There’s a hand at my shoulder, and I instantly find myself crashing out of my trance. When I drop my gaze, I find Chase standing to my side, his brow creased, worry drowning his brown orbs.
“I need another line,” I state, turning my back to the glass and running my hands through my now sweaty hair. They’re trembling violently. “Every time I hear you,I hear her.” I clench my fingers into my scalp, trying to dig out the nightmare.
“Fuck,” he rasps.
There’s a bang at the glass, and my head snaps to the side. Both Ty and Ash are standing on their feet behind the deck, their faces a picture of concern. Nothing like this has ever happened before. I’m the clown of the pack, not the one who has a fucking breakdown mid-session.
Ty signals to my headphones, and I shove them back over my ears when his voice tracks down the line. “You good, man?”
I clear my throat, then I just lie.It’s easier that way.“Yeah. Just kinda blacked out. Fucking weird. I’ll be right, let's go again.”
Flicking my eyes back to Chase, I nod. It takes a moment for him to nod back, then he says, “You got this. Channel all of that into what you’re doing right now. Trust me. Create some magic, brother.” He squeezes my shoulder, then heads out of the room, snapping closed the heavy soundproof door behind him.
He’s right, that’s exactly what I need to do.
Silence is all I hear as I wait for Ty to send the track again. He counts me in, and this time when the pre-chorus hits, I put my fury into every fucking chord.
I’m going to find out who did this to her. Then, I’m going to tear them the fuck apart.
When the track comes to an end, I place my guitar down and move out of the booth to the control room. Chase is grinning while Ty listens to the playback and adjusts some shit at the deck.
“Fuck yes,” Chase says, rubbing the palms of his hands together.
I don’t sit down at the deck, instead moving for the bag of coke sitting on top of the glossy black table. Cutting out a couple of lines, I place the hundred-dollar bill at my right nostril and snort three, one after the other, the same way Chase did earlier. The sour shit drips down the back of my throat as I collect the remnants on my finger, sliding it over my tongue. Chase plops down next to me and wraps his tattooed arm around my shoulder, tapping my chest roughly as I snort, and wipe myself clean. My elbows are still on my knees, and he fists my shirt, shaking me.
“That’s what I’m talking about. This is going to be fucking sick,” Chase growls with excitement.
And he’s not wrong.
The song is unreal.
Should have known anger, guilt, and regret would be the emotions to push this square right into a fucking circle.
“You left no crumbs, dude,” Ash states, taking a seat at the end of the couch and kicking out his legs in front of him.
Ty spins around to face us. “Alright, it’s ready.” He swallows, then jerks his chin up at me. “Are you okay, though? You wanna talk about it?”
I should know by now that nothing goes unnoticed by Ty. His black eyes see everything.He knows something’s wrong. I clear my throat when a flash of the branding on Cherry’s skin forks through my vision. A triangle, so red and so deep, so inhumane.
They need to rot in fucking Hell.
And I need to be the one to put them there.
I run my quivering palm down the length of my face. “Just tired, brother.” I struggle to hide the shakiness in my voice.
I’m a hopeless liar.
When Tyler simply nods, I know he doesn’t believe shit, but he doesn’t ask again when he turns around, pressing play. The song starts from the beginning, and when the pre-chorus hits, heavy hands slap my back. Both Chase and Asher start to beat me with their thrill.
I smile.
Yeah, that’s fucking sick.
Ty eases into his chair as he bites a blunt between his teeth, smirking. “Oh, fuck yeah,” he says, hitting it hard before dropping his head back and rocking his body to the remainder of the song. He does it the way drummers always do. His feet start tapping against the black timber floorboards and his armsmove around expertly as he plays his air drums, smile lines deep across his face.
When the song reaches the end, Chase stands up and claps loudly before stating, “That fucks so hard.”
Reaching the top of the spiral stairs, I emerge through the hole in the floor. I’ve been popping up here multiple times throughout our session to check if I’ve received any updates on Cherry from Rusty.
