Blessed Fate (15 page)

"Dude, what the fuck are you doing back in here?" Jon asked when I made my way back to the after-party. After a cold shower, I needed a stiff drink even if it meant surrounding myself by horny groupies who thought every dick in every band was fair game. "Already wear her ass out?"

I shook my head, not wanting to have this conversation here. "Nah, we're taking our time," I lied. Well, I suppose it wasn't totally a lie since I
was
purposely holding back right then.

"Because five years of foreplay just isn't enough?" Travis chimed in. I loved them, but I really wanted to wrap my hands around their throats until they couldn't breathe. That was about the only way they were going to let it go; I knew this from being friends with them for almost a decade.

"Stop." I looked around the room and glared back at them. Why didn't they see what a shitty time it was to have this conversation they seemed to think was necessary to have at all? "What we do or don't do is between us. Got it?"

"Damn dude, she shoot you down or something? You seem kinda testy for someone who just had his dream come true today." I tried to ignore Travis as he flailed his arms around like a fairy. He had obviously been drinking, which meant there was no way of getting through to him.

Two things in life that I hated were sober people when I was drunk and drunk people when I was sober. Seeing as the party was starting to wind down, I was one of the few sober people in a room filled with drunks, and one of those was getting dangerously close to crossing a line. I grabbed my glass of Jameson, downing it in one swallow. "I'm gonna head back to the bus. I'll see you guys when you get there."

The next two days felt like they took forever. Between Jon and Travis feeling the need to give me shit every time our paths crossed and Rain purposely making subtle movements she knew would drive me crazy, I was hanging on by a thread by the time we hit Pensacola.

I had asked Angie, whom I was quickly learning was one of the most valuable assets we had behind the scenes because she knew everything and everyone, to make arrangements for us. She slipped me a small envelope shortly after we arrived at the venue with room keys, directions to the hotel, and a note letting me know she had arranged to have a private dinner waiting for us, all she had to do was call to let them know we were on our way.

"Thanks, Ang. I owe you for this one." I gave her a peck on the cheek after looking to make sure no one was around. It wasn't that I cared if we saw us like this; Angie was almost like a little sister to most of us. I just wanted to shield everyone from the fallout that would be imminent if someone snapped a picture of an innocent moment with a girl who wasn't Rain.

"No problem. Just do me a favor?" She looked ridiculous with her head tilted back trying to look at me. If the girl hit five feet tall, I would be shocked.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Don't screw this up. She needs someone like you in her life, and I think she's finally realizing that. Don't piss her off; she's actually been really pleasant the past few days." I understood exactly what Angie was saying. If you weren't in Rain's inner circle, she had walls built up so high you could never get in. I'd overheard more than one crew member talking about the fact that she seemed more approachable since our talk in Jackson, almost as if she was letting everyone get a bit closer to her now.

"On the bus, now. Need to have a chat," Jon called out as I was rounding the front of the bus. He didn't call these little meetings often, so I was more than just a bit on edge wondering what was going on, hoping like hell there wasn't drama brewing.

Rain was sitting at the dining table staring at something on her laptop when I entered the bus. "Hey baby, you know what this is about?" I leaned down to kiss her, trying to keep her from seeing the envelope in my back pocket.

"Nope, I was hoping you might." She looked up at me and smiled, reminding me that I was a very, very lucky man. "Trav, you know what's up?" She yelled towards the bathroom. Travis' answered was muffled by the door, but it was apparent he was as clueless as we were.

"Hey guys, I got a phone call and we need to talk." This statement from Jon worried me. I was a firm believer that the words 'we need to talk' should be outlawed because ninety-nine percent of the time, nothing good followed them.

"Mercy Crush had to drop out of their summer tour," he continued. "Tanya got a call this morning, asking if we'd be willing to take their place."

"Sounds good to me, Travis said without taking his eyes off the video game he was playing.

Jon shook his head. "We all know
you
don't have a life, but I need to know that you two are on board." When he looked from me to Rain, my eyes followed his, and I saw the gears turning in her mind. I could almost hear her twisting Jon's attempt to be courteous, knowing I had plans for us for the break, and turning it into a reason being together was a bad idea.

"Why wouldn't we be?" I asked. Yes, it was a legitimate question, but it would be nice if Jon thought about things like how Rain reacted to things like that. Then again, why should he? It's not as if it was his relationship on the line. Hell, in his eyes, no woman was worth the effort I had gone through to get where I was.

"Well, I know you two had plans for the break, and those are shot to shit if we do this. We'll have three weeks off, but we have to get back to Portland, try to get some writing in, hopefully lay at least a few tracks, and get back to Memphis for the first show." Okay, so when he put it like that, I could see why he was asking.

This was a critical time for Blessed Tragedy. We had finally started garnering national attention, meaning bigger bands had started asking us to open for them. It's the reason we had busted our asses all those years, sometimes doing shows as many as six nights a week, driving through the night to extend our reach. To pass on the opportunity would be career suicide, especially on a summer tour where the venues accommodated more fans.

