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  “We don’t need publicity,” Bryan said.

  “Publicity is never a bad thing and it’s damned hard to come by when you need it.”

  “It is when its name is Sioux Dupree,” Bryan said.

  “Have you seen the way the paparazzi follow this girl around? The ticket sales for this tour will go through the roof,” the manager continued.

  “The paparazzi follows me around, at least they do when they can find me,” Bryan snorted. “Tickets for this tour have been sold out for months.”

  “Yeah, but we can always add dates. Sales of the album are still softer than I would like.”

  “Nobody sells albums anymore, B.T. We all know that. The money is in touring,” Jon said.

  “And that’s why adding Sioux Dupree to the bill will be a goldmine. When that hits Twitter, everybody is going to lose their tiny little minds, and the money will start rolling in,” B.T. said.

  Bryan looked around the room at the other band members. “What do you guys think?” he asked with a sigh.

  Thad thought about it for a long moment. Despite his annoyance and unaccountable jealousy over the whole VMAs thing, a sense of loyalty and fair play compelled him to say, “I think we should give her a shot. You know, listen to her, see what she’s got,” he said. And he wasn’t going to spend too much time examining whether he had any other motive.

  “Somehow I’m thinking you’ve already seen what she’s got,” Twist said with a sneer.

  Thad forced himself to inhale for a count of three. The fact that he hadn’t ripped Twist’s throat out with his teeth became more miraculous by the second. “That’s not true,” he said. “I told you, I guess you’d call her a friend. She seems nice enough.”

  Bryan gave him a sharp look and Thad immediately knew what the other man was thinking. He was right. He shook his head in disgust when the other man said, “You stay away from her. She’s nothing but trouble.”

  “Man, I’m not the eighteen year old kid I was when I first joined the band. I’m twenty-four years old and have been choosing my own companions for a while now,” Thad shot back, annoyance heating his face. “I still think we could at least give her a chance. Why not? What do we have to lose?”

  Bryan frowned at him, then turned to B.T. again. “So what the hell are you getting out of this? Her dad is her manager and that sonofabitch is at least as devious as you are, so he’s not letting go of his cash cow. I know damned well you don’t even get out of bed in the morning unless there’s profit involved.”

  B.T. gave Bryan a narrow-eyed stare. “Your assessment of my character isn’t particularly flattering. Legitimate, but not flattering. Her dad isn’t her manager anymore. She dropped him after she crashed and burned three years ago, but that’s not why I’m helping her.” Thad watched as he took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “It’s Brodie.”

  All four band members stared at him in disbelief. Thad couldn’t believe that even B.T. had the nerve to go there. Thad hadn’t been in the band when Brodie died of a heroin overdose. He’d actually replaced the second lead guitarist, but Brodie was one of the founding members and his ghost was ever-present.

  “I’m sure you know you need to explain that,” Thad said when the rest of the members seemed to be at a loss for words.

  B.T. nodded. “This kid was a total mess. More than anything she wants to get her career back as a rock musician. To be honest, I think it’s the only thing that’s keeping her clean. I don’t want to have another young person’s death on my conscience,” he said.

  “So you’ll put it on all our consciences,” Jon said.

  “There are things even you can’t say Bobby Tom,” Bryan said through gritted teeth. “How dare you use Brodie’s corpse to help you make money?”

  Thad watched as florid color rose in B.T.’s face. Apparently Bryan’s words had gotten under his skin. “What the fuck are you saying? You know damned well I loved Brodie as much as the rest of you. He was like a son to me. There are few things I won’t do to make money, and this girl is a goldmine, but that’s not why I want to help her.”

  Thad knew they all saw the tears shimmering in the other man’s eyes before B.T. lowered his gaze. The man was as shifty as they came, but his emotions about Brodie were genuine and they all knew it.

  “You’re right guys. It’s wrong of me to try to get y’all to help her,” B.T. said. Thad almost rolled his eyes. Now that was pure manipulation. He could tell from Bryan’s expression he knew it too, therefore Bryan’s quick capitulation came as a surprise.

