Epilogue
Callum
“Are you ready to hit the stage?” Dante asks me through the lighted makeup mirror in the back room.
“Yes,” I say as I try to cover up the hickeys on my neck. Damn you, Dom, for doing this right before Rocktoberfest.
“Hell yeah, he is,” Danny announces as he adjusts the silver lamé vest he has on, which matches his painted-on jeans, and gives me a hip bump. “How much time do we have?” he asks Dante, who is fixing their lipstick.
“We have an hour and a half before we head to the stage.”
“I can’t believe we hit the primetime spot,” Bobby chimes in as he picks out his afro. He glances in the wall mirror and then at us. “Too much?”
“Not at all,” Danny says as he swipes his lips with the latest flavored lip balm.
“You do you,” Dante chimes in. “And why not the primetime? I worked hard getting you guys that spot. Warrior Black is going to kick ass tonight, too.”
“We always do,” Raef says as he sticks his head into the room. “Did anyone see Lyric?”
“I thought he was up front by the driver.” I point to the front of the bus.
Shortly after my father’s funeral, Lyric showed up at the San Francisco house and stayed.
None of us had dared to ask Dante what they’d said to convince Lyric to come back, but we’re grateful.
Having a medical person on staff has come in handy more times than we’d expected—thank God it’s been for minor stuff. No more gunshot wounds. I hope.
“Why?” Danny asks with a smile. “Do you have a booboo?”
“Fuck off, Danny. John wants him.”
“John cut his pinky finger,” Connor announces, as he slides past Raef, who moves back toward the hallway. Then Connor plants his ass on my lap and drops an arm over my shoulder. “How are you, Crocodile Dundee? Ready to play?”
“Why aren’t you worried for your man?” I ask, trying to push my friend off of me.
“Because he deserves what he got. He shouldn’t be playing with knives,” Connor says so nonchalantly. “Besides, John’s fine. He doesn’t need stitches. Only a small bandage, and I already gave him one.”
“Well, I’m glad—now get your bony ass off my legs. You’re cutting off the circulation.”
“Whatever, dick,” Connor flips me a middle finger.
“Play nice,” Dante declares, eyeballing us.
“We always play nice.” Bobby pops a tiny sucker into his mouth.
“We need to chat about your problem with sugar.” Dante points to Bobby’s mouth and frowns.
“I’m weening myself off. It’s a small one.” Bobby pulls the sucker out of his mouth. “See?”
Danny shushes us. “Listen… What’s that noise?”
I take a moment. “Wait. Is that a moan?”
We look around us, like we are counting who’s in the room. Everyone but Raef is here with us.
Then Bobby busts out laughing. “I knew it. Someone owes me money.”
“Shit,” Connor says and hands him a twenty.
“Who is that?” I ask.
“Who do you think?” Danny adds.
I look around the room again before asking, “Raef?”
“With who?” Connor stands, determination to find out written across his face, but Dante stops him.
“Don’t worry about it. Get ready and I’ll take care of it,” they declare and leave the room.
“Who can it be?” Danny looks at Bobby, but our keyboardist shakes his head no. I have a feeling he knows, since he hangs out with Raef almost all the time. I’d put my money on Lyric, although I could be wrong.
About forty minutes before we are to climb onto the stage, Raef rejoins us as we all head to the food tent. With the tight scheduling today, none of us got a chance to eat, and we want to grab a bite before we work up a sweat on stage.
Walking into the food tent, check out what’s on the menu, before we fill our plates. As we go, we chat with some of the friends we’ve made since we started playing at Rocktoberfest and finally take a seat at a empty table.
Dom, Pen and the rest of our security team have come with us and stationed themselves around the table we are sitting at. I glance over at my guys and smile. They both wink at me before they slide masks of indifference on their faces.
“Taking it a bit much, aren’t they?” a guy says at the table next to us.
“Do I know you?” I ask, angling my body in his direction. I don’t think I know this man, but his face is familiar.
“No, but I know you,” he says with an oily smile, pulls out a small camera from under his shirt and begins taking pictures of me and the entire band.
“Get the hell out of here. No reporters are allowed in here,” one of the event’s security men says as he grabs the guy, confiscates his camera, and then pushes him away from us and out of the tent.
“Who is that?” Connor whispers.
“That dude is trouble. He was caught taking pictures of another band while they were sleeping on their bus last night,” Fig explains, shaking his head.
“Thank Christ we arrived early this morning,” I mutter, since I have had enough bullshit to last me a life time.
And last night? Danny let me have the back bedroom on the tour bus, and Dom, Pen and I got into some heavy petting.
I can’t imagine having pictures circulated of us in compromising positions.
It’s all I need—on top of the crap that has already happened.
Dom and Pen reach my side. “What did he say to you?” Dom asks.
“He said he knows me—or us, I’m not sure.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it and make sure he doesn’t come near the band,” Dom adds.
“They should have better security around the tent where the groups hang out.” Pen frowns. Then they each firmly place a hand against my lower back.
I roll my eyes at their not-so-subtle possessive move.
“It’s time, boys,” Dante announces, clapping their hands. “Are you ready?”
“We are ready,” Danny throws out, high-fiving each of us. His enthusiasm is catching and by the time we get on stage, the fans have caught it too and are screaming and chanting Warrior Black.
We play a mix of some of our earlier songs and some from the current album, and then Danny tells them we have a surprise for them.
We all agreed we’d give our fans at Rocktoberfest a hint of what’s to come, and picked three songs from the new album that’s due out next spring.
One of them is the song I wrote at Tobias’s lake house, which I called Three Times the Love.
The second is one Danny and Connor wrote, and the third is one Bobby wrote a while ago called Addiction.
All three songs end up being smashing successes, and an encore later, we come off the stage, sweat slicked, hungry and, I have to admit, damn horny. Especially after Danny let me sing my song, and I had Pen and Dom’s full attention.
They know the song is for them—they heard it while we were recording it in the studio. But I also explained what the song is about to the audience tonight. So now the world knows about us and our love.
The thunderous exhale of the crowd—their acceptance lifting me higher in this world of music, friends, and the two loves of my life.
As I climb off the stage, I see Raef looking around. Then his attention lands on Lyric, who’s all kinds of red. I don’t know, but I have a feeling the next whirlwind coming at us is already here.
The End