Roadie In Love - 4. More Problems Down the Road

Kevin and Joe made it to Richmond without any problems. Joe was a few years older, at twenty-three, but neither cared and their friendship grew on the long drive. Kevin would come to appreciate this fact even more down the road a way.

Kevin was feeling well enough to work the Richmond show. Nothing unusual happened in Richmond, nor the next night in Raleigh. Charlotte, two nights after Raleigh, well, that was another story. It started the morning of the off day. This time it was Danny that started in with Kevin.

"Good morning, Kevin. How are you doing? Been missing you since that night in New York."

"Yeah, well, I have a new roommate now."

"Yeah, I know. Eric. You two still 'not fucking?'" Air quotes included.

"Right. And it's not like you think it is. We're really not fucking."

"You're telling me you sleep with him every night, and nothing is going on? Sorry, I can't believe that."

"I don't care what you believe, and I'm not going to talk to you about this. If you want to talk about something else, that's fine. My personal life is off-limits."

"You know, Chris was right, you do think your shit doesn't stink. Probably has nothing to do with Eric. I bet your mommy and daddy are rich bitches."

"You DON'T want to go there."

"Mama's boy getting mad?"

"Danny, please stop."

"Mommy and daddy not together anymore? That why you hit the road?"

"Danny, I'm asking you for the last time to drop this."

"And maybe I don't want to. I'm having fun."

Nearly shouting, "Well, go shove your fucking fun up your fucking ass!"

Kevin turned to walk away, but Danny grabbed him. Kevin knew it was a mistake, but he turned around and punched Danny in the stomach. Then he continued to walk away.

A short time later, Jason corralled Kevin and brought him to an empty area backstage. Danny was already there.

Jason began, "I got a phone call from Mr. Edmunds just now. I need to know what's going on with you two."

Danny said, "I'm sure my dad told you; Kevin punched me for no reason."

"No reas..."

"Just hold on Kevin. One perspective at a time. You did nothing to provoke Kevin, did you Danny?"

"Nope. He just walked up to me and hit me out of the blue."

"But..."

Jason held his hand up, stopping Kevin, “You’ll get your chance, I promise.”

"Danny, you want me to believe Kevin hit you for no reason, when even after getting hit multiple times by Chris, he didn't hit him back?"

"Jason, he did hit me, I swear."

"What did you say or do first?"

"I don't know. Walked across his path too close, maybe? Ask him."

"Kevin?"

"He was ragging on my parents, saying they were rich bitches and I'm only here because they're not together again."

"Why is that enough to get violent?"

Losing control of his anger, Kevin yelled, "Because they're fucking dead! If I'm fired, just tell me now so I don't have to look at this piece of shit any longer."

Danny's jaw dropped at the revelation, "Oh. Shit."

"Yeah, oh shit. Maybe you want to apologize to Kevin?"

"Geez, I'm sorry Kevin, really. I had no idea."

Only slightly quieter, "It shouldn't fucking matter. You have a beef with me, or anyone, keep your stupid comments to whatever the beef is about."

"I'm going to wait before I do anything. Danny, I expect you to call your father back and straighten this out. If you don't and Daniel still wants him gone, I'll make your life such a living hell, within perfectly reasonable bounds of the job, you'll want to quit."

Not sounding like he meant it, Danny grumbled, "Yeah, I'll call him."

"How about doing it now?"

"Okay, Jason. Geez."

Danny called his father, and explained that he'd provoked Kevin, by ragging on his parents, who he didn't know were deceased. His father asked him if Jason was around. He said he was right there and handed Jason the phone.

"Hi Daniel."

"Hi Jason. I'm sorry you got into the middle of this because of my son's stupidity. Please apologize to this young man Kevin from me for my son. You don't need to can him or dole out any other type of punishment."

"He's right here, if you'd rather tell him yourself."

"Yeah, sure."

"Putting you on speaker."

"Kevin?"

"Hello, Mr. Edmunds."

"On behalf of myself and my dim-witted son, I'm terribly sorry Danny put you through this. I'm also sorry to hear your parents are no longer with us. Jason, give Kevin my phone number when we're done. Kevin, if Danny gives you any more trouble, you call me."

