Page 8 of Edge

“Uhm, are youokay?” Damian’s anxious question brought Jory back to the present.“You look pale. Do you need to sit down for a bit?”

Jory swallowed andblinked and found himself being gripped by surprisingly stronghands as he swayed on his feet. “No, I’m fine. Got a suddenheadache.” He moved away from Damian’s strangely comforting grip.“Listen, I have to go. I’m not sure if it was nice meeting you, butit happened. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

He walked away quickly,ignoring Damian’s startled, “I don’t even know your name,” andhoped fervently Damian didn’t follow him again. Jory’d had enoughof walking down memory lane and he wanted to get to the studio tolose himself in his music.

Though, when he walkedinto Music Vine twenty minutes later, he wasn’t sure why Damian notfollowing him led to a sense of disappointment.

CHAPTER FOUR

Jory

Met thecutest guy today. Pity he doesn’t seem to be a rock music fan, butit takes all sorts. He had eyes like polished agate —listen to mewaxing lyrical —and the cheekiest smile I’ve ever seen. I hatesounding like someone out of a romance novel but hell, I could havetalked to him all day, until he fucked it up. 11 May2019

Jory laid his phone downand looked around the recording studio, his sacred place. Roger hadbeen on the phone again, checking up on him. Jory had ignored thecall. Lately, the man had been ridiculously needy, calling him alltimes of the night and day, and once, he’d even texted Jory, askinghim a question when Jory had been sitting in the next room. It wasas if he’d forgotten Jory was there. Something was goingon.

Which was why Jory lovedbeing in the studio. It was the one place Roger couldn’t come to,because the owner, Sooty Marcus, hated him. Sooty was afive-foot-eight female package of pure energy, a born New Yorkerwho took nobody’s shit and still didn’t get why Jory was with theschmuck.

Jory couldn’t tell herthe truth, so it remained a point of contention between them. Inher domain, though, Sooty was queen and Roger stood no chance.Music Vine was Jory’s refuge, his place away from the nightmare helived every day. He treasured his time there and held it close likeRumpelstiltskin did his name.

He hit a few more keys,but his heart wasn’t in it. A sound behind him made him leap to hisfeet, his hand clutched to his rapidly pounding heart.

“Jeez, Jory,relax, will you? It’s only me.” Fellow bandmate and guitaristHannah Blair looked at him with concern from under her thick blondehair. “You’ve been so jumpy lately. What’s going on?” She walkedover to the empty spot in the corner of the room and set herrucksack down with a sigh of relief. “God, this thing weighs aton.”

Jory had recovered enoughby now to retort. “Well, if you insist on putting all your shittysurvival gear in it, of course the thing is going to be heavy. Imean, are you waiting for the zombie apocalypse orwhat?”

Hannah’s blue eyesnarrowed. “When the world goes to hell, you’re going to be reallyglad I have all this ‘shitty stuff,’ as you so eloquently put it,in my bag. I’m going to be the only one standing between you andpeople trying to eat the flesh off your skinny bones.”

“Let’s not getoff topic. Why do you keep all the stuff in your bag, honestly?”Even though he knew the answer, having asked it before, it was awelcome detour to talking about himself.

Hannah sat cross-leggedon the floor and looked up at him. “I like to be prepared. Witheverything going on in the world right now, insurrection at the UScapital, Brexit, people blowing up places, having a survival kitseems sensible.” She shrugged her wide shoulders. “I’m a voluptuouslady. The first thing these fuckers will want is my meat. I couldfeed them for a month. I need to be able to fight them off and stayunder the radar, you know?”

Hannah’s disparagingcomments about her looks left Jory heart sore. She was a big, curvylady with an amazing talent for the guitar, but ever since she’dgotten hate mail about how “fat” she was, and how she should dietbecause she was disrespecting the band, her self-esteem had taken aknock. Nothing the other band members said helped.

Jory wanted to kill thewankers for making her doubt herself. Hannah was awesome. However,her predilection about being survival ready in a post-apocalypseworld could be disturbing.

“Yeah, well, I’spose if I had to choose someone to be partnered with if it wentto shit, you’d be the one.”

Hannah scoffed. “Well,you certainly wouldn’t take the pressure off me because no onewould find any meat on your skinny ass.”

Jory pirouetted. “Hey,this body takes time and effort to look this good. I’m not skinny,I’m lean and muscled. Look.” He held up a bicep, which honestly,even when pumped, wasn’t large, but then Jory had never been a bigguy. Tall, yeah. Built? Not so much.

The door flung open andtwo people came into the room in a flurry of instruments,backpacks, and from the looks of it, a raid of everythingMcDonald’s. Alice carried a cardboard carrier of coffee whileBernard had a huge brown paper bag. The aroma of food was enticing,and Jory’s mouth started to water.

“We comebearing gifts,” Bernie announced as he placed the bag on the deskand grinned at Jory from beneath a black Afro sprouting in alldirections like it’d been frizzed in a live light socket. “Big Macsfor all. Have I told you I’m so pleased none of you arevegetarians? I don’t think I could have coped with thepressure.”

Hannah rolled her eyes.“You might have mentioned it, oh, I don’t know, about a hundredtimes.” She cast a longing look at the crumpled and greased paperbag. “Anyway, I’ve eaten, thanks. I’m not very hungry.”

Jory walked over andreached into the packet. He withdrew a burger and turned to Hannah.“You sure you don’t want one?” He’d only ask once. He knew she wasstill worrying about the fans’ cruel comments, and this was herdecision alone.

“I’m sure.”Hannah threw him a wobbly smile. “I’m watching mycalories.”

Jory nodded and openedthe wrapping, then took a bite. His mouth flooded with saliva andbefore he knew it, he’d demolished it and was wiping his mouth withthe back of his sleeve.

There was a shockedsilence around him, and he looked around. “What?”

“Jesus, Jory,you were like a man-eating shark getting a taste of virgin surferass,” Bernard retorted. “Man, I’ve never seen someone demolish aburger like you did.”

Jory blinked. “I washungry,” he stated. “And you’re all forever telling me to put moremeat on my bones.”