Page 41 of Naughty Dreams
Here I am.
Just around the next corner.
Across the next bridge to the other side.
Through the door I haven’t yet opened.
The world is big, but it’s round.
We will find one another.
We have found one another.
Standing face to face with our eyes shut.
What will it take to open our eyes?
His voice went from soft to powerful and back down again. It hiked to the pinnacles and slid down to the low notes with ease, like a bird soaring on wind currents. He lifted a hand up in the air, keeping up a one-handed arpeggio, and the crowd lifted their own hands, waving back and forth.
The smile disappeared from DJ’s face. When he returned his left hand to the fretboard, he didn’t falter, but Roy’sbrow creased at the brief lost look in his compelling eyes. He wondered if the past had pulled him into a not-so-good memory. His expression conjured a boy alone on a shore, staring out. Waiting, but the hope dying.
Which had Roy murmuring the line to himself.
We have found one another.He wanted DJ to look toward him.
The kid was making him lose his mind.
As the final note ebbed, a ripple of whistles became a swelling cheer. DJ propped a hand on his thigh, then scrubbed his face with the other.
“Well, that was some deep shit, right? Let’s finish on a high note. Everyone back up. Be careful. Help each other, so the arena lawyers don’t yell at me.”
Jumping to his feet, he smoothly relinquished the acoustic instrument and took his electric guitar from Shaun before he spun in a circle and threw a fist toward the band. They shot into “We Will Not Forget,” their usual closing song.
Tal became a maniac on the drums, his feet driving a powerful rhythm and arms moving almost too fast to follow. Steve and DJ pointed their guitars in his direction as they kept up, Pete’s bass snarling out the song’s low end. Lights outlining the wall of amps kept time, and colored spotlights swept the crowd.
When they finished, the band members lifted their arms to the crowd. “Take care of each other,” DJ shouted. “Love one another. Get yourselves home safe. And rock on. We are Survival.”
The cheers were an exhilarating earthquake shaking the arena. Already in motion, Roy made sure G, Warren and their teams were in position to get the band to the waiting limo, because the band had agreed to do a three-song set at a charity event. While scheduling another performance gig on the samenight as a major concert wasn’t the band’s usual preference, the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders were supposed to be there; enough said for Pete, Tal and Moss.
DJ high-fived his techs and roadies, nodded or spoke to the backstage pass holders as he passed them. Roy and his three team members gave him the proper amount of time for that, all while easing him forward. As they reached the exit tunnel, they tightened around him. It was a narrow access with the usual black and silver flight cases lining both sides, stored there by the roadies after they unpacked instruments, light and sound equipment.
The enthusiastic screaming filtering down the tunnel was close to the double door exit. Too close. Roy brought DJ to a halt and checked the outside camera on his phone. The limo was supposed to be sitting inside a roomy hundred-yard buffer. Instead, about fifty fans had overrun the barricades and were surrounding it.What the fuck?
“G, we have a barricade breach. Go help Henry get that shit squared away. Warren, once the path is clear, take the rest of the band to the hotel. I’ll use Plan B for DJ.”
When he clicked off, DJ put a hand on his arm. “Roy, it’s not unusual for it to happen after the big concerts. We usually just muscle through.”
Once was bad enough. Twice in a week was unacceptable. He and Henry would be having a talk. If he needed more people, Roy would bring him more. He’d have Warren get on the horn and call in their reserves. They could be at the next venue before DJ got there.
“Your bandmates can do that,” Roy said shortly. “If it’s happened before, it’s a predictable uncontrolled environment opportunity we’re not giving the guy making personal phone calls to you.”
Roy about-faced and headed back down the tunnel, taking DJ deeper into the basement maze of storage rooms. After he chose a room, he cleared it. When he stepped back out, G was crossing their path with several of her people, on her way to help Henry.
“This’ll do for now,” Roy told his two team members, Jim and Carl. “Stay on this door. Once things quiet down, we’ll get him out of here. We should still make the other event. Don’t be too obvious about what you’re doing. If any of those maniacs get in the tunnel, I want them to think you’re roadies, taking a break and waiting for the band to clear out.”
While Roy wore his suit, Jim and Carl wore jeans and black golf shirts with the security logo on it, something a passing glance would miss, so the ruse wasn’t improbable.
G had paused to hear the status, sending her people on ahead. “Don’t feel dissed,” DJ told her. “He’d ask you to do it, but it wouldn’t work. Women who look like you don’t wait for anything. You’re waited on.”
