The whole band stood and clapped as Jade walked through the door and over to the empty seat at the table. Flashes blinded her as she sat and faced the monsters. Not all of them, not really! Hell! Most of them! She waited almost not breathing as they shouted incomprehensibly.
“Who else have you played with?”
“Where do you come from?”
“Is that your real name?”
“Are you sleeping with the band?”
It calmed slightly as Luis stood and waited for the furore to subside.
Luis’s assistants rushed through the crowd handing out information packages and the shouting came down to a dull roar as they read her bio. With a smile Luis gave the floor to one of the reporters he trusted to keep it clean.
“Ms. Gallado are you excited to be playing with Storm Front?”
“Yes, it’s an amazing opportunity and I can’t wait to be back on stage again.”
Another question came from the back. “How long since you played live?”
Jade smiled. “It’s been about six months or so. I did back-up work for Sweet Sacrifice on their tour.”
A rumpled predatory looking man in the front grinned as he shouted his question.
“Do you have a boyfriend Jay?”
“No, no boyfriend, I’m too busy working.”
Luis interrupted. “We only have time for one more question. Molly, you take it.”
Molly’s question was work related and quickly answered by Trace and then it was over and Luis was shepherding all of them out of the room. Jade gave a big sigh of relief as they left the monsters behind.
“All of you come up to my room we have some decisions to make.” With that cryptic comment Luis strode away with his bodyguard in tow and disappeared around the corner.
“What now?” Jade asked Trace who just shrugged.
“What do you mean I need a style make-over? I’m happy looking the way I do and when I’m playing I need to be comfortable! I can’t prance around in heels baring my ass in miniskirts and then spread my legs to play in freaking thong underwear that will chafe the holy hell out of me! Not to mention my boobs in those bras! They would be hanging out all over the place! That’s just obscene!” Jade stormed at Luis as he showed her the stylist’s suggestions who wanted her to wear slutty little skirts, teeny tiny thongs, cropped tops with push-up bras and stilettos. Hell no! “And why the hell would I bleach my hair and colour it all the colours of the rainbow? It makes no sense!”
“Jay-Jay those are only suggestions! You don’t have to agree to all of it.” Tag tried to reason with her. “You can’t carry on walking around in my clothes!”
“It’s not your guava they want to show to the world!”
“Guava? You call it your guava?” RJ snorted with laughter.
“Whatever! My vajayjay, cootchie, nini, snatch, peach, hoohah even vagina would do if it makes you understand. I don’t see you with your dick in the breeze while you play.”
The guys collapsed with laughter.
“These are only suggestions Jay, it’s not written in stone.” Luis murmured with a hidden grin.
“I’m not wearing skirts, not off stage and definitely not on stage. I have nothing against dressing the part but I’m a drummer people! I sit with my legs spread wide open for heaven’s sake! I’m comfortable in the clothes Mel makes for me to play in and I’m not budging on that. If you want me to dress up then Mel Harris is going to dress me and no one else.”
Luis grinned as if he had won the game. “I already spoke to Mel, she’ll be joining us tomorrow and she’ll be bringing some of the outfits I asked her to get ready for you. We have quite a few meet and greets and radio and television interviews while on the road, she’ll be your stylist and travel with us when she can.”
Jade didn’t trust his sudden capitulation, he gave in too easily. She would have to watch this clothes thing very carefully. No way was her guava making its appearance in the tabloids! Her name wasn’t Britney or Paris!
CHAPTER FOUR
The two days before Jade took the stage with Storm Front was filled with rehearsals, clothes fittings, hairdressing appointments, putting together a formal bio and a photo shoot to replace the promotional material already distributed. As promised Mel arrived with bulging trunks filled with stuff she would be trying out on Jade. When Jade balked on some of the more revealing outfits Mel called in the big guns, she called Cat De Luca of Sweet Sacrifice!
