“He’s love struck,” I murmured as I relaxed into Pauly.
“Damon is?” Pauly asked, and I nodded.
“He’s apparently already talked to Samantha and is going crazy saying he’s never felt this way before,” I said to him. “It’s so not Damon, so I really think he must like her if he’s acting this way.”
We separated from our embrace and Pauly’s fingers gently grazed my wrist. “Well, talking is always a good start… who knows? This might be the girl for him.”
“I can only hope,” I replied, and we chatted with Alex and Mike while Damon pretended to be in a conversation when really he was checking out Samantha. The first night on tour always gave me a slight case of anxiety. This concert would set the bar for the rest of the tour: if we kicked ass tonight, then we’d just have to raise the bar over the next 40 shows. I was anxious to get out my bass and put on a show for the fans that had paid to come see us. If you’re going to pay fifty dollars for a concert, it doesn’t matter if you’re in front row or in the nosebleed seats. No matter what, everyone deserved a full-on rock concert from start to finish.
After The Straight and Narrow performed their set, Don’t Remember Me and The Brittle Souls were next just before Ignite’s grand entrance. We stood watching and supporting each of the bands, rocking out to the music as if we were in the crowd ourselves. I was still a bit nervous, but after taking another quick shot to ease my nerves, I was ready to conquer the world.
“Don’t worry, love, you’ll kick some fucking ass like you always do,” Nikki Phantom draped an arm around me. We stood about the same height, but Nikki had platinum blonde hair that reminded me of a Barbie doll. She had overdone makeup on her eyes and all over her face, but it looked well on her. “That crowd is fucking killer.”
I laughed. “Thanks, Nikki. It’s just been a few months since we’ve been on stage and with the new album and everything that has been happening…”
“Lucy Tomlinson, you have no reason to worry. You’re in Ignite the Flames. You guys are bigger than you think. If I were you, I’d go crazy ape shit tonight and celebrate!” Nikki smiled, and she was right. This album was something worth celebrating, and I wasn’t going to let my anxiety and nerves get the best of me. I was going to have fun and bang the shit out of my bass.
“Well, in that case, let’s save it for after our set,” I chuckled. “I don’t want to get too wasted now and fall offstage halfway through a song.”
Nikki patted me on the shoulder and said, “I’ll save you a few drinks, babe.”
“Thanks!” I yelled as she headed toward the dressing rooms.
We had less than five minutes before we went on stage.
The crowd was already chanting “Flames! Flames! Flames!” as our video for Broken By the Best, an older song of ours, played on the screens facing the audience. I started jumping up and down to warm up my muscles, my bass strapped on around my shoulders as I ran my fingers along the strings, playing some notes to help me get in my ‘zone.’
“Look at them,” Alex pointed with his drumsticks toward the few people we could see since the curtain practically shielded the crowd from the stage. “This is amazing.”
“All right guys, come here really quick.” Damon gestured toward himself. We gathered around him, huddling up. “It’s our first show on the tour. The album released today. Let’s play our music for these people the best we’ve ever played. They deserve a damn good set from us and we’re going to give it to them!”
We shouted ‘Yeah!’ in response, giving each other hugs before Alex sat down at his drum set to play the beginning to our opening song.
The minute Alex started using the pedals, I couldn’t hear a thing besides loud shrilly screams, sending shivers down my spine. This is what I lived for right here. This thrill.
The rest of us ran out onto the stage, rocking out the opening notes to Broken By the Best. We hit the end of the introduction, the curtain came tumbling down, and the flames rose, exposing us to the already roaring crowd. I couldn’t contain the smile that was on my face, it fed off the energy of the thousands of screaming fans, ready to sing along to every word of our songs.
But when Damon growled into his mic, “How the fuck we doing tonight Grand Rapids?” The girls were screeching louder than before. I could hear a few ‘I love you, Charming!’ and ‘Marry me, Prince Charming!’ over the music, which was a normal thing. He started belting out the lyrics and I stood over on my side of the stage, singing backup vocals.
You took advantage of me when I was at my weakest
Bent me so far I couldn’t get up
Broke me until I was in a thousand shards
But I was broken by the best of them
Because I’ll still hate your life
And the ones who worship you
Won’t be on their knees anymore
I was never the best singer in the world, so I liked singing Damon’s back up on occasion. He didn’t need it, though, because his voice was pure perfection. It was reminiscent of M Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold in a way; he could hit the high screams and low growls like the best singers in the rock ‘n’ roll world. That’s why Ignite the Flames has gotten as far as we have.
