Strung Tight (The Road To Rocktoberfest #1) - Ann Lister Page 0,17

I’d ever felt. Just thinking about what was to come had my skin pebbling with goosebumps.

Dallas's kiss gave me a very similar feeling, and my stomach began to tumble at the thought of him. This new development had me more than intrigued, and I’d have to work hard to keep Dallas from becoming a distraction, but maybe that was precisely what I needed to get me through my fear of performing in front of an enormous crowd.

I was quite sure he was interested in more than a few shared, sloppy kisses with me, but how far he wanted to take it—and how far I wanted things to go, I hadn't a clue. I wasn't even certain if it was wise to complicate my clouded head any further by exploring my obviously less-than heterosexuality right now with all the music-related things I had going on. But Dallas interested me enough to keep him in my life. I had to see where this all took me.

Chapter Six

Dagger arrived at the warehouse around eleven the next morning with Spumoni and a guy I’d met last week, who I learned would be our show director. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember his name. We were playing through the first bridge of “A Drop in the Bucket” when they first walked into the room. After all the times Dagger had worked with us at the warehouse, it was like time stopped whenever he appeared. I could feel my breath catch at the sight of him, and it was much the same for my band brothers too. None of us were unaffected by Dagger’s presence, and who wouldn’t be? Anyone who knew anything at all about rock music would recognize the man looming against the back wall, standing well over six feet tall with a full head of shoulder-length brown hair, aviator sunglasses, well-worn jeans with rips on the knees and thighs, motorcycle boots, and a faded black Pearl Jam t-shirt.

We kept on playing while I watched Dagger talking to Spumoni and the director. I’d been told when we’d met that this was the guy who’d be designing our stage layout and working closely with the roadies to get our equipment placed into the proper arrangement on the stage. Dagger pointed to various pieces of equipment stacked around the room while the director took notes on a clipboard and Spumoni listened intently. We hit the last chord and let it float into the open space, and all their heads turned to us. Dagger began to clap as the sound of our music faded from the speaker system, and Spumoni and the other men in the room joined him.

“Come on over, guys,” Dagger instructed.

We all set our instruments aside and crossed the room, and Dagger, thankfully, reintroduced the director to us. I needed to pay more attention to the people we were meeting and try harder to get over being so goddamn starstruck.

“This is David Isles,” Dagger said. “You all met last week, but I’m reminding you since David is going to be a familiar face around here for the next few days.”

“Thank you for helping us,” Mike was the first to say and leaned in closer to shake David’s hand. The rest of us followed his lead.

“Good to see you again,” I said to David.

Dagger draped an arm around Mike’s shoulders and squeezed. “Have you ever played on a raised drum platform?”

“Fuck no, but it sounds like crazy fun,” he said.

Dagger chuckled. “Spumoni is going to have a couple of his guys build you a ‘crazy fun’ drum kit that will make all your drummer friends jealous as fuck,” Dagger said. “How’s that sound?”

“You mean like Tommy Lee?” Mike asked with an excited gleam in his eyes.

“Sort of, but less like a circus act,” Dagger said and grinned. “We’re thinking of giving the stage arrangement a dramatic flair by putting the drum kit up on a lift in the back with some cool spotlights on the platform. All the guitars will be placed out front with Fletch in the center and Dix and Potter on either side of him. We’ll get a pyro team in to set up some pots for explosives, and you’ll have a very eye-catching, kick-ass stage set.”

“Explosives? You just gave me wood.” Mike joked, and everyone burst out laughing.

“A stiff breeze makes you hard,” Potter said and chuckled.

“What can I say?” Mike teased. “I’m an easily excitable guy.”

“You’ll have to climb a ladder mounted on the back of the platform,