Page 13 of Green Light

Chapter six

Silas

Ifyou’dtoldmeas a child that I’d be living the perfect life, there wasn’t a chance I’d have believed you.

But here I was.

The stage lights were blinding, my earpiece doing little to drown out the roar of the crowd as my palm slapped against the bass.

We were five weeks into our six-week tour. An exhausting slog across twelve cities, playing a total of eighteen shows.

I’d loved every fucking second.

Up here, on stage, was where I was happiest. Why wouldn’t I be? I was literally living out my wildest dreams. It was so many miles from my childhood in every possible way. Not that Frank didn’t still pop up from time to time. While my mum had stayed noticeably absent, he’d given interviews to whatever media outlet would pay him, selling them whatever stories they wanted to hear.

Kai had stayed true to his word. He was the one who worked with our lawyers and management to keep Frank down where they could. And when they couldn’t? Kai would take me out and distract me with reminders of how great our life was now.

It was great. The best. And having my best friend at my side was the cherry on the cake.

Kai stepped into my eyeline, his brow furrowed with concentration as he flew through his solo. Little did I know that when I saved him from a beating all those years ago, he was hiding this magnificent talent.

What had started as us hiding away from the real world with our guitars progressed into something more serious when we joined forces with Arlo and Luca. Our band practices had morphed into playing wherever we could get into. Weekends were spent performing on street corners during the day and whatever pub would let us in during the evenings.

We’d got lucky. Don’t get me wrong, we were a talented bunch of fuckers, and we knew it. But if it hadn’t been for that video of us busking outside West Quay shopping centre going viral, Caffeine Daydreams wouldn’t be what it is today.

Arguably the most famous rock band in the Western world.

Obviously, this was amazing. Magnificent. Unbelievable. There weren’t enough adjectives to describe how great this life was.

Yet I missed those quiet sessions with just Kai and me. The hours spent scrawling lyrics and playing with chords. We still did that, but now there were always other people around.

Even though Kai was right beside me…sometimes, I missed him. Missed what we once were in the privacy of his garage.

It was a small price to pay to be living my dreams. It wasn’t like I’d left him behind. He was literally six feet away from me, his head tipped back as he played through the final notes of his solo. His dreads were pulled back in a bun. Eyes closed, he swayed on the spot, totally lost in the music.

It was my favourite time to watch him.

That day we’d met in the woods was the only time Kai had allowed me to have his back. The dude was overprotective of everyone—his parents, his siblings, his dates.

But with me? Kai took it to a whole new level. Even now, with Frank having been silent for years, he couldn’t help but look after me. Whether bringing me coffee or reminding me to eat, he was always thinking of me.

On stage was the only place he seemed to truly let go long enough for me to watch him. To check he was okay.

Other than looking slightly exhausted, unsurprising given our hectic schedule, Kai looked fine. Great even.

Satisfied, I nodded along with the beat, my fingers flying over my bass. Sweat ran freely down my torso, soaking my shirt to me. Maybe I needed to take a leaf from our lead singer’s book.

Luca had taken to performing shirtless, something our fans wereveryappreciative of if the clips circling TikTok were any indication. But there was only one fan Luca was doing it for, and he was stood right in front of the stage watching our lead singer like a hawk. Ollie was a journalist who’d joined us to report on our tour. Seemed innocent enough until you heard the whole story. Ollie might’ve met all of us that first day of the tour, but his first meeting with Luca had happened months before.

After being stranded in a lift together for several hours, the two had parted ways. Luca had been surprisingly tight-lipped about whatexactlyhad happened, but an obsession had been borne that none of us could escape. Needing to see him again, the sneaky git had pulled every string at his disposal to get Ollie on this tour with us.

There was no judgment from me though. I’d yet to fall in love, but if I ever found the right girl, I’d move heaven and earth to be with her. I’d fight dirty and play whatever card I could to get her to give me a chance.

From the way Ollie was watching Luca—like he was two songs away from leaping onto the stage and devouring him—the feeling seemed to be mutual. I might not be the best at reading people, but you’d have to be missing the majority of your brain cells to not spot the raw chemistry there.

Arlo began tapping out the opening beat of “Tease,” and I couldn’t stop my smile from spreading. The audience was chanting, waiting for Luca to do what he’d done every other night of this tour.

Kneel. Kneel. Kneel.

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