“I’m here, fuckers.” Jacob slumps into the room. Jacket collar up and sunglasses obscuring most of his face.
“You all right?” Chaser asks, lifting his chin at the cup in Jacob’s hand.
Jacob curls the cup closer to his chest. “It’s tea.”
“I didn’t ask.”
After some back and forth, Jacob climbs on top of the desk next to me. He sits cross-legged and sets a notepad on his lap.
Chaser and Alvin launch into the now familiar riff of “Queen of the Road,” playing it a few times before Garrett joins them.
Jacob watches, swaying side to side for a few minutes, before closing his eyes and opening his mouth.
“There she is.”
“Queen of the Road.”
“Two wheels of fire.”
“Leading me home.”
Jacob stops and takes a quick sip of tea.
“Tell me to stay!” Alvin shouts.
“If you think I belong!” Garrett adds.
“Good,” Jacob mutters, quickly scribbling down the lines in his notebook.
Over his shoulder, I notice him marking an A next to the line Alvin contributed and a G next to Garrett’s. For some reason, I find that funny.
“Ahead there’s a storm,” Chaser sings.
The guys keep playing, but no one belts out another line.
A few words pop into my head, and I blurt them out before thinking it through. “I need your fire to keep me warm.”
“Nice!” Alvin yells.
Jacob slants a look my way.
Guess I was supposed to keep quiet. But then he scribbles down the two lines, marking Chaser’s with a “C” and mine with an “M.”
“I like that,” he mutters.
Chaser winks and blows me a kiss. He closes his eyes and begins a beautiful solo using the slide again.
The guys work steadily, without stopping for a couple of hours. Everything magically seems to come together. Every note and word perfect, until Jacob’s last, final haunting line.
“Queen of the road, take me home.”
Excitement propels me out of my spot. Jumping and clapping. “That was beautiful! Perfect!”
“Not perfect.” Jacob scribbles down a few notes without looking at us. “But it’s getting there.”
Chaser sweeps me into his arms, spinning us in a half circle. “Knew you’d bring us luck,” he whispers.
“I’m sorry I interrupted,” I whisper back. “I got caught up in the—”
He silences me with a quick kiss. “Don’t apologize. I love that you jumped in. It’s a good line too. It worked.” He sets me down. “I always wanted to write something with you one day.”
“With me? Why?”
“You’re clever and put words together in an interesting way.”
That can’t be true. I sure can’t put any words together at the moment.
“Whoa, when’d you buy the Starburst? How?” Jacob asks almost knocking me out of the way to ogle Chaser’s guitar.
“Mallory gave it to me,” Chaser says. “You just noticed it now?”
Jacob jerks his chin my way. “Who’d you blow to get the money for that?”
I don’t have a chance to respond. Chaser slaps his palm against Jacob’s chest hard, shoving him back a few feet. “Watch your fucking mouth.”
“I’m just saying, if Mallory’s got that kind of money—”
“It’s none of your business.” Chaser thumps Jacob’s chest once more to emphasize his warning.
“Jesus, calm down.”
“That was sweet, Mallory,” Garrett says, inspecting the instrument. “He’s had his eye on it forever.”
I shrug, uncomfortable having them questioning the personal gift. Somehow in my excitement to buy it for Chaser, I never considered it would pique the guys’ curiosity.
“We still have a lot more work to get through,” Alvin reminds everyone. “We need to interview some of those producers Val lined up for us in case Cutter doesn’t pan out.”
“I don’t want to work with anyone but Mark Cutter.” Jacob thrusts his chin in the air and crosses his arms over his chest. Clearly as far as he’s concerned, this isn’t open for discussion.
“Well, I suggest you get your shit together, and act like a professional, so he wants to work with us,” Chaser says.
“Maybe Andrew can put in a word?” Alvin suggests. “Vandals haven’t worked with anyone else since Serves You Right. He must be tight with Cutter.”
I touch Chaser’s shoulder. “I might run into Pamela tomorrow. Do you want me to suggest we all get together or something?”
“You want to suggest something to Pamela Scott, suggest she call me.” Jacob puts his hand up to his ear. “Massive cock or not, with the amount of coke Andrew does, I doubt he can raise that log for long.”
“Andrew said to call him if we needed anything.” Chaser runs his hand over the back of his neck, ignoring Jacob. “I don’t know how serious he was, though. Fuck, I wonder if he even remembers what happened the other night?”
“Not bloody likely,” Garrett scoffs.
The band’s time is up, so we head back to the apartment.
“What are you going to do if you can’t get this producer?” I ask when Alvin, Chaser, and I are alone in the car.
“Val has some talented people lined up,” Alvin says. “Jacob may need to readjust that attitude of his.”