Straight from the Heart (6 page)

“They’re good, huh?” A voice asked from
behind me. I spun around and saw a girl standing behind me. She had
black hair streaked with pink that was put up in a messy up-do and
wore a tight white tank top with a skull in the middle and holed up
skinny jeans.

“Yeah, they’re awesome,” I answered, smiling
at her. “I like your outfit by the way.”

“Oh, thanks,” She replied, “Been trying to
lose this excess fat like crazy and it’s finally working.” I
thought she was joking. This girl had no fat to her; I could break
her into two if I tried.

“Bryn Schaefler.” I stretched my hands out
towards her.

“Lucy Tomlinson. Bass player extraordinaire
in Ignite the Flames. You’re the new member in Everlasting aren’t
you?” I put two and two together and realized this was the Lucy
that Luke was talking about in the dressing room. Whatever she was
to Cale, she must’ve been really special.

I nodded. “That’d be me. First show I’ve
ever played. Just a tad nervous.”

She gave me a friendly hug even though I
only knew her for a few minutes. “Don’t worry, hun. We’ve been
signed since we were all 17 and now I’m 22.  I still get
nervous every now and then. You’re young, like what, 18 I’m
guessing? We’ve all been there, but I have to say you pull that
corset off like a pro, Schaefler. Can never go wrong with wearing
one, drives the crowd nuts.” I grinned and she started walking
towards the dressing rooms just as applause broke out. “Good luck
tonight, Bryn.”

“Thanks, you too.” I waved.

Over half an hour later, my new electric
guitar was tuned up, strapped on me and ready to play. Vince,
Raptor and Luke were pep talking over by the water cooler while
Cale was doing some kind of weird stretches behind the closed
curtain, shielding us from the crowd.

“Remember everything okay?” Cale asked as I
played some chords to warm up my fingers.

“Think so. I have a good teacher.” I teased
jokingly and he smirked.

“You nail tonight we’re keeping you around,
B. Just don’t screw it up. Messing up first night on tour is bad
luck.” The crowd started cheering and chanting for us shouting
“Everlasting!” “Bring them on!” It only intensified when Raptor
warmed up his drums, pounding on his bass drum like a heartbeat,
bum bum, bum bum. “Feeling nervous now?” he whispered in my
ear.

I shook my head. I was ready. Ready to show
this crowd what I could do. I wished my parents and Brayden could
have seen me in that moment. “Excited more than anything.” I
replied, as he gestured for the rest of the members to come
over.

“Alright, everyone. Are we ready?”

“Yeah!” Everyone chanted in return. We
linked arms and brought our heads in like we were on a football
team discussing a play.

“Guys, and B, you know what to do. Raptor
start out the drum solo and we all run out on stage and everything
goes as planned, okay? Let’s do this shit!” Cale patted each one of
us on the back and Raptor took his place back at the drum set.

Showtime.

We ran out onto the stage, taking our places
behind the curtain, and once Vince and I started playing the notes
to ‘Afterlife’ by Avenged Sevenfold, it felt like war. The curtain
dropped and the crowd was already pushing and shoving as I eased
into the music. Cale’s voice was perfect. The whole hour we played
our cover songs, originals, he hit every note, never missing a
beat. Everyone was having so much fun, and the fans were going
crazy for each song we played.

“Hey how’s everyone doing tonight?” Cale
growled into the microphone, standing on top of one of the speakers
that held his weight. He had that presence that made everyone pay
attention to him, commanded that stage with ease. “I wanted to take
the time to introduce everyone in the band. On the drums is the
mighty Raptor…” People started yelling “Raptor! Raptor” and he
stood up and threw some drumsticks into the audience and waved.
“Playing the bass guitar, the wonderfully single Luke!” Luke
slipped off his shades and put up a middle finger. “On the guitar
is the king of shredding, Vince!” Vince played a string of fast
notes and got the crowd fired up.

Cale jumped down from the amp, and made his
way over to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “During the
break Everlasting lost an amazing drummer. Raptor stepped into that
role and we found a killer new lead guitarist who is going to be
with us for a long time to come. This is Bryn. Everyone welcome her
to the group!” He kissed me on the cheek and I waved, still feeling
the touch of his lips on my skin. Having all of these people
staring at me was a little intimidating but I went with it.

