Crescendo

Chapter 6

DAY FOUR - CONTINUED

DANTE

As the fight between Alex and Christian reaches epic proportions, Turner and Sky quickly pick their strategy.

"I'll take Alex," Sky says at the exact moment Turner says, "I got Christian."

Resolved, the two of them dive into the brawl. It's arms and fists everywhere, bodies rolling and kicking. Turner gets jabbed once or twice in the chest himself. He hears his best friend let out a yell. Glancing over, he notices Sky has his hand up to his left eye. Great. Another thing they don't need is a lead singer with a black eye.

At last, a saving grace arrives.

"HEY!" A shout worthy of a very pissed off drill sergeant rips through the air. Everyone freezes, looks up, and sees their tough as nails manager, Jer Johnson, towering over them at 6'3.

"What the hell is going on in here?" he says. Jer's no longer yelling, but the dangerous snarl in his voice is scary.

"Ask him." Christian jerks his head towards Alex before spitting blood out of the side of his mouth. Alex doesn't look any better. Christian has the busted lip, but Alex has a pretty decent size bruise blooming on his cheek. Christian stands up, pulling out of the hold Turner has around his shoulders.

The rest of the guys straighten. They stand in front of the manager, somber and obedient. Everything about Jer demands respect: from his bold stature and booming voice to his impeccable suits and intense work ethic. He may only be thirty-five, pretty young to be such a successful businessman, but he's damn good at his job. Technically, he shouldn't even be on tour with him and should leave things up to the band's tour manager. However, Jer's such a control freak that he drops in every now and then to "check up on them." Unfortunately, this was one of those times.

"We had a misunderstanding," Turner begins weakly.

"A misunderstanding that led to you beating the shit out of each other?"

"Alex and Christian are having a...small disagreement," Sky says.

"Over?" Jer demands.

"Over Alex being a grudge-holding asshole," Christian mutters.

"And Christian being an insufferable pr-"

"Enough! I don't want to hear insults. I want the truth."

"Uh, it's over a woman," Sky speaks up finally. Jer scoffs.

"Of course it is. Listen, I don't care what petty cockfight you guys are having, but you need to settle it like civilized human beings. Not cavemen. Am I clear?"

The guys mumble their consent.

"Sort it out. Before we get to Phoenix," Jer barks, following it up with a smirk. "You have the next several hours on this bus together. That should be plenty of conflict resolution time."

With that, Jer is done, totally dismissing them. He heads up to the front of the bus with the driver.

"Let's get moving, Tom." Like everyone else who crosses Jer's path, Tom instantly follows Jer's order. The Dante boys stand there awkwardly.

"Maybe we should all cool down. Then come back to this when everyone's...calmer." Turner suggests. Alex scoffs and plops down in one of the kitchen chairs.

"Whatever," Christian says icily before stomping off to his bunk. Turner glances at Sky who is gingerly patting his eye. Turner recognizes the look on his face and isn't particularly happy to see it.

"You okay?" he asks.

"Yeah," Sky responds.

"It was an accident." Turner urges. "It doesn't have to mean anything."