Page 90 of Rock Bottom

“Sam, calm down,” Dante said firmly, his voice cutting through the room. “Church did everything he could to protect me.”

Sam scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Protect you? Look at where that got you, Dante. You were kidnapped twice under his watch. You nearly died down in that mine shaft!”

“That wasn't Church's fault,” Dante shot back, his tone unwavering. “I owe him my life.”

The other band members shifted uncomfortably in their seats, eyes darting between Sam and Dante. It was clear there was a history here, one filled with resentment and unspoken words. Maybe Dante wasn’t the only one who’d suffered with Sam as their manager.

“Actually, I owe him more than that.” Dante took my hand. “Church and I are together, and I’m not going to hide it.”

Sam's gaze softened slightly as he looked at Dante. “I'm glad you're safe, Dante. But you need to think about your future. We talked about this. The label might not be happy about all this gay stuff.”

Dante squared his shoulders, a defiant glint in his eyes. “First of all, Sam, I’m not gay. I’m bisexual. Not that it matters, especially to you because it’s none of your damn business. Second, I don’t care how the label feels about it. I love Christian. He makes me happy. I’m done hiding who I am and what I want from the world. They can either accept that, or not. Either way, if the label has a problem with me—the real me—I don’t want to work with them, anyway.”

My heart swelled with pride and I squeezed Dante’s hand back lightly.

Remi stood up, guitar in hand. “If the label drops you, they’ll have to let me go, too.”

“And me,” Trevor added, standing.

“And me, too.” Jake stood and Gabe was close behind, voicing the same sentiment.

Dante looked back at his bandmates, eyes watering. Their support meant the world to him, and I was happy to see it. He turned back to Sam. “You tell the label if they want to be homophobic jackasses, they’re going to lose their biggest stars. All of them.”

Sam's expression darkened. “You're making a mistake, Dante. Are you really willing to throw away everything for one man? Think about this!”

Dante shook his head, his voice steady. “I'm done living my life for others. I'm going to do what makes me happy, even if it means I have to walk away from being a rock star. I don’t need fame and flashing lights to be happy. All I need is music and Christian at my side. I certainly don’t need you. Sam, I’m sorry you came all this way for nothing. You’re fired.”

Sam's face turned red as he sputtered, “You can’t fire me!” He looked to the rest of the band for support, but found none.

“You heard him,” Remi said.

Jake just smiled and waved.

“You’re going to regret this,” Sam spat. Without another word, he stormed out of the room, his departure echoing loudly in the tense silence that followed.

Despite the lingering tension, a sense of relief settled over us. Dante had finally taken a stand for himself and I couldn’t be prouder of him.

Dante turned to me with a smile that lit up the room, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “I can't believe I just did that,” he whispered.

I squeezed his hand. “I'm so proud of you, Dante.” I pulled him into a hug and a kiss that had the band cheering and clapping. When we parted, my face had never been redder, but Dante’s smile had also never been wider. I wouldn’t have traded either for the whole world.

A strum from Remi’s guitar broke through the clapping and cheering, and he began to sing.

“Goodbye, Sam.

It’s been nice to know ya.

Don’t let the door hit you

Where the good Lord split you.

Life’s too short to dance

To someone else’s tune

So goodbye, goodbye Sam!”

Gabe picked up his drumsticks and started tapping out a rhythm on Boone’s desk, and Dante went back to his guitar. Pretty soon the whole band was back to jamming, making up lyrics as they went.

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