URGENT (Book 2 of the Soundcrush Series)

Chapter 29: Nice Guys Don't See The Writing On the Wall

So check out the performance above by the popular Youtubers Boyce Avenue. They do great acoustic covers. Adam doesn't look like Alejandro Manzano (singer for Boyce Avenue) but I imagine he sounds a lot like this...an soulful tenor performer with an easy vibe...not like our Lion but still amazing!

I like this song "Here Without You" for this chapter because it fits Adam's bittersweet feelings for the evening--about his family at home in Tennessee, but also his feelings about Mac "abandoning" him for Leed for the night and his worries about what the future holds him and his tenuous little family. He knows he could easily be singing this song for Mac & Babycakes  next year...from  the Europeon tour if Mac stays behind due to her pregnancy ...

Adam

Despite the fact that Leed has had enough liquor to fell a horse, he performs amazingly well. He's pouring all his overwhelm into his performance, and it works, particularly on Mac's dark brand of song-writing. I don't know that I've ever heard Leed perform Ties That Bind better. Despite the BDSM vibe in the video, the song is really about relationships that trap you in bad cycles—so it fits Leed's pain right now.

When he and Mac perform Seven Minutes, I see that she's crying. Her tears put him on his knees, singing to her, and I don't think he's just performing.

He's...on the ground, in every way.

It works for the song, and the audience is completely with them. The crowd noise after is thunderous—it lingers as long as any applause I can remember for a single song. Leed hugs Mac during the forced break, and they exchange some private words, but they don't talk at all backstage after the performance, and Mac wants to go straight back to the hotel as soon as the obligatory post-party networking is done.

For the first time in weeks, Mac isn't in the mood for orgasm-therapy. Of course, we did have the quickie in the truck earlier, and it's been one helluva day, so I get it. We shower and lay quietly in the bed.

Mac's phone rings twice. It's Leed. Then he texts. Please, is all he says, with a picture of his door, showing his room number.

"I'll go check on him," I say. "He's probably trashed, and he's too damn enormous for you to manhandle into bed."

"No, he needs me," Mac says. She rises and pulls on a mint green sweatshirt. She bend down in the bed and kisses me softly. "If he's out of control, I'll text you."

Then she's gone, and there's no way I'm getting to sleep until she's back. I check my Instagram feed for a minute, and see that my niece Gwennie currently has a killer twelfth birthday sleepover in progress. From the videos she's posting, I see that it involves a lot of boy band music...Why Don't We, PRETTYMUCH, that sort of thing.

I post to her..."Gwen your sleepover PRETTYMUCH sucks with theme music like that...Why Don't We Face-time and I'll play something for you chics?"

Within two minutes I get a text from my sister.

Alex: Don't tease Gwennie like that. Now all her friends are begging her to Facetime you. You make me the evil mom for not letting her.

Me: I wasn't teasing, I was serious, and you've always been evil. Why won't you let her?

Alex: I thought maybe...you were just drunk and messing around.

Me: I'm not drunk.

Alex: Is she going to see a party in progress in the background? Bongs and Strippers?

I sigh and Facetime my sister. She looks tired and a little thinner in the face than the last time I saw her, which was more than half a year ago, but she has a wry smile.