Under the Lights (A Brothers of Rock - GONE BY AUTUMN - Novel) (7 page)

But that was a problem.

His only focus needed to be on the
next riff, the next solo, the next show, and the next woman who understood how
it worked. Get into bed and then get out. He knew he wasn't capable of having
that with Jules. It wouldn't end well.

Tanner grabbed a beer and Blake was
right on his tail.

“
Bro,
what
’
s wrong?
”
Blake asked.
“
You look a little off. Something
happen?
”

“
Just
some crazy fans,
”
Tanner
said.
“
Had to go up to the
roof to escape. I
’
m not
used to that yet.
”

“
I
say bring them on!
”
Blake
said.
“
Especially the
women.
”

“
Yeah,
right,
”
Tanner said.

“
I
didn
’
t say anything to
anyone, but there was a guy lingering around looking for you. Looked like a
sleazy dude.
”

“
What
was his name?
”
Tanner
asked.

“
He
didn
’
t say. Looked like he
was looking for a story or something. I told him you left already. He said you
’
d know who he is.
”

Tanner knew exactly who it was.

Goddamn Richie.

"Well he isn't getting
anything out of me,
”
Tanner
said.
“
He probably wants to
talk about Ryan or something."

“
Shit,
”
Blake said.
“
That would piss him off.
”

“
Yeah,
it would. After everything that
’
s
happened. It
’
s been quiet
lately and it would suck for a reporter to stir up the same drama again."

“
Yeah,
especially when we are getting ready for big things.
”

“
I
’
ll take care of it,
”
Tanner said.
“
Let
’
s enjoy the rest of the night.
”

“
Get
this man a shot!
”
Blake
announced and threw his arm around Tanner
’
s
shoulder.

Tanner didn
’
t want a shot of whiskey. He didn
’
t even want a sip of beer. He
didn
’
t want to ruin the
taste of Jules
’
lips and
tongue from his mouth.

“
Not
too hard,
”
Sam said.
“
You guys have practice tomorrow.
”

“
Practice?
”
Tanner asked.

“
Yeah.
You need to finish the demo soon. But you need to practice with the backup
singers. Make whatever changes you want. You know the routine. You
’
re the rockstars, not me. I just
book the shows, you play them.
”

“
Speaking
of singers,
”
Gabe said.
“
Aren
’
t we missing one?
”

“
Jules
went home." All eyes were on Tanner, again. He looked around the room.
“
What? I saw her outside. When
the crazies were chasing me. She wanted to go home.
”

“
Did
she quit or something?
”
Asher asked.

“
Not
that I know of,
”
Tanner
said.
“
Sam?
”

“
No,
”
Sam said.
“
I talked to all three
…”

Tanner nodded and slipped back out
on the stage. The Jack was still like a big party. The house music was playing
and people were dancing. It was not like Tanner to not be in the mix. Normally
he would have been out there, drinking, finding the enjoyment to take back with
him for the night.

Just one night.

There was never two nights.

“
What
are you doing? Scouting?
”

Gabe stood next to him.

“
Yeah,
”
Tanner said.
“
Scouting.
”

“
Good.
Let
’
s make the most of the
night. Since the backup singers are off limits.
”

Tanner grinned.

Yeah, that
’
s what you all think.

(8)

Tanner opened his eyes and rubbed
his forehead. He waited for the
brick-thrown-against-my-fucking-head
feeling to attack him, but it didn
’
t.
He was just killer tired and still half asleep. His phone was beeping somewhere
in the apartment.

His bed was far more comfortable. A
good place to hide and be alone.

Tanner rolled to his right side and
pulled at the covers. A blonde, hair covering her face, was snoring next to
him. Tanner lifted the covers. She was naked.

Well, it was one of those night
s
then.

Tanner rolled out of bed. Whoever
this woman was, she should have been gone by now. And if by some dumb chance he
did invite her to sleep over, she needed to wake the hell up and leave.

Tanner grabbed his clothes from the
floor and snuck to his closet to get some fresh clothes. It was stupid to be
sneaking around his room. What Tanner feared was that if he woke the woman up (
what
the hell
is
her name?
) she would want to join him in the
shower or something. And Tanner definitely needed a shower right now. He wanted
to wash whatever they had done the night before off his body.

He made it from the bedroom to the
bathroom without a problem. Once in the shower, he let the hot water beat
against his face. As he ran his hands through his hair, he wondered if he had
been thinking about
someone else
while fooling around with the woman in
his bed.

