URGENT (Book 2 of the Soundcrush Series)

Chapter 45: Bad Girls Don't Make A Good Impression

Mac, A Week Later, Nashville Show

"Hey, Leed?" I purr into the microphone from my keyboard stand, interrupting my brother's intimate heart-to-heart with thirty thousand fans.

It's my last chance to get a word in. Leed doesn't break up the sets with conversation the same way every night, but I know him well enough to know this is the last time he will talk to the crowd. We only have three songs left in the set—SunDownDeep, Liars Last, and Seven Minutes—before we go offstage and come back for the encore.

There will be no more talking then, only jam. In the deep South, we let our slip show a little and encore with grunged-up country songs. Tonight, Leed will open the encore with a tribute to Johhny Cash's Ring of Fire, Bodie tightening up the beat like an early Green Day song and Trace blurring down on the sound.

Then, we really have fun. We play a frenetic version of Rocky Top...cause there's no way Trace isn't going to jam on that song in every concert we play in Tennessee. He heard Phish play it once when he was a kid and it's his tribute to his jam-band influences. It's pretty fun actually. I get to lay down dirty on the keys, and it's cool to hear Adam take the lead vocals...being the true Tennessee native, we always give him the honor when we do that one. Once the Rocky Top jam winds down, we'll close out the show with the dark alt rock ballad that made us...Little Sister, of course.

Little Sister is in the house tonight. I know Leed is planning a heart-wrenching performance to honor Kat. But he doesn't know what I'm planning.

"Leed? Leed! Hey!" I repeat again into the mic, but it's all for show. He heard me the first time, but ever the performer, he's pretending to ignore me so I have to fight for the limelight. I already clued Andy in on my plan, so the spotlight dims a little on the Lion and I get a little more shine. Leed swings around to look at me.

"Yeah Mac? What's up?" Leed turns to the crowd. "You guys know my sister, right? MacKenna Lawson," he swings an arm up and the crowd cheers and whistles as I swoop my mic from its stand and hop confidently down from my platform, as I smile at the crowd. "Thanks," I raise my hand to quiet them. "I'm hijacking the show for a second..."

I cast a devil grin sideways at Adam. He's shaking his head at me, swinging around to Bodie as he fingers the opening to a popular 1980's song—Maneater. It's a private joke. Adam or Trace will drop into that groove sometimes when I get pissy in the studio. A few people in the crowd seem to recognize the classic baseline and someone with a seriously decent voice busts out with "Whoa-oh, here she comes. She's a Maneater."

"Fuckin' right," Leed agrees as he points out to the crowd. "Adam...take your shirt off and show these guys how she mauls you on a nightly basis."

The crowd whistles and chants Madam, Madam, Madam. I cringe internally, my eyes going to side-stage. Adam's parents—Peter and Joely Heartley—are there. Joely cuts her eyes to her husband and he pats her on the back, with a tolerant grin, as if to say...Stand down, Mama Bear.

Dammit. I really wish Leed wouldn't make allusions to our sex life tonight. I'm trying to be a good girlfriend right now, but I can never escape the Maneater, it seems.

Adam saves me, swinging his base around to the back and putting an arm around my shoulders, as he leans down to my mic "This Shortcake? Naw, man. She's sweet to me. Real sweet. She saves the claws for you, Leed."

Leed and Adam are grinning tightly and flexin' in that who's-got-a-bigger-dick way guys do. I push them both away from me and say, "Excuse, me this is a rock concert not a pissing contest, boys."

"You're the one that interrupted the show, Mac," Bodie pipes up from his back-up mic. "I know there's a reason..."

"You're right, Bodie. It's Adam's birthday. We planned it like that, remember? It's a big hometown birthday show for Nashville's own Adam Heartley!" I raise my hands as I raise my voice, and the crowd cheers.