Strung Tight (The Road To Rocktoberfest #1) - Ann Lister Page 0,73
plunked himself down beside me. “I’m not sure even stars like Dagger are always completely comfortable on stage,” Mike explained. “It’s scary, but if you close your eyes and imagine you’re singing to small audiences like the ones at our dive-bar gigs, it becomes less daunting.”
“Is that what you’ll be doing?”
“You bet your ass I’ll be doing that,” Mike said. “I’m scared out of my mind, too, Fletch—all of us are, but I’m also stoked for this opportunity. When we take the stage and I tap out our intro beat, I want you to close your eyes and know that I’m doing the same thing. We’ll take a steady breath together from our different spots on the stage, and then I’ll rip into our first song, and Chaos will leave an indelible mark on Rocktoberfest.”
I chuckled at Mike’s phrasing. Knowing he was also afraid made me feel like I wasn’t alone in this, and I’d try his suggestion of closing my eyes for the first few seconds. Playing the music always brought me clarity, so if I could get my head into the song and my fingers to play, I know I could do this.
“Have you packed yet?”
“I’m going to go do that now,” Mike answered. “It shouldn’t take me long, but I wanted to check in with you first.”
“Thank you—for everything,” I said with sincerity.
“Of course. We’re brothers for life. Remember that,” Mike said. He messed up my hair and chuckled at me before he left the room.
I sat there for a moment, lost in my thoughts. Chaos had come so far as a band in the last year, even more so since Dagger had started working with us. We were undoubtedly on the cusp of the biggest show of our lives, and the crackle of energy could be felt all around us whenever we rehearsed or discussed the performance. Most bands never made it to this level, so I knew this was an enormous milestone in our careers, and we wouldn’t take it lightly or diminish the enormity of it. This was the real deal, and from here we hoped to launch our star and make a name for our band.
I stretched out on my bed and pulled up the text thread I had going with Dallas and realized I missed a text he’d sent about fifteen minutes ago.
Dallas: I bumped into a couple of old friends after I finished work. I’m going to hang with them for a bit and then have them drive me home.
Me: I just finished packing. Don’t stay out late. We have an early wake up call.
Dallas: I won’t miss the bus. Promise.
I plugged in my phone to charge before I turned off my light then rolled onto my side to sleep. I wasn’t sure how much sleep I’d be able to get being this excited to leave tomorrow, but I’d do my best. There was no way in hell I was going to be late meeting the bus in the morning.
Chapter Twenty-Three
My guys in Chaos met in the parking lot at the rehearsal studio, and surprisingly, everyone was on time despite the sun not even up yet. Dagger arrived with his husband in his own tour bus, and it was so cool to see that big black beauty pulling into our lot. His bus looked similar to ours but with a much better paint job. The swirls of color airbrushed on the sides looked like ribbons fluttering in the breeze when the bus was moving. Seeing it made me wonder if we ever got a record deal and started making money that maybe one day we might be able to afford having our band name or a logo painted on our bus.
I glanced around the lot again to see who was here and noticed our instrument techs were all present and hanging with the road crew down by the equipment trailers. Even at this ridiculously early hour, the excitement was palpable. I could hear boisterous laughter while some literally bounced on their feet like they’d had too much caffeine. It was as if this was the first major performance for every person here and not just the members of Chaos.
The guys working with the equipment had busted their asses over the last two weeks to get us ready to leave today; their commitment and enthusiasm displayed made it clear that this was so much more than a job for them. They were invested in our success and it was proven with their