Victory RUN: Collected Victory RUN 1, 2, 3

by Devon Hartford

  Your heart and eyes said yes

  Your hurtful words said no

  Your soul confessed it was distressed

  And didn’t want to go”

  After we repeat the pre chorus and chorus, I break into my wailing guitar solo. To my surprise, Kellan knows it note for note and harmonizes with me through the whole thing, but he plays a support role, adding chords here and there for a fuller tone, and letting me play all the flourishes.

  It sounds perfect.

  After we repeat the chorus a final time, and the music calms, I softly sing the last lines to the awestruck crowd:

  “Time to say farewell

  Time to break your spell

  Time to say farewell

  Time to break your spell”

  I’m weeping freely, my face wet, as the band comes to a rest and all goes silent.

  I whisper into the mic:

  “Goodbye, Victor.”

  The house lights fade to black.

  Chapter 129

  VICTORY

  I walk off stage while the crowd cheers and shakes the building.

  I need to be alone. I can’t deal with the overwhelming feelings of sadness I’m feeling right now thinking about Victor.

  It’s rude, I know, but I’m going to fall apart.

  Kellan shouts on mic, “Victory Payne, everybody! Woo!!!”

  I walk down the stairs and Felix catches up with me, “That was phenomenal, Victory!”

  “Th—Thanks,” I mutter and keep walking. I can’t talk to him right now.

  “We’ve got that on video!” he says enthusiastically. “If Rob doesn’t let me post it on the Guitar Central YouTube channel, I’ll post it myself. That was a once in a lifetime performance!” He’s so excited his eyes are practically jumping out of his head when I turn to him.

  I say, “Yes, it was.”

  I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to sing again after that.

  “You guys wanna hear one more?” Kellan asks the crowd.

  I walk to the dark hallway where my Fender case is. I need to put my guitar away and get out of here.

  “I wrote this song about a special girl,” Kellan says on mic. “She means more to me than I ever thought any woman could.”

  I hear the strumming of acoustic guitar as I lift my Fender over my head and set it in the case.

  Kellan strums chords and I’m immediately pulled in by his delicate fingerstyle playing. I can’t help it, I stop to listen.

  As Kellan strums the guitar, he starts to sing:

  “Whispered kisses

  on my lips

  from the ghost of you

  We’ve never met

  yet it’s true

  your the one I seek”

  His singing is so tender, so heartfelt. I’m rapt. I can’t walk away now. And when he talks about a ghost, I can’t help but think about Victor.

  (singsingsingsingsingsing)

  The chords change, growing darker and the rhythm picks up speed. Kellan’s voice becomes plaintive but driven:

  “My whole life

  I searched for you

  my need like a disease

  I can’t live

  without your love

  you bring me to my knees”

  Is he singing about me?

  “My

  Whole

  Life

  (I’ve searched)

  For

  A love

  Like you

  (Victory)”

  Yeah, he’s singing about me.

  “My

  Whole

  Life

  (I’ll search)

  For

  A love

  That’s true

  (Victory)”

  The sound of Kellan’s gravelly singing and the acoustic guitar reminds me of a lost lonesome cowboy crawling across the desert, dying for a drink of water, one last drink of water before he dies a slow painful death. And that drink of water is me. I’m the only thing keeping him going. I’m the only thing that gives him purpose and strength and hope.

  Oh my god. My heart is melting into sugary goo. I smile and laugh and cry at the same time. It crosses my mind that Scott never wrote a song about me. Not a single one.

  Kellan continues to wail, his strumming becoming more frantic and demanding, but powerful and determined:

  “I still search

  For a love

  That’s you

  (Victory)

  On and on

  I crawl

  I still search

  For You”

  There’s a confidence in Kellan’s voice, like he will never ever give up looking for that drink of water until he can quench his thirst.

  He’ll never give up until he finds me.

  Me.

  I’m an idiot.

  Chapter 130

  KELLAN

  I sing the last line of My Whole Life to the crowd at The Cobra Lounge, sitting on the bar stool I brought on stage, my boot hooked over one of the rungs, my Martin on my knee.

  My body is tingling with adrenalin. I pour my guts into my performance, thinking about Victory, my eyes closed as I sing out the lyrics.

  All I can think about is Victory.

  I need her.

  I’m dying for her.

  I don’t know if she’s even here.

  She walked off stage before I started this song.

  Maybe she’s still in the building and she can hear it.

  Maybe she’s gone.

  It doesn’t matter.

  I’ll keep searching.

  I’m never giving up.

  I’m so into the song, I repeat the final lyrics and strum my acoustic with everything I have, altering the vocal melody so it harmonizes differently with the chords, giving it an even more powerful demanding sound:

  “I still search

  For a love

  That’s you

  (Victory)

  On and on

  I crawl

  I still search

  For You”

  I practically fall over my guitar when I finish, nearly passing out from pushing so much air out of my lungs on the final lines.

  I inhale deeply and the black out thing fades.

  I’ve never sung so hard in my entire life.

  And the room is dead silent.

  No one knows what to do.

  I don’t either.

  I hope Victory heard that.

