Page 77 of Feuds and Interludes
“I never had beef with you, Boone.”
“You did, but it’s okay. I was an asshole. I deserved it. But this way, if we pick the media and we control the narrative, we can hype up the performance, turn it into hype for the foundation, and then hint at a project together. We can gauge what the reception will be, maybe get our prospective labels excited about it…and if everything goes as well as I think it’s going to, we’ll have paved a nice little path for future Butler Collins collabs. It will also take a bit of the gossipy bullshit out of the story. We say yeah, we’re dating, we’re working together, but it’s about the music. Our music and the legacy of our families. What do you think?”
I wasn’t sure if it had come out as polished as I’d hoped, but the walk back from breakfast, where I’d said goodbye to the twins and gotten their blessing on all things Rocktoberfest, hadn’t been a super long time to craft my pitch.
“So we get out ahead of all the speculation. We tell them upfront. It could work. Who did you have in mind to talk to?”
“I did an interview with Sammara Gunderson not too long ago. I’m sure she’s going to be at Rocktoberfest, since Maggie’s Bones is playing. Did you know they were reuniting for the festival?”
“I’d heard. I’m tight with Devon Boudreaux and his wife Jaylene. She’s my tattoo artist. I used to work on his guitars way back when they were recording their last album in LA. That was fetus Wicked Soul days.”
“Fetus,” I said, laughing at Shane’s Emo side that came out every once in a while. He might play music that had the classicmetal feel of Metallica and Megadeth in terms of heaviness and vibe, but he was from the generation that made Emo a massive force in music, and Maggie’s Bones had been one of the heaviest, alongside Bullet For My Valentine and pre-pop Bring Me The Horizon.
My vocal stylings with Stellar were on the other side of the rock spectrum. I spent my formative years not only trying to emulate my grandfather, but also being influenced by singers like Scott Weiland, Myles Kennedy, and of course, Freddy Mercury. Shane’s vocals on Wicked Soul songs were frankly a little terrifying in the pure evilness he managed to pour into his performances, and I’d always found them sexy as fuck. Rather than scare people with my music, though, I wanted to get them hot and bothered so they’d go home with their partners and do what nature intended.
He rolled his eyes playfully. “I could also call up Krish Guruvayoor. I bet he’d do a piece. Now that he’s taken Chaz Vella’s position atAlt-Scenethings have gotten a lot better. I’ve got contacts atKerrang!and Pops’s buddies atClassic Rockmag would probably dig it.” He frowned a bit. “So Annie and Bran aren’t keen on the Butler Collins project, huh?”
“It’s not that they aren’t keen on it. The thing is, you and I wrote the music. They’re not used to being sessions musicians, you know? I don’t think they’re opposed tomedoing it, per se, but I think they recognize it asourbaby and they don’t want to be, like, rock ’n’ roll godparents.”
Shane rubbed at his mustache. It was thin, just barely covering his upper lip in a line, but I fucking loved it. It made him resemble a villain or like an old-timey performer in a speakeasy. Watching him rub it? Did things to me. But we needed to have this serious conversation, which meant I needed to focus on something other than that, or his pleasure trail leading underneath the sheet.
“We’ll get through Rocktoberfest and regroup, then. And if they don’t feel comfortable recording with us?—”
“Wedo it. Hell, between the two of us, we can play everything.”
“You play the drums?” he asked me.
“Oh yeah. I’m not as fancy as Bran. I kinda look like a gremlin when I play, but it’s fun.”
Shane grinned at me. “This I gotta see.”
I wiggled my eyebrows and walked my fingers to the edge of the sheet. “Speaking of seeing?—”
He put his hand over mine. “Hey, I’m serious, Boone. I don’t want to put any discord between you and your band. They’re right. Let’s talk about it after Rocktoberfest. Besides, you can’t really make any plans until after you meet with your label. They’re going to put you guys everywhere. We have time, babe. I’ll be around.”
That made shit real, quick. “What are you going to do?” I asked him.
“That’s a really good question. I don’t know. And right now, I’m okay with that. I’ll go back to LA and regroup. That’s all I can do. We’ve got Rocktoberfest and that’s as far as I’m worrying about right now. I want to enjoy my time with you until you go on your way.”
He smiled, but it was a little sad.
“I don’t want it to be me going on my way. I want it to be me going on tour, talking to you every day over FaceTime, and if you’re free, seeing you when we can meet up. People have relationships that continue when they’re on tour, right?”
Shane tugged on my hand and pulled me to straddle his lap.
“Of course they do.” He pushed my hair back and ran his thumb over my pulse in my throat. “You sayin’ you want me around?”
“God, yes. I do, Shane.” I bent over and kissed him. “I fucking do. I don’t want this to be over when we go home.”
Shane moaned and pulled away from the kiss. “Move in with me.”
I froze. His eyes were a little wide, like maybe he hadn’t planned on saying that.
“Are you… Seriously? Haven’t you seen what I do to a domicile?”
He pulled my shirt up and over my head. “I can live with your mess. I have a cleaner come in every week anyway. As long as your shit’s picked up before she comes.” He ran his finger over my nipple. “How come these aren’t pierced?”
“They were. I had to take them out when I had all my tests done and I never got around to putting them back in.”
