The Road Back (Limelight Series Book 2) Read online

  “You excited?”

  I nodded. “I am. How about you?”

  “Shit, yeah. Total access to RatHound? Never thought that would ever happen.”

  “I know.” I smiled. “It’s kind of a mind-bend.”

  “Totally. It’s gonna be a great tour, I’m stoked.”

  I smiled and nodded, and saw him slide, ever so closer, to me.

  “Yeah, so I guess we’ll be… uh, seeing each other around,” I said.

  Real smooth.

  He continued. “So, if there’s anything you need, you just let me know. Anything at all.”

  He shot me what I assumed was supposed to be a sexy ‘come hither’ look, and it took every ounce of my strength to contain my laughter.

  “Okay, thanks,” was all I could squeak out.

  “Had, can I talk to you a minute?” Bam asked, and I excused myself from the table and walked to the back of the bus to sit next to him.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “You just looked like you needed saving.”

  I giggled. “This is why you’re my favorite.”

  “Do I need to have a conversation?”

  “Not yet,” I said. “He hasn’t done anything that would warrant it.”

  “You let me know.”

  “I will, buddy.” I smiled and leaned back against the seat.

  What I really wanted to do, was tell Jack. It was as if I had some sort of teenage urge to “go tell my boyfriend” that some little creep was hitting on me, but Jack wasn’t my boyfriend, and I certainly shouldn’t be thinking of him like that. I simply couldn’t turn my thoughts away from him, or help the way I was feeling.

  I changed the subject. “You missing Lucy?”

  Lucy was traveling with RatHound, but I didn’t know how long that would last because they were both ridiculously attached to one another.

  “Yeah,” he admitted, and waved his cell phone. “Thank God for texting.”

  I giggled. “Well, she and I could always swap. We’re going to be together for six weeks, and we’re essentially doing everything together, so why doesn’t she travel with you and I’ll travel with them?”

  I wasn’t about to admit the real reason for my suggestion.

  “That’s not a bad idea. I’ll talk to her,” Bam said.

  “Sounds good, just let me know.”

  We drove in relative silence for the next hour, arriving at the amphitheater just before one. Being a little claustrophobic, I was ready to get off the bus, so I rose to my feet as soon as the brake was set.

  “I’m going to meet Lucy,” I said to no one in particular, and rushed off the bus.

  Walking into the hot Ridgefield sun, I took a deep breath. I loved the Pacific Northwest. Not as much as home, but definitely a close second.

  Lucy walked toward me with a huge grin on her face. “You ready?”

  I looked around, hoping to spot Jack, but to no avail. I hoped he was as excited as I was about opening night, but not as nervous as I was.

  “So ready,” I lied, and we made our way to meet with the venue manager and Jimbo Reno, the concert promoter that was backing most of the tour. My feet froze after five confident strides. “Lucy, what if I’m not actually ready? What if I’m terrified?”

  “Terrified of what?”

  “Of everyone knowing how new I am as a manager?” I whispered. “What if I make a fool of myself in front of this guy?”

  “Jimbo?” Lucy chuckled. “You’re afraid of embarrassing yourself in front of Jimbo Reno? When you meet him, you’re going to see how funny that is.”

  “No, not just Jimbo… all the Jimbos. I feel like any minute Bam and the band are going to tap me on the shoulder and tell me they’ve made a horrible mistake in choosing me as their manager, and that I’m being replaced.”

  “Sweetie, you’re spiraling.” Lucy put a hand on each of my shoulders and looked at me in a way that reminded me of her father, a man that could truly charm anyone into a relaxed and pliable state.

  “Don’t you ‘Rex’ me, Lucy Nelson. I’m serious.”

  “I am too. What you’re feeling is totally normal. This is your first tour as the band’s manager, but this is not your first tour. You know these people and you know this world. Nothing has changed, except that you don’t have to go through Chas to get your job done. This is your show now, and it’s show time.” She made ‘jazz hands’ and I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “That’s better. C’mon, let’s go show these stinky boys who’s in charge,” Lucy said, hooking her arm into mine, leading us toward our destination.

