“So what will it be?”
She put a definitive paw on the top of one can.
“Salmon?”
“Brrrooowww rrrowwwn.”
“All right. Fish breath it is. But if you think I’m going to let you lick my chin later, you’re in for a surprise.”
While he opened the can, she jumped off the counter and rubbed round and round his ankle again. He set her saucer of food on the floor, gave her a good scratch behind one ear, and went to unpack.
Most of the clothes in his bag were dirty. He sorted them into piles to take to the laundry room in the basement later. Laundry wasn’t his favorite chore, but unlike the rest of his bandmates, he wasn’t a slob. He just pretended to be messy in order to fit in better. He also pretended that he couldn’t cook and that he didn’t clean. None of them knew that he had a cat or that he talked to her as if she were a person. He was very careful to disguise himself around the guys. To be who they expected him to be, not who he really was.
He removed his most treasured possession from the deep recesses of his bag and set it on the two pedestals on the center shelf of his bookcase. He ran one finger over the drumstick with a slight smile on his lips. This slender piece of wood had changed his entire life, and the man who had given it to him, completely by chance nine years before, had no idea the impact he’d had on an abused and neglected kid headed down a path of self-destruction. Jace had no doubt that Eric Sticks had saved his life. In a different way than he’d saved Trey’s life, but no less important in the outcome. Jace turned on the stereo and sank into the sofa that was covered with a sheet to hide the rips and stains in the upholstery. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t get new furniture. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t afford it, but this was enough for him. He didn’t need much—didn’t want much. An image of Aggie’s lovely face, her ruby red lips curled in a sexy smile, settled in his thoughts.
Brownie joined him on the sofa and helped herself to his lap while she licked her paws and rubbed them over her face.
“I met a girl.”
Brownie paused and stared at him with amber eyes.
He chuckled. “What’s that look for?” Sometimes he thought she understood what he was saying. “Don’t worry. I won’t let myself get too attached to her.” Though he was considering calling Aggie right now. She was probably asleep. He shouldn’t bother her. Maybe he should text her. She’d sent him a picture of her left nipple earlier that day and typed that she wished his tongue was on it at that moment. Oh yes. She had his full attention, even without the sexy little text messages. “I think I’ll head to the gym,” he told his cat. “Get in a good workout. Box a few rounds.”
“Browww wwowwn.” The cat looked at him morosely.
“All right, I’ll work out here instead.” He pulled off his shirt on his way to his tiny bedroom. He’d installed a bar in the doorway and used it now to do pull-ups.
After he’d completed a few dozen reps, Brownie lay down on the floor and batted at Jace’s toes every time they came in reach. Jace slid his feet between the bar and the upper doorsill and switched to doing inverted sit-ups. Brownie wiggled her butt, leaped into the air, and attacked his head repeatedly. After one too many claws to the scalp, he caught her in midair and lifted her to look her in the eye upside down. “Will you knock it off?”
She batted his nose with one paw, careful to keep her claws concealed.
“You’ve been bored, haven’t you? I need to get you a friend. I’ve been on the road too much lately.”
“Browww wwowwn.”
She grabbed his earring with one claw and urged him forward so she could rub her mouth over his jaw.
“Ugh. Fish breath.”
He set her down, grabbed the bar, and released his feet before lowering himself to the floor.
“Let’s jam.” He knew what Brownie was after. His cat loved bass guitar music. For his one feline audience, Jace played Sinners’ entire set list, not the way the original bassist, Jon Mallory, had written it, but the way Jace felt it should be played. He’d never let the guys in the band know he’d rewritten every bass line. They wouldn’t appreciate that kind of creativity. While he played, Brownie watched him, tail flicking earnestly to the beat. Eventually, the neighbor in the apartment below started banging on the ceiling. Jace turned off the amp and put his guitar back in its case. His cell phone beeped. Another text from Aggie. Another picture. Of her pussy. I’m imagining your cock inside this, she’d typed. Damn. Was the woman trying to kill him?
