Read Rock N Soul for Free Online

a rock star. You have a skewed sample,” I pointed out. “I bet everybody you know has boned Zoe Saldana, too.”
    He laughed. “Not her specifically. But I guess I see what you mean.”
    I offered him a smile, then let it slip back into a less amused expression. “But seriously, dude. Why’d you do it?”
    He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I don’t know. I really don’t. I tried it because I wanted to try new things. Experiment, you know. And then I just didn’t stop.” He opened his eyes again and gazed past me, unfocused and distant. “Eric told me to stop. But all I could think was, you know, fuck Eric. So I did what I wanted and now I’m dead.”
    “I thought you and Eric were best friends.” And I really did. They acted like besties in all their interviews, elbowed each other and smiled and giggled and told stories about shenanigans and hijinks they’d gotten into. I’m pretty sure there’s a subset of fans who are convinced that they had been doing it too.
    Chris pondered that for a few seconds. Finally, he sighed. “We were. But that was over a while ago. We’ve been barely civil to each other for a long time now.”
    “So the interviews where you said you were like brothers . . . that was all for show?”
    “No, we’re still like brothers,” he said, chuckling bitterly. “Just brothers who don’t like each other and only hang out when we’re obligated to.”
    I nodded slowly. “Hence the separate hotels.”
    “Yeah.” He tried to push away from the wall and almost fell backward through it.
    I shouldn’t have laughed, but I did. He just looked so ridiculous, flailing for balance as his limbs disappeared into the wall and out of it, and then the dark glance he shot me set me off more.
    “It’s not funny.” He wrinkled his nose and crossed his arms. “I nearly busted my ass.”
    “Your ghosty ass!” I said, laughing even harder.
    “Shut up,” he demanded, but his mouth twitched.
    “Okay, okay.” I took several deep breaths and managed to compose myself. Barely. “So anyway, should we try the ring thing? See if that sends you on into the hereafter?”
    “I guess so,” he said, his voice getting a little soft and vulnerable again. “Thanks, man.”
    “For what?” I asked, my fingers pausing on the ring.
    He worked his jaw for a moment. “For . . . I don’t know. I guess for explaining what happened. Could you, you know, pass on a message for me?”
    I raised an eyebrow at him. “A message. To who?”
    “To Eric. And to my sister.”
    “That you love them? That you’re sorry?” I guessed.
    “Yeah, tell Allison that.” He grimaced. “And tell Eric . . . I don’t know. To go fuck himself. Or that he was right. Or that if he gets Nathan Vale to replace me, I’ll find a way to come haunt the shit out of him.”
    I raised both eyebrows. “Um. Well, this is awkward.”
    Chris’s mouth dropped open. “He did not .”
    “They said it was only for the rest of the tour,” I pointed out helpfully.
    “He did not ,” he said again, louder this time. “That fucker!”
    “Don’t drown the messenger in the tub.” I spread my hands in the universal “please don’t kill me Mr. Ghost” gesture.
    “I’m going to find that asswipe and haunt him. I’m going to make his life miserable. He’ll regret doing this.”
    “Hey, now, don’t go all vengeful spirit on me.” I gave him an exaggerated wide-eyed look. “I don’t want to have to shoot you with a salt gun.”
    “With a what?” He stopped grinding his ghosty teeth and frowned at me.
    “A salt gun,” I said. “Because you’re a ghost and, you know, salt . . .” He still looked completely in the dark. I rolled my eyes. “And then I’d have to burn your bones.”
    “What in the hell are you talking about?” he demanded.
    Jeez. Richard didn’t get the Star Trek references and Chris Raiden had never watched Supernatural . I was surrounded by cultural cripples, all the time. “Never mind. If you