Fully Automatic (Bullet) (20 page)

“I suppose Ethan’s place is fine.  I like his mom.”

Brad wasn’t going to let Val know June wasn’t going to be there.  She’d find out herself, and if that made her change the mind and decide to stay with Brad, well, then so be it.  He wouldn’t be upset in the least.

It turned out they all stayed there.  It was pretty late when they arrived, and Ethan flat out said he wasn’t in the mood to rehearse.  Besides, he said, Nick told him he was busy but that he’d be free Saturday morning.  So Ethan set several bottles of booze, a six-pack of beer, and tortilla chips and salsa on the coffee table and told everyone to
drink up.  They watched a movie, and Val fell asleep.

Brad had been sitting next to her on the couch.  Her head was resting against the back of the couch, her mouth slightly open, and she breathed rhythmically.  Aw.  The poor girl was tired.  He wanted to pull her head down to his shoulder but knew that would probably wake her up instead of help her sleep.  Instead, Brad nudged Ethan’s boot with his foot.  Ethan looked over at him.  “Why the fuck you playin’ footsie with me, man?”

“You got a sheet and pillow for the girl?”

Brad was glad Ethan didn’t give him a smart ass answer.  Instead, he got up and walked upstairs.  He brought back a pillow and sheet, just as Brad had requested.  Brad got up off the couch.  Val’s shoes were little slide-on sandals, so he pulled them off her feet without disturbing her.  Then he put the pillow on the end of the couch nearest her head and eased her torso down until her head rested on the pillow. 
Next, he lifted her feet up onto the couch and covered her with the sheet.  Then he sat on the floor, resting his back against the couch.  Zane was already on the floor, a couch pillow under his head, and he occasionally sat up slightly so he could take a drink of the beer in his hand.

At some point, Zane fell asleep and Ethan said he was going to
his bedroom to crash.  Brad moved to the chair.  It was uncomfortable, but he didn’t want to sleep on the floor like Zane was.  He could have easily gone home—it was ten minutes away—but he wanted to be near Valerie, and he didn’t give a shit how crappy his rest would be.  He didn’t think it would affect his performance the following night.

He hadn’t realized just how tired he was, and he actually slept okay.  He woke up once to find his arm asleep, so he adjusted position and fell back into a peaceful slumber.
  And then he slept like a baby, his dreams filled with visions of Val.

Chapter Twenty-three

BRAD AWOKE THE next morning to the sounds of two women chattering on and on about home decorating.  It was insipid and obnoxious, and it wasn’t long before he figured out it was the television.  But he was tired, so he tried drifting back to sleep.

It wasn’t happening, though, no matter how much he wanted to.  After five minutes of listening to the two stupid women, he couldn’t stand it anymore.  He kept his eyes closed but spoke in a falsetto voice, trying to sound as giggly and irritating as the overly cheery women on the television did.  “Oh, my God!  Doesn’t this lamp have so much potential?”
  He tried to be deadpan, but he couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face.

“I thought you were sleeping.”

He opened his eyes.  He couldn’t remove the sarcasm from his voice, but it didn’t matter.  She knew he was full of shit anyway.  “Who can sleep through this riveting programming?”

She started giggling
.  “What else was I supposed to do while you guys were getting your beauty rest?”

He sat up, stretching
his neck.  It was stiff from how he’d slept the night before.  “You trying to tell me this is the only shit you could find?”

She stood and placed the remote in his hand. 
“I just wanted something to do while I waited for you guys.  I want to practice.”

He
paused a moment.  “Val, you’ll be fine.  We’ll have a goddamn blast and make a little cash while we’re at it.  It’s cool.”

She smiled and he could see in her eyes that she believed him
.  “When can we start?”

Brad stood and walked over to Zane, his body splayed on the floor.
“First, we gotta get these lazy motherfuckers up.”  He nudged his friend with the tip of his boot.  “Hey, man…we got a vocalist here itching to try us out.”

Zane
muttered and stirred while Brad walked across the room to the bottom of the stairs.  He hollered.  “Ethan!  Get your ass out of bed!”

“I’m up.”

“Hurry up.  Val’s chomping at the bit here.”

“
Gimme five minutes to shower.”

Brad
made his way back to the living room and refrained from winking at Val.  “Did you hear all that?”  When she nodded, he asked, “Feel better?”

She smiled and nodded and he could see the stress in her eyebrows, but she was trying to be brave.  “Once Ethan’s done making himself pretty, we’ll get the hell out of here and go to my place.  We can have a bite of breakfast and we can shower too.
  Shit.  Zane!”

Zane stirred again.  “Yeah?”

“You still gotta pack and get your bass, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Why don’t you have Ethan take you and that way Val and I can head to my place?  I’ll make some breakfast.”

“Like what?”

