hands anytime soon, so when Alvin taps out his first few beats, I start the intro without it.
Mallory waves one more time and quickly scurries off stage where Andrew meets her. I eye the bottle of champagne in his hands warily. Fucker’s probably planning to douse us with it since it’s the last night of the tour. Tradition and all that. I guess we’ve gotten off lucky compared to some of the pranks I’ve heard of bands playing on each other at the end of a tour.
The solo for ‘Queen of the Road’ brings me right back to our shitty little apartment in L.A. Good memories, though. Jacob takes a seat on Alvin’s riser, banging his head along until it’s time for him to join in and finish the song.
With the mic at his side, Jacob yells, “Candy Jar!” at us.
Closing my eyes, I keep playing, shaping the notes from one song into the other. Two completely different pieces in my mind but the shift sounds pretty fuckin’ good. I need to try that more often.
Above me, there’s a whoosh. Before I can open my eyes and tilt my head back to see what the fuck it is, thousands of little Dum-Dum lollipops rain down from the ceiling.
“Motherfucker!” I’m laughing too hard to sound threatening though.
Ducking my head to avoid getting poked in the eye by a wayward candy stick, I keep right on playing.
A barrage of Skittles pelts us next.
Jacob tips his head back and opens wide, filling his mouth with the colorful little candies. I step up to my mic and finish the last few lines of the song since Jacob’s mouth is occupied. Garrett reaches over to slap Jacob on the back when he coughs and chokes on his mouthful.
The entire stage is coated in lollipops and round sugary pebbles. Jacob slips, lands on his ass and raises his arms in the air.
“Good night, Union! Thanks for the treats, Vicious Vandals!”
Kicking candy out of my way, so I don’t faceplant leaving the stage, I finally make it backstage.
Andrew’s waiting with a lollipop hanging from his lips. “Sweet show, Chaser.”
“You’re a dick.” I laugh. “You could’ve poked our damn eyes out.”
He doubles over laughing and holds out his hand. I yank him closer, pulling him off his feet and he crashes into me. “Thanks, bro. Good fucking tour. Bullet wounds and arrests notwithstanding.”
“We’ll do it again, soon, bro,” he promises. “Real soon.”
I shudder at the thought. Could I survive another tour with Andrew? But tonight’s a night to celebrate, so I nod and agree.
“The guys wanted to dump champagne on you but candy seemed so much better!” He nods at Mallory. “I waited until she was off stage.”
“Is that why you changed the songs?” I ask Jacob.
He bounces over, grinning and shaking his head. “I had no fucking idea.” He lifts his chin at Andrew. “What? No cock hammock for the last show?”
I shoot a glare at Jacob. The tour’s been just fine without having to look at Andrew’s dick trying to break out of its tiny leather prison every damn night.
“Nah, man.” Andrew touches the side where the bullet whizzed through him. “My side is still all fucked up.”
Jacob has the decency to look away. “Sorry, bro.”
Garrett joins our party by punching Andrew’s arm. “Ya coulda poked my eye out with one of those damn sticks, ya fuckmuppet.”
Andrew grins like a loon and points at me. “He said the same thing! You’re such a bunch of pussies.”
Someone bear-hugs me from behind. “Hey, sweet thang. Nice show,” Vinnie shouts in my ear.
“Thanks for the candy shower, dickhead.”
He roars with laughter and slaps me on the back. “You did good, kid. Fucking awesome solo tonight. Almost makes me not want to go on stage after you, ya prick.”
Shit, a few months ago, I would’ve been freaking out to know Vinnie Price watched my performance. Now, it all seems…normal.
Andrew and Vinnie wander off to get ready for their set, leaving me with my bandmates to revel in our awesomeness.
Another set of arms try to strangle me from behind. What the fuck?
“I feel like we’re real musicians or something now,” Alvin says against my ear before releasing me.
“We need T-shirts printed up. ‘I survived the Vicious Vandals experience, 1989’.”
“Yeah!” He does a quick scan of the immediate area. “I think Tally poached some of our groupies.”
“Good for him.” I laugh. “Figured that was one of the reasons he came.”
Mallory’s standing off to the side with my father and I reach over