Summer of Hush, page 5
It wasn’t as though he thought he’d get some sort of psychic message when he touched the guy that would let him know if this was the Guru, the man who wrote such poignant words about the band’s music, about the death of Silas’s best friend, and about the issues most dear to his heart. Okay, maybe he did hope for that. There was definitely a tingle. Yeah, a tingle. Krish, Jordan’s brother’s friend, was fucking gorgeous, with his deep sepia-toned skin and dark, curly hair. His big brown eyes were super intense, and Silas was drawn in like some poor sucker on a diet standing outside the cupcake shop. Salivating.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Krish said to him. He licked his lips, and when he smiled, deep dimples cut into his cheeks. He was about six inches taller than Silas, which wasn’t unusual. At five-foot-six, Silas was used to everyone being taller than him, and he’d worked hard to be able to compensate for his height. His big attitude and bigger voice had done wonders for his confidence.
Brains cleared his throat, and it was enough to break the magic spell. They let go of each other’s hands, but not their eye contact.
“Jake said you’re quite the gamer,” Jordan said. “We might have to battle sometime this summer.”
Silas blinked. A gamer. Huh. Not that most guys in their twenties didn’t play, but still. Jordan and Los waggled their eyebrows at each other, and Krish’s eyes went wide, as though he’d just gotten caught cheating.
“I play some. I, uh, just finished college, so I haven’t had a whole lot of time to play.”
“Can we get a badge for Jordan’s little bro tonight?” Los gave Jessica his most innocent smile.
“Yeah, please, Mom? I want to party with my little bro. He’s fucking hilarious when you get him drunk,” Jordan said.
Jessica raised an eyebrow at him. “Not if you ever call me Mom again. Ever.”
Los rested his chin on her shoulder and hugged her. “But we miss our moms.”
“I will beat you like your moms should have. I am no one’s mom, so knock it off unless you want to sleep underneath Brains.”
“No. You promised we’d keep that a storage bunk! I can’t do it, dude. I slept under him last time.” Los was pleading. No one wanted to sleep under Brains. At least once or twice a week, the dude had noxious gas that about knocked them all out of their bunks. They finally decided to give him the back lounge when that happened, so he wouldn’t kill them all. He locked himself in with the windows open and a little fan. It helped, but there was definitely seepage and residual funk.
“Then don’t mess with me,” she said with a vicious smile. Even Silas was afraid. He knew better than to fuck with Jessica.
“How about the pass, Your Majesty?”
“Now that’s better,” she answered and allowed Silas to take her hand and reverently kiss the back of it. He knew how to charm the lady. He’d even do her laundry at their next stop if it meant he could potentially spend more time with the gorgeous specimen before him. It didn’t matter to Silas if he was the Guru or not. Silas intended to find out if he was still this hot after some socializing.
“Guys, it’s time to get ready,” Brains said. “Hey, thanks for coming to my workshop,” he said, shaking Jake’s hand and then Krish’s and taking a moment to look him over—a moment too long. Brains never really went for guys while on tour. He barely spoke to anyone outside the band save a few of their friends from other bands, but every once in a while, Brains found someone to hook up with. Well, it isn’t going to be this guy. Silas had plans for him.
“Intern, huh?”
“Yeah. I’m, uh… working in the tour office for the summer.”
The guys all raised their eyebrows and looked at Silas. He shrugged and turned toward Krish, and their arms brushed, causing the hair to stand up on his skin. Goose bumps were an excellent sign. “I’ll see you after the show.” Silas smiled up at Krish. He had so many questions, but there’d be time for that later. For now he needed to get psyched up for their set.
He grabbed Jordan by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him away from the pounding he was giving his brother. Those two were a trip. Jordan had been mostly quiet on the tour so far, but with his brother, he’d let loose. They definitely needed time together. It was just an added perk that his brother came with a beautiful friend.
SILAS SPENT a little time in the tour bus doing his vocal warm-ups and drinking his honey-and-lemon tea. Then he joined the rest of the guys. They always stretched together, determined to avoid injuries at all cost on the tour. Hush couldn’t afford any more setbacks.
