“Rituals are important,” she said still watching them, finding it hard to look away.
Rory moved his hand to her other shoulder and stood behind her. He leaned down so that only she could hear his next words. “If you get into a relationship with Greer, you’re also getting into one with Jason. That’s one bromance that can’t be broken. Just thought you should be warned.”
Rory gave her shoulder a squeeze and walked away.
Jason slapped Greer on the back, ending the moment. They stood back from each other, grinning with a shared companionship. It was Jason who caught her staring. He pushed Greer in her direction and went to wait for their cue back with Sawyer.
“Hey,” Greer said wrapping his hands around her lower back. “You ready?”
Aveline was pumped. She hadn’t really gotten to enjoy the last concert because she had been so worried about what he thought of her. She planned to make the most of this one. “I can’t wait. Have I told you how much I love this band? Because they are…ugh! So amazing.”
She was bouncing with the synchronized chaotic energy of backstage. The set was being changed from the opening band. People were running back and forth with cords, others with instruments. The crowd was loud as they waited for them to get started.
Greer pulled a lanyard out of his back pocket and handed it to her. “Here. This is so you can go out there and watch if you want. There’s a spot right down there by the security that you can get a front stage view. Just flash this and you can go anywhere.”
She turned it over in her hand. It was a backstage pass but Greer had written on it too. “'Backstage, all access, give this woman anything she wants pass.' Nice,” she said laughing. “But how do they know I didn’t write all this on there?”
“You are the only one with a pass tonight. I showed it to every security guard here and even wrote that while they watched. You’ll be fine.”
Aveline slipped it over her head, feeling like she just found the last golden ticket to the Wonka factory. Her smile was wide and effortless. So far the day had been amazing. There had been the bump while the band dealt with business but otherwise Aveline was happy that she was there.
Especially now since Greer was looking at her like she was his own personal golden ticket.
Jason walked passed them, slapping Greer in the head as he went. It knocked that sinful look he was giving her, right off his face.
“Wrap that up, Romeo,” Jason said before running out on stage and throwing his arms in the air as the crowd roared.
Aveline hooked her fingers in Greer’s jeans pocket and pulled him forward until they were flush against each other. He let her lead him on with a smirk. There may have been multiple layers of clothes between them but she could definitely feel his interest.
Rory and Sawyer walked passed next. She ignored their comments, as did Greer. He was too busy staring at her lips.
Wait, maybe he was looking at the little mole she had on her chin.
Experiment. Aveline sucked her bottom lip and bit it lightly. Greer drew in a sharp breath. Nope, he was definitely looking at her lips.
Last weekend Rob had told her she looked sexy hot. This weekend she felt it. Greer had this effect on her. When he looked at her like she was a giant cake and he wanted to lick the icing, she got this confidence that made her do things like rub herself all over him like a cat in heat. Aveline didn’t usually have that confidence unless vodka and dancing was involved.
His hands traveled down her back to cup her ass and squeezed.
“I have to go,” he said.
“I know.”
Neither of them moved.
Sawyer was greeting the crowd. She missed what he said but there was a loud roar of laughter.
“Fuck. I really have to-”
Aveline grabbed his neck and pulled him down to her lips. The kiss was hard and fast. She raised herself on her tiptoes to get closer to him. Greer wrapped his arms around her to keep her close. His hips ground into her. Oh god, she wanted that so bad. But not now. People waiting. Lots of people. Waiting.
“Mmmmmm,” she moaned into his mouth. His hand pulled her leg up to his hip. With more access, he took the opportunity to drive her fucking mad and slide his hand down the underside of her thigh.
Aveline broke the kiss off. His eyes drank her in. Everything from her swollen lips to the blush that traveled down her chest disappearing beneath her shirt was taken in. She felt naked there backstage with his band mates watching and waiting for him to join them. Naked, as his touch left her both breathless and on fire. Naked, as his gaze could see the lust she felt for him crawl up her skin in a flushed vine.
