TANTRIC (Book 3 of the Soundcrush Series)

Chapter 11: Front Men Seek Advice From Preachers

The song for this chapter is Home by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. Because it's quirky and Leed-like, but also the idea of home vs adventure plays heavily in this chapter...both for Adam and Leed, who have different ideas of home, but both are feeling home in their women. And this song has  "falling-in-love-moment" confession, which is absolutely perfect for this chapter.

Leed

On the speaker phone in the car on the way home, I call Mac's phone.

"'Ay man." Adam answers, sounding more Southern than last we spoke.

"Well hello, Baby Sister," I say sarcastically.

"She's asleep," he laughs. "It's ten o'clock here, dude. She's having a rougher time growing a human being than Tam, remember?"

"She okay?" I ask anxiously.

"She's fine. Her blood pressure is right there, you know? High enough to keep me freaking out, not high enough for the docs to declare she has pre-eclampsia and put her in the hospital. But that's good. The longer she can keep Babycakes in the oven and not risk her health, the better. The house is almost done, so that's good too. She's stressed about that, but we will be in before the baby."

"Yeah, I know. Mac is mobilizing us all for moving day." I assure him.

Adam is quiet.

"Heard from Bodes?"

Shit. Adam and Bodie had it out at the end of tour.

 I got no problem with Adam over it. He was in the right, because Mac was in the mix. But Bodie is my oldest fucking friend, and there ain't much he could do that could make me turn on him. So I don't want to tell Adam that Bodie is on the outs with Arabella, and fucking up bigtime in Atlanta, acting like a thug in his old hood. Riley and I have the girl on it—Marley. She's trying to call him, reaching out to his family to see what they know. I honestly don't know how he feels about her, I think he's wrapped up in Arabella, but there is something about that Marley girl where Bodie is concerned. They have some secret, something they have in common. I just hope it's a strong enough share that she can reach him. Because I can't see my way clear right now to drag my ass to Atlanta and wade through Bodie's hood. Tam would fucking kill me, and honestly, being a dad makes you think twice about doing stupid shit.

Not too many people in my world that trumps Bodie, but Ollie is first.  And Mac, too. And my heart is pumping hard to push Ashlynn up on that list, too, but my head is screaming slow the fuck down.

"Leed? You still there?"

"Yeah, I heard from Bodie. Couple weeks ago. He's stateside."

"In LA? You've seen him?"

"Naw, I haven't seen him. I don't exactly know where he is, but I'm trying to make a connection. I'm kinda in the shit with the Cub, right now, you know?"

"How is my nephew?" Adam says proudly. It still trips my shit, that my band brother is my actual brother-in-law now. Fucking crazy.

"He's fucking awesome. Did you see that video of him batting his toys?"

"I saw. He's coordinated as hell for two months. Gonna have mad hands. Guitarist or drummer, ya think?"

"Fuck that, he's a Frontman. His pipes are truly horrific, when he's hungry. Probably be a death metal screecher."

Adam laughs. "So what's up, anyway? You just callin' to shoot the shit with Mac?"

I pull into my garage and park, transferring the phone off speaker. I head through the house for some reason, out to the pool, and the dark canyon sky.