Yes to Everything

by Shayne McClendon

  Turning to the others, he asked what they were carrying so he could answer the question if they were stopped. The three men stepped up to the bar and removed 9mm’s from their backs, snub-nosed .38’s from their ankles, as well as two switchblades, a set of brass knuckles, and a collapsible baton.

  Logan said, “Holy shit! How did y’all get on the plane carrying all that?”

  Decklan added, “You could take out a small country with that stash, my god.”

  Boyd started returning the weaponry to his body and said, “That’s why we fly private charter out of small airfields.” Back together, he added, “But we have special clearance from the government to carry concealed anywhere on American soil.”

  Travis whistled, “That specialized, huh?” The men nodded. “Alright, well, welcome to the tour.”

  Rex said, “I’ll take point. Logan, you and Decklan are on either side of the girls. Travis, you’re right behind them. Boyd, Zane, you’re bringing up the rear. Let’s get this done.” He went out and all of them followed. All three men were unbelievably focused until they were in the Hummer. At that point, Becca and Molly gravitated to them.

  When they were three blocks from the studio, the mobs of people made movement almost impossible. “Fuck me, sorry little ones. Brooke honey, you’ve gotten a little more popular since Chicago, sugar. It’s been a week.”

  Logan counted off on his fingers as he listed, “She’s gone viral. The videos of her at the children’s museum and the bar pushed things over the top; her singing Wanted Dead or Alive is the most viewed YouTube clip in the world; the label is having her record it. The Black Crowes want her to cover She Talks to Angels on one of our albums and Nickelback is asking her to appear in their next video. Her charity work and her blog and the uh, calendars have had five more print runs than the label planned for.”

  “She’s made us more money in four months than we’ve made in the last two years. No kidding. We know we haven’t kept her as safe as we should have. Female fans aren’t like this. We didn’t realize the guys were gonna go quite so feral.” Decklan looked stressed. “We’ll do everything you tell us we need to do to keep her safe. I swear, we will. Just tell us what to do.”

  Rex nodded, “She’s talented but she’s also hot. The roaches are going to crawl out of the woodwork. You have to love the Internet for shit like that. Alright.” He seemed to come to a decision, took out his phone and dialed.

  “Crush, yeah. No shit? You’re watching it on the news? I’m sure it’s backed up for miles. You should be in the car on the street, man. No, I’m not kidding. I need you and the girls to cover for a few weeks. Keep the fees and restock shit. I hate coming back to no ink. Go by my place every couple days. That’s why I don’t have pets, dude. Call if you need me. Don’t forget the alarm every night. Later.”

  Mack was making a similar call to his gym and by the time they were nearing where most of the adults would get out, he and Rex had cleared their schedules for the rest of the tour. Travis looked at Boyd and Zane. Zane smiled, “We can do our shit from anywhere. We’re here for the long haul.”

  If there hadn’t been children and three other men in the car, the women would have thrown themselves at the Marines. Neither of the brothers or their manager doubted that. Travis grinned, “Well, hell yeah. Glad to have your help. Sure as hell am. Thank you boys.”

  They nodded and Rex crouched at the door of the Hummer, scanning the crowd before they could see anyone in the vehicle. “Boyd pay attention on the right. That jacket looks out of place in this heat. Zane, there are two guys up further on the left, see them?”

  Brooke scanned the crowd, “That’s Dean and Abel. They follow every show. You might have seen them in Chicago. Those are the guys keeping a blog of the concerts…I have to sign their chests and take a photo after every show. I saw them last night. They’re harmless. Believe me, they’re getting so laid by the girl groupies all wound up after the show. They head out with five or six girls each night. No kidding.”

  “You can’t, Brooke. You cannot stop to take a picture with those boys.” Rex was firm and very clear.

  “But…but, Rex, I’ve done it after every appearance. If I don’t do it after all this time, well, that would be mean,” Brooke’s voice was sad. “Just them, I swear. They have a blog.”

