Page 50 of His Last Chase
“Who’s a brat, Songbird?”
“My friends. They laughed when I screamed Daddy.” Guess it was kinda funny. Besides, they meant well.
“You are the sweetest boy ever. How’s the ride to Omaha?”
“Funny you should mention that. The days are running together, and David just asked where we were headed.”
“That would get confusing. They should hang a schedule up in the bus for you.”
“Well, if we were smart we’d refer to the calendars in our phones. Easton and Jeremiah have everything accounted for there.” We’re just being lazy when we ignore that.
“I’m on break so I don’t have a lot of time, but I needed to hear your voice and see your cute face.”
“I’m glad you did. I don’t care what time it is, you can always call me. Well, unless I’m on stage, but you have all that info.”
“Yes, I do and thank you for that.” Daddy sighed. “I know it’s only a couple more weeks before I get to hold you, but I sure do miss you.”
“I miss you, too, Daddy. It’s harder being apart than I thought it would be.” That was putting it mildly. I would only have him for a couple of weeks once he got here before his fall classes start. Hopefully I’d have his song tightened up by the time he got here so I could sing it to him.
“Songbird, I must let you go, it’s time for class. Good luck tonight, I love you.”
“I love you, too, Daddy.” The call disconnected and I deflated. The excited balloon in me lost all its air when Daddy went away.
“Come on, Loverboy,” David’s voice came from the other side of the curtain. “Band meeting.”
Easton and Jeremiah each occupied half the TV screen given they weren’t in the same location.
“Hello, everyone,” Easton began. “The tour is off to a great start and you’re getting rave reviews on the shows thus far. I highly recommend checking your social media accounts. River has done a fantastic job posting every interview and rave review you’ve received.”
River was one half of Mickey’s, the bass player for Social Sinners, men. Mickey was the only one of us under Masterson that I knew was part of a triad. River, one of his partners, handled all social media and website updates for the bands while Benny, the third, was the Masterson masseuse. He mostly traveled with Social, though he would be at Rocktoberfest for sure.
Massage for one? Yes, please.
“Diamond and I will meet up with you when you get to Albuquerque to play at the Isleta Amphitheater. In the meantime, Jeremiah is there and as your band manager he’ll be able to assist you with whatever you may need. Masterson is growing and we have many feelers out for new up-and-coming bands we’re hoping to sign. Some of which we’veinvited to play on the side stages at Rocktoberfest. If you get a chance, stop by and listen to them. We always have an ear open for new talent in the metal genre so if you catch a show while you’re out and about and their sound is worthy, please reach out to Diamond or me.”
“Me, Easton has enough on his plate especially with the twins on the way,” Diamond, the drummer for Social Sinners and Easton’s husband’s, face appeared on screen as he chimed in. I’d forgotten their surrogate was expecting.
“Yes, thank you, love.” Diamond fondly smiled at his husband. “Gentlemen, good luck tonight and thank you for all you do. We appreciate you and hope you know that.”
“We do,” all of us said at once and we did. We were the lucky ones to have signed on with a management team that clearly had their talent and their needs at the forefront. I for one refused to take advantage of their kindness and rarely asked for things. Outside of getting Daddy on tour with us, that was.
“Thank you,” Jason, lead singer for Chaotic Abyss, said. “Things are going great, and we have yet to encounter a hiccup.”
Hopefully he didn’t curse the tour even though he was right.
So far.
“All right, guys. Enjoy Omaha and break a leg!” Easton told the group.
Cheers erupted just before the screen went blank.
“We really did luck out, didn’t we?” David asked me.
“That we did. You see all the nightmares other musicians have been through, yet we managed to sign with a company that really cares.”
“All thanks to you. We’d still be stuck in shitty ass jobs doubled up in apartments in an equally as shitty area of Vegas if it wasn’t for you.” Leave it to David to bring that up.
Compliments were something I’d never acclimated to, and I hadn’t entered us into that contest for notoriety or thanks. I did it because our band as whole deserved to get recognized and play at Rocktoberfest. “I just saw an opportunity and jumped on it. Glad it paid off.”