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Maybe one day soon, Tibby won’t be either.

Chapter Nine

Tony

“Wow, that was a great welcome, Sacramento!” I thanked the crowd after our opening number. The venue wasn’t stadium size huge, but it was packed. “Are y’all ready to see Chaotic Abyss tonight?” Bowie and Tibby shouted and whistled while Claude hit his sticks together, rousing them. “Right on. Well then, let’s get on with it so they can get the fuck out here!”

We broke into the next song, I was surprised to see how many of the fans sung along with us. Guess there was something to radio time. I loved performing, always have, but being front and center before a rowdy crowd singing your songs was a high like no other.

Bowie and Tibby played back-to-back while I belted out the lyrics. Hell, even Claude was on point. The man may be a giant douche, but he was one hell of a drummer. On stage we’d become the cohesive unit we needed to be, it was just off where we had work to do.

“Thank you Sacramento!” The four of us headed to the front of the stage and took a bow then tossed out picks and Claude’s drumsticks into the crowd.

“Great show,” Daddy gave me a kiss and handed me a bottle of water. “Now, it’s time for Daddy to get to work.” It was hard to explain how amazing it felt to have someone waiting for me, cheering me on and praising me. Who knew I was so freaking attention starved?

“Awesome job.” Jason, Josh, Marley and Nigel from Chaotic Abyss stood in the wing, fist bumping us as we passed them.

“Marley, dude, your tats are sick. Who’s your artist?”

“Mash.” He said it like I knew who the guy was. “He does all my work.”

“And all of ours,” Stoli added. “He’s the artist to the stars.”

Joey rolled his eyes. “Jesus Stoli, could your head get any bigger?” Stoli grabbed his wad and Joey about lost his shit. “That’s the last time I let you hang out with Diamond unsupervised.”

“Come on, babe,” Stoli threw his arm around Joey’s neck. “You know I’m just playing around. But seriously, Tony, Mash does all the ink for Social and Maiden. Marley’s ink is mad, though.” Marley, fist bumped Stoli. “It’s like one solid piece of art.”

“Pretty much,” Marley said. “Including my ass.”

Stoli’s eyes widened. “Dude, cock and balls?”

Marley laughed so hard he nearly fell. “Nah, man. Gotta draw the line somewhere but the skin around them are.”

Six of us stood there staring at Marley’s crotch like we had x-ray vision.

“If you’d like a private show meet me on our bus after we shut this place down.” He winked and joined his band mates on stage.

“Did he just?” Bowie shook his head.

“Yup, he sure did. Don’t know about you guys but there’s some shit that’s better left to your imagination,” Stoli said. “Come on, let’s head out to the buses. I’m starving.”

“You coming, Claude?” There others were way ahead of me, animatedly talking away. Between that and the sound of the crowd it was hard to hear anything.

“Nah, I’m gonna catch Chaotic’s show. Wanna stay with me?” Huh, he’d never invited me to do anything. Was this his proverbial branch extension?

“Yeah, sure, let me text Bowie.”

Me: Hey, I’m gonna hang back and watch the show with Claude.

Bowie: Should I be concerned?

Me: Haha, not likely but he’s never asked to hang so I figured I’d see what’s up.

Bowie: Want me to come back?

Me: Only if you want to watch the show.

Bowie: Nah, need to eat and wanna chat up Stoli.