  “Fine,” Bryan said. “When can she come in to play for us? And can she sing rock? We are not opening with a pop act.”

  “Actually, she’s here right now, in the hall.” B.T. stepped out of the studio and into the narrow dimly lit hall that bisected the ancient building. There was another studio across the hall and a rarely occupied office. Thad assumed B.T. had Sioux stashed in one of the other rooms.

  Thad shook his head, not sure why he was ever surprised by B.T.’s ability to strategize his way through any situation. When the manager returned to the room he had Sioux Dupree in tow. Thad stared, barely recognizing the diminutive singer. Her usual wild mane of cherry Coke colored hair was tamed into long skinny braids that she’d pulled back into a ponytail. Her face was scrubbed clean of makeup and she was wearing a plain white sleeveless t-shirt with black jeans and low cut lambskin boots. The large acoustic guitar she had slung over her back almost dwarfed her fragile frame and nearly rendered her unrecognizable as the lead singer of the best-selling girl band of all time.

  Her bright, cheerful smile was out of place given the tension of the room, but she seemed to either not notice or not care. He gestured for her to sit on a barstool near him. She walked over, pausing to remove her instrument and then adjusting it before sitting down. The nervous fiddling with the guitar was the only indication that she might be feeling some of the friction, but otherwise her face was perfectly serene. After a few moments she began to strum the guitar and then to sing.

  His breath caught in his throat when instead of the sweet soprano the whole world had been hearing from her since she won a very popular voice competition at the age of twelve, he heard a gritty, raspy voice that was a near growl. The effect was instantaneous. He couldn’t have been more aroused if she’d been standing in front of him stark naked. After just a few moments he was grateful his guitar was in front of him to save him the embarrassment of having his reaction made evident. He was so distracted it took him a long while to realize that she was singing “Fever,” an offbeat song he’d written about a crazy relationship he’d been in shortly after joining the band. Her voice was pitch perfect for the out of control feel of the song. She sang two more songs, all Storm Crow tunes. He looked at his band mates, wondering if she was having the same effect on them. They seemed transfixed, but more than that he couldn’t tell. He looked back at Sioux, who was finishing the last note of “The River,” another song he’d penned. He wondered if she’d done it deliberately. He’d had only one hit, but she hadn’t sung it, he wasn’t sure what that meant or why she was choosing his songs when there were so few of them.

  She stopped singing, then smiled, but before she could speak B.T. spoke up. “See, what did I tell you? She’s amazing. Isn’t she?”

  “She’s something, alright,” Bryan said.

  “What happened to your voice?” Thad asked before he thought it through. Anything to keep from thinking about his response to her singing. “I’ve never heard you sound like that.”

  Her laughter rang out, a sweet trill more like the singing voice they were all accustomed to. “No worries. I haven’t cracked my voice out, if that’s what you’re worried about. I stuck to needles and pills when I was using. I’ve always had that voice, but my dad said it was too sexy for a young girl,” she said with shrug. “Plus he didn’t want anyone to think I was trying to be Tina Turner. I adore her. Don’t tell my mom, but Tina’s been my idol my whole life,” she said with a sly grin.
“Our voices are different, but I can see people making the comparison. Dad was right, and my higher pitch is better for the songs I used to sing anyway. This voice goes with rock, don’t you think?” she asked, her pitch dropping to a husky timbre.

  Thad stared at her, his brain refusing to register anything she said, while his body reacted as though she was stroking his bare skin. Where was this coming from? Sure, she was a beautiful woman, but for the most part he hadn’t thought of her sexually until now. Until he heard her sing. If fucking her voice were possible, he’d have her bare-assed naked right now.

  Thad nodded, pretty much incapable of saying anything more. Yeah it went with rock and a good steamy session in bed. His bed. He shook his head as though to clear a fog.

  “That was terrific, Sioux,” he said. “But we roll out next week. Can you be ready so soon?”

  “I don’t see why not. I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life,” she said.

  “Your people…” he began. Sioux was notorious for traveling with a veritable brigade of hangers on, not to mention enough luggage and "image maintenance personnel" to occupy a small city.