"I will, at least if it gets as nasty as this. I can take some joking, but he wasn't joking."

"I get it. You heard that Danny, right?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, WHAT?"

"Yes, I'll not be an ass to Kevin anymore, Dad."

"Fine. Don't let me hear about you causing any trouble with anyone else, either. We can always use another man to clean toilets and take out the trash here in the office."

"I'll be good, Dad."

"Fine. Goodbye to all of you."

They all said goodbye to Mr. Edmunds and separated; Jason dictating Daniel's phone number before they both went back to what they were doing. In Kevin and Danny's case, it was about to be reviewing the setup with the band. They missed a lot of the instruction, but there were plenty of other guys to fill in the details.

As they were breaking up the gathering, Danny approached Kevin, "Kevin. Let me buy you lunch. I want to try and start over with you."

"I don't know."

"You heard my father. I'm not going to fuck up this gig. I'll be good. Promise."

"Okay."

"Is pizza okay? There's a place pretty much right around the corner."

"I'm eighteen, pizza's always okay."

At the pizza parlor, Kevin wondered something about Danny's family name.

"Are you any relation to the old rock star, Dave Edmunds?"

"Yeah, he's my father's uncle, sort of."

Curious, "How is he sort of an uncle?"

"There's a couple levels of cousins involved. Dave isn't my grandfather's brother. I think they may be first or second cousins. Something like that."

"That's pretty cool, even if it's a few generations back, being related to someone famous."

"I guess. I met him once, at the record company's offices. Dad's vice president of marketing or something."

“No offense, but couldn’t you get a better job, there with your father?”

“When your father was alive, would you have wanted to work where he did?”

“He was a teacher. Considering the only job I’d be qualified for there would be janitor, I suppose not.”

“You understand my situation perfectly.”

“Like me, not college material?”

“I’m twenty and working here. Shit, I wasn’t even high school material. How I graduated is beyond my understanding.”

“At least you graduated. I flunked four classes this year.”

“Oof. We’ll start a club with more roadies. The idiot’s club. I’ll be Vice President if you want President.”

“That’d be the only thing I could be president of.”

They had a laugh together after that. Reboot on their possible friendship was off to a good start.

*******************************

It was mostly a quiet day, so at bedtime, Eric had a question for Kevin.

“So, Kev. How would you feel about taking our relationship up to the next level? Are you ready for that?”

“God, yes. I was ready for that two seconds after I saw you on the video.”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t real feelings at that time, just pure lust, I bet.”

“You wouldn’t be wrong.”

“That’s one thing I love about you, Kevin. You’re not afraid to say what’s on your mind. Shower first? No offense, but I’d rather not have a sweaty dick in my mouth.”

Kevin laughed, “And you say I’M not afraid to speak my mind. A shower it is.”

Eric had in mind to shower, then have oral sex in bed. Neither he nor Kevin could wait that long after soaping each other up. Eric needed to keep bumping up the water temperature the longer they took, but it was still comfortable when they finally finished pleasing each other.

Eric was up first the next morning. He slipped his head beneath the covers, and lightly touched Kevin’s penis, trying not to wake him. After getting no reaction from that, Eric surrounded Kevin’s cock with his lips, and started sucking him gently. Kevin moaned twice, but never lifted the blankets to look. Eric felt Kevin’s cock throb, exploding into his mouth with a groan.

“Arrrrrgggggghhhh. Oh, God. That better be you under there, Eric.”

With a falsetto voice, Eric replied, “Housekeeping.”

Kevin laughed harder than he had in a long time, “Oh, man, that was funny.”

“A wake up blowjob is funny? Last time you get one.”

Kevin almost fell for it, “Haha, nope, you didn’t get me. And you didn't wake me up, either.”

"I guess I need to be punished for the bad joke, and failure to recognize your sleep state."

Kevin got out of the bed, "I know just the thing, lie down on your back and spread your legs."

Eric looked nervous, "Um, I thought we were going to wait to..."

"We are, don't worry."

Eric laid down, and Kevin crawled between his legs, pushing his legs up. Kevin started on Eric's taint, then moved to his anus.

"Woah! That feels awesome. I never had anybody do that before."

