Backstage Read online

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Backstage

  Copyright © 2016 by Mandy Bee

  Formatting Design by Pink Ink Designs

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the written permission of the authors or publishers constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the authors’ intellectual property.

  If you would like to use the material from this book (other than for review purposes), prior written consent must be obtained from the author

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are products of the authors’ imagination and are all used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual events, locales or persons living

  or dead, are coincidental.

  WHY THE HELL am I here? Oh yeah I know why, my big brother is playing drums for ‘the greatest band ever’ Freak Street, a group I can’t stand. Chris has been playing drums for twenty five years, since he was seven. He has played in a lot of bands, but Freak Street is the biggest band to date. They are at the top of all the charts right now and are on a sold out world tour. Their drummer is now in jail for something to do with guns, don’t know why and don’t care. One of the managers knew Chris and asked if he could pack up and join the tour. Now here I am backstage, in one of the dressing rooms trying not to scream! How am I going to get through six months of this crap?

  I’m very proud of Chris, he has worked really hard to get here, and that wasn’t always easy with having me as a tag along. Our parents died ten years ago, I was seven and Chris was twenty two. I was a surprise package for my parents. Both of them were almost forty when mom found out she was pregnant with me. I remember Chris telling me about how excited he was when mom told him about her being pregnant. He helped paint my room and volunteered to baby sit whenever they needed him. He has always been the ideal old brother.

  When our parents died he was granted guardianship of me. He has been trying to raise me but I basically just follow him from gig to gig. When he gets a new job they know up front that I go wherever he does, and this has been hard on him too. A few bands turned him down because of me. He has done his best with trying to raise me and even home schooled me until I took the early graduation test a few months ago. I passed with an almost perfect score. I could be in college right now if I wanted to go but I don’t want to leave Chris, I couldn’t stand to be that far away from him.

  “Flower!” I hear Chris yell from down the hall. That’s my name Flower Rose Marshall.

  “I’m right here, where you left me!” I yell back. I’m so glad the show is over. I want to get on that bus and sleep.

  “Hey, we have to go to a party that is being thrown by whoever paid for tonight’s show. You are going but you are not drinking, and I better be able to see you at all times.” He barks at me as he walks in the room.

  “Can’t I just go to the bus? These dumb after parties are nothing but drunken women trying to get with anyone in the band.” I know Chris has done a few girls in the past, while he was touring with another group, I don’t think he knows that I am aware of this.

  “I’m sorry but no, I need you at the party with me.” He walks over and sits beside me on the couch. “I know it is hard on you being out on the road with me, but this is my first show with them and I need to be comfortable with everyone before I let you go anywhere alone. Plus we are going to be with them for six months, so please try to be nice. Who knows you may end up liking some of them, they aren’t as bad as you have made them out to be.” He grabs some clothes and goes to take a shower. This arena not only has enough dressing rooms for each guy to have his own they also have a full bathroom connected to each room. Well at least I won’t have to smell what I call ‘band sweat’ tonight. If he thinks I’m changing out of my jeans and Duke University hoodie then he is wrong. I’m not dressing up for these losers.

  “Where is the party?” I yell at the door once I hear the water stop.

  “In one of the suites across the street.” He yells back. I roll my eyes. The hotel he is talking about is the type of hotel only the mega rich stay at.

  “Fine, but you know I’m just going to sit there with my earbuds in the whole time.” I bring my knees up to my chest and hug my legs closer to me. I hate going to parties, I hate trying to talk to people, I would rather just be alone. I guess you could call me a loner. I have only one friend and that’s Chris. We move around too much for me to make any real friends so I just keep to myself. And my health doesn’t make it any easier for me to make friends.

  I was born with bad lungs, I get chest colds all the time. It was only last year that the doctors finally found out what was wrong. I have chronic bronchitis and cough variant asthma, two diseases that fight against my lungs, right now my lungs are losing. The doctors give me cough syrup, pain pills, and breathing treatments. This is another reason Chris is protective of me, we have no other family but each other. So with me being sick and only seventeen he worries about how touring hurts me. I try to make it easier on him, I take my meds with the help of alarms on my phone. I rest when I can, and if I get sick I tell him right away so we can make a plan of what to do.

  “Flower, I need you to try and make a few friends.” He says coming out of the bathroom still towel drying his hair. He has changed but you wouldn’t know it. Jeans and t-shirts are all he ever wears, on stage and off.

  “I don’t like talking to people.” I pout.

  “I know that. Want me to find a few girls that work on the tour that you may like?” He kneels down in front of me.

  “No, they will only be nice to me because they think it will get you to sleep with them.” I’m being a baby but I don’t want to make any friends right now.

  “Flower Rose Marshall stop acting like a brat! Now get up we have to go.” He holds his hand out for me, I take it but I’m not happy about it. I grab my iPod and earbuds as we walk out. This will not be a fun night!

  The hotel and the arena are connected by a skyline walkway. There are people everywhere taking pictures, a few reporters try asking Chris some questions but we have both been told not to answer them. It only takes about ten minutes to get to the party. There are already at least two hundred people here, I groan on the inside but because there are people taking pictures of us I try to smile for Chris.

