Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
Sam
We leave the following Wednesday.
The first stop of the tour is Los Angeles and it’s a sold-out crowd.
We’re about to go on, and I feel an unfamiliar bout of nerves.
I don’t get stage fright anymore, but this first night of the tour is important for reasons I’m still trying to wrap my head around. The other guys feel it too because I see them pacing, fidgeting, things they don’t normally do.
“You good?” I ask Jonny.
He smooths his hands down the front of his leather pants. “Yeah. I think so. It’s fucking weird—I don’t get stage fright, but tonight…”
Oh, yeah.
He feels it too.
“I’ve got this weird energy.” Angus comes to stand beside us. “Tonight feels different.”
“Because it means something.” Mick joins us and his thoughtfulness is surprising because he’s not usually the kind of guy who talks about feelings. “Tonight is the beginning of the biggest tour of our lives to date. Ten years from now it might not mean much, but in the present? It’s absolutely the most important gig we’ve ever done.”
Tate’s here too, nodding, but he has a different take. “Come on, guys. Why are you freaking out? We’ve been working toward this for three years. We know the music, our show, and what we have to do. So let’s just go out there and do it. Everything will fall into place once we start to play.”
“Feels easier said than done tonight,” I murmur.
“Ninety seconds,” our tour manager, Vic, calls out.
“Christ.” Mick runs his hands down his face. “All right, let’s do this.” He turns and pulls a bottle of Crown Royal out of a duffel bag. He takes a long drink and passes me the bottle.
With a laugh, I take a pull and pass it to Jonny, who does the same.
When we’ve all taken a shot of the Canadian whiskey, we grin at each other.
“Nerves more settled now?” Tate asks.
“Kinda.” Jonny grins.
“Thirty seconds, Angus.” Angus’s drum tech, Bobby, taps him on the shoulder.
Angus always goes out first, so he nods.
“Let’s do this, boys.”
I look over and see Kirsten leaning against a stack of amps, talking to Sasha.
She catches my eye and winks.
It’s nice having her here.
Things between us are good.
She’s struggling with some growing pains but so far, she seems okay with the change in plans. She’s still going to college in the fall. The difference now is that she’s taking things one day at a time, instead of worrying about what might come up, what might happen, or what could change over the next few months.
If I’m honest, I’ve got the best of both worlds right now: my band and my girl.
It feels a little selfish but things worked out the way they’re supposed to, and I’m not one to argue with fate.
Kirsten blows me a kiss as we get our cue from Vic, so I grab my guitar as I run out on stage.
The lights come up, and the crowd seems massive.
Have we ever played for this many people before?
I’m pretty sure we haven’t.
“City of Angels—how the hell are ya?” Jonny yells.
The crowd makes a little noise.
They’re not super excited to see us, but they will be.
“You probably don’t know us, but we’re Crimson Edge and we’re going to give you our very special brand of rock and roll for the next forty-five minutes. You think you want to give us a chance?”
There are some whistles and slightly more applause.
“This one is the title track from our new album. It’s called ‘Rough Around the Edge!’”
We go right into it, and by the end, I can see the audience is paying attention.
They like it.
They like us .
Fuck yeah.
This is what we’re here for.
The next forty minutes fly by. The crowd cheers long and loud, and there’s excitement in the air as we finish our set.
“That was fucking amazing,” Mick says, going right for his bottle of Crown.
I have something else in mind, and I scan the wings for Kirsten.
She’s leaning against the same wall, a faint smile on her face.
I run and scoop her up, spinning her around. She puts her arms around me and grins.
“That was a pretty fucking awesome performance,” she says before kissing me.
Our mouths move together easily, and I’m surprised to feel her tongue against mine. She’s usually not big on public displays of affection, but something tells me she’s staking her claim.
And I’m here for it.
She’s mine so it’s only fair that I’m hers.
“I’m so excited for you,” she says, her pretty golden eyes boring into mine.
“And I’m grateful you can be here to share this with me.”
She sighs, pressing her forehead against mine. “I won’t be here for long.”
“That’s okay. I’ll take as much time as I can get.”
“This extra time together on tour is going to make leaving that much harder.”
“We can make it work, Kirsten.”
“Sydney told me I can have it all but it feels too easy… like something has to go wrong.”
“Lots of stuff will go wrong,” I say. “We’re going to argue. We’re going to get frustrated. There are going to be nights where we both question why the hell we’re doing this—but that’s when we dig deep. Not just into who we are, but we have to remember who we are together.”
Her eyes are cloudy as she stares at me, something momentous lurking there.
I can feel it.
I don’t know?—
“I love you,” she says, her voice firm and confident.
I’m surprised that she chose this moment to say the words but also relieved.
Because I was afraid to say it first.
Afraid it would have too much influence on her decisions.
Afraid I might be rushing her.
Afraid of fucking up something that’s still innocent and fragile.
But I love her too, so I can’t stop my response from tumbling out.
“Since the first time I saw you, I knew you were going to be different. Important. And you are. I love you too, Kirsten.”
Her mouth claims mine like she just paid for it, and I don’t hesitate to lift her off the ground as she wraps her legs around me.
Roadies, band members, and the press are everywhere, but I don’t care who sees me kissing the woman I love.
I met her when she was on the edge of seventeen, and completely out of my reach, but now we’re on the edge of forever.
Together.
Following our dreams and living right on the edge of everything—life, love, and rock and roll.
I hope you enjoyed this introduction to the Crimson Edge series. You’ll see Sam and Kirsten again in book five, Edge of a Broken Heart. In the meantime, get ready for Angus and Ryleigh in Living on the Edge! Turn the page for a snippet.