The Biker's Fate Chapter 486

Train

We arrived at the radio station and were ushered into the waiting area where Melody stood by the window and scrolled through her phone. "Fucker."

I was sitting on a bench across from her watching her expressions as she read through whatever was on her screen.

"Problem?" I asked.

"Just the usual army of unfuckable hate nerds spouting off about the Gill situation as if they know anything."

I frowned. "Are you on social media right now?"

"It's the twenty-first century," she retorted. "I'm always on social media."

"I'm not always on social media."

"Yeah, but you were probably pissed when they took away your flip phone."

"This ceased to be a phone when they put a screen in it. This is not a phone, this is a goddamned laptop," I pointed out. "And there was nothing wrong with my flip phone."

She smiled, then immediately frowned. "Should we go through the song again before we go in."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because we don't need to. You sounded amazing in the car. So as long as I don't fuck anything up, we should be great."

She wrinkled her nose. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," he said, emphatically. "Has anyone ever called you a worry wart?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, because I don't hang out with people from the nineteenth century."

"Well, that's what you are." He nodded. "And that's what I'm gonna call you when you're acting unnecessarily worried."

"I'm never unnecessarily worried."

"Okay, Wart, I'll take your word for it."

"You call me that and I'm gonna take that guitar and smash it—"

"Hey there, Melody, it's so great to meet you," a man rushed out, interrupting her threat. "I'm Joel, the show's producer. Jinny and Jeff are super excited to have you here this morning. We're all big fans. We're in commercial right now, so come on in, get your cans on, and we'll be ready to go back on the air in three minutes."

I chuckled, winking at Melody as she glared at me and followed Joel into the sound booth.

"Look, Jeff, you said if I went in with you on that timeshare, it would be a fifty-fifty split. I just don't think eight-hundred dollars is too much to ask," Jinny snapped.

"You know my ex-wife is bleeding me dry," Jeff replied. "I don't have your money, Jin."

"Don't Jin me, Jeffrey," she growled.

Joel knocked on the open door. "Hey, you two, are we interrupting anything?"

Jeff shook his head. "Just the inevitable decay of my horrible life."

He said this, just as the engineer called out, "And we're back in five, four, three, two…

"Good morning, Phoenix, it's ten-fifteen in the a.m., and we're super pumped to have with us in studio, Melody Morgan. Aren't we, Jinny?"

"That's right, Jeff! Melody Morgan. But first, with a quick update on this morning's commute, we go to our eye in the sky, Scotty Blades. We'll be right back."

The engineer switched over to the traffic guy and while Joel handed Melody and me headphones, Jinny leaned closer to Jeff and hissed, "I don't wanna hear about your fucking problems, Jeffrey. I will expect my eight-hundred and seventy-two dollars by tomorrow morning, or I will tell your wife's divorce attorney about your boat."

"You wouldn't," he snarled. "She's all I have."

"She's a boat, Jeffrey. Or should I call her your houseboat. Otherwise known as your house," she hissed. "You're not fooling anyone, we all know you're living there."

"You keep your filthy she-devil hands off my Giselle."

"…and that's it from your eye in the sky, Scotty Blades. Back to you, Jinny and Jeff."

"Thanks, Scotty," Jinny said without missing a beat. "Sounds like a real mess out there. Well, here's something that'll put y'all in a really good mood. Melody Morgan, everyone. Welcome. Big fan. Big fan."

"We here at WKAB have been playing the heck out of your new album," Jeff said. "I know I for one, am a huge fan of your new hit single Flowers of Fire."

"Flowers on Fire," Melody corrected.

"How about we talk about your tour?" Jinny said.

"Yeah, we're really excited to be playing all across the country," Melody said. "Especially in some of the cities we missed on the last tour."

"Can you clue us in on any surprises that are waiting for your fans during the live show?" Jinny asked.

"Well, one surprise for all of us was finding this guy here. To my left, is the lovable and talented Courtland Nash, but we all call him Train," Melody said.

I gave them a chin lift.

"Ah, so it's radio, not TV, buddy," Jeff said.

I forced a smile, instantly joining Team Jinny and wondering if I had enough time before the show to comb the marina for his boat with a gas can and a book of matches. "Right. Hi."

"So tell me guys," Jeff said. "You been on the road a while now. I always wonder what you guys get up to to keep yourselves amused. Is there someone in the band that's a big prankster? Like, are you guys always pulling practical jokes on one another?" He puffed out his chest proud of his investigative journalism prowess.

"No," I said, about ready to introduce Jeff's face to my rings.

"So, it sounds like Train here's your new guitar player," Jeff continued. "I understand you had some trouble with your last guitar player, can you tell us a little about that?"

"Well, actually, Jeff, I can't, because there's an ongoing investigation, and really, I'm here to talk about my new album and tour."

"Yeah, of course, and we wanna talk about that stuff, too. But if you could… just for a second… because we're sure your fans are dying to know, what happened with Gill Crenshaw?"

"Hey, man, she said she's not gonna talk about that," I said. "So, how about you drop it?"

"Speaking of drop," Melody said quickly. "My new single just dropped. How about we play it for you?" she suggested, keeping me from tanking the interview entirely. "We all know it's Jeff's favorite song. Flowers on Fire."

We played and for a moment I forgot for a minute we were in this douche factory. That's the way it was when I sang with her. I felt present. Connected to her. It was more than just the connection you felt with another musician, and it was getting stronger every time I played with her.

We finished up at the radio station and the car took us back to the hotel. I found myself not wanting the morning to end but knew I needed to get some sleep before my eyeballs dried up and fell out of their sockets.

Melody thanked me again for playing and singing with her and I headed to my room. Thankfully, sleep came quickly, but my dreams were filled with all things Melody.