“Jay I get that you don’t want to reveal too much of yourself to the sharks out there but you have to build a stage persona. A person that the fans can relate to and even imitate, you know better than most that I’m nothing like my stage and public persona and that is what Mel is trying to set up for you. Believe me when I tell you that if you have that persona in place it will be easier to just slip through the cracks when you’re out there being just plain old you. I do it all the time. Let Mel do what she does best, trust her to have your back.”
“Dammit Cat I do trust her. But being painted and primped is just not me. And I sweat like a horse when I’m playing which is going to make all that crap run like a river. Then everyone is going to laugh their asses off when I look like shit.”
Cat laughed as Jade snorted with disdain. “Sweetheart we don’t use normal make-up. The shit they’ll be putting on you will not budge, even if you stood in a force 10 hurricane.”
“So you say.” Jade muttered in a disgusted voice. “If this backfires I know where you live Cat De Luca.” She gave in gracelessly.
Cat’s laughter was still ringing in her ears when she turned her eyes to a waiting Mel and grimaced.
“Fine, do your worst but I’m warning all of you if this makes me look like a clown I’m going to thump your asses.”
“Sweetie there’s no way in the world you could ever look like a clown, unless you dress up like one and that's never going to happen.” Mel soothed.
Jade was not reassured. Her friend Mel was gorgeous, model gorgeous. She was tall, slender with shoulder length pale blonde hair and blue eyes. Mel smiled and laughed a lot and drew people to her like a moth to a flame. She was never without a date and all her exes stayed her friends after she broke it off with them. The only man who hadn’t immediately fallen for her charm had been Diego, but Jade assumed that was because he liked his women curvy with more tits and ass. Which was why her average boobs and toned drummers’ ass would not draw his eyes, she was just too muscular for Diego Delgado’s taste. And that sucked ass! Big time!
Jade was experiencing nerves. Stage fright to be real honest. She could hear the roar of the crowd where she stood in the corridor behind the guys waiting for the support act to finish and the crew to change the set up. Security was tight and Tag was right there with her, holding her small bag with her water and towels. She trusted no one else to take care of her as he did. Breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth she relaxed her shoulders and shook out her arms and then her legs. Her new clothes fit her like a second skin and she had to admit that it was comfortable, even the soft calf-length boots that Mel had insisted on. They had no heels and had been made especially for her to play in. Her black fingerless gloves were specially made for her and were a gift from her uncle, a gift that appeared regularly every few months. The guys were joking and punching each other and she could see the tension in all of them, tonight would be their first time going on without Richie. They were missing him and she swore to herself that she would not let them down. She just hoped the damn fans would not hate her on sight!
And then it was show time and she no longer had time to obsess about anything. The guys ran on while she stood next to Luis, waiting for Trace to make the announcement. The crowd roared as Trace gave his signature scream into the night and light flooded the stage.
“Hello Miami!” He shouted as he stood right on the front of the stage, grinning as the crowd shouted back. When they calmed down he started speaking.
“As you all know a few days ago Richie overdosed and
we almost lost him. He’s doing better but he has a long road to recovery and he will need all the love and support all of us can give him. He’s really sorry he can’t be with us for the next six weeks but he’ll be with us in spirit as we finish the American leg of the Big City Tour.” Holding his hand up to silence the screaming fans he looked back at where Jade was waiting in the wings. “I’m sure you have seen the press releases that Jay Gallado will be filling in for him and that she has his full support. So without dragging it out any longer. Here she is, our drummer for the next six weeks, Jay Gallado!”
Jade hugged Luis and walked out on stage, a pair of sticks in one hand a bottle of water clamped in the other. She got a mixed reaction, some screams, some boo’s but that was to be expected as she settled herself behind the drums and ignored the crowd. She had a job to do and bugger it if she would let anything stop her from doing it.
She hit the snare as they had rehearsed and Storm Front was off and running. Jade lost herself in the beat, in the sheer physicality of her job as sweat streamed down her. It felt as if the night had just begun when the last note screamed into the fans and the band left the stage waving.
