No Holding Back (34 page)

“
I’m sorry,” he said.

Chris stared at Os in mute shock, but she gave him her hand
anyway. What followed after a simple handshake was a truce that was long overdue. She tried not to stare at his busted lip and bruised eye, but she wondered if a recent sibling feud caused a certain change of heart. But in the end, she didn’t care.

“Can uh…
can we start over?” he offered.

Chris smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I
’d like that."

It was as if Os bec
ame a changed person overnight. Wade smiled as well and fought to hold back the well of emotion that threatened to revisit him. As soon as he let go of Chris’ hand, Wade grabbed his brother and gave him the best man-hug he could. He couldn’t help but feel really damn good at this turn of events. He felt as if for once, everything was going perfectly.

Wade knew the crowd had no idea what they were cheering at, but t
he ambience was one of new beginnings and they screamed at Heretic tirelessly.

Before Chris brok
e away to go to her drums, Wade’s booming voice made her stop in her tracks.

“Hey!” Wade called
. She turned and he watched as her sleek black hair brushed past her lips and cheeks. “Don’t hold anything back!”

Grinning from ear to ear,
Chris unleashed another killer smile, knowing full well it was one of the first things he had ever said to her. She didn’t hold back then and she certainly wouldn’t start now.

She pulled out her sticks
and by then, her hands thrummed with the urge to connect to her drums. As soon as she sat down behind the drum kit, she rapped on the side of the cymbal and broke into the song that she first played for Heretic during her audition: Psychotic Episode.

O
f course, she didn’t stop there. She played one song after another for Heretic’s fans; Black War, Death Wish, Succumbed, Lunacy, she played them all. And she did it with her hair swinging in her face while her arms flailed from drum to snare, snare to cymbal, and cymbal to tom. No longer hindered or weighed down by the suffocating clothing she wore, Chris played better than she ever did in her life.

At the same time, Wade, Joe
, and Os electrified the atmosphere with their guitars as Wade screamed and growled well into the night.

People yelled and even sang along with Wade as dozens of hats, shoes
, and other objects flew up on stage by fans of Heretic who wanted to show their fanatical love for their music. Security kept busy catching people who body surfed over the crowds and were thrown over the barriers. They came as close to the stage as they could with some even making it past security. When they got to Wade, he shook their hands in a congratulatory gusto.

But Heretic didn
’t stop tearing up the night until Chris made sure that she played her favorite song, saving it for last. Wet hair clung to her neck, and sweat poured down her back like a river but it didn’t bother her. Nothing would keep her from playing Live Dead.

Muscles stinging from head to toe, Chris pounded on her drum set with as much energy and vi
gor as she did from their first song. She didn’t care if her forearms and shin went numb with pain. Her snakeskins delivered a good pain and that was how she liked it.

As Chris slammed down one final time onto the drums, it signaled the end of a killer concert, but she wasn
’t done. She got up from her seat and ran to the edge of the stage, drumsticks in tow. Fans reached for her, hoping she would throw something else, and she did.

Chris reared back
and threw her sticks, one after another, and sent them flying into the crowd. She clapped with excitement, seeing certain victorious fans fortunate enough to snag them and hold them high into the air. The rest of Heretic soon joined in, reaching into their pockets and flinging dozens of genuine guitar picks in every direction. It was a good night and it ended well. Heretic made history.

Chris
looked backstage and was amazed to see that standing next to Mike, her own father was hollering and cheering for her as well. She couldn’t remember the last time he was smiling and happy. She only wished her mother was there to see it.

Heretic waved goodbye to adoring fans and when they walked offstage, Wade grabbed Chris by the waist, making her a permanent attachment to his arm. He may not have had a secret to protect anymore, but that didn
’t stop him from holding her close.

Wade and the rest of Heretic made the casual walk back to their bus, this time, safely escorted by security and Chris
’ father. Despite the picture perfect turn of events, Wade still had a nagging question in the back of his mind. As Chris waved to adoring fans everywhere, Wade leaned in closer and had to yell in her ear.

“How come
you didn’t tell me you were gonna to play blindfolded?!”

Chris
beamed with pride. “That’s nothing! Wait’ll you see my
next
trick! It’ll be even better!”

Wade stopped
in his tracks while Chris slipped out of his arm. He didn’t know what amazing feat she could do that could trump the competition, but he was dying to find out.

“Whoa! Whoa! Trick!? What trick?
” Wade said in a panic. Whaddya mean ‘trick’?! When am I gonna see it?!”

But Chris
’ reply was just as cryptic. “You’ll see.”

“
What the!? When will I see?!” Wade asked on the verge of throwing a fit.

Not wanting to put Wade through anymore g
uesswork, she reached up and held both sides of his face. She stood on her tiptoes and buried her mouth into his ear.

“Well, you
did
say you wanted to have kids someday, right?” she teased.

Wade became limp when she pulled away and winked at him. He felt like
someone threw an ice-cold pail of water on him.

She looked at Wade and unleashed another killer smile – placing mind-numbing spell over him
. She moved further away from him and into the welcoming arms of fans, but Wade made no attempt to move – he just couldn’t. The sudden shock of her words sent him into a delirium and a warm, down-to-earth feeling surrounded him entirely.

His feet felt as heavy as concrete and
he could just barely made out his agent’s voice in the background.

