Caidon Jeffers stood out in the parking lot of the Anderson county fair in Garnett, Kansas and watched the band play. They were good. Tight. He liked them. Not too pop. Not too bluegrass, but not totally traditional.
It worked for him.
Which was good, considering they were gonna front him next week somewhere in Nebraska. Joe had asked him to start touring, saying he needed more exposure, and Joe had this great band and... yeah. So, Kansas.
The best thing was that little guitar player. He was all over the place, just hopping around like a bitty bug, practically humping the whole band. Caidon wondered if the guy would hump him.
He sucked back the rest of his plastic cup of beer and wandered away from the crowd, pulling his little backstage pass out of his shirt so he could go light up back behind the stage and wait out the encore number.
The crowd went wild, cheering Joe's name over and over as the lights went out, the band bebopping down the little ramp, hooting and laughing. That guitar player stole the smoke right out of the fiddle player's mouth, earning himself a swat on the ass.
Goddamn, he was cute. Hot. Whatever.
Caidon reached out and shook Joe's hand, grinning wide. "Good show, man."
"Thanks, buddy. Feels good, having them sing my songs." Joe had somehow gone from tall, dark and geeky to tall, buff and blond. Weird. Still, it seemed to be working.
He didn't stare. Go him. "I bet. You lit up, man."
"Thanks. You still wantin' to come along with us?" Joe groaned as some chick in a hoochie-mama halter and hair that was a danger to herself and others started trying to herd him over to a little table to sign autographs. "Spud! You grab me a beer, man?"
The little dark-haired guitar player got pushed away from... was that the drummer? Jesus. "Sure, man. One sec."
Wandering over, Caidon grabbed a beer out of the cooler, glad to have a longneck instead of a plastic cup of warm piss. "Spud, huh?"
"Yup." He got this grin that just wouldn't quit, muddy green eyes just shining in the lights. "Lead guitar. You're Caidon? Pleased to meetcha."
Lord, it was the Energizer Bunny on crack. ENDEXCERPT
)
