Echoes of Us (25 page)

Ella had outdone herself. We arrived in a limo to pick up Mrs. Morgan. Ella also picked out a gorgeous gown and sent a couple of her assistants to make sure the dress fit perfectly. When I went to the door, Mrs. Morgan opened it before I could ring the bell.

She beamed at me. “You look tasty,” she said, patting my butt as we walked to the car. I swear everyone in the neighborhood was outside watching us.

“You look lovely,” I said.

“I know.”

Jade held the door for her, and she got into the limo. I thought we would let Mrs. Morgan sit in the middle, but Jade pushed me in the car and followed behind. He immediately hooked his ankle with mine.

We ate at a swanky restaurant. No one interrupted our meal for an autograph. When it was time to head to the arena, Mrs. Morgan asked about Maggie.

“She’s waiting at the arena for us,” Jade said. “She’ll show you around backstage and introduce you to everyone while we’re getting ready. You can do anything you want.”

“I just want to see you boys sing,” Mrs. Morgan said.

The show was awesome. Chicago was excited to see us back home. This was the first place we had played, so they claimed us as hometown boys. I thought the show was a dream, but when I came off the stage, everyone gave me a strange look. I had no idea what the hell was going on with them, but it made me nervous.

The phone call from Andy came in the limo on the way back home. Andy was so pissed off about the show I thought he was going to have an aneurysm. I didn’t know what the fuck he was so mad about until he shouted something about a blatant lyric change. He screamed about money and target markets and other things that in the whole picture of life didn’t matter one bit to me.

He told Dave to bring us to his hotel after we dropped off our guest at her home.

“I’m sorry you had to hear that,” I said to Mrs. Morgan.

“He’s quite the prick,” Mrs. Morgan said.

“Yeah, he is,” I agreed.

I walked Mrs. Morgan to her door, glancing over at Maggie’s darkened house. I missed the simplicity of the place.

“I wish I could tell you everything will be okay,” Mrs. Morgan said.

“Me too,” I said and hugged her tightly. She told me she had a great time and that it was the best concert she’d ever been to. She was very glad she hadn’t croaked.

“Are you sick?”

“No, but you never know,” she said. “One day you’re here, and then, you’re not.”

“I better go,” I said.

“Rylan, you need to follow your heart,” she said.

I climbed back in the car and slumped in the seat. Jade reached for my hand, but I slid my hand into my pocket, pretending to look for my phone.

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” I said. “I got caught up in the excitement of the show and the way you were looking at me. I’m sorry.”

Jade shook his head and kissed me.

There were fucking fans at Andy’s hotel, so we had to sneak in through the delivery entrance. Going through all this work to get shouted at seemed really foolish. Dave and Brent got us up to Andy’s suite without anyone noticing us.

Andy scowled at us when we walked into the room. Maggie was standing in the corner next to the bar, sipping on a drink. I joined her and grabbed a beer. I waited for the shouting, but it never came. Instead, Andy made me listen to a thousand different sound clips of the lyric change. Most normal people wouldn’t have noticed, but the RheartJ shippers were having a field day. Twitter may have blown up.

He finally shut his laptop. I thought we were finished, but Andy turned his attention to the lyrics of a new song I’d written. Jade sat there like a stupid lump, not chiming in to support me.

“You know, Rylan,” Maggie said, swirling her drink. “All you need to do with the song is add in a few oh girl lines and stop sneaking in those gender-specific words during the concert. You’ve done it before.”

“I did it once!” I yelled. “And I didn’t mean to do it. I got caught up in the moment and it just slipped out.”

“It just slipped out,” Maggie repeated the words in a tone of voice that made me want to kick her in the shin. “The fans analyze the shit out of every fucking word you utter. For fuck’s sake, you can play the part of straight boy for a few hours.”

“What?” I shouted, and threw my can of beer across the room. It smashed into the wall, splattering liquid everywhere. “I play the part all the fucking time. I can’t get away from it. I may as well be dating you in real life. I don’t know who the fuck I am anymore.” It sounded like Maggie was jumping ship and siding with Andy.

“Quit fucking yelling at me. Can’t you control your emotions?” Maggie snapped. “Stop looking at Jade like he’s the center of the whole fucking universe.”

I gasped at her words. He was the center of my crumbling universe, and she fucking knew it. I tripped over my feet and banged into the table.

