Page 74 of His Last Chase
“No clue. Wasn’t planned but the moment was right,” I stared up at Daddy, “so I ran with it.”
“Nicely done, but your gorgeous ass just broke a lot of hearts,” Jaxson pointed out before he spoke to Daddy. “Treat him well, Daddy.”
Oh. My. God.
If my face got any redder I’d surely go up in flames.
Guess word of my lifestyle got around toallmy band brothers. Plus, my inability to remember to call him Casey when around others didn’t help.
“Thank you,” Daddy replied. “I promise to take good care of him.”
Well, Daddy didn’t deny he was my Daddy so why should I?
Maybe my little wasn’t hiding so much anymore.
“Soundcheck, gentlemen.” Easton waved us back onto the golf cart where Jeremiah sat, and Sikes drove us to the stage. Each year Rocktoberfest grew not only in notoriety but in size as well. It was massive and now the equivalent of a small town. Or so it seemed.
Soundcheck led straight into our set. With so many bands, once soundcheck was over you took the stage, and you had about ten minutes prior to check everything out.
“Chase, Seltzer, David and Rhone.” Jeremiah introduced us in turn to the smiling teen girl besidehim. “This is Valerie Parker, the winner of the contest to be on stage with Embrace the Fear.”
“Great to meet you, Valerie,” Rhone said and shook her hand, and we all did the same.
“And this is Valerie’s mom, Stacia.” Jeremiah introduced the woman with Valerie.
“Nice to meet you,” we said to her.
“Valerie, what we failed to mention was there will be a couple special guests on stage to sing a song with you today,” Jeremiah told her. Valerie and Stacia’s eyes widened just as Joey and Stoli walked up.
They squealed as once they calmed down, Joey and Stoli introduced themselves.
“Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!” Valerie and Stacia chanted like twins sharing the same brain. How could you not puff up when fans reacted this way?
“Joey and Stoli will join Embrace to play Social Sinners’ song ‘Black.’ At that point we’ll bring Valerie out on stage to sing it with them. Are you familiar with that song?” Jeremiah asked her.
“Oh my god.” I think we broke her because those were the only words she seemed to remember so her mom stepped in, having finally found her own voice.
“Yes! She, well we, are huge Social Sinners fans. She knows it start to finish.” Valerie stood beside her bobbing her head up and down, reminding meof how I must’ve looked this morning when I did the same thing. This right here, this was why we as a band pushed through the long, arduous practices and tours for our fans. They were the driving force that guided us through the mayhem. Seeing any of them this excited made it all worth it.
“Excellent. Until then you are both welcome to stand on this platform with a perfect view of the stage. Do you have a phone handy? I’ll take pictures of you with the guys.” Jeremiah was awesome, a chip off the Masterson block even though he was technically a Taylor.
“Yes, please and thank you,” Valerie rattled off as she fumbled her phone which Stoli thankfully caught and handed to Jeremiah, and she nearly burst into tears.
“It’s okay, deep breath,” Joey used his calm, soothing voice to bring her back down. She nodded and took a couple of deep, cleansing breaths.
Embrace posed with her for a couple, then he took some with just Joey and Stoli, then the six of us along with her and her mom. Total rush. Without a doubt those shots would be blasted all over the internet before we finished our set.
“All right, Embrace, time to take the stage,” the stage manager announced, and we each high-fived Valerie then took our places. This was something she’d never forget and what an amazing memory to have. Had I met the guys from Social or Maidenwhen I was a teen I’d be just as hero-worship-stricken as she was. Who was I kidding? I totally was the first time I met them and still am today.
As the curtain dropped, I growled into the mic. “Black Rock City, how the fuck are y’all doing today?” My screams were drowned out by theirs as hundreds of bodies flooded the floor in front of the stage. “Wow, thanks for that warm reception. We’ve got a couple of surprises for you today we’ll bring out in a bit.” I turned and winked at Valerie and spotted Daddy standing behind her and her mother. “But we’ll get to that after we’ve got you good and riled up with a couple of songs. This first one is called ‘Beautiful Disaster!’”
By the end I was shirtless and fucking dying. It was hot as hell beneath the lights and the outside temps weren’t helping either. We’d just finished our second encore, “Forsaken,” and I was about to grab a bottle of water when the stage manager wound his hands, telling me we were running out of time.
“All right, Nevada, time for that surprise I promised you. Meet Valerie.” She walked up to me and waved to the crowd. “She won the sing along with Embrace contest but what she didn’t know before she got here was that we had an added surprise for her.” Out walked Joey and Stoli carrying his guitar. They waved to the crowd and Stoli plugged in then fist-bumped Seltzer. The fucking crowd was riled up and nearly climbing over each other to getto the front. “All right, all right. Calm the fuck down. You know as well as I do that Joey’s voice carries so you’ll hear him over by the concession stands.” Joey flipped me off and the crowd fucking lost it.
Joey clicked on the wireless mic he had and showed Valerie how to do hers. “Happy to be here today and rock out with my band brothers. Are you ready for it? Sing along if you know the lyrics to our song, ‘Black!’”
Fuck, you’d have thought we just handed each of them a winning lottery ticket.