“Good luck,” she said breathlessly lowering her leg.
The crowd was chanting his name. Greer slid her down his body till her heels were back on the floor. “You are trouble, Ava. The best kind of trouble.” He kissed her cheek and left her there, swaying.
Greer ran out on stage to a loud mix of laughter and cheering.
Rory made the very adult sound of a whip being cracked.
“Funny,” Greer said into his mic as he grabbed his bass and adjusted it.
“Can we start the concert now or do you need to adjust yourself first?” Jason asked. There was a ba-dum-tish of his drums. “Thank you! I’m here all night.”
It was Sawyer who started them off. He began strumming the beginning chords of Lit Up. Jason picked up the drums and soon the jokes were gone and all that was left was the music. Aveline threw her hands in the air and danced.
They played two songs back to back. The energy was amazing. Every time she looked up Greer was there, watching her with a smile. She danced for him. She danced for herself. After a few minutes she didn’t care anymore and she just danced. The song flowed out of her as she sang along.
At the end of Carolina Moonlight, the mood shifted as Sawyer began to play something she had never heard. “This is a new one called From the Ashes,” he said, as he grabbed his acoustic guitar, snagged a stool from the side of the stage. “It’s not finished yet so don’t judge too harshly.”
None of the other guys played with him, which made his performance that much more powerful. Sawyer’s voice was very different from the one that normally sang. His was grittier. It still worked but gave all the songs a different sound than the one Nix’s smooth as honey voice did.
Aveline hadn’t been listening to the words, the tone and the emotion coming off of him was more than enough to hold her attention. The entire stadium must have felt the same way because the energetic crowd of minutes earlier had slowed to hear what he had to say.
From the ashes of this life
What will you become?
From the ashes of this world
You’ve got to overcome.
The time is right,
The flames are high,
Don't let this chance go to waste.
Sawyer really was a great singer. People always compared him to Nix but he could just as easily be the front man of this band. Hell, he had been for the past few months.
Prepare yourself, brother,
To rise from the ashes.
The only way out is to burn.
When the song ended, Sawyer hung his head. In a stadium of thousands, you could hear a pin drop.
“Was that for Nix?” someone in the front yelled.
Sawyer’s head lifted and a small smile graced his face. “Everything I do is for Nix.” He looked over his shoulder to where the rest of the band stood. Jason had come out from behind his drum kit to stand with Greer and Rory as he played. Something came over Sawyer’s face as he looked at them. It was anger but also acceptance.
“You know what?” he said turning back to the crowd. “Fuck this set list. Yeah, I don’t want to do it.”
Aveline’s eyes went wide as she looked from Greer to Sawyer. They looked just as confused as everyone else. “Sawyer,” Rory began but he just shook his head and stood from the stool. She wasn’t sure if he was about to walk off stage or ju
st have a very public breakdown.
He laughed, which should have been settling but it wasn’t. “Let’s have a Nix comeback tour.”
Aveline’s eyes shot to the band. The confusion gave way to smiles. They were on board with whatever Sawyer was cooking up. Rory bellowed a “fuck yeah!” and tossed his fist in the air. “We’re game, buddy.”
Sawyer swung his guitar onto his back and grabbed hold of the mic in one hand and the stand in the other. “One night only, folks! Right here, right now. We’re playing all of Nix’s favorites.”
The crowd began to get into the abrupt change of plans. Cheers and hollers of “We love you Nix,” erupted from the fans.
Sawyer’s words were soft as he spoke into the mic, his eyes closed, his heart open for the world to see. “Where ever you are, Brother, know that we are there with you. Don’t feel like you need to do this alone because you are never, ever alone. I love you,” he said breathless and dropped his head.
People began to clap for him. Aveline joined in. Her heart ached for Sawyer right now.
“I miss you,” his voice cracked but he kept going. “It’s time to come home, Phoenix.”