“Wade! WADE!” ca
me Mike’s voice.

He called his name over and over, but who the hell
wasn’t
in this place? Then, he felt a firm pair of hands on his shoulders and they were shaking him back into reality.

“Wade
! Hey, Wade!”

“Huh? W-What?”

“Where the hell is my
car
?!”

Wade
almost forgot about Mike’s Jag. But he knew that it was perfectly safe, even if it was parked in a neighborhood a few states away. But the car was the furthest thing from his mind.

Suddenly, Wade grabbed Mike
’s shoulders in return and shook him – all while he laughed like a raving lunatic. Before he could react, Wade grabbed onto Mike and picked him up off the floor.

“Gah! Man, what the hell
‘er you doin’!? Lemme go!”

He did, but not before he
planted a fierce kiss on his cheek.

“I love you, man! I
’ll get your car back, I promise! Hell, I’ll buy you five of ‘em!”

“What the hell has gotten into
you
, man?!” Mike asked, holding Wade at arms’ length.

Wade turned to see Chris smi
le back at him seductively from underneath waves of black hair. While signing autographs, she definitely looked like she was holding some big secret. But all Wade wanted to do was shout at the top of his lungs. He felt like his heart was going to explode when he tried to get one simple fact through his head.

H
e was going to be a father.

“I
’ll tell you later!” 

Wade shook
his confused agent one last time and left him to get swallowed by more bodies. He made a mad dash to Chris but she never saw him coming. As she was signing her name for one of Heretic’s fans, he picked her up - making her laugh and squeal uncontrollably.

Cameras flashed
all around them while Wade spun Chris around in the air. After carefully setting her back down on the ground, his lips found her ear.

“
Marry me! Say you’ll marry me! Right now!” 

When she pulled away, she looked on the verged of tears, but Wade couldn
’t hear her say yes over so many voices. But he saw her nod. And that was good enough for him.

Heretic
’s members started a new chapter in their lives - all of them. And Wade knew that from now on, nothing would stop them from going all the way to the top.

Wade recalled the last time he sat in that exact same spot. He remembered being hounded and grilled like a criminal, and this time was no different. At least now, the circumstances were completely different.

He sat
in the overly-crowded TV studio playing guest to the host of Metal Madness again. But unlike last time,
he
was the one in control. This time, he was confident and felt ten feet high. And who wouldn’t be?

Axel sat to his left, feeding Wade one question after another, but Heretic
’s front man was far more interested in Chris, who sat to his left. As Metal Madness’ host talked on and on, asking questions about where Heretic was going, Wade stole yet another glance at his lovely wife. He looked down at the rock for a wedding ring that was wrapped around her finger and squeezed her hand. He could hardly believe that they had been married for four months. He couldn’t help but notice the glow she carried with her since then. Christine Griffin looked nothing short of amazing.

Wade knew he made other men jealous just by the way they looked at her.
She used to dress like a guy. Now, she was a shapely woman who rocked audiences all while wearing clothing that complimented her attractive features.

Wade counted his lucky stars as
his eyes passed over the audience who whistled and hollered at his wife. But he was far from jealous. He chuckled in bemusement when several male audience members held up homemade signs that read,
MARRY ME, CHRIS!
or
I LOVE YOU, CHRIS
! Such hype made him grin from ear to ear.

“So Wade,”
the host said, snapping him out of his daydreaming “Tell me how the hell you’re able to keep your hands off that hottie when you’re on stage!”

Everyone in the audience laughed along with Axel
. A few loud whistles surfaced as well, making Chris blush.

Wade
pondered his response. “Well…some nights, we just can’t get back to the bus fast enough,” he pulled off casually.

The audience was ablaze with thundering laughter and whistles again as Chris playfull
y smacked Wade on the shoulder. She blushed even more.

“So what
’s next in line for you guys?” Axel continued. 

Wade noticed that the
host of Metal Madness had a difficult time keeping his eyes off Chris and her long, slender legs. But so did Wade.

“Heretic plans on taking a short hiatus from tour
ing-,” Wade started, but boo’s broke out like wildfire. “Only so we can work on our new album that we’ve named ‘Titan Reality’.”

The audience reversed its response and Axel
had a difficult time trying to get them to calm down so that Wade could continue.

“A
nd at that time, we’ll also be back with a new band member.”

Unable to take so much news at once, Axel
had a hard time controlling his own excitement level. Wade couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. Just a few short hours ago, he ran the announcement through Mike before getting the ‘okay’ to continue. He still couldn’t get his agent’s facial expression out of his mind.

“C
’mon, man! Tell us! When do we get to meet him!?” 

Axel
sat at the edge of his seat, but Wade remained a picture of perfect tranquility. He may have appeared calm to everyone else, but he was a dizzy fool on the inside, still reeling from the news after Chris’ last doctor’s visit.

“Actually,
” Wade said. “It’s a girl.”

All
was silent for a brief moment before the entire studio erupted into cheers and hollers. Axel was the first out of his seat and the rest of the audience wasn’t far behind. Wade watched as complete strangers held and hugged each other while they jumped up and down.

As the audience fixated on the news, Wade
squeezed Chris’ hand for the hundredth time, knowing it would be a cold day in hell before he ever let her go.

On
May 8
th
the following year, Heretic welcomed Sara Renee Griffin as their newest member.