Kaj slid a knee between Noah’s thighs and propped on the back of the couch, hands on each side of his head. “You should’ve never agreed to this.” He grabbed the vocalist’s jaw, forcing his head up so he was looking him straight in the eye. “I know many ways to make life miserable for you.”
“And when exactly is that going to start happening?”
For a second, they stayed like that, trapped in a glaring contest. It felt as though Noah was measuring him, trying to read him. But that was not happening. For years, Kaj had built a fortress that prevented people from peeking into his mind. Only those whoreallyknew him saw past it.
Kaj tightened the grip on his jaw, relishing the pain he knew he was causing when Noah winced. “Run now while you still have time. Unless you want me to turn you into my slut again.”
“Fuck off.” Noah swatted Kaj’s hand away and shoved his chest, making him stumble backward. He got up, touching his jaw, moving it from side to side. “I don’t care how hard you play. You’re not gonna ruin this for me.”
“Wanna bet?”
“Are you fucking five?”
Kaj shrugged unapologetically.
“That I hate getting caught up in stupid fights doesn’t mean I won’t bite back.” Noah’s voice sounded gritty, but his demeanor was so calm it rubbed Kaj the wrong way.
“I’d like to see that.”
“Don’t push it.”
“Is that a threat?” Kaj mocked.
“It’s a promise.”
As they both stepped forward, ready to jump at each other’s throats, the door creaked open. The instrumental music playing through the speakers in the corridor slipped in, lingering frozen in the air before the other two entered the room.
“You’re here!” Aksel said, hugging Noah and patting his back. Kaj didn’t miss the way he glanced in his direction—a silent apology. Did he hate that his friend was welcoming this man so effusively? Yeah, but there was nothing he could do. Aksel was a golden retriever in the body of a human being. Forcing him to stop acting as such would probably send him straight into a depression. “You excited?”
“Yeah.” Noah chuckled.
Kaj walked away and sat on his stool, acting like he hadn’t been close to punching their new vocalist in the face.
“All good?” Xander asked, glancing between him and Noah.
“Yeah,” Noah replied while Kaj shrugged. “I’m just nervous.”
“No need to be.” The bassist patted his shoulder. “You’ll do great. And even if it doesn’t work today, we have enough time.”
It took a few more minutes of small talk and pretending for the energy to shift among the four walls. There was still tension, and Noah’s warning glances from across the room only stoked the flames lashing inside Kaj, but he just let the scene unfold. No matter how much these guys were on his side, they were also professional, so there was no way they’d give Noah the cold shoulder or treat him like shit. That was Kaj’s job.
“What about we start with something easy so you can warm up those vocal cords, and then get full into the savagery?” Xander asked Noah.
“Sounds good to me.”
“Anything in particular you wanna play? We know a bunch of classics,” Aksel chimed in.
“Not really. Just whatever you do to jam before switching into practice mode.”
“Okay, here is the list of what we usually do before playing any of ours.”
Aksel handed Noah the wrinkled piece of paper where they’d written and crossed out the titles of the songs they used to warm up. Currently, they had “Until the World Goes Cold” by Trivium, “Consternation” by Katatonia, and “Flesh and the Power It Holds” by Death. It was the weirdest combination, but that was what made the band work. With their different tastes and musical backgrounds, they all brought something to the table. Every record was about growth. They didn’t like pigeonholing themselves into a box that narrowed the expectations of what they should sound like.
Their lyrical themes used to revolve around the human condition—violence, sorrow, betrayal, loss, despair, and change. Death and progressive metal were the spine of what they did, but if you listened closely, you’d catch influences of jazz, folk, groove, and doom metal carefully meshed with elements reminiscent of the early 2000s metalcore. That wide range and experimentation, along with their particular time signature, was precisely what defined them.
“Who added Katatonia?” Noah asked.
“Me,” Xander said, proud.
