Page 70 of Disharmony

I strum faster. Playing guitar is easy. What I find difficult is the normal things: navigating conversations, posing for stupid photographs, learning god-awful dance routines, and pretending to smile when children do them back to you. Making music makes it all worth it though. Can an eighteen-year-old girl really understand the power of that? There’s only six years in age between us, but we’ve lived a thousand lifetimes.

My guitar solo hits. I forget that Ash is watching and nail the complex riff. When I finish, my eyes dart back to her. Her mouth forms a perfect O, and my cock stirs at the thought of how good her smudged plum lipstick would look wrapped around something else… Shit.

Her being here is more dangerous than I thought. If I have to keep myself in check, I’m not sure if Ripper will be able to control himself.

twenty-two

Ash

The Basilisks pause after the fourth song ends.

“We’ll take a break now,” Zed says.

“That was…” My sentence trails off as I can’t think of a word that encompasses how incredible they are.

Being here is surreal, and I’ve had to pinch myself to make sure I’m not imagining it. They are incredible live, but hearing them without a crowd is extra special. The lyrics in the next album they’re working on have a distinct theme. They’re fueled by anger with a hint of darkness and… emptiness. As usual, the guys have tapped into my brain and are blasting out my thoughts like a freaking radio… not that I’ll tell them that.

Ripper throws his drumsticks across the room, and his head sags forward as if all his energy has been zapped away. Suddenly, his neck snaps up to look at me. I can’t see behind his mask but sense he’s smiling.

I go through to the lounge area, and Venom is first to join me, collapsing onto the sofa opposite.

“Do you want me to grab you some water?” I ask lamely. “You must be hot.”

They’re sweating their asses off in those costumes.

“Hot?” His teasing tone makes me blush. “Is this your way of trying to find out what lies behind our masks, Ash?”

“No,” I squeak. “I just meant—”

“I’m only playing,” Venom dismisses. He goes to the nearby vending machine and kicks it hard. His foot lands at the perfect angle to make a soda drop. “Ripper didn’t ask you here to be our personal assistant. We can get our own drinks.”

Great, I’ve annoyed him trying to be helpful. I can’t say anymore as Ripper and Zed come in.

“Well?” Ripper asks, throwing his arms in the air with a theatrical flair. Despite Zed being the lead singer, Ripper commands a room with his presence. How can someone in a mask be so damn charismatic? “What did you think?”

“It was awesome,” I say, hoping I don’t sound like a pathetic high schooler who has their posters hanging over her bedroom walls, which I totally do. “But I have a suggestion.”

“A suggestion?” Zed snaps, disapproval dripping from his lips. He mustn’t take criticism well.

“Go on,” Ripper encourages.

“In the second song,Underworld Calling, I think it would work better if Venom sang the first two lines of the chorus.”

Venom’s loud slurping from the straw he’s carefully positioned stops abruptly as Ripper and Zed cry in unison, “Venom?”

“Yeah,” I continue, “his somber tone would give it added depth. It elevates up to that moment, but it needs to dip again before the end of the chorus hits.”

“But Venom doesn’t sing,” Ripper says huffily.

“He does inThe Phoenix Rising,” I point out, like a know-it-all schooling them on their own discography.

“That was only in the originals,” Venom mumbles. “My vocals never made it onto the real first album.”

“It’d work,” I insist. “Why don’t you try it again?”

Zed scoffs in disbelief. “Try it again?”

“Look, you can take my advice or leave it,” I say with a shrug, “but if I’ve learned anything from Camp Harmony, it’s that the best advice comes from people you don’t expect. Who knew that the lead singer of the Lionhearts would correct my seating posture?”

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