  Even though Lucy was younger and technically less experienced than me, she had a deep knowledge of the business and people that I admired. I trusted her judgment and valued her opinion. I’d spent most of my life around boys and it was nice to be forming such a close bond with a woman I admired.

  After a few twists and turns we found the office of Kurt Varney, manager of the Sofa King Amphitheater, and entered to find him sharing a drink with the aforementioned Jimbo Reno. Jimbo was undoubtedly the biggest concert promoter on the west coast, and he had a well-earned reputation as a being a very tough guy.

  “Lucy, my dear! Come here and give your Uncle Jimbo a hug and a kiss!” The hulking man, rose to his feet and embraced Lucy before she could even extend her arms, causing her to momentarily temporarily disappear from sight altogether.

  “Jimbo, I can’t breathe,” Lucy wheezed.

  He released her and stood back a pace. “My god, look how you’ve grown. I still remember when you a little girl and your dad almost missed your birthday. He was on tour at the time and had to borrow my plane to make it home on time,” he said, puffing up his massive chest proudly.

  “And this beautiful young lady must be—” Kurt asked.

  “Hadley Simon, with Roses for Anna,” I said, thrusting my hand out in the most business-like way I could. I shook Kurt’s hand, then Jimbo’s. Jimbo’s giant mitt covered mine entirely, and I was instantly pulled in for the same bear hug style assault.

  “Of course you are!” Jimbo bellowed. “You ladies are just in time to join me and Kurt here for a drink. We’re toasting to open night. I know your daddy gave up the sauce, so I figured I’d knock one back for him.”

  As his adopted surname suggested, Jim Reno “made his bones” in Nevada and most certainly bankrolled his early endeavors with mob money. He was a legitimate entertainment tycoon now, but I was all too familiar with his type. Jimbo and RatHound had major history and they trusted him, but after what I had just gone through with the band’s previous manager, I wasn’t about to drop my guard, no matter how charming he was. Kurt Varney lacked any and all warmth that Jimbo had. “Please ladies, do join us,” he said, in a tone that made my flesh crawl.

  “Thank you, gentlemen, but we need to get back to our bands. We just wanted to stop by and make sure you didn’t have any questions about our riders and collect our passes,” Lucy said.

  Every venue on a tour is supplied with a rider from each band, which is simply a list of needs. The band’s rider contains everything from technical requirements for their staging and lighting, to what kind of salad dressing they want at dinner. Reviewing the rider was a way of making sure the band’s needs are truly being met. In the eighties, Van Halen famously asked for a bowl of M&M’s backstage, with all the brown candies removed. This seemed like the ultimate in rock star spoiled excess, but it was actually a shrewd business move that ensured the promoters had actually read the band’s entire contract carefully.

  “C’mon, surely you can have one little drink with us,” Kurt continued. He was clearly many drinks into the bottle, probably in a feeble attempt to keep up with Jimbo. He was a pasty, thin, balding man with undoubtedly the worst comb-over I’d ever seen. In fact, I couldn’t tell exactly where his hair was being combed over from.

  “Uh, no, that’s okay,” I said.

  “It’s opening night,” Kurt countered, his hot, boozy breath hanging in the air, maki
ng me feel sick. “One little drink.”

  Lucy smiled. “Like Uncle Jimbo said, we’re a dry camp these days, so we’ll have to take a rain check.”

  Jimbo changed the subject. “I heard you got married.”

  “Sure did,” Lucy said smiling. She quickly held up her left hand to reveal her wedding ring.

  “To your drummer, isn’t that right?” He turned to me.

  “Also correct,” I said.

  “I don’t see on ring on your pretty finger,” Kurt said. It was all I could do to keep from throwing up. I was willing to cut this bozo a little slack, given his current state of intoxication, and certainly didn’t want to make waves on the first night out.

