Blog Tour, Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway:
Feuds and Interludes by R.L. Merrill
Road to Rocktoberfest 2024
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I did my best not to show that Shane’s appearance had rattled me. Flirting with him earlier was a ballsier move than I thought myself capable of, and thinking about what I’d said? My hands shook as I reached for the mic and put a little more oomph into the last note on this new song than I’d done previously.
“Damn, Boone,” Annie said when the song was over. “Way to show off for your mans.”
I didn’t say anything because, well, it was all out there. My band knew I’d developed an unhealthy amount of attraction to the surly man.
Shane had walked in with Leland and I’d nearly lost my focus. His eyes were so dark under his heavy brows, and they seemed to bore right through me. He had that crease between his brows that I never could tell whether it was pissed or pensive. Then Morrison had gone bonkers, hugging on Leland, all while Shane stared daggers into me. I felt naked in front of him, as if he saw all of my flaws, all the work I did to appear to have my shit together.
I so didn’t.
But I was trying. God, it was hard, but I was trying.
I worked myself nearly to death as the leader of my band, but that had never been as hard as my current battle with diabetes. Food tracking, exercise, medications, managing my blood sugar. Thankfully, Annie and Brandon were totally on board when I suggested we all work on getting healthy without telling them why. They’d given up booze, and that meant the world to me that we could support each other. They still smoked, which they were headed out to do now, since I’d called for a break, but I couldn’t expect them to give up all the fun.
It really, really sucked giving up all the fun.
When they were out, I checked my app to see if my blood sugar was okay, and it wasn’t. I tended to go dangerously low while performing or working out, and was still trying to figure out how to keep that from happening. Not sleeping the past couple of nights hadn’t helped either. I turned and went back into the studio to grab a peanut butter protein bar from my backpack and was just about to open it when Morrison’s voice came over the com.
“Boone, come check this out.”
I dropped the bar back into my bag and entered the control room. Shane’s presence hit me like an electromagnetic pulse. My chest tightened and I opened my mouth to speak, but I started to list to the side, feeling dizzy all of a sudden. I reached for the chair and tried to smile and hide the fact that I was about to collapse.
“Hey, so I picked this up in London and it’s a helluva slide guitar. I want you to listen to something. Leland is going to play the bridge on ‘Over The Moon,’ and why don’t you grab that Strat there and play along with it.”
I blinked a couple of times, not trusting myself to pick up a guitar when I likely couldn’t remain standing much longer. “Can I hear him first?” I tried to think of an excuse. “I want to hear the parts separate.”
“Oh, okay, well it’s really the combination of the slide with the Whammy pedal on the Strat I wanted to try.”
They all looked at me, and spots started clouding my vision.
“Great, why don’t you two play it. I’ll be right back.”
I pushed away from the chair and stumbled a bit, offering a nod to Morrison, who looked at me strangely. He grabbed the Strat and launched into an explanation for Leland. I had to walk danger close to Shane to get to the door. I tried to smile at him, but I bumped him with my shoulder instead.
“Hey,” he said, and I thought, Great. He thinks I’m going to be a dick.
I held up a hand. “Sorry, I’m… Excuse me.”
I pushed through the French doors, hitting them a little harder than I meant, and one of them slammed against the wall, rattling the glass. Thankfully Morrison and Leland were too busy playing to notice—but Shane did.
He frowned at me as I tried to hurry up the stairs to the bathroom. And then, like I’d never climbed steps before, I tripped and caught myself with my hands near the top. I prayed Shane wasn’t still watching as I hurried into the bedroom which I knew had a bathroom attached, ducked inside, and shut the door.
“Fuck,” I said, my hands shaking as I attempted to scoop water into my hands…to drink? Or splash my face? I kind of did both, and then started choking as the water went down the wrong pipe. Intense, body-racking coughs blacked out the rest of my vision, and I sat down on the toilet seat.
Someone pounded on the door.
“Just a minute,” I said with a weak voice, and then coughed even harder.
“Boone, open the door.”
No. Shane. God, how humiliating. I couldn’t let him see me like this. I reached for the doorknob, intending to lock it, but the coughing wouldn’t stop and I fell to a knee just as Shane opened the door.
To celebrate the release of Feuds and Interludes, R.L. Merrill is giving away a $25 Amazon Voucher!
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About the Author:
R.L. Merrill loves creating compelling stories that will stay with readers long after. Ro writes inclusive contemporary romance, paranormal, and horror-inspired music reviews. A mom, wife, daughter, former educator, and advocate for social and reproductive justice, you can currently find cruising in her Bronco with Great Dane pup Velma, being terrorized by feline twins Dracula and Frankenstein, or headbanging at a rock show near her home in the San Francisco Bay Area! Stay Tuned for more…
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