Free The Loneliest Tour by Karolyn James Page A

through a couple new
songs, trying to piece together verses, breaks, bridges, and solos. They had
another song basically all wrapped up, minus Colby who didn ’ t have any lyrics yet.
    The photographer showed up on time
and had the band take their shirts off. They then started to play again and the
photographer wandered around, snapping plenty of pictures. It amazed Jett that
this guy was probably taking a hundred pictures and his job would be to pick
just one. One picture to spread online.
    The only good part of the
photographer was when he left. Because that meant it was time to head over to the
Crutch Fail practice.
    The guys put up a fight, but Jett
didn ’ t give a shit.
    He wanted … no.
    He needed to see Masie. Because
of this woman, he had given up a night of wild sex with a
different woman. He had to find out why he did that.
     
    **
     
    Masie bent her knees and let out a
breath. She reached for her water and a foot swung and kicked the water off the
stage. She looked up and saw Colin standing there.
    “ Whoops, ” he said.
    “ Really? ”
    “ You
thirsty? Come give me a kiss. ”
    “ Screw
you. ”
    Colin grabbed between his legs. “ Let ’ s go. I ’ ll
call practice right now. You and me. Sneak in the back. I ’ ll get you up an on amp and then
we ’ ll make it really rock. ”
    Masie felt like she could throw up.
    She thought about everything she
could respond with, but she sucked it in. She held the comments to herself. She
needed the job. The job technically gave her experience. She could use it then
to springboard herself to something else. When it ended with Crutch Fail she
could then tell everyone she toured as a dancer. Not just with Crutch Fail but
the tour included Willow Son.
    Masie climbed from the end of the
stage and grabbed her water bottle.
    “ Hey,
we need to run through that chorus again, ” Colin said in the mic. The sound up here sounds like shit, too. Can we fix
that? I mean, can we actually sound like a band? ”
    Masie grinned and sipped her water.
    Sound like a band? Get a real
band.
    “ Let ’ s run through it again without
the dancers, ” one of the
sound guys said.
    Crutch Fail ’ s manager was a short, round guy named Lenny. He
had an obvious combover and his cheeks were always red. He always ran back and
forth, a phone to his ear, hand waving in the air. He was always pissed off and
he obviously hated dealing with Crutch Fail. This was just a job and a paycheck
for Lenny.
    He walked by the front of the stage
and pointed to Jack. “ Play
the fucking song again! The entire song. Let ’ s
get the fucking sound right. ”
    He walked to the seats on the floor
and plopped down. He shook his head and looked at his phone. He rubbed his
forehead, looking ready to throw the phone on the ground and quit.
    I know the feeling.
    Masie finished some water and then
heard Stan smack the drumsticks together. Crutch Fail started to play again.
The song sounded exactly the same as before. It was a long four minutes to sit
through. Colin sang, pointed, and shouted orders into the mic. The sound guys
played with the guitars, bass, and drums. By the end of the song, the sound
seemed to be what everyone agreed upon.
    They finished and Colin gave a
thumbs up.
    “ Great, ” Colin said. “ Now get the women back up here.
One more song. ”
    Masie climbed the stage and Colin
called out the song.
    At least this one Masie wouldn ’ t feel like a dog humping
someone ’ s leg.
    The four dancers met at the middle
of the stage, all their backs together.
    Right before the song was about to
begin, the backdoor to the practice stage opened. Masie did a double take when
she saw Willow Son walking in.
    “ Look
at these guests, ” Colin
said into the mic. “ We
better make this count. ”
    And with that, the song began.
    Masie moved across the stage,
knowing all her moves. Her eyes, however, kept going to the back of the room.
She couldn ’ t fully see Jett,
but he was right there. Sitting there,