Until Pierce sauntered over. “This is…ah…” He waved his finger between the three of us. “New?”
Donny scowled. “It’s new. Yes.”
“All three of you, then?” Pierce asked.
“None of your business, Pierce.” I wasn’t going to have him interrogate us. Especially before a show.
He held his hands up in surrender. “I’m only curious, dude. We all are. This isn’t…” He waved between us again.
“Isn’t what?” Donny asked.
“Careful with your words,” I growled, and Saxon tightened his arm around me.
“Usual, Kay. It’s not usual. And I’m not trying to start shit. You can’t fucking blame me here.” Pierce held his hands out to his sides.
Saxon gave a brief nod. He was a quiet man, but when he did speak, his deep rumbly voice got attention and kept it. “Pierce. Thank you for being concerned for your friends and bandmate.” He shook me a little. “But we’ve got it. We’re fine.”
“Whatever, bro.” Pierce turned to walk away, then, as if changing his mind, swiveled back around. “By the way, Kay, Jinx said they were going to hand the award to you as our representative, and that’s fine, but I want to be the one to give the thank-you speech. We need to shift this whole thing to me being the spokesperson for the band. Know what I mean?”
That’s when Joe darted over. “Man, you don’t get to make that decision. Not by yourself.”
“Well, I thought it was the direction we were taking. Kay can’t handle it. Being in front, I mean.” As if tacking that on helped. It did not.
“Being the leader and being the frontman aren’t the same thing. And you know it.” Joe crossed his arms, standing by the couch where I sat. “Or you should. Because this is Kay’s band.” I’d never felt this close to him before. I didn’t expect him to stand up for me like that, but I was honored that he had.
I stood and put my hand on Joe’s shoulder. “This is something we need to work through. I don’t think of Bramble Punk as being my band, butourband, and that includes Pierce now.”
“Don’t stick up for him,” Joe growled.
“I’m not, but you’re both right. It’s not only me or Pierce, though. It’s all of us. Hey guys,” I called out. They came in closer.“Listen. When we receive the award, who should give the thank-you speech? All for Pierce?”
The room was quiet.
“What about me?”
Everyone called out. There were yeses, hell yeses, wolf-whistles, and clapping. These guys were fantastic. “Sounds like I’m doing the speech, Pierce.” I shrugged calmly, trying not to be smug, but it was hard with the rest of the band backing me so fiercely.
“Whatever.” He stalked across the room and out the door. I hoped I hadn’t pushed him out of the band. At least he didn’t flip us the bird…or maybe that wasn’t the good sign I thought it was.
“Guys. We do need him.”
Joe screwed up his face, puckering his lips and crinkling his nose. “Not so much that we have to put up with his crap.”
Jinx came over and put one hand on each of our shoulders. “I was worried about this from the start. But this is your band. All of you. Including everyone in this decision was a good start, Kay. You have to work together to figure it out.”
“And reel him in.” Donny stood and tugged my arm. “We only have a few minutes before you go on. Pierce will come around. Sit with us.”
How could I refuse that offer?
Chapter twelve
Saxon
Back in LA
Oh lala…I had two littles to take care of. And one of them was a rockstar. The other was a lawyer in the entertainment industry. Half the time I’d spent with them, I’d felt out of my league.Especially when they’d been arguing with their bandmate. That Pierce was a cocky motherfucker. But my boys didn’t let anyone run over them. I was proud of them, but it left me wondering what the fuck they needed me for outside of sexy time.
Of course, that was phenomenal.
