When Jagger sings for them the first time, he tries his best to mimic their former singer, but when he lets loose and sings the one song of theirs that he didn't to sing, it completely blows them away and changes every perception they have of him.
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“I think I’ll take that beer now,” he remarked, scurrying away from the trio before someone got it in their heads to start playing another song. Mercifully, the beers had twist tops. He opened two, holding the second while he pounded the first, nearly done with it when he felt someone trying to liberate the second one from his cold fingers.
Kayden.
Go
figure.
“I’m planning on
drinking that,” Jagger said, refusing to let it go.
“Dude, relax and
just breathe for a minute. You down the second as fast as you finished that one
and they’re gonna hit like a son of a bitch about ten minutes from now. Don’t
think that’s going to work out quite the way you’re hoping.”
“Right. As opposed
to how well it’s working out now,” Jagger grumbled, gently tugging the beer away
from Kayden so he could drink that one too.
“Don’t say I
didn’t warn you. Alcohol hits different at high altitudes, which you’re about
to experience firsthand.”
“It’ll be an
improvement, I promise you.”
“Maybe, but what
we’ve heard already didn’t sound bad at all, it just wasn’t what we’re after.”
“Yeah, I got
that.”
“Then figure out how
to work with it,” Kayden said before grabbing a beer of his own and leaving Jagger
to get his mind right before returning to the mic.
“Take two,” Mickey
said, only instead of Kayden playing the opening chords to the previous song,
Robbie tapped out the intro to an entirely different one. Like the first one,
it wasn’t on the list Jagger had given them and he was beginning to suspect
that they weren’t going to set him up to sing any of the ones that were.
Kayden had been
right about one thing though. That beer was hitting nicely and that ball of
nerves that had been firmly lodged in his gut was rapidly unraveling. Truth was
he loved the fuck out of the song they were prompting him to sing, even if the reason
was painful as hell. It just wasn’t one the beer and vodka crowd ever asked
for, considering the harsh reality of the story it told.
Was far too easy to give in to the rage
and pain steeped words, the emotions sucking him under until he felt vulnerable
and exposed.
We
were born dyin’ one minute at a time
First
breath, last cry, mere inches from the end
Cliff
dive over a sad abyss of hopeless dreams
Broken,
frayed now, shredded at the seams.
Restless
moments where hopes lie unrefined
We’re
still chasing, floundering and blind
Rebels,
angels desperate to be free
Always haunted by who we hoped to be.
We
chased the ghosts of fireflies
On crazy, moonlit suicide rides
You
cursed the pain, the thunder, graveyards, ghosts and glue
Those
clingy moments, failed races never won but in the end
You
cursed the demons who were your friends
You
cursed the rain, the summer, purple, spring and blue
But
the one you cursed most…was you.
Was you.
You
did the one thing you swore you’d never do
Liar,
deceiver
Curse
me for trusting you!
Into
the abyss you leapt without even saying goodbye
No scream, no note, no reason why
Metal,
flesh, and blood fusing into one,
Jaded, we cling to mad delusions of purple suns
You
cursed the pain, the thunder, graveyards, ghosts and glue
Those
clingy moments, failed races never won but in the end
You
cursed the demons who were your friends
You
cursed the rain, the summer, purple, spring and blue
But
the one you cursed most…was you.
Was you.
A
broken line divides love and hate
Sweeping
me away from you
And
every empty war we fought
Was
one step closer to the end
You
ran away, you quit, unfinished business yet to tend
I’m
pissed at you my precious friend
I’m pissed at you my precious friend.
You
cursed the pain, the thunder, graveyards, ghosts and glue
Those
clingy moments, failed races never won but in the end
You
cursed the demons who were your friends
You
cursed the rain, the summer, purple, spring and blue
But
the one you cursed most…was you.
Was you.
The
one you cursed the most was you.
Was you.
The one you cursed the most was you.
Tears
stung his eyes by the time he was through, the crushing weight of dozens of
memories pressed down on him, threatening to drown him in their intensity.
Swiping a hand across his eyes didn’t help, nor did holding his breath and
trying to count backward as far as he could before he had to inhale again.
Jagger clutched that mic stand like a lifeline, his shaggy hair flopping into
his face as he pressed his head against the mic, certain the audition was about
to be over. Maybe that was a good thing. At this point, the three of them were
probably wishing he’d never shown up at their door…either time.
“Now that’s what
we were looking for.”
That was Robbie’s
voice, coming from somewhere super close and a little to the left of him.
Everything was bleary when he raised his head and tried to focus on him. “I’m
sorry. I’ve wasted enough of your time. I need to hit the road before it’s too
late for me to make it all the way home.”
“First off, you
ain’t going nowhere after drinking those beers, and secondly, didn’t you hear
what I just said to you?”
Robbie had a hand
on his shoulder now, the weight of it helping to ground him a little. The fact
that they were so touchy feely was kinda nice even when one of them was trying
to detain him or steal his beer. He could easily get used to it, even if that
made it harder for him to reign in his emotions.
Pressing the heels
of his palms against his eyes at least meant they wouldn’t be able to see the
tears that lingered. He rubbed at them until no moisture remained. By the time
he got himself back under control all three of them had surrounded him.
“Damn, dude, do
you know how much of a compliment it is to us that our song moved you like
that?” Kayden asked, staring at him with this strange mix of confusion and awe.
“I got chills listening to you and almost forgot that I was supposed to be
playing.”
“You weren’t the
only one,” Mickey said. “I’ve played that song so many times I figured I was
immune to the gut punch it was supposed to pack. You nearly knocked me on my
ass when you got to the part about the broken line between love and hate.”
“Doesn’t mean I’ll
be any good with the rest of your material.”
Robbie snorted at
that and cocked his head to the side like he was trying to figure something
out. If the answers would get him away from the piercing intensity of that
bright blue gaze, then Jagger would have happily given them to him. It was
sharp and intimate and way too much and yet Jagger couldn’t manage to look
away.
“Yeah, it does,” Robbie said. “Only question now is if you’ll stick around long enough for us to prove it to you?”
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