Page 63 of Not The Frontman
“Sure.” Donny picked up a couple of spare books. “You want wild animals or Minecraft.”
“Oh, uh…Minecraft. Please.”
Donny slid the book over to him, and he grabbed a crayon. We quietly scribbled in the lines together for a few minutes, calming me.
Some of the other guys joined us in the breakroom. Randy grabbed the wild animals book, happy to jump in, too.
Pierce snorted. “You’re all a bunch of weirdos.”
I stuck my tongue out at him. “It helps calm me and lets my brain ruminate on the new music.” I tapped the back of my head. “I like coloring between sessions.”
“Whatever.” He grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and left the room. I didn’t care. He always had an attitude, and I was pretty sure he was as stressed about the album as any of us. Unfortunately, he normally took that stress out on everyone else.
Wolf stuck his head in the breakroom. “Hey, Kay, Joe. Can y’all come finish up in the sound room? I want to run through that last track one more time.”
“Sure.” I put my book away, leaving a crayon in it to mark my page. Then leaned over and kissed Donny before following Joe.
“You guys are really cute together.” He held the door open for me.
“Thanks.” We were working on the new song,Burning Me Down, that I’d started after Saxon got hurt. I was glad he’d come to Florida, and maybe he would stay. I didn’t ask him to give up his job, and if he wanted to work as a fireman here, I was fine with that—sort of. But secretly, I didn’t want him to go back to that. It was dangerous, and I hated the idea of him getting hurt. He meant a lot to me.
When we strapped our guitars on and looked up at the window, Wolf gave us a thumbs-up. “Take it from the bridge?”
We nodded, and Joe counted us in. Then we played through the rest of the song. Wolf had us play it all again from the top, then we worked through a few of the solo spots. I lost all track of time, focusing on the music, and was actually surprised a bit when Wolf called it. “Good job, guys. Send Pierce in to work on some of the vocals, will you?”
“Okay,” I called, smiling as we went. I always liked hearing praise, even from a coworker, so I was already in a good mood when we walked back into the breakroom. But then it got better. Saxon was there with his friend Colten. We greeted each other with kisses and handshakes for Colten, and we introduced him to Joe. Donny wanted them to be boyfriends, but I told him to chill out about it. If it was going to happen, it would. If not, Colten was a good friend and so was Joe. Hell, they were actually more like family.
“I have to go find Pierce. Be right back.” I went to the lounge room, where a few of the guys were talking, including Pierce. “Hey, Wolf wants you in sound, Pierce.”
“Cool. Thanks.” He clapped my shoulder as he went by, obviously in a better mood.
Randy smiled. “He’s excited to be working on this song, Kay.”
“Thanks. Pierce and Joe helped a lot.” In fact, they’d rearranged the first verse and tweaked the melody, and Joeimproved on the riff, adding his personal touch. “I think it’s sounding really good.”
“Can’t wait to get in the booth.” He tapped out the beat on the table.
“Want to come meet Saxon’s friend?” I asked, and he nodded, following me back to the breakroom. I introduced him to Colten, but it was very clear that Joe and Colten had already hit it off. They stood a little too close together, and I swear Joe was making moon eyes. I couldn’t blame him. Colten was gorgeous with all the California boy looks. Blond hair, blue eyes, and a bright, shining smile. Plus, he was built like Saxon. And after hanging out with them for a bit, it was easy to see that they had good chemistry between them.
Colten gestured to where Saxon, Donny, and I sat. “We’re having dinner tonight. Why don’t you come along? You guys don’t mind, do you?”
“Sure, uh, I’d love to.”
Yep, there was something there.
Chapter twenty-seven
Kay
Saxon was at the table in the sunroom with a steaming mug of coffee and an open laptop. Job hunting. Again. At least it was a nice place to work with sun streaming in and it wasn’t too hot yet. It could get that way in June, but currently, it was only about eighty. He looked good sitting there, and I hoped he wasenjoying the morning a little and not simply torturing himself with searching the job boards.
I grabbed a coffee and joined him. “Hey, Saxon. Any luck?”.
“No. Not really. I mean…” He ran a hand through his hair and scrubbed at the back of his head. “If I wanted to go back into firefighting. But I don’t. Not really.”
I sat in the chair next to him. “Why not?”
Saxon’s eyes were dark, misting with emotion. “I’ll be honest with you, Kay. I’m scared of it.”