“Thanks everybody, we’re going to play one
last song, and then up next is Ignite the Flames!” I spoke loudly
into the mic as Cale took it back, grinning at me. We played one
last original song before our set was done for the night.

After unplugging the equipment and moving
the amps off stage to the bus, I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
I was sweating bullets in my outfit and could feel my corset
soaked. I wanted to get the thing off right away and not think
twice.

“So how did that feel?” Cale muttered in my
ear as I shut the hatch up on the side of the bus. I jumped from
where I was kneeling, almost landing into his arms backwards. He
smelled like a good combination of sweat and beer, which I never
thought I would like until that night.

“Thrilling. Fucking breath taking, my ears
are shot,” I said as we stood just centimeters from each other.
Cale threw his head back and snickered.

“It gets worse, Bryn. We do get protection
so none of us end up deaf.” He pulled a bag of ear plugs from his
pocket and gave it to me. “Here, for tomorrows show so I don’t have
to hear you complain. Sorry I forgot to mention it earlier.”

“Hey Schaefler, you were brilliant!” Vince
came from behind me and hugged me, interrupting Cale. “That dual
stuff worked out flawless, not to mention you looked hot.”

Cale shoved Vince away humorously and he
landed against the tour bus. “Enough interrogating Bryn, dude.” He
shooed Vince off, leaving us alone again. “So are you ready to have
even more fun?”

I raised my eyebrows in question. “What’d
you have in mind?”

“Ha. Well, only just a big party to
celebrate our first show. No big deal.” No big deal. Which meant
more drinking, and whatever these people did after they were done
with their sets.

“Do you ever sleep, Pelton?” I asked him. He
blew a piece of sweaty hair out of his face and held out his
hand.

“Hell no. Not unless you are willing to
escort me.” I slapped him on the chest playfully. This guy kept
trying every chance he could to get me to go to bed with him. I had
to keep telling myself not to give in, but dang…it was hard not
to.

“Not a chance, Cale.”

He chuckled. “At least I asked!” Then he
brought his lips down near mine, now speaking in a dull whisper.
“Next time I’ll get you so drunk you pass out naked in my bed.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, not giving
him any more opportunity to scope out my bulging cleavage. “Cocky
much?” I asked him.

He bent down to kiss the corner of my mouth,
immediately pulling away. “You love it, B.”

“In your dreams, lover boy.” I whispered
back and hurried onto the bus so I could get out of these clothes.
While I was taking a breather I could hear the fellow tour mates
close by, shouting obscenities and glass breaking, and it wasn’t
even midnight yet. I pulled out my phone seeing I had a few missed
texts from Gina and Bethany.

Gina: BFF I haven’t heard from you! How’d
your first gig go?

Bethany: Bryneeee I miss you…

Gina: I have dirt to dish, hun. You better
call us or else I’ll come back and drag you to Cali…

It was times like tonight where I wished
Gina and Bethany were here with me celebrating. Before graduation,
we had been the three musketeers ever since elementary school.
Nothing came between us. Here I was sitting on a tour bus by
myself, when I could be out there partying with the rest of my band
mates and the people on the tour. Gina and Bethany would’ve loved
it more than I would. I’d drank a little, I’d gone to parties
courtesy of Ethan sneaking me out, but maybe it was because they
were my comfort zone, and I needed to get out of my comfort zone
and act crazy.

“There she is.” Lucy spotted me from her
tour bus, where everyone was gathered, and music was blaring. She
put an arm around me, and yelled over the music “You put these
other guys to shame, chica.” She had also changed out of her show
outfit, into a pair of short shorts and ripped up tank top.

“Thanks, Lucy, I really liked your set too.”
I said truthfully. I had only heard of Ignite the Flames just a few
weeks ago when Cale said that’s who was opening the tour, and I was
already a big fan. She was like a wild animal on stage, thrashing
the bass around like she was having amazing sex or something. But
it worked; the crowd went nuts for them.

“That shit? We only put it together in a few
days, idiots over there were fighting over which songs to play
because Pauly ‘Wanted to play his solo’,” She mimicked Pauly, one
of the guitarists in Ignite the Flames. “So how is it working with
them?”

