Lorenzo ‘Lucky’ Spencer stood in the back of the room and watched the others trickle in. They stared at one another uncertainly. Occasionally one of them would risk a glance back at where he stood, hoping to get some kind of read on his mood. Rumors had run rampant among the band since the meeting was announced. If anyone would know the meeting’s purpose, they all believed it would be Lucky. How surprised they would be, Lucky thought sourly, to discover that he had no more insight into the upcoming meeting than any of them. In fact, he probably had less.
“Lucky?” Bandmate Sly Eckert interrupted his thoughts. “Do you know what this meeting is about?” he asked softly. Sly had a sinking sensation that he knew the subject of the meeting. “I tried to ask Dawn when she came and told me about it, but I didn’t get anywhere with her.”
“I have no idea.” Lucky seemed to bite off each word. “Sorry.” He felt badly about being so curt to Sly, but frankly his mind was on other thoughts.
Sly continued on doggedly. “It’s just that a lot of the guys are worried. Some of them have families to support. And the rest of us, well… we’ve all got bills to pay.”
“Dawn came and told you about the meeting?” Lucky interrupted.
“Yeah. Yesterday evening. Why?”
Lucky just shook his head and went back to his private thoughts. He had received word of Dawn’s impromptu meeting through an impersonally worded email sent to his laptop computer early that morning.
Lack of communication was typical of the current situation between he and Dawn. Other than the initial moments after the London bombing where Dawn had clung to him, there had been almost no contact between them. Nikolas had come riding to the rescue and any thoughts Dawn might have had of Lucky vanished like smoke in the wind.
The subject of Lucky’s thoughts entered the room. Dawn quietly made her way to the front of the room and looked around at all the members of her band. “I am going to keep this short,” she announced. “I have decided to resume our world tour. All the arrangements have been made to start with the Scotland leg of the tour and go on as we originally planned. The London concerts will be added back onto the end of the tour.” An excited buzz began to grow. “I can see,” Dawn smiled, “that you guys are more than ready to get back at it. So unless any of you have a problem, we will be leaving for Scotland in four days.”
Lucky took in the smiling faces of the band. Unlike Dawn, whose smile did not reach her eyes, the guys were genuinely thrilled at the prospect of leaving Port Charles again.
“What brought on this decision?” Lucky followed Dawn out into the quiet hallway.
“It was time,” Dawn replied curtly.
“It was time,” Lucky repeated thoughtfully. “So… this decision to get away from Port Charles has nothing to do with the incident at the Port Charles Grill yesterday afternoon?”
Dawn whirled about. “What did you do – follow me?”
“Please.” The word dripped with scorn. “I wouldn’t waste my time following you. If I ever needed to know where you were I’d just find my brother instead.”
“You really need to get over your jealousy of Nikolas,” Dawn retorted. “Or you will just end up a bitter, angry man.”
“Too late,” Lucky replied through gritted teeth. “Loving you has already done that.”
Dawn blanched at the harsh words. “Then why,” she struck back, “don’t you just walk away?”
Lucky’s hands clenched into fists. These were the moments he hated his inability to do just that. “One day,” he lied, “I will.”