*****
They had played Hank Williams, John Cash, Eric Church, Journey, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Basically if it was one of his favorite songs or reminded them of Nix, it was played. Their Front of House, Kelly, had stopped yelling at them after the third song. The silent treatment was almost worse than the endless cursing. They owed him, big time.
Greer hadn’t had so much fun at a concert in years. It was basically a jam session with a thousand of their closest friends. And the fans ate it up. Sawyer had basically outed them tonight about Nix. Their only approved comment to anything Nix related was “no comment.” The label was swinging it that he was in rehab and they were trying to give him his privacy. Rumors spread, of course. Some people didn’t believe the lie. And tonight, they just confirmed it.
At the moment, none of them cared. They would get yelled out later, right now it was about Nix.
“It was Nix who started this kilt thing a few years ago,” Jason said to start off his story about the singer. Each of them had taken a turn telling the crowd a story about the man. His addiction wasn’t all he was. They wanted people to remember that.
Rory laughed. “Oh, ho, ho, the bet.”
“Oh, yes,” Jason said with a grin. “The bet. At the time we were only a local band that did the circuit of bars in Asheville. Because we had nothing better to do, we always tried to make the shows interesting. For a series of shows, Nix and I would both wear the same thing and then have the fans vote on who wore it best. As we all know, Nix is the biggest sweet talker out there. Before the show he would go out and schmooze every woman there and buy every guy a drink. So then when it came time for the vote, they would all pick him. I caught on to his games, though.”
“It took you ten shows,” Sawyer said standing next to Greer so Jason could have the stage.
“Shut it you!” Jason yelled pointing his finger at Sawyer. “Anyway, it was the last night of the bet and I told him that it was winner take all. We could wear whatever the hell we wanted to win.”
“We were at this Irish Pub. Nix wore these skin tight, black leather pants. I mean his ass was,” Jason held out his hands in front of him and tried to convey without words just how good Nix’s ass had looked. The women whistled and screamed. “Look, I’m not gay but even I did a double take that night. How could you not? The man is fit. But I knew I could win if I just dressed the part.” He Vanna White’d his kilt with his hand. More screams erupted from the crowd. “Thank you.” He winked. “So Nix was shirtless and all covered in leather but then I came out in only a kilt. His face,” Jason laughed. “Oh, he knew he had lost.”
And they had never heard the end of it. Greer remembered for months afterward, when at the start of every concert, Jason would put that kilt back on. It pissed Nix off to no end to see his loss flaunted at him time and time again.
“In honor of that night, I think we need to play something from Dropkick Murphys,” Jason looked back at them seeing if that was cool with everyone else.
“Dude, I don’t have my accordion,” Greer said.
“That won’t work. Umm.” Jason hoped around a little as he thought. “Alright. What do you want to hear?” he asked the crowd.
Songs were yelled out until it was unintelligible noise. After a minute, Jason held up his hand to stop. “I heard a bunch of Before Too Long. Then I think maybe we’ll kick it back with River Nights.” From the wings, he saw Aveline jump up and down in victory and then blow Jason a kiss. “I got you girl,” he said after grabbing the imaginary kiss and waving it at Greer. “Dude, your girl likes me more than you.”
“Only in your dreams.”
Nix wasn’t there with them physically but he was there in spirit. Greer switched out his bass for a banjo for River Nights. Both those songs were written by Nix and he usually was the banjo player but Greer could hold his own. Although Sawyer’s rough sound didn’t match Nix’s sweetened vocals, it was still magic.
Greer slipped the picks onto his thumb and forefingers. As he waited for everyone else to switch out or make any adjustments he sent out a prayer for Nix.
Where ever he was tonight, Greer hoped that he could feel the love they had for him. He hoped that this concert made its way to Nix.
Chapter Six
“That was unreal,” Aveline told the guys as they walked across the empty parking lot to the bus. Greer had his arm draped over her shoulders and held her hand loosely in his fingers. He was sweaty but in that super sexy kind of way that made women lick their lips while imagining them naked. There were easy smiles all around. It felt like the air had been cleansed from the earlier issues with their manager.
