Daisy (Pushing Daisies Book 1)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  Daisy

  Pushing Daisies 1

  Copyright © 2020 by Heather Young-Nichols

  Cover Art by Booked by Design

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Chapter One

  Daisy

  “Holy shit,” I muttered as our SUV from the airport pulled up outside the arena in Cincinnati.

  “This is insane,” my brother Bonham, who also happened to be our drummer, added. His dark hair was a mess and if my parents hadn’t insisted we were related, I wouldn’t have believed we were. It was that way with all of my brothers.

  “Right?” I smiled his way.

  Logically we’d all known joining Courting Chaos on tour would mean playing arenas like this. Seeing it firsthand was something else altogether.

  “Listen,” Mack, oldest brother to all of us and our manager, said before clearing his throat.

  His movements were so similar to Bonham. As was his voice and coloring. Same dark hair. Same dark eyes. If I thought about it too long, it seemed even stranger that the four of them had come out looking like they were family yet there I was almost their opposite. They were tall while I wasn’t. They all had the dark hair and eyes while I had red hair and hazel eyes. It was weird.

  “I know this is big,” Mack finally said. “Let’s not fuck it up.” Sage advice from a wise man. A thought that made me snicker. “We should get our things settled on the bus. I had the bags you packed before and our equipment brought here already, so we’re set there. Then we’ll have to meet the guys and do soundcheck.”

  I let a small noise, something that sounded like and eep, escape from my mouth. I’d loved Courting Chaos’ music long before they’d hit it big and opened for Kissing Cinder. I’d gone to see them on that tour, too. More than that, they were who we wanted to be one day. Success wise.

  My brothers had messed around with their instruments for years before I’d become part of Pushing Daisies. Actually, that wasn’t even their name back then. It had been something stupid like Dude Bros or another name that was equally ridiculous. It wasn’t until my brother Van Zant heard me singing one day that they’d lured me in. I never sang in front of anyone before that. Not even for fun. It wasn’t my thing. I would’ve been content to play my violin alone in a room forever, but once they’d made me part of their little group, I was all in.

  “None of that, Daisy,” Mack cautioned. “Let’s at least try to pretend to be professional.”

  “Yeah, Daisy,” Van Zant, twin to Bonham as well as being our bass player, said like we were in middle school. My brothers were ridiculous.

  I grunted. “I’m nothing if not professional, but in private, I am absolutely allowed to vocalize my excitement. You should’ve gone to the concert with me. Courting Chaos fucking rocked plus I got to see Kissing Cinder.”

  Daltrey, guitar player and second oldest brother and the only one my mom said held any resemblance to me, patted me on the shoulder. Apparently, we had the same smile otherwise, he was made from the same mold that produce the others. “She’ll be good.”

  The scowl I gave him after that comment wasn’t going to do much to deter any further teasing from my brothers. I knew it. They knew it. It was how we worked.

  “I’m just glad you know what you’re doing,” Daltrey continued but that was meant for our brother Mack, not for me.

  “Was anyone else surprised as hell to find out that Mack does in fact know… well, anything?” Bonham continued.

  Mack didn’t respond other than to raise his middle finger at our brothers. This was our normal. The guys gave each other shit and gave me shit. There was always shit going around.

  “I just can’t believe our luck.” I shook my head. “Not that it’s a good kind of luck that the Hurricane’s drummer and lead singer were badly injured in a car accident, of course.”

  “Of course,” Mack said, but the slight tilt of his lips meant that he really wanted to fuck with me. He wouldn’t because we’d arrived. But he wanted to.

  The cheers from the crowd filled my ears as we got out of the SUV that had been sent for us. Each of us carried a single bag of personal items since Mack had shipped the majority of our things. There was no way to tell if those cheers were for us or because these Courting Chaos fans thought one of the guys from that band was inside the car. Probably more the latter than the former, but when we’d joined the tour last week, we did bring a small but energetic fanbase with us.

  This tour would likely change all that. The crowd remained chattery as we passed by but the big excitement died down.

  We walked toward a woman who didn’t look much older than me with dark hair pulled up into a very neat bun. But she was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. It was clear to me that she was headed straight for us.

  “Hi, everybody. I’m Barrett Powell. Lawson’s personal assistant and all-around media wrangler. He’s in with the guys and wants me to get you all settled in.”

  “We appreciate it,” Mack told her before introducing each of us.

  I couldn’t stop grinning over the fact that there was another woman on the tour. That was never a given and mostly rare if you didn’t count the randoms that hung around or the occasional wife or girlfriend. At least in my experience. I desperately wanted us to get along because she could be my safe haven in the middle of the testosterone storm that came with living on a bus with four guys.

  Barrett waved us to follow as she began to walk away. The sound of the crowd had started to interfere with us talking.

  “Hey, guys,” I said to my brothers as we headed for the door. “Did you notice the dude in front? With the super blond hair? I swear I saw him in Chicago last weekend at our show.”

  “Oh yeah,” Daltrey agreed. “I thought he looked familiar.”

