The guys headed out but I grabbed Sweets by the arm. “What’s up?”
“Nuthin’”
“Yeah right, I know you better.” Her eyes met mine, a pissy expression on her face, and her jaw set like she wanted to fight. I hated when she got like this. She’d been fine this morning, so whatever crawled up her ass happened between then and now. “C’mon this is me. Don’t give me shit, just spill it. Did something happen?”
“No…yes. I don’t want that bitch on tour with us. I don’t have a good feeling about her. She’s bad karma.”
For a minute I couldn’t figure out who she was talking about. Then it hit me, she was talking about Cynda. “I don’t want her to come either and I’d fuckin’ hoped she’d say no, but I have to find a way to convince her to use my songs. Since we’re going on the road it doesn’t leave any other option.”
“I don’t like it. She’s gonna fuck things up for all of us.”
“No she won’t, that’s part of why I want her with us. She’ll see how we are, and how I come up with the material. It’ll be fine, trust me. Okay?” Sometimes she seemed more like a twelve year old than twenty-two. She needed to get over it. We had a long ass tour ahead of us. No way was I going to put up with any of her shit, even if she might have a point about Cynda. The girls had their moody moments, but they were like our sisters and we’d learned to freakin’ deal with it. I guess I needed to get with Candy later and see if she could talk some sense into her sister.
“I guess.”
“C’mon, Jack and Sally will be here later, we need to give them a great show right?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, so let’s get something to eat. You love Ricky’s pizza.”
She reached up and wrapped her arms around my neck like she had when she was younger, but it had been ages since she’d hugged me. I stopped her arms and held them. It was fuckin’ weird. We were too old for this shit now. The look in her eyes made me wonder, she’d been getting way too clingy and possessive. I’d told her long ago the two of them were like sisters to us, I’d fucking hoped it would keep shit like this from happening. We had a tour to do and it was going to need all my energy for the next year. Wrath had fuckin’ warned me from the beginning, maybe I should have listened.
“Fine, let’s go eat.” Oh yeah, she was pissed. Well too fuckin’ bad. She needed to get over it.
I wondered what fucking caused all this today. Was she jealous because I’d made Cynda come on the tour? It was pretty ballsy of me actually, I didn’t even know if she had aboyfriend, or a family, or anything. Would he get bent out of shape about her going on tour with us? If she did have a boyfriend it’d solve one of my problems. We were going to lay down the tracks for the new album when we got back to New York after the US Tour. If she cut out then maybe they’d drop the whole writer idea all together.
Who was I kidding, Symmetry wouldn’t back off. They’d decided to hire her and if not her it would be another writer. We’re gonna be stuck with her or someone else. I’ll just have to turn on the charm. Fuck. These next two weeks were going to be a real pain in the fucking ass, so much for just enjoying our first tour.
Sweets pulled the door to Ricky’s Pizza open and the aroma of fresh basil and pepperoni slapped me in the face. My stomach grumbled reminding me I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. Following her in to the pizzeria I was surprised it was so packed on a Thursday night. On my way to our usual table in the back, I was stopped for a few autographs. Lately we’d been recognized more and more, especially around town. We’d been signing some crazyshit—napkins, hands, even tits—this shit would never get old.
Sweets pushed ahead and blew me a kiss. I saw Wrath watching and I shrugged, what could I do? He didn’t look too happy but now wouldn’t be the time to talk about it. That’d have to wait until after tonight’s show. Considering we were starting a new part of our life tomorrow there seemed to be a lot of crap going on all of a sudden, or maybe it was because of the changes. What the fuck? Were we just all worried about the fucking tour?
I sat in the chair they’d saved and grabbed a slice of pepperoni pizza, taking a big bite. My stomach growled again, and Rage laughed.
“Shit, bro. Hungry much?”
“Yeah, I haven’t eaten since breakfast. I was too pissed off earlier. Pass me a beer will ya?”
Rage poured a glass from the pitcher and put it down in front of me. I reached for the glass but before I could get my hand on it, Sweets grabbed it, stuck her tongue out at me and took a long swallow.What. The.Fuck. I was pissed. It must have been obvious because Fury arched an eyebrow at me. Yeah so much for staying calm and focused. I guess it wasn’t in the fuckin’ cards for today.
“What? You got a fucking problem?” I growled at Fury. Was it a fuckin’ full moon or something? Way too much crazy shit going down.
Sweets put the glass down and slid her chair away from me. Maybe she was finally getting the hint. No one else said a word. I met Wrath’s eyes as I chewed my pizza and wondered if I’d be able to wait ‘til after the gig to talk to him. Something was definitely up and not just with him. Taking a drink I let the icy cold beer run down my parched throat but instead of being refreshing it turned in my stomach, or maybe it was the pizza. Whatever it was it triggered my ‘get the fuck out of there’ instinct. Suddenly feeling like I couldn’t breathe, I had to get out of there and put some distance between me and everyone else. I couldn’t go on stage like this that’s for damn sure.
“I’m going for a walk, I’ll be back soon.”
“But…” Wrath started to object but I guess the look in my eyes made him back off. I didn’t get like this often but when I did, I needed space and after being together as long as we had, they all knew to leave me alone.
Chapter Four
Cynda…
I was finally away from ‘dickman’ thank God. Riding in the limo was cool but having to listen to that pompous ass for the last two hours wasn’t, and all the questions, what was up with that? Who did he think he was asking about my family? It was none of his damn business. I wasn’t his employee, I worked for Symmetry. Shit. I worked for Symmetry. What was I thinking? Why had I promised mom I’d apply there? How she even knew about the job I had no freakin’ clue, it’s not like they advertised in the paper.
Locking the door behind me, I stepped into my apartment and Sylvester’s purr followed by his rubbing against my leg let me know I’d been missed. He welcomed me home as soon as I came through the door. It was his standard greeting—rubbing his head against my leg and purring. He’d wait for me to scratch him behind the ears then wonder off to the kitchen. I think he missed mom as much as I did, but at least he was always there to greet me when I got home, muchbetter than walking in to an empty apartment.
“Hi, baby, did you miss me?”
