I couldn’t hide from it.
There it was. That eerie feeling that something was going to go wrong. Ignite the Flames had played such an incredible set before us, I knew Everlasting was doomed. We were already three songs deep into the set when Vince and I had started our duel guitar solo we had come up with on the way to the festival. It was our first performance with Tyler back in the group and everything had been running so smoothly, we were hitting every note and every chord. I was pretty pleased.
Cale, Luke and Tyler left the stage for a quick break, so it was just the two of us battling back and forth, feeding off each other’s energy as we played a medley of a few of our favorite songs. I enjoyed the feeling of my fingers plucking against the strings, sending howling notes into the crowd. They were going absolutely wild. I had seen crazy, but when they were chanting both of our names, Vince and I decided to make this a little competition. Who could play the fastest string of notes, and the highest?
We were nearing the end where it was Tyler’s cue to come back on stage and start “You Were Young.”
But Tyler was nowhere to be found.
“What the hell is going on?” I mouthed to Vince, who was standing towards the corner of the stage now, getting the girls riled up.
He shook his head at me and mouthed back “I don’t know.” Moving towards Cale’s microphone in the center, he growled, “Does anyone want to hear more!?” More screams erupted from the people in front of us, giving us our answer. At least it bought us another minute or two of time before people got bored. We played “Eruption” by Van Halen, and at the end, my whole body stilled.
Gunshots.
My head searched frantically until I saw Luke running from by the buses towards us on stage.
The crowd hushed as the three of us huddled by the far corner of the stage.
“What happened, Luke?” Vince asked, sounding panicked.
His whole body was shaking. “Cale’s been shot.”
I wanted to faint right then and there. I had no words.
“Is….Is it bad?” I managed to spit out of my mouth. I ran a hand through my hair as Luke took a deep, rugged breath.
“Tyler is trying to tackle the shooter right now. The bullet hit his chest but he’s still breathing.” Luke replied softly.
I slipped the guitar off of my body and let it fall. I didn’t care if it broke into a million pieces.
“I’m sorry everyone, but we’re going to have to cut our set short.” I notified the audience. “Our lead singer Cale has just been shot and the shooter hasn’t been found.” As soon as I said shooter, everyone was running for the hills. Literally. I didn’t even pay attention to see if anyone was still there. I wanted to get Cale to a medic and keep him alive.
“Who is it?” Vince asked.
“I don’t know. I ran to get you two before I could get a closer look.” Luke explained. “Cale had to use the bathroom before coming back out and we went to go get him and that was when we saw this guy shoot him as he was coming off of the bus. I just managed to escape but they’re all back there still.”
“We have to go back there.” I exclaimed, running as fast as my feet could take me. I maneuvered through the buses of the other bands and stopped dead in my tracks. Tyler was on top of someone, punching as hard as he could at his neck, not aiming for his head. The guy had a baggy black zip up jacket on and a matching black hat to cover up his hair from the back.
Tyler looked up and saw us. That split second was all the guy needed, and he had Tyler down on the ground with a gun to his head.
“Put the fucking gun down.” Luke growled, and the shooter fingered the trigger on the gun, seconds away from shooting again.
Taking a step closer, I felt something oddly familiar. I saw a glimpse of dark green eyes that bore through my skin and I couldn’t believe it.
Brayden.
Luke and Vince knew it too as soon as they saw me stumble backwards, almost tripping on a cable line.
“Long time no see, sis,” Brayden huffed, lowering the gun to his back pocket, standing up to face me fully. “I really wish I didn’t have to do this you know.”
My fist curled into balls. “What do you mean? You’re my big brother…why are you doing this?”
“It’s very easy you know,” he snarled, “I reconciled with mom and dad. They wanted you to come home, at any cost, so they asked for my help. You shouldn’t even be doing this shit. You’re not supposed to be with these punk guys who think they’re going to make it big someday, when all they’re doing is dragging you down with their ship. ”
I could feel Vince’s breathing growing heavier by the second, but I put a hand behind me to stop him from trying to attack my brother. I just couldn’t understand why in the Hell he would shoot my boyfriend, and attack a good friend of mine.
“What’s gotten into you, Bray? Did mom and dad pay you to do this just so it would scare me or something?” I asked furiously. “You don’t have to hurt them to get through to me.”
“That’s where your wrong, little sis.” He cut me off, then kicking Tyler in the side. “You weren’t going to come home so easily, so mom and dad asked me to help them out a bit after they saw you weren’t back.”
