3 - Thunderstuck

~Present Day~

~Corey’s Point of View~

I had Slade’s biker friends working to help locate Pearl. A girl like that gets noticed by any straight male, hell even the gay ones would appreciate her beauty and do a double take. Maybe I was just too stuck on seeing her topless. We tried the phone number on her application several times and left voicemails. 

My little volcanic eruption, in more ways than one.

I played the video of her little performance to the entire band and they were all just as dumbstruck as me. Lukas was practically salivating but I made it clear I’d seen her first. In reality they’d probably be better suited for each other but there’s no way in hell I’d say that out loud. Slade however laid down the law and said if we were serious about recruiting her nobody was licking her. 

If you licked something, food or a female it was yours. Them’s the rules.

“She made it look so fucking easy, I’m jealous,” Jude said, rewinding the video.

I nodded, that was very true. There was so much to what she said though, and Slade pointed out if she’d had that kind of devastation in her life we could potentially harness it, have her write a couple songs. Our best work actually came off the back of Slade’s heartbreak. And his love. He and his then girlfriend wrote most of our first album. 

Then we all wrote the second one, after the fall out. But that’s a tale better left unsaid. Too many bad memories.

I couldn’t imagine what Pearl must be going through. I didn’t even know the woman but my heart hurt for her. I wanted to help her, but I wanted her to help us too. I’d had to go listen to more tryouts again, another fifty or so people and didn’t find one freakin’ decent person.

RING RING

“Slade here,” my manager said, answering his phone.

“Yeah, yeah I really appreciate it. Lemme know what I owe your man. This is great, really great,” Slade said, hanging up. 

He handed me an address and the name of a dive bar. It said, tonight 9:30.

“She’s playing there with a classic rock cover band. Someone recognized her, seen her play there a few nights ago,” Slade said, cracking his knuckles. 

This fuckin’ guy knew everyone. I wasn’t complaining, it often worked to our benefit, and now it sure saved my ass. If I hadn’t found Pearl I was going to lose my mind. It had already been five days and I had barely slept. I’d also jerked off to her video so many times it was pathetic. I had put a copy on my phone.

I didn’t give a damn what anyone said about not trying to hook up with her. If there was any chance in hell I could get in those baggy clothes of hers I wasn’t gonna let anything stop me.

“I wanna go,” Lukas said, looking at Slade’s note.

“Let’s all go,” Trey said.

I shook my head.

“She already ran from me once, and I damn near fired Simone over it. But I still sat there and let Simone be incredibly disrespectful so I had to eat that. I don’t wanna spook her and I need to apologize,” I said, crossing my arms.

“Then Bailey and I should go, you’ll definitely scare her the fuck off,” Trey said, tapping his finger on the table like Slade does when he’s making a point.

Slade nodded.

“No! I’m going,” I said, snatching the note and walking off. 

I barely made it halfway through Slade’s living room before Jude cut me off.

“But we still don’t know if she even sings,” he asked, grabbing my arm.

“Trey can sing if we get desperate. I can do background vocals good enough. But come on, Eruption man,” I said, making my case for her.

He scratched his neck and nodded. 

“We literally got nothing else right now. No one else even close so please don’t scare her off. Ask her to come out here tomorrow and meet with us, with Slade at bare minimum if you think we’re all too much,” he said, as I noticed Slade standing in the corner, listening.

He approached us.

“She’s gotta be in a delicate spot right now with what’s happened to her, but she’s likely got nothing else. A classic rock cover band at the fucking Green Dock? Nobody goes there, hasn’t for two decades. I didn’t even know they were still open. She’s probably making a hundred bucks to play at best. If we’re not going then prop your phone up and video chat us, here these are charged, should last you about three hours,” Slade said, hanging me some bluetooth earbuds.

“You wanna be able to talk to me like I’m at a stake out,” I laughed, dropping them in my pocket.

“I wanna know if she can sing,” Jude said, crossing his arms.

“I need to know you aren’t going to fuck this up and scare her off. She’s clearly interested, but you know you’re intimidating,” Slade said, nodding his head. 

It didn’t even matter now that we were legitimately considering a female. She clearly wasn’t just any female. 

I waved them off and made my way out to my car. Of course I wanted to know that too. But at this point it just didn’t matter. Talent is something you either have or you don’t. Of course people can work at it, practice their asses off. Hell we all still need to practice. But talent cannot be faked, it just can’t. 

But I really had to wonder how this woman didn’t get discovered by now. Mid-thirties and this wasn’t her career? Someone should have picked her up a long time ago. I had to know more. Slade already had his investigator looking into her. Vetting her.

