Page 1 of Broken Chorus

Chapter 1

Future? What Future?

“Great, this is just fuckin’ great! You cannot seriously think we can perform with a cultist and a cri….” Aaron’s voice lowered to a whisper, “guy in a wheelchair!”

Kelly shoved away from the desk, swiveling, and slamming his knee into a stone and wood coffee table.

“OWE God fuckin’ dammit! I thought I told you not to pull that over here!” Kelly grumbled, grimacing, and wincing as he glared at Aaron.

“And I thought you heard me doing it!” Aaron replied as he returned to his task of breaking up a bright green nug shot through with yellow tendrils.

“Oh hell no! You are not lighting that up in here!” Kelly snarled, shooting him a cross between a glare and a grimace while furiously rubbing his knee.

“No, I’m rolling it in here. I will be sure to smoke it somewhere you and your newfound sobriety aren’t.”

“Last I checked, you were supposed to be maintaining your sobriety too.”

“I’ll have you know I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol since we struck our deal, and I won’t. But I will smoke as much of this as I chose ‘cause I’ll be damned if I’m doing this little jam session of yours without something in my system.”

“Way to embrace this thing with open arms,” Kelly grumbled beneath his breath. “Now, as for your original question, I know thatIcan perform and make amazing music with Micah and Declan. I would also like to keep on making it with my best friend, but if you ever use those two words to describe them again, it’ll be the last time we ever speak.”

Aaron glanced up just enough to see the furious look on Kelly’s face. Oh well. He could be as angry as he wanted, it didn’t change how Aaron felt about the two men who were slated to join them. “Don’t get your panties twisted, I’ll make sure I pick a language you don’t know.”

“How about you just don’t say anything derogatory at all?”

Growling, Aaron smacked his hand on the table hard enough to rattle his rolling tray. “How about you come to your senses and admit this is a horrible idea!”

“Can’t admit what I don’t believe.”

“Mark my words, you will.”

“Look,” Kelly snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose and visibly counting like Aaron couldn’t tell how close he was tolosing his shit. “If you’re gonna go smoke, then go out on the balcony and get it over with, then come back in and at least try to be nice. You loved their playing when you first heard them. That should not have changed after I shared their dossiers with you.”

“You were being an underhanded prick when you insisted we hold blind auditions,” Aaron griped. “The least you can do is admit it.”

“Fine, maybe I was, knowing some of your issues, but just who would you have chosen if we hadn’t done it that way?”

“That’s easy,” Aaron said as he finished rolling a nice-sized blunt, “Kazzy Malone and Reid Davis.”

“You’re fuckin’ shitting me right now! Kazzy Malone? The guy knows one speed. He’s got no versatility. If it isn’t pure thrash, he tries to make it that way! Hell, he headlines the dirt sheets every other week! He’s exactly what we don’t want. What don’t you understand about building a whole new image?”

“The part wherenewequals turning us into a bunch of soft Christian rockers with a god damned message in every song. We’re not going to get many invites to tour or play festivals if we get a reputation for being….”

There were plenty of things Aaron wanted to say, all of which he censored as he rolled the blunt back and forth on the tray, mindful of Kelly’s threat.

“At least Kazzy would keep things interesting,” Aaron finally offered when nothing else came to mind.

“Haven’t you had enough of his particular brand of interesting?”

“Meh,” Aaron muttered as he stood, blunt held between his fingers as he headed for the balcony door.

“Is that amehyou’re right ormehit’s taking too much effort to think of an interesting excuse for why you haven’t gotten all the party boy, live fast, die young, leave a good-looking corpse bullshit out of your system! Weren’t you just gripping about howyou were over bouncing from after-party to after-party? What was that, two months ago? Why the sudden change of tune?”

“That was before I realized there was little else in the cards for me.”

“For fuck’s sake Aaron, get over yourself and while you’re at it, tell Hawk you’ve been miserable and missing him and the kids since you came back from your last visit to Wyoming! I’m surehe’dappreciate hearing it far more than I have.”

“I’m not miserable…I’m just…”

---