“What if that’s him?” Los whispered to Jordan. “The Guru?”
Jordan frowned and shook his head. “Nah. He’s just a friend of Jake’s from college.”
“But maybe he is? Would your brother keep that from you?”
“Doubt it. They’re just friends. I think he said the guy teaches music lessons or something. I don’t know.”
“Maybe you guys should stop trying to be the Scooby gang and warm up so you don’t pull a damn hammy.”
Silas tried to squash their speculations, but he continued to observe Jordan closely to see if he was withholding the truth. Maybe he was just looking for something that wasn’t there. Hell, maybe they all were. It would be awesome if his literary hero was wrapped up in a package so fucking delicious that Silas couldn’t wait to sink his teeth in. But regardless of who he was, he’d like to do some teeth-sinking with Krish later on. Just thinking about him had Silas pumped and ready to let loose onstage.
Their first show in Pomona had been great, but today in San Diego they were just a little smoother, a little more into the groove. Jordan meshed seamlessly with Los, Brains was on fire, and Silas felt stronger than ever. Their new material required him to stretch his voice even more than he had previously, and he relished the challenge. He felt so alive.
He might have been a little distracted onstage looking for Krish in the crowd. But when he fumbled over a lyric on their new song, “Forever Sounds,” he buckled down and regained his focus. No one noticed but him, of course. Silas was a perfectionist, and he held himself to higher standards than the rest of the guys.
Los had stepped up big-time with the loss of Gavin. Silas watched him closely, noticing that he took to the mic with much more confidence, and he even played cleaner this tour than he had in the past. Los had always been Silas’s vocal counterpart on clean vocals, backing him up during live performances, and Gavin’s scream was a trademark part of their sound. Silas did his fair share of screaming, but their sound required a second, deeper growl to really pack that punch. Jordan had been apologetic when he’d admitted he could sing, but he couldn’t scream.
“Dude, I sound like a girl. It’s all bad.”
He was right, sadly. Los had said he’d give it a try, and damn. Why hadn’t they used him before? His scream sounded very different than Gavin’s, but in a good way, and it was powerful. And now there they were, next to each other, so close they had to concentrate on not banging their guitars together. They shared a mic and screamed their hearts out. Silas shivered, feeling giddy over how good they sounded, and for the millionth time since losing Gavin, Silas was grateful for his band. He couldn’t have survived such an awful tragedy without them. As they finished the chorus on “New Day,” he leaned in and kissed Los on the cheek. He got a scrunched-up face in return, followed by a middle-finger salute. Silas flicked his tongue at him, and Los cracked up.
And then their set was done. Too soon, as far as Silas was concerned. The one drawback to Warped Tour was the shorter sets. Silas often felt as though he’d only just begun the buildup by the time they had to wrap. It was like rushing an orgasm. At least he had something… or someone… to look forward to.
Offstage they group hugged and laughed together. Los playfully pushed Silas and said, “What was that kiss for? I thought I made it perfectly clear that your big dick doesn’t tempt me in the least. Neither does that tongue of yours. You’re just not my type, babe.”
Silas rolled his eyes. Los had always made jokes about their different ends of the sexual spectrum. He was unapologetically heterosexual and happy to remind Silas and Brains, but he never gave them shit about who they chased after. He’d certainly been encouraging Silas to find the Guru.
Being out in the metalcore community had sort of been like having a huge zit on your face. Most people were cool about it. They didn’t say anything, or if they did, it was because they knew the struggle was real. Then some would try so hard not to stare that they’d nearly hurt themselves trying not to look. They had no clue how to act. Then there were the ones who turned into middle school bullies once again. They made fun, threw beer bottles, wrote nasty notes, and other such atrocities. None of it bothered Silas. Gavin, however, hadn’t been able to cope. He wanted to be out, to live his life in the open, but the cost was too high for him.
Fuck. Not the time to think about Gavin.
