Page 112 of Never To Suffer

“Or do you watch too little?”

CHAPTER 46

NOTHING’S GONNA HURT YOU BABY

CIGARETTES AFTER SEX

The back doorof the club opens, and we all look up to see the tour’s head of security, Marco, and he doesn’t look like he’s bringing happy news. I light another cigarette, my fifth in the last hour, and Dani takes a drink of the beer she’s nursing. She’s nervous and angry. My intestines have been pulled into my chests and tied in knots around my hearts. Graphic, but accurate.

Our big night has finally arrived. Our time to shine the brightest with our home crowd here cheering us on. Instead, security has spent the last hour going through our things after someone tipped them off that there were drugs. This time, they decided to investigate the claims. There’s a clause in the contract stated no drugs, which I can appreciate more than most. Eurovision does the same thing. It’s hard enough running a series like this and dealing with all the drinking, the general idiocy, and the bands dropping like flies for less serious reasons, having them hauled away on drug charges or overdosing on the road wouldn’t work well for publicity. They don’t want anotherWoodstock ’99 on their hands, since they’re already starting to promote a second season of the competition.

We’re in LA, so they’re not worried about weed, but the rumors going around the bands say the tip involved heroin and fentanyl. So far, it’s delayed the show for an hour. At this rate, it might be two. They should have canceled, or made us get here early, but they picked tonight to start searching. At least it’s not the entire lineup of bands. That would take all damn night.

Marco hops up on the stack of pallets with me and bums a smoke. He doesn’t smoke, so I give him a bit of a side eye but still give him one and my lighter.

“That bad?” I ask. I’m not using, so I shouldn’t have anything to worry about. But I’m also a recovering addict, and I’ve been open about that to people on this tour outside of the band. But that means they’re looking extra close at me and my things. One well-aimed dropped pill, an empty baggie, or a needle slipped into my bag, and someone could end this whole thing for us. For Dani.

“They’re still trying to figure it out, but it’s looking like a false alarm. Or that people aren’t hiding their stash in obvious places.” He coughs when he takes his first drag. I scratch at my two-day stubble, trying to not get myself too worked up. “The crowd won’t wait much longer, so I can’t imagine they’ll drag their feet on announcing something soon. Even if it’s only to say they’re pushing the show to tomorrow or?—”

“No! Not tomorrow! Steve and Ethan are here because it’s Ethan’s night off and now they’re already stuck waiting in line! On his night off!” Dani yells before waving us off and continuing her pacing and mumbling. She’s back to herself, which we’re all happy to see, but it’s still going to take some adjustment before she trusts her pain, vulnerabilities, and problems with others.

“As for the other question, the one you asked before I went back in?” Marco continues. “They said it won’t be enough tofind something, they’ll have to find it, and that person fails a drug test. That’s the only way they’d bump the band from the tour based on the contract. They already anticipated the idea of someone hiding a stash to get a band knocked out, so at least there’s that.”

“So, have us all piss in a damn cup and move on!” Noah yells to no one in particular. She’s worried they’re inside messing up our gear since they don’t have a clue how to handle it. I get it, but there’s not much we can do about it. At least none of us have an acoustic guitar they might try to crack open.

“Drug testing all of us would be expensive, and a legal nightmare.” I reply. “But they’ll start asking for random tests after this. Bring it.”

There’s a shuffle from behind me and Dani turns toward the noise, ready to bite anyone’s head if they try to tell us to go back inside again. Sometimes she’s the scarab, sometimes she’s the mantis. “Honeybee!!”

Xander and Theo sneak around the corner, holding their fingers to their lips as Dani wraps around Xander’s neck, careful of his sling. Theo comes around next to me and pulls me into a hug.

“We had to bribe the guard to get back here,” Theo laughs before he cups my face and kisses me. “How are you all holding up? Some kind of raid by the LAPD?”

“Fuckers! Profiling isn’t legal!” Dani readies herself for a fight with no one, bouncing on her toes.

“Are you still going to do it?” Theo whispers, and I shake my head. He pushes my shoulder. “Why not?”

“Are you?”

“Yes!” He moves to his side, so he’s not in Dani's or Xander’s eye-line and pulls a ring out of his pocket. “Not tonight, but soon.”

“She’ll hate it. I returned the stupid ring last week anyhow.”

“Sky, you worked your ass off in your friend’s garage to save up for that ring.”

“A passionate heat of the moment idea when we were all terrified about Xander’s condition. I shouldn’t be doing shit like that, messing around with Dani’s head. My head.” I offer Theo a faint smile. “Don’t let it stop you, though. You two make sense, but our Beetle doesn’t want to be tied down, and I’m not sure I’m ready for that even if she wanted it.”

“She just wants to be tied up? Skylar, you said it yourself, it’s not technically—” he’s cut off when Dani and Xander come close enough to hear us. Theo clears his throat and changes the subject. “So, have they said how long before they let you all go on?”

I shake my head while Noah takes up the pacing where Dani left off. The only one of us that doesn’t look like they're about to explode is Connor, but that’s because he’s busy making out with a groupie. I love that for him, because he loves the attention of strangers far more than I ever did and he takes a lot of the heat off me.

“Do you think they’ll actually catch anyone?” Xander asks me, and I shrug before he leans in and kisses my cheek.

“Hopefully, no.”

The doors pop open again. This time, two big cops come out and one of them has the bag for my bass. My stomach lurches.

“Mr. Beck? We’re told this belongs to you?”

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