At the same time, Rain and I needed this time together to strengthen our relationship, independent of the band. Life on the road is much like living in a bubble. We both knew there were things we avoided talking about because there was no way to escape one another if things turned ugly. Not only that, but if we fought, it affected everyone around us and could negatively impact our performance, thus putting future bookings on the line.

We planned our trip back to Portland to give us time to see how we interacted without other people around us day and night. To just be Maddie and Colton, and honestly, to hopefully allow me to see Maddie more than Rain now that I was learning more about the person she'd been for most of her life. Even better, I think that for once in her adult life, she didn't see the girl her parents raised her to be as being something insignificant or fake.

I was also hoping to surprise her by taking her to see her dad and her brothers on the way through to Portland. Rain needed to spend some time with them since she had lost so much time when no one was communicating. It was important to me because I needed her brothers to know how much she meant to me. Now that was going to have to wait as well.

"Jon, I have a thought." I slid off the bench and motioned for Jon to follow me back to the bedroom. Until I knew he was cool with it, I wasn't going to say anything in front of everyone. Rain looked a little perturbed by this fact, so I leaned down to kiss her and let her know it would be okay.

"Whatcha got?" Jon asked as I shut the door.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and started sending an email to my dad. "You remember how my dad started trying to make up for being a fuck-off around the time we got out of high school?" Jon was one of the only people who knew about that. My dad was an absentee parent for over ten years of my life, so I wasn't anxious to tell everyone when he showed up again.

"Yeah, but what's that have to do with us hitting the road again?" I could tell my seemingly unrelated question agitated Jon.

"Well, he has a vacation home about an hour from here. Always told me I can use it any time I want but I rarely have a reason to. So, I was thinking if he's not there, we could hole up for the few weeks we have off, get some shit done, and then we're not wasting a ton of time going from here to Portland and then Portland to Memphis." Had I thought of the vacation house sooner, I would have said screw the road trip and spent as much time as possible there with Rain. If that wasn't going to happen, might as well have everyone there.

"Hmmm, think he'll be cool with it?" Jon rubbed his chin the way he did when he was trying to figure out something in his head. "I mean, you two aren't tight, and we're not exactly clean cut. Is it going to cause problems?"

"Nah, and last I knew, he had a piano there, so it'd be good for getting some work done." Suddenly, it seemed like the perfect idea. We could all use a little R&R but we had work to do too. What better place work than a house right on the beach?

"If you're sure, let's do it. I'll make the calls I need to, you get that set up and we'll go from there. Rain going to be cool with this?"

"Yeah, I think she'll be fine. You know her, it's all about what's best for the band, her personal life be damned." If either of us wasn't going to be okay with this solution, it would have been me. What I said to Jon was the truth. If it was what the band needed, Rain would be on board with it. Hadn't that what kept us apart for so many years?

By the time we got through our set, Rain looked ready to murder someone. Jon and I had spent much of the afternoon working together to sort out all the details of temporarily moving our home base cross-country. I let Jon deal with most of the business details while I took care of contacting the property manager my dad used for the house to have them send someone to open it up, clean it and stock the cupboards.

Since it was the last night of this tour, we headed to the wrap party at a local club. It felt like every time I found Rain, she would disappear into the crowd. A few times, I saw her on the dance floor, displaying moves I didn't realize she had. Sure, she could head bang with the best, but seeing her bumping and grinding to house music was something new, and maddeningly sexy.

Less than two hours after getting to the club, I needed to get out of there. This was going to be the only night Rain and I had to spend together alone, and I didn't want to waste a minute of it. I had given the keys to the hotel room to Jon, and he and Travis were going to drive down in the morning. I found Rain talking to a group of locals and headed for the door.

"Going somewhere special?" Rain asked when she saw my Harley sitting at the curb. We had ridden over in a limo with some of the other bands, so I had asked Jared to bring the bike when they finished tearing down.

"You'll see," I said, throwing my leg over the bike. I felt her settle in behind me, and she squeezed my waist to let me know she was ready to roll.

The drive along the coast was excruciating. I had to stay focused so I wouldn't get pulled over for speeding and I couldn't take my mind off what I knew was about to come.

We pulled up to the entrance to the gated community, and I entered the code to gain access. The few times I had been here, I always thought it was interesting that my dad used my birthday as the code since he spent so many years of my life ignoring my existence. Rain tensed as we drove through the neighborhoods to get to our destination.

Other than the location, the two-story home my father and his wife used less than a month out of the year was the type of home I would love to have some day. Hell, knowing how hard he had been working to regain my trust, I probably could live here as long as they didn't want to visit while I was home.

"What's going on?" Rain asked as she tentatively got off the bike.

"Come on." I led her up the brick walkway to the house.

Everything was set exactly as I had requested. The side table lights were on in the living room casting a warm glow against the taupe walls. Had I known for sure what time we were going to get here, I would have paid good money to have candles burning throughout the house, but I figured that would be a bit risky since I couldn't ask someone to come over this late at night.