Diary of a Rocker's Kid (D.O.R.K #1) (16 page)

Dalton snickers, not making eye contact. “That would be the understatement of the year.” There was an undertone of bitterness there. It’s almost like he already has experience with that. “Anyway, I’ve already got one woman who’s going to miss me when I’m gone. My whole world revolves around Dev. I’m afraid she’s going to be a nervous wreck when I leave her.”

“Aww, well I’m sure that just means you’re a great brother.”

“Well, my world kind of
has
to revolve around her, since we ran out of parents to rely on recently.”

“Oh man, what happened?”

“My dad has always been out of the picture, and my mom recently died of cancer. We live with my uncle now, whom neither of us ever knew very well.”

“Wow…I am so sorry,” I say.

“It’s okay. Sorry to bring the mood down.”

“You’re good. My mom is out of the picture, obviously, so I can kind of relate.”

Dalton gets a call all of a sudden, and I barely hear Devon’s voice coming through the speaker, but I can’t make out what she’s saying. Dalton says, “Hey, you okay?” He sighs. “Again? I—yeah, okay, I’m coming home. Hang in there. I’m coming as fast as I can.” He hangs up, irritated. “Gio, I gotta go. Dev is having a panic attack again.”

“Okay, man, see you later,” Gio says. Dalton hurries off the patio and around the mansion to his car.

“Man, that is so sad,” I say. “I can’t imagine losing Dad and having a sibling to take care of.”

“It’s been pretty hard on him. He’s tough, though. He never lets anyone see him break down.”

“Do you think he was serious about wanting me to be in his band?” I feel a little selfish for even thinking about that, but I’m just so damn excited.

“Definitely. You
are
the Grim Weeper’s daughter, after all.”

My stomach twists with guilt. Is everything in life just going to be handed to me now?

Chapter 17

June 15, 2015

Back to Missions

Things are still hot with Gio and me, but I came here for a reason, and I’ll be damned if I don’t get my answers. Talking to Dalton today made me realize how crucial it is for me to find my mother. If something ever happens to Dad, I don’t want to be an orphan. I’d like to at least know who my mother is, even if she really is an evil witch.

I’m still focusing on the women in the pictures with Dad, and I’m down to only two: Amelia Maynard and Katherine Crest. Amelia kind of looks like me, and she did appear with Dad in more than one picture, so I’m looking into her story carefully. She has no children my age. I made sure to check that this time. She also has an uppity signature, which validates one of my clues. She acted as Alfonzo’s love interest in a movie once, so that would be weird if she turned out to be my mother. I could say Gio’s dad kissed my mom.

Gross. Nasty. Now I’m hoping that doesn’t turn out to be true.

Anyway, the W3 reunion is heavy on my mind as well. We’re going on Johnny’s show in a couple of days, and I’m really looking forward to meeting the other members of the band. Their names are Carl Wright and James Corsetti, bassist and drummer respectively, and they go by the stage names Kite and Squillo. I guess what I’m really looking forward to is getting explanations for those weird-ass stage names. Carl’s makes sense, his is obviously a play on his first and last names, but Squillo? That’s probably the weirdest name I’ve ever heard.

Two more days, and I’ll get to meet Dad’s bandmates and Johnny McIntyre face-to-face. I’ll also have to talk about the pool picture on national television.

Shit…is it too late to cancel?

Ttyl,

Mads

***

Two days later, Dad and I are waiting on the set of
Johnny McIntyre
, and ‘nervous’ does not even begin to describe my feelings about this whole thing. My palms are sweating bullets, and my left eye has developed a twitch. The twitch is partly from my new contacts, which I got for the sake of the show and not having to worry about glasses anymore. I’m not used to things being in my eyes, but I’d rather deal with that irritation than risk having another accident in front of the whole country.

Before going into makeup, Cass and I secretly met with Dad’s other bandmates, who are hiding out in a room backstage where Dad is not likely to find them. I finally got an explanation for Carl and James’s stage names, Kite and Squillo.

“So, explain those stage names to me,” I said.

James had to explain both of them, since Carl was high as a kite. “I think Carl’s is pretty obvious, but mine is a little less straightforward. It’s an Italian word for a blast or a flourish. I can be a bit of a showoff on stage.”

“Nice! I seem to be surrounded by Italian people lately.”

“Consider yourself lucky,” James said with a wink.

