Double Time (Sinners on Tour #5)(114)

There was a sudden explosion of fire and smoke-part of the show, but it still made Reagan start-and Max appeared center stage, singing the first long note of the song like a metal angel who had descended from the heavens.

The entire crowd was one huge mosh pit. No one seemed to care that Reagan was playing guitar instead of Max. They were all too enthralled with music to pay her any mind. She watched Dare work the crowd. Logan work the crowd. Max make the people in the crowd ricochet off each other like bowling pins. Even Steve stood up behind the drum kit at one point and tossed a cracked drumstick into the audience. Reagan stuck to the song. When it ended, Max spoke to the crowd. "How are we feeling tonight, Los Angeles?"

The crowd roared its enthusiasm. Steve played a drum line to get them to settle down. "Did Sinners rock your world?" Max said/screamed/sang.

The crowd cheered again. Sinners rocked Reagan's world, too. Especially the naughty one. She peeked over to the side of the stage, hoping that Trey had gone against her wishes and was standing in her corner. She didn't see him.

"Carpal-fucking-tunnel is a very serious malady for a guitarist," Max said, sounding incredibly grave.

"Who's a pussy?" Logan said in a deep, announcer's voice. "Max is a pussy."

Max used his good hand to give Logan the finger. "You might have noticed we have a new band member up on stage with us tonight. Reagan, come up here and say hi."

Heart racing, Reagan forced her feet to move forward, concentrating hard on not tripping over anything in her spike-heeled ankle boots. "Hi," she said into the microphone on her end of the stage.

She saw her own face on the giant screens all over the stadium and she froze. 

"She's covering rhythm guitar for us," Max said. "Doing an excellent job."

Reagan felt her cheeks flame. She nodded and then took a step away from the mic.

"I love you, Reagan," some guy screamed in the audience and pulled up his shirt to flash his thin chest at her.

"That only works when chicks flash their tits at stage hands," Dare said to the guy, pointing at him with his guitar pick. "No backstage pass for you."

"'Bite,'" Reagan heard Mad Dog announce the next song in her ear. "One. Two. Three." The band followed his cue to start the abrupt beginning of the song. Logan apparently thought Reagan needed to get closer to the front of the stage. He leaned his back against hers and hopped backward, pushing her forward several steps. He repeated the motion and she almost missed a note.

"Stop it," she growled at him.

"Relax, Reagan," he said. "Have some fun."

When she scowled at him, he shrugged and went to play his bass on the opposite end of the stage.

By the end of third song, Reagan was really feeling the pressure. And her feet were freaking killing her. She glanced over at the side of the stage and caught sight of Trey standing in the shadows. Feeling stronger and somehow relieved, she took a deep breath and trotted up to the front of the stage. The guys in the front row of the audience all surged against the barrier fence as if they wanted to grab her. She glanced at Dare who grinned at her. She lifted the neck of her guitar and gyrated against her instrument slightly. Nothing too extreme. Just a little sexy. One guy launched himself clean over the barrier fence and was promptly escorted to the end of the barrier and forced back into the crowd. Reagan went down on one knee to play the next stanza and her little cluster of fanboys cheered her on. This was kind of fun. She had to be careful not to lose Max's sound though. She couldn't get too carried away.

The song ended and Max made a low growling sound in his microphone. "I see Reagan has broken out of her shell for you. Do you like it?"

The crowd cheered and Reagan found herself displayed on all the screens in the stadium again.

Reagan walked over to the nearest microphone and asked, "Would anyone be horribly offended if I took off these fucking boots? They're killing my feet."

The crowd started chanting. "Take it off. Take it off."

She popped her feet out of both boots, tossed them to a stage runner, and stood barefoot on the stage wriggling her toes in delight. "Now I can get my rock on."

She played a random string of notes that sent the crowd into a frenzy. Okay, so this was a lot of fun. She dug her fingers into her hair, messing it all up and feeling damned good about it. She threw up her devil horns on both fists, shaking her extended pinkies and index fingers at the crowd.

"I'm ready to get dirty," Reagan said.

Dare chuckled into his microphone. "Oh hell yeah," he said in a sexy growl.

"I'll get dirty with you, Reagan," Logan said.

"Let's all get dirty," Max yelled, and the band segued into their gritty ballad, "Stained."