Page 5 of Strike A Chord

I got lost in a sea of hours, working far too many, but how could I not when the place was mine? Mine. Still hard to believe, though, I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face each time I thought it. I didn’t regret it in the least and as I watched my vision, my dreams, come to life, the lack of sleep became secondary. Hotel guests complained for ages that we closed too early, which was currently at ten p.m., Immediately, I extended the hours to midnight. When they further complained others were open until two a.m. I reminded them we weren’t a free-standing bar and had to be respectful of the hotel guests. They grumbled but in the end, they shut up.

The weekend was a blur with the influx of guests in town for a book convention for which I had zero complaints. Hey, if they wanted to end their book shopping days in my bar, more power to them. And with the signed contracts returned to Harvey, the extra income went directly toward the agreed upon purchase price and a secondary pot for the reno I had planned.

Life was good.

“Mom, I’m home,” I called out as I walked inside, having just returned from getting groceries and the restaurant supply store. I managed to get what we needed for the handful of menu items we now offered. I was glad we still had the equipment, and all was in working order. Had the hotel not been using the equipment for breakfast service we’d have had to call out for repairs from it sitting unused for so long.

My mom worked from home, and I tried to help as much as I could since she wouldn’t let me pay rent. Dating, the few times I tried to, didn’t go well. For some reason it bothered most men when they found out I still lived at home. I loved living with my mother, hell, she was my best friend, and we could talk about anything. So why would I leave?

“Coming.” I’d timed it just right, and even brought home lunch from her favorite sub shop. “Reagan, you spoil me.”

“Nah, just want to make sure my best girl takes a break and eats.”

“I’d ask if you’re working tonight but given your new title,” she winked, “I already know the answer. I’m so proud of you, baby boy.”

“Thanks, Mom,” I kissed her cheek and pulled out her chair. “Tonight’s the first open mic night and I’m ridiculously excited.” Jason came in the other day to drop off CDs for me to hand out and drum up more business with. The marketing budget only afforded me to pay the bands two hundred dollars to play, so we let them put out a tip jar on stage to help. With the groceries put away and both of us fed, I kissed Mom’s cheek and was out the door.

I was in the back taking inventory while there was a lull in business. Not much of one, but with all staff on the clock tonight I had to make sure we wouldn’t run out of supplies, and double and triple checking was how I rolled.

“Knock-knock.” I turned at the sound of Jason’s voice as he rapped his knuckles against the door frame. “Just checking in. Is it cool if we set up?”

“Absolutely. Let Daniel know if you need anything. I’ll be out in a few.”

“Will do, and thanks again.”

With the bottles necessary to restock the front, I returned to find a packed bar. Immediately my head turned toward the capacity sign and sent out a silent prayer to the gods of fire marshals we didn’t get shut down. There was no way the endless sea of bodies didn’t match capacity, if not exceed it. Hurriedly, I stocked the shelves and took one side of the bar while Daniel manned the other and started filling orders.

“I can’t believe they signed Josh Gray,” I overheard one of the customers say. Having no idea who Josh Gray was, I mixed up his rum and Coke and slid it in front of him. “Figured he’d be bagging groceries somewhere after the stunt he pulled.” His friend nearly shot the sip he’d taken out of his nose. “I heard he’s totally broke.”

“Hey, man, everyone deserves a second chance,” another guy said and I hoped like hell this didn’t turn into fists thrown. It would be a bitch to break up a brawl in this mess. Note to self, hire security next time.

“Very true,” the first guy readily agreed and set me at ease.

“Good evening, everyone, and thanks for coming out tonight.” The crowd cheered at Jason’s opening words. “We are Chaotic Abyss. Many of you knew us before as Playing With Fire. But we’re new and improved, and that includes a new band name and a guitarist.” From where I was, I couldn’t see the stage with the throng of bodies blocking it. “I see a lot of familiar faces here tonight and we can’t thank you enough for supporting us. I’m Jason, lead singer. We’ve got Marley on bass,” Marley struck a throng of deep rumbles. “That’s Nigel back there on drums,” he waved his sticks. “And our new addition, Josh…”

Before he could get out the last name an all too familiar voice spoke into the mic. “Just Josh.”

“All right, Just Josh,” Jason teased. “Josh has been cramming for finals, so to speak, learning all our songs, so be gentle tonight and give the guy a break.” The crowd laughed. “Enough of this sweet shit. Let’s play some fucking music!”

With the customers’ attention on the band, I slid my phone out and Googled Josh Gray, and kinda wished I hadn’t.

Chapter Three

Josh

What the fuck had I got myself into?

I’d purposely avoided Reagan when we got to the bar and dreaded this night since Jason emailed me the schedule and I saw the familiar haunt was up first. As far as I knew, Reagan had no idea who I was, and I had planned to keep it that way. So much for that.

For the last week, I’d practiced all Chaotic’s songs nonstop, even made a few notes and suggested changes the guys readily accepted. Shocked the hell out of me, but also I felt heard, like my contribution was worthy and welcomed. If that made any sense?

I kept my head down the entire time I played. Having spent my career behind the scenes, it hadn’t been my job to rile the crowd up and keep them engaged. The rest of the band could do that while I got acclimated. But damn it felt fan-fucking-tastic to play in front of others again. Sure, over the years I played daily, but only for myself. This right here, this was that amplified ten times and the adrenaline rush was like no other.

“Thanks for coming out tonight. To keep up with where we’ll be next, stalk our website.” Jason hopped off stage to mingle with the crowd and handed out cards he made with all our info on it while the rest of us packed up the gear. We wouldn’t load it until we left, chances it would get stolen were high if we had so we left it on stage for now. Nigel and Marley finished up and joined Jason, chatting up the sea of nameless faces. I had no clue what to do next and just wanted to hide.

“Come on, handsome, I’ll buy you a drink.” I turned to face Reagan, at a loss for words. I should’ve known there was no way to avoid the impending conversation we were about to have. He now knew who I was and there was no turning back from that. Would he shun me as the others had?

“Handsome, huh?”

---