  “No entourage. No people. Just me. Unless you want me to have a sober companion,” she said with a hesitant glance toward Bryan. Her humility struck him. This girl was one of the most famous singers in the world, but she was clearly intimidated by them.

  “No, you won’t need that,” he said earning a sharp eye from Bryan and a snort of laughter from Twist, as well as a derisive comment about Sioux having Thad by the balls. The redheaded imp would never let him live this one down. He simply ignored the abrasive drummer.

  “We trust you, Sioux. Don’t let us down,” Thad said.

  She nodded. “I’d sooner slit my throat.”

  He winced at her words, but the burning intensity of her gaze spoke the truth of her words. She meant it. He remembered how it felt to want a break so badly and being terrified it would never happen. But she was hardly a newbie and he was amazed that she was willing to take shit off Bryan for this.

  Bryan broke into their conversation. “Do you have any songs of your own? I assume you don’t intend to open with a set of Storm Crow covers. That would be redundant to say the least.”

  Thad frowned. Why was Bryan being such a dick? True the girl had been a pain in the ass, but she didn’t deserve this. She spoke up before he could defend her, which was probably a good thing.

  “Sure I do. I wrote all the songs for Honeychile. They weren’t rock songs,” she hurried on before he could interrupt, “but a lot of them were good.” Thad agreed. Girl bands weren’t his thing, but their lyrics were tight. “But I’ve got my song book. I’ll play through some stuff and see what you think sounds right.”

  “We probably should discuss this with Rocky,” Jon said, referring to their road manager. “How long will Crystal Clear be out?” he directed the question to B.T.

  “From what I’m hearing their flu is more of the narcotic kind. I’m sorry Bryan. I know you picked them, but they’re definitely in trouble,” B.T. said.

  Bryan gave Sioux a narrow-eyed stare. “That’s what I was afraid of. They’re really good. I wanted them on the tour so badly I overlooked the obvious signs. So we’re trading three junkies for one.”

  “I’ve been clean for two years,” Sioux said, as she gave Bryan a malevolent glare, but B.T. talked over her.

  “I’m thinking she could be with us until we head to Perth. We’ve got an Aussie band to open down there. When we get back in May for the Jazz Festival down in New Orleans depending on what Crystal Clear is up to, we can get with them, get her or someone else.”

  “It’s August now. You want us to work with her until the end of October?” Bryan asked.

  “Not too bad. It’s only fifteen dates, man. Why are you being such a hard ass?” Thad asked.

  “I told you. I’ve been here before and have no interest in going through that crazy shit again,” Bryan said.

  “It’s not the same as Brodie. She’s not joining the band. We can let her go at any time,” Thad said. “What’s the big deal?”

  “Are you sure you’re not fucking her? It wouldn’t be her first attempt to fuck her way into the band,” Bryan said.

  He heard Sioux gasp as he rounded on his band mate. Before he realized what he was doing he’d grabbed Bryan in the collar, lifting the larger man a few inches off the floor catching him by surprise. “What the hell is wrong with you? That shit was uncalled for. You don’t talk about women that way.”

  Bryan brought his hands up breaking Thad’s hold. They were of the same height, but Bryan had a few pounds on him, still Thad was angry enough to grab Bryan again. “What are you going to do Thad? Fight me over this girl?” At this point their faces were so close he could see the hair follicles of Bryan’s unshaved beard, but it was the upper lip curled into an insufferable sneer that he wanted to wipe off the other man’s face.

  B.T. interrupted before Thad could respond. “There’s not going to be any fighting. The two of you are worth too much money to be acting like a couple of kids on a playground. If you break your hands the insurance company will lose its ever loving mind.”

  Thad backed off, surprised by his sudden anger. “You owe her an apology. And there sure as hell will be a fight unless you give her one.” He stared Bryan down, refusing to drop his eyes from the other man’s stormy blue gaze. Finally Bryan looked away.

  “You’re right. I just don't want this tour to be full of drama and crazy shit. It’ll be our last one for a while,” Bryan said. Most of the band members were working on other projects and the time between albums kept expanding. It would be at least five years before the next studio albums.

