Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Chaos…
As we followed Rod down the long hallway toward the dressing room my gut churned with excitement.
Nervous energy coursed through my body making my shoulders tighten up.
We were actually here, fucking Madison Square Garden.
Holy fucking shit. We’d done it. Who would’ve figured a bunch of kids in foster care could make it.
I sure didn’t. The looks on everyone’s faces told me they were in as much awe as me.
We were playing the Garden and opening for Avenged Sevenfold.
Could it get any fucking sweeter than this?
Hell yeah…this was the kickoff to our first worldwide tour, and tonight was the only time we’d be an opening act. Headliners all the way baby. Fuck yeah.
Rod stopped at one of the doors. Coming up next to him I was almost giddy with excitement when I saw the sign.
Dressing Room – Raining Chaos
Inside was more like a hotel suite than a dressing room, and nothing like we’d experienced before.
Lots of couches, a buffet table loaded with food and liquor, separate rooms for changing and a huge TV on the wall.
Music was being piped in from somewhere and filling the room with sound.
The guys struggled to look cool but the girls looked like they were kids in a toy store.
“Okay, guys, three hours ‘til show time. I’ll be right back. I need to double check a few things.”
As soon as Rod closed the door, Wrath shouted, “How fuckin’ cool is this?”
“Totally. I knew we’d do it, didn’t think it’d happen this soon, but hell yeah.
” We probably all had the same shit eating grin on our faces, but reality hit me and I knew we had to keep it together.
Now was not the time to go ape shit. “I know there’s a shit load of alcohol here but no one touches it until after the show, okay?
I want us sober, we need to kick some serious ass tonight.
Show everyone we’re here to stay and not a one hit wonder. ”
“Shit really, no booze? C’mon, just one beer isn’t going to hurt.”
“Really, Flame? Like you’d stop at one beer. This is the start of a whole new life. If you think people recognized us before wait until now.”
Rage groaned, “Shit, it’s gonna get worse?”
Laughing I punched him in the arm. “Fuck you, stop whining, you know you love those girls throwing themselves all over you.”
Grinning, he rubbed his arm. “Don’t hurt me, bro, I need that arm for later.”
Shaking my head I walked over to Sweets. She’d been avoiding me since last night. “You got it together?”
“Yeah, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m a big girl.”
“Fuck. C’mon that’s not what I meant and you know it. Why are you making this so hard all of a sudden?”
“I’m not, you’re the one who’s changing.”
I didn’t want to have an argument with her but it looked like she was heading down that road. I was about to ask her what she meant when there was a knock at the door.
Pulling it open I figured it’d be Rod, but instead there was a scrawny guy with glasses and long hair. “I think you might have the wrong room.”
“Nope, sorry.” He held out his hand and I grabbed it without thinking. “I’m Mike Daily from WXRQ Radio. I wanted to go over how we’ll introduce you tonight.”
“Oh shit, yeah, sorry c’mon in, man. Hey, guys, this is Mike Daily. He’s going to intro us tonight.”
Mike stepped into the room with a smile on his face to a chorus of ‘hey, hi and shit yeahs’. I’m sure he was used to this but it was new to us.
“Hey. So how does it feel to make the big time?”
Wrath came over and shook his hand answering for all of us when he said, “Fuckin’ sweet.”
“Cool. Okay, I won’t take up a lot of your time but I wanted to go over the introduction we’ll do tonight. Is there anything special you want us to say or just go with the standard shit the record company provided?”
“What do you think,” I said looking around the room. “Anyone want to add anything to our stand intro?”
I got a lot of nopes for answers so it pretty much sealed it. “I guess we’re good. I can’t think of anything else either. They have it covered.”
“Okay, great. The doors will open at seven, and there’s a warm up act—a local band will come on at seven thirty. I’ll introduce you at eight and you’ll have an hour. Sound good?”
“Yup, great. Thanks, man, we appreciate the heads up.”
“No problem. Break a leg tonight, although with your talent you don’t need any help. I’m looking forward to your next album.”
“Wow, man, thanks.” It was still thrilling to hear that shit from people. I followed him to the door and shook his hand again. He pulled it open to reveal the next surprise—Cynda, and she had another woman with her.
“Oh excuse me,” Mike said as he navigated through the door and passed the two women.
“Oh sorry,” Cynda said as she backed up. She looked different. I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but then it hit me. She’d added blue streaks in her hair and was wearing tight jeans, a t-shirt and leather vest, much cooler than the shit she’d worn yesterday.
“Hey, glad to see you made it.”
“A deal is a deal. This is my friend, Michelle, I checked with Rod and he said it was okay for her to come with me today.”
“Sure, no problem. Hi, Michelle, I’m Chaos.”
Michelle smiled and reached out to shake my hand.
Definitely not shy like Cynda. I bet the guys were going to be all over her.
She had long black hair with bright red streaks, lots of make-up on her eyes.
I could see why Cynda was wearing different clothes after checking out Michelle.
Her black leather pants could have been painted on, and her tits looked like they were going to bust through her tight blue t-shirt.
Yeah, they were really going to love her.
“Cynda’s here and she brought a friend.” I backed up so the two women could get into the room. “Michelle, the guys…guys, Michelle.” I winked at her then I leaned in to whisper, “Be careful of Flame, he’s gonna be all fuckin’ over you.”
“Thanks, but I’m pretty sure I can take care of myself.”