Chapter 13
Jace shifted the case holding his bass guitar to his left hand and rang the doorbell. After a moment, Sed opened his front door and beckoned Jace inside. “Eric isn’t here yet. He’s on his way.”
“Thanks for inviting me,” Jace said. He’d been holed up in his apartment for almost three weeks waiting for Trey to get better so they could go back on tour. When Sed had invited him to help work on the new album, Jace had almost pissed himself with excitement.
“Why are you thanking me?” Sed said. “I’m putting your ass to work.”
Which suited Jace just fine. This was only the second time Jace had been inside Sed’s condo. The first had been Sed’s housewarming party, probably the wildest in the history of man. Jace didn’t remember most of the evening. He’d passed out on the rooftop patio in nothing but a pair of women’s blue satin panties, and Eric had drawn flowers all over his back with an indelible marker. Jace didn’t recollect where he’d gotten those panties.
Sed’s place was huge and extravagant. Maybe it was time for Jace to buy a place of his own. His little apartment didn’t get much use, but Brownie would probably like a balcony she could sun herself on. It just seemed a waste to spend all that money on something so rarely used. Normally, Jace was on the road far more often than he was at home, but since Trey was out of commission until his finger mobility improved, they’d had to cancel a bunch of tour dates.
Jace followed Sed through the huge, open living room with its twenty-foot ceiling and red, white, and black decor. The second floor of the condo had a master bedroom and an open loft equipped with everything from a wet bar to a pool table. On the first floor, there were two additional bedrooms. One served as a guest room, but the other had been converted to a recording studio. They entered the studio, and Jace set his bass behind the black leather sofa. He took his jacket off, tossed it on a chair, and went to inspect the amps and other equipment.
“Wanna beer?” Sed asked.
“Yeah.”
Sed opened a minifridge in the corner, pulled out a couple of cans, and tossed one to Jace. While Jace sipped his beer, he fiddled with a soundboard. He couldn’t guess what all the knobs and sliders and switches did. “Do you actually know how to use this thing?” he asked Sed.
“No fucking clue.” He laughed. “I think Eric might. I dunno.”
The doorbell rang.
“That’s probably Eric now.” Sed left to answer the door.
Suddenly nervous, Jace perched himself on the edge of the sofa. Eric would give Jace shit for being there. For intruding in his creative process and for trying to take his best friend Jon’s place. Eric and Jon had composed Sinners’ last three albums together. As a band, they were diving into new territory, and Eric was sure to resent Jace for not knowing what the fuck he was doing. Jace wanted to learn—wanted to help and to share his ideas—but feared he’d just get in the way and somehow make Sinners less.
Eric entered the studio, examined Sed’s equipment setup, and then sat in the chair across from Jace. “Hey, little man. Been keeping busy?”
Jace rubbed his earlobe, fiddling with the ring there. “No. I’m ready to get back on the road.” Or make a run to Vegas to see Aggie. So far he’d been able to resist her pull and intensify his misery, but he knew he wouldn’t hold out much longer.
“Yeah, no kidding. I hope Trey gets better soon.”
“He won’t get better until he starts trying. Lazing around by his parents’ pool all day isn’t helping.�
� Sed scowled. “I guess I’ll have to go straighten him out.”
Jace hoped Sed wasn’t too hard on Trey. He knew Sed meant well, but he wasn’t too easy on a person’s feelings.
“Let’s get busy,” Sed said.
“This should be cool.” Eagerness getting the better of him, Jace sat up straighter so he could see all the scraps of music on the coffee table. Maybe if he just stayed quiet and tried not to interfere with Eric’s genius, they wouldn’t make him leave.
Eric rifled through the stack of guitar music he’d brought with him. Stuff Brian had composed while fucking Myrna. Jace wasn’t sure how anyone could think well enough to write music while having sex, but it seemed to work for their lead guitarist.
Eric arranged bits of guitar music and sheets of paper that contained Sed’s lyrics. Jace’s heart rate accelerated. Few things excited him. The talent of this band was at the very top. A set of sexy red lips smiled at him in his mind’s eye. Well, and Aggie, but she excited him in an entirely different way.