  “A Storm Crow tour that’s not full of drama and crazy shit? What a concept,” Twist derided from his seat behind his drum kit.

  “You’ve got to believe me. I’d rather die than hurt Storm Crow,” Sioux whispered.

  “For fuck’s sake, stop saying shit like that,” Thad snapped turning around to face her. “Get your song book. Let’s hear what you’ve got.” He looked at B.T. “Call Rocky and get her in here. See what she thinks of all these changes.” Bryan gave him a long hard stare before leaning down to pick up his guitar. Thad knew what that look meant. He was more than a decade younger than Bryan or Jon and only slightly less younger than Twist so they had a tendency to treat him like a kid brother or even a child. Bryan didn’t want Sioux around because he didn’t want her to get her claws into him, but he’d been with the band for six years now and was capable of taking care of himself.

  Chapter Three

  Sioux sat on the floor of the studio leafing through the pages of her songbook. Her hands were shaking so much she couldn’t focus on what she was doing. She was going on tour with Storm Crow! But it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk. That didn’t surprise her; she’d been following Bryan around for years now trying to get him to listen to her. She knew all his misgivings and then some. She looked up at Thad who was adjusting his guitar. She couldn’t believe he’d jumped on Bryan like that. Thad idolized Bryan, and the last thing she wanted to do was to create dissension within the band. This was the realization of her childhood dream. Her chance to finally do everything right. Of course, the best way to do that was to do what she knew she was born to do, rock this tour like she’d never rocked before.

  It felt so strange to be at this point in her career. To be honest she’d grown accustomed to having people kiss her ass for favors. Over the years she’d been chasing Bryan down for a shot at the band she’d lost every bit of the diva she’d once been, or at least most of it. She’d had to humble herself. She thought it would be far more annoying than it was turning out to be, but she really didn’t care. She was with the band. Another quick glance at Bryan’s tight features and Thad’s bright gold eyes left her with the first misgivings she’d had about this adventure. She’d have to be careful, very careful or she’d wind up tearing the band apart.

  ***

  Si
oux adjusted the tuners on her guitar until she had them just right. Thad sat across from her on the flokati rug, flipping through the pages of her songbook. He’d come over to her place to help her work out a playlist. They were expecting a visit from Storm Crow’s road manager as well. Rocky hadn’t been able to come to the studio earlier that day, so Thad had agreed to help Sioux with her playlist after the rehearsal ended. Now they were at her house in Santa Monica with the late summer sunset providing a breathtaking backdrop for something she’d been trying to accomplish for more than a decade.

  “Well, you’re certainly prolific,” he said.

  “Oh, that’s just my current one. I’ve got a whole box full of songbooks.”

  “How long have you been writing?”

  “According to my mama since I was a little kid. She’s still got my first song, a riff on “I’m a Little Teapot”.”

  He chuckled. “I can just see it. What was bigger, your voice or your hair?”

  She laughed with him. “Probably my hair. Mama was still touring then and my nanny was totally clueless. I had 24-hour bed-head.”

  “Are you just going to do a different set every night?” he asked

  “Yeah, that’s my plan. I’m trying out stuff to see what flies for a CD. B.T. thought that’s the way I should go.”

  “Sounds good. All acoustic?”

  “Yeah, I don’t have a band. Quite frankly I don’t want to hire a lot of folks then have the whole thing go tits up.”

  “I doubt that would happen, you’re really good. Besides, people are going to show up just out of curiosity.”

  “To see me fall on my ass you mean.”

  “Well, that too. Are you going to start a band?”

  “Probably down the road, but right now I don’t have any credibility. I haven’t met anybody I have any real chemistry with, and I think that’s important.”

  “Yeah, it makes all the difference. When I auditioned for the band I knew I had the chops, but I wasn’t sure if the guys would like me or if I would fit in. I was still a teenager and I had a pretty sheltered upbringing. My mom was overprotective because my dad died when I was little. I didn’t know much of anything, so they took a real chance on me.”