  “If he came all this way, maybe we should meet him. Like, can we do that?”

  Barrett snorted. “Listen, you can pretty much do what you want. If you want that guy backstage, I’ll make it happen.”

  “You’re like the all-powerful Oz,” I told her, keeping my eyes wide as if amazed. That got a loud laugh out of her. “I think we should,” I added.

  “Oh. I’m going to like you,” she said, falling in step closer to me. “I’ll take care of it.”

  Again, we didn’t have a fanbase the size of Courting Chaos’, given how big they’d become since touring with Kissing Cinder last year, but we’d had songs that were considered hits. We had albums out and had amassed a loyal fanbase. But if that guy had come to Cincinnati from Chicago, or wherever he was from, the least we could do was give him a good experience.

  “So your instruments joined us yesterday,” Barrett told the five of us as we walked between buses. “They’re inside ready to set up for soundcheck. The guys are doing theirs now.” Then she stopped next to one of the buses. They all looked the same to me, but we’d soon be able to tell them apart. Or I hoped we would. “This is yours.” She pulled the door open then climbed the stairs. I followed closely behind.

  “Honey, I’m home,” I called out only as loud as appropriate. But Barrett giggled.

  “I like that,” she told me.

  “We’re not even inside yet, Daisy,” Van told me.

  “It’s a habit that I don’t intend to lose,” I said back. Then to Barrett, I explained, “I call t
hat out every time I get on the bus because I want my brothers to know I’m here. So I don’t get scarred for life from seeing something I shouldn’t be seeing.”

  Barrett laughed loudly, the sound bouncing around the bus. “That’s a great idea. I’m going to have to steal it.” When I glanced over at her, she added, “I also bus with a few guys.”

  “Oh sure. Feel free.”

  “OK.” She clapped her hands together, as if she wanted to make sure we were all paying attention. “How about we go meet the guys? You can leave your bags here if you want to.”

  My heart galloped like a racehorse. We’d met other bands over the last three years, but I’d also loved Courting Chaos basically since they’d hit the airwaves.

  As we passed the crowd again on the way toward the venue, Barrett fell in step beside me.

  “No argument over who gets the big bed in the back of the bus?” she asked me. My brothers weren’t paying us any attention.

  “No,” I told her. “I’m the youngest, the baby, and the only girl. They always give it to me.”

  Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “That’s about the opposite of how I was thinking it’d go.” She stopped to pull open the venue door for me to step through then slid in behind me. The sound of drums took my excitement to the next level.

  I snorted. “Yeah, me too. But I really think they don’t want me to know what they’re doing when I’m in bed. Best way to do that is to keep me separate. So they give me an actual room I’ll want to stay in.” I glanced over at her and lowered my voice. “I still always know.”

  Barrett giggled as she entered the dark area that I knew led to the stage, the floor marked with glow tape so no one would miss a step and fall. The music grew louder and now added to it were voices bickering back and forth. I knew that sound well, too.

  “Or you could sing the fucking lines,” one of the distinctly male voices said.

  Someone chuckled into the microphone and replied, “I like mine better.”

  Finally, we stepped on stage, which meant I’d know who was saying what. But this was the huge stage we’d be performing on that very night. My heart rate ticked up and my chest swelled. This was our break.

  “Why do we have to do this so often?” Cross asked as he sat behind his drum kit.

  He looked the same as when I’d seen them last year. Muscular, tall but we couldn’t see it because he was sitting. His hair was kept short and neat and his tattoos roped down one arm. The way he held his drumsticks, I knew they were an extension of his hands. It was like that with my violin.

  Hot. Of course. They were all hot.

  Ransom laughed. “Because you guys like to give me shit. If one of you would rather sing, have at it.”

  Ransom had dark hair but it was a little floppy now compared to when I saw them in concert. And he was taller than he’d looked on stage. Of course, I didn’t have very good seats for that show.

  The other three guys groaned, but I couldn’t help my smile. They sounded exactly like my brothers and me, though none of them gave me shit about singing. It was the bickering back and forth that felt familiar.

  Booker, their bass player was maybe the tallest of them all. With long, lean muscles, dark brown hair and an armful of tattoos, I’d read he was also the quietest of the group. Suppose I’d find out on the tour.

  Then there was Dixon. Looking at him caused this nervous tickle low in my belly. Not because I wanted him. No. He had a girlfriend anyway but he was the hottest of them all as far as I was concerned and I may have had a crush on him at one point. He had the darkest hair of the four guys and the kindest brown eyes. Again, all of this was opinion.

  “Do any of you realize you have an audience?” a fifth man, not part of the band, asked as he strode out of the darkness in a white dress shirt and dress pants, sleeves rolled up like he was really getting to work at something.

  My dad did that sometimes when he’d been at his practice too long or had a lot of patients left to see. Dad was an internist and he never left the office until the job was done. This man’s dark hair was short on the sides and the back but longer and wispy on top. The beard brushing his jaw looked more like he just hadn’t shaved in a couple of days than that of a person seriously growing a beard.

  I didn’t know who this guy was, but stupid hot came to mind.

