Page 39 of Behind the Lights

“Fucking Diamond,” Mickey groaned.

“What? We’re all dudes,” Diamond said. He seriously had no problem with what he’d just done.

I loved these guys, brothers to the very end.

“All right,” Stoli stood, clapping his hands together. “We’re staying here tonight so we don’t need to pack up yet. Let’s roll, I’m starving,” he announced, heading out the door and leaving us in his wake.

I was packing up my stuff when Diamond stopped me. “Dude we’re crashing here again.”

“I’m heading home with Lucas after the show,” I told him, he raised his brow at me before shaking his head and walking out with Mickey.

After I finished packing, I grabbed hold of Lucas and pulled him against me. “If we weren’t in a hurry…” I trailed off, licking a stripe down his throat.

“Mmm. We could skip IHop,” he offered, but that was the moment my stomach decided to make its presence known.

“Food first, sex later,” I said regretfully before leading him out of the hotel room. As expected, the van was gone so Lucas and I hopped in his car and headed over to the restaurant.

The guys were being seated when we got there so we headed back to where they were. I took the seat beside Stoli, knowing it wouldn’t go over well had I let Lucas sit beside him. After the waitress handed us our menus I watched her take in our disheveled appearances before locking her eyes on Lucas’s well-dressed form, which seemed to ease her insecurities. It would be nice if everyone wouldn’t assume people were shit based upon their clothing choices. Clothes didn’t make the person, that person’s choices were what defined them, and it was beyond fucked when people assumed otherwise.

Shortly after taking our orders, she returned with a carafe of coffee which we instantly consumed. Once caffeine was ingested, talking commenced.

“What did you guys think of the bar last night?” Stoli asked.

“Hell, had you not recommended we change to a Skynyrd song after the first one I think we would have had our asses handed to us,” Diamond stated.

“Ha-ha, yeah it was a little dicey there in the beginning. Rednecks like their southern rock, that’s for damn sure. We’ll have to gauge tonight’s crowd too, but I’m guessing it’s going to be much the same,” Stoli reiterated.

“Do you think we need to do a different set than we did last night? Not sure if the same crowd will show up,” I asked, refilling my coffee cup.

“Nah, if they do it might be because they liked what they heard. Let’s plan on doing the exact same we did last night. Cool?” he asked around.

We nodded in agreement.

“The drive on Monday morning, I say we take that time to hash out our playlist. Maybe have a couple backup playlists down in case we run into anything like this again.”

“Yeah, good plan. My mom is afraid we won’t eat enough so she’s making a shit ton of food for us to take with.” Mickey laughed.

“Mine is doing the same so if we can keep it cooled in the ice chests we’re good to go,” Stoli added.

“My dad said we can use the ice chest in the garage,” I told them.

“Cool, Brett had a couple he said we can take too so I think we’ll be alright,” Stoli added while slathering his pancakes in syrup.

“Damn dude, save some syrup for us,” Diamond protested, but the waitress walked up and sat a new container in front of him before winking and walking away. Diamond assessed her assets as she worked them to the best of their abilities during the short walk she had to the counter.

“Man whore,” I said, and laughter erupted around the table.

Diamond leaned back in his chair, rubbing his flat stomach. “I use what I was given as best I can.”

We finished eating and paid our bill, leaving her a decent tip which she thanked us for before heading back to the hotel room. Once inside, we went over the list of what we would need for our upcoming road trip to make sure there wasn’t any last-minute stuff other than groceries we needed to get. Groceries and ice we’d grab Monday morning.

When it was time to head to the show, I grabbed my bag and walked to open the door for the others to follow through when Stoli stopped me. “You don’t need your bag, we’re staying here tonight. Remember?”

“Um, I’m gonna go home with Lucas tonight,” I informed him, bracing myself for the argument I was sure would follow.

He surprised me and only shook his head before walking out.

Crisis averted, well, for the time being.

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