“Sure. Sure, what is it?” Mich came over to peek over her shoulder. “Oh, not country, more alt-country or angry girl.”
“You know it. We wrote it.” Skyla beamed at Mich, then at Kirsten. “Kirsten and I wrote it.”
“No shit? Cool.” That was Greggo, who was setting up his kit.
“It looks good. We should be able to murder this,” Mich said.
Kirsten really did have an ear for lyrics, and a decent musicality. And when she sat down and started tuning up, so did everyone else. It was like they had all just decided to go to work.
Hopefully, someone had read them the riot act. Her money was on Brenda, but who knew?
It didn’t matter as long as they were polite. Once the music started, she knew it would be all right. Music fixed pretty much every damn thing, at least for a little while.
Hell, who was she kidding?
Music fixed everything.
It took them a little bit to gel—her band was tight, and they fought a little to add Kirsten, to fold her in. But Kirsten had the patience of someone who had waited tables for ages, and she justkept on plugging. Plus she knew the song, so eventually everyone fell in line and played follow the leader.
When it gelled, it gelled, and it was pure magic and she loved it.
They caught on, all of the band, and suddenly they were like a freight train. They chugged uphill, but then they were cooking with gas, the song making sense. And it was hot as hell.
Andi nodded as they stopped, and then Blaine from the control room came over the microphone. “Good work, guys. Can you blues it up? Take it down a half step.”
“You got it. Guys?”
At the chorus of agreement, she tapped out the time on her guitar. “One, two, one two three four.” And they were off again, slower and more…grinding.
Okay, that went from angsty to hot as fuck, and Skyla was totally into it. Best of all was Kirsten, fingers dancing over the strings, and she was having no problem with keeping up with the band. That woman could play, and the respect was growing. She could see Mich nodding, see Andi falling into stank face, which meant she was totally into it.
Skyla held the final note, letting it ring out past the band when they stopped, and yeah. That was the damn sauce.
“Got it. That was money! Money! Take fifteen guys. Rest your fingers and have some sandwiches.”
“Thanks, Blaine.” She stretched, grinning wide. “Thanks, y’all. That was the sweet spot.”
“It was amazing.”
Andi glanced up at Kirsten when she spoke. “Oh, girl. You can pick. You did great.”
“Thanks.” Kirsten shook out her hands. “That’s intense. You guys have all my respect for doing this all night, six nights a week, or whatever.”
“You do it twice a week, girlfriend,” Mich answered. “That’s about our schedule too.”
“Y’all should hear her set.” Skyla loved that Kirsten had held her own. “She has a nice fuzzy voice.”
“Pure sex, huh? I love that.” Mich winked at Kirsten, and Skyla damn near growled.
“Well, I do my best.” Kirsten winked at them all, then grabbed a water bottle to suck down some hydration. The way her throat worked made Skyla stare.
The ink seemed to move and dance with every single swallow, the dark lines keeping her attention. She licked her lips and jumped when Mich kicked her a little.
Ow. She glared at her friend, but Mich just grinned.
Her cheeks went hot, but she hid it by bending down to grab her water bottle. “You should get a sandwich, Kir. There should be turkey, ham, and veggie.”
“I’ll take a veggie.” Kirsten stood and stretched before heading over to the food table.