The bass of you

Chapter 25

The last song was just played and it's now ten o'clock. Me and Layla had stood to the side of the stage with our bottles of booze, watching them play their songs and at times, Chase would look across the stage at me and shoot me cheeky little smirks. I'm not keen on the idea of sleeping with him or anyone else in Black Dagger, but my God does Chase have an effect when he smirks at me. I'm not exactly sure what sort of effect it is, but it's definitely something. 

They're all walking off the stage now, the audience is cheering wildly and they all look happy, but also eager to get the hell out of here. Jace and Wolf don't look too good, there's something a bit off about them. They look kind of pasty, but whatever is wrong with them they're definitely trying to push through it. I'm pretty sure I heard conversation among the others about Immortalibus coming to the hotel that Black Dagger are staying in tonight, but I'm not entirely sure. 

During a break after one of their songs, Chase took the scarf out from the pocket of his jeans and tied it around his head to use as a bandana, then put his cowboy hat back on. I didn't expect this just from him doing what he did, but the audience was cheering when he did it, as if he just did a headstand or something. No matter what Black Dagger does, the audience will always cheer for them when they do the smallest of things. Layla started playing about when she heard the audience cheering for Chase just because he tied a scarf around his head, mocking about, cheering and screaming to the stage too as if she was in the crowd herself.

In the middle of their last song, something weird happened to Chase. His eyes rolled back as he was playing and he stepped back. For a moment, he looked like he was going to collapse for a moment or something, but then he steadied himself. His playing went a bit slow, so he fucked up a bit on that song at that part, but he recovered from it well.  I wasn't the only one who noticed this strange incident either. As soon as his eyes rolled back, people in the front with cameras began snapping away at his bizarre face. Chase seems alright now, but it was really weird.

We get out the backdoor and as soon as I get outside...flash, flash, flash! There are cameras everywhere, literally everywhere, and they're snapping pictures of Black Dagger as we're exiting the stadium. I had such a fright that I must have flinched ten times in a row because I just wasn't expecting this. This is Welsh paparazzi and if these pictures get printed in the newspaper and go up all over the internet, I'm going to have a lot of attention when I go back home. I'll be an unintentional local celebrity back home and I can't be bothered for the fuss, so I really need to hide my face.

Raising my arm in front of my face to hide it, I'm hoping that nobody managed to get a picture of me already. I'm struggling to see where I'm going with the cameras snapping flashes everywhere and trying to hide my face at the same time. Unexpectedly, an arm goes around my shoulders and pulls me into a sweaty bare chest, but I don't care about the sweat - I'm just glad that someone is helping me. My fingers cling into the flesh of whoever's chest this is, hoping they don't let go of me in this moment. I can just hear the people calling out different names of the band members for Black Dagger, desperate to get their attention and snap photos of them...and me.

When I lower my arm slightly to try and get a look of the way ahead of me, I briefly make out that I'm approaching the open door of the limo. Covering my face again, the arm around my shoulders removes itself and soon hands are felt on my shoulder and waist, guiding me into the limo safely. My hand reaches out and feels the leather seat and it's confirmed that I'm safe from the eyes and cameras of the paparazzi now.

Removing my arm and settling down next to Ace, Chase joins me by my side, the limo door shutting after him, and it soon becomes obvious that it was him who had helped me - which I couldn't be any more thankful for. Chase scuffles up next to me, squeezing me between him and Ace, and looks at me with genuine concern in his eyes. I give him a smile of appreciation and nod. 

Bill looks really unpleased as he sits opposite us and stares coldly at Chase. With a jaw as tightened as that, I'm surprised I'm not hearing cracking sounds. I understand that he's going to be a little confused and disappointed with what happened to Chase in front of thousands of people at the stadium, but the dead stare he's giving Chase right now seems a little dramatic.

"What the fuck was that?" Bill finally snaps, not blinking.

"Huh?" Chase croaks in confusion.

"You heard me."

"Hey, man, don't start with me, alright?"

"Dude, he has a point. What happened to you up there?" Jackson asks Chase, leaning forward and looking across at Chase. "Did you drink too much?"

"Naw, man." Chase shakes his head.

"A pic of you rolling your eyes and looking strung out is going to be in the news. You know that, right?" Bill snaps again.

"Fuck off, Billy boy," Chase snaps back.

Bill and Chase have a stare-off after Chase snaps back with his mocking comment. There's a bottle of booze in Chase's hand that he took from inside the stadium and as he and Bill continue to stare at each other with painful expressions, Chase unscrews the lid of the bottle of booze and takes down a few gulps - with his eyes fixated on Bill. There's tension in the limo as it pulls away from the stadium and nothing more is said between Bill and Chase about what happened onstage. For some reason, hearing the way in which Bill spoke of the incident, it seems to me that Bill already knows what the reason behind Chase's bizarre behaviour is. It seems - to me - that Bill is trying to get the answer from Chase, even though he already knows the answer himself, because he wants to hear it come from Chase's mouth. But Chase is avoiding it, and it seems like Chase knows what's going on too.

Looking around the limo at the other members of Black Dagger, it seems like they're all biting their tongues about something, and I'm sure that something has to do with what Bill and Chase were getting rattled up about. Layla is looking around at everyone's faces too, she looks completely dumbfounded on what the hell all this is about, and I feel the exact same way. It's nothing to do with us though, so it's not our place to bring it up, or say anything about it at all.