Never giving up on you - Completed.

18.

Austin

I ignored the pain in my back and hip when I ran up the stairs to the dressing room. My mind was completely on something else anyway, and I smiled widely when I pushed the door open, grabbed my phone and saw a text from Caity.

Caity: 'We're all set! See you in two and a half hours!' She had included a car selfie of her, Lillian and Hailey, all thumbs up and wide grins. Caity had been asking me for days if Lillian could come too, since the girl had been a big fan of Linkin Park for years and it was her birthday soon. Sadly for Caity, Lillian would be leaving back to Burundi just a few days after we'd be gone on tour. In our daily phone conversations the past two weeks, Caity hadn't expressed her thoughts about that once, but I knew she was bummed to be all alone for a while.

'Yo, Carlile!' I looked back when I heard my name coming from the hallway. Phil came into the dressing room, looking excited. 'We're going for lunch at the diner nearby, wanna come?'

'Sure.' We had two more hours until soundcheck and the girls wouldn't be here until later this afternoon. I grabbed my backstage pass and tied it on the waistband of my jeans, then followed Phil back downstairs. Alan was racing around the backstage area, making Aaron laugh and Tino shake his head.

'No more coffee for you, Ashby,' he sighed. I chuckled and stuck out my leg when Alan passed me, making him stumble and almost trip over.

'Fuck you,' he said, giving me a little push.

'Slow down tiger, you're like a little kid on a suger rush,' I laughed, ruffling his fiery ginger hair.

'Nothing you can't handle nowadays, right?,' Alan said with a smirk. 'So, when are the girls coming over?'

'They're on their way.' I showed him the photo Caity had sent.

'Oh, Lillian is coming?,' Alan asked in surprise, his face lighting up. I gave him a curious look and he changed his demeanour a bit. 'I mean, cool, can't wait to see them again.' Shaking my head, I let out a laugh and put my sunglasses on as we walked outside.

The guys and I joked around for a bit while we walked up to the diner, along with a few of our technicians. Phil was discussing tonight's set up for his guitar with Justin Trotta, a small framed but extremely funny guy with the same shade of gingery hair as Alan.

We all sat down at a vacant table and grabbed menus, figuring out what to order while talking about tonight's show.

'Austin, your daughter's coming tonight, right?,' Justin asked. I grinned.

'Yeah, she is.'

'Do you think we need to use protection?' Everyone fell quiet for a moment, staring at him in shock.

'What?,' I asked a little confused.

'Oh my God, no, I meant for her ears!,' Justin stuttered when he realized what he had said. I snorted and we all started laughing at him. 'Guys, really!,' Justin exclaimed. 'Earcuffs! So she won't get any hearing damage!'

'I do not want you anywhere near my daughter tonight,' I still laughed. Justin flipped me off and we all calmed down a bit when a waitress came to take our orders. Not long after that, we all dugged into our food and talked randomnly for a while, until I felt my phone vibrate and I got it out of my pocket. I frowned when I saw I had received a text from an unknown number.

Unknown number: 'I see you're playing the Staples Centre tonight. I might be popping by if you don't mind.' Who the fuck could this be?

Austin: 'Who are you?'

Unknown number: 'You'll see.' A knot started tying itself in my guts and I frowned at my phone, thinking of who it could be.