Chapter 5
Alice
“I’m telling you, we could book gigs today if we wanted to.”
Since my back was turned to Lark, I felt safe rolling my eyes. I was knee deep in the kit room, searching in vain for a backup snare drum. We had like three, but apparently they’d all joined the witness protection program or something. Probably wanted to get away from Noah and his pissy attitude—I sympathized.
“Alice? Are you even listening to me?”
“Yes, you want to book gigs. Do you see a snare over there?”
“Why are you asking me? All these drums look the same to me. Just some are bigger than others.”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that.” Toms. More toms. Crash cymbals. Snare stands. A bazillion sticks. Where the hell were the snares?
“I’m telling you, we just need a name, and we would be booking gigs out of our ears.”
Sighing, I sat back on my heels and scowled at my friend. “This was only supposed to be about three friends having fun. Can’t that be enough? I already have a job I love.”
Lark snorted a laugh. “I find that hard to believe.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Come on. You hate Noah. Lord knows, you’re a better drummer than him. Doesn’t it just eat you alive to watch him have all the fame and glory that could be yours?”
“I am not a better drummer than Noah Hawker.” I scoffed. “The man is a literal legend. I’m a hack at best. I didn’t even play the drums in my old band. I was vocals and bass guitar.”
“And that’s the reason you guys didn’t go anywhere. That and your ex is an ass. He didn’t see the amazing woman you are. The amazing talent you have. He wouldn’t let you write, wouldn’t let you drum because he wanted you up front as eye candy, and you’re so much more than that.”
“Thank you?” It came out as a question since I couldn’t really tell if it was a compliment.
“Alice! Hurry up!” Harper, the show manager, yelled down the hall. “We need that setup done ASAP.”
“Yup!” I hollered back before muttering to myself, “once I find the hidden snare. Fuck me, where is it?”
“I know exactly what’s going through that head of yours, and you’re wrong,” Lark continued.
“So, I’m not going to be fired for fucking up dress rehearsals?” Hi-Hats. More stands. Even more drumsticks.
I wanted to cry.
“I’m not saying you’re not a gorgeous temptress—you clearly are. I mean, I’ve seen guys walk into walls while checking you out. I’m just saying your talents were wasted in your last band. And Parker Webb is and always has been a sleazy egomaniac.”
I pushed some hair out of my eyes as I looked over the room again. “Yeah, well, that sleazy egomaniac got a record deal a month after I left the band, so what does that tell you?”
“That record execs are stupid? It’s not like Alien Attraction actually went anywhere. They barely had one hit before they fell back into oblivion. It’s been years since they were on the countdown. That won’t happen to us.”
“Kinda hard to fall into oblivion when you’re already there. Why are there guitar picks in drum storage? I’m gonna kill Grady.”
“Once we agree on a name, the jobs will come pouring in. So I was thinking of something Vegas-y. How about Three Palms? Or is that too masturbatory?”
I groaned. “Lark, I don’t have time for this conversation. Besides, I love my job. I’m not looking to make it big. I love what I’m doing right now.”
“Are you serious?”
“What? Of course I am.”
“You just have a funny way of showing it.”
“What does that mean?”
“Oh, come on. How about that whole fight with Noah onstage last week before rehearsal? It’s clear you hate everything about him, especially having to bend and scrape in front of him.”
“Well, do you blame me? You know what happened. You know what he did.”
Lark made a face like she was keeping a secret or something. Or maybe she didn’t agree with me, which was crazy. Right?
“What?”
She shrugged. “I think you should give him a break. You know all the shit he’s been through.”
“Are you serious?” I boggled. “I could’ve been fired. Or arrested. Abroad! I don’t even know how the laws work in Ireland. What he did was bullshit, and you know it.”
Lark’s eyes gleamed as she leaned forward. “You’re just making my point for me. Let’s do this. For real. We’re good. With our talent and the contacts we’ve made with our jobs, we could make it.”
I sighed. I’d totally walked into that one. I should’ve seen it coming. Lark was nothing if not tenacious. “Can we talk about this later? If I don’t find that snare ASAP, I won’t even have this job.”
“And then you’ll have to listen to me.” Lark smiled, her eyeteeth shining much like a vampire who’d tricked a victim into their trap.
Son of a bitch.
“What did you do with my snare, Lark?”
“Just promise me you’ll think about it. Seriously think about it.”
I scowled at my former friend. “What I’m seriously thinking about right now is murdering you if you don’t give me that snare.”
“Fine.” She sighed and stepped away from the corner she’d been standing in. Conveniently right in front of a stack of missing snares.
“You’re lucky I love you.” I stomped across the room, grabbed one of the snares, and headed for the door.
“Love you too, Eeyore. Don’t forget what I said! We’ll talk about it at practice later!”
I would’ve waved a hand at her, but mine were currently full of a snare that everyone was waiting for onstage. Eh, hand was too generous. I would’ve waved a certain finger at her, but I couldn’t afford to drop the drum.
Everything was hanging by a thread as it was.
“Finally!” Noah snarked as I walked to the back of the stage. “We’ve been waiting fucking ages for you.”