That night I waited impatiently through one of the shittiest opening bands on the planet, and my eyes constantly scanned the room for her. I attempted to talk to the owner but he said he didn’t book the talent, and the guy who did wasn’t in tonight. 

I was about three beers in, after telling myself I wouldn’t drink, and she finally appeared on stage. No glasses, but with that sweet Fender. The frontman said some dumb shit, riling up the crowd. Pearl almost looked bored and I couldn’t blame her. I got Slade’s stupid video chat going and literally all the guys were watching, I propped my phone up against a napkin holder. Yeah, this place served food too but you couldn't pay me to eat it.

I stared at her in wonder, she had on dark ripped jeans and a tank top that showed all her colors. Her sexy as fuck long hair was down around her shoulders, the ink peeking through. The straps of her green top revealed a bright purple bra underneath.

“Will this fuck just shut up,” Lukas said, reading my mind. 

It got quiet for a minute, as the crowd filled in a bit more. The place was actually packed, and I had to imagine that wasn’t a commonplace for this dump. Pearl smiled and her fingers began to fly. 

“Thunderstruck.”

The crowd went ape shit and started singing their part. 

This song was hard to play, that opening bit is what they call a fretting hand. I’ve played it, with a shit ton of practice. Yet again, Pearl made it look easy. You have to be sure of yourself to even try this song, and clearly she didn’t have confidence issues here. 

The lead singer’s voice was horrible, he was basically shouting. I tuned him out with all I could as I focused on her. All my brothers were yelling different things, I didn’t hear them either. 

Next up was “Bad Medicine” by Bon Jovi, again the singer was awful. Pearl added to the back up vocals, but I couldn’t hear her that well since everyone else was yelling. The crowd was also singing so loud it drowned her out. 

“She’s good man, way too damn good for these cock jockeys,” Lukas said.

I chugged the rest of my beer and tried to tune everything else out. For the next song she changed guitars and a really huge dude came and sat at the piano.

“What’s Your Name,” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. 

Again she played it flawlessly. Didn’t sing at all this time. The crowd was dancing, yelling … getting progressively more drunk. Annoying.

Then the all too familiar strumming of a serious oldie filled the air. The Allman Brothers Band, “Midnight Rider.” One of my favorites. My stomach literally did flips as she stepped to the mic. None of my brothers said a word, likely all holding their breath like me.

She started to sing, a slight rasp to her voice similar to Jude. But not Jude. More … soulful. Lyrics that fit her circumstances almost, since as she sang I felt her pain. I felt her pouring herself into it.

When it was over she went right into “Midnight Special,” by CCR. Again with the same profound sense of having lived it. That’s what Feisty’s lyrics were. They were us, raw and real. Except our recent album bullshit but it is what it is.

We wanted our fans to feel what we were saying, playing. Feel it in their bones. She went right into “Centerfield,” by John Fogerty, and continued to sing. She was bouncing a bit, moving with the song, getting into it a lot more. Several times she looked right at me, dead at me and I knew she recognized me, how could she not? She was singing the parts about being ready to play, “put me in coach,” sang directly at me. It didn’t get much more obvious than that. 

She wanted this.

“I’m in love,” Slade said, knocking me out of my trance.

I actually laughed. Slade never got too attached to women, but Pearl had that aura. Even though they weren’t here she was drawing them in.

"Jude you're just gonna have to be a stay at home dad," I mumbled.

I heard laughing but ignored any responses. She was it, the only one in my mind that could lead Feisty.

Next was “Roadhouse Blues,” by the Doors. Also not the easiest to play. The piano part is damn hard too. She didn’t sing that one, and the guy who did shouldn’t be fit to talk to a deaf person. The guy on the harmonica seemed completely wasted but he still did well. 

Next was “If You Want Blood, You’ve Got It,” by Ac/Dc. Another favorite of mine. Something told me without Pearl there’s no way this band could play any of this stuff. For the cover they were charging to get in here they better be giving her a decent cut.

After a few minute break, during which time Pearl didn’t leave the stage, she just stood around and drank water, she ripped into “Panama,” by Van Halen and I was on my fucking feet. Not an easy song to play at all. The guys went nuts in my ear and sang along. Maybe we should do a few covers here and there, this is a damn fun song to do. 

“Seems like the crowd is getting a bit nuts, I don’t like it. I sent Butch over,” Slade said, and I just shrugged. He’s nuts about us having protection when we go out but nobody was recognizing me here. Well, for now.

They played two Springsteen songs next and two by Heart, which Pearl sang. The guys were sweating me, saying they were on their way down but I didn’t care if it was true or not. Lukas might show up, Slade too. 

Whatever they were gonna do, I didn’t care. I was in a trance. Hypnotized.