“Biscuits and gravy sound okay?”

Zane sat up.  “Yeah.  That’ll work.”  He yawned.  “You gonna get Nick too?”

“Yeah, I can.”  He looked at Val.  “Let’s go.  See you guys in a bit.”  He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and pulled up Nick’s number.

“Want us to bring the booze too?”

Brad chuckled.  “You still have some?”

“No fuckin’ idea.  We can always get more.”

Brad looked at Val.  “Got your luggage?”

“Oh, yeah.”  She’d been following him to the door but then turned back around.  Her luggage was on the side of the sofa near the wall
, and she picked it and her purse up and walked toward him.  He’d pressed his phone so it was dialing Nick’s number.

Nick picked it up after several rings, sounding groggy.  “Dude, we’re gonna be practicing in the next hour and then we’ll be leaving sometime this afternoon.  When can you be to my place?”

One thing Brad would say—Nick partied hard.  The guy partied his ass off, harder than anyone he knew.  Unlike Ethan, however, Nick maintained focus.  When it came to the band and band matters, most of the time, Nick was all business.  Once or twice, he had dropped the ball, but it just didn’t happen that often.  Overall, Nick was a pretty steady guy, and Brad appreciated it.  So when Nick said, “I’ll be there in less than an hour,” Brad knew he meant it.

“Don’t forget your stuff for the road, ‘cause when we’re done rehearsing, we’ll be
heading out.”

“Consider it done.  See ya.”

Brad held the door for Valerie as she stepped out.  Zane said, “See you soon.  Better be the best goddamn biscuits and gravy I’ve ever had.”

Brad smiled.  “I can pour vodka into the gravy if that’ll help.”  He closed the door but before it closed, he heard Zane coughing, and he figured it was because the idea of liquor in gravy sounded disgusting.  Good.  His biscuits and gravy might not be the best, but it would be a solid, hot meal to counter all the alcohol in his friend’s gut, and that was all Zane should have been worrying about.

Once they got to Brad’s house, he asked if Val wanted to shower, and then she told him she already had.  So she asked if he wanted her to do something while he took his shower.  Oh, he had lots of ideas, but the poor young woman was so nervous, he didn’t know if hitting on her as hard as he’d wanted would calm her down or wind her up more.  He asked if she could cook the sausage, and she said she could.  So while he showered and packed an overnight bag, Val worked in the kitchen downstairs.  By the time he joined her, the sausage was done, so he turned the heat off.  He grabbed some cans of biscuits out of the fridge while the oven preheated and they talked for a while.  He was making the gravy as the biscuits finished baking when Nick showed up.  It wasn’t five minutes later that Ethan and Zane arrived, and they all ate like horses.

All except Valerie.

Brad asked why she wasn’t eating.  “I’m too keyed up to eat.  I’d just throw it all up.”

“Why don’t you try?”

“No, I really can’t.  Water’s all I can handle right now.”

Brad worried.  She’d need to eat something or she’d have no energy, not under the hot lights.  Her nerves alone would burn up what reserves she’d have.  “Come on, Val.  Just a little something.”

She took a deep breath.  “I’ll eat later…maybe after we rehearse.”

He started to nod.  Then he said, “Do you maybe want something different to eat?”

“No, thanks, though.”

Damn.  He hoped the guys would hurry.  They were having fun, though, and they were used to performing.  They all still got anxious too, but it was old hat now.  They’d done it enough that it wasn’t scary.  He remembered that feeling, though.  He’d never forget it.  It was intense.
  He said, “Guys, let’s hurry, okay?  Val’s wanting to try us out.”

Instead of giving her grief or making her feel bad about it, they nodded and focused on eating.  Apparently, Brad wasn’t the only one who remembered the first show.  Unlike the guys, however, Val hadn’t even had the pleasure of extended practices.  It was going to
all
be new.  He was glad the guys seemed to appreciate that, because they were respectful…and quick.  Val got up and cleaned the skillet, pan, and spatulas while the guys finished up their food.  They all loaded their dishes in the dishwasher and then headed out to the garage to play.

The first couple of songs were shaky.  The music was okay, but Val was feeling lost.  Brad approached her.  “Relax.  You got this.”  She nodded and gulped, and he knew she wasn’t feeling it.  She was starting to worry.

Another problem, though, was that Ethan and Nick were in some kind of pissing contest.  Ethan started it by saying something snotty to Nick, and Nick was bristling and glaring.  It was continuing through the music, but because Brad hadn’t heard any of the words the guys had initially exchanged, he couldn’t stop it.  He couldn’t prevent it from escalating because he didn’t know what had started it.  Well, he could, but then they’d probably be pissed at him.  He hoped they’d both chill out and just focus on the music.

