Page 96 of Broken Chorus

“Ack!”

Oh shit!

Ick!

Sputtering, Hawk swiped at his tongue as bitter, soapy tasting bubbles coated it and left a nasty tasting residue behind. By the time he’d cleared his vision, bubbles covered his chest and stood like a wobbly hat on the top of his head. Twinkling and popping they clung to his jeans, making him look like the bubble version of the abominable snowman.

“Better be careful guys or the bubble yeti will getcha!” Aaron declared.

Always on the same wavelength, even after all these years. Wrinkling his lips, Hawk held his arms out and shambled like a bad version of the Frankenstein monster. Bubbles dripped off him every time he moved, plopping onto the ground while the kids giggled at him.

Oh really?

“RAR!”

He wasn’t sure who he surprised more with the noise that burst out of him, the kids, whose eyes went wide, or himself, right before he rapid shambled towards Liam who blasted him with every bubble left in that bubble launcher of his. For the second time that night, everyone ganged up on him, the bubbles resulting in a puffy mound Hawk occasionally reached through as he snarled and tried to catch someone.

Laughter surrounded him, and even he had to stop trying to be scary so he could laugh along with them, even as another round of bubbles caught him square in the face.

Something heavy and choking broke loose in his chest, and for the first time he realized that he did not have to struggle through all the changes in his life alone. While he may have lost Ethan and Jason, maybe it was better that they showed their true colors early on, before any of the kids could grow attached to them.

Just looking at the duo who’d taken their places, Hawk could see where Declan and Micah were a better fit. It wasn’t just about the way they interacted with the children either. They’d rekindled Aaron‘s passion for creating and bolstered Kelly’s self-esteem after being trashed in the dirt sheets by one of the bandmates who’d abandoned them. They sure as hell brought more to the table in terms of musical contributions, but more than that, they were genuinely nice guys who were passionate about their instruments and in honing their abilities with every passing day. As far as Hawk was concerned, it was good to be making music with people who gave a damn about what they created, rather than spoiled party boys.

There would be a reckoning, even if only on social media. No way was Hawk letting stand all the things the had said about Kelly, not when Jason was the one to introduce Kelly to the hard stuff. If they wanted to be jealous and pissed about Kelly’s band being able to accept the Rocktoberfest slot when theirs couldn’t,well that was on them for not sticking with him and Aaron. To resort to spoiled brat behavior like revealing secrets and deeds no one outside of the band knew about was juvenile. As far as Hawk was concerned, it was also the worse sort of betrayal and no one got away with doing that to someone he loved.

An ocean of faces and Aaron’s gut twisted up in a knot that threatened to break him. At the edge of his vision waved something pink and purple, and he dialed in on Dani’s wings, then Hawk’s face, and all was right with the world. Aaron didn’t need to see anyone else’s reaction as he kick-started the first song in their set, and it was a good thing too, because grit and bubbles from their boisterous bubble war had started itching and burning his eyes less than a half hour after they'd started spraying one another, and it had only gotten worse after he'd rubbed his eyes too much. The lights at sound check had damn near blinded him, and made one eye water so bad that Cade had made his way to the medical tent in search of an eyepatch and been unable to find anything but a gauze pad for eye injuries. He'd grabbed it and brought it back in time to slip it beneath the awesome, heart-shaped leather pirate patch Rebecka had hastily crafted for him. The woman was truly a wiz with a needle and thread, and he couldn't wait to see if she'd be willing to craft some performance gear for him.

Okay, moment of truth world.

Time to rock out with your cock out!

That had been the message that had come in from Kazzy, not fifteen minutes before. Fuckin’ Kazzy.

He’d have been tempted to go out there and play that first song with his shorts unzipped and his junk swinging around while he was playing, only he was certain that would be breaking the law, even out here, and more importantly, his nieces and nephew were in the VIP section and Hawk would skin him alive.

He'd settled for sending a dick pic, laughing when Kazzy responded in kind. It felt good to have that friendship intact again, but what felt better was the bond he was slowly forming with his new drummer, who really did have one of the most creative minds for drumlines of anyone Aaron had ever worked with.

Declan tapped out the intro and there was no longer time to be scared, or wonder why he hadn’t insisted on Hawk being the one to play Rocktoberfest since the fucker was standing there.

Warm beneath his fingers, the strings hummed as he worked his way through the melody, Hawk’s face splitting into a grin, then Liam started headbanging, and that right there was everything.

He strutted around Micah, swaggering, Micah moving with him, cocky, feeding him the same energy Aaron was sending him. Then they were dueling, each spitting out a riff, many of them improvised, the other shredding out a response. They’d upped the tempo until it was out and out war, then slid seamlessly into a duet, dueling with the final words to the song, instead of their instruments, and blowing the crowd away.

Holy shit….the rush!

Endorphins hit as the cheers crashed like a wave of energy, rolled him and left him howling as he revved up the crowd for the second song.

Fun!

Gods and monsters of the universe, holy shit this was fuckin’ fun.

The perfect moment was coming and he whirled, snarling into the mic the moment his eyes met Declan’s.

“Fuckin’ bring it!” Aaron growled.

“Consider it brought!” Howled Declan, then his sticks flew over those skins and Aaron stood there fanboying for a moment, before sliding to his knees and bowing down to their new drummer, who whipped a stick into the crowd and quickly produced another in the time it took Aaron to regain his footing and lead them into the final verse of the Ecstasy and Angels.

Pin me down in the belly of the beast

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