  After working our way through most of the fans, I grab a bottled water and spot a small couch on the back wall. It’s one of the few spots in the room that is free. Everyone wants to be in the middle of the room where the band is. Yeah, everyone but me. I pull on Chris’s arm and lean up to tell him where I am going, he rolls his eyes and says fine but to yell if I need him. I give him a quick kiss on the cheek and head over to hideout.

  Once I get settled on the couch in the corner on the back wall I put in my earbuds and start to listen to the type of music I like. Freak Street is mostly high energy pop rock, not me at all. I love country music, not the bluegrass stuff but the newer country music. Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Love and Theft, Florida Georgia Line, Hunter Hayes, and Jason Michael Carroll are some of my favorites. I hit shuffle on a playlist that is titled ‘block out’ it’s my go to play list at times like this. I lay back on the couch and stretch my legs out so no one can sit with me, I just stare at the ceiling, and let the music take me away.

  A litt
le while later I look down at the end of the couch and the lead singer, Justin Crow, is standing there watching me! Justin is a mystery to me, he is only nineteen years old but everyone bows down to him. His brother, John, the bass player, is the only one who doesn’t kiss his ass. I pull out one of my earbuds but I don’t turn off my music.

  “Can I help you?” I ask as nicely as I can.

  “Why are you over here, when everyone else is over there?” He points to the crowd that doesn’t look as big as before. Guess the party is dying down.

  “I could ask you the same question.” I snap back then take a deep breath and try to remember that my brother is playing in his band, and I don’t need him firing Chris over me.

  “I’m over here trying to find out why you’re over here.” He smirks at me.

  “Justin I’m just trying to listen to my music, okay?” I lay my head back down on the arm rest hoping he will leave. To my surprise he sits down on the floor, beside the couch, right in front of me!

  “What are you listening to?” He asks. Why does he care? I want to say ‘not your group’ but I know better.

  “Right now Eric Church ‘Homeboy’” I love this song, worded two ways but with one meaningful message.

  “Can I listen with you?” This catches me off guard. He wants to listen to music with me? This party is for his band, shouldn’t he be part of it?

  “Don’t you have to be part of the party?” I ask hitting pause and rolling on to my side so I can look at him.

  “No, I’ve done all I can tonight. Almost everyone is drunk now, so I’m just waiting for the buses to pick us up.”

  “You don’t drink?” I don’t know why I’m talking to him.

  “I’m nineteen, not old enough yet.” He smiles. Okay he has a nice smile.

  “I doubt they would stop you from drinking, you are the star after all.” I let out a soft laugh.

  “My mom would kill anyone who let me drink, she can be very scary.” He laughs and shakes his head “But it’s not my thing anyways. I mean look at Dave, he is plastered. What good does that do? To get so drunk that you won’t remember anything? And the girls are just as bad, the drunker they get the more they try to strip for you, or try to sleep with you. I don’t have sex with fans or groupies.” This look comes over his face like he is remembering something painful, then he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

  “Is Chris drunk?” I ask him, he better not be! Chris has never been a big drinker but if he gets too many in him he turns into a jerk, a jerk that I don’t want to deal with tonight.

  “No, Chris is helping a few of the body guards get some of the girls into cabs. I like him, he is a great drummer. I got to spend some time with him today, I like to know the people I play with. And the first thing I found out about Chris is that he loves his baby sister.” Justin smiles at me.

  “I’m scared to even ask what he told you about me.” I say while yawning, I’m so tired I just want to go to sleep.

  “Flower!” Chris yells walking into the room. I sit up grinning, will he ever just look for me before yelling?

  “Over here Chris!” I yell back. Justin gets up off the floor and sits down beside me on the couch. I’m not sure I like this, well I don’t think I like it.

  “Hey Justin.” Chris says as he walks up to us. “Ready to go to the buses Flower?” He asks looking back and forth at Justin and me.

  “Yes, please!” I groan as I jump up.

  “It was nice talking to you Flower, hope we can listen to music together one day.” Justin says then winks at me and walks away.

  I am very grateful Chris didn’t do twenty questions with me about Justin, because I’m at a loss with what happened myself. I know for a fact he is someone I don’t need to get mixed up with. Justin doesn’t have a bad past or anything, but you never want to get too close with any of the band members. I found this out fast. One of the road tours I went on with Chris when I was eight or nine, the keyboard player was a woman named Kelly. She was so cool, she would play with me when Chris needed to do something. I thought we had become great friends, that was until I heard her telling the lead singer that she only liked me because she wanted to sleep with Chris. I wanted to cry, but I didn’t. I never got that close to anyone he worked with ever again.

  I know that no gig can last forever, so why put myself though the pain of losing someone who never really cared about me? But Justin is still a mystery to me, there is something about him that warns me off, yet there is something about him that draws me in. Like tonight when he asked to listen to my music, it wasn’t something I was expecting him to say or ask. He plays a bad boy heartbreaker for his fans, but is that really him?

