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A smart retort started to bubble inthere withYes, I had hurt them, I knew that Kiera put a hand on my arive up"

Shaking rimy exterior, the run-down diner that was the best I could afford "Look atwith my parents, I’ a job I hate just to get by, and…I lost my wife, my best friends, and my children What hope? How can I possibly fix all of that?"

Her face was firs have been really hard on the D-Bags since you left Denny told me he mentioned so the news?"

With a sigh, I shook ain "No, once the TV show fizzled, I tuned out Even before that actually Once I left the band…I didn’t want to hear about the so so personal to Kiera, but she only nodded

"Yeah, I know Kellan and the guys kind of felt the saoing" She let out a long exhale "And it hasn’t been easy There was a huge backlash when you left Fans were hurt, confused…angry"

Re me at Pete’s, I nodded "Yeah, I know"

Kiera shook her head "No, I don’t think you do A lot of people were roup of Griffin hardcores…and they’re uys"

That shocked the hell out of , Kiera nodded "Yes And they’re very vocal and very loyal They started harassing the guys for pushing you away" She closed her eyes for a second as she shook her head "It got so bad with so orders" She couldn’t have surprised me more if she’d saidorders? They…they okay?"

Her eyes opened slowly, like she was dead tired "They’re fine It was just pretty intense for a while But this group, they’ve spread, and now every event the guys play at has protesters Protesting what the band did to you There were even soht, if I recalled anything weird, but I’d been pretty wasted when I’d arrived, so I couldn’t re like that "Woas all I could say

Kiera gave me a half smile "Yeah And when the band finally did find souy such a hard tied "Thanks to your fanatics, every single person the band has hired to replace you has quit The band can’t move forward They can’t tour, can’t record another albuuilt churned inside " Why hadn’t they called ht it Because they didn’t want to ad pride

Kiera sighed and I looked up at her "Sales have dropped across the board, the band is floundering Kellan has eventheir separate ways…"

My eyes greideNo, this wasn’t what I wanted "They’re disbanding? Kellan can probably go solo, but Matt…Evan…what are they gonna do?" I was so worried for the harder

Kiera’s peaceful smile made me feel a little better So did her next words "Denny convinced Kellan to try oneyet"

Her words were bittersweet I didn’t want the band to break apart, I really didn’t, but I wasn’t thrilled that theirsullen, I asked her, "Yeah? And what’s that one thing Denny dreahed a little "Ironically enough, it’s a TV show Or a TV special, I guess I should say" My expression"Denny thinks that if we have a televised contest to replace you, where the fans get to vote, get to have a say, then your hardcores will beof the new person"

My brain felt like Jell-O as I processed this new develop to replace , since that was how they lost me…

While I processed the infor auditions all over the country…I’m a little surprised you haven’t heard about it"

With a sniff, I told her, "I’ve been preoccupied" Yeah, trying to keep ave eles…teeks from now" With a raised eyebrow, she added, "Tryouts are open to anyone All a person has to do is show up and they’ll be given a chance"

By the look on her face, it was clear she meant uys as a contestant looking for a job I could start over If I was brave enough A conversation with h my tired brain