
stared at Sed’s retreating back and scratched his jaw. “Someone should call
Jessica and let her know what’s going on.”
    Trey
pulled out his phone. “I’ll do it.”
    She
didn’t answer, so he sent her a quick text. Can you come to the backstage
area ASAP? Sed just got some bad news. His dad passed away.
    That
was a terrible thing to break to someone through a text message, Trey