Page 176 of Of Heartbreak and Harmony
She pauses for a moment, excitement mounting, and even I can’t stop smiling.
“Let’s all give Rocky another round of applause for filling in for us these past few months. Hasn’t he been fucking great?”
Rock plays a guitar riff as the crowd cheers for him, grinning ear to ear, and then Sav starts again.
“Unfortunately, we’ve got some bad news, though. Rock’s not going to be able to play with us any longer.”
Sav tries to look sad as Rocky slips his guitar strap over his head, but she fails miserably, and he can’t contain his grin either. Then Jonah steps on stage, guitar in hand, and walks up to Rocky, and everyone loses their fucking minds.
“I think they’re happy to see you, Jo. What do you have to say about that?”
Jonah smirks, then plays the same guitar riff Rocky played, but he adds his own flare at the end. Show-off. Rocky pretends to bow to Jo, then waves to the crowd before leaving the stage.
“She’s such a showman,” Rock says with a grin when he reaches me. “She just eats it up.”
I laugh and watch Sav work the crowd. “She definitely does what she’s good at.” I turn my attention to Rocky and take in his wide smile. “How do you feel?”
“Great. It was awesome touring with them. Fucking crazy being part of the headliner in those stadiums, you know? But I’m glad he’s back.”
I smile. “Me too.”
“Plus, I’m exhausted from pulling double duty, and we’ve got a record to finish.”
“That we do.”
And it’s an important one, too, even though we don’t want to admit it. Our first album took off, so this next one is going to have a lot more eyes on it. We’re ready, though.
Rocky and I watch the show together backstage. Ezra and Becket show about halfway through, but our last bandmate isn’t with them.
“No Crue?”
I’m met with shrugs. It concerns me momentarily, but Torren’s voice grabs my attention before I get a chance to dwell on it.
“Did you guys get the chance to see Caveat Lover on the main stage last night?”
The crowd cheers, and it makes me smile wider. When I look at the guys, they are wearing matching expressions.
“Well, we’ve got another surprise for you.” I watch as a roadie brings two stools out and sets them together center stage, and the crowd grows impossibly louder. “Did you all know we played here a while back? About seven years ago. Well, I met a woman, and she made such an impression on me that I wrote a song for her.”
“That’s my cue.”
Ezra pats me on the shoulder. “Knock ‘em dead, tiger.”
I step out onto the stage and make my way to Torren amid more shouts and cheers.
“You all know my fiancée, Callie James, right?” I wave, and Torren looks my way with a smile. “Hi, baby. You want to sing your song with me?”
I try to wait until the crowd noise lessens before I answer, but when it doesn’t, I just lean into the mic.
“I would love to.”
I take a seat on the stool beside Torren’s, then adjust my mic. The version of this song that we recorded has piano accompaniment, but for tonight, we decided to play an acoustic version with just the guitar.
Torren strums out the opening chords, and I take a deep breath and close my eyes. Then, trading out verses and harmonizing throughout, we begin to sing.
A little magic can go a long way
Whether night comes or bleeds into day