“I need to go get showered,” Silas said, hoping to avoid the ration of shit he knew he was going to get from the others. No such luck.
“Yeah, you should do that,” Los said, sniffing at him. “You don’t want to smell bad for your date.”
The guys laughed, but Brains frowned at him. “Do you think it’s him?” he asked.
They all looked at each other. “It’s not like I want to ask him,” Silas said. “Let’s just pretend he’s not and go from there.”
Jordan had gone ahead with Logan, their guitar tech. Apparently he’d had some issue with his setup and wanted Logan to help him fix it. Los and Brains watched him walk off and then turned to Silas.
“I don’t know,” Los said. “Whoever he is, just be careful.”
Silas frowned at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Los crossed his arms, serious for once. “It means if he is the Guru, be careful. If he’s not, still be careful. I don’t want you to get hurt, you know. The last guy you hooked up with—”
“I thought we weren’t going to talk about that anymore.” Silas didn’t need a lecture. Yeah, he’d dated a reporter once from Mass Emo Online, and the guy had printed a bunch of shit about the band that wasn’t even true. And the last guy he met on tour and hooked up with had sticky fingers on his way out of their shared house in Oakland. A laptop, some beer money, and a bunch of their clothes were missing the next day, and Los had really laid into Silas. It wasn’t as though it was the first time one of them had brought trouble into their world, but losing Gavin had brought all past wounds to the surface and forgiveness was a little harder to come by.
“Sorry, dude, but you know—”
“Yeah. Point taken,” Silas said and stomped off toward the bus. Why Los had to be a buzzkill right now, he had no clue. One minute he was encouraging Silas to meet the Guru and get laid, and the next he was telling him to be careful, as though Silas was so fucking stupid he’d fall in love with the first guy to come along. Well, he was quite a bit more emotionally mature than Los, and he knew how to handle himself, dammit. Silas was going to have a good time tonight whether the sourpuss liked it or not.
He ran up the steps to the bus and paused at the entrance to the lounge area.
Good God, his bandmates were pigs.
They’d only been on the road for a couple of days, and there was already shit everywhere—mostly Los’s. Brains had left out his breakfast dishes, and Jordan’s makeup was still spread all over the table. He had half a mind to chuck all their stuff in the garbage, but instead he did what he always did and cleaned it all up, bitching the whole time. It took him forty-five minutes and then another forty-five minutes to shower, shave, and get dressed. He missed the rest of the festival, and he hated that he didn’t see Falling in Reverse, because Ronnie always did something outrageous to keep Silas entertained.
Silas threw on a pair of Dickies board shorts, a white tank, and some Vans and left the bus. He headed over to the central gathering spot, where a bunch of the other bands were hanging out around a bonfire someone had lit in a garbage can. Probably that wasn’t a good idea, but what could it hurt? A bunch of drunk young folks around an open fire. Perfectly safe.
“Hey, dude. What took you so long? The guys from Incorrigible are already killing it at horseshoes.”
Los threw an arm around Silas’s neck and dragged him over to the food.
“And Brains is building a huge sculpture out of solo cups. It’s kind of brilliant, actually. He’s cut them into shapes, and he’s gluing them together with that Gorilla Glue stuff. It’s in the shape of a chariot with a Greek god.”
“That’s awesome. Remember the time he made models of KISS out of duct tape?”
Silas laughed about that until he spotted Jordan’s brother, Jake, and the object of Silas’s thoughts all afternoon.
Krish—tall, dark, and sexy as fuck. He had that innocently adorable thing going on, even now. He didn’t know Silas was watching him, but he was looking around like he was trying to find someone. He smiled every once in a while at something Jordan or his brother said, and he sipped at a bottle of water. Silas sighed as Krish tipped his bottle back and drained it, his prominent Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. Oh, what he wanted to do to that throat.
“Before you go doing any more than ogling, do I have to remind you that it’s a bad idea fooling around with someone who has the potential to do harm to the band?”