  Rex ran his hands over his face. “Sugar, you’re going to give me a heart attack. Fuck, sorry girls, fine, just them. Sidney, stay on the right, honey. Boyd will be within one foot of you. Don’t move further. No matter what. I say again, no matter what. You get involved in any chaos and we have to split our attention. You don’t want that, Sidney. Be good just this once.” He added the last with a smile and she nodded, sighing. “Here we go.”

  Rex got out and the crowd started screaming. He heard his name being called out and a woman ten feet away flashed her tits at him. Holy shit. The twins got out next and women were screaming and baring their bodies at an alarming rate. Boyd and Zane stepped out with Travis and spread out to either side of the door.

  When Sidney got out men called to her, asking her to dress or undress them anytime. There were comments about her looks and the way she moved. Boyd growled and sealed her to his front.

  When Brooke stepped out the noise became deafening. Some men wanted to marry her, some wanted to fuck her, all of them wanted to touch her. She kept her head up and glanced back at Jeanette and Mack. They nodded, letting her know they’d keep the kids safe.

  The studio security held the barricades just barely and Rex moved forward, pulling Brooke with him close to his back, everyone else falling into position. As she got to Dean and Abel, they called to her and she waved. They had their shirts unbuttoned and markers out. She stepped closer and signed Dean’s chest for what felt like the hundredth time.

  As she went to sign Abel’s, a man behind them grabbed her arm and Rex had his wrist in a vicious hold in two seconds. “Let. Her. Go. I will snap it the fuck off, man. Good choice. Do not grab her. You can look at her, you can talk to her. You do not touch her.” Looking at Brooke he said, “Wrap it up, baby.” She nodded and signed Abel’s chest. Handing their camera to Sidney, she stood between them and they got one shot.

  “Sorry guys, it’s a mad house. I’ll catch you in DC.” They nodded happily and blew her kisses as she was swept inside waving at the fans. “Wow. That was intense. Thank you baby.” Rex kept her at his side as they went through security and their weapons were logged. “Can y’all please check where my family is? My other best friend, and her bodyguard? I need to know they’re in the building.”

  The fans outside were banging on the windows and screaming for her. “Brooke! Brooke! Brooke!”

  Rex laced his hand around her waist as he barked, “We’re going, right fucking now, Brooke, elevators.” As they got in they heard something hard hit one of the front windows. Brooke jumped and they realized she was shaking badly. “Honey, look at me. It’s alright. You’re good. It’s all good. No one is going to touch you. No one is going to hurt you. I give you my word. Do you believe me, Brooke?” She nodded carefully. “It’s okay, crazy as hell but okay. You did so well, pretty girl, you handled yourself well.” She blew out her breath.

  The minute they entered the green room, she seemed to collapse against Rex. Looking at Logan and Decklan, she whispered, “It’s your band. I’m just me. I’m not the fucking band. I don’t want to be the main focus.”

  Logan said, “Brooke. We knew you were going to be big. It was inevitable because besides the fact that you’re stunningly beautiful, you’re one of the most talented musicians I’ve ever met. We took you on knowing those things would eclipse us by ourselves and we’re okay with it. I promise we don’t resent you and we’re going to all do a better job on security because this is like, hell I don’t know, Prince or Madonna.”

  Declan squeezed her hand once quickly, “And sweetheart, you treat us like a band. You aren’t a diva and we love you for that so just roll with it. Let the guys protect you and we’ll get ev
en more security in place. We’re at the MTV studios in New York City, Brooke. We’re a country band on MTV. You’re smokin’ hot. Props, Sidney, no lie. Have fun, enjoy it. Deep breath.”

  Zane came in last and said, “The kids are in the front row with Jeanette and Mack. No problems, Brooke.”

  “Thank God. Oh thank you. Okay, alright.” She stretched and all the men groaned as she touched her nose to her knees. Standing, Sidney gave her approval and they left the holding area for the main studio, led by a member of the staff who couldn’t stop staring at Brooke. At the entrance to the open space, Rex turned and squeezed her shoulders in encouragement then everyone separated to let her and the brothers through.

