Catch 22

26

I don't know if I'm going to be able to keep my promise to Rowen to let this whole Caleb thing go.

I take my spot on stage and barely manage to keep it together as Caleb orders us around and we get tuned up for the show tonight.

"Where's Sage?" He yells and my head snaps up.

He had best tread lightly.

"She's in our green room, resting, since someone put her on fucking drums by herself again." I snap, daring him to challenge me.

He opens his mouth to say something back to me before seeming to think better of it and moving on to something else.

He makes a few more subtle digs throughout the soundcheck that don't go unnoticed by me but I do my best to keep my face straight and save my anger for later when I can put it to better use.

By the time I take my in ears out and hand my bass over to Anthony to put on the rack my mind is made up. Caleb has to go.

I track down Matt, our tour manager, quickly, he's in the bus dealing with paperwork.

"Can we talk?" I ask him.

His head snaps up and he furrows his eyes as he looks at me. He must sense that I'm upset because he slides his papers over and gives me his full attention.

"We've been friends for a long time Matt." I start and he nods to encourage me. "So you know I have never asked you for any favors."

"yesss.." He says drawing out the 's' sound. "What's this about?"

"I realy, really like Sage. Like, more than I've ever liked anyone my whole life. The crew has made life a living hell for her for the last near month now and I can't stand to see her like this. She's practically killing herself. She's fainted twice and been in the hospital all because of them." I hear the annoyance in my voice as I speak and using Rowen's middle name leaves a funny taste in my mouth.

"Caleb said it was all related to her medical condition?" Matt questions.

"What? He doesn't even know about her medical condition. Not that that's any excuse. He's had her doing drums by herself. Did you know that?"

His eyes widen and he shakes his head no.

"Well, that's why she passed out the day she had to go to the hospital and he's got her on drums alone again today. I swore to her I wouldn't get involved, but I can't let her kill herself trying to please the asshole."

"So what are you wanting to see done, Cal? We've already lost a lighting engineer, you want me to fire the stage manager too?"

"Anthony is more than capable of taking over and now Mike is off the tour he had that conflicted so he can do lighting for us so we can only be one hand down and we can see if we can find someone to replace Anthony on the tech cycle. It works out and I think it would increase the crew morale too."

"Let me think this over and the best way to handle it. Okay?"

I nod, thankful that he has heard me out and that hopefully he will handle the situation in a way that's less destructive than I would be capable of in this moment.

"Thanks man!" I call to him before heading out in search of Rowen and our two visitors.

•

"SAGE!"

The sound of Caleb's voice calling my name in such a violent manner immediately sets me on edge as I head for the bus following tonight's show.

What does he want?

I stop in my tracks and spin around on my toes to face him, my eyes widening in surprise as his fist connects with my face.

"What the fuck?" I stumble backwards blinking rapidly as I try to process what's just occurred.

Did he just fucking hit me?

"I just got fucking fired because of you, you fucking bitch!" He screams and I'm inherently aware that there are fans everywhere around the bus lot. The thin chain link fence doing little to hide Caleb's actions.

All of the hatred and anger I've been stowing away inside of me the last few weeks releases as I hit him back. I throw everything I've got into the punch and I feel a boost of pride as I see the blood trickle from his nose knowing I've done some damage.

He doesn't stop though, continuing to hurl punches at me until I catch him in the groin with my knee and he goes down as I feel strong arms grabbing me from behind, locking around my stomach and pulling me back away from him.

"Babe, babe. Relax. I've got you." Calum says, spinning me around to face him and his eyes widen.

"He fucking hit you?" He asks taking in my face, clearly seeing red from this realization.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I got him back." I say proudly as Caleb remains on the ground clutching his knees to his chest.

I'm sure my face is bruised but nothing seems to be broken. Caleb has blood running from his nose and lip.

It's only now I look around the perimeter of the bus lot, at all of the fans and their phones that are still pointed directly at us.

"Fuck. Another thing for them to hate me for." I mutter as more of the team wanders outside to investigate the commotion.

"What the fuck?" Anthony asks as he comes out alongside Matt and a few of the other crew.

"Caleb punched Sage." Cal tell them, his hands clenched at his sides and I notice the way some of the boys on the crew move closer behind Calum like they're ready to stop him if his fury continues to build.

"Caleb, you were told to leave the premises. That option was given to you and now you've assaulted a member of our staff. You have thirty seconds to get the fuck out of that gate and into your taxi for the airport or I will call the cops and encourage Sage to press charges, which I am not arguing against as it is. Get the fuck out of here Caleb."

"She fucking broke my nose!" The man yells, standing to his feet clutching his bleeding nose and bent slightly over, looking around at the eyes of everyone still assembled for signs of support. Realizing that no one is going to stick up for him, he spits at them and stalks off towards the gate and his waiting taxi.

When he's gone Calum relaxes slightly beside me, able to let down his defenses. He turns to me and presses his hands on either side of my face looking over my injuries which surely must look worse than they feel given his expression.

"I don't want to talk about it." I say quietly. "I'm sure all these videos are going to blow everything up so much worse. All I want to do right now is go see my sister and hold my niece and forget this shit ever happened.

"Okay. Okay." He says, pulling me close and running his hand over my hair and down my back.

He leads me to the bus where Kate and Cope have been waiting, my sisters eyes when she sees me tell me all I need to know.

"Is it as bad as I think it is?" I sigh and she nods.

"Fuck. I'm so sorry Cal." I rush out turning to him.

"Sorry? For what? He fucking punched you. He's lucky to be alive from where I'm sitting. If I'd gotten there before you'd gotten him to the ground I don't know if I'd have been able to stop myself from killing him." He says honestly.

"Yeah but, all the fans had cameras. They're gonna say it was my fault and it's gonna be bad press and they're never going to like me."

"If they try to give you shit for self defense I'll deal with it. You did nothing wrong." He says, bending forward to kiss my forehead before heading to the freezer for what I hope is an ice pack.

An: holy shit

Thoughts? That was a bit!

This story is gaining reads so quickly! 🥺Thank you so much for coming on this journey with me! ❤️

Ily
Sav🖤