“Sorry,” I muttered as I hurried to change the drum out. I didn’t have to look to know that Noah was looming behind me.
Like Gandalf, I could sense the presence of a dark force. And Noah was the darkest presence in my life currently.
Ass.
“If you need to have a tea party with your girlfriends, could you wait until after church is over?”
I rolled my eyes at the tea party reference. Like I hadn’t heard a variation of the same literally my whole life. So original. But what did I expect from Noah Hawker?
There was a reason why the ass didn’t write songs with the guys. No one would ever accuse him of having a way with words.
I ignored him looming over my shoulder and finished setting up his drums.
One more twist of the stand, and I was done. I pushed up from my crouch and gestured grandly to the empty stool. “Your throne awaits, milord.”
My snarky tone told him exactly what I thought of him and his annoying comments.
Noah gave a huff and stomped to his stool. He sat down and beat his sticks around for a few minutes, long enough for me to slowly slink backward toward the edge of the stage.
“Nope. I don’t like the level. It feels off. Needs to be—” He ran his sticks over the drums again. “Shit, I don’t know. Higher I think?”
Huffing in irritation, I stomped over to stand next to him.
He didn’t move.
“I can’t fix what’s not wrong if you don’t move.”
“That’s like three negatives. Impressive. You’d give Oscar the Grouch a run for his money.”
“What can I say? I’m a pessimistic kinda girl. Growing up in foster care will do that to ya. Now, move your ass.”
Noah’s squinty eyes followed me as he pushed back from his drums, letting the stool roll away but still staying on it and so freaking close to me. So close I swore I could feel his breath on the back of my neck.
Shrugging off the sensation, I eyeballed the drumline. Everything looked right to me, but my opinion wasn’t worth a damn. I twisted the base and adjusted it less than a quarter of an inch in height.
“How’s that?”
I stepped slightly away because I knew he was going to find something wrong with the setup. He always did.
Noah thumped a few drums, played the opening sequence to ‘ Nowhere to Hide ,’ then rested his sticks on his thigh. “Nope, too high.”
I gestured for him to move again then slid in and put the snare back to where it’d been before. “How’s that?”
Noah was quieter as he picked up his sticks. He played around for a few minutes, but I didn’t budge.
“Yeah, this feels good.”
It’s still not —wait, what? I shook my head. “What did you say?”
“The setup feels good.”
“I, uh, okay.” My eyes no doubt wide with disbelief, I slowly slunk to the edge of the stage.
“Hey, Alice?” Noah called as the other guys walked across the stage and grabbed their instruments, discordant chords vibrated through the arena.
I knew it. The bastard just wanted to make me walk all the way back before he came up with another bullshit excuse. Heaving a sigh, I turned back around. “Yeah?”
Noah stared down at the drumsticks in his hands, his fingers twirled them around, threading them through again and again. He opened his mouth, hesitated, and then shook his head. “Never mind.”
Okay. That was weird.
Heaving a sigh, I shrugged then took up my regular spot next to Grady in the wings.
“What was that about?” Grady asked with his eyebrows raised.
“Just Noah being his usual dickish self. I’m used to it at this point.”
Grady frowned. “You know he’s only like that with you.”
“Oh, I’m well aware. Somedays it feels like I’m only holding onto this job with my fingertips. If it were up to Noah, I would’ve been fired after Dublin.”
“You really think this is all because of the tour last year?”
“Has to be. Before Dublin, Noah treated me like a little sister. After Dublin, I don’t think he would pause if he saw me get run over by their tour bus. Hell, he’d probably be driving the damn bus if he could.”
“Shit, that’s cold.”
“But am I wrong?”
Grady lifted a shoulder and clearly thought about it for a second then laughed. “Nah, he’d definitely be driving it.”
“Thank you.” I laughed wryly. “Nice to know I’m not going crazy. So how’s Michelle liking Vegas?”
Then the Tin Gods started rehearsal, effectively ending our conversation.
The show went flawlessly—which was concerning. This was when we were supposed to be ironing out any issues. To not have something go wrong was spooky. And left me with a creepy, crawling feeling, like an itch between my shoulder blades I couldn’t scratch.
Even Noah was actually decent to me for a change. He left the stage with the guys, giving me a nod on his way by. No snarky comments. No passive aggressive remarks about my setup.
It was all so weird and unnerving.
Grady, the bastard, had a short teardown and gave me an apologetic shrug as he left. His kid had a baseball game he was late for.
I had my own practice in a few. Would’ve been nice to just leave the drums where they were, considering Noah would be using them in less than a day, but that wasn’t the job. All equipment had to be locked up every day. No exceptions.
My phone vibrated in my back pocket.
I knew who it was without looking. My girl, Lark, wouldn’t let go of an argument. We were literally meeting in less than an hour, but still she had to call. I kinda loved that about her. I grinned as I pulled my phone out, but instead of Lark’s name the display read Unknown Number .
Meh. I hit ignore on the call and put my phone back in my pocket.
Two minutes later my phone rang again. I put down the drum and pulled out my phone again. Unknown Number .
