A Voice to Love (Fallen Tuesday Book One) (A Brothers of Rock Novel) (8 page)

Amy sensed worry in
Luke’s voice. For all he knew, Amy could have a boyfriend.

“I have friends. Am I
supposed to come alone tonight?”

“That was sort of my
plan. You get to sit in the very best seat, and when the show’s over, I’ll come
get you and we can hang out.”

“Hang out?” Amy asked.

“I was thinking of
celebrating the show with dinner.”

“Dinner with me?”

“Dinner with you… the
band… know any good restaurants?”

Amy laughed. The
butterfly feeling returned to her stomach. “I know a couple decent ones.”

“Can you get a big table
at your restaurant?”

“Well, it’s not my
restaurant. My uncle was supposed to retire, but he… why am I telling you
this?”

“I don’t know,” Luke
said, laughing. “But I’m listening.”

“I’m sorry,” Amy said.
“I’m kind of nervous right now.”

Amy closed her eyes and
slapped her forehead.

Did I just admit that?

“No need to be nervous,”
Luke said. “Just be at the show. You need a ride? I’ll send a car for you.”

“I got my car back this
morning,” Amy said. “All fixed.”

“I’d rather send you a
car,” Luke said.

“Why?”

“Well, Amy, I was hoping
that after the show we can ride together to your restaurant. Talk. Be alone. I
haven’t stopped thinking or worrying about you.”

“You don’t need to worry
about me,” Amy said. “I’m taken care of.”

“That’s good. I’m
interested. I want to know if I can help… and if I can’t, at least we can have
some fun for one night, right?”

Amy opened her mouth. She
looked forward and saw the reflection of herself in the mirror at the other end
of the room. Here she was in a position that so many women would kill for. A
chance to go to a rock concert in a way that nobody else would experience. A
free ticket. A free ride to the show. A chance to meet the band backstage and
hang out.

Everything Amy had done
with her life played through her mind. She had always been a good girl. She
never stepped over any lines or got into trouble. The worst thing she did was
get involved with Denny. She never did anything crazy, wild, or fun. Uncle Tom
had warned her to enjoy her day off.

“I’ll be there,” Amy
said.

“I’ll send a car for
five. Be ready.”

The call ended and Amy
stood from the bed. She was shaking. She was stuck between excited and nervous.
Part of her still thought she was going to wake up from the dream she must have
been stuck in.

A thought came to her.

I don’t have a Fallen
Tuesday shirt to wear…

Amy laughed and then
dialed the restaurant. One of the hostesses, Becky, picked up.

“Hey Becky, it’s Amy.
Uncle Tom there?”

“Hold on a second, let me
get him.”

Uncle Tom came on the
line upset. “It’s your day off…”

“I need to make a
reservation for tonight.”

“What?”

“I’m coming in for dinner.
A late dinner. I’ll need the kitchen open for a little while longer.”

“What is this, Amy?”
Uncle Tom asked.

“I’m enjoying my day and
night off. Just make sure there’s a big table available and some food ready.
Love you.”

Amy hung up the phone and
tossed it to the bed. Her bedroom door opened and Julie stood in the doorway.

“So…?”

Amy looked at Julie. “I
think I have a date with a rockstar tonight.”

(7)

Luke was on his third
bottle of water. Sound check had been brutal. Simply brutal. The sound in the
arena just didn’t feel right, no matter what Luke did to fix it. He walked the
entire arena three times, trying to get the sound to fill it the way he wanted.
When it came time to run through a few songs, his throat felt like there was a golf
ball stuck there. It didn’t hurt so much to swallow, but it was hard to sing.
He struggled to hit some notes and after just two songs, he called the sound
check done and went for a bottle of water.

Mack chased after him and
grabbed his shoulder.

“Dude…”

“I just need some water,”
Luke said. “I’m going to walk the arena again. Something doesn’t feel right.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Go play so I can
hear it.”

Luke went to the last row
at the highest point of the arena. From the vantage point, the rest of Fallen
Tuesday looked like small toy figures on stage. The sound was good, finally. It
was Luke that had the sound problems… with himself.

Luke sat down and thought
about Dr. Hornsbury’s warning. He thought about Amy too. Part of him couldn’t
believe she was going along with all this. Getting that ticket, leaving the
note, waiting for the call, it all felt strange to do, but Luke wasn’t sure how
else to do it. He didn’t want to just show up at Amy’s door with a ticket. It would
seem like he was stalking her or something of the like. It was bad enough that
he had met Amy when she was scared of whatever situation that had been
following her.

The band continued to
play and Luke continued to think. He touched his throat and knew he had to get
through the tour. When the tour ends, he’d go see Dr. Hornsbury. He’d take
everything to the band and to Frank. They could still go into the studio and
write. Luke could still write lyrics and prepare himself for vocal sessions.
That would be the smartest thing to do. He just had to get through the rest of
the tour.

Luke coughed and it hurt.
He closed his eyes. He swallowed the rest of the cough down, but that wasn’t
cutting it. He coughed again. The pain so bad. Luke made a fist and punched the
seat in front of him. He leaned forward and stared at the concrete.