  The four members of Courting Chaos all turned to us at the same time.

  “Come on,” Barrett said quietly as she strode out onto the stage.

  We did as she’d instructed, but after the third step, the bottom of my shoe caught and I stumbled and like the complete dork that I am, I tripped over my own feet. The only positive to this was that I didn’t fall flat on my face.

  That was when I got my first proper glimpse at the size of the arena, it wasn’t only my stride that faltered. My breath caught in my throat and as much as I may have tried to hide it, this… this was a like a dream come true and the excitement of it all gave me an extra energy that I had nothing to do with.

  “Hey, guys,” Barrett called all of their attention to her. “If you can refrain from bickering like a bunch of little girls for five seconds, you could meet your new opening act. Pushing Daisies.”

  Cross came out from behind his kit while the other guys made their way toward us. At the same time, we moved farther out onto the stage that was about to become like a second home to us.

  Barrett quickly went through Courting Chaos’ roster, as if we didn’t already know.

  Mack took over for us. “I’m Mack, their manager. These are my brothers, Daltrey, guitar; Van Zant, bass; Bonham, drums; and our little sister Daisy, lead singer.”

  I rolled my eyes so hard, it almost hurt. “You know,” I began, “‘sister’ works fine all on its own.”

  Mack scrunched his eyebrows down like we hadn’t had this conversation a million times in my lifetime. “But you’re our little sister.”

  “And you are pretty little,” Dixon agreed.

  I just shook my head at the lot of them. I was twenty-one. Of age, as they say. Would I ever not be their little sister? My brothers chuckled around me which probably meant I never would be. I went through high school as Bonham and Van Thompson’s little sister. As if I didn’t have my own name.

  “You know,” Van said, cutting in, “she still has a poster of Dixon on her bedroom wall at home.” The guys of Courting Chaos snickered, but the sound made it clear that they were trying not to.

  My eyes widened as I turned to him. “What. In. The. Hell?” My teeth clenched so hard, my jaw ached. “Why would you tell him that?”

  Van shrugged with a shit-eating grin on his stupid face. “Because you do.”

  “It’s still on the wall because I moved out. Mom didn’t take it down.”

  “You moved rooms,” he countered. “You didn’t leave the house.”

  “I moved to the side house. It’s a completely different space.” I sighed. This wasn’t going to work. “You’re all dead to me.”

  “See, Barrett?” Dixon said as he pulled her over to him and my heart dropped. I’d read Dixon had a girlfriend, they all did, but didn’t pay much attention to the name. It was a little crush. Totally normal. Now depending on how Barrett reacted, I might’ve lost my opportunity for female companionship on this tour. “Maybe you should put a poster of me on your wall.”

  “Never,” she said immediately. “Your ego is big enough as it is.”

  He kissed the tip of her nose in such a sweet move that I knew immediately that I wanted what they had some day. Relief also washed over me. It sure didn’t seem like Barrett cared even a little about this new information.

  “So, fangirl,” Dixon said, but it took me a full ten seconds to realize he was talking to me. “You have excellent taste. You have a fantastic voice but do you also play any instruments?” Surprise ran through my body that he’d heard my voice. I’d assumed someone further up the chain made the decision to book us. To which he gave me a panty-dropping smile. “We listened to everything
you have out when Lawson got you to replace Hurricane.”

  “Thank you,” I told him.

  “Which is awesome, by the way,” Booker told us. “That you were able to step in on short notice.”

  “Yeah,” Ransom agreed. “We know you had to cancel some of your own shows.”

  “Not a problem at all,” Mack replied.

  Really, they were doing us a favor by bringing us on this tour. Canceling a few of our shows was an easy price to pay. We played regularly but this was the next level.

  “Daisy plays everything,” Bonham told them, back to the original question.

  Ransom cocked his head to the side. “Everything?”

  I shook my head. It was as if suddenly my brothers’ only goal was to embarrass me. “I don’t play everything well. I dabble. I can play a little something on most instruments, but I only excel with my violin.”

  “I can’t fucking wait to see that,” Cross told me. And just like that, we were all comfortable. As if we’d already known each other before stepping out onto this stage. “We all heard a violin on some of your tracks and were trying to figure it out until Barrett looked into it and said it was you.”

  “It is. My violin teacher was pissed as hell that I joined these guys instead of applying to Julliard or any of the rest of the list of schools he saw in my future.”

  Dixon took a step forward. “Let’s get back to this dabble in everything, fangirl.” He cocked his head to the side and looked me over as if I were an exhibit in a museum. I really didn’t like this nickname I’d gotten already. Sounded like nails on a chalkboard to me. “What does that mean exactly?”

  I opened my mouth to answer, but Bonham spoke before I had the chance. “Literally. The girl can sit down to almost any instrument and play something by ear.” Then he shrugged. “Any standard instrument anyway. I don’t think we’ve tested with rare instrument.”

  I groaned. “You make me sound like a side show freak,” I told him.

  “I mean… ” Bonham let his voice trail off which earned him a light punch to his arm.