Page 29 of In the Shadows

He and three of his staff members took us through the back corridor, the only sounds were our footsteps echoing down the empty halls until my phone started ringing. “It’s Sal. Can you take the guys on ahead while I take this call?”

“No problem. Sam, Tom, stay here with Stoli. I’ll take Diamond and Joey in and be right back.” Jeff rang the doorbell next to the back door and almost immediately it was opened, and they were led inside.

I dreaded clicking the answer button, but knew I’d have to face Sal sooner or later, “Hey Sal,” I said as nonchalantly as I could.

“What the hell is going on at Alderwood Mall? You guys are blowing up our social media accounts. You need to alert security,” he said. No hi, how the hell are you, are you guys okay. Just straight to the point.

“Yeah, well, um we’re already with them. Didn’t expect this kind of reception when we set out to do some Christmas shopping.”

“So selling out shows across the US didn’t alert you to your growing fan base?” he scolded.

I felt like a freaking dumbass. “Ugh, sorry Sal.”

“Well, Easton and I will use this as a marketing opportunity. But I want you guys in my office first thing tomorrow morning. We need to hash out how to prevent non-scheduled pandemonium in the future. Have a good night, boys. And please, stay out of trouble,” he said before ending the call.

Jeff re-appeared while I was on the phone, but was holding the door open for me to enter. When I sat down, I greeted Joe before filling the guys in on what Sal said.

Stunned, Joe kinda freaked a little. His eyes grew wide. “This,” he gestured around the packed room and all the eyes directed our way, “this is because of you guys?”

“Um, yeah. We had no idea this would happen,” Joey told him.

“Shhiiittt,” Joe stretched the word out, as though the needle were stuck on each syllable, “Wow.”

“I think we need to turn this around,” I suggested to the group, “What do you guys think about setting up an impromptu signing?” I caught Jeff peering over his shoulder at me from his perch on the other side of the divider they’d set up. “Do you have the staff for that or is that something we have to schedule with mall management?”

“Normally all of that goes through the marketing manager for the mall. I would suggest trying to schedule something with her while you guys are in town. That way we are already set to do crowd control,” he offered.

“Yeah, you’re right. We have to meet with Sal in the morning,” I told Joey and Diamond, quickly texting Mickey to let him know. “We can suggest that to him to kind of make it up to our local fans.” I looked out the window, noting I couldn’t see the massive parking garage through the ever-growing crowd.

The guys caught my line of sight, Joey’s face had panic written all over it. I reached under the table, grabbing his hand in mine. “It’s okay, babe. I’ll have Sal send a car for us and come back later with Brett to pick up Mom’s car.” I texted Sal, Easton, and Brett in one group message letting them know that. All agreed that was the best solution to this situation. Our food came quickly and as soon as the car arrived, security escorted us to it. After thanking Jeff for all his help, we waved to the grove of fans surrounding us as we disappeared inside the car, thankful for the darkly tinted windows hiding us. Holy hell, there were literally a thousand people there.

“Fucking hell,” Diamond said once we were on the road, “Never in a million years would I have thought this would happen.”

Joey hadn’t said a word and had a death grip on my hand. “You okay?” I asked.

I watched as he swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Just um, wow. Never been in a crowd that large before where their attention was directed my way. At the concerts, we’re not in it and have security all over so I guess I wasn’t prepared for the magnitude of it.” He twisted his hair, as he does when he’s tired or nervous.

“I guess our days of anonymity are over.” When we pulled up outside of our houses, I thanked the driver as we got out spotting a few random bodies lurking around the neighborhood. “Let’s grab your dad and head to my house for a team meeting. Mickey texted me and he’s already there.”

We grabbed Joey’s dad and headed over, noting the crowd outside was rapidly increasing. No one was stepping foot onto either property, but this really put security issues at the forefront of my mind. When we walked inside, Mickey and my folks were already sitting in the living room.

“Dude, what the hell happened?” he asked as we entered.

“Man, all hell broke loose on what was supposed to be a simple Christmas shopping trip. We expected crowds of shoppers, just not crowds of Social Sinners fans,” I said, plopping down in the chair and pulling Joey down with me. There weren’t enough seats for everyone so it only made since, or so I let myself believe but he didn’t fight me. “Where’s Brando?”

“Taking a nap,” my mom said. “Guys, I’m proud of you I really am. But the amount of people lingering outside of our houses as of late is staggering.”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that on the ride over here. Mickey, what was it like in your neck of the woods?”

“Pretty much the same, but I hadn’t left the house until you summoned me,” he answered.

“I think when we get back from our tour we need to look into getting our own places. Preferably somewhere gated and make sure Sal and Easton notify all social media outlets that we no longer live at home.”

Joey turned, looking at me.

“We’ll talk later about this, okay?” I whispered, and he nodded in agreement. I was sure he was thinking the same thing as me, where did this fit in with our relationship? I didn’t ever want to go to bed without him, so for me it was a no brainer – I was ready for us to move in together and I didn’t really care if that included Diamond and Mickey under the same roof as us. At least until they figured their own shit out. As long as I went to bed with Joey and woke up with him each morning, I couldn’t care less who else was in the house.

“We need to make sure Sal knows people are still showing up at our houses,” Diamond added.

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