Page 25 of Under the Ink

“What?”

“Demand that I come with you so you can tell me something.”

With a chuckle, he said, “Yeah, I guess I do. Does that bother you?”

“Not really.”

They walked down the hall, now quiet and clean because all the equipment had been loaded up into trucks. In a couple of hours, everyone would get on the buses and crawl into their bunks for a shitty night’s sleep while they headed southward to New Mexico. But, for now, they were celebrating finishing their first night of the tour.

It didn’t matter that this was a home state show. Their fans were everywhere—and tonight’s audience had told them resoundingly that they fucking loved the new material. It didn’t get any better than that.

“Jimmy and I…I guess we’d just worked together so much that he knew exactly what I wanted when I wanted it.”

“So have I missed something? Not done something I should have? Is that what you’re saying?”

“No. Hell, no. Not at all. In fact, that’s why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to tell you that you did a great job making sure my drums were ready to go.”

“I did?”

“Yeah. And, for the record, I’m glad you’re here.”

They continued walking for a bit, still heading down the hall as the noise from the party seemed to get farther and farther away.

“Thank you. That means a lot.”

“Yeah. I know what it’s like to be compared to someone who did your job before you, and I don’t want to do that to you.”

“I get that—and thanks. But I also know he was your good friend.”

“Yeah, he was.” And Sage was on the verge of admitting to himself that maybe their relationship hadn’t been the healthiest…but then he would have to admit a whole lot more to himself, and he wasn’t ready to go there.

After another few steps, Naomi said, “How’d you guys meet?”

He really liked the sound of her voice—calm but with a little bit of a scratch in it. Kind of husky.

Sexy.

Jesus. He had to fucking quit going there. This woman was off limits. Period.

“How much do you know about Shock Treatment?”

“Not much.”

Sage nodded as they slowed, getting near the doors that led outside. He had no idea how she’d feel hanging around out there right now. Most of the concert-goers’ vehicles had likely cleared out and headed home. Granted, they were in the biggest city in Colorado, but being alone with a guy she barely knew away from the crowd inside to be potentially vulnerable in a dark abandoned parking lot might make her a little touchy.

How he knew that about her, he didn’t have a clue—but she just had a caginess about her that he didn’t want to rile.

“I won’t even pretend to know how many bands Johnny’s had in the past, but Shock Treatment was going to be his last and greatest. He did a reunion tour with Scathing Vengeance a year ago, but I don’t think he’s gonna be doing any more side gigs in the near future—if ever—‘cause he and Katie are starting a family.”

He paused for the regular female response of delight or excitement.

But there was nothing.

So he continued. “Anyway…when he hired us, me and Mickey at least, we didn’t know our asses from a hole in the ground.” Naomi didn’t quite look confused, but he wasn’t quite sure his communication skills were telling her what she needed to know. “We’d never been in a band before—well, aside from high school shit—so we just made sure we knew how to play the music. Mickey had to get used to standing on stage, too, but me, I’m just sitting behind the drums doing my thing.”

“Yeah.”

“And I knew about road crews—but I had no fucking idea just how many people go into making a show on the road happen. I didn’t even know what a drum tech was, much less to know that I needed one. So, anyway, when it came time to hire a crew, Johnny said we could pick anyone we wanted that we trusted and who would be okay with traveling, but I didn’t really know anyone.”

---