  Three hundred people stood and started cheering. As they walked down to the main stage area, the clapping got louder. Brooke noticed the audience was much closer than she’d gotten used to. They talked to the host and were told the show was being live-streamed on the Internet and the fans outside. “May I say something real quick before we get started?” He told her of course and she took the mic in her hand.

  “It’s so wonderful to see the fans come out. To talk to y’all, sign autographs and take photos. But it’s gettin’ a little scary. I’m askin’ y’all to police yourselves. Today, I wasn’t allowed to talk to any of you or sign autographs because it was such a crush. I’m happy to talk, to make myself available to y’all, but please, there’s the rest of the crew. I have my brother and sisters, my friends to worry about.”

  Motioning to the brothers who’d strapped on guitars, she said, “Logan and Decklan look real good today, don’t they?” The women in the audience went nuts. “See? They weren’t able to talk to the women who just worship them because of me. I feel bad. As cute as they are, they cannot deprive y’all of their presence. I think Broken Bronco has some of the best fans anywhere. We’re so grateful for each and every one of you.”

  She took her fiddle from the tech. Stepping back and smiling at the twins, she said, “Now we have some rockin’ to do for y’all MTV fans. We hope you like it. We each picked some of our favorites.”

  The set list was going to be two rocked out versions of the band’s country hits and five covers of some of their favorite songs done to a country beat. Don’t Cha, You Oughta Know, and If I Ain’t Got You would be sung by Brooke. Hot in Herre and Next Go Round would be sung by the Bradshaw brothers. They’d been practicing for weeks and the work showed.

  They talked before each song and the three of them spoke with specific people in the audience throughout. When she did her country version of the Pussycat Dolls hit, the monitors showing the people outside were a blast of activity. They slowed it down and added fiddle, giving it a sound no one would have ever suspected it could have.

  The Alanis Morissette song was met with stunned silence for the first few seconds, as if they couldn’t believe Brooke was singing what they thought they were hearing. They started clapping to the new rhythm and when she got to the word ‘fuck’ she coyly put her fingers over her mouth after and the crowd laughed.

  Logan did Nelly’s song and again the entire studio was stunned silent. Decklan and Brooke played around him as he sang the song slower with a blues backbeat provided by the two of them. The women in the audience were dancing in their seats.

  Brooke covered the Alicia Keyes song and sped it up, gave it a more cheerful tone with a lot of fiddle. The vocals were incredible and they knew requests for her to cut duets were going to triple after this.

  The Nickelback hit was slowed down which managed to make it raunchier and Decklan had a lot of fun with it. Brooke’s fiddle and backup vocals with Logan made it so much hotter. As they often did on stage, she danced and played with them. They smiled and laughed constantly.

  They rocked two of their number one hits, speeding them up and adding more electric guitar. By the end they had thousands of converts to rocking country music.

  The brothers asked her if she wanted to jam for a bit. “Would y’all like some Joan Jett?” The response seemed to shake the building.

  Calling Jackson up, he sat down on drums and took out his own sticks. She put down her instrument and took the mic while both brothers went to her sides and came in on the chorus of I Love Rock and Roll. Brooke realized her good looking brother was going to have even more of a fan following after this. He looked so hard core. She danced up to him and made him come in on the chorus. It was outstanding.

  Then they sat at the piano and harmonized on Imagine while Brooke played. Afterward they stood up and bowed to the audience that was insane with applause and cheering. The brothers kissed her cheeks and she blew kisses to the cameras covering the performance for the fans outside. There was a fan meet-and-greet and Rex stood close enough to almost touch her shoulder. Mack, Boyd, and Zane kept watch over Brooke’s friends and family.

  They all gathered back in the green room and Brooke stepped aside with Logan and Decklan who wanted to talk to her for a moment. Both men were smiling but it didn’t reach their eyes. “Brooke, you realize you’re too big to want to stay with us, right?” Logan asked the question quietly.

  She raised her brows in confusion and hurt, “Are you telling me you want me out?”

  “God, are you kidding? No, Brooke. But we know how much bigger you could be on your own. We are in no way going to hold you back, honey. We just need to let you know because you’ve blossomed into such a performer so much faster than even we thought you would.” Decklan held her pinky finger with a smile.

