Page 23 of Verses

But I would soon find out.

CHAPTER 7

Pedro and Adrian showed up first and, after Kyle got there, Wolf announced his decision. After how much I’d anticipated their reactions, the moment felt anticlimactic—and I wasn’t surprised that Kyle wouldn’t say a damn word to me.

He wouldn’t even look at me.

Still, he seemed more engaged with the band than he had in weeks. “Should we go ahead and practice, guys?”

Wolf said, “As long as the bar doesn’t get busy, I’m all for it.”

“Let’sdothis!” Pedro all but shouted, probably a little too enthusiastic for the rest of us.

But seeing Wolf pick up his guitar case from behind the bar made it all feel so real. And, for the first time in a long time, I felt a deep well of hope spring up from my soul. He said to the guy at the end of the bar, “Holler at me when you get thirsty.”

When we all got on stage and the guys started plugging in to amps while Adrian settled behind his drums and I adjusted the mike stand, Pedro started tuning his bass. “I haven’t been this pumped in a long fucking time.”

“One question,” Wolf said, and we all paused, waiting. “How many of your original songs did you guys have a hand in writing?”

Kyle shook his head, indicating he hadn’t. I said, “I wrote lyrics for a few songs. And didn’t all of you guys add to what Liam composed?”

“A little,” Pedro said. “But…”

“So you guys haven’t written much?” Wolf asked.

“Dude, Hayley’s probably done more than we have. Liam was a genius, so we just went with his lead.”

But he was gone.

“Well…do you want to be a cover band or do you want to speak for yourself?”

“Covers are cool, dude, but—”

Kyle said, “I want to be original—but I don’t know how.”

Wolf’s eyes said far more than his lips. He could tell that even though Kyle was on board, the young man still lacked the confidence he used to have when his brother was by his side. “Name a band you want to sound like.”

Kyle shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t give it a lot of thought. Just one band you admire and wouldn’t mind sounding like.”

I knew what he’d say before it even came out of his mouth. “Alice in Chains, I guess.”

“Pedro, what about you?”

“Metallica, AC/DC, Pantera, Lamb—”

“Oneband,” Wolf said, a small smile turning his lips upward. God, that was cute.

“Slipknot.”

“That’s your pick?”

“Hell, yeah, man!”

Turning to our drummer, Wolf said, “Adrian?”

“I’m kinda partial to Five Finger Death Punch.”

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