  “Nope, just married to my work,” I smiled. “And my massive gun collection.”

  Kurt’s smile dropped, and after a few moments of dead silence, Jimbo erupted into laughter.

  “Oh, I like her. I like her a lot, Lucy. Come on, ladies, let’s get you those passes and make sure you guys have got everything you need.”

  Once all our administrative ducks had been lined up and accounted for, we headed back to the busses. I was surprised to see Jack walking toward us.

  “Everything okay?” I asked as he approached us.

  “Yeah, I was just checking to see if you two needed any help. You were gone for a while.”

  “Were you worried about us, Uncle Jack? You’re so sweet,” Lucy said.

  Sweet indeed. As a matter of fact, I wanted to lick every inch of the man’s body then and there.

  “We were just getting the passes and press packets from ‘drunk and drunker’ in there.” I said, before realizing I’d just tattled on the promoters.

  “Did they give you any trouble?” Jack asked, the tone of his voice low and lethal.

  “No, no. Nothing like that, they were just funny. Nothing to worry about, really.”

  “We can handle ourselves just fine, Uncle Jack,” Lucy added.

  “Of that, I have no doubt at all.” He smiled, but the mirth didn’t reach his eyes. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

  In that moment, I decided not to say anything to Jack about Ray hitting on me, or Kurt’s proposed soiree. Jack was clearly the protective type, and the last thing we needed was him blowing our cover by losing his cool.

  “We’re great. Besides, it’s my job to make sure you have everything you need, not the other way around,” Lucy said smiling. “You’re going to have to get used to me taking care of things for you for a change.”

  “Fair enough,” Jack smiled.

  I smiled to myself. It was Lucy’s job to take care of him now, but I planned on taking care of him later.

  Jack

  SITTING BACKSTAGE, WARMING up on my practice pad, I was struck with how comfortable I felt. All my initial fears and anxiety about the tour were completely gone and I was actually looking forward to playing. It was opening night and less than two hours until show time.

  Because Lucy knew us so well, and because she was a genius, she knew we needed to ease back into the insanity that goes along with a tour, so she’d been very careful to limit press interviews and fan meet and greets before the shows. This gave us a little more time to relax and focus before hitting the stage—not that I was doing either.

  Hadley was currently in our dressing room speaking with Lucy about the concessions’ contract with the venue, but I couldn’t focus on her words—only her mouth. I wanted that mouth on mine; I wanted it to kiss my body, to take the fullness of my cock into it. I shifted in my seat, and continued to tap away on my practice pad as she walked toward me.

  “Do you warm up every time before you… play?” she asked in a whisper as she passed by.

  I winked. “I always like to warm things up when I have the time.”

  She walked away and I tried to put her out of my mind… if only for the moment. I had to focus if I was going to get through tonight in one piece. Rex was the nicest guy in the world, but he always ran a tight ship on stage. Rex has to pull triple duty when we play live. He’s singing, playing bass, and the most consistently engaged with the audience. For him to do what he does every night he needed Robbie and me to be on the money at all times.

  Rex always heard everything and had his head on a swivel. The last thing any of us wanted to see on stage was what Robbie and I called the ‘death ray.’ I hated letting Rex down, and if I fucked up bad enough for him to shoot me the death ray, it would mean I fucked up royally.

  On our last tour, I saw the death ray every night… multiple times a show. I was a strung-out mess and could barely function, let alone play well. I felt gratitude to be sitting backstage with my band again, because I didn’t think it would ever happen.

  How often does someone a second chance?

  As I continued to warm up my hands, my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of singing—beautiful singing, in four-part harmony, coming from the adjoining dressing room. Roses for Anna was about to go on, so I figured they must be warming up.

  A hush came over our dressing room as their voices rose, and I leaned back in my chair quietly unlocking and opening the door in the shared wall. The sound that poured from their room instantly gave me chills. This was music, real music, sung by young men who believed in its power. We waited for them to finish, in complete, stunned silence, and erupted into applause when they were done. The band, who were gathered together in a tight circle, spun around in surprise.