Currently, Johnny McIntyre himself—a handsome, dark-haired, middle-aged man—is reading off an intro he wrote for us, and he’s sitting at a desk in front of an image of the Los Angeles skyline. He’s on a raised platform in the middle of a black stage-like set, and there are two chairs next to him ready for Dad and me. We met him behind the scenes before he went on set, and he was so excited to meet Dad face-to-face that he almost couldn’t contain himself. Dad told him to call him Mike and gave him an autograph, and he promised to give one to everyone in the audience who wanted one.

Johnny finally wraps up his intro. “And now, it is my honor to present to the nation, for the very first time in seventeen years, the Grim Weeper of W3 and his daughter, Madison!” Ear-shattering applause and cheers result, and I shakily follow my father onto the set of
Johnny McIntyre
.

As soon as I turn my head and see the audience, I feel like a badass walking onto that set. Everyone is screaming his name, and there are even a few young, attractive women in the front who are acting like crazy fan girls. We carefully step up on the platform and take our seats, but it takes a minute for the cheering to die down. Finally, Johnny is able to be heard over the din.

“
Wow
, right?” He chuckles with Dad over the response from the crowd.

“I know, thank you everyone.” Dad waves, eliciting yet another roar of applause. “It’s overwhelmin’. It really is.”

“Thank you so much for joining us today. I know it took some convincing from your daughter here. Hi, Madison!”

“Hi.” I giggle nervously.

“Everyone, in case you didn’t know,
this
is the girl you have to thank for the Grim Weeper’s return to Los Angeles.” Everyone cheers, and I start blushing
hard
. “Our Basket Baby here jumped through a ton of hoops to get her dad here and make it as special as possible, so thank you, Madison.”

“It was nothing,” I say, still laughing.
God, how embarrassing…and cool…and embarrassing…

Johnny talks about what a pleasure it was to meet Dad backstage and announces Dad will be signing autographs. Then he says, “Mike, tell us a little bit about what you all have been doing here in L.A. for the past couple of weeks.”

“Truthfully, we’ve been pretty decadent and lazy. Mostly, we’ve been shoppin’, eatin’, and hangin’ out at the mansion. Seventeen years away from home makes you want to stay close for a while.”

Oh my God. He just said “home”…

“Well, not to be inappropriate, but I know Madison here has been having some fun.” Light laughter comes from the crowd. Instant buzzkill for me. Now it’s time for my moment of truth.

“Um…yeah, about that. I’d like to explain, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure, go ahead,” Johnny says.

“Well…what happened at that party was
not
what everyone thinks it is.” Johnny gives me a look like, ‘
Oh, really now?’
I go on to explain that I fell in and my swimsuit top came down, and someone snapped a picture without my knowledge or permission.

“Oh my God…that is
quite
a different story from what we were all told,” Johnny says.

“Yeah, all those magazines calling me a party girl are completely wrong. I am not a party girl. I’m just a dork who fell in a pool.” The audience chuckles.

“Did you ever find out who took the picture and posted it?” Johnny asks.

“No, but we’re looking into it.” Then I go on to add something Dad coached me to say. “If anyone has any information, we would really appreciate them coming forward. Repercussions will be a lot less severe for anyone who comes to us with what they know.”

After that, Johnny asks Dad questions about what our life was like in Kentucky, and then he asks about his music career and whether or not he has any plans, and Dad is pretty vague about the latter. I happen to know Johnny is totally BSing with these questions right now so Cass and the others can get ready on the sidelines. After a five-minute conversation, Johnny finally announces that’s all the time he has for today.

“However, we have some other guests waiting backstage that I think you’re going to want to see.” Dad squints at him in confusion, and Johnny smiles. “W3, come on out!”

Dad gasps as our heads whip around to see Cass, Carl, and James coming out on the stage with the guitars. The roar that results from the audience is almost deafening. Johnny’s crew drops a curtain on the side to reveal James’s drum set and the mics that have been set up, and the bandmates walk right on over to the staging area and start getting ready to rock. Dad is practically having a panic attack next to me…a good one.

“Grim, would you do us the honor of performing a song?” Johnny asks.

Dad looks at the crowd, then at the band, and then his head comes around to me with a flabbergasted expression.

“Go on!” I yell, and Dad laughs.

“All right!”

The audience roars again. He stands up and sprints in the direction of the stage, and the first thing he does is give Carl and James gigantic hugs, laughing and crying at the sight of them. I feel tears of my own coming on as Johnny and I exchange a we-did-it look and a fist bump.