I should’ve figured. But who in their right mind thought that shooting and nearly killing my band mates would have done the trick? I couldn’t believe my parents brainwashed my brother into doing something so stupid. He was my only real blood family left, now that’s thrown out the window.
“So what happened with Raptor…you’re the one that beat him up?” I wondered, my blood boiling.
Brayden laughed. It wasn’t a friendly laugh between brother and sister, but much more wicked and sinister. “That? Well you see, that was a little present from myself and a good friend of mine I met at the gym. We wanted you to know that you’re not safe. Obviously you see that now.”
That was it. “Grab the gun” I mouthed to Vince and he nodded slightly as I lunged towards my brother. Vince ran past me so he could snatch the gun out of his back pocket. I used enough force to get him to the ground, while Vince struggled to hold onto the piece of metal that could kill us at any moment.
“No chance in Hell,” I spat at him, my eyes narrowing. “Next time, a phone call is better than trying to scare me.” His eyes turned a few shades darker, as he shoved me against the tree next to us.
I landed with my head hard against the bark and slumped down. Brayden got off the ground and grabbed the pistol before Vince could reach it.
“Run Vince!” I yelled towards him. His eyes met mine and used my hands to shoo him off, telling him to go. He’d find someone, a cop, medic, anyone. I had to muster up every ounce of strength I had to stand up to Brayden.
Vince was able to run past the buses towards the busy main street, which I could tell pissed Brayden off he let someone go.
I tried to get up, but my head felt so dizzy, I couldn’t muster up the strength just yet. I saw blood trickling down my arm, but I was too weak to even care, or to try and stop it. My brother was about to kill Cale and Tyler, and I couldn’t let him. Who knows who else he could kill if we didn’t stop him.
“Don’t get up!” Brayden bellowed, pointing the gun straight at my face, “Try and get up then both your buddies are going to get shot in the head. Don’t think I won’t do it Bryn.”
He stepped closer to me, pistol still aimed in my direction, when I saw Cale stumble from out of nowhere and punched him in the back of the head. Brayden spun around and tried to get Cale off of him, but despite the blood I could see gushing from his chest, he was still putting up a fight.
“Don’t…you….ever…punch…or hurt…my girlfriend you bastard…” Cale cried in between his mighty punches. Brayden was getting weaker, I could tell. But I knew my brother, despite the blood coming from the side of his head, wouldn’t give up either until his last breath. The next thing I knew Cale was going for one last punch and then that’s when I heard the last bang.
Everyt
hing went black.
Author's Note:
Thank you guys for reading this book! I hope you enjoyed Cale and Bryn’s story. Please take the time to let me know what you think by either leaving a review or looking at my contact info on the next page!
About the Chapter titles. I took the names of the chapters from songs that I either listened to while writing, or just songs that I can listen to on repeat over and over again.
Check out some of these bands!
Shinedown- Second Chance
Imagine Dragons- Demons
Journey- Don’t Stop Believing
Poison- Nothing but a good time
Pierce the Veil Ft. Kellin Quinn- King for a Day
One Direction- One Thing
Hinder- Lips of an Angel
Avenged Sevenfold- Seize the Day
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus- Face Down
Sleeping with Sirens Ft. Matty Mullins- Congratulations
Three Days Grace- I Hate Everything about You
Saving Abel- Addicted
Maroon 5- She will be loved
All Time Low Ft. Vic Fuentes- Love like War
Bullet for my Valentine- Tears don’t fall
Asking Alexandria- Run Free & The Final Episode
Memphis May Fire- No Ordinary Love
Staind- Outside
About the Author:
Breigh Forstner is the author of “Forever and Always” and “Straight from the Heart.” She currently lives in a border town in Southeast Michigan. When she isn’t writing, she is busy with her two young daughters and working at her full-time job. She also scours book blog sites and other author pages on Facebook for her next great read to add to her Kindle Fire.
You can contact her at the following:
Email- [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/breighforstnerauthor
WordPress: breighforstnerauthor.wordpress.com
Other books by Breigh Forstner:
Forever and Always (Forever and Always #1)
Straight from the Heart (Straight from the Heart #1)
Books coming soon:
Always With You (Forever and Always #2) Winter 2014/2015
From His Heart (Straight from the Heart #2) Winter 2014/2015
Straight from the Heart Page 20