  “

  HEY, YOU OKAY?” Chris asks me as we walk on to the bus. We were lucky with this tour, we both get a bunk. A few of the tours I was told I would have to sleep on the sofa, which I never did because Chris wouldn’t let me. He always gave me the bunk and he took the sofa. But this group only has five band members touring, and six bunks. The touring manager gave me a book and told me to pick out what I wanted for my bunk, this was new to me too. I had everything done in purple - sheets, pillows, and a really thick comforter. There is a built in TV with DVD player, and an over head light.

  “I’m fine, I just need some sleep.” I yawn and open the curtain to my bunk. There is a package there, I look up at Chris and he looks as puzzled as I do. Picking it up I see there is a little card on the back.

  Flower,

  Welcome to our band.

  Freak Street.

  I ripe off the paper and gasp! It’s a Kindle e-reader! I have always wanted one. Oh my God! It’s the newest one too, this thing can hold like a thousand books.

  “Did you do this?” I flip around and ask Chris. He is getting his bunk ready for bed, his is right across from mine, we are both on the bottom.

  “No, I swear I didn’t even know about it. I heard Dave say they were going to get you something but I didn’t know it would be a Kindle.” He is smiling but I think he is telling the truth. I hug him really hard then go to change for bed.

  I’m lying in bed when I hear the other guys get on the bus, my curtain is drawn but my light is still on. I just got done setting up my Kindle and I’m reading my first book. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, one of the greatest books in the world. Chris is sound asleep, he was worn out, always is after a show. I hear the TV turn on, great can’t they just go to bed?

  “Justin aren’t you going to sleep?” I think its John asking him.

  “Yeah, but I want to watch some TV first. You guys go head, I’ll keep it down.” I can’t tell what he is watching, the volume is low, but not low enough to where I can’t hear the noise. The other three guys get into their bunks, two are bad snorers and they are asleep before their heads hit the pillows. I roll my eyes at this and try to get back to my book. Then I hear a knock beside my bunk.

  “Chris?” I whisper.

  “No its Justin, you awake?” What does he want?

  “Um yeah” I open my curtain just a hair “I’m reading.” I smile showing him the Kindle.

  “So you like it?” His eyes are shinning, like his smile is.

  “You got me this?” I ask trying not to sound as shocked as I am.

  “Well, kind of, I told the guys we needed to get you something to make you feel welcomed. I know it will be hard being the only girl on the bus. Us guys can get really gross, let me warn you.” He softly laughs. “So I asked my mom what would be a good gift. She picked it out, and gave it to me to give to you.”

  “I don’t know what to say. Thank you. I love it.” We are whispering but I’m keeping an eye on Chris’s curtain, I don’t know how he would react to Justin talking to me at my bunk at this hour of the night.

  “I’m glad, well I’m going to be watching some TV upfront if you want to join me. If not I’ll try to keep to the volume low so you can read.” He gets up and walks back to the front of the bus. I lay there for a minute, I don’t know why but
I want to go up there with him. I pull on my hoodie that I keep with me incase I need to get up in the middle of the night. I flip off my light and look over at Chris’s bunk, no movement so I should be okay. I take a deep breath and climb out of bed.

  When I get to the front of the bus I want to die laughing, he is watching The Golden Girls! I slide into the booth and rest my head in my hands. He is watching me from the sofa that is across from me. I smirk at him and look back at the TV. When it cuts to commercial I look back over at him, he is still watching me.

  “I would have never dreamed you to be a Golden Girl’s fan.” I say trying to whisper.

  “My grandmother loved the show, it’s all we would watch when we would stay with her.” I hate how he is watching me, it makes me want to run back to my bunk, but I don’t. “Are you a fan?”

  “Oh yes, growing up like I did old reruns become your best friends. The Golden Girls, The Nanny, Home Improvement, MASH, and Friends are some of my favorites.” I reach over and take a banana from the counter top and start peeling it.

  “Do you have a home?” He asks walking over and sitting across from me in the booth.

  “Well that’s an odd question, but yes I have a home. We have a house in Sacramento, that’s where we are from. After our parents died the house went to Chris, we stay there between tours.” Our house is nothing fancy, but it’s our home.

  “Why do you come on tour with Chris? Is there no one that you can stay with, family or friends?” He doesn’t want me here, that’s what this is. My heart sinks, he is trying to get rid of me!

  “Chris is the only family I have, and I don’t have friends because I like being alone. I’m not old enough to stay at home by myself while he is touring. Sorry Justin but you’re suck with me.” I grunt and head back to my bunk. I get in, shut the curtain and pray that I can survive six months without killing someone.

  When I wake up we aren’t moving so I guess we are at the next stop on the tour. I don’t care what city we are in, never have on the other tours. I never get to go site seeing or go shopping, not that I like to shop but still. I go from the bus to the arena, and maybe a fast food place, but that’s it. So why should I care what city we’re in, I’m never going to see it. I lay in bed for a minute thinking about what happened last night with Justin, both times. The first time he was nice, almost sweet. Then he was questioning why I was here, like if he could find a reason for me to leave and go somewhere else he would. Chris would never let that happen but I have to play nice, I can’t let my anger hurt Chris’s job.