The party’s hopping tonight
Things are out of control
Someone’s gonna blow
There’s gonna be a fight
Let’s break out with the strings
It brings them to their senses
When the tunes begin to play
The reaper’s held at bay
Only when we got to the chorus, the crowd shocked the hell out of us as they sung along drowning Chase out, but he didn’t care. None of us did. You couldn’t smack the smiles off our faces if you hit us with a two by four. The crowd’s engagement was what carried us through the rest of our set. The fans knew us. They fucking knew our songs and that was beyond anything we could’ve ever imagined.
Chorus:
Strings ‘n sex
That’s where it’s at
You’ll get what you want
With no plan of attack
Strings ‘n sex
Will pave the way
It will bring them back
There’s help on the way
I came here tonight
Looking to blow off steam
When my boyz tossed me my sticks
I slid behind my therapy
Skins are where I’m meant to be
Shut the world out
When the melody surrounds me
To know your truth
To know where you belong
There is no better way
Chorus:
Strings ‘n sex
That’s where it’s at
You’ll get what you want
With no plan of attack
Strings ‘n sex
Will pave the way
It will bring them back
There’s help on the way
There’s two things that calm me
If I’m not on stage with my boyz
You’ll find me tangled in the sheets
Strings ‘n sex
When you need relief
There are no two better ways
Even with the overhead canopies the venue had, the desert heat was brutal and the number of bodies packing the pit and out as far as the eye could see, brought with them equally as much body heat. That amplified by a shit ton of stage lights and pyrotechnics made it hotter than Satan’s taint. By the end of our third song, we’d collectively rid ourselves of our shirts and guzzled water like we hadn’t had a drop to drink in days.
“Whew!” Chase said into the mic, using the shirt he’d taken off to wipe the sweat away. “You fuckers are crazy moshing in this heat.” The pit lit up at his words, every hand shot up in the air, every voice screaming a version of fuck yeah or hell yeah. “I’m happy to announce, Monday we begin recording our first CD!” The crowd went ballistic, I never anticipated this many bodies packing the place during our set. What was even better was seeing so many of them wearing Embrace concert tees. “Check out our website or follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more details.”
We played “Forsaken” as our encore since that was the one getting the most airtime across the radio waves. As soon as it ended, I ran out from behind my kit at the same time David and Seltzer dropped their guitar and bass before we tackled Chase. That seemed to rile the crowd up even more.
“We fucking did it guys!” I yelled into our dog pile. The four of us giddy as fuck. We stood, arm in arm, taking a bow at center stage. I tossed my sticks out to the chanting crowd Embrace, Embrace, Embrace. The other three each threw out a handful of guitar picks. We waved to the fans as we left the stage and the first face I saw was Ely’s. This night couldn’t be more perfect. We’d just put on the best performance of our career to date in front of a massive home crowd and there on the sidelines stood the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen, and he was waiting for me.
“Awe, his little catering bunny came to see him,” Seltzer teased.
“I’m not a bunny!” I spat in protest, but he was too busy laughing to care. Not laughing at me per se, but they had just come off of what I thought was a fantastic performance and were still riding the waves of it.
“Oh honey,” a guy of similar stature to me said, placing his arm around my shoulder. “Ignore them. These men are giant children. Hi, I’m Benny.”
Another guy with a guitar or a bass around his neck— I wasn’t sure what the difference was yet—, kissed Benny before doing the same to the other guy standing beside him. My eyes widened as I stared, waiting for someone to freak out and a cat fight to ensue. Benny must’ve sensed my concern, or my jaw hitting the ground gave it away. He grabbed the other guy who’d been kissed hand and brought him over. “This is River and that’s our partner, Mickey. He’s the bass player for Social Sinners.”
I squirreled, my attention diverted to Rhone who was talking to some other guy, leaning against the metal railing. Tight jeans. Muscular, but not overly muscled. His arms clearly defined from what I assumed was due to countless hours of banging away on his drums. The rigid lines flexed, as he slid his shirt back on, then peeked out of his shirt sleeves. Black leather boots. Yeah, I had a type and Rhone Horne seemed to check every box and then some. This would surely end with him breaking my heart. He walked up, kissing the side of my head, saving me from further humiliation. “They’re a triad, Ely. Benny is Masterson’s massage therapist, and River manages our websites and social media.”
Out of all of that, one word stuck in my head. “Triad?” I asked. I really needed to use Google search for more than recipes.
“I’ll explain later,” Rhone said, taking my hand.
“It was nice to meet you,” I hollered over my shoulder as we walked away. “You guys were great!” I said to Rhone as we walked.
Rhone picked me up, twirling me around. “That was so—”
“Absolutely fantastic!” A tall, slender man with glasses chimed in. “Chase, way to think ahead and tell them about the CD and the social media sites. That’s what we need more of, getting the messages out to the listeners.”
“Easton, this is Ely. Ely, this is our manager Easton,” Rhone said. Easton and I shook hands. I wasn’t sure what the protocol was or if a manager was a regular boss or how I should act. “It’s okay, Ely, take a deep breath,” Rhone whispered in my ear. Every time I felt his breath on my flesh, it ignited a series of events that shot down my spine and of course landed right between my thighs.
“Holy shit, Ryder’s here,” Chase said, drawing the attention away from me which was a weight off my shoulders, allotting me time to ice the hormones. Ryder hugged each of them while a guy who was easily the size of Dwayne Johnson stood nearby giving everyone the evil eye. He scared me to death, yet I couldn’t look away. Like I was waiting for him to pounce.
“Who do we have here?” Ryder asked, eyeing me curiously.
“Oh um…” My feeble reply came as the angry man’s glare turned to me. I had an overwhelming urge to curl up in the fetal position.
“This is my—” Rhone stopped himself. “This is Ely.” I wanted to be his my something, if only he’d have finished what he started so I knew what it was.
Ryder grinned, the wall of muscle grunted. “Don’t worry about him Ely, Max is a giant teddy bear.” Ryder winked. I still couldn’t move. His glare had me frozen where I stood. The unease I felt at being the source of his attention was beyond unnerving. Gripping Rhone’s arm, I moved, sliding behind it.