Page 7 of Reckless

Brian just sighed, clearly used to it.

“Do you mind if we sit in on your soundcheck?” Harlow asked Miles.

“Only if we can watch yours,” Maddie said.

“Yeah, that,” Miles agreed.

“Sure. It’s during your meal break though. So we get it if you choose to eat instead,” Harlow told him. Lots of musicians didn’t eat a big meal before the show so it didn’t slow them down performing. Harlow had found that a good meal about an hour or so before they went on helped her keep her energy, leveled out her blood sugar and mood. A hungry Harlow was an unpleasant Harlow.

“We’ll work it out,” Miles assured her, and she got the distinct feeling he’d do whatever he wanted whatever the case.

“I assume you have a ticketed soundcheck?” Brian asked, and Harlow wanted to laugh but didn’t. Brian was always thinking about different aspects of the business and what could be done in each to further the band’s aims.

“Yeah. Just started this tour. It’s a fan club perk,” Omar said. “There’s a lottery system for the tickets each date. They’re not sold via ticket agencies so there’s no issue of a single agency buying all the tickets and selling them for more than most of our fans can afford.”

“We were considering doing the same thing.” Brian and Omar settled in for a long discussion, so Nora and Harlow left them to it.

Poppy directed two people to put several large boxes on a nearby table. “Promoter sent us cookies and mini quickbread things. Score.” She tipped the delivery folks and then began to poke around, holding out various sweets and demanding someone try it to give a thumbs up or down.

Harlow watched the scene as she tried chocolate chunk caramel cookies and banana bread.

“No one seems horrible. I like them all so far,” Nora said quietly. “And I think Brian is going to leave me for Omar now.”

“Omarisreally handsome,” Harlow teased. “And seems as obsessed with all this stuff as Brian is. But. I think the lack of cute boobies might be a deal breaker for Brian.”

“He’s ours.” Nora shrugged. “No one else can have him.”

Snickering, Harlow put her head on Nora’s shoulder for a moment.

The three of them excused themselves to go get dressed. They’d do soundcheck after Earthquakes and so she preferred to dress for their set in advance. Between soundcheck—and being after a headliner meant they’d be dependent on Earthquakes not taking up that whole time slot before the doors opened at seven—and trying to get a meal before their set, it was wise to be ready to go.

Harlow could admit she wanted to look gorgeous not only for the fans, but for Miles. Only to herself, but she could admit it.

Nora braided Harlow’s hair and helped pin it into a crown while Harlow did her makeup with a dramatic eye, saving lipstick until after she’d eaten. Nora’s hair was pixie cut short so she just ran styling product through her hands and pulled it up into a deliberately messy style that showed off the royal blue tips against the ash blond of Nora’s natural hair color. Nora chose a halter that’d leave most of her back bare, in bright magenta that matched her sneakers. Denim shorts would keep her cooler and the embroidery up each side echoed the color of the top.

“You look like a piece of very dangerous candy,” Harlow told her. Nora beamed. Her best friend was crunchy in so many ways—crystals and meditation and all that stuff—while also having a natural sort of edge she always seemed to effortlessly style. “If I didn’t love you so much I’d hate your guts.”

Nora laughed. “If we were on a housewives show,looks like a piece of very dangerous candyneeds to be in my tagline. And we could have microphones instead of diamonds or peaches.”

“I’ll save the butterflies for right before we go on stage,” Harlow said to Nora’s reflection in the mirror. Part of that particular outfit were jeweled butterflies that tucked into the braids wrapping around her head. Pinks, purples, blues, and oranges, they caught the lights and made her feel beautiful. They echoed the butterfly on the back of the delicate looking—but truly sturdy—topper she wore over a purple slip dress. Also to wait until right before the show to put on. Fishnet tights that were performance style so she could wear them for several hours without discomfort, came next. Last, she pulled on boots that zipped up the side. She used to have lace up boots with thicker soles, but it was easier to control all her pedals with a thinner sole or barefoot, and once she’d taken a header on stage when her boot had come untied so that had been the end of laces.

Once they’d finished most of the preparation, they headed out to the floor to tuck off to the side to catch Earthquakes’s soundcheck.

Kenya, their sound engineer, sat in the booth with Earthquakes’s guy, Ned. She didn’t appear to be annoyed, which was a good sign that she wasn’t having any issues with access.

There was a nice sized group of fans standing in front of the stage. They celebrated every noise the band made, cheering even when a song would pause just a few seconds in to adjust sound.

They were all still in the same clothes they had on earlier, not going on for several more hours. And yet, Miles didn’t need that anyway. Her gaze and attention was drawn back to him over and over.

Plenty of yells of his name, most with I love yous involved. He just smiled and told them he loved them too.

“It’s like a sex bomb detonated,” Nora murmured of Miles and his ridiculous charisma.

Sure felt that way in Harlow’s panties.

She did resist that reply because it was public, Brian was just on Nora’s other side, and she wasn’t ready to admit it out loud. Her bestie would figure it out soon enough.

They finished up by six fifteen, Harlow and the others heading stage left so they could watch closer but be out of the way as Above Me’s stage plot was laid out according to the plan Brian had sent over in advance.

---