Page 35 of Edge of Forever

We leave the following Wednesday.

The first stop of the tour is Los Angeles and it’s a sold-out crowd.

We’re about to go on, and I feel an unfamiliar bout of nerves.

I don’t get stage fright anymore, but this first night of the tour is important for reasons I’m still trying to wrap my head around. The other guys feel it too because I see them pacing, fidgeting, things they don’t normally do.

“You good?” I ask Jonny.

He smooths his hands down the front of his leather pants. “Yeah. I think so. It’s fucking weird—I don’t get stage fright, but tonight…”

Oh, yeah.

He feels it too.

“I’ve got this weird energy.” Angus comes to stand beside us. “Tonight feels different.”

“Because it means something.” Mick joins us and his thoughtfulness is surprising because he’s not usually the kind ofguy who talks about feelings. “Tonight is the beginning of the biggest tour of our lives to date. Ten years from now it might not mean much, but in the present? It’s absolutely the most important gig we’ve ever done.”

Tate’s here too, nodding, but he has a different take. “Come on, guys. Why are you freaking out? We’ve been working toward this for three years. We know the music, our show, and what we have to do. So let’s just go out there and do it. Everything will fall into place once we start to play.”

“Feels easier said than done tonight,” I murmur.

“Ninety seconds,” our tour manager, Vic, calls out.

“Christ.” Mick runs his hands down his face. “All right, let’s do this.” He turns and pulls a bottle of Crown Royal out of a duffel bag. He takes a long drink and passes me the bottle.

With a laugh, I take a pull and pass it to Jonny, who does the same.

When we’ve all taken a shot of the Canadian whiskey, we grin at each other.

“Nerves more settled now?” Tate asks.

“Kinda.” Jonny grins.

“Thirty seconds, Angus.” Angus’s drum tech, Bobby, taps him on the shoulder.

Angus always goes out first, so he nods.

“Let’s do this, boys.”

I look over and see Kirsten leaning against a stack of amps, talking to Sasha.

She catches my eye and winks.

It’s nice having her here.

Things between us are good.

She’s struggling with some growing pains but so far, she seems okay with the change in plans. She’s still going to college in the fall. The difference now is that she’s taking things one dayat a time, instead of worrying about what might come up, what might happen, or what could change over the next few months.

If I’m honest, I’ve got the best of both worlds right now: my band and my girl.

It feels a little selfish but things worked out the way they’re supposed to, and I’m not one to argue with fate.

Kirsten blows me a kiss as we get our cue from Vic, so I grab my guitar as I run out on stage.

The lights come up, and the crowd seems massive.

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