Page 82 of Rock God

I wanted so much to believe him.

To trust in this.

In us.

In them.

There was so much at stake.

And now that included my heart.

27

Kingston

It was colder than the proverbial witch’s tit on Thanksgiving morning, and we stood in the wings watching the snow come down. I’d been to Manhattan dozens of times, maybe even a hundred times, and the weather in November could be a crap shoot. And man, it was brutal today. Cold, windy, snowing, and just wet.

They’d put up a makeshift roof over the stage we’d be playing on, so we’d stay somewhat dry, but there was no help for the cold. Luckily, the heat generated from our lights and equipment would at least make it bearable.

“Fuck, it’s cold.” Z gave me a dirty look. “This was your idea, wasn’t it?”

“Would you man the fuck up and stop whining?”

He flipped me off.

“He’s grumpy,” Devyn whispered to me.

“He really hates being away. This is their first holiday season as a family, and he already missed all of Presley’s pregnancy plus the first four months of Jeremy’s life. There’s some guilt in there about the way things went down.”

“Presley isn’t mad. I talked to her the other day,” I said.

“He’ll be all right once he gets home tonight.”

“He’ll be okay once we start to play,” Kellan stage whispered.

“I can hear you,” Z said, giving us all side-eye.

“Come on, let’s do this.” I rubbed my hands together, bouncing up and down to warm up.

It was early, but the streets were lined with people. We wouldn’t be walking with the parade, we’d just be in a set location along the route, playing songs and entertaining people closest to us. We were in a prime location, and while it wasn’t our normal crowd, we had enough big hits to entertain everyone. We’d also worked up a hard rock cover of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” which I hoped was universal enough to get everyone singing along.

“You ready?” I whispered in Devyn’s ear.

She grabbed her bass and grinned.

“I was born ready!” She bounded onto the stage after Kellan and I followed.

“Happy Thanksgiving, New York City!” I’d been asked not to curse since this was a family-friendly event and televised live.

The crowd went nuts as we launched into the first song and, as always, I was lost in the music. The crowd was into us, even the little kids were clapping and moving in time to the music, so it was easy to stay in the moment.

And we sounded great.

Devyn looked strong and confident as she played, her hair flying as she moved.

Normally I was focused on the crowd, but today the only thing on my mind was Devyn.

Last night had been a good time.

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