The Devil's Metal by Karina Halle Read Free Book Online Page B

later. She was just one
tiny piece of the band, albeit a fairly formidable one considering
the chill she was giving off with her cold shoulder.
    I took a deep breath and gave them both a
smile I hoped was charming and understanding. “No worries, we have
plenty of time to get to know each other. Tonight I guess is all
about settling in.”
    “Yeah, you have the easy part,” Noelle said
to me out of the corner of her mouth. Her arms were still crossed.
“This is the start of our tour. I…fuck, Jacob, how long till the
store?”
    Jacob patted the cabbie on the shoulder.
“Pull over at the nearest establishment, good sir.”
    The cabbie gave him an eye roll that rivaled
Noelle’s but did as he asked. Soon we were rolling into a
generic-looking liquor store, all pale blue paint and gold
letters.
    Noelle sighed, either annoyed or relieved,
then put her palm flat out toward Jacob. He put a few bills in her
hand. “This is part of the room and board,” he told me with a wink.
“You’re included, Dawn. Go in with Noelle and pick your lot.”
    I raised my brows at him. Noelle had closed
her hand over the money and was out the door and walking fast
toward the entrance.
    “Go on,” he said, nodding at her. “Give her
a hand. And make sure she doesn’t steal anything.”
    He looked serious, so I couldn’t figure out
if it was true or not. No matter, if the band tour manager wanted
me to follow Noelle, bassist of Hybrid, into a liquor store, then
that’s what I was going to do.
    I walked into the store, the air
conditioning smelling like ice, and went over to Noelle who was
perusing the vodka section.
    “Looking for something in particular?” I
asked. Sometimes I sucked at small talk.
    “Maybe.” She straightened up and glanced
over at the cashier. His back was turned to us, arranging a display
on the wall. She quickly unscrewed the cap off a bottle of Smirnoff
and quickly chugged a mouthful. Then she wiped her lips, put it
back on the shelf and grabbed the Grey Goose next to it. She
repeated it all over again, keeping her eyes on the cashier but
never looking the slightest bit chagrined or worried.
    I was aware that my mouth was hanging open a
little so I closed it. “Taste testing?”
    She screwed the cap back on the Grey
Goose.
    “Jacob never gives us enough money, and I
heard half the fucking venues don’t even supply the kicks anymore.
Fucking economy.”
    After she had her third mouthful of vodka, a
relaxed glaze had come over her eyes.
    “Hey, wanna be of help to us?” she said
lazily, scooping three bottles of Smirnoff into her arms. “You go
get the beers. A case of Corona. A case of Carlsberg. A flat of
Heineken.”
    I was strong but if she thought I could
carry all of that, she was crazy. And judging from the way she had
moved on down the aisle and was putting mini bottles of booze into
the tops of her boots, there was no disputing it.
    Oh boy. What exactly had I got involved with
here?
    I made my way over to the beer fridges,
aware that we could get totally busted at any moment and I would be
guilty by association. I thought Mel could be a badass at times,
but Noelle was taking the cake and enjoying every mouthful.
    I took what I could to the counter where
Noelle was waiting, seemingly impatient. She had the bottles of
vodka, a bottle of Crown Royal, a bottle of Jameson, and two boxes
of red wine. I hoped that was their booze for the week and not just
the night. I knew Hybrid got in trouble sometimes for being
disorderly, but I didn’t think it was this bad.
    It took two trips to get the booze out to
the car, with Jacob sitting in the car watching us the whole time.
I wondered if he hoped it would be some sort of bonding experience
between Noelle and I. I couldn’t tell you if it worked. As we drove
off toward the amphitheater, which was a long drive out of the
city, she went back to being quiet and sullen.
    And I went back to overthinking things. As
the realization that I was actually in a car with