“
Easy,
man,
”
he whispered, the
water pelting off his lips.

He had to work with Jules. Today,
in fact.

“
Oh,
shit,
”
he said.

He grabbed a bar of soap and washed
up as fast as he could. That would explain why his phone was going off. It was
probably the guys calling to see when everyone would be at practice.

Tanner killed the shower, grabbed a
towel, and scrambled to dry and get dressed. When he opened the bathroom door,
he looked left to right. Still alone. Well, not really alone, the woman was
still in the bed.

Tanner
’
s phone had a handful of missed calls from Ryan and
Sam.

He took his chances with Ryan.

As the phone rang, he walked down
the hall to the bedroom. Now he had a reason to get the woman out of his
apartment.

“
Where
are you?
”
Ryan asked.

“
Coming
soon, man. Sorry. Slept in. My phone was in the other room. Who
’
s there?
”

“
Everyone
but you and Asher. The two damn guitarists.
”

“
Jules
there? I mean, the singers. All three?
”

“
Yeah,
”
Ryan said.
“
We
’
re
all ready to work. Waiting for the rest of the band to get here.
”

“
Relax.
I
’
ll be there soon. Not
like we
’
re losing the day.
”

“
Brother,
Tanner, it
’
s almost two in
the afternoon.
”

“
Holy
hell,
”
Tanner said.
“
When did we leave The Jack?
”

“
It
closed at two. We all split up around five. Sun was probably coming up by the
time you got home and settled.
”

Tanner rubbed his forehead again.

Home and settled? Yeah, right.
That
’
s when I
was just getting started with
…

“
Just
get here when you can,
”
Ryan said.

“
Just
jumped out of the shower. I
’
m
leaving in two minutes, man.
”

“
Good.
I
’
ll try to track Asher down.
”

“
Yeah,
good luck with that.
”

Tanner ended the call and went into
his bedroom. He walked over to the bed and kicked it. The entire bed shook and
the woman moved the hair out of her face and slowly started to sit up. The
sheet fell from her body, exposing her breasts.

“
Good
morning,
”
she said.

“
Good
morning to you,
”
Tanner
said.
“
Listen, I have to go
work.
”

“
Work?
You
’
re a rockstar.
”

“
I
have to go be a rockstar.
”

“
Then
be a rockstar with me. In bed. That was fun last night
…
well, this morning.
”

“
Yeah,
great time,
”
Tanner said.
“
I have to go though. I
’
m going to trust you, okay? Grab
a shower, grab a bite, and then head out. I don
’
t
know when I
’
ll be back.
”

“
You
’
re throwing me out?
”

“
If
you want me to throw you out, I will. I
’
m
late for practice. So, again, I
’
ll
make it clear. Take a shower. Get something to eat. Then leave. Please.
”

“
Okay
then,
”
the woman said. She
slowly pulled the sheet up over her chest. She looked disappointed that her
time with Tanner was over.

“
You
know how it is,
”
Tanner
said.

It probably wasn
’
t the smartest move to leave a stranger
in his apartment alone, but Tanner wasn
’
t
in the mood to deal with it. Not with the band waiting. Not with Jules waiting.

By the time Tanner arrived at the
practice loft, Asher had crawled out of whatever hole he ended up in and was
there. He looked like hell and was finishing off the largest cup of coffee
Tanner ever saw. Sometimes he didn
’
t
know how any of them did this all the time.

But it was damn fun.

Asher put his coffee cup on the
table and Tanner spotted Jules standing with Ryan, talking. The other two
singers were reading from pieces of paper, singing without the mics turned on.

“
What
are we doing?
”
Tanner
asked.

“
Just
figuring out what parts work and don
’
t
work,
”
Ryan said.

Tanner grabbed his guitar off the
stage. He threw the strap over his shoulder and turned on his amp. He stepped
on one of the pedals in front of him. It killed the sound of the guitar and
turned on the guitar tuner. As he tuned up, he looked at Jules from the corner
of his eye.

She was looking at him.

“
Okay,
”
Ryan said.
“
I think we
’
re good on this. Try this one
slow first and then we
’
ll
run through the set list from last night.
”

“
Let
’
s do it,
”
Asher said. He grabbed his guitar, fired up the
amp, and went right into a solo.

Asher shredded up and down the neck
a few times, smiling at Tanner as he did so.

“
Oh,
shit,
”
Blake called out. He
rushed to go behind his kit and started hitting the bass drum.

