“You need to quit your bitching about everything and being tired. We’ve got a long way to go yet. We should have a few hours of downtime after this.”
“Good. I thought we used to run around a lot before, but this is fuckin’ ridiculous,” Rage grumbled.
“Get used to it, bro, this is only the fucking beginning.”
He nodded, grabbed his good luck sticks and we followed him off the bus.
Joe was sitting outside on a chair when we left. “Joe, could you do me a favor?”
He squinted at me in the afternoon sun. “Sure, Chaos, what’s up?”
“If Cynda gets back before we do will you text me?”
“No problem.”
“Do you have my number?”
“Yeah, the bus company gave me all of them in case I needed to reach you.”
“Great. Okay, we’ll see you in a while. I think we might go in search of cheesesteaks when we get back.”
“I know some great places.”
“Cool. You can tell us on the way,” I said and winked at him. I think I might have surprised him asking him to tag along, but he’d been with us for all east coast road trips for the last year, not the same as this but he was almost part of our family now. I didn’t want him to feel left out.
It was strange having constant security with us, but after the signing this afternoon, we’d seen how things could get fucked up fast. If Terrance hadn’t been there, we’d have been screwed. But no one was going to mess with a six foot five, three hundred pound ex-wrestler if they were smart. Stopping by the other bus, we grabbed Candy and Sweets. They hadn’t been happy to be left out of today’s shit, but like I’d told the guys, it wasn’t my doing. I would make sure they were fuckin’ included from now on. I tried to get Sweets’ attention but she avoided looking at me. Fine, we’d play it her way. I didn’t care as long as she didn’t mess with Cynda. It was past time to admit I hadit bad for her. Where the hell could it go? We were going to be on tour for almost a year and I’d never see her. Maybe we just needed to fuck and get it out of our systems and move on.
Terrance led the way into the building and backstage. Standing in the wings and seeing our equipment set up on stage, then looking out at the empty seats took my breath away. Fuck yeah. Last night wasfanfuckingtasticbut tonight we were headlining. Sometimes I wished my parents knew how far we’d come, but it didn’t matter now. Jack and Sally were proud of us, they’d been thrilled at the gig the other night and the tears in their eyes got me all choked up. They were amazing people.
Wrath smacked me on the back as he walked on stage looking over his shoulder at me, and I flipped him the bird. He had balls sometimes but we’d been together the longest and we were tight like brothers. Fury and Flame had come within days of each other about six months after Wrath and me. Rage was the last one to come to the Sherman’s house, and he kept the most shitto himself. You’d think after all these years he’d want to let it out, but not so far.
I picked up Eleanor and grabbed a pic from the line taped to the mic stand, and I checked to make sure everyone was in place. “Ready?”
I put in the earbud and checked with Sean on sound and Pete our light man. Getting the all clear, I played a couple of warm up chords.
“Count us in, Rage.”
Holding his drum sticks above his head he counted. “One, and two, and three…”
The playlist was taped to the floor by the mic stand. It was the entire first album and a few covers. I really wanted to sing some of our new songs, but it was in the contract we couldn’t without Symmetry’s approval first. Fuckin’ contracts.
Playing the first notes ofHell On Wheels, I emptied my mind and focused on the music. We played through five of our songs and stopped a few times for sound or lighting adjustments but it went well. The acoustics in the arena were nothing compared to what they’d be later when it was full. Almosttwenty thousand fans again. It was sold out, and so was tomorrow’s show. Hell yeah.
We ran throughStep Into My Nightmarea second time because it sounded off to me, but I was satisfied after the second play through. “We good?”
Lots of nods all around, and only Sweets didn’t respond. Rolling my eyes, I wondered how long she was going to keep this fuckin’ shit up. I guess I should have listened to Wrath when he first mentioned her crush on me, but I didn’t believe it, and now we were all going to pay for it.
By the time the sound check was done, we only had about three hours until the show. I saw a cheesesteak and soda in my future. I needed the carbs. Then it’d be back to the bus and chilling ‘til show time. Tomorrow we’d only have the show so we could do some sightseeing if we wanted. Would Cynda want to tour Philly with me?
That reminded me, my phone never vibrated. Either she was still wherever or Joe had forgotten, but I was betting on the first. Where the fuck was she? When we’d left for the interviews earlier she’d been fine.Shit. Sweets better not have started more shit with her.
Slowing down, I let the guys pass so I could talk to her. Wrath raised an eyebrow and I shrugged. He shook his head. He figured I was poking the bear, but I needed to find out if she’d done anything else.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
She didn’t even look at me when she answered. “What did you guys do today?”