After about an hour of the muted undertones of irritation, Ethan hit a sharp note, getting everyone’s attention.  Then he turned around and yelled.  “Goddammit.  What the fuck are you doing, Nick?”

Brad saw what their arguing was doing to Val.  It was taking her nervousness and turning it into full-blown worry.  The guys would work through it, but Val was going to freeze up if they didn’t reassure her—that and she was going to wear herself out for a simple rehearsal.  So he walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.  “You’re doing a great job, Val, but don’t sing at top capacity.  You need to save your voice for tonight.  No need to impress us.  Just do what you gotta do to feel comfortable, and drink lots of water.”  She nodded, picking her water bottle up off the floor and downing a few gulps.

Then Brad turned to Ethan and Nick.  Ethan stood at the drum kit, close enough that he could grab Nick by the collar if he’d wanted to.  “You’re fucking up the song, Nick.”

Brad turned and said, “Shut the fuck up, guys.  Work through it.  Val wants to go through the set twice, and we’re never gonna get it done if you keep this shit up.”  Ethan wasn’t budging, though.  He was over at the drum kit hovering, and Nick was standing too, puffing out his chest.  Nick might have been a quiet guy, but he wasn’t backing down from Ethan’s challenge.

Neither guy was backing down.  Both wanted to save face.  Ethan was a hothead and he got himself into trouble with his mouth all the time.  It was something Brad was used to.  Hell, he knew the guys were used to it too, but Ethan was pushing Nick’s buttons.
  It was typical Ethan, but the good news was his friend was sober right now, so even though he was being ruled by testosterone, he wasn’t being fueled by senseless chemicals.  He might listen to reason.  So Brad walked over to Ethan and put his hand on his friend’s shoulder while looking him in the eye.  Ethan continued staring at Nick for a few moments before backing up.  He didn’t look at Brad—wouldn’t, in fact, but he was backing down, and that was all Brad wanted.  If the guy needed to make a huge display so as to not look weak, so be it.  As long as they didn’t go to blows, he didn’t care how it resolved itself.

Still…Val was beside herself, and their antics weren’t helping.  As Ethan backed away, Brad said,
“This practice isn’t for you guys.  It’s for Val.  Let’s give her what she needs.”

Brad had to give Ethan credit.  For the remainder of the set, he kept his mouth shut.  Brad could tell he was getting pissed at what he perceived Nick was doing with the percussion
.  He couldn’t hear anything different, but he knew once in a while Nick liked to try new things, and he was okay with it.  That was how they would evolve, and Nick was a damn good drummer.  The guy had unbelievable stamina and, as far as rhythm went, he was creative and liked to try different techniques to see if they’d make a song better.

When they were done going through the set once, Brad could tell his entire band was frustrated as hell.  Tensions were high.  Val looked like she was ready to cry.  Brad could see it written all over her face—she was regretting joining the band and was feeling overwhelming doubt.
  “Break time.”

Zane said, “Didn’t you want to go through this once or twice?”

“First off, we hardly ate any breakfast.  I’m starving.  And Val needs to eat something.  But we need some time to relax.  If you all want to go do your own thing, I’m cool with that, but we need to focus, and we need to get our heads on straight.  When we come back here, we need to be ready to work together.  If we can’t do it here, how can we do it tonight?”  Everyone seemed to mutter a general consensus.  “If we want to go to lunch together, I’ll buy.”

The guys agreed
, and Ethan even stuck out his hand to Nick.  Nick shook and Brad breathed a sigh of relief inside.  He knew it was normal, but they didn’t need to be doing their primal shit during Val’s first rehearsal.  They needed to wait until she’d settled in a little bit.  But they must have worked it all out, because they all enjoyed lunch and had fun together, laughing and joking as though nothing had happened earlier in the morning.

Val even ate a small salad.  Brad wasn’t going to pressure her.  He was just glad she’d eaten
something
.  And when they returned to rehearse the second time, it was much better.  Ethan had taken something and so he wasn’t as edgy.  Brad didn’t think that was a good way to do it, but he was glad his friend wasn’t as aggressive.  He could see relief in Val’s eyes after they finished the set.  He didn’t care how the guys felt—if she needed another run through the set one more time, they were gonna do it, no matter what personal pain the guys felt because of it.

He approached her, wanting to know.  “How do you feel now?”

She smiled.  “Much better.”

“Good to go?”

She nodded.  “Yeah, I think so,”

Brad raised his voice.  “Okay, guys, let’s break for ten minutes.  Have a quick drink.  Ethan, if you need to smoke, now’s the time to do it.  In five, we’ll start packing everything up.”  In the meantime, Brad went outside to hook the trailer up to the van. 
He was glad that they continued getting along as they loaded up their equipment, gear, and personal stuff.

Before they left, Brad asked Val, “Are you wanting to wear that for the concert?”