Ballad (Tin Gods Rock Stars #3)

Chapter 1

Xander Lang

Los Angeles, CA

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Tyler?” I shoved my fingers into my long, wavy hair to keep my hands from reaching for the fucker’s throat. “Do you not remember Vegas?”

Tyler, the asshole, waved a hand like he hadn’t just singlehandedly imploded my life. “Vegas is the reason we hired her. It was the only leg of the US tour that wasn’t a clusterfuck.”

“So that twenty-k we had to shell out to the club at the Desert Island was what?” Jesse, our bassist, shook his head. “Just a day in the life?”

“And don’t forget the forty-k we had to give those fuckers who started it all,” Chase, our lead vocalist, grumbled. “Thank fuck they agreed to sign NDAs.”

We were all sitting around in the practice room at Chase’s Beverly Hills home. The room had been like a second home for most of us—it was where we wrote most of our songs, worked out any kinks in our music, and bonded like the dysfunctional family we were. And it worked for us. Unlike a lot of other bands, we’d managed to stick together for over a decade without any major rifts.

Until now.

“They’re just fucking lucky the girls decided not to press charges.” Noah, our drummer, snorted before elbowing Chase. “Not to mention the fact that your sister gave that one douche a bloody nose.”

Jesse grinned. “That’s my girl.”

Noah smirked back at Jesse. “Your girl has a way of extinguishing hotheads. How many times did she pour water on your head while we were touring, Chase?”

Chase scowled. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Yeah.” Noah nodded solemnly. “I wouldn’t either. Not easy to admit that your sister can kick your ass.”

“Guys, guys.” Tyler clapped his hands. “Can we get this meeting back on track? I got shit to do after I rein you toddlers in.”

“Speaking of toddlers, which Montoya sister are you seeing tonight?” Noah blinked exaggeratedly.

Tyler stared at Noah for a long moment then turned back to me. “It’s a done deal. Contracts have been signed. Kelly Evers is the opening act for the European leg of the Corruption Tour. Deal with it.”

“That’s fucked up, and you know it.” I stared back at Tyler, numb from head to toe. Was this what an out-of-body experience felt like? “Kelly and I are toxic. How could you not run it past us? You know the history we have.”

“Yeah,” Noah piped up again. “We all have issues with Kelly. I mean technically she only screwed Xander. But by extension, she’s fucked all of us over. One for all and all for one. Right, guys?”

“Yeah,” the rest of the band chorused.

“I don’t know what to tell you all.” Tyler raised his palms like he was an innocent victim. “You guys didn’t want any part of approving your opening acts. And this is where we are. Kelly has signed the contract. The label and tour production company approved it. Media releases have gone out. This is happening.”

The guys quieted, and I felt their gazes on me like a physical presence.

I was wrong.

Maybe this was what an out-of-body experience felt like. Just all kinds of wrong and surreal.

Tyler talked some more about tour dates and what the Europe leg would look like. But I wasn’t really paying attention. I couldn’t. All I could think was how I was going to have to be around Kelly for the next three months. Hearing her voice. Seeing her prance around backstage with that huge ass rock on her finger. Watching her make out with her asshole manager/fiancé.

How was this my life?

We’d finally made it big. Had control of so much of our professional life that every other band wished they could replicate. How had we let this one detail fall through our fingers?

Finally Tyler left, so obvious as he avoided looking directly at me.

“Look at the bright side.” Chase clapped his hands. “At least we know our opening act will only be a shitshow backstage. The one good thing about Kelly Evers is that she’s a total professional onstage.”

“Yeah.” Noah nodded along. “I bet she won’t projectile vomit on the audience like that one act in Tampa. Fuck, that was nasty. We had to pause the show and get ambulances and a hazmat team in because the first three rows started puking on each other. Good times.”

“I don’t know how I’m going to do it,” I muttered numbly. “I spent our entire time in Vegas drunk out of my mind. I can’t do that the whole tour. I’m too old—my liver can’t take it.”

“We can limit the amount of time you’re around her.” Chase ran a hand through his hair. “Kelly won’t be allowed in our private greenroom. We’ll just keep you guys apart. Do our kickoff shot in our greenroom with just the band.”

