She picks up her phone from the counter and switches on the front-screen camera to look at herself, even though the screen is cracked now. I had picked it up on my way out of the club, knowing it was hers by the photo of the cat on her Lock Screen, and that alone had told me she was in trouble somewhere nearby.
“Shit,” she grunts. “Think James will throw me on the sidewalk, too?”
I give her a poignant stare, and she sighs.
“I’ll tell them I tripped last night and fell into the wall,” she finally concludes. “Honestly, it wouldn’t be the first time.”
Our eyes meet for a beat, and she gives me a small smile. “Busy day today,” she says. “Major concert later.”
“Fuck. It’s already Thursday,” I realize. “No wonder Tina is making a big breakfast. Shit—I need to get you out of here.” I pull my phone from my pocket, bring up James’s number, and then lift it to my ear.
“Are you actually calling him?” Andi asks.
“Easier to explain—Hey, James. Where are you?” I ask him.
“Ah… getting some coffee. What do you need?” James asks.
“We need a favor.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - MADDOX
MADDOX’S HYPE PLAYLIST
Every concert sends my nerves into shambles.
But the first concert of an extended run with the added pressure of it being in our hometown? The weekend of Halloween?
I’m on the edge of a high-rise. Gravity’s weight is daring to drag me over the edge. Fear and adrenaline thrive through my tense muscles. I need to jump. To dive head first over this ledge and get it over with. Let this exhilaration pull me through the weightless pressure and onto the other side of life.
A deep breath fills my lungs, and I blow it out through my mouth.
Young Decay.
Young Decay.
The noise of the crowd chanting for us is loud enough for me to hear over the music blaring from the headphones around my neck.
Andi’s headphones.
She’d gotten them to James to give to me before the show. I haven’t seen her since breakfast. She decided to hang back out of sight before the show tonight, insisting that she didn’t want to be a distraction.
I could really use her as a distraction right now.
The last moment we were alone together, I had her bent face-down over the kitchen island with her pussy in my mouth and her hands gripping the other side of the counter.
That sweet cunt of hers is my goddess.
It was a nice way to spend the five minutes we had waiting for James to arrive to pick her up and drop her off down the street.
My hood is up, mask on, as I walk back from the stage to the dressing room to check on the others.
Bonnie is beating her drumsticks on the dressing room table when I arrive. Zeb is bouncing up and down, boxing at the wall, more than likely listening to a cold case files podcast in his headphones.
And Reed…
Reed is sitting in the middle of the floor with his legs crossed beneath him. His eyes are closed, palms up. I know there’s a guided meditation playing through his earbuds. He likes to completely zone out before taking the stage so he feels like he’s been absent from the world for a while.
Bonnie winks at me through the mirror.
