Chapter 28
Sloan
Playing in Miami is always wild. When we first played here, I figured with Miami’s culture, other artists would have more success, but for some reason, this town is fucking ravenous for our metalcore asses.
We had to be in the arena half an hour ago and mic checks are done, so we’re just milling around in the dressing room until it’s time for the meet and greet.
“Ry, you good for that extra verse in Defamation?” Noah asks as he slips his arms into a jacket and pulls the zipper up. Noah wears as many clothes as possible for the meet and greets so people don’t touch his bare skin.
“Yeah, Kink. I got it.”
“And Brett, remember we’re switching the opener for this show to Temptation because this crowd is already rowdy. We need to light it up,” Noah continues.
He talks a lot when his nerves start to get the best of him.
“Yep. I got the set list right here.” Brett taps the side of his head giving Noah a smile.
A knock sounds at our door and Romeo, Juan, Tim, and Jasper, the additional guard I insisted we hire, are standing on the other side, waiting to escort us to the meet and greet.
I knock knuckles with Jasper who has been given the role of protecting me specifically.
He has a close shave so it’s hard to tell, but I think he has brown hair based on the color of his eyebrows.
My only requirement was that my guard be ex-military because I don’t want to have better shooting and fighting skills than the guy protecting me.
Jasper stands eye-level with me around 6’2” but has the chest circumference of Ryan…
so like, one hundred and fifty-eight inches.
I also think he has to have his pants custom tailored because no way those tree-trunks are going in normal slacks.
He never smiles and I know nothing about him except his military history, but he’s nice enough.
Give it time, I’ll get a smile out of him.
He’s only been touring with us for the last three weeks.
Jasper and I take the back of the line and file down the hallway.
“So, Jazz, how’re you liking the gig so far?”
“Do not ever call me that again,” he says without taking his eyes off our surroundings.
“You know, I was in the Army too. They actually allow soldiers to laugh these days,” I try again as we hear the voices of two hundred VIP pass holders.
Noah turns the corner first and fuuuuck it gets loud. Beside me, Jasper stiffens, going into total warrior mode.
The fans are all kept a safe distance away, but the only thing holding them back is a flimsy rope denoting where the line is.
Girls are crying, dudes are yelling trying to get our attention. We don’t survey the crowd anymore, we just keep our focus on the table in front of us, otherwise it gets overwhelming fast when you see your name and face everywhere.
At one point it gets so loud I can’t even hear the name of the guy I’m shaking hands with.
Leaning behind Ryan, I tap Brett’s shoulder. “Hey, can you do the thing and get them to shut the fuck up? I can’t hear myself think.”
Brett puts his fingers in his mouth and whistles. The crowd goes quiet immediately to hear what our drummer has to say.
“We need y’all to take the volume way down. We want to be able to hear you when it’s your turn so please have respect for the people ahead of you.” He sits back down and a low hum of whispers starts back up.
It’s manageable.
Our guards are stationed around the room. Romeo is on the opposite end of our table standing at the ready next to Noah, who gets harassed the most. Jasper is next to me on this end of the table. Tim and Juan are at the front of the room keeping an eye on things.
Suddenly, a fan ducks under the rope and hauls ass right for me. I know people make dumb decisions, but honestly, it still surprises me sometimes.
Jasper intercepts her easily when she launches herself off the ground. He hands her off to the arena’s security guards to have her removed. There are no second chances.
“Nice save.” I laugh.
“I’d rather catch an obsessed fan than a bullet,” he mutters, not looking at me.
Suddenly, I miss Luke so much it hurts like a physical pain.
This is new. I’ve never had someone…someones…
that I missed on tour. Is this how the guys feel all the time when they’re away from the girls?
Because fuck it hurts. It dims the excitement of another show a little.
I can’t honestly say the meet and greets are my favorite anyway, they lose their appeal when I’m not scouring the crowd for the groupie Brett and I will tag team later, but now this just feels brutal.
I want to play this show so I can get back on the bus and lay in bed texting Jen and Luke.
We finish the meet and greet and I’m already drained by the time we hit the stage. For the first half of the show, I barely move, my fingers never missing a note because we’ve played each of these songs no less than five hundred times by now but it’s not the same.
I make a mental note to talk to the guys later about how they deal with this shit and try to focus on giving this crowd the best show I can, although I’m grateful when our brief intermission rolls around.
“No fucking way!” I hear Brett yell before he dashes into the dressing room. Concerned, we all follow suit and be still, my fucking heart, everyone’s here.
“What the hell? How long have you been here? How’d you get here?
” I ask a hundred questions as I grab Lucky’s face and crash my lips against his, not even caring that everyone’s present.
I halfway expect him to pull back, but he doesn’t.
In fact, he wraps his arms around me and deepens the kiss while grinding into me.
God, I don’t want to break this kiss, but Jen’s on my other side and she’s such a sight for sore eyes.
“Hold that thought, Major,” I tell him, reaching for her.
“Fuck, we’ve missed you,” she mumbles against my lips, clutching my shirt. I’m so out of it, I can’t believe I still have it on.
“I missed you guys too. I couldn’t even get into the groove tonight because you were all I could think about.”
Nothing is sweeter than kissing them both and having their flavors mingle on my tongue.
I brush Jen’s hair back and plant a kiss on her forehead as I wrap my arm around Lucky’s torso, pulling him flush against my side.
The stage hand comes back to tell us we only have ten minutes before lights go down.
“Make it fifteen. Please. I’m begging you.” I flash a pleading look at Noah, who calls the shots.
Hearing the desperation in my voice, he gives a small smile and a nod. “Yeah, man. I think we could all use another few minutes.” He goes to the door and calls down the hallway. “Reset lights down for fifteen!”
“Got it!” a shout comes back down the hallway and we all turn to the people before us. The rest of the guys are jacked up from the performance and the testosterone is flying so there is a lot of making out going on.
I move my trio over to the corner because I can’t keep my hands to myself.
“Luke,” Jen says as she moves to stand behind me, “you take the front.”
“What do you me—”
Before I can finish my question, Jen is behind me, licking the sweat off my neck as her hands wrap around to squeeze and torment me through my pants. Meanwhile, Luke is standing in front of me, blocking the view as he puts a hand in my hair and kisses me senseless.
I groan into his mouth with my left hand wrapped behind me, pulling Jen into my back by her ass. My right hand is around Luke’s back, pulling him into my chest.
All too soon, Luke is pulling away. At least he’s breathing as hard as I am.
“We have to stop or I’m going to embarrass myself.”
“How so?” I ask, smiling, wanting to hear the reason fall from his lips.
“I’m going to blow my load in my jeans and make it look like I wet myself,” he whispers into my neck.
“I’d like to see that,” I breathe against his jawline. I could spend my whole life right here.
Luke moans when Jen moves her hands from my crotch to wrap behind Luke’s back and pulls him into me so that our groins are now flush as well as our chests. Luke pushes his hips forward, no doubt trying to relieve the pressure in his balls.
“I know. I feel it too. God, I’m so hard for you,” I whisper as our dicks try to fight their way through the layers separating them.
“It’s a good thing your guitar hangs in front of your cock, Sloan,” Jen giggles in my ear.
“As hard as I am right now, I’m going to have to play with my arms fully extended just to be able to reach the damn thing.”
Jen and Luke both laugh, making me smile.
“Lights up in five,” calls a voice outside the dressing room door all too soon.
“Will you guys watch from the stage steps? I want to be able to see you while I play.” This show just got a lot more fun. I’m so energized for the second half of this concert, people are going to think I’m back here doing lines of cocaine.