Eric had kept his sexuality close to the vest until recently. There were lots of things he hadn't done yet. Kevin just let out a small moan and kept going. He alternated between anus, taint, and cock. He was working on Eric's asshole when Eric erupted, cum flying in all directions, including into Kevin’s hair.

Kevin remarked, "Well, you sure made a mess. Housekeeping is not going to be happy."

"Oops. But it was your fault, hehe. It's a good thing we're checking out today."

"The show is tonight, Eric. We check out tomorrow."

"Guess we need to avoid housekeeping."

"Oh, I'd be surprised if a little cum on the sheets is a new experience for them. Even straight people fucking leave some behind."

"Oh, and how would you, a gay young man, know about that?"

"Um, porn, maybe?"

"That time I got you!"

"Oh, fuck."

"No. Oh, shower. You've got a busy day ahead of you, then let's go annihilate the buffet."

A few of the Black Crowes' roadies got sick the day before. Kevin and a few others of Deja Vu's crew were drafted to replace them. Eric was right, it was a very busy day. Setting up and breaking down for both bands, exhausted Kevin, Joe, Greg, and Danny; the four that were doing double-duty. Being short-staffed meant ten minutes between Deja Vu and the Black Crowes performances more than usual. Apparently, the crowd didn't mind.

The next three stops on the tour were Atlanta, Orlando, and Miami. No issues arose, and Kevin and Eric remained at the blowjob stage. Two days after Miami was Tampa. Chris' hometown. Unfortunately, Chris was released from jail in Cleveland the day before. He couldn't get a ticket, but that didn't stop him from waiting until the team arrived to start trouble. Kevin and Joe drove up. Chris, recognizing Kevin's car, walked up to them.

"You stay out of this, Spess. This is between him and me."

Joe didn't back down, "I'm not going to just stand here and watch a friend get beat up again. You want a fight, you get both of us."

"Fine. I'll shut you up first, then take care of the faggot."

Joe laughed, "Oh, fuck, that's funny. Everyone knows you wanted to suck Eric's cock. I guess that makes you, what, straight?"

Chris rushed Joe. Joe wasn't very big, but had older brothers and knew how to take care of himself. He stopped short of hitting Chris, but was still able to prevent him from doing any hitting of his own. After stopping him, Joe put Chris into a bear hug.

"Now, you need to apologize to Kevin for calling him that and then drag your sorry ass out of here. I'm sure the Cleveland District Attorney's office would be glad to lock you back up for breaking probation. I don't know for sure, but I bet one of the terms of that probation is to keep the fuck away from Kevin."

"I'll leave. But I'm not apologizing for nothing." Pointing at Kevin, "And you, shithead, don't think this is the last time you'll hear from me. I'm not giving up until I put you into the hospital for the same fifteen days I lost: if not longer. Let go of me Joe."

"Okay but make a move for Kevin and I'll stop you and we'll wait until he calls Cleveland and the locals come to drag your ass away."

Joe let go. Chris sneered at the two of them but left. Unfortunately, he didn't go far.

After Chris was out of earshot, Kevin asked, "What if he comes back? I can't take him alone."

"Don't come out to your car later alone. And I don't mean just with me. I bet Danny still has some making up he'd like to do. I'll get a couple of the others who don't like Chris and we'll be your escort tonight. Chris shows up, we'll hold him. In the meantime, you'll call Cleveland, and find out if he's supposed to stay away from you. If he is, tell them he didn't and if he shows up again, you're calling the local cops."

Kevin made the call and talked to an ADA.

"Mr. Lewiston, I have your case file up in front of me, Mr. Lamington is indeed supposed to stay away from you."

Kevin said, "I'll let the earlier interaction slide, but if Chris shows up again, I'm calling the local cops."

The ADA gave Kevin his cell number, "You do that. Call me too if he shows up. Chris will lose his plea bargain and spend the whole one-hundred and eighty days in jail for the original charge of simple assault. Even that first interaction was enough to break probation. But if you want to look the other way, I'll do that once. But not twice. I'll even add a harassment charge, and anything else I can think of. My boss let him off easy with the fifteen days. I'll convince her that he needs a stronger message."

"Thanks, Mr. Vance. Hopefully, I won't need to call, but I will if he shows up again tonight. We leave Tampa in the morning, so I think that may be the end of it."

