Page 62 (1/2)

Chapter 1

Rebekah adjusted the pillow beneath her older brother’s head She smoothed the blanket over his lap Plucked a stray hair froown and flicked it onto the powder-blue carpet Shifted his arm into a more natural position at his side Licked her thumb and rubbed at a spot of mustard near the corner of his mouth

Wincing, Dave turned his head, trying to escape her spit bath “Will you knock it off, Reb?”

“Sorry,” she said “I’?”

“Of course they’re co They’re back on tour next week and haven’t fired me yet” Dave scowled and clutched his blanket with one hand He could alhtly now Rebekah wavered between pride and despair when confronted by how far Dave had coo in his recovery “And they are never going to go for this plan, Reb Never”

“I’ll just be filling in for you teo back on tour with theineer on the planet, and you’ve come up with the perfect solution for their dile to fire you”

“They don’t really have a choice, Reb I can’t continue as their FOH if I can’t reach my soundboard And even if I could reach it, there’s no way I can adjust the sliders fast enough to keep up with the band during a live show”

“But you will, Dave You just need more time to recover I can work your soundboard until you’re ready to go back to work I’ her ashiineer Dave had warned her before she started school Told her she’d be stuckpop music at mall concerts She’d been deterotten her a long way toward nowhere If soive her a chance, she would show them that a woman could be just as metal as a man

“I knoto agree to this You’ve got to start at the bottom and work your way up, not expect to land a job with one of the biggest bands in the industry straight out of school”

Heart sinking, she sighed Tried not to pout too ht, but patience had never been Rebekah’s greatest virtue Actually, patience didn’t even knohere she lived

“But I will do my best to make theood enough to take my place”

She s-brother-feel-like-a-superhero smile “Really?”

“Just don’t be too disappointed if they say no”

It would crush her She worshipped Sinners and every note of every song that had ever been produced by their talented hands, fingers, mouths, feet, and any other body part they used to create e, Rebekah had done her capstone project on Sinners It had been proclai class Dave s froed

“Has Mom seen your hair?” he asked

Rebekah grinned and sth hair with one hand She’d recently dyed the under-layer cobalt blue Since she’d regrown hair, she liked doing things that brought attention to it Strange how being entirely bald at twenty-four would do that to a girl Besides, Rebekah had always loved putting hersubjected to regular exorcisms “Do you think she’ll like it?”

“Um, no”

“Good” She giggled “So are all the bandto visit you?” Her heart thudded with excitement

Dave grinned at her “Will Trey be with them, you mean?”