Page 24 of Wild Obsession

“Drums.”

The sound guy interrupts our silent battle of wills. We snap our attention away from each other and toward him. The sound guy shrinks back.

“Could we talk about the drum kit swap for a minute?” he asks meekly.

We go through the sound check. It’s identical to every other sound check. These shows are starting to blur into each other, one venue in one city little different from another in another city. We haven’t paused to see any of our destinations outside of the venues and hotels, if we even got a hotel and didn’t pile right back onto the bus.

This night proves no different. I get through it, thinkingabout Tim as little as I can. Then it’s right back on the bus, right back on the road, right back on this strange, lumbering journey around the country.

Our arrival on the East Coast marks the midway point in the tour. It doesn’t feel like we’re halfway through this, though. That seems both way too short and way too long. Just moments ago, I was home in Seattle wondering how I could ruin my ex-boyfriend’s life. Now, I’ve got bigger things in mind. With every stop, there are more people there for us, for Baptism Emperor. The Ten Hours are still the headliner, but I don’t need marketing numbers to know we’re building something here.

“She what?” Jacob says one day on the tour bus.

His brown eyes widen as he listens to the voice on the other end of his phone.

I lie reclined on an uncomfortable bed, messing around on my phone, but I can see down the narrow hall of the tour bus to the seating area where Jacob and the others tend to hang out during the day. Our guitarist, Shawn, reads beside a sunny window while our bassist, Levi, and the backup guitarist, Dan, attempt to play a board game at the fold-out kitchen table. Jacob is beside Levi at the table, shaking his head in disbelief.

“But why?” Jacob says. “You’re sure? And we don’t get a say in this? Uh-huh. I know. I understand, but—”

Jacob scowls, an unusual expression on his normally bright, pretty boy face. His budding fan base would weep tosee him looking so upset. Even I’m getting uneasy. I hop down from the bunk bed, pacing into the “living room” area.

By the time Jacob hangs up the phone with a sigh, the whole band is focused on him, books and games forgotten.

“What’s going on?” Levi asks beside him.

“That was Emmett,” Jacob says. “The tour sold out.”

Everyone except Jacob exchanges a look.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Dan asks.

“Yes,” Jacob says, “it should be. They even wanted to extend the tour.”

“But?” I prompt, because there is definitely a “but” looming at the end of that sentence.

“But,” Jacob says, “The Ten Hours refused. They won’t extend the tour. They agreed to a few extra shows that we can hit along the way, but they’re dead set on returning to Seattle by the date we originally agreed to.”

“What the hell?” I snarl.

Any goodwill Tim might have built up for him and his band with his little show in the shower vanishes like water down the drain. This is our big opportunity. They’ve already got the fans and the money and the record deals. We don’t. Yet they shot us in the foot during a tour specifically designed to help boost our image alongside theirs.

“Those selfish pieces of—”

“It’s not their fault,” Jacob says.

“The hell it isn’t,” Isay.

“We can’t blame them,” Jacob says. “Really. Tours are long. They’re hard. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m exhausted, and we’re barely halfway. They agreed to six weeks, and they’re sticking to six weeks. That’s their call to make.”

“Not when it screwsusover,” I say.

Shawn is your typical lead guitarist, all broody and quiet, but I catch him nodding his agreement from the corner of my eye.

Levi, our token laid back stoner, shrugs. “I won’t mind getting home on time.”

“Damn it, this is ourbreak,” I say. “You’re all just going to let the damn Ten Hours take it away from us?”

“They aren’t taking anything away from us,” Jacob says. “Yes, it’s frustrating, but they’re well within their rights to stick to their original contract. There’s nothing we can do. Let’s make the most of the shows we have left.”

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