Tangled Weeds (The Road to Rocktoberfest 2024)

One

Easy Rian

“ T hank you, Sacramento!” I screamed into the mic as we ended our first show in Sacramento this year. A few years ago, we only played locally, or where we could easily drive to, but things had changed in the past two years. I slung my arm around Liam’s neck and kissed him hard, making him laugh. This was the third tour we’d done together, and I fucking loved him more every damn day.

Rory was busy staring at his boyfriend Kai who was off to the side, like he could barely stop himself from running over to him, and he probably couldn’t. They were almost worse than Liam and me but not quite. I gripped Liam’s hand and raised it above our heads while Glenn and Rory grabbed our free hands and raised them up too then we all took a deep bow.

As soon as we straightened back up, Rory ran off to Kai while swinging his bass around to his back, just in time to kiss him like they hadn’t just seen each other not more than an hour ago. But then I looked at Liam. He was wearing those black leather pants that laced up the front and were low enough on his hips to make me want more. “We need to get offstage,” I growled at him making him smirk. He knew exactly what he did to me, and the two of us played this game on every tour. After a final wave I dragged him backstage and shoved him up against the nearest wall. “I’m gonna fuck you so hard.” I leaned in for another kiss, but he pushed me back and met my eyes.

“It’s my turn to fuck you,” he said with a look that said he wasn’t kidding. I could only nod before he gripped my hair and kissed me.

“Get a room you two,” Glenn said, as he walked by us toward the room they’d assigned us to change in.

“Whatever, Dad ,” Liam said back to him.

“Come on, let’s clean up and get going,” I said, and after a little more grinding on each other we were finally ready to join the others. “It feels so good to be back in Sacramento.”

“Yeah, it does. I’ve missed it too. I’m ready to sleep in our own bed,” Liam said.

“Who said anything about sleeping?” I said as I opened the door. It was nearly as loud inside as it was at the concert. Everyone buzzed with excitement as our music played in the background and we all made our way to the food. Our families were all here tonight since it was the first show we’d put on here in two months and we were all ready to stay home for a while. Liam walked toward the tables where the food was just as I saw my parents.

“Easy!” my dad said as he slapped me on the back before pulling me in for a hug.

“Da, what happened to your hair?” I asked because he’d been rockin’ a mohawk in varying degrees for as long as I could remember. Now it was shaved close to his head.

“It’s been so fucking hot I couldn’t stand it anymore and shaved it off. Just trying out a new look,” he said and ran his hand over the stubble on his head.

“Don’t let him fool you, Easy, yer father thought he’d be cheap and cut his own hair. What you’re looking at is the outcome of that decision,” Mum said before grinning at Dad and shaking her head. “We’ve missed you so much. How long are you here?”

“We have a week before we start the road to Rocktoberfest. This year we have a few different stops. You two should go,” I said, just as Liam walked over to me carrying a plate of food.

“Liam, how are you doing?” Dad asked him and tried to hug him around the heaping plate. He loved Liam almost more than Mum did and that was saying something.

“Hey, Drake, good to see you. I’m tired, and I’m ready to sleep in our own bed,” Liam said and offered me his plate.

“You’re a young pup, you should be handling all this excitement with no problem,” Dad said.

“I think it’s all the travel. Playing is great, but I’m not a fan of being in the bus for that long.” This was something else that had changed, we now had a tour bus. Sure, it was old as hell and looked like an old greyhound bus, mostly because it was, but it was dependable and roomy inside and best of all we had a place to sleep while someone else drove us to the next gig.

“Any new songs?” Mum asked him.

“Rory’s working on something for Rocktoberfest. As soon as he’s got the words down, Easy and I will start putting it all together with the music we’ve been working on. That’s one thing I do like about the bus, we can play anytime we want while we’re on our way to the gig.”

“You two eat, we can talk later,” Mum said and grabbed Dad’s hand to pull him along with her.

“Let’s eat and get out of here,” I said, and Liam laughed as he shoved a roll into his mouth. I rolled my eyes and walked over to get my own. Once I saw everything that was there, I wanted some of it all. Liam was standing with Rory and Kai when I walked back to him.

“Ready for a day off?” Rory asked.

“I’m ready to sleep in a real bed. That’s my biggest complaint about the bus.” It had bunks but none of them were all that comfortable, not to mention the fact that when one of us was fucking, everyone knew about it. I didn’t really mind that at all times, but I didn’t love it either, and Glenn definitely wasn’t a fan. Sometimes I just wanted to get my freak on with Liam without everyone else knowing about it.

“You do realize no matter where you two fuck you’re so fucking loud we all know about it,” Rory said and crossed his arms while Kai’s face glowed with embarrassment.

“Whatever, fucker,” I said making Liam laugh. A while ago he would have been just as embarrassed but not anymore. Now he gave as good as he got and took no crap from any of us. “When do we need to be ready to go next week?”

“We leave on Thursday for Vegas,” Rory said.

“I still can’t believe we’re playing the bigger venues. It felt like it was never going to happen.”

“You deserve it. The band has worked hard for it all,” Liam said not including himself in it.

“We couldn’t have done it without you. Everything changed the day you joined Blinding Light,” I said and hated that my hands were still full of plates of food because I wanted to touch him so bad it hurt.

“Do you think Rocktoberfest will be bigger this year?” Rory asked.

“I’m not sure. I think they kept it to the same number of bands, but I could be wrong,” I said.

“Kai, are you going?”

“Of course he’s going,” Rory said and pulled Kai close enough to kiss the side of his head. “He’ll be backstage with everyone else.”

“Really?” Kai asked.

“Yes, I want you there,” Rory said. I’d never seen him so in love with anyone the whole time I’d known him. And I never thought the person he’d fall so in love with would be a guy, but damn it felt good knowing he was so happy.

“Then it’s settled. Maybe you could meet us in Vegas and ride the bus to Reno and the show,” I said. Liam smiled at Kai before bumping into his side.

“It’ll be a lot of fun, just be prepared. It’s not comfortable at all, and that asshole snores,” Rory said making us all laugh.

“Fuck off, Rory,” I said and took a bite of something on my plate. Yep, things were good.