Eric rearranged the sections several times and then nodded. “Okay, I’ve got the guitar music worked out. Now we need the bass line.” He glanced at Jace. “Did you bring your guitar?”
Jace retrieved his bass from its case and looped the strap over his shoulder. Eric tapped a rhythm on the table with two pairs of drumsticks. “Match it.”
Jace more than heard the beat, he felt it. He’d listened to Sinners’ songs so many times that he instinctively knew what the bass line should sound like. It echoed in his mind. Complimented the beat. Filled it. Enriched it.
He plugged his bass into a small practice amp and played the series of notes running through his head.
Eric smiled. “Not bad.”
That was almost a compliment. Jace couldn’t help but grin. He noticed Sed watching him with an introspective look on his face.
Eric glanced at Sed. “You ready to sing?”
“I’m ready.” Sed cleared his throat.
Eric related his vision of how the lyrics should sound, and Sed tried to copy him. It took several tries to figure out that Eric should sing it, and Sed should do his typical rumbling screams in accompaniment. Jace’s heart thudded as he listened to the unique duet. That was it. That was the sound that would get them to the next level in their music. To grow. Together. Jace couldn’t believe he was finally a part of this. When they stopped singing, Sed and Eric stared at each other in surprise. They knew it too. Jace’s only regret was that Brian and Trey weren’t there to share the moment.
“That was awesome,” Jace said. “Holy shit. Do it again.”
When Eric broached the possibility of using an electric violin in some songs, Sed was less accommodating to his vision.
Electric violin? Did they really need another stringed instrument? Something like a piano would be better, but Jace was too intimidated to say it. Eric obviously knew what he was doing. Jace needed to curtail his eagerness and let the man work.
“Just try it,” Eric said to Sed. “I’ll be trying something different. You should too.”
Jace leaned forward. He couldn’t help it. He wanted to participate. “Do I get to try something different?”
“No,” Eric said.
Jace’s hopes plummeted.
“Well, maybe,” Eric amended. “You should add more embellishments to the bass lines to complement Brian. You’re a better bassist than Jon was. I think you need to push your skill level on the new album. You must be bored as fuck playing that repetitive shit Jon composed before you signed on.”
Better bassist than Jon was. Eric recognized that? He was probably just jerking Jace around, but hope insisted on floating back to the surface. Jace grinned until his cheeks hurt and glanced from Eric to Sed and back to Eric. “Okay.”
“I’m going to call Trey,” Sed said unexpectedly. “He needs to be here a lot more than I do. Lyrics last.” Sed climbed to his feet. “Carry on. I’ll be right back.”
“Hey, I can’t wait around all day. I’ve got shit to do,” Eric said.
Sed left the room.
“Like what?” Jace asked.
“None of your business,” he said. “Go get me a beer.”
He didn’t have to be such an ass about it. And Jace was not going to get him a beer.
Eric stared him down for a few moments and then reached for another set of music. “Okay, little man. I’ve got another beat for you. Match it.”
He listened to Eric’s tapping on the table, and like before a complementary bass line sounded in his head. He started playing before Eric had completed his progression.
“How do you do that?” Eric asked. “Have you been writing music behind our backs?”
Jace shook his head. “I don’t know. I hear your beat, and I just know what goes there. I think because we’ve been playing together for a couple years now.”
“I guess it has been that long, hasn’t it?” Eric looked nostalgically sad. “Here’s the next one.”
They continued that way for a while. Eric producing a beat. Jace matching it with bass lines. Eric scribbling down the notes Jace played. Sed still hadn’t returned.
“I wonder where the fuck Sed went.”
Jace shrugged.
Eric left the room. Jace scanned the score sheets on the table until Eric returned a few minutes later. “He’s going somewhere with Jessica.”
“Something wrong?”
“She looked upset, but what’s new? Drama follows her like a little lost puppy. But Sed loves her, so what can we do?”
