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have your little hissy fit.”
    Suddenly, it’s not so cold in the barn.
Flaring tempers can do that to a place.
    “ I don’t know what that’s supposed to
mean—” Here goes Kate’s chicken-neck thing again.
    “ Of course, you do, Kate.”
Jillian’s faded blue eyes pick up some extra color with the rising
volume of her voice. “You’re a child. When you don’t get your way,
you throw tantrums. You need to learn to control your anger. It
would get you a hell of a lot farther in life.”
    Whoa. But kinda hard to argue with that
point.
    “ And since we’re on the
subject”— Jillian’s just warming up now —“if you had let that shit
with Rax go when it started two years ago, you might have obsessed
a little less about everyone else flying past you up the popularity
ranks and focused on how to climb to the top yourself. Face it. In
this business, shit happens. I don’t give a fuck about your beef
with Rax. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over. Move the fuck on with
your life, and write some goddamn music.”
    Kate stares slack-jawed at Jillian as if
she’s been slapped. Silence fills the barn as accusing gazes bounce
back and forth between them.
    I release the breath I’ve been holding and
take a tentative step forward. “I’m not wild about touring with
Killer Dixon, either, but it’s not like we have to interact with
them. We can have our side of the bus, and they’ll have theirs. We
go on stage. They go on stage. Pack everything up, then back to our
side of the bus. No talking required.”
    “ Rax stole my song, Letty.” Kate’s voice
is cold and low and spiked with venom. “ Our song. Possibly our
livelihood.”
    “ Yeah, but what did he do
with it? Did he make millions? Is he bathing in vats of champagne
every night? No. That dickhead works at a fucking gas
station.”
    The remaining words on the tip of my tongue
have never been uttered. Maybe it’s time they should be. I don’t
want to piss her off, but I can’t hold it in any longer. “Did you
ever stop to think maybe the song wasn’t as good as we
thought?”
    Kate snaps her gaze to mine like a whip. The
lash stings.
    “ Let’s be honest.” I
glance at Jillian, whose slowing breaths back me up. “Killer Dixon
is a decent band.
Not better than us, but pretty good. They have a larger following,
more songs in their catalogue, and bigger name
recognition.”
    God, it hurts to admit this shit. My pride’s
been punched in the nads by the truth over and over again, but I’ve
denied it as much as Kate. Nobody wants to hear they’re not as good
as they think they are. Time for us to face the facts.
    “ Now they’ve got a tour
bus with space for us. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. A new
chapter in our band’s history. Would it really be so bad to ride
their coattails to fame and then fart in their faces when we blow
past them? Hell, we could even light the farts.”
    Jinx lifts her head and meets my eyes from
the corner of the barn. The beginnings of a smile curve the sides
of her mouth. The snarl in Kate’s upper lip softens a tad.
    Tempers simmer down and my sap meter rises
with the flicker of a memory from when we were naïve and hopeful
dreamers, before reality jaded us. “Do you guys remember our first
rehearsal? The promise we swore to each other and to The Rock?”
    (For those of you not in the know, The Rock
is the presence in the universe that gives art its form, its power,
and its immortality. Praise The Rock!)
    Kate mumbles, “Light up the night with
music.”
    “ Shake the walls ’til they
crumble to the ground,” I say.
    “ Give the fans a reason to
remember us,” Jinx adds softly.
    “ And always leave them
wanting more,” Jillian finishes.
    We all focus on Kate, who scowls at the dirt
and smatterings of hay beneath her feet.
    “ What do you say, oh great
bitch guitarist goddess? Will you join us in our quest to honor The
Rock by putting Killer Dixon to shame on stage for the next few
months?”
    Kate