“Damn,” he whispered.

He licked his lips and
tried to let his throat calm. The urge to cough hit him again and Luke had to
let it go. He coughed as hard as his body needed. He expected a lung to come
out of his mouth, but when he stopped coughing, he felt a little better. When
he opened his eyes though there were three small droplets of blood on the
ground. Luke hurried and wiped his lips and saw a small trace of blood. He
wiped the blood off his hand and stared at the blood on the ground. He slowly moved
his shoe over the droplets and twisted his foot, smearing and dissipating the
blood as though it was never there.

If he didn’t see blood
then it wasn’t there.

“Just a few more shows,”
he whispered.

Luke made it back down on
the floor, where the Fallen Tuesday fans would stand, push, raise their hands,
sing songs, and sweat together. He watched the band on stage. They were done
playing and they were all looking to Luke for his thoughts on the sound. For a
moment Luke felt like he could cry.

“Sounds good,” he yelled,
instantly regretting it.

He winced and hung his
head. He drank more water as he walked to the side of the stage. Mack was there
waiting for him, concerned.

“You don’t look right, my
man,” he said. “You look worried. Tired. Sick. I don’t know.”

“I’m fine,” Luke said. “I
invited that woman here tonight. I gave her a ticket and I’m having a car pick
her up.”

“You’re nervous about
that?” Mack asked. “There’s going to be thousands of women here that would do
twice as much for half your effort.”

“I know,” Luke said. He
looked to the stage. “Sounds good now.”

“Yeah, it does. It’ll be
a good show.”

“Great show.”

Gray, Trent, and Jake came
over, Jake with a guitar hanging from his back.

“What do we think?” Trent
asked.

“All set,” Luke said.
“Let’s go rest before the show.”

“I need a drink,” Gray
said. “A stiff one.”

“I second that,” Mack
said. “To the bus, my friends.”

Everyone started walking,
Luke cut into the bathroom. He had the urge to cough but was afraid to do so in
front of the band in case blood came out again. He didn’t want to imagine that
scene.

In the bathroom, Luke
hung over the sink for a few seconds. He took deep breaths, hoping the coughing
feeling would go away. It did, for about two seconds. Luke closed his eyes and
coughed. He hesitated to open his eyes, but then he heard knocking at the door.
It opened and Mack’s voice rang out.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” Luke said. He
turned, and as he did, he saw blood in the sink. “I was just washing my hands.
I touched something up on one of those seats. Kind of gross, man.”

“Okay then. Let’s get
going.”

Luke left the bathroom as
Mack held the door. Luke ran to catch up to the rest of the band. He needed to
shake it all away. Nothing mattered more than the band and the show. The high
of rock n’ roll, and the passion from the fans, it would lift him beyond the
pain and blood.

He also had a feeling
that Amy would help ease the pain…

**

Mack snuck into the
bathroom and let the door shut behind him. He knew it was bullshit Luke needed
to wash his hands. Luke never washed his hands. It was the lamest thing he’d
ever heard in his life. When he saw Luke’s face and paired it with the way he
had been acting the past day or two, Mack worried Luke was messing around with
drugs. He wasn’t the same Luke. If he was messing with drugs, that would be a
situation the band would have to face together. Sure, they liked to drink. They
liked to party. They enjoyed themselves. However, drugs never became part of
the picture, mostly because they couldn’t afford drugs.

Until now.

Luke had plenty of money,
more than the rest of the band because of the Chasing Cross shows he played.

Mack looked around the
bathroom. He used his foot to lift the toilet seat. The water was clear. The
trashcan was empty. Then came the sink. At first, Mack wasn’t sure what he was
looking at. It was a few red spots. Like someone had dripped…

“Blood,” he whispered.

Mack reached with a
finger but caught himself.

He didn’t know it was
Luke’s blood.

If it was, where did it
come from?

Maybe Luke had done
something embarrassing and cut himself. Maybe he was too afraid to say
something… but probably not. Mack had a terrible feeling inside. Luke had
hurried into a bathroom and now there was blood in the sink.

“Shit,” Mack said. He
looked up into the mirror. His face was white. “What’s happening to Luke?”

Mack turned the water on
and let it wash the blood away. He left the bathroom and walked the hall
slowly. There was something wrong with Luke. He had trouble singing the other
day. He had trouble with the sound check. Now there was blood in a bathroom
sink.

Mack kicked the backdoor
open to the arena. He was pissed off. He made fists, wishing he had his bike
with him. On the next tour he would definitely make it happen. Right now was
the kind of moment when he needed to go for a ride to clear his mind. So much
had happened with the band in the past six months. Now they were wrapping up
their first real big tour and were set to hit the studio for another album.

Fans screamed Mack’s name,
snapping him out of his trance. He saw four people standing at the gate. He
noticed that cars were already starting to pull into the parking lot.

Talk about dedication…

Mack went to the gate and
signed autographs for the four fans. He took two pictures, laughed, and then hurried
to the tour bus. The second he climbed up the steps his eyes searched for Luke.
He sat facing the window, lost in thought.

