Page 43 of Fractured Rhythm

“Yeah, great,” I said. “One of Jamie’s favorites. Nice to hear someone with talent play it.”

“Thanks, Bash. That means everything to me,” Jacob said, his grin bright.

“Yeah. Great job. So we have all your info; you should hear from one of us in a week or two,” Tristan said, jotting down a few notes next to the guy’s name.

“Thanks. Great. Looking forward to it,” he said before he walked out of the room.

“Holy shit, that was hard,” Jax said, and I was glad it wasn’t just me.

“Yeah. This won’t be easy—Jamie was our brother—but we have to keep going,” Tristan said.

“I know,” I said.

“You know Jamie would’ve laughed his ass off with all that gushing,” Tristan said with a half-smile.

I grinned. “You know it.”

A few more guys took their turn. Some were all right, and one was so damn awful I almost left the room. We got through it, but no one was perfect.

“How about Carter?” Jax asked after the guy left.

“He’s not bad. Stayed with the beat and rocked it,” Tristan said. “Probably the best so far.”

“He was too loud,” I said.

They both turned and glared at me.

“What?”

“Seriously, Bash? Yeah, the first guy was way too gushy, and the guy before Carter almost took his own eye out when he lost control of his sticks. But the rest? Brian messed up the beat. Aaron didn’t have long enough hair. Derek rushed it. But too loud? Stop fucking with us,” Jax said.

“Just calling it like I see it,” I replied, knowing I was acting like a total dick.

“Too loud? He’s a damn drummer. He’s supposed to be loud,” Tristan said. “He held the rhythm perfectly. His hair was long. He knew a bunch of our songs. And he didn’t fawn all over us.”

“Yeah. I know. I just feel like we’ll know the guy when we see him,” I said, but I wasn’t sure I would agree to anyone at this point. “We have Rusty as a session drummer to at least get this album done. We know he’s good.”

“Take this seriously, Wolfie. We need a drummer. We need to get back to recording and touring. This band didn’t die,” Jax said.

“I fucking know that. I just want the best guy we can find,” I said. “Maybe we should call it a day.” After that last comment, I didn’t even want to be in the same room with Jax.

“Look, I’m sorry, man, but we have to do this,” Jax said.

“Umm, hello,” a voice called from across the room.

We all looked up.

“Can I help you?” Tristan asked.

“Yeah, I’m Charlie.” She held up a set of sticks. “I’m here to audition.”

“You’re a woman,” Jax sputtered.

“Yeah, I am. And?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow at Jax.

Hell, I liked her already.

“Just didn’t expect it. Sorry. Yeah, so what are you going to play?” Jax asked.

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