Untamed

“Dude’s an asshole. I don’t see why we need to do anything for him,” I muttered.

Matt ran a hand through his short hair. I swear he had less of it now. The stress of ru

“I know he’s not the nicest host…but we’re not doing the show for him, we’re doing it for us. He has a very loyal, almost cultlike following, and if he says, ‘Buy their album,’ then that’s what they’ll do.”

Rolling my eyes, I countered with “And if he says, ‘These guys are tools, don’t give them the time of day,’ that’s what they’ll do. We should just ignore him. There are plenty of other late-night talk shows out there.”

Matt leaned back in his seat. “You don’t have to talk to him. Just sit back and let us do the work. You’re good at that.” The last part was really quiet, but I still heard it. Matt was starting to sound just like Joh

After a brief rest at the hotel, we headed out for radio gigs. Like always, Kellan stole the show. All the questions were directed at him, and all the answers came from him. Occasionally, I would try to interject something, but more often than not, I was ignored. Or given a polite, dismissive laugh that clearly said, Cute, but please be quiet and let us talk to the real star. After the second gig, I was sick of interviews. Interviews about Kellan, that was. I was more than ready to talk about me and my still-secret upcoming project. Nobody asked though, and I couldn’t volunteer the information yet. God, I hoped Harold had good news soon.

A

“Same old, same old,” I said. “All Kellan, all the time…” Kellan was talking on the phone too, probably to Kiera, so he didn’t hear me. He was smiling, laughing, and looking genuinely pleased with every aspect of his life. Maybe he got a high from keeping me under his thumb.

A

The thought of my three girls at home, all missing me, made a brightness flare up inside me. Even if Kellan stole the show at work, I was the center of their world, and that was really comforting. “Yeah, I miss you guys too. Make sure you all watch Joh

A

My wife was so fucking awesome. “Please do. I hate that cocksucker.” After A

When we got to the studio, we were led in through the back and politely hidden away from the world by a girl with headphones and a clipboard. She stared at Kellan the entire time she explained what amenities were available for us.

She gave Kellan a bright smile and didn’t leave until he thanked her. It made me roll my eyes. There are four of us, chica. Maybe we needed something. Looking around, I asked the guys, “Want to bail and go check out the nightlife around here? It’s been a while since I’ve kicked your guys’ asses at Find-a-Skank.”

They all shook their heads; Evan even yawned.

“Fine,” I muttered. When did our band become such sticklers for the rules? We used to be rebels. We used to be rock stars. We used to shun responsibility and laugh in the face of order. Chaos ruled our lives. I missed those days.

What felt like hours later, Kellan’s starry-eyed PA came in to tell us a commercial break was happening soon and we needed to get ready. We followed her to the stage, waited for the light to change to signal that a commercial was in progress, then stepped out from behind the curtain to take up our instruments.

The crowd watching the recording went nuts when they saw us. Joh

Tossing on a fake smile, Joh

“Thank you for having us. It’s an honor to be on the show.”

I snorted after hearing Kellan’s words. Honor, my ass. It was an obligation, nothing more. My derisive noise got Joh

I didn’t take the fucker’s hand. Brown hair or not, he knew full well that I was an original member of the band. “Bite me, cornhole.” Matt elbowed me in the ribs, but I didn’t care. My comment had finally wiped the smile from Joh

“Articulate as always,” he said, then that damn smile came back. “See you boys after your set.”

Matt grabbed my elbow. “Don’t make a scene,” he hissed. “Just do your job.”

I shoved him away from me. “I’m nothing but professional…so step off, ass munch.”

Matt scrubbed his face with his hands, then stopped and took a deep cleansing breath. “It’s going to be fine,” he muttered to himself before turning to his instrument.

“Of course it is,” I answered him as I picked up my bass. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

None of the guys responded to my encouraging comment, but they didn’t really have time to anyway. The commercial break was ending. A crew member off-screen was giving Joh

“Welcome back. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I give you…the D-Bags!” He swished his hands our way and the cameras directly in front of us turned on. The well-trained crowd screamed louder than when they saw us the first time.

Evan tapped out a rhythm to start us off, then we took off. We played our new single, the song we’d been promoting nonstop for the past couple of weeks. I was glad this was the last time we’d be playing it for a while. I needed a break. Or at least variety. The same song over and over was killing me.

When we finished, I nearly said, “Thank God,” but I didn’t. Restraint was quickly becoming my new middle name.