Maybe he was high.

Maybe he was hiding
something.

Maybe he was afraid.

Mack walked to Luke and
smacked his arm. “You sure you’re okay?”

Luke looked up at Mack.
“I’m fine, man. Just fine. Ready to play tonight.”

Mack nodded. One thing
the bandmates had never done was lie.

Luke had just lied. Mack
knew it.

He wanted to be angry,
but he was more concerned… whatever was going with Luke must be really bad.

**

Amy stared at her watch. After
pinching herself all day, a black car pulled into an empty parking spot at five
o’clock. Amy froze at the window.

Luke was true to his
word.

The driver’s door opened
and Amy rushed to her door. She didn’t want to inconvenience the driver. Amy
left her apartment and with each step she took to leave the building she felt
her heart racing faster and faster. By the time she saw the driver, her mouth
had run dry. She was nervous. So nervous.

“Ma’am,” the driver said.
He opened the backdoor and pointed.

Amy walked to the open
door and let out a small cry. There on the seat was a folded Fallen Tuesday
t-shirt. She climbed into the car. She stared at it, shaking her head. She had admitted
to Luke that she didn’t own a Fallen Tuesday t-shirt. Now she did.

The entire ride was like
a fantasy. The black car pulled into the arena lot and was able to bypass all
the cars waiting in line. The parking lot was flooded with cars and fans. Amy
was in awe. People really loved Fallen Tuesday.

The car continued around
to the back of the building before finally stopping. Amy reached for the door
handle but then stopped. Was is the driver’s job to open the door? She didn’t
like the idea of someone opening a door for her. She could do it herself. Just
as she tried to pull the handle, the driver opened the door. He helped her from
the car and then walked her to a side door labeled VIP and the second Amy
stepped inside, she was asked for her ticket and then shown to a small
gathering of about twenty people, all wearing Fallen Tuesday shirts and hats.
They had posters, signs, and CDs.

A few minutes later the
crowd began to cheer.

That’s when Amy saw the
band coming from a hallway.

She counted five guys and
when she saw Luke, her heart jumped a little. When she first met him outside
he’d been wearing long sleeves and had been trying to keep himself bundled from
the cold air. Now inside, Luke had a black t-shirt on that revealed defined
arms. No wonder nobody could take their eyes off him.

The fans flocked to a
long table, all wanting their shot at meeting the band. Amy wasn’t sure what to
do so she went to the end of the line. People talked, laughed, some even cried.
Fallen Tuesday took pictures with every fan. They signed everything asked to be
signed. They got together and let fans take pictures of them as a band.

Luke was the first one
for Amy to meet. She could not believe how nervous she was as she shuffled down
the table to see Luke. This was an arena Luke was going to perform in. All
those people outside, working their way into the arena, they all paid to see
Luke and Fallen Tuesday play.

“Amy,” Luke said. He
stood up. “You came.”

“Free concert ticket,”
Amy said. “How could I not.”

Luke reached across the
table for a hug and Amy opened her arms before realizing what she was doing.
They hugged and Amy let out a sigh. Luke’s strong arms around her lasted all of
a few seconds, but the effect to Amy’s body would linger for some time.

“Do you have your shirt?”
Luke asked.

Amy showed it to him. It
was an off-white colored shirt. Luke took it from her and signed it. He then
slid it down the table and said, “Here, Gray, sign this. For Amy.”

“Amy?”

Amy looked at the man now
holding her shirt. He wore a mile wide smile. Amy felt the color rush to her
face, again. It meant that Luke had been talking about Amy to his band.

How was any of this
possible?

“Hey, how did everything
go last night?” Luke asked. “After you left?”

Amy watched her shirt get
passed down the table. Each band member looked at Amy and smiled. They must
have known something she didn’t. Amy wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or
not.

“Everything is fine,” Amy
said. “Thank you for doing all this. You didn’t have to though.”

“I was worried,” Luke
said.

“You have better things
to worry about,” Amy said. “You have to play a concert for all these people.”

“That’s nothing to worry
about,” Luke said. “That’s my job. It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of. Well, almost…”

Luke’s words lingered as
he stared at Amy. With each second that ticked by, Amy realized she was sinking
deeper and deeper. She wasn’t sure if the night was going to be a good experience
or a bad experience, but it was definitely going to be an experience.

Someone appeared and
knocked on the wall.

“Gentlemen,” the voice
said. “Time.”

The rest of the band
stood and left the table. Amy looked at Luke. They had the table between them,
which for some reason felt metaphoric. It also probably saved the two of them
from doing something crazy like kissing. Amy couldn’t believe how bad she
wanted to kiss Luke. Then again, there were thousands of women in the crowd who
wanted to kiss Luke too.

“I have to get going,”
Luke said. “Need to run through the setlist and do a warmup. Opening band hits
the stage in fifteen minutes.”

“Okay,” Amy said. “I
can’t believe I’m here.”

“Neither can I,” Luke
said. He reached out and touched Amy’s face with the back of his hand. “I’m
really happy you’re here tonight. Are you going to your restaurant after the
show?”

“I took care of that,”
Amy said.