Page 46 of Strike A Chord

“Thanks for not obsessing over my past and believing in me.”

“Dude, I was a total dick to you and I’m sorry.” Nigel fist bumped me. “I just have a hard time trusting.”

“That I more than understand.” No need to further explain. They’d heard and seen enough when I fell out of the bunk. Not one of them called me out but all three of my bandmates took me aside privately to say they were there for me however I needed them to be. Maybe being vulnerable to my friends wasn’t a bad thing. Definitely turned things around with my band brothers and Joey and Stoli. Hell, Easton, too.

Sometimes even Karma turned around. You just had to fight past the demons and prove yourself. Then she moved on.

“Where are we playing in AZ?” It was different being on this side of things, part of the band the listeners came to see. No more behind the scenes for me. Now I’d be in the limelight for all the right reasons, and I was ready to grab that bitch by the horns and ride her into submission. “Have you seen our merch? I’d like to snag a couple shirts to wear onstage.” Might as well boost sales while playing.

“Shit, I forgot.” Jason shook his head. “There are cases of free merch under the bus for us. Shirts, tanks, hoodies, sticks for you Nigel, picks for Josh and Marley. All kinds of cool shit that mirrors what’ll be sold at the shows.”

“Fucking right on.” Marley cracked me up. Steadily catching Pokémon but the word free grabbed his attention mid-battle. “Hey, do you think Diamond could set us up with his tattoo guy, Mash? I’d love to add to my sleeve.”

“I’d love to add our band logo.” I glanced down at the skin on my arms and chest. “Um, somewhere?”

“What about your dick?” Marley joked.

“Already done.” When that was met with silence, I glanced up. All eyes were on me, including Deuce’s. “What?”

“You’re serious? Your junk is tattooed?” Nigel asked.

“Yeah. It’s one piece on my groin that kind of swirls onto my dick. Wanna see?” I had no problem whipping it out. Shit, was that something I had to run past Reagan first?

“Yeah, I fucking do.” Of course, Marley would push it. They sat up as I slid from the booth and pushed my pants down. “Holy shit, didn’t that hurt?”

“Meh, don’t really remember it. I was pretty fucked up at the time.” Hell, I barely remembered having it done.

“I thought you weren’t allowed to get tattoos while under the influence?” Jason was our by the rules guy.

“Money talks, my man.”

“Jesus, your junk is tatted, and Diamond’s is pierced.” Marley shook his head. “Not sure I have the cahones to do anything to my cahones, let alone my dick.” He grabbed his crotch and cringed. “But that is pretty freaking bad ass.”

“Um, thanks?” I forgot about all the press Diamond got for flashing his junk in public.

“I should put a huge rainbow above mine with taste the rainbow written above it.” Marley seemed to actually consider that.

“Not sure Skittles or their parent company would be too keen on that,” Jason pointed out. “Just saying. You’ll be in the spotlight now and that shit would get around. Nothing worse than kissing off your newfound income to a lawsuit.”

“Noted and taken under consideration.” For how long, no clue. Marley had the attention span of a two-year-old and was already back to catching Pokémon.

Only a couple of hours into a multi-week trip and I missed Reagan like mad and fired off a text to him.

Me: Miss you like mad. Gonna be a long ass month.

Reagan: Video sex? Just not now cause I’m at the bar.

Me: Yeah, I’m not too keen on sharing though FYI, I did show my junk to my bandmates. And Deuce.

I could almost hear his eyes roll.

Reagan: Do I even want to know?

Me: Not as nefarious as you think. We were talking tats, one conversation led to another and…yeah.

Reagan: Makes sense in a this is Josh’s world kind of way ??

Me: hahaha, one of many reasons why I love you. You get me like no one ever has.

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