Strung Tight (The Road To Rocktoberfest #1) - Ann Lister Page 0,83

second and nodded. Mike was right. Tomorrow we’d rehearse with the choir and see how it all blended together. We had the final say, and I needed to relax and see how this all played out on stage.

It didn’t take us long to wash up and get comfortable for sleeping. Then, one by one, Potter, Dixon, and Mike all climbed into their chosen bunks and shut off their lights behind the privacy curtains. I closed the door of the master bedroom, stripped out of my clothing, and stretched out onto the bed. I grabbed the pillow Dallas used and pressed it to my face. I could still smell the lingering scent of him on the pillowcase and sighed. I reached for my phone before I could think better of it and sent him yet another text message, knowing I probably wouldn’t get a response.

Me: Guess who scored the master bedroom on the bus? Btw, the pillow still smells like you.

I didn’t even bother waiting for a reply. I shut off my phone and plugged it into the charger before turning out the light. Thankfully, I was buzzed enough where I knew sleep wouldn’t be hard to come by.

Chapter Twenty-Six

We were eating breakfast on the bus when Dagger and his security guard knocked at our door. We let Dagger inside, and Mike poured him a cup of coffee.

“Looks like none of you are hungover from last night,” Dagger mentioned.

“We behaved ourselves for once.” Mike joked.

“How was dinner last night for you?” I asked, and then wondered if I should be asking him anything personal.

Dagger’s eyes swung over to me, and I froze, wondering if he was going to tell me to mind my own damn business, and then a smile broke out on his face.

“Dinner was successful,” he answered. “We took a helicopter to Reno and had dinner with a few people at one of the hotels.”

“Holy shit,” Mike said in shock. “I heard the chopper come in and then leave, but I never guessed it was for you.”

“Eh, it was quicker to get there by air,” Dagger said and shrugged, “and Ryan didn’t want to risk being late to our meeting.”

“I can’t even imagine doing something like that,” Potter gushed. “Total rock-star move.”

Dagger chuckled at us before he leaned forward in his seat. “I’m glad to see you all seem to be well-rested because you have a full day ahead,” Dagger said, “and just so everyone is on the same page, your performance tomorrow doesn’t mean you can spend the rest of your time at the festival wasted. You’ll still need to represent your band and be ready for interviews, meet-and-greets, and potential meetings with A&R scouts. The last thing an A&R rep wants to see is a band acting drunk and disorderly, which is the kind of trouble they don’t want to bother with, so keep your image in mind anytime you move around the grounds. You literally don’t know who is watching you.”

“Have the guys in the choir arrived yet?” I asked Dagger.

“They are about an hour out, and as soon as they get here, you can meet them and start practicing your song together,” Dagger explained. “I got permission from the event staff for you to use a small room behind the stage area to play acoustically with the choir for an hour or so before you do your soundcheck.”

I blew out a long breath. I liked the idea of being able to practice with them prior to doing so on stage. This way we could work out the initial bugs and see how we sounded with them before an audience heard us. I knew even the soundchecks were attended by VIPs and contest winners, which meant every minute we were on that stage had to matter.

We finished up eating breakfast and then we walked with Dagger over to the main pavilion. Our road crew had moved some of our equipment into the dressing room that he had already arranged for us to use. There were enough pieces to play a dumbed-down acoustic version of our set. Our main objective was to get the sound of the singers mingled with our music and to give us an idea of what they’d add to the song.

We took a few minutes to warm up our fingers, and I sang a few scales to get my throat relaxed. It wasn’t long before six men and two women were escorted into the room. Dagger stood up quickly and walked over to