“We can keep writing while he’s gone.”
Eric considered him for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. What do you think about the electric violin idea?” Eric asked. “Brilliant, huh?”
Jace lowered his eyes. He knew Eric just wanted affirmation, but he still didn’t see the point of adding yet another stringed instrument to a band that already had three of them. “Maybe a piano instead,” he said quietly.
Eric stuck his finger in his ear and wriggled it around. “I swear I need a hearing aid. Too much drumming, I guess. What did you say?”
“I said, maybe we could do a song with some piano music.”
“Piano?” Eric sat there for a moment. “Well, that’s a swell idea, little man, but Sed doesn’t play piano, and I can’t play while I’m drumming.”
“I play.” The moment it was out of his mouth, he wished he could take it back. He’d given up piano over a decade ago when his mother had died. That had been the thing they had always done together, and he never felt right playing without her.
“You do?” Eric said, shifting forward in his seat. He had that thinking look on his face, and Sed wasn’t there to talk him down.
“No, I—”
“You’ve been holding out on us? Are you any good?”
He was, but he sure didn’t want Eric to know it. “No, I suck. Forget I mentioned it.”
Eric refused to be deterred, and after much berating, pleading, and bullying, got Jace to play something on the keyboard. It wasn’t a piano technically. At least that’s what Jace told himself as his fingers moved over the flimsy keys.
“Well, there you go,” Eric said. “You get to try something different.”
“I’m not really comfortable playing the piano.”
“Why not? You rock at it.”
Jace lowered his eyes. “My mother—”
“Don’t have one of those, so can’t relate, sorry. Can you play a guitar riff on the piano?”
Jace shrugged. “I guess.”
Eric had piano music embedded into a song in a matter of minutes.
“How do you do that?” Jace asked.
“Do what?”
“Put all that together so quickly.”
Eric shrugged. “Don’t know. The layers just mesh in my head. Where the hell did Sed go? I have this thing I need to go to.”
“What kind of thing?”
“Some program to keep kids off the street. I was hoping Sed would come with. Brian
used to go and give the kids guitar lessons. They loved that shit, but he’s MIA—probably lost between Myrna’s thighs. So I figured Sed could take his place. He’s great with kids, believe it or not.”
Jace didn’t find that hard to believe at all. Sed kind of took a father figure role with everyone around him. Jace included.
“You wanna go?” Eric asked.
Jace’s heart thudded. “Me?”
“Yeah, why not? The kids probably won’t have any idea who the fuck you are, but we can still have fun with them.”
“I’m not good with kids.”
“It probably would be a pain in the ass to have to look up to eight-year-olds all the time.”
And they were back to making fun of Jace’s height. “Yeah, it does put a kink in my neck.”
Eric laughed and pounded him on the back enthusiastically. “So you’re coming with, right? I don’t want to go by myself, and you’re the only one here.”
Jace was surprised he asked, even if it was because no one else was available to coerce. “Yeah, fine. Whatever. I’ve got nothing better to do.”
“Awesome. You’ll look real special in the purple dinosaur costume.”
“What?”
***
Thank God for small favors; there was no dinosaur costume. Jace had a great time showing underprivileged kids how to thumb a bass groove, but he had even more fun watching Eric, the human jungle gym, make a total and complete ass of himself for their amusement. When Eric finally got around to his reason for being there, he gifted each kid with a set of drumsticks. Jace considered telling Eric about the drumstick he had treasured for the past ten years. How Eric had changed his life without even knowing it. Jace just couldn’t find the words. His one-sided connection with Eric was too personal. Too stupid. Embarrassing. So he accompanied Eric’s obnoxious table-drumming with an improvised bass line instead.
To keep time with Eric’s beat, the kids drummed each other more than solid surfaces, but everyone was laughing and having a good time. Even Jace.
Their hour with the kids flew by. Eric had more energy than all twenty kids put together. On their way out the door, Eric pounded Jace on the shoulder. “Let’s go grab a beer or two. What do you say?”
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