I just fist-bumped Johnny McIntyre. What!

The band takes a minute to conference together and warm up, and then Dad announces, “We’re gonna play an old favorite, ‘Tearing into Silence.’” More cheers. Some people in the audience are straight-up sobbing. This reunion means so much to so many people. I had no idea when I planned this just how awesome it was going to be.

The band starts playing, and people quiet their cheers down to hear them. Smoke rises up on the stage, and the main lights go dim on the set. Multicolored lights flash over the band, and a white backlight comes up behind them. As soon as Dad opens his mouth to sing into the mic, another surge of suppressed cheers comes from the audience.

Dad and Cass exchange glances as they perform, and now I see what Cass meant when she called him her ‘on-stage soulmate.’ They feed off each other and fuel each other’s music, and together, they’re unstoppable. This particular song involves an impressive guitar solo by Cass, and her face gets lost in her mass of blonde hair as she leans down and shreds her heart out. James blasts out a powerful, thundering drumbeat at the end of her solo, which leads them directly into the last portion of the song. It’s a flawless performance, and after the last chord of the song is played, Johnny wraps up the segment amidst more thunderous applause.

People don’t stop cheering even after the cameras have stopped rolling. The bandmates talk among themselves for a few minutes, catching up, and Johnny turns to have his first one-on-one conversation with me. “Madison Daley, thank you so much for what you did here today.”

“Oh no, thank
you
for having us.”

“No really, do you know how high the ratings for this show are going to be?” Both of us laugh. “This was a fantastic idea.”

“Well, I’m happy to help.”

He leans in a little. “Listen, I’m sorry about what I said about the party—”

“Oh please, don’t apologize,” I say, impressed he even thought to say that. “What you said was nowhere near the worst thing I’ve heard.”

“Sorry to hear that.” A crewmember comes up behind him, signaling that he’s needed elsewhere. “Well, I have to go, but I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate this.”

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. McIntyre.”

“Likewise, and call me Johnny.” He extends his hand to me.

I shake it. “Well then, you should call me Mads.”

Chapter 18

June 19, 2015

Mission W3 Reunion Completed

I have to hand it to Gio. His nickname for me could not be any more spot-on. This life I’m living now is sheer madness.

The W3 Reunion was not only watched by millions, but the clip went viral on news websites. Everyone in the U.S. who follows entertainment news has now seen us on TV. They all heard my explanation of the pool picture, too, and I’m actually receiving some apologies from people who made fun of me…not many, but still, it’s a little validation where once I had none.

I opened my Twitter account, which I’ve barely touched in four years, and Ana helped me post a selfie I got with Johnny McIntyre behind the scenes. I captioned it:

“Mission W3 Reunion complete! Thanks, Johnny! #comebackW3”

I tagged Johnny and the show, and they reposted it and replied, thanking me again for what I did. Then my hashtag took off and became a top trend on Twitter. One of my first posts ever, and it’s a top trend! I got more than 70,000 follows in the space of two days. Now when people search my name, it has the little white check mark inside a blue circle that indicates I’m legit. Cass, Gio, and Steph all followed me and shared my post, and they have millions of followers each, so the number just keeps growing and growing.

People are begging for more W3, but things aren’t looking too great. I’ve shown the posts to Dad, but he still hasn’t chosen one way or the other. Cass and I came clean last night about our plotting to get him back to his music career, and his reaction was kind of heartbreaking.

He looked into my eyes with a sad expression and said, “But you’re not grown up yet.”

I said, “Dad, I’m close enough. I’ll be eighteen in four months.”

Tears came into his eyes, and he whispered, “I don’t know what to do,” and turned and walked away.

This totally sucks. All this work, and still the only thing holding him back, holding that entire band back, is me. Cass, Carl, and James are all for the return, but Dad is just so attached to me that he can’t let me go. They all tried to comfort me last night by telling me it’s not my fault, but I don’t believe them, and I feel extremely guilty about it. For once in my life, I’m running out of ideas.

Ttyl,

Mads

***

“Gio, stop.” I giggle. “Stop!” We’re in his pool together the next afternoon, by ourselves, and he’s splashing me without mercy.

“If you stop being cute, I’ll stop splashing you.”

“But I can’t help that!”

