Page 63 of In the Shadows

He popped the cork on the first bottle, letting the foam run over before pouring us each a glass. Once everyone had a glass in hand he dove into his speech, “Besides coming out here to check on Joey,” he held his glass up, and everyone else followed suit. “Cheers to your recovery, man. We were,” he fell silent, carefully weighing his next words, “Dude to say we weren’t scared to death would be a lie. You had us terrified yet here you stand, looking healed and smiling brightly so I’ll take that as a positive. Okay, I got off track. This first toast is to Joey.” He held his glass up high.

Everyone chimed in, “To Joey!”

“Thank whatever God there may be that you’re still with us,” Derek added after we toasted.

I held back the tears that threatened to surface, but Joey knew they were there.

He turned, kissing me gently. “I love you, babe,” he said.

“I love you too.” We hugged, one armed as best we could so we wouldn’t spill our champagne.

“Now that the lovebirds are done,” Derek laughed.

I flipped him the bird but did it with a smile.

“To our next order of business. We were wondering if you guys would be interested in heading out this summer on a double headline tour with us?”

“What the fuck?” I said, much louder than I’d meant to.

“Ha-ha,” Derek laughed, “I know you, Stoli, and I know it’s eating you alive that you had to cancel on the fans. The money means nothing to you, but the fans mean everything. That is, next to Joey of course. We thought we’d start with the shows you had to cancel and even offer the fans discounted tickets.”

“Holy shit, man. I’m just… Guys, help me out here,” I turned to my bandmates, “what say you,” I said in my absolutely worst Jack Sparrow voice.

“Aye Captain,” they said, holding their glasses in the air again.

“Well there you go, Derek, the aye’s have it,” I announced to the thunderous applause and whooping throughout the patio.

“I have something else to add,” Sal said, setting his glass down. “Jon Tooley from Metal Mag contacted me and he wants to do an interview with you guys.”

“What the fuck!” Joey yelled.

“Whoo hoo!” Diamond screamed, scaring the shit out of the people passing by down below.

“Yes!” Mickey fist bumped the air.

Me, I didn’t know what to think.First a double headliner with Maiden and now this? Holy hell man, reality was hitting me in a big way. What the fuck did we do to deserve this?

“Dude,” was the only word that came to mind.

“Dude,” Joey said, practically jumping into my arms.

“Salut! To my boys. I thank the God’s that you’re here with me and that I only have to worry about Diamond impregnating anyone,” Sal toasted the air.

“Oh my fucking GOD!” I yelled, laughing my ass off. That by far was the best line I’d heard in a long ass time.

“I’m thinking of having a vasectomy, so everyone is worry free,” Diamond announced to the crowd. Sal started choking, Easton was patting his back trying to help him out. I shot champagne out of my nose which by the way, burns like a mother fucker. Joey stopped breathing, scaring the hell out of me. Mickey was literally rolling around on the ground, and the guys from Maiden laughed so hard I thought they’d pass out.

“Far,”cough, cough,“more than any father figure should ever know,” Sal choked out.

“This one’s for you, big daddy,” Diamond held his glass up to toast Sal.

Fucking hilarious.He missed his calling as a stand-up comedian, which was a blessing in disguise because he was one bad ass drummer.

We placed our orders for dinner and took our seats when it was being served. Joey turned to me, “Do you think anything will ever top this night?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Huh?”

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