“We can make sure she has separate accommodations, flights, vehicles. Whatever it takes.” Jesse shrugged. “I don’t give a fuck if it costs us more out of pocket. Your mental health is worth it to me.”

“Me too,” Chase agreed.

“Yeah.” Noah nodded. “I wonder if we can get her downgraded to coach. Fuck, I’d love to see that. Fancy, blinged out princess Kelly Evers sitting back in coach with the plebs.”

“Plebs?” Chase frowned. “Where the hell did you get a word like that?”

“I don’t know.” Noah shrugged. “It’s something your sister said. Did I use it wrong or something?”

“Fuck if I know.” Chase shook his head.

Jesse laughed. “Maybe stay away from words you don’t know the meaning of. We don’t need you accidentally complimenting Kelly. You know how she gets about that shit.”

“Deee-va.” Noah groaned. “Remember that one time she screamed at that waiter in New York because he’d called her ma’am? I thought he was gonna piss himself.”

Honestly, it was tough to recall the specific episode. There’d been so many. I’d paid so many waiters, assistants, drivers, etc. huge tips to make up for Kelly’s Prima donna attitude. Dating Kelly had definitely cost me—in more ways than one.

This tour was going to be a shitshow.

And I’d be damned if she put our people through that bullshit.

I groaned again and scrubbed my hands over my face. “From now on, we get final approval on all acts appearing on tour with us. I don’t care what concessions we have to give up to make it happen. We’ve let this slide long enough. Both the label and our production company has screwed us over one too many times. It was a novelty when it was just about the stupid curse, but this is way over the line. And I want to see a copy of her contract. Anything we can do the make sure she stays in line, I want to know.”

Chase nodded. “And hey, maybe there’s some exit clause we can evoke and get her booted before the end of the tour. It’s worth looking into.”

“I doubt anyone put in a behavior clause in her contract. Her diva-ness is known far and wide.” Jesse rocked back on his heels.

Chase hitched a shoulder. “Still worth looking into, I think.”

Jesse nodded. “And hey, you don’t have to even see her during our downtime.”

“What downtime?” I frowned.

“Yeah, I kinda thought you went all Charlie Brown when Tyler was droning on.” Jesse laughed. “We don’t have any consecutive concerts. We have at least a whole day between shows, sometimes more than one if we’re also traveling. Chase here made it a condition after the shitshow of the US dates. Someone wants quality time in Europe. Pretty sure it’s just his cheap-ass way of saving on a honeymoon with the missus.”

Chase chucked a throw pillow from the sofa he was sitting on at Jesse’s head. “Fuck off.”

“It’s not like Jesse’s really complaining.” Noah grinned. “Anyone want in on the pool of him proposing to Ella while we’re on tour? I’ve got Italy in June.”

“Fuck that. He’s not proposing to my sister.” Chase scowled. “I’ve only just got used to the thought of them being together. They’re not ready for marriage. I’m not ready for them to get married.”

Jesse pulled a sucker out of his pocket, ripped off the wrapper, and shoved the bright red pop into his mouth. “Pretty sure you don’t get a vote on that.”

Chase stared Jesse down. But it didn’t cower Jesse in the least. He just calmly raised an eyebrow in response and continued to slurp on his sucker.

“I’ve got France.”

Everyone swung around to stare at me in confusion.

“In the proposal pool,” I clarified. “I’ve got France.”

Noah ducked his head and read a piece of paper in his hands. “Hey, that’s not bad. We’re probably in France for at least three days. I bet you’re right.”

“Can I see that?” I asked, nodding at the paper.

Noah passed it over, and I skimmed the document. The guys were right. We didn’t have any consecutive shows. If we played a city more than one night, we had a day of relief in between. Damn, what the hell was I going to do with all this downtime?

And the locations! We were playing Ireland for almost two weeks before switching over to the UK for a week, onto the continent for six weeks, then a few Baltic countries before hitting England one more time to close it all out. Three months in Europe and almost half that was downtime? It would’ve been the perfect tour but for the cloud hanging over my head.

Kelly Evers.

Together again.

Fuck my life.

I felt Chase hovering over my shoulder. “I’ve got England at the start of the tour.” After a beat, he looked up and blinked when he found us all staring at him. “What?”

I laughed under my breath as I swapped the itinerary for my beer. “You went from ‘he’s not allowed to propose to my sister’ to ‘I’ve got England’ pretty damn fast.”