Tag was there with her towel, giving her a quick dry before she had to go back out to play an encore. Her hair was soaked with sweat and stuck to her forehead and cheeks, damned new hairstyle! The wings were packed with security, friends and family of the band and some hangers on who had VIP passes that couldn’t be cancelled. She ignored them and focused on the job. Her heart hammered in her chest, adrenalin so high it felt as if she was flying. And then she was back on stage slamming through the four songs Trace had chosen to finish off the night. The crowd went wild when they stood on the front of the stage waving their goodbye. A guy against the barrier in front kept shouting her name, calling to her. Jade laughed and lobbed her used sticks at him before she ran off with the guys.
Backstage was pandemonium! Tag immediately gave her a bottle of water she chugged gratefully before taking the towel he held and drying her face and arms. The guys were surrounded by the friends they had invited and by Givens’s family who lived in Miami. Jade grinned as Luis made his way to her, hugging her tight.
“Great job sweetheart. You totally rocked it like I knew you would.”
“Thanks Papa but I’m wet and stinky and I’ll make you wet and stinky.” Jade laughed as she wriggled out of his arms.
“I don’t care baby girl. You were magnificent, absolutely magnificent and if hugging you makes me a bit wet and stinky I don’t care.”
“You had better care ‘cause you don’t want the press smelling you. They’ll call you Smelly Delgado before you know it.” She teased.
“Who’s a smelly Delgado?” Diego’s voice sent her already racing heart racing even faster.
“Your Dad if he keeps on hugging me.” She laughed as she turned to him.
He stood so close she could feel the heat of him, smell that amazing scent he gave off.
“Well we can’t have him be the only smelly Delgado.” Diego grinned as he grabbed her in a bear hug, raising her feet off the floor and she grabbed onto him as he swung her around. She had her arms around his neck laughing when she spotted the woman she hated more than anything in this world, Marcella Vincent. What the fuck was the slut doing at a Storm Front gig and who the hell had given her backstage passes? She hadn’t been on the list that Tag had showed her this morning! Marcella stood with four skanks her eyes narrowed to slits and her mouth pinched in a sneer as she watched Diego and Jade.
“Well done baby! Wow, just wow!” Diego pulled her attention back to him and Jade looked down at him with a grin.
“Put me down you ass.” She grinned. “People will think you like me!”
“They will be right. I do like you.” He teased.
“Yeah but they will think you like me, like me.”
Diego grinned as he slid her down his body and put her down, watching her as she stepped back from him. Even covered in sweat and smelling of the hard work she had done she took his breath away. Jade Galloway Delgado was one very dangerous woman. Before he could think of something to say she was grabbed by RJ and he pulled her along with the rest of the band, all of them disappearing into the dressing room with his dad.
Diego positioned himself in front of the door and Tag came and stood beside him.
“Our girl did great tonight.” Tag smiled as his eyes swept over the people spilling out of the hospitality room and filling the corridor.
“Yeah she did, like we always knew she would.” Diego grinned.
“She’s going to have a conniption fit though when she sees that bitch hanging out back here.” Tag growled through tight lips.
“Which bitch? No one got in who hadn’t been invited, I made sure of that.” Diego frowned.
“That skank Marcella Vincent and her troop of sluts.” Tag growled.
Diego’s head snapped around and he glared at Tag with narrowed eyes.
“Fuck you Tag. She called me and I got them in. You know Marcella and I have history. Why should it piss Jay off that I got her backstage passes?”
“Jay-Jay and Marcella have a very bad history dude, really very fuckin’ bad. She’s going to have your nuts for putting her on the list.”