“It was good. Felt good,” Greer agreed.
“It was like old times, back before…” Sawyer started.
Back before drugs became the sixth band member.
Jason slapped Sawyer on the shoulder. “Yeah, man. He was with us tonight.”
“So what kind of bribe are we going to offer Kelly for putting up with us?” Rory asked.
The security guards who had been following them in case some rabid fan came out of the shadows dropped off as they reached the buses. The crew was loading up all the equipment. As they passed compliments, cheers and good jobs were yelled out. It seemed everyone was riding high from the concert.
“Maybe an extra week of vacation time? I’ve never seen him so mad that he stopped talking,” Greer reached the door first and opened it for Aveline. She walked up the few stairs expecting the guys to follow but no one did. She turned around to see where they went and found Greer blocking the way, staring at her ass.
Rory shoved him in the back to get him moving again.
“Sorry, was blinded there for a second.”
Aveline smirked. He was good for the ego.
“Alright, let’s get this over with,” Sawyer sighed. They had about thirty minutes before they left. Aveline was still amped up from the concert but she could tell the guys were ready to crash. They reluctantly got into a small circle and Sawyer pulled out four small sticks, each with a number. Around they went and picked a stick until each of them had a number. Jason whooped having picked number one.
“Yes! Finally, I never get the shower first.” He didn’t wait around. The bathroom door was shut and locked a few seconds later.
“I’ll talk to Kelly tomorrow. Give him time to cool off.” Sawyer went to the fridge for a bottle of water. She saw his stick had a three on it. Greer laid down on the couch, a leg and an arm hung off the side. He sighed in a deep exhaustion. Behind her, Rory was climbing into a top bunk and hitting the pillow with a groan. Last week they had all hung out for hours after the concert, not one yawn in the bunch. But tonight, they were all a bunch of dead weight.
Sawyer was sipping his water and watching her. He alone didn’t look like he was about to collapse in exhaustion.
; “Not as glamorous as you expected?”
“Am I that obvious?” she asked going to stand beside him.
He popped open the fridge and grabbed her a water. “You’re fine. Rory’s been trying to write some new stuff. He barely sleeps when inspiration hits so he’s been due for a crash.” The guitarist in question was already snoring.
“Greer spent the last week in a giant knot. He’s been so worried that he made a bad impression last weekend. Now that you’re here, he’s finally relaxed. Plus, finals are next week so he’s been trying to get in some studying between bouts of pacing and pouting.”
“I heard that,” Greer mumbled from the couch. “I don’t pout.”
At the sound of his voice, Aveline’s heart did a big BA DAMP in her chest.
As if he heard it, Sawyer smirked. “Thank you for coming out and putting him out of his misery. If you hadn’t agreed, I think he might have flown out to you even if it was just to say hi for a few minutes and then flown back.”
“He wouldn’t have-”
By the look on Sawyer’s face, he would have. “Look,” he said lowering his voice. “You are all he ever talks about. Even before last weekend, we would hear about how Ava got an A on this paper or ‘listen to what Ava said about this book.’ We were worried that you were…”
“A crazy stalker?” she supplied.
He shook his head. “No, but we were worried he was being used or catfished. He only told us last weekend that you didn’t know who he really was.”
They both looked over at him. His eyes were closed but she had the feeling he was listening. “I don’t know what you mean?” Her voice had gotten a bit of an edge. “He’s Greer, just Greer. The same guy I talked to day in and day out.”
Sawyer laughed. “Kitty’s got claws. Good. You’ll need them if you are serious about him. Greer doesn’t do serious. As long as I’ve known him, he’s been a casual dater. Nothing longer than a month or two. It’s not because he was burned in the past or any other bullshit, it’s because he’s holding out for someone special, someone real. Too often we meet the girls who only want us for our fame or money. It’s hard to find something that is genuine in this line of business.”
Chance (Rusted and Reckless Book 1) Page 6