  “Awww, come on man, you guys are too much,” their lead singer Zeke said, bowing to his newly found audience. “Thank you.”

  I locked eyes with Bam, smiled and waved him over. I saw him look over at Lucy and smile shyly before making his way into our dressing room.

  “Hey Jack, how’s it goin’?”

  I stood up and extended my hand. “Hey man, that sounded amazing. Do you guys do that shit on stage?”

  “The circle of fear?” he asked.

  “The what?”

  “That’s what we call it. It’s our pre-show ritual,” he explained. “It’s how we connect before we go on stage.”

  “Well, you should bring that on stage with you.”

  Bam smiled wide and thanked me. I wished him a good show and returned to my warm up. I was looking forward to seeing Roses for Anna play, but didn’t say so. I knew the guy looked up to me and didn’t want to rattle his brain any more than it probably was. As an opening band, you had to play in front of your idols all the time, and it can be hell.

  Hadley circled back into the room one last time to make sure all of her guys were ready to go. Before she left the room, she shot me a sly grin that caused a familiar buzz and I was struck with a thought: Hadley Simon was quickly becoming my new drug of choice.

  * * *

  Holy shit, these guys can play!

  “They’re pretty good,” I said, leaning in close to Hadley. I could smell her, and it was driving me insane.

  “Pretty good?” She raised both eyebrows. “I think the word you’re looking for is amazing.”

  “Yeah, alright.” I smiled, but looked away before anyone spotted us staring for too long. “I should… I…”

  “Get going?” Hadley teased.

  I mouthed, “I’ll see you later,” and went off to join my bandmates, who had gathered to watch the show from the other side of the stage.

  “Well, they’re certainly singing for their supper, aren’t they?” Rex asked.

  “They’re fucking great!” I agreed.

  “Yup.”

  “We’re going to have to kick some major ass going on after these guys every night,” Robbie said.

  Rex and I turned toward one another.

  “Yup,” Rex said again.

  I loved outdoor summer shows. Tonight, we were playing what the music industry calls a ‘shed,’ which are corporate owned amphitheaters that seat around fifteen to twenty thousand people. This one was located in southern Washington, just outside of Portland, Oregon and was sold out. Roses for Anna was currently playing
to a half-filled venue, but I had a feeling as word got out among our fans, that wouldn’t be the case for long.

  “Mr. Henry.” I felt a hand tap my shoulder and turned to see a young man with a bright yellow vest and a walkie-talkie. “You have an urgent call holding for you in the business office, can you follow me sir?”

  “A call? What’s this about?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure sir, I was just asked to come and get you.”

  “I’m in the middle of watching a show, man, can it wait?”

  “I was told to tell you the call is from Tabitha, and that it’s urgent.”

  “I don’t know anyone named… wait, did she say Tabitha or Tabeetha?” I asked.

  “Sorry sir, yes it was Tabeetha.”

  Rex and Robbie looked at me puzzled.

  “Sorry guys, I’ve gotta take this.”

  “Who’s Tabeetha?” Rex asked.

  I began following my guide and yelled out, “She’s my… aunt. She’s… very sick. I’ll catch up with you guys in a bit.”

  We made our way to the offices and I was led to a small windowless room.

  “Here you are, sir, your call is waiting inside,” my guide said, his young face turning beet red.

  “Thanks, man,” I said and palmed him a twenty.

  I opened the door and Hadley was sitting on top of an old desk. Sitting next to her was a small lamp that provided the only light in the room.

  I grinned. “I was told I had a call from Tabeetha.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. There must have been some sort of mistake. There’s no phone in here, just… me.”

  Hadley luring me into her little trap was too much. I should have been focusing on the show, but all I could see was Hadley. Everything else around us was in darkness, but I could see her in the light, and that was all that mattered right now. I smiled slowly. “I like you better.”

  She giggled, reaching for me and tugging me forward. “I just need a little somethin’ to tide me over.”