Sighing at the audacity of this scammer, I actually answered. “Hello?”
Nothing. No voice, no static crackle. I pulled the phone away and stared at the screen; the call was still active. What the hell?
“Hello?” I paused for a reply and when none came, I groaned. “I’m at work. You know that thing people do to put food in their belly? I don’t have time for whatever bullshit scam you’re pulling. My car never had a warranty, I know I don’t have any arrest warrants, and I’ve never won anything in my life. Besides, I’m too broke for you to steal from anyhow. But if you’re really tenacious, feel free to call back and leave a message. I’ll have my assistant get back to you. Beeeeeep.”
Okay, some of that might’ve been more about my frustrations over the drama in my life than the actual potential scammer. But still it felt good to get it out.
I punched the ‘end call’ button with a flourish.
My phone immediately rang again, and I lost it.
“What the hell is your problem? Are you missing some brain cells? Did your mother drop you as a baby? Either say something or stop calling me! ”
“What the hell is going on?” Lark asked, concern clear in her tone. “Are you okay?”
“What? Yeah. Just got some creep calling me.”
“Well, don’t answer any unknown callers. Didn’t your mother ever teach you that?”
“Foster kid, remember?”
“Shit, sorry. You know me—sometimes I speak without thinking. Sorry.”
“Forgiven. Can you tell me why you had to call me when we’re going to see each other in an hour? I still have so much kit to move.”
“Sorry. Again. I had a thunderbolt on my drive home and had to share it with someone. Bailey wasn’t answering.”
I settled back against the hallway wall with a groan. It was almost impossible to say no to Lark. “Make it fast. I wanna eat something before practice.”
“Ooooh, how about I make tacos, and we’ll all eat together before practice?”
“Sounds amazing. I’m in. Awesome epiphany. I have to go now.”
Lark’s husky laughter came over the line. “That wasn’t the epiphany. I figured out what our band name should be. Technically, I have two options.”
“Great. I pick the second one.”
“What? You don’t even want to hear them first?”
“Lark! I have work to do. Either tell me or hang up. Seriously.”
“Okay, okay. My first one is Royalty. We call the band Royalty .” When I didn’t immediately jump on the name, she went on. “Then I thought we could take it further and make it a play off of Tin Gods since that’s where we all met and started.”
“Okay…”
An audible gulp filled the dead silence on the line. I’d never known Lark to be so nervous. The woman was the definition of confidence. It was usually annoying. “So what do you think about Tattered Monarchs?”
“Tattered Monarchs…” I turned it over in my head a few times. Made me think of butterflies and not the Tin Gods. “I like it.”
“Yes! I was hoping you thought it was as awesome as I did. It’s perfect, right?”
“Great name, Lark. We can talk about this later. I have a mountain of drums to take care of before I can get going. I’ll see you in a few.”
“Call me when you leave. And maybe have someone from security walk you out? You never can be too safe.”
“Yes, Mama. I will. See you in a few.”
I ended the call and stashed the phone in my back pocket again.
I jumped as a large body stepped up and grabbed the drum out of my hands.
“Need a hand?” A deep voice intoned.
I sighed. “Keegan, no. I’ve got to handle the drums myself. Please give it back.”
After so many years on the road, I should’ve been used to having to prove my worth to the knuckle-draggers, but it still was so fucking annoying.
“A sweet little girl like you shouldn’t have to lift heavy shit.”
“That’s some misogynist bullshit right there. I’ve had this job for over two years; I’ve been a roadie for almost four years. I asked once nicely. You don’t want me to ask you again.”
Keegan glowered at me through his bushy eyebrows. I would’ve guessed he was frowning, but given his huge beard, it was impossible to tell.
Finally, he grunted something before stomping down the hall away from me and the drum storage room.
I wouldn’t want to be alone in a small space with that dickhead.
“Everything all right?” Harper appeared, and her eyes darted between me and Keegan’s retreating back.
“If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that today…”
“Something going on I need to know about?” A concerned frown crossed her face. “You know you can bring anything to me, right? No one should be treating you like less than. You’re a valued part of our show.”
“Tell that to Noah,” I muttered as I walked past her and into the storage room.
Harper’s sigh followed me into the room. “I know. I’m going to have a talk with him about it.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m used to his diva antics. I can handle him.”
“And Keegan?” Harper crossed her arms over her chest, pinning her ever present tablet to her chest. “Is he hassling you? Are you having to ‘handle’ that too?”
I shrugged. Honestly, I didn’t know what the hell that was about. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d talked to Keegan. “Maybe it was his awkward way of flirting? I’m not worried about him.”
“Well, let me know if that changes. And get someone from security to escort you to your car when you leave.”
“Will do.”
“Despite what Noah says, you’re doing a great job. We’re happy to have you on the team.”
“Thanks, Harper.”
She nodded before walking away, already talking into her radio.
I smiled as I situated the equipment. That weird sensation of doom was long gone. Something about Lark’s call and Harper’s compliment made me feel like I was settling in. I’d found my people.
Maybe Vegas was going to be the one place I could finally call home.