A Rocker's Melody (Dust and Bones) by Katie Mars Read Free Book Online Page B

must be there. The laughter from the peanut gallery had died down, and when she glanced over her shoulder at them, she saw that they were standing by warily, as if waiting for some kind of retribution. She even thought Tank looked guilty again. Melody slammed the empty carton down on the counter and turned to face her new band mates fully.
    “We’re out of coffee creamer,” she said calmly before taking a seat at the table and finishing her pepper-free French fries.
    She would never let those jerks know they were getting to her.
    **
    The two days on the road that followed the panty raid were relatively quiet. The respite should have comforted her, but instead, Melody just felt like this was the calm before the storm. Only an idiot would have believed the pepper incident had been isolated, and Craig Hopkins had not raised a fool.
    Melody found herself wishing that she’d had siblings; knowing how to handle brothers definitely would have helped her deal with her current situation. But she had been an only child; her mother had died only a few months after she was born from a rare heart condition that had presented after the pregnancy.
    After that, her father had poured everything he had into raising Melody. She owed him everything—and she wasn’t about to disappoint him by giving up just because things were a little tough. This was the life she knew, the one that was in her DNA. This was the life she had been born to embrace. It was a life that had led her to some truly great moments, and some genuinely spectacular failures.
    She did her best not to focus on all those failures as she strove to avoid what was shaping up to be an epic case of stage fright.
    Tonight was their first show, her first show filling in for Snake McCreedy. They were in the heart of San Francisco, surrounded by its rolling hills and romantic views, and cold, biting air...but Melody couldn’t enjoy a minute of it. She was too busy worrying about the impending show, and to top it all off, she had been plagued by terrible visions of what the guys were planning to do to her next.
    Stop it , she thought to herself. She refused to let them rattle her, not now, not right before she had to perform. Eventually the boys would get the pranks out of their systems and then, hopefully, they could all find some kind of peace with each other. Besides, the situation was temporary—Snake would be out of rehab in a few weeks, and then he would resume his rightful place with Dust and Bones.
    Melody had known that she wouldn’t be staying with the guys for long; all she’d really wanted was the experience, the excitement of the road, the thrill of the crowd, and the sense of fun and adventure in hanging out with one of her favorite bands.
    Now, if only they would stop being jackasses for five minutes.
    Thus far, their rehearsals had gone well. Melody had been wary at first, but something magical happened to the guys when they picked up their instruments. They somehow transformed from tormenters into brothers. They were total professionals, working seamlessly to find the perfect pitch, rhythm, and harmony.
    They had been rehearsing their songs almost nonstop, both on the road and at rest. Whatever their issues with each other, they were all united in one common purpose: to rock the hell out of their first gig together.
    She’d been worried that the sound check earlier that day would change that. As Dylan and Jesper had put their heads together to finalize the set list, Melody couldn’t help nervously looking over her shoulder every few seconds, feeling more like she was at a haunted house than on the stage of a four thousand seat theater.
    When Rip burst out in an impromptu drum solo, she’d thought for sure it was a signal for Tank to pelt her with water balloons. When Dylan hit a bum note and the mic reverberated, she’d almost hit the deck, certain that some kind of attack was imminent. But all her worrying had been for naught; there had been no pranks or