"Don't count on it. Keep your eyes open and call me if he shows up anywhere. No excuses. Even if he doesn't, who knows how long he'll hold this grudge?"

"Okay. Thanks. Goodbye."

"Bye."

After the concert that evening, not only did Joe, Danny, and Greg accompany Kevin to his car, Mike Taylor, the band's bassist did as well. Mike was almost as tall as Kevin, at six-foot-two, and he outweighed him by roughly forty pounds. They all walked past the car parked adjacent to Kevin's. Chris jumped out from between the cars, and mistaking Mike for Kevin, swung a baseball bat at Mike's hand.

Mike screamed, "Aaaaaaaah. You mother fucker." He continued to moan in pain, hoping his hand wasn't broken.

Chris saw his mistake, hesitated, and Joe grabbed the bat out of his hands, banging it hard on the top of one of Chris' feet. Danny and Greg grabbed Chris by the arms and held on. Chris was whining about his foot being broken and didn't put up a struggle. Joe held the bat out in front of him, pointing it at Chris' face to further deter any violence.

"Make your calls, Kevin."

Kevin called the ADA and Tampa police and explained the situation to both, requesting an ambulance as well. It took ten minutes for a police car to arrive, followed immediately by an ambulance. Joe gave up the bat, Chris was cuffed, and hopped on one foot to the police car.

The EMT looking at Mike's hand wasn't sure, but said Mike should go with them to the hospital to get it x-rayed. Before leaving, Kevin called Eric to tell him what happened and that he would head to the hospital as soon as he could. He and the other witnesses had a lot of questions to answer. Eric, Cary, and Pat arrived only in the ER a few minutes after Mike did.

Eric asked the triage nurse, "Can you tell me anything about Mike Taylor?"

"Not at this time, he's apparently still being evaluated."

They all sat down and waited. Fifteen minutes later, a nurse came into the waiting area.

"Is anyone here with Michael Taylor?"

All three of them spoke up.

"Oh. Well, I can only allow one of you back there now."

Cary was essentially the leader of the band, so he went with the nurse. Another ten minutes passed and Kevin arrived.

"Any news?"

Eric and Pat simply shook their heads no. They continued to wait. Finally, after ninety minutes, Cary and Mike came into the waiting room, Mike's left hand nearly completely enveloped in a cast.

Kevin reacted first, "Oh, fuck."

Mike agreed, "Yeah, that about sums it up. That asshole get arrested?"

"Yeah, they took him away in cuffs and hopping."

"Hopping?"

"Yeah, Joe bounced the baseball bat on Chris's foot."

"It was a baseball bat? Fuck, it felt like crow bar."

"Well, it was an aluminum bat."

Eric asked about the injury, "So what's the diagnosis?"

"Three broken fingers. Could have been worse, but I'm not going to be able to play for weeks."

Cary spoke up next, "I already called Jason. He'll get in touch with the promoter and see if we can get a replacement."

Kevin was nearly crying, "This is all my fault."

Pat's turn, "Is your name Chris Lamington?"

"No, of course not."

"Then it's not your fault."

"But..."

Eric added, "No buts, Kevin. You didn't start the fight with Chris, so none of this is your fault."

They all headed back to the hotel to try and get some sleep. Jason texted them and said they had a Zoom call with the promoter at nine the next morning. The next stop was in Jackson, Mississippi, in three days' time. An extra day off was timed perfectly, as it happens.

Before turning the lights out, Kevin, who was still feeling awful, mentioned to Eric, "I sure hope they can get somebody. But, and I know it's not a real bass, but I've been trying to play Mike's and Cary's parts on my keyboard. I wish I could fill in, since regardless of what you say, I still feel this is my fault."

"Really? What I've heard you playing around with sounds pretty good. You think you're good enough?"

"I don't know. I think I sound pretty good, but I'm no musician."

"You'll come along with me to the meeting tomorrow, Jason booked a conference room here in the hotel. We'll get up a little early, I'll get someone to grab my acoustic guitar and we'll play a couple together."

"No. I can't do that. I know I'm not good enough."

"You let me be the judge of that."

"Okay, I guess."

Little did Kevin know, there would be eight judges in the morning.

Next up - "Auditions and Replacements"