“Well then, I guess you’re screwed.” His giant bronze hands continue to scoop gallons of water in my direction. I sputter and cough, holding my hands in front of my face in a futile attempt to shield myself. Every time I turn away from him, he follows me. I love his teasing nature…it’s one of the things that makes him so hot. It’s getting old after ten minutes of this nonsense, though.

Finally, I lunge at him and throw my arms around him, blocking his arms. “
Ha
! Can’t splash me now.” He simply moves his arms and starts splashing me from the sides. “Dammit!” He laughs and keeps on splashing me until I move my hand down to an area I haven’t touched over the clothes yet.

Gio freezes and drops his hands to my elbows. I only barely grazed him, but it still shocked him. “Man, I need to harass you more often.”

“I think you harass me enough.” I rub the water out of my eyes.

Gio laughs at my expense, and then he wraps his arms around my waist and kisses me softly. “Mm…sorry, babe. You’re awesome.”

“I forgive you. You’re amazing.”

“You’re beautiful.”

“You’re perfection.”

I grasp his neck and kiss his wet lips again. Gio kisses me back without restraint, making me feel absolutely adored. My tongue slips into his mouth, and I savor the cinnamon taste as he reaches a hand up under the strap of my bikini top. I’ve been letting him touch me under the strap, but no lower. He likes feeling like he’s
almost
allowed to take it off.

Gio pulls the strap down from my shoulder and rubs my skin with his thumb. I bring my hands down his sides, tracing every muscle. Gio leaves my mouth and kisses down my neck, stopping on the skin of my shoulder. He slides his tongue out and in, giving me just a hint of it.

“You’re such a tease,” I whisper. His warm breath comes out in a rush as he laughs.

He presses his lips against my ear and whispers, “
Sarai la mia rovina. Mi piaci troppo.
”

Chills run down my arms, and my breath comes out in a shuddering rush. “What does that mean?”

He hesitates and shakes his head against mine. “You don’t get to know that yet.”

When he pulls back, pain is etched into his face, and it kills me. “Hey…what’s wrong? You look upset.”

This isn’t the first time this has happened lately. He’s been in kind of a funk, acting super into me sometimes and then turning around and acting all distant. It’s been happening ever since Dalton came over. I’m not sure what to think, and it’s making me feel like maybe he doesn’t really like me after all.

“Honestly, yeah, something is kind of bothering me,” Gio says with a sigh, and I let go of him. We hold on to the side of the pool, facing each other.

“You wanna talk about it?”

“Well…not really.” He traces shapes in the water, not meeting my gaze. “It’s just some personal shit I’m working through right now.”

I blow out a dejected sigh. “Okay,” I mutter, turning toward the stairs leading out of the pool.

Gio takes me by the arm and turns me back to him. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“It’s just…well, I’m not really sure where we stand. You say you like me, but it seems like you don’t really want to let me in.”

I can almost see the stone wall go up as his eyes glaze over. “Madness, it’s hard for anyone to get in here.”

“Even the person you like?”

Gio shrugs. “Anyone.”

I thought I was okay with a fling in the beginning, but I can’t take another person shutting me out. I’m really starting to care about him, and since he’s not letting me in, Scenario 2 is looking more and more plausible. I don’t want a sex-based relationship. I never have, and if that’s what he wants, this is never going to work.

“Look, Gio…this has been amazing, and I don’t want to lose my chance with you, but if all you want is to screw around with someone, I’m not that girl. You’d have better luck with that somewhere else. Maybe this was a mistake.” I back up toward the stairs. “Maybe I should go.”

The pain in his face deepens as I glide away, but I turn around, anyway. When my foot is on the first step, I feel his hand on my arm.

“Wait.” I turn back around to face him, and he sighs. “There’s something you need to know.”

We go back over to the side of the pool, and I stand in front of him, waiting for his explanation.

“There’s…there’s something I’ve held back on telling you. The truth is, I went out with Raven Redinger last year. There was a lot of scandal attached to our relationship—”

“You went out with my doppelgänger?”

“Yes.” Gio nods, looking more scared and vulnerable than I’ve seen him yet. “She acted like she was really into me, but then three months after we got together, she told me our relationship was all for show. It was for the cameras, the media, the fans…I really cared about her, but she didn’t care about me, and I guess that’s why I’ve been holding back from you. I didn’t want to tell you all my secrets until I was sure you were nothing like her.”

“Oh, wow…” A fake relationship for the cameras. I’ve heard of that before, but I never thought much about the effect it would have if one person was not in on the charade.

