CHAPTER 1
RIO
"Good morning, sleepy Cinderella."
The sharp, sarcastic voice of my manager, Prince Michael, cuts through my slumber. "Did we have enough beauty sleep?"
It takes a moment to remember where I am. My fingers glide over cool silk bedding for the warm flesh of Jill and Joan.
Those wild twins I took back to my hotel following the after-party.
They’re gone.
“Coffee,” I croak, rising against the satin headboard.
The mirrored walls of the luxurious suite reflect a groggy, disheveled image I’ve come to know too well.
The aftermath of the hard partying lifestyle I've taken up of late.
Prince Michael snaps his fingers like he's genuine royalty.
A hotel employee steps forward with my steaming brew, hot and black.
Once I swig it down, I take in the scene.
Prince Michael is his usual elegant self today, dressed like a ’60s dandy in a purple corduroy jacket.
His black hair is slicked back perfectly, not a strand out of place.
Beside him, curly-haired blond drummer Keith James looks offensively fresh for this early hour.
And to my right stands my bestie and lead guitarist, Steven Smith, arms crossed, guitar-calloused fingers pushing his dark hair back.
All three stare at me with barely repressed hostility.
"Okay. Give it to me straight. What did I do last night?"
"Hey man, it’s what you didn’t do," Steven says, flashing his phone in my face so I can see the gossip column headline: “Rocker Rio Wilder Does It Again.”
I squint at it, but it's impossible to read the tiny text.
"Did what again?"
I've supposedly done everything from trashing hotel rooms to dating aliens.
"You guys never believed these rags before. What's different this time?"
"Rio, you don’t remember dancing with a snake?" Keith says. “The audience exploded, man. Cops came and?—”
Suddenly, it all comes back.
The guy in the front row pulling a snake out of his bag when I belted the first bars of our latest hit,Python Man.
The crowd screaming, hands in the air, spotlights bouncing off the creature’s scales. The glittering, hypnotic movement of the snake's body as it twisted and writhed.
Buzzed on pre-performance booze and caught in the hypnotic, otherworldly pulse of the song, I remember accepting the slithering creature.
“What was so wrong about dancing with a snake? I thought it would build more buzz forPython Man. We need the publicity, guys.”