  “Kellan!” she calls out as she runs across the stage and nearly knocks me off the bar stool.

  I stand up, my guitar in one hand, and wrap my other arm around her. She kisses me desperately, passionately, like I’ve never been kissed before.

  I don’t even hear the crowd go wild.

  All I’m aware of is Victory in my arms.

  At last.

  Chapter 131

  VICTORY

  “When we find out who wins, yo?” Dubs asks.

  “Not till all the bands finish,” Kellan says.

  I wait backstage with Kellan, Joaquin, and Dubs while the other bands from tonight’s lineup play their sets. We put our guitars away already and we’re just chatting while we wait for the show to be over.

  None of the other bands tonight receive anything close to the kind of applause we did. So we’re hopeful that we’ll win.

  We hear the last band finish playing.

  Someone yells over the P.A., “That was Hangman’s Noose! Everybody give them a hand!”

  It’s not long before the moderate cheers from the audience die down.

  “Don’t forget to text your vote to the numbers you see up on the projection screen. Or you can vote at the Guitar Central website where we’ve simulcast tonight’s entire show!”

  “So, Gigi,” Kellan says to me bashfully, “I know I’ve asked you this a thousand times, but do you want to join the band?”

  I glance at Dubs and Joaquin, “What do you guys think?”

  Joaquin purses his lips into an impressed smile, “Fuck yeah
, ésa.”

  Dubs grins, “I’m down.”

  “Yes!” I throw my arms around Kellan’s neck and kiss him repeatedly, smacking my lips all over his. Although I’m now in two bands, it’s not the first time I’ve been in more than one at the same time. I sense that unless Lucas and Logan move to L.A., it’s always going to be difficult to get together with them to write and rehearse. As for Liv, she really is moving in much more of a pop direction than I am. But I’ll keep working with her just because we have so much fun. And who knows, maybe things with Kellan and the boys won’t last either. That’s how it is with bands. But for now, I’m open to whatever happens.

  But I’m going to give everything I can to working with Kellan, Dubs, and Joaquin.

  “Cast your votes, people! Voting closes in ten minutes!”

  “Can anyone check the website?” I ask. “And see what the votes are?”

  “I’ll do it,” Kellan says and pulls out his phone, which he got back from Felix after we left the stage. It takes awhile, but eventually, a smile spreads across Kellan’s face.

  “What?” I ask, excited.

  He holds up his smart phone so I can see it.

  Suffer The Gun is way out in front of everybody with 25,344 votes.

  But ahead of Suffer The Gun is Victory Payne with 57,966.

  “Oh my god!” I blurt. “I thought I wasn’t on the list!”

  Kellan grins, “Guess you are now.”

  “Did you do that?”

  He shakes his head, “Nope.”

  I frown, “Is this like the thing where you didn’t know about my YouTube video?”

  He chuckles, “I swear, I didn’t do it.”

  I leer, “You’re sure sure?”

  “I’m serious!” he laughs.

  A few minutes later, the P.A. voice says, “The results are in!” I think it’s Rob the Knob. “You guys wanna know who won?”

  The crowd cheers, “YEAH!!”

  “The winner is…” He clears his throat, and pulls the mic away, but you can still hear him mutter to someone off mic, “Is this right? I thought I told you to take her off the list?”

  “What?” Kellan frowns.

  I hiss, “Wait, shh!”

  There’s more mumbling on the mic but I can’t make it out.

  Random people in the crowd start shouting, “IT’S VICTORY PAYNE!!”

  “THE WEBSITE SAYS VICTORY PAYNE!!”

  “VICTORY WON!!”

  “Okay!” Rob says on mic, “Okay! And the winner of the $5,000 first prize for Guitar Central’s annual L.A. Gunslingers battle of the bands competition is Victory Payne!”

  The crowd goes crazy.

  “Victory Payne, where are you? Come up on stage and claim your prize!”

  “Go!” Kellan says.

  I run down the hallway toward the stage stairs and rush up them.

  Felix stands by the side of the sound booth, clapping, watching me.

  I give him a shrewd look, “Did you do this?”

  He’s grinning ear to ear, but he shrugs like he doesn’t know.

  Yeah, right.

  I owe him that drink for sure.

  He smiles, “Go claim your prize, Victory!”

  Rob the Knob stands center stage, bathed in the spotlight, holding a trophy that is a golden electric guitar shoved neck first into a golden holster mounted on a crystal block.

  I walk up to him.

  The grimaced smile on Rob the Knob’s face can be described as completely devoid of real enthusiasm. His lips are strained to the point of constipation. But he’s going to play along.

  “Victory Payne, everybody,” Rob the Knob says into the mic. He hands me the trophy and I take it. Then, to my surprise, he claps enthusiastically. I notice he has a rectangle of paper in his hand.

  The crowds cheers and claps too.

  Rob says into the mic, “And we also have a check for $5,000, payable to you.”

  He hands me the check. I read it and notice it’s hand written in ink on a Guitar Central check. Made out to me, Victory Payne, for $5,000. Signed by Rob Pickford.

  “Thanks, Rob,” I say to him genuinely.