“Oh, baby, I’m sure you can, but don’t say I didn’t fuckin’ warn you.
” I watched her walk into the lion’s den and hid a grin behind my hand.
Maybe this was the distraction they all needed.
It’s not like she was one of the skanky groupies that’d been coming around lately.
Hopefully on this tour they’d be a little less like hoes.
Cynda stood barely inside the room and looked lost. She wasn’t happy now and I’m sure she’d be fuckin’ thrilled with the living arrangements on the bus, but I needed to do this for the band. We needed to make sure we stayed true to what we believe in, and not just sell out for money.
“You ready for your two week vacation?”
“Vacation? You’ve got to be kidding me.” She looked at me like I’d lost my mind, and I chuckled.
“Sure. It’s a fucking vacation. Traveling around on a tour bus with a bunch of sexy rock stars, what could be better?”
“I could give you a damn list, trust me. This is not my idea of fun. I hate the ‘rock n’ roll’ lifestyle.”
“So why are you here? Why work for a record company at all?”
She sighed. “It’s none of your business really. I’m here, I’ll do my job, then at the end of the two weeks I’ll be gone and you’ll probably never see me again.”
I nodded, hopefully it wouldn’t take the full two weeks, the sooner the better.
Although looking into her eyes sent a bolt of lust straight to my cock, he was letting me know loud and clear he wanted a piece of her.
What was it about her? Every fuckin’ time she got close to me my jeans were ready to bust the friggin’ zipper.
At least it looked like she was feeling the same if the pink in her cheeks meant anything.
“Hopefully it won’t be bad for you. I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot. I’d just found out you were coming and I’d kinda expected a man. Truce for now?”
She nodded and smiled.
“Good, so how about a soda or something to eat, they put out a fuckin’ shitload for us.”
“Sure, sounds good. Then maybe we can go over some of my song ideas.”
“Nope, not today, they’ll be plenty of time later.
It’s time for me to get into my zone for the concert, not time to write.
We’re just going to chill out before the show and you can try to get to know us better.
I’m sure Michelle will be helpful.” I looked over and she was already sitting on the arm of Flame’s chair, leaning down to hear whatever shit he was saying.
Knowing him he was fuckin’ whispering so she’d lean in and show him some cleavage. He was such a frigging dog sometimes.
Cynda grabbed a bottle of water from the table and offered me one.
My fingers brushed hers and triggered another burst of desire.
I don’t know what the fuck it was about her but she turned me on like no one I’d ever met.
I was hoping she wouldn’t notice the freakin’ hard-on, although I didn’t know how she’d miss it.
Fuck. Taking a long drink of the icy water, I hoped it’d help cool me down or at least take the fuckin’ edge off.
Lucky for me Rod came in and created the distraction I needed to get away from Cynda.
Here I’d thought I’d be making it difficult for her, but it seemed like it was going to be much harder on me.
Although, if I fucked her maybe she’d go along with what I wanted.
Shit, what the fuck was I turning in to?
It was so not me. I could be a real ass but I’d never used sex to get my way and I wasn’t about to start now.
“So everything’s set for tonight, after the show there’s a party back here, then you hit the road. The buses will be here by ten. Tomorrow night you have your first show in Philly. Two nights there and you’ll be on the road again.”
“So you’re not gracing us with your presence?”
“Hell no. I may be your manager but I’m too fuckin’ old to hit the road. If you need me, you know how to reach me. You’re not the only band I have to take care of and you shouldn’t need me to babysit. This is the big time, I hope you remember that and keep your shit together.”
I was fuckin’ thrilled he wasn’t going with us. We didn’t need to hear his fuckin’ shit every day. “No problem, we’ve got this.”
“Just make sure you keep to the schedule and no fucking around. You know what I mean. I don’t care who you fuck, but no bad press. This is the first tour, and it’ll either help make you superstars or toss you in the shitter, and I mean all of you.”
I knew he meant Rage most of all, but he had no idea who we really were, only our stereotypes. Our names were where we’d started, and reminded us how far we’d come, they didn’t fuckin’ define us.
“Oh fuck you, Rod. We’re not fucking kids. We’ve been doing this over five years now and I think we know how to handle ourselves,” Rage answered his words dripping with scorn.
Rod shook his head and went over to grab a beer and some food.
I swear as soon as our contract with him was over I was kicking his ass to the curb.
The only good thing he’d ever done was find the roadies.
Symmetry was okay as a record label, but once he gave them authority to decide what songs go on our album without fighting for us that fucking pissed me off.
Hell, at least there was one good thing, the throbbing erection was gone now—thank you mother fucker.
One of the guys flipped the TV to the baseball game and most were glued to the screen.
I sat on the one empty couch and struggled to get my head in the game.
Rod rubbed me the wrong way, and Cynda wasn’t helping.
Michelle was still flirting with Flame and it looked like they were having a great time.
Wrath was talking to Cynda on the other side of the room and it looked like a pretty deep conversation.
Damn. The urge to go over there and interrupt was almost too strong for me to resist. I didn’t want him talking to her. It was fucking aggravating.
I tried to focus on the game but then she laughed, and it was music to my ears—like angels singing.
“Shit, did I just think about angels singing?” What the fuck is wrong with me?
I was definitely attracted to her, hell, who am I kidding, she pushed every fucking lust button I had and I wanted her all to myself.