I quickly glanced over at Pauly, while he played an intense guitar solo. He slowly walked toward me. I swayed my hips, following the beat of my bass as we played our new songs for the crowd. There were a few rough patches, me nearly forgetting the opening to Freakshow but the crowd must not have noticed because they were screaming and chanting louder than before.
“How’s everyone doing tonight?” Damon growled into his microphone, hunched over so he could catch his breath. My eyes flickered over the front row and the girl Damon was already talking to, Samantha, was looking at her phone with a pissed off look on her face. I nearly tripped on a few bras that been thrown up on stage by our feet, picking one up when Damon started to introduce the band.
“Looks like someone wants you to call her.” I flung the small-cupped white lacy bra at Mike, who was taking a drink of water.
Mike picked it back up, looked inside the cup where there was a little love note, and a phone number so he could call the girl. “Look at that, I’m loved Lucy!” he teased, placing it down by a pile of others that were in front of the drum set now.
“And last but not least, this here is the finest girl in rock ‘n’ roll to ever play the bass guitar, and can kick a guy’s ass with ease, Lucy Tomlinson!” Damon kissed me on my sweaty cheek as I started to play a few quick notes and stuck my middle finger in the air. I heard guys shouting my name and other words I couldn’t comprehend.
“Enjoying the set tonight?” Pauly took his place in front of his microphone, on the opposite side of the stage. I took a long hard look at him as he was talking about the new album, and I wanted to pinch myself. I was with this man! His black hair was slicked back; the top of it dripping with sweat. His black Five Finger Death Punch shirt was clinging to his hard muscular chest. He looked pretty fucking irresistible, and I wanted to march over and kiss him in mid-speech. “All of you ladies look especially beautiful tonight, but right now, what we’re going to do is pick a few out of the audience here and have them come onstage for a special song we’ll be playing.”
I looked over at Damon, and he gave me a wink. He was up to something because I hadn’t known about this until now. He mouthed to me the name of the song we were going to play, so I went over to Gianni, one of our other roadies, where he handed me my other bass guitar to strap on.
“Thanks, G.” I patted him on the shoulder, and ran back out, where the spotlight was shining up and down the front row, finally showcasing none other than Samantha and Isabella. Why wasn’t I surprised? I smiled widely as the security between the stage and the railing helped the two of them over the railing, lifting them onto the stage. The look on both of their faces was surprised and shocked.
“Come on over here,” Pauly gestured toward the two, who practically ran toward him, but Samantha’s eyes
were locked on Damon as Pauly handed the mic to them. “Now what are your names?”
The taller of the two leaned in and said “Samantha and this is my sister, Bella.”
“Nice to meet you ladies,” Damon cut in, giving each one of them a one armed hug. I smiled politely at Bella and repeated Damon’s gesture.
“It’s working, huh?” I whispered for her to hear me and she giggled, nodding as Samantha dragged her along to the side of the stage where they were watching the rest of the show. We played a few more songs to round out our hour and a half set, ending with Mastermind, one of my favorites that we’d written for the new album. It was sick and twisted in a way. When I wrote it, I thought of Cale and how I’d tried so hard when we were together to help him with his addiction.
As we performed the song, a huge mosh pit started forming in the center of the arena, and security was pulling crowd surfers out of the audience by the minute. It still amazed me how our music made people go insane like that. It’s my fuel for the day and it is what gets me a damn good sleep. Knowing we have fans out there, supporting our music, and actually wanting to see us play in concert gives me the greatest feeling.
The pyrotechnics went off again as we exited the stage, my skin feeling the immediate warmth. Once we were off stage, the five of us came in for some high-fives and a big group hug.
“That was awesome guys, way to kick off the tour!” Alex shouted, all of us still on a high. “They loved Mastermind. Did you see that pit? I have never seen one that big at any of our shows before!”
A grin was plastered all over Pauly’s face as he picked me up and spun me around. Setting me down, he kissed me hungrily on the lips, not holding back at all. “Great job, tommy girl.” He ruffled my hair and wrapped an arm around my waist. “Plus, I think our plan is working, did you see those two? That girl has her eyes set on Damon and no one else.”