Chase hitched a shoulder. “What can I say? I needed a minute to wrap my head around it.”

“Wait, does this mean I have your blessing?” Jesse sat up with a jolt.

Chase shrugged. “Sure. I think you guys make sense. I’ve come around to having you a permanent member of our family. Not like you weren’t before. Just don’t do any of that gross kissing shit or grabbing her ass or any part of her really. Maybe sit on opposite sides of the table. But sure, you got my blessing.”

“Wow. Thanks, bro. That means a lot.” Jesse grinned at him. After a few seconds he got a dazed look in his eyes. “Holy shit, I’ve got to propose to her. What the hell am I supposed to say? I’ve got to buy a ring. I don’t know how to do any of this! Fuck me.”

Chase bounded up from our sofa and flopped down next to Jesse to wrap an arm around him. Soon they were whispering together.

Both Chase and Jesse had found their person. Meanwhile, I was living the plot to some screwed up Rom-Com where the one girlfriend I’d spent almost a decade trying to get over had popped up in my life again. Like Michael Myers. Just when I thought she was finally out of my life, she was fucking back again.

Only this time wearing an engagement ring from someone else.

Noah settled onto the couch on my other side and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Looks like it’s just you and me on the singles team. Again.”

I laughed lightly as I nodded. “You won’t hear me complaining. We’ve had some good times on tour together while these two were all wifed up.”

“You ain’t lying.” Noah leaned forward and grabbed his beer off the coffee table in front of us. “And Europe will be just as awesome. You’ll see.”

I grinned back at Noah and shook my head. He was like a brother to me—even when my actual brother had been my guitar tech years ago. “Too bad Liam can’t be on the road with us. We’d have hella fun with him in Europe.”

“Can you imagine that asshole in Amsterdam?” Noah huffed a laugh.

“We’re not playing Amsterdam this year.”

Noah raised his eyebrows. “And whose fault is that?”

“Hey, I’m not the one who swung on the cop.” I raised my palms in innocence despite the beer in my right hand.

“But you are the one who was making out with the bastard’s girlfriend. Which was why he swung on you. I just jumped in to defend your honor.”

I tipped my head in acknowledgement. “They did have a pretty nice jail though. Felt more like a dorm room than a jail cell.”

“And good food, too.”

I rolled my eyes even as I laughed. Christ, that had been a clusterfuck. And one of the few times I’d been happy to see Tyler when he’d finally showed up to get us out.

“Hey, how’s Liam doing now? He still clean?”

My shoulder twitched, and I had to shake out my arms before I could respond. “Yeah. Yeah, he’s doing okay. He’s got a sponsor, some old dude who was a roadie for Metallica back in the day. I guess they bonded over guitars or something. But yeah. He’s doing good. Better anyhow.”

“That’s good, man. Glad to hear it.”

I sat back and stared at the ceiling. Just the reminder of my brother was enough to make my skin feel itchy. Like I had to do something. Fix something.

But it was too damn late to fix anything. My brother was already broken. And I’d been the one holding the hammer that broke him.

Fuck. I had to think about something else. Anything else.

Noah rolled his head to the side and tipped his chin at me. “Remember that one night I had a blonde, brunette, and a redhead all competing in the blowjob Olympics?”

I snorted. “You’re so fucking lucky I knew the Heimlich.”

Noah had been so panicked; he’d raced up and down the aisle of the bus screaming, ‘she’s choking on her dick!’ Turned out ‘her dick’ was a banana the girls had been deepthroating. Only hers had broken off and lodged in her throat.

“That banana flew across the bus. I wonder if anyone ever found it.” Noah laughed and smacked my shoulder. “Good times, man. Good times. And Europe will be just as fun. You’ll see.”

I didn’t say anything as I tipped my beer back.

Honestly, life on the road was starting to grate on me. Especially as I watched both Chase and Jesse settle down. Chase had given up women and booze, which was saying a lot. And Jesse had also given up smoking for his woman. They’d both grown up seemingly overnight.

Meanwhile, I was exchanging blowjob Olympics stories with Noah.

When had I turned into that guy ?

Even my brother had figured his shit out. Mostly.

Fuck me. Something had to change. And fast.