“So I didn’t stand up here and fuck this up. And so I didn’t miss anything about Mitchy. But just now, as I stepped up here, I…” Nash ripped the paper into pieces and dropped it. “I don’t need notes to talk about Mitchy. I took those notes because I feared what was going to end up being written about him and his life. I wanted to make sure he got a fair run. But I don’t give a shit about that anymore. None of us do. We know the truth. We know who this crazy son of a bitch rock star really was. Did he die because of drugs? Yes he did. He pushed it too far and… well, he really did go too far. But that was Mitchy. That was what gave him life. That was what allowed him to be who he was…”
I turned my head and felt myself ready to explode with emotion.
My eyes settled upon Bree.
She stared right at me.
A tear fell from her eye down to her cheek.
I mouthed to her Are you okay?
She offered up a quick smile and wiped the tear off her cheek.
She was all I could look at.
What the fuck was going on here?
I took Bree’s hand and we started to walk.
Everyone had taken their turn speaking about Mitchy.
The paparazzi got more than enough pictures.
The fans started to get a little loud, cheering for Mitchy. At one point, they broke into a Filthy Line song, which was amazing to hear.
I just wanted to get out of there, get a drink and talk to Bree.
We were ten steps from the SUV when I heard a voice from behind me.
“What a fucking shame.”
I looked back and saw the lead singer of Raunchy Recks standing there with the rest of the band.
“What is?” I asked as I stopped walking.
I nudged Bree to put her behind me.
“Shit, we have company,” I heard Jay say.
“This whole thing,” Neo said. “Losing a legend. Should have never happened.”
“I agree,” I said. “Sad.”
“Your fault,” Neo said.
He pointed at me with his fingers in a gun shape.
“Gotta take care of your own, brother,” Ven said.
“We would have done more for him,” Brendan said.
“We tried,” Conor added.
“You tried what?” I asked.
“We offered Mitchy a spot in the band,” Declan said. “He said no fucking way to us.”
“He’d be alive right now if it wasn’t for you,” Neo said.
I moved toward Neo and Bree grabbed my shirt.
“Sab, don’t do it,” Jay said to me.
“Too late,” I said.
I jumped at Neo and he swung first.
His fist clipped my jaw and I saw more than a few stars for a few seconds.
I managed to get my right arm around his neck and got at least one punch to his face.
The rest of the two band’s members were tangled up seconds later.
I heard Toby’s voice in the back of my head, screaming at us for fighting during Mitchy’s service, especially with all the cameras there.
The paparazzi were having a feast as the two biggest rock bands in the world were throwing punches.
I shoved Neo away and lined him up for a knockout punch when someone grabbed my arm.
I turned my head and saw Bree there, eyes wide, fear spread across her face.
“What the fuck are you assholes doing?” Toby’s voice boomed.
He got into the middle of the fight and broke it all up.
Neo let out a whistle and called off Raunchy Recks.
They did that for the spotlight. To be pricks. Because that’s what they were.
They backed off as Toby ordered us to get the hell out of there.
I took Bree’s hand again and when we got into the SUV, I reached for one of the small bottles of whiskey.
I drank two before I said anything.
“Sorry.”
“What was that about?” Bree asked.
“You know who that was, right?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I’m… shocked.”
“We don’t get along with them.”
“I can see that.”
“Fuck this,” I said. “I’m done with all of it.”
Bree touched my hand. “I’m here, Sab. I’m here. Right?”
I looked at her.
I nodded.
That was part of the problem… I just didn’t know how to tell her that.
I looked around the front of Jay’s rock star palace and looked up to the stars.
The amount of whiskey in my body… it was way more than what it should have been.
There was a time in our rock star lives where whiskey wasn’t enough to get the party going, but after Mitchy dying, we all kind of made a silent agreement not to touch that stuff ever again.
Bree was right by my