KNOX
“There’s a hiking trail about twenty minutes from here. Anyone wanna come and check it out?” I ask, standing in the open doorway of the tour bus. We got here earlier than expected, and I don’t intend to waste this gift of time on sitting around. I get plenty of that while we’re driving.
“Jason and I wanna come,” Cass calls out from somewhere in the back.
“No, I don’t,” Jason mutters, leaning against the fridge, eating a sandwich I’m pretty sure was Matti’s.
Cass comes marching out, clearly having heard him. “Well, you’re going anyway. Put on some shoes.”
He shoots her a dirty look but pushes off the fridge and heads for the back, I’m guessing to do as instructed.
“How come you’re so bossy today?” I watch her standing there, tapping her foot impatiently.
“I’m not being bossy. We’re just fighting,” she informs me, still staring after Jason who’s taking an unusually long time to put shoes on his feet.
“Um, maybe I want to revoke my invite,” I joke. “Mostly for Matti’s sake. I sold him on it first. I used words like ‘peaceful’ and ‘grounding’.”
She flicks her wrist, dismissing my concerns. “Oh, we’re not actually going hiking with you. We’re just going so I can find an isolated place in the woods to yell at him.”
I glance in Jason’s direction. He’s taking his sweet ass time in there.
“You’re not going to kill him though, right? You’re going for the privacy, not the lack of witnesses and ample body burying opportunities,” I try to get her to lighten up a bit before we allpile into a car together. “Because I don’t think we’ll sound our best if we’re missing our lead guitar tonight.”
“You play guitar just fine,” she counters. “We could easily perform without him.”
Finally, Jason makes it back out to the front of the bus.
I don’t know whether to laugh at him or warn him. “Good God, man. What did you do to piss off your woman?”
He just shrugs and steps past her to go outside. “Apparently, forgetting that we kissed for the first time when we played The House of Rock here two years ago, makes me an asshole.”
“It does,” Cassady confirms loudly, stomping her way out after him, leaving me to follow both of them out, if at a safe distance.
“In my defense,” though, the way he’s got his arms spread wide as he says it, he looks more like he’s surrendering, “I didn’t know what city we were in or which venue we were playing tonight untilafteryou were already pissed.”
“I still don’t know,” Matti adds, strolling into the huddle mid-conversation.
Cass glares at him.
Jason looks almost smug.
“Did you get the keys?” I ask Matti, eager to get beyond the part where their relationship squabbling has spread out within the band.
Matti dangles the set in the air in response. “Yep.”
“So, that’s it?” Cass hisses. “You’re all going to take his side?”
“No one is taking anyone’s side,” I clarify.
Meanwhile, Matti still doesn’t know what the fuck is even going on. “Why are there sides? Is someone fighting?”
“You know what, forget it!” Cass throws her arms up at all of us. “No way am I leaving here with you guys just to be outnumbered three to one. Screw that.” She points at Jason, eyes getting all squinty like they always do when she’s pissed.“Choose your next move carefully.” Then she spins on her heel, marches back into the bus, and slams the door shut behind her.
“Well, hey,” I say cheerfully, patting Jason on the back. “This worked out after all. You didn’t wanna go anyway.”
He glowers at me. “Right. Like this is the alternate ending I was hoping for.” He starts for the door to follow her inside then pauses to look back at us over his shoulder, “For the record, you think this is bullshit, correct? Like, no way should she be mad at me right now. I didn’t really do anything wrong, right?”
“My man,” I start, barely holding in a chuckle while doing my best to mimic his tone. “For the record, I think I told everyone that bandmates dating had disaster written all over it. Like, no way did I think anyone should ever attempt it. How could it not go wrong, right?”