  Brooke laughed, “Okay, I don’t want bigger. I’ll stay with you guys as long as you’ll have me. I promise you. I have no energy for bigger. I don’t. I can barely handle this. Listen, you let me run with my impromptu performances like the children’s museum and the bar, let me stay up with my charities and I’m happy. I swear. Don’t bring this foolishness up again. I say we commit to three albums, three tours and then reevaluate. See where we are. What do you think?”

  “I think you’re lucky your man is ten feet away watching you like a hawk right now, Brooke,” Decklan said playfully.

  “Because the more we beat this crazy thing we have, the more we want you and lord we want to pour it all over you but we’re behaving. I swear we are. We know Rex is what you need right now. You look real happy sugar, real pretty in love.” Logan seemed sad for himself but happy for her.

  “Thank you. I am happy. It seems sudden but when the universe clicks, you pay attention and run with it. Let’s get food. I’m starving like you wouldn’t believe.” They all laughed, the brothers bent to kiss her cheeks, and they went back to the others.

  Rex gathered her up and whispered in her ear, “Please tell me I can still be nice to them.” She nodded with a soft laugh. “Okay. You look so beautiful. I’m still floored every single time I see you perform, baby. I’m hard as a rock, Brooke.”

  “You have to feed me first. I’m literally about to drop. I need food before anything and I will settle for McDonald’s at this point. Get me a soda, or even a fucking cracker. Not picky but I need it.”

  Jeanette opened her computer bag and pulled out trail mix bars, handing one to Brooke. “Eat it now, the whole thing. I have water in the limo and we’ll all go to dinner together. Logan and Decklan, Travis, I have to insist you join us. I made reservations for all of us.”

  After a much less stressful return to the limo in the underground garage, Jeanette filled them in on the evening’s festivities. “I have something for everyone over the next couple of days. We’re eating at the Bull and Bear in the Waldorf-Astoria in honor of Boyd and Zane today, because I’ve known since day one what you do for a living. I kept waiting for our girl to ask but nothing. She’s weird like that.” They nodded with a smile.

  “We’re then dropping the kids with Kyle’s band at the hotel. They’re hosting a Guitar Hero marathon and begged for Molly and Becca to come, apparently there are cash bets on Molly again. I interviewed and hired additional protection staff to watch the girls nonstop, they join us tomorrow. Jackson
, I believe there are two young ladies asking specifically for your attention. I left something in your nightstand drawer should you need it. It kills me, but better I know for sure you’re, you know, covered.”

  Jackson looked like he wanted to throw himself out of the limo. All the men thought Jeanette looked worse off than poor Jackson. Brooke and Sidney literally moved seats to try and get themselves under control. Sidney whispered, “Did she just say covered? Oh sweet baby Jesus. I can’t. Help. Can you slap me? You are no help, Brooke. You need to be slapped worse than me. Jackson, hide back here with us, babe.” He didn’t have to be asked twice and he sat shaking his head and whispering between the two of them.

  Becca and Molly said, “Hey, what did you leave Jackson?”

  Without missing a beat, Jeanette said, “Coloring books. Girls love stuff like that. I got tons for you guys, too. Molly, I picked up that new music game you wanted for your PSP. Becca, you have a brand-new sketch pad and I thought you might want to try working with charcoals. Presents all around.”

  Checking her computer, she continued, “After we drop the kids, we have a few stops. There’s lots of fun on the menu. Rex, we have a tour of two high-profile tattoo shops here in NYC who wanted to meet you personally. Pictures of your freehand work are slamming the Net after news of Brooke’s tattoo got out. We need to put together a photo anthology and get you published. Welcome to the digital age.”

  Glancing up and giving them all a brilliant smile, she said cheerfully, “I have places for views, places we can take the kids. Dive bars and places that just sounded really cool. You’ll have to bear with me. I’ve only been to New York one other time for a debate competition and I didn’t see a damn thing. We’ve lots to do over the next two days before heading to DC. You don’t even want to know what I have planned there. That is a prime tour spot for the kids especially. There’s lots of hidden learning hidden in fun. I’m very excited.”