Before Diego could ask him to clarify the history he saw Marcella and her girls making their way towards them. By the glint in their eyes he knew exactly what they were after, the guys in the band. Diego hadn’t been with Marcella in months and he’d mistakenly thought to use her to get his mind off Jade. Who the fuck knew that it would blow up in his face? He slid his eyes away from them pretending he hadn’t seen them. About ten minutes later the door opened behind him as he glanced back in the general direction he had last seen Marcella with her girls then turned to face a very pissed off Luis Delgado.
“What in the seven levels of hell did you do Diego?” He snapped as he pushed into the corridor. “I thought we had an agreement, no sluts backstage! I’m trying my damned best to get this band back onto their feet and you go and fuck it up the first time out! Were you not listening when I set out the rules for backstage passes? No sluts, no dealers, no one even remotely connected to drugs!”
“Hell Dad I’m sorry. Marcella called this afternoon and asked if she and her girls could come and see the show. I didn’t think they would be a problem. Shit they used to hang out with Val and the guys all the time and you didn’t say anything. Why are they now a problem?”
His dad shook his head while swearing softly and Diego could see the disappointment in his eyes. “If you have to ask you are further up your own ass than I thought. Get rid of them! They fall under the heading of sluts and drugs Diego. I don’t ever want to see them back here. And when I say ever that’s exactly what I mean. They are not invited back to the hotel, it’s for family and friends only, which obviously they aren’t.” With that he disappeared back into the dressing room, slamming the door behind him.
“What the fuck just happened?” Diego stormed but Tag just shrugged and turned his head away, watching the people milling about and ignoring him.
Marcella was going to have a shit fit when he told her they weren’t invited to the after party at the hotel. He had sort of promised her that he would arrange a pass for her and her girls. Why the fuck had he done it? He knew the women with Marcella followed the bands around, partied with them and tried to sleep with as many as possible. Hell, they posted that shit on-line! He knew Marcella was no angel and that she had slept with her fair share of rockers but he hadn’t known that she was a rock star collector. Why the hell did Jade hate her? What had Marcella done that had pissed Jade off to that extent? Did it have something to do with Val? He hadn’t even known that the two of them knew each other. He had always kept her well away from Jade.
“You watch the door while I go and get my face slapped.” He growled at Tag and moved out towards where Marcella stood laughing with one of the crew. This was going to suck.
Trace couldn’t stop grinning and lo
oking around he saw that the guys had the same stupid grin on their faces, even Jay was grinning like a loon.
“Shit! We killed it out there! We totally killed it!” Givens crowed as he chugged a bottle of water.
“It was so smooth it felt as if we had been playing with Jay our whole lives.” RJ grinned and winked at Jay.
“This has been the singular most amazing time I’ve ever had behind a set of drums. I was so nervous before we started but once we hit that first note I just went for it! Hell guys it was way better than a force five, no wait, scrap that, a force eight orgasm!”
“You rate orgasms like hurricanes?” Jimmy sniggered.
Trace laughed as a red flush crept up Jay’s neck.
“Yeah, well you know it’s never..., shit! They aren’t all the same! So my friends and I rate them from a gentle breeze to a force ten. Though I have to say you don’t often hear of a force ten.” Jay seemed to get more comfortable with them as she talked.
“Holy shit! You discuss your orgasms?” Trace gasped.
Jay shrugged as she ran a small towel over her hair. “We’re girls, we talk.”
“Please tell me that your girls are single and are going to be coming by to see you play!” Jimmy begged with puppy dog eyes.
“Why? You think you can supply a force ten?” Jay laughed.
“Hell yeah! I’m a force ten just waiting to happen baby!” Jimmy grinned lasciviously.
“What the hell are you guys talking about?” Luis snapped as he came back into the dressing room.
“Nothing Papa Luis, just talking music.” Jade covered quickly and Trace burst out laughing as she made wide eyes behind Luis’s back at all of them.
“Yeah Luis, we just rated our playing tonight to a force ten hurricane.” Trace grinned at Luis who frowned at all of them before shaking his head as if they were crazy.
Hard Rock Unrehearsed Page 4