Silas glanced over his shoulder at Jessica. She smiled at him sympathetically, but her job was to make sure the band members didn’t do anything to fuck with the band’s name, their brand, and their clout in the industry. There had been a lot of questions about whether they should be on tour after the events of the past couple of years. Jessica was hired because she was known for keeping self-destructive musicians in line and safe from themselves and anyone who wished them ill.
“Why do you say that?”
“He’s an intern with the tour. And what if he is the Guru? Jake said he’s a writer. If he’s a journalist, you know how your brothers feel about that. Giving him behind-the-scenes access, or behind-closed-doors even, could be a bad idea.”
Silas shrugged. “I’ll be careful. I don’t even know if he’s potentially anything other than someone to talk to. If he is, well, I’ll be careful.”
Jessica raised her eyebrow but couldn’t hold back a laugh when Silas gave her his innocent look.
“That bullshit doesn’t work on me, Silas James Franklin.”
“Ooooo, the full name treatment.” He laughed and gave her a hug, which she reciprocated.
“Just be careful, got it?”
He clicked his heels together and gave her a salute. “I’ll even use a condom.”
Her eyes bugged out, and he laughed as he skipped away. “Yep,” he called over his shoulder. “That guy handing out condoms at the show is my new best friend.”
“Silas!”
He waved at her and blew her a kiss. Then he joined the guys.
“Hey,” Jordan said. He stood behind a makeshift bar serving up cocktails to those in their camp. “I’ve got Shipwrecks going, or there’s your lightweight beer in the cooler.”
“Sapporo isn’t lightweight. Just because you don’t have to chew it,” he said, rolling his eyes. They landed on Krish, whose intense gaze was so wide Silas thought he might hurt himself. Silas walked over and sat on the bench next to him. “I’ll take one of your Shipwrecks, though.” He turned to Krish and asked, “Can I get you one?”
Krish shook his head. “Thanks, but I better watch out for that guy,” he said gesturing at Jake, who was laughing hysterically at something Roxanne was saying. Jake gestured wildly with his red cup and sloshed some of his drink out, prompting more laughs from the group he was with.
Silas accepted a drink from Jordan and held his cup to what Silas noted was Krish’s second water bottle. The guy was either fighting some dehydration after the heat of the festival or he was nervous.
“Here’s to a good show,” Silas said.
Krish tapped Silas’s cup with his bottle and smiled. “You guys sounded great. Things have really come together with Jordan, huh?”
“That sounded a bit like a professional question,” Silas said with a smirk. “Do you have a professional interest in the band?”
Krish frowned at him and licked his lips. “I just meant he sounds great with the band, that’s all. What do you mean professional?”
“Nothing. Sorry. Just….” Damn. How honest did he want to be? “I’m just, you know. I have to be careful.” He glanced down at Krish’s intern badge. It really was taking a risk to get involved with anyone on tour, but Silas knew how to be smart. Mostly. Usually. Sort of. Something about Krish compelled Silas to get in a little deeper, and he was ready to damn the consequences.
Krish gave him a look like maybe Silas wasn’t right in the head. “I’m not a reporter, no.”
Silas breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. Okay. I’m sorry. I just had to check. We’ve had problems in the past is all. You’re not a thief, are you?”
Krish barked out a laugh. “A thief? Wow,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ve never been accused of stealing during a first conversation.”
Silas placed a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry. I just had to ask. I know it sounds stupid, but yeah.”
“You hang out with liars and thieves a lot?” Krish asked, only sort of joking.
Silas shrugged and finished his first drink, already feeling the tingles around his upper lip. “Let’s just say that some of my guests in the past have caused issues for the band, and the guys don’t always trust my judgment.”
Krish turned to face him and placed his arm on the back of the bench, his fingers grazing Silas’s shoulder. “Is that what I am? Your guest?”
Silas felt a jolt through his gut. He most certainly had read the situation right. “I’d like you to be,” he said. “After the workshop, I kinda thought maybe you might want that too.” He looked away for a moment and gestured to Jordan that he wanted a refill. “Was I right?”
Moment of truth.