Asher finished his solo and threw
his hands up. He looked around, gaining the attention of the backup singers.
Gaining
the attention of Jules.

Tanner stepped on his pedal and
brought his guitar back to life. He cracked all his knuckles and then stood
there, letting the guitar ring out until it was screeching feedback. Then he
went into his own solo. His fingers moving like perfect machines, his pick hand
hitting the strings, the sound blaring from his amp. Blake kept the rhythm on
the bass drum as Tanner continued to play. He ran down the neck, bent a deep
note that sounded haunting, and then hit the open string.

He pointed to Asher.

Asher burst out laughing and
started to solo again.

Tanner started to play a riff over
the solo.

They worked magic together, on
opposite ends of the stage. He knew exactly what scale and root notes Asher had
been running on, making it easy for Tanner to come up with a three chord riff.

They traded solos on and off for a
few more minutes until they both tried soloing at the same time. It sounded
like a screeching mess of notes.

The battle came to an end as Ryan stepped
up to the mic and said,
“
Well,
screw what we had planned then. Let
’
s
just play the set.
”

“
Hell
yeah,
”
Blake called out.

He gave a four count and the band
started to play.

Tanner turned and leaned against
his stack of speakers, his eyes all over Jules. He wasn
’
t going to look away either. Not after letting her leave
last night. It made him feel like a fool to do so, but Sam said the backup
singers were off limits
…
which,
of course, made them that much more tempting.

The entire set took an hour to
play. They figured out the best places for the singers to come in, and all
their hits came together perfectly.

“
Let
’
s write something new,
”
Tanner said.
“
All of us together. To see what
kind of chemistry we have.
”

Tanner looked at Jules as he spoke.

“
Good
call,
”
Asher said.
“
What are you thinking?
”

“
Hold
up,
”
Tanner said.

He traded his electric guitar for
his acoustic 12-string guitar.

“
What
am I playing?
”
Asher asked.

“
Stick
with the electric. Watch the rhythm on this. You should come in and out with
one note bends on the root notes of the chords. Throw on some heavy reverb.
”

“
Okay,
”
Asher said.

“
Blake,
feel like strumming a couple chords?
”
Tanner asked.

“
You
’
re taking Blake away from his
drums?
”
Ryan asked.

“
Yeah.
Do you have any lyrics?
”

“
I
don
’
t know what the song is
about. Haven
’
t heard it
yet.
”

“
You
’
ve heard it,
”
Tanner said.
“
It
’
s
an old one. Let
’
s fine tune
it up.
”

“
Wait
a second,
”
Asher said.
“
An old 12-string song? Are you
rewriting
Tragedy
?
”

“
Christ,
”
Ryan said.
“
Seriously?
”

“
Why
not?
”
Tanner asked.
“
We always said we
’
d write it the right way. Let
’
s do it now.
”

“
You
had lyrics for it,
”
Ryan
said.
“
Sing them.
”

“
No,
”
Tanner said.
“
I don
’
t
…”

“
Bullshit,
”
Blake said as he strummed an
acoustic guitar.
“
You
remember everything about this band. You could tell me the first meal we ate
after our first gig.
”

“
Hell
yeah,
”
Tanner said.
“
Cheap tacos at the place that
closed down. Remember when Asher got drunk and threw up the tacos
…
one by one
…”

“
Never
had tacos again in my life,
”
Asher said.
“
Food
poisoning.
”

“
Yeah,
right,
”
Ryan said with a
laugh.
“
If that were the
truth, you get food poisoning three times a week.
”

“
Yeah,
yeah,
”
Asher said.
“
Can we just play the damn song?
”

Ryan grabbed his mic and put it in
front of Tanner.
“
Sing. I
’
ll sit and write what you sing.
Then we
’
ll come up with
something.
”

“
You're
the lyric man, not me.
”

“
We
’
re a band, Tanner. We share
everything. You have a song? Let's hear it. Maybe someday I
’
ll write a guitar riff that
works. It
’
s not a one man
show. Don
’
t ever think
that. I know that bullshit with my old man and those magazines was intense. But
it
’
s done. Gone. Over.
”

Tanner felt a little guilty as Ryan
took a seat in front of him. Guilt was good for the song. Tanner remembered
writing the song a long time ago when he learned a truth that exposed a ton of
lies. He liked the guitar part in the song and was hoping Ryan would just
rewrite the lyrics.