Page 4 of In the Shadows

Chapter

Two

Road trip day one - Eugene, Oregon

Waking up with our limbs intertwined, even with the weight of Joey lying half on me, I felt like I could finally breathe. I’d been walking on eggshells for so damn long around him, that I’d forgotten how good it felt to feel alive again.

“Good morning.” I brushed his hair aside, pressing my lips to his forehead.

“Morning.” He opened his eyes, wiping the sleep from them with the backside of his fists. He was the only person I’d ever seen wipe at their eyes that way.

“How’d you sleep?” I asked.

“Better than I have in a long time. You?”

“Same.” I leaned in for a morning kiss, pausing just before making contact. “Is this okay?”

“As long as you don’t mind morning breath it is.” He lifted his head, meeting me halfway.

God, how I’ve longed for this. Waking with him in my arms.Fuck, I wanted to bury my cock so deep in his tight ass, but I didn’t want to rush things. He meant more to me than a hook-up.

The historic building that housed the McDonald Theater in downtown Eugene was a smaller venue than playing at the Tacoma Dome, by a long shot. Not sure what Sal had envisioned with this booking, but I was certain he had his reasons for it. Plus, playing in a smaller setting would allow for a more intimate interaction with our fans. When you sat and thought about the history that was held within the vintage walls, it blew your mind. If only the walls could talk, they’d have us enthralled for hours on end with their stories.

Exiting the bus, we emerged into a rare, but sunny day in the Pacific Northwest which was both a blessing and a curse. Blessing because the sun was shining, but a curse because I’d left my damn sunglasses in my bunk.

“You good, Stoli?” Mickey hollered as I jogged back inside the bus.

“Yeah, I forgot my shades. Be right out.” I snagged them before heading to where the guys stood nearby waiting. “Ah, much better,” I said, sliding them on.

Joey stood off to the side, hands fisted inside his front pockets. Clearly still unsure how to act around me, which was something I needed to remedy ASAP.

“Hey—” I walked up, pulling him to me by his belt loop so we were chest to chest. “We’re good, Joey. I’m yours and in case you can’t tell,” I took his lips in mine, “PDA with you isn’t an issue for me, so do whatever you feel comfortable doing.” I ran my thumb along his jawline before turning to face the cat calls coming from the crew behind us and flipped them off.

Joey slid his hand in mine, and we walked over to the crowd. The guys inBetter Off Deadhad just surfaced from their Winnebago.

“So, no more sulking, Stoli?” Mickey teased.

“Fuck you,” I laughed, turning to the guys from BOD. “Long ride?” They looked like hell as they rolled out.

“I’m Jamie,” the slender, blond standing in front of the other three said. “Dex here,” he gestured to the guy with the blue mohawk standing beside him, “got a wild hair up his ass to play adultI Spywhile Sean and Noel took turns driving,” Jamie said while trying to block the sun from his eyes with his hands. Sean and Noel, both of which looked like they weren’t old enough to have a driver’s licenses gave us a half wave – salute from where they stood.

“AdultI Spy?” Diamond asked, eyeing them as though they were insane.

“Every time you couldn’t figure out what the fuck he was spying,” he finger quoted the wordspyingas he spoke it, “you had to take a shot of some gut rot vodka he picked up at a mini mart. Mind you, neither Sean nor Noel can drive worth a shit. That mixed with too many shots later while the bus jerked back and forth had me running for the toilet which fucking Dex hadn’t cleaned yet. That disgusting mess only forced me to vomit everything I’d eaten for the past ten years. Now the stupid fucker has double bathroom duty.” He laughed.

“Fuck, I forgot about that. Do you guys have a hose by any chance?” Dex asked us.

“Highly doubtful, ask our bus driver Rob,” I told him, and he headed over to where Rob was standing. “Is this your band’s first road tour?”

“This big, yes. But we’ve done some west coast bar gigs before, though,” Sean said, brushing his disheveled jet black hair to the side.

“Nice to meet you guys,” I said, firmly shaking each hand in turn. “I’m Stoli, this is Joey, Diamond and Mickey.” I pointed to each of my band brothers in turn.

“Looks like I’m riding with the grade school field trip in the Winnebago tonight,” Easton announced.

I didn’t notice him standing off to the side until he’d spoken. Poor guy was in for one hell of a trip if he had to ride with them.

While Dex took care of his bathroom duties, the rest of us headed inside to get the scoop for the night from the venue manager. Our merch had been sent ahead of us by Sal and set up in their shop. We were now at the stage in our career where we no longer sold our own shit which was kinda cool. We still got to do meet and greets with the fans, which in our opinion was one of the best parts of each show.

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