“Just call us the perfect matchmakers, I guess.” I giggled, pulling out my phone, noting that I had missed a few texts from my siblings, congratulating me on the new album and one from my mom telling me she was sorry for not making it tonight. I shot my mom a text back telling her I loved her, too then headed back to the dressing rooms to prepare for our meet and greet slash after party for the people that had won special passes. Backstage was already abuzz with the other bands patting us on the back and giving us high fives, getting ready to drink off their asses.
“This is nuts,” I muttered to myself, taking in the crowd that had poured into one of the spare dressing rooms Bobby had set up. The music blared some bubble gum pop song and girls wearing next to nothing were dancing with cups in their hands. I wanted to say ‘this isn’t a club’ but I refrained. It was going to be a good night.
“Do you want a drink, Luce?” Pauly asked me, walking in behind me.
I nodded. “Just a coke. I’m not drinking tonight.”
“Wow,” Pauly sounded genuinely shocked. “Lucy, not drinking? That is surprise.”
I smacked him in the arm. “All right, wiseass! I had a couple of shots earlier! Maybe I want to chill tonight…”
“Damn. I was hoping for some hot drunken sex after this whole shindig was over with.” Pauly gave me a look of disappointment. His fingers ran up and down my bare arm, sending shivers through my body. Not that that idea didn’t sound tempting, I just wasn’t in the mood for drinking.
“Well, the last part of that can be arranged,” I said seductively, placing my hands under his shirt, resting on his waist. “But not until later.”
Pauly groaned. “You’re killing me here.” He laid soft kisses down my neck. “Can’t we go back to the bus for like… five minutes?” I let out a moan, but pulled away quickly because we were still in the middle of the room with people probably watching our display of PDA by now.
“Rain check,” I winked, patting his chest as I went over to get the coke that Pauly hadn’t gotten me. I spotted Isabella talking in a corner close to Mike, and when I noticed Samantha, she was in a chair giving Damon a lap dance.
My jaw dropped. Her skirt was almost showing her ass as she was grinding pretty hard on Damon and he loved every bit of it. Her hands were on his shoulders as she tipped her back and continued her dance.
The looks on the other girl’s faces were priceless, though. Each one of them saw Samantha and Damon together and scowls replaced their pretty little smiles.
“Damn, look at that. Charming’s getting some right in the middle of the room.” Pauly nudged me. I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arm around Pauly’s waist. Feeling him against my skin gave me tingly feelings inside, especially now that we were together. I was ready to take him up on his offer about going to the bus for a few minutes of alone time. Who knew how much of that we were going to have over the next few months.
I tightened my grip around the guy of my dreams. “I changed my mind,” I said, facing him and looking into his honey-colored eyes, the anticipation of sex oozing out of him. “Let’s go right now.”
He led me out the door and we didn’t look back. Tonight was going to end with a bang and I couldn’t wait to watch the fireworks and see what this new tour had in store for us.
TO BE CONTINUED…
In “Finding Our Hearts,” coming spring 2015
Wedding bells are in the air…
Pauly:
Lucy is the one. That much I do know. Our relationship is still new, but I have only one thing on my mind: asking her to marry me. Never did I think I would want to take this leap of faith with someone, but Lucy has changed me in more ways than she will ever imagine.
Now getting her to say yes? That shall be fun. But this will be the proposal to remember.
Note from the author:
Thank you so much for reading “Don’t Break My Heart!” I hope you enjoyed the beginning of Lucy and Pauly’s story. Needless to say, it is only the beginning. The next part to their story, “Finding Our Hearts,” will be released within 2015, but not too far away because I don’t want to leave you readers hanging!
Acknowledgements:
First, I would like to thank my family. They have been so supportive of me in this journey I call writing, and for that I can’t thank you enough. My beautiful daughters, mommy loves you!
To my co-workers, you rock! I have some of the best co-workers I could ever ask for, and Jennifer I still plan on writing you into one of my books I promise!
My street team, you ladies are the best! You gave me a lot of honest feedback with this book and I can always count on you.
To all of my fellow authors, bloggers, readers, your advice means the world to me.
And a BIG thank you to Rebecca from Editing by Rebecca for editing this book.
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