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Me: Go for it. We’ll meet you back at the bus later.

He shot me a thumbs up and I fired off a quick text to Daddy to let him know where I was.

“You done notifying the world?” Claude rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, just being courteous, ya know.”

“Whatev, dude. Come on, let’s go out front with the crowd and get in the pit.” I glanced around and found Daddy watching us and nodded toward the floor. He tapped Harley’s shoulder and would’ve pointed at us if Harley wasn’t already glaring at Claude. Guess he caught on to our resident shit stirrer pretty fast. But it had been too damn long since I’d let loose in a pit, and I wasn’t passing up this opportunity.

Claude took off well before me. I wasn’t a goody-goody by any means, but life had opened a huge door for me, and I wasn’t fucking it up. Nor was I pissing Daddy off or worrying him again. So, I waited for Harley and followed him out.

Harley reached Claude before he got to the pit, grabbed his arm and stopped him. “You will notify and wait for security to escort you. Understood?”

You could see it in Claude’s eyes, the smartass retort was ready to launch but for some reason he held it back and nodded. Harley let go of his arm and Claude and I joined the others moshing. Harley stood well above most, and his eyes were glued to us. Or to Claude, I couldn’t tell and right then all I wanted to do was let loose.

“I see a couple of familiar faces in the crowd,” Jason laughed into the mic between songs. “Guess these guys are ready to get rowdy. This next song ought to do it.” Chaotic launched into Break It Up, and the fucking pit went from zero to sixty in the first verse.

We stayed out there until they finished their second encore, then Harley and Daddy led us backstage where they had water waiting for us. At some point, we’d both removed our shirts and they were long gone. Drenched in sweat, I poured the first bottle over my head and guzzled the second. Not sure if anyone out there recognized us but if they did, they didn’t let on. Just enjoyed a fantastic show right along with us which was pretty fucking cool.

“Looked like you had a blast out there, Little Wren.”

“I did,” my head bobbed like crazy. I knew I’d hurt tomorrow, but it was more than with it. “I’m hungry.”

Daddy chuckled. “I bet you are. Ready to head to the bus?”

“Yes, please.” He handed me another bottle of water, nodded to Harley then took my hand and led me through the sea of bodies backstage and out into the cool night air. “God, this feels so good.”

“Nice cool breeze on sweaty skin. You’re gonna be a stinky boy in the bunk tonight.” I giggled, something I’d never done, at least not that goofy, before I’d started dating him. “Whoa,” I nearly smacked right into Diamond’s massive chest when we stepped on board. “Um, hey.”

“Hey, where’s Claude?”

“Last I saw Harley was babysitting him,” Daddy replied. Diamond stepped around us and right off the bus, headed for the door with his own security guard hot on his heels. I couldn’t tell who was bigger or more formidable—Diamond, or his guard. Bet the two of them together could seriously fuck shit up. Or in this case, Claude.

“We leave you dressed, you return half naked,” Bowie chuckled. “How was the pit?”

“Dude, you seriously missed out. Perfect way to let go and Chaotic rocked the shit out of their set.” No matter how many times I watched them, whether from front of or backstage, they never put on a bad show. “Josh seriously wails on guitar.”

“Thanks, man, you’re not too bad on stage yourself.” The man said as he stepped on our bus. “Just saw Diamond ripping into Claude. Do we even want to know?”

How was this our life? Hanging out with kick ass rockstars after playing our own gig. Shit, how long was it gonna take for it to sink in that we were too? Rockstars, that is. Even though we were nowhere close to having bank accounts to match theirs, we were a real band. On a real tour. We didn’t start out like Social sleeping four guys in a POS van. We had a bus that was nicer than my last apartment.

Lucky mother fuckers.

“Dude, Claude’s getting his ass reamed.” Tibby played the role of nosey neighbor really well. Then again, so did Bowie and I when we joined him on the couch, faces glued to the windows. Harley was off to the side, giving Diamond a bit of privacy with Claude. Claude’s head hung and Diamond was fucking pissed. Face read, jaw clenched, fists at his side. Bet it was taking every bit of strength he had to keep from choking him.

“His first mistake was smarting off to Easton,” Stoli added. He and Joey had snuck up behind us to watch the show. “What’s his deal, anyway?”

I shrugged. “No clue. Shocked the hell out of me when he asked me to join him for the show. Felt bad even thinking about turning him down when he’d never asked before. We had a great time in the pit.”

“Well, if he needs a therapist Easton has a great one,” Josh said. “I see her now too and she’s helped me a lot.”

Everyone had heard the story of what happened between Josh, Joey and Stoli but to see the three of them standing together right now spoke volumes.

“True dat, brother,” Stoli slung his arm around Josh’s shoulder. “We’re all good.” Demons be damned, this group fought them together. I fucking loved our Masterson family.

Claude stormed past us and right into his bunk while Diamond boarded the bus shaking his head. “I’ll be here for the rest of the trip.” He grabbed a beer from the fridge and took a seat. “I’ve had nothing but positive feedback about your performances. Tonight, you really engaged each other on stage and the crowd fed into it.”

“With each show, we loosen up more,” Bowie said. “I’m finally to the point that I don’t care who sees my scars, so I have to take responsibility for shutting down and staying off to the side during previous ones. It won’t happen again.”