  He leans over to me and says, “Do me a favor. Try to spend it all at Guitar Central.”

  I smile at him like I mean it, but all I can think is how I’m going to give it all to Johnny and Karen. With this $5,000 and the remaining money Julian paid me for my work on the dick hardener commercial, I have just enough to cover every cent of the $6,000 I owe Johnny and Karen for the busted Contrares.

  Sure, I’ll be back to broke, but I won’t owe Johnny and Karen! Yay!

  I lean toward the mic and say to the crowd, “Thank you guys, so much! You rock!”

  They applaud and cheer somewhat sedately. I think everyone here tonight is as exhausted as I am right now.

  I laugh into the mic, “Thank you, seriously. You guys are the best!”

  I hold the trophy up and shake it Victoriously.

  My name is Victory Payne.

  Chapter 132

  VICTORY

  Kellan walks out the back door of The Cobra holding up a Marshall speaker cabinet in front of him.

  I follow him with my guitar case in one hand and his case in the other.

  The crowd outside behind The Cobra is pretty thin.

  Most of the other bands have already loaded up their cars and driven off.

  Joaquin emerges from The Cobra holding a stack of toms and sets them next to his bass drum and hardware bag near the rest of our gear.

  Dubs says, “I’ll go get the van, yo.” He jogs up the street.

  Joaquin walks back inside to get more gear.

  “I think that’s the last of it,” Kellan says to me, leaning his elbow on top of Dubs’ big bass speaker cabinet.

  We watch people walk past the alley, heading toward their cars.

  I say to Kellan, “What an incredible evening.”

  “You and me both,” he grins.

  I smile. I think this might be a good time to finally kiss Kellan again in relative private.

  He smiles down at me.

  I gaze into his burning brown eyes…

  “There you are!” Cannonballs singsongs as she turns into the alley. “I thought you were gone, Kellan!”

  “Still here,” Kellan says dryly.

  Cannonballs hasn’t noticed me yet because I stand behind Kellan and Dubs’ big bass amp speaker cabinet.

  I wonder if Cannonballs saw Kellan and me kiss onstage? Or maybe she wasn’t inside the main room watching the bands. Or maybe she’s a self-centered bitch who doesn’t care about anything but what she wants, which is Kellan.

  Kellan steps aside so I am in full view of Cannonballs.

  “Oh,” she says abruptly, “Hello. What was your name again?”

  I smirk, “I’m Victory Payne.”

  “Oh! You won tonight, didn’t you?”

  “I did,” I smile proudly and hold up my trophy.

  “Congratulations!” she says fakely.

  “Thanks,” I grimace.

  She turns to Kellan, “How about a drink?”

  Kellan runs his hand through his hair, “I’m pretty busy tonight. Sorry.”

  Cannonballs glances between me and Kellan, “With her?”

  I frown, “Yeah, with me!”

  Cannonballs grimaces, “Why?”

  Kellan says to Cannonballs, “You’re not that hot.”

  Cannonballs eyes pop and her face turns brick red. She flips Kellan off and growls, “Neither are you!” She storms off.

  Kellan chuckles at her back dismissively then smiles at me.

  “What a bitch!” I blurt as Cannonballs clicks around the corner on her stripper heels. I turn back to Kellan, once again ready to kiss him.

  Joaquin walks out with more drum hardware and nearly drops everything when the back door springs shut on him. He barks, “Pinche puerta pendeja!”

  Kellan says, “Dude, let me help you with that.” He rushes over to the door and takes dr
um hardware from Joaquin before it spills all over the ground.

  “Gracias, ése” Joaquin smiles while juggling the heavy hardware.

  “Victory Payne,” someone calls out behind me.

  I whip my head around.

  Julian Whittaker rounds the corner of the building with a gorgeous woman on his arm.

  So much for kissing Kellan.

  The woman with Julian wears dark aviator sunglasses and is dressed in an expensive leather outfit that looks like it cost more than my $5,000 prize winnings. She looks vaguely familiar to me, but I can’t place her.

  “Hey, Julian!” I say nervously. “What are you doing here?!”

  “I came to watch you perform,” he smiles.

  I totally forgot to tell him I was playing, but I guess he remembered, “Did you see me play?”

  “I did,” he smiles, “and I heard you sing. You were wonderful. Your voice is incredible. One of the finest I’ve ever heard.”

  “Wow,” I smile, “Thanks, Julian!”

  I suddenly wonder, did Julian see me kiss Kellan? He must have if he watched me perform. Unless he left after I walked off stage? I don’t know. Either way, this is really uncomfortable since Kellan is ten feet away helping Joaquin.

  I notice the woman with Julian leans against him like she’s his date.

  Maybe I shouldn’t be worried about Kellan or Julian.

  Maybe Julian found himself a girlfriend? It’s not like me and him talk every day or even every week.

  Kellan sets his armload of drum hardware in the pile with the rest of our gear and walks up beside me.

  When the woman on Julian’s arm sees Kellan, she chuckles, “As I live and breathe…” She releases Julian’s arm, cocks her hip, and slides her sunglasses off. Her lips ease into a sultry smile, “Hello, Kellan. It’s been a long time.”