“They’re really good guys. It’s definitely a
new experience but they’ve all been really supportive and made me
feel welcome,” I told her, and she formed a look on her face, as if
what I just said wasn’t possible.

“Most of them. But Pelton, he’s a different
story.” Lucy frowned, putting the cup she was holding to her lips.
I tilted my head, signaling I wanted to know more, but she waved it
off like it was no big deal. “Don’t worry. He can be a dick, trust
me, but he’s a softie at heart. Just don’t let his cockiness fool
you.”

“Did you date him at all?”

She giggled and stretched her arms behind
her back. “Yeah. But it’s not something we talk about now. We had
our music careers, and our own lives, to worry about.” Now I felt
uncomfortable. From the way she explained their situation, it
sounded like she still cared about him. “How about you? Did you
leave a boyfriend behind at all?”

Ethan. “Just broke up with a guy. It was
hard, but we had different goals,” I lied. I never told anyone,
especially my parents the real reason we broke up. That was our
little secret.

“Ahh, well, nothing like a nice heaping cup
of alcohol to cure your misery.” Lucy handed me another cup that
was sitting on a table. She filled hers up once more and we slammed
our cups together. “Cheers, Schaefler, I’ll see you around.”
Patting me on the back, she went over to talk with some of her
bandmates.

“Hey,” Damon Charming slurred from behind
me. I whipped around and he had his signature cigarette in his
mouth. I hated the smell of smoke; always have, especially when my
dad would chain smoke in his parlor on a daily basis.

My head felt woozy from the drinking so I
put my hand on his shoulder so I wouldn’t fall over. “Hey yourself.
Didya watch our set?” I enquired, my words slurring.

“Yes I did. You were pretty sassy up there
with that guitar, have you played long?” He questioned me, slipping
an arm around my waist and kissing me on the top of the head.

I shook my head “Not too long, only for a
few years.” I nestled my head into Damon’s neck as I sipped on the
last of the liquid goodness I had been enjoying almost all night. I
told myself this would be the last drink, or else I knew I would
have a hangover and being on the bumpy roads wouldn’t help my head.
Choices, choices. “You should teach me how to move all over the
stage like you were doing, it was sooo…”

“Alright Bryn I think you need to go lie
down, hun, that alcohol is making you say things you’ll regret,”
Damon warned me and picked me up so my legs were dangling in the
air and arms flailing.

“Put me down!” I half shrieked and half
laughed as Damon carried me off. I recognized the smell of Cale’s
cologne and knew he had brought me back to my bus. “Why are you
bringing me back here, I want to stay out and partyyyy…”

He laughed and tightened his grip on my
waist, directing his way back to the beds and climbing up the
ladder to my bunk. “I figured we could spend time in here alone.”
He spoke in a low growl. I didn’t think anything of it. All that
was on my mind at the moment was I needed to close my eyes. Damon
laid me down against my pillow as his mouth neared mine. “You are
absolutely beautiful,” he whispered.

“I, uh, I’m awfully sleepy,” I murmured,
wiping my eyes and shielding my face. “Stay with me,” What was I
thinking, inviting a near stranger to sleep in my bed? For all I
knew he could take advantage of me in my sleep.

Damon lay on his side facing me, and all I
could smell was that ungodly smoke; that and the little bit of
cologne in the air. He leaned down to me and quickly kissed me on
the mouth, slowly pulling away, and then his lips were on mine
again. I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his neck as he
slid his tongue into my mouth. His hands, slow and gentle, roamed
from my neck, making their way down the sides of my waist,
unbuttoning my shorts.

“You want to do this?” He asked as he pulled
his mouth away. I was barely conscious to realize what I was doing,
but as I felt my shorts being pulled off of my legs, I knew
something was wrong. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t give away my
virginity to some gorgeous lead singer of a big time rock band we
were opening up for just like that.

I shook my head, grabbing my shorts and
covering myself up. Where were the other boys when you needed them?
Or Hal, I hadn’t seen him all night, where the Hell was he? “No, I
can’t do this.” I snapped, trying to climb down the few steps of
stairs, or jump from the bunk, whatever was quickest.

Damon laughed at my drunken attempt to get
away from him. He gripped my arm before I could go any further.
“Where are you going? We were just getting started…”