“The night I found out about everything, I went out and partied at a club before officially breaking up with her. I did some stuff with a girl that I shouldn’t have, and someone sent pictures to the tabloids and they ruined my reputation. The only girls that wanted me after that were sluts who only wanted one thing. You’re the first girl I’ve met since then who doesn’t think I’m a dirty cheater. It was such a relief that you didn’t hate me when you met me that I didn’t have the guts to tell you about all this, but…I understand if you don’t want to be with me now.”

I lean my head down on my arms atop the cement and try to process what I just heard. Gio went out with the ‘mean girl’ version of me. Someone who looks almost
exactly
like me. I thought he liked me because I look like Wonder Woman and play video games, but maybe it’s more complicated than that. I don’t really want to know the answer, but I need to. “Is that why you wanted to be with me? Is it because I look like her?”

“
No
, of course not.” He leans down over me and slips his arm around my shoulders. “You are both beautiful, but you have something she doesn’t have.”

“A crooked chin?” I smirk as I turn to look him in the eyes.

He shakes his head. “No, you have a heart. You do share a birthday with her though, which is weird. And you’re the same age.”

That ‘bats whirling in my stomach’ feeling comes back again. “What?”

“You’re exactly the same age, and you look exactly alike. If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were twins.”

Time stands still as the clues start to form a cohesive web of information in my head.

Raven Redinger shares a birthday with me.

We look just alike.

Jacie and Raven live together in town, but Jacie’s out of town.

Jacie’s uppity, and she’s from a super-rich British family, which explains why she might be a little reserved.

She’s a huge star, and she’s my favorite, which explains why Dad wouldn’t want to tell me about her.

If what Gio just told me about Raven is true, I bet she learned her conniving ways from…her mother.

My
mother.

Could it be true? Is this my answer?

“
Ho-ly shit
,” I whisper.

“What?”

“I have to go.” I make my way over to the stairs. When I’m up on the patio, I snatch a towel from a nearby chair, wrap it around myself, and sprint around the villa toward the front gate.

“Where are you going?” Gio shouts after me, but I’m too distressed to answer. I have to get home. As much as it’s going to kill me, I have to know the truth.

Kelsey lets me in, and the first thing I do is call for Ana. I hear her bedroom door open, and she comes to the top of the stairs as I reach the bottom.

“What’s up?” Ana asks.

“I…I think I…may have solved the mystery,” I pant, whispering the last part.

“What?”

I climb up the stairs carefully. “AYMM.”

Ana knows my codes. Her eyes widen until her irises look like green egg yolks. “Holy shit!” That’s the second time she’s ever said that in her life.

I take her hand and yank her down the hall toward my room. “Come on, we’re going to crack this case once and for all.”

We lock my door behind us and sit down on my bed in front of my laptop, and Ana has to take it from me because my hands are shaking so hard. “What do you want me to search for?” Ana asks.

“Raven Redinger.” I give her a brief run-down of my conversation with Gio. “If it’s true that Raven shares my birthday, and if she doesn’t have a father, it’s almost a guarantee that Jacie Redinger is my mother.”

“I’m going to her Wikipedia.” I manage to nod. She looks over her information and starts pointing like a mad woman when she comes to the “Born” section. “
Look, look, look
!”

It reads:

Raven Elvira Redinger

October 31, 1997 (age 17)

Los Angeles, California, United States

Then Ana’s finger moves down to the “Parents” section.

Jacie (Jessica Charity) Redinger (mother)

No father is listed.

***

After the Raven Redinger discovery, Ana and I sit still on my bed for about five minutes. Well…not ‘still.’ I can’t stop shaking for anything. “What are you going to do?” Ana asks.

“I don’t know.” I whimper. “What
should
I do? I mean…is there any chance we could be wrong?”

“Well, I guess it could all be one big fat coincidence, but I
seriously
doubt that. I think we just found your mother and your twin sister.”

Tears well up in my eyes as we gaze upon photos of Jacie and Raven standing together on the red carpet. Jacie really
does
love ruffles. All her red carpet dresses are superbly extravagant and queen-like. Their milky white skin, their huge blue eyes, their dark hair and trim figures…Ana’s right. There’s no mistaking it. This
has
to be the other half of my family. “No…
no, no, no
. Please tell me my idol didn’t give me up. Please tell me she didn’t keep my
twin sister
and give me up.”