“Wanna beer?” Sed asked.
“Yeah.”
Sed opened a minifridge in the corner, pulled out a couple of cans, and tossed one to Jace. While Jace sipped his beer, he fiddled with a soundboard. He couldn’t guess what all the knobs and sliders and switches did. “Do you actually know how to use this thing?” he asked Sed.
“No fucking clue.” He laughed. “I think Eric might. I dunno.”
The doorbell rang.
“That’s probably Eric now.” Sed left to answer the door.
Suddenly nervous, Jace perched himself on the edge of the sofa. Eric would give Jace shit for being there. For intruding in his creative process and for trying to take his best friend Jon’s place. Eric and Jon had composed Sinners’ last three albums together. As a band, they were diving into new territory, and Eric was sure to resent Jace for not knowing what the fuck he was doing. Jace wanted to learn—wanted to help and to share his ideas—but feared he’d just get in the way and somehow make Sinners less.
Eric entered the studio, examined Sed’s equipment setup, and then sat in the chair across from Jace. “Hey, little man. Been keeping busy?”
Jace rubbed his earlobe, fiddling with the ring there. “No. I’m ready to get back on the road.” Or make a run to Vegas to see Aggie. So far he’d been able to resist her pull and intensify his misery, but he knew he wouldn’t hold out much longer.
“Yeah, no kidding. I hope Trey gets better soon.”
“He won’t get better until he starts trying. Lazing around by his parents’ pool all day isn’t helping.” Sed scowled. “I guess I’ll have to go straighten him out.”
Jace hoped Sed wasn’t too hard on Trey. He knew Sed meant well, but he wasn’t too easy on a person’s feelings.
“Let’s get busy,” Sed said.
“This should be cool.” Eagerness getting the better of him, Jace sat up straighter so he could see all the scraps of music on the coffee table. Maybe if he just stayed quiet and tried not to interfere with Eric’s genius, they wouldn’t make him leave.
Eric rifled through the stack of guitar music he’d brought with him. Stuff Brian had composed while fucking Myrna. Jace wasn’t sure how anyone could think well enough to write music while having sex, but it seemed to work for their lead guitarist.
Eric arranged bits of guitar music and sheets of paper that contained Sed’s lyrics. Jace’s heart rate accelerated. Few things excited him. The talent of this band was at the very top. A set of sexy red lips smiled at him in his mind’s eye. Well, and Aggie, but she excited him in an entirely different way.
Eric rearranged the sections several times and then nodded. “Okay, I’ve got the guitar music worked out. Now we need the bass line.” He glanced at Jace. “Did you bring your guitar?”
Jace retrieved his bass from its case and looped the strap over his shoulder. Eric tapped a rhythm on the table with two pairs of drumsticks. “Match it.”
Jace more than heard the beat, he felt it. He’d listened to Sinners’ songs so many times that he instinctively knew what the bass line should sound like. It echoed in his mind. Complimented the beat. Filled it. Enriched it.
He plugged his bass into a small practice amp and played the series of notes running through his head.
Eric smiled. “Not bad.”
That was almost a compliment. Jace couldn’t help but grin. He noticed Sed watching him with an introspective look on his face.
Eric glanced at Sed. “You ready to sing?”
“I’m ready.” Sed cleared his throat.
Eric related his vision of how the lyrics should sound, and Sed tried to copy him. It took several tries to figure out that Eric should sing it, and Sed should do his typical rumbling screams in accompaniment. Jace’s heart thudded as he listened to the unique duet. That was it. That was the sound that would get them to the next level in their music. To grow. Together. Jace couldn’t believe he was finally a part of this. When they stopped singing, Sed and Eric stared at each other in surprise. They knew it too. Jace’s only regret was that Brian and Trey weren’t there to share the moment.
“That was awesome,” Jace said. “Holy shit. Do it again.”
When Eric broached the possibility of using an electric violin in some songs, Sed was less accommodating to his vision.
Electric violin? Did they really need another stringed instrument? Something like a piano would be better, but Jace was too intimidated to say it. Eric obviously knew what he was doing. Jace needed to curtail his eagerness and let the man work.
“Just try it,” Eric said to Sed. “I’ll be trying something different. You should too.”
Jace leaned forward. He couldn’t help it. He wanted to participate. “Do I get to try something different?”
“No,” Eric said.
Jace’s hopes plummeted.
“Well, maybe,” Eric amended. “You should add more embellishments to the bass lines to complement Brian. You’re a better bassist than Jon was. I think you need to push your skill level on the new album. You must be bored as fuck playing that repetitive shit Jon composed before you signed on.”
Better bassist than Jon was. Eric recognized that? He was probably just jerking Jace around, but hope insisted on floating back to the surface. Jace grinned until his cheeks hurt and glanced from Eric to Sed and back to Eric. “Okay.”
“I’m going to call Trey,” Sed said unexpectedly. “He needs to be here a lot more than I do. Lyrics last.” Sed climbed to his feet. “Carry on. I’ll be right back.”
“Hey, I can’t wait around all day. I’ve got shit to do,” Eric said.
Sed left the room.
“Like what?” Jace asked.
“None of your business,” he said. “Go get me a beer.”
He didn’t have to be such an ass about it. And Jace was not going to get him a beer.
Eric stared him down for a few moments and then reached for another set of music. “Okay, little man. I’ve got another beat for you. Match it.”
He listened to Eric’s tapping on the table, and like before a complementary bass line sounded in his head. He started playing before Eric had completed his progression.
“How do you do that?” Eric asked. “Have you been writing music behind our backs?”
Jace shook his head. “I don’t know. I hear your beat, and I just know what goes there. I think because we’ve been playing together for a couple years now.”
“I guess it has been that long, hasn’t it?” Eric looked nostalgically sad. “Here’s the next one.”
They continued that way for a while. Eric producing a beat. Jace matching it with bass lines. Eric scribbling down the notes Jace played. Sed still hadn’t returned.
“I wonder where the fuck Sed went.”
Jace shrugged.
Eric left the room. Jace scanned the score sheets on the table until Eric returned a few minutes later. “He’s going somewhere with Jessica.”
“Something wrong?”
“She looked upset, but what’s new? Drama follows her like a little lost puppy. But Sed loves her, so what can we do?”
“We can keep writing while he’s gone.”
Eric considered him for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. What do you think about the electric violin idea?” Eric asked. “Brilliant, huh?”
Jace lowered his eyes. He knew Eric just wanted affirmation, but he still didn’t see the point of adding yet another stringed instrument to a band that already had three of them. “Maybe a piano instead,” he said quietly.
Eric stuck his finger in his ear and wriggled it around. “I swear I need a hearing aid. Too much drumming, I guess. What did you say?”