Alice
Maison Publique
God, I was so nervous.I hadn’t felt like this in a long time.In my last band I’d been the only girl—I’d had three guys to hide behind.It might’ve turned into a clusterfuck at the end, but I’d never worried about being on stage with the guys.I’d known if shit went down, they’d all protect me.
Until they didn’t.
But this was so different.Three women setting up a stage drew a different kinda crowd.
We hadn’t even started playing and the catcalls were already starting.
“Oh yeah.Bend over again, baby!”
“I get the blonde.She looks kinda slutty.You can have the brunette.”
Considering there were two brunettes, I wondered which one he was talking about.But I wasn’t planning on finding out.
No way were we loading up in the parking lot without security.This could get ugly fast.
“A chick band?No one said it was a chick band.Fuuuck.”
We hadn’t even played yet, and we were already building a fan base.That was sarcasm, by the way.Misogynistic assholes.
“Please tell me they have more security than the two dudes at the door,” Bailey said in my ear.
I shook my head.“They’re the only ones I’ve seen.Lark!Come here a sec!”
She was talking to the guy in charge of the sound system and waved a hand at us.
“I remembered this place looking classier,” Bailey murmured in my ear.
She wasn’t wrong.I’d been to Maison Publique before.We came a few weeks back to watch a band.And with the stage lights sparkling and the music pulsing, it’d been fucking magical.
Tonight, it looked dirty, grungy, and missing all that gloss of the last visit.The red material on the walls sagged sadly in places and the gold fixtures didn’t sparkle at all.Holy shit, was that a cockroach?
I inched away from said bug.“Maybe it’ll look better when they turn the lights down?”
“What’s up?”Lark asked after she bounced onto the stage, eagerness and happiness glowing from her.
I turned to her and crossed my arms.“What’s the security situation?Are we going to have help after the show?”
“Of course.They have six guys on a regular night and two more come in for shows.I made it part of our contract that we get a security escort after the show.Jon signed off on it.”
Jon, the bar manager, who’d been absent all during set up.Okay…
“You guys remember the setlist?”Lark asked with a shoulder shimmy.It was like she couldn’t stop moving—she was so amped up.
Meanwhile, I was hoping not to lose my dinner onstage.
I count down on my fingers.“We start with ‘Don’t Cha’then T Swift’s ‘Me,’ then a Tin Gods song—we settled on ‘Nowhere to Hide,’ right?”
“Right.”Bailey nodded, her eyes no doubt as wide as mine.
“Then we cycle through a few original songs before the break,” Lark finished for me, then named three of our songs.
“We’ve got this, girls.”Lark beamed, her visible optimism impossible to look away from.“Take a few breaths and don’t forget to have fun.This is what we’ve been building toward.We’ve got this.”
Bailey’s shoulders heaved with her deep breath before she put her hand out in the center of our little huddle.“Monarchs on three?”
