Her band never knew. She was the ultimate professional.
“Holy fuck,” Braden exclaimed beside me. “She’s gotten better. She smokes me. She was good the other day at Rowdy’s, but tonight.” He whistled under his breath. “Man.”
Memories of when she came to me and asked for my guitar flooded me. She had needed to play music to earn money. I had gone with her, and it was one of the best memories I had. She never had a set memorized. She went with the flow and made up new songs. She was talented. People stopped to listen to her. I sat next to her, and sometimes I sang with her if I knew where she was going with the chords. Her voice was hypnotic. She pulled on them, and she was doing it now with her drums.
“It’s Sustain!”
Another person added, “It is! Holy—Sustain!”
“Luke Skeet?”
“Whoa, it is them.”
More and more people started to spot us. The ones closest to the stage turned around and began to move toward us. People began pressing into each other. We were going to get overrun, but Gunn came up behind us. He reached around both of us and began walking forward, herding us out of there.
Gunn grunted into our ears. “People are swarming from outside. There was a big rush from the kitchen to the living room.”
“Sustain is in my house?” A guy was dumbfounded beside us, scratching his head with one hand and holding a beer in the other. “How cool is that?! I’m awesome!”
Braden looked around us. Worry lines appeared on his forehead, and his shoulders lifted, straining. “We have to get out of here. We’re going to get crushed.”
“Luke! Oh, my gosh. It’s you. I want to meet you.”
People grabbed for me. Someone reached for my hand as others went for my shirt. When I felt it rip, someone shrieked, and then there were hands touching my skin. Someone reached for my jeans. I felt one of the back pockets starting to rip off.
Enough of this shit. I pushed forward, growling, “Let’s get out of here.”
Suddenly, four large guys moved around us. Two went in front and began shoving people out of the way. Gunn brought up the back, and the other two were at our sides. They held people back as well, and slowly we were able to able to move out of the room in that formation.
One of the guys in the front called over his shoulder, “The front door’s blocked. Too many people. We can go out another way.”
They moved into the dining room and down a back hallway. As we walked into a bedroom, I caught sight of a couple making out on the bed, and they jerked upright at our appearance. “Hey!” The girl’s protest died as she saw us. Her mouth fell open in the next second.
“Whoa! You’re Luke Skeet.” She pointed at me.
My head lowered.
There was a door attached to the bedroom that led outside. One of the guys opened it and gestured. “Follow me. This is my buddy’s house. We can sneak you out and around the crowd.”
Braden said, “We’re parked out front.”
“Braden!”
We looked over. Brielle was running for us. An idea came to me, and I held my hand out to Braden. “Your keys.”
He handed them over, and I tossed them to Brielle as she got to us. “Drive his car down the road.”
She nodded and caught the keys. Without breaking stride, she ran right past us and around to the front of the house.
One of the guys frowned at her. “Wasn’t that the drummer from inside?”
A girl jogged around the side of the house, stopped, and pointed at us. She yelled to the crowd, “They’re over here!”
He added, “You guys are too big to be here.”
His buddy agreed. “No, shit. Let’s go.”
They led the way into a wooded area behind the house. As we got farther away from the house, we could see more and more headlights heading toward it. One of our guides commented, “Word’s out. I just got eight tweets that you’re at Fuller’s party.”
The first one cursed again, “The cops are going to get called. You better text the other guys so they scram. We can’t get in trouble with Coach.”
Braden’s phone buzzed, and he asked at the same time he glanced at his screen, “Coach? You guys on a team or something?”
Their leader nodded, grabbing a branch and moving it up so we could pass by. “Yeah, we’re on the football team for the university here.”
“Really?” Braden was impressed. His phone buzzed again, and he looked at me. “Bri said she’s on a road up ahead.”
The fourth member, who hadn’t said a word yet, asked now, “How do you guys know the drummer?”
Braden was texting her back as he muttered, “Uh, she’s my sister, why?”
“She single?”
The first two guys laughed at their buddy. The third was watching me, but I kept my mouth shut. I had no claim.
Braden glanced at me, but answered with caution, “Uh…I don’t know. She doesn’t talk to me about that stuff.”
“She’s hot.”
“Good rack,” the first one added, winking at his friend.
Gunn stepped onto a heavy stick and broke it in one snap. The power of his leg caught their attention, and they quieted for a moment. He said in that silence, “You’re not her type.”
“Are you her type?”
The fourth football player wasn’t as tall as Gunn or as solidly built, but he flexed his hands as if ready for battle. An amused glint appeared in Gunn’s gaze. He replied, “Like I said, you’re not her type.”
The third player spoke up now, “Carson didn’t mean anything by it. He’s a man-whore. We keep hoping he’ll get help, but nothing seems to fix stupid.”
“Hey.”
He threw back, “Chill out, man. These guys are Sustain. They can send one tweet out, and someone would vandalize your parents’ house. People are nuts.”
Braden laughed. “Not that we condone that behavior.”
I’d been tense from watching Bri on stage, and it hadn’t lessened as we ran through the woods. If there was another remark about her, I was ready to swing. I didn’t care how big they were.
Gunn had been watching me. He moved close and said under his breath, “If it happens, I’ll do it.”