Protective Shadows (The Protective Series, Book 2)

Chapter One

Happy new year everyone!

My new year's eve was pretty boring to be honest :/ got roped into attending some lame I.C.K.A club in Keilor with mum and her idiot partner (can't you tell how fond of him I am? Not).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story :)

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A year ago, if someone told me that I would be the frontman for one of the world's biggest bands, I would have laughed.

Yet as I jogged on the spot, prepping myself for our performance, I knew that this was far from a dream. I had been doing this for what seemed like forever, and had grown used to it over time. What I wasn't used to was the crazed, deafening, shrill screaming of girl fans.

"Ready?" A familiar, thick Finnish accent spoke from beside me.

I nodded, meeting Janne's hazel eyes. I wished I could fix up our friendship, but I wasn't sure how. Things hadn't gone down the best between us, since I had agreed to go to Finland with Asko. And here we were - all four of us, a band of brothers, for the most part.

Helsinki was different to what I had envisioned inside my mind. I had expected it to be warm and exotic. Instead, it was bone-chillingly cold. Snow blanketed the city right from the rooftops to the ground, transforming the tall, wide pine trees into fat lumps of white against the grey sky. Both Finland and Sweden had a white Christmas, with winter finishing in mid-April.

"Let's do this." Jarmo murmured from behind me.

Inhaling a deep, brave breath, I walked out into the blinding spotlights. Asko and Janne flanked me either side, putting their hands on their hips and spreading out towards their instruments.

The crowd went wild. Screams, wooing and even crying were the standard reactions to our appearance on stage.

One time last year, at our fifth gig, a fan had thrown her panties at me. Poor Asko had copped an entire box full of unwrapped tampons, pelted at him individually throughout the duration of the show.

"Hey people!" I called out over the thousands of people, holding my fingers behind my ear. A loud chorus of screaming greeted me. Fans flailed their arms up in their air amongst the numerous white picket signs that read things like 'Marry me Jed'. "I can't hear you!"

The whole arena erupted with the many voices of hysterical fans, jumping up and down excitedly, practically clawing their jaws and chins with sharp, manicured nails. The male fans were also pretty devoted. One sported a handmade t-shirt of my face, blown up huge, spanning from right to left across his chest.

"We're absolutely stoked to be here in Helsinki," Asko said, adjusting his ear microphone as he walked forward beside me. "This year, we will be releasing our second album!"

He had been hitting the gym for months now, and as a result, was packing six underneath his tattered grey Protective Services t-shirt. His hair had grown out longer, falling just above his shoulders in waves.

My own hair had once been a long, luscious dark blonde river. But thanks to cancer, it had fallen out. Now, it was down to my earlobes, curling against the nape of my neck. I missed my long hair. I had since grown frustrated and impatient of waiting for it to go back to its original length, but I couldn't speed up time, as much as I hated it.

We opened with Come & Get In Trouble With Me, and ended with our most iconic song, Do It Like That, as the encore, that had gone five times platinum world-wide.