Echoes of the Heart

That was nice to hear.

“Will do. Is everything in order for the gigs next week?”

“A sold-out concert, one of three, in Wembley Stadium is more than a gig, you dopey Brit.”

We laughed, not offended in the least.

“But, yes,” Chris continued. “Everything is in order; the crew is already in London. Set-up started this morning since your stage is awkward as fuck and needed time to be set up and tested for safety. What date is it today . . . it’s Thursday the eleventh. Show one is on Monday the fifteenth, you four are due in the stadium at noon on the fourteenth for soundcheck, costume check, full rehearsal and so forth.”

“We’ll be in London on the fourteenth,” May offered. “We’re staying at Risk’s house, right?”

“What do you mean, right? You don’t know?”

“Of course I know . . . I think.”

“This is why I stress!” Chris exploded. “You dumb asses are slowly killing me.”

I bit my lip so I didn’t laugh.

“They’re all staying in my townhouse rather than a hotel,” I cracked my neck. “You know we hate hotels.”

“Yes, I know, trust me.” Chris sighed. “I know you all know the dates, but for my own peace of mind, I’ll have Nolan email it to the four of you. He takes care of your itinerary. You know he’s having a worse breakdown than I am because you four forbid him from accompanying you to Southwold. He gets chest pains because you refused Jacob, and the rest of your security team, tagging along too.”

“Southwold is ours.” I repeated what I told Chris before we even came home. “That town is just for us. We’re safe there.”

“Until crazy Sinners travel to Southwold and kidnap you all.”

May shrunk low in his seat because that was an actual fear of his, which amused me greatly.

“He’s joking, May.”

My friend nodded, but didn’t look like he really believed me.

“We’re about to pull into the building’s underground car park,” Hayes said to Chris. “We’ll call you after the interview.”

“Just announce the new album and tour, making it exciting . . . and don’t say shit you can’t take back.”

With that, Chris hung up. I pocketed my phone, cracked my neck again and cleared my throat.

“Why do I feel like he was directing that last part at me?”

“He was,” my friends said in unison, then chuckled.

I looked at May, held my fist out. He bumped his against mine.

“We have to be cute,” I told him. “You know our Ray shippers eat our bromance up. And you, Angel,” I said. “The Rangel shippers die when we interact with each other. Be nice to me, princess.”

“Suck my cock, asshole.”

“Hell, if you did that,” May clapped me on the shoulder. “You might kill the Rangel shippers altogether.”

We all burst into laughter as Hayes parked the car and we climbed out. I straightened out my clothes, so did the others, then we headed to the entrance. There was a brown-haired woman waiting for us who looked like she was relieved to see us walk towards her. She put her phone to her ear and into it she said, “They just arrived, be up in five.”

She ushered us into the building, into an elevator then up to one of the top floors in the building. As soon as we got out of the elevator, there was a guy pointing a camera at us. Podcasts were pre-recorded but they went live sometimes too; this interview was live. They put them on platforms like YouTube where a broader viewership could hear, and see, interviews. I winked at the camera when he turned to me.

“Fannies quiver everywhere with a single wink from Risk Keller,” May mumbled behind me, but I heard him and laughed. We followed Katie, the woman who greeted us in the car park, down a few hallways then into a room full of people who cheered when the four of us walked inside.

“Blood Oath is in the building!”

Rock Stop was a huge podcast with twenty million monthly listeners around the world, this meant they had a big operation with different staff members. There were normally two hosts per episode and that was the case today. I had never met the man, Brian, who stood up to greet us, but the last interview we had done with them over a year ago had the same woman, Toni Marlow. I fucked her in an empty room not long after that podcast ended, she was cool and she knew her shit when it came to rock. It was sweeter that nothing came of us having sex, no nasty episode on Rock Stop where she dragged me through the mud like Chris thought she would.

She stood up to hug each member, but I was the only who got a kiss on the cheek when I bent down.

“How are you, gorgeous?”