“Oh,” Maggie whimpered. “Oh, my God, Rylan, I’m sorry.” She ran her hands through her hair, tugging at the ends. Tears filled her eyes and dripped down her cheeks. “I can’t do this anymore. I’m turning into you,” she shouted, pointing at Andy. “I’m done. I’m going home.”

She raced out of the room, and I sank into a chair. Jade tried to hook his ankle around mine, but I jerked my leg away and listened as the door slammed loudly.

After two more hours of Andy shouting at me and Jade staring at the ceiling, Ella interrupted the meeting and said we’d had enough. Our flight left tomorrow at the crack of dawn, and we needed to get a few hours of rest. Andy frowned and dismissed us with a wave of his hand.

I tried to call Maggie, but it kept going straight to voice mail. When the car pulled up to the hotel, Dave stopped me from getting out of the car.

“Let Jade go up first. We’ll go in through the back entrance,” Dave said.

“Fine,” I said, sinking down in the seat. I didn’t have the strength to argue with him. I pushed redial and stared at my phone, willing Maggie to answer. It went to voice mail again.

Jade was waiting for me in my room.

“Rylan,” he whispered. I shook my head and let him lead me to the bed. He gently laid me back and covered me with his entire body. I clung to him like a dying man taking his last breath.

“I’m losing it,” I cried.

“We’ll make it,” Jade whispered. “We only have a few more shows left. I promise we’ll take a long vacation away from all this shit.”

His words vibrated against my throat, and I arched into him. He moaned and moved my shirt away, then bit down on my collarbone and sucked until a red mark blossomed. I concentrated on his touch instead of all the bad stuff surrounding us.

I didn’t sleep much that night and it showed when I looked in the mirror in the morning.

Jade was sitting at the table staring at his phone when I got out of the bathroom. “Did you tweet about Maggie?”

“No,” I snapped and tossed my suitcases by the door.

“Well, someone tweeted from your account that you’re a free man.” He flipped his phone around so I could see the screen. I stared at the tweet. I’d even put a smiley face. At least Maggie would know it wasn’t me. I hated those fucking emoticons.

“Jade, I can’t take much more of this shit,” I said. “My whole life is based on lies.”

He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He opened his mouth, but his phone buzzed. “They’re waiting. You’re supposed to go down the back stairs.”

“Of course I am,” I growled and grabbed my bag. The door opened and I slammed into Dave.

“Hey, man,” he said. I held my hand up and headed down the hall to go out the back entrance like a dirty little secret. I shot a text to Maggie pleading with her to call me.

Pete got out of the car and popped the trunk so Dave could toss my luggage in the trunk.

Dave got in and I gave him a confused look.

“They want you to show up separately,” he said.

I closed my eyes and leaned against the window. Maggie didn’t call me, and Jade and I didn’t sit together on the plane. There was a new girl sitting next to him. It was a long flight.

The airport was packed with fans, and security deemed it unsafe for us to interact with that many people. I think Dave could tell I wasn’t up for posing for pics and signing autographs. Andy was livid, but Dave barked at him, telling him he was in charge of security and he wasn’t risking us getting hurt.

“Thanks,” I whispered to Dave when we were tucked in the car. All I got was a barely there nod, but I knew he heard me.

The fans hadn’t figured out which hotel we were staying at yet, so it was smooth sailing checking in to our rooms. I tossed my shit on the extra bed and collapsed, pulling the pillow over my face. Maggie still hadn’t answered my texts, and I was getting worried. I had no idea where she had gone.

Mrs. Morgan answered on the third ring.

“Beth,” I said. It was still hard for me to use her first name.

“Rylan,” she said. “Are you okay?”

“Not really, but is Maggie at home? She won’t answer her phone or my texts, and I’m freaking out.”

“She’s sleeping on my couch,” Mrs. Morgan said.

A wave of relief loosened some of the knots in my shoulders. At least I knew she was safe.

“She’s disgusted with herself. She wouldn’t tell me what happened, but I think I have an idea.”

“I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” I murmured. Before I could take another breath, I started to cry. “I have to go. Tell Maggie I love her.”

I hung up before Mrs. Morgan could say anything else. This was not going to be a good day. I glanced at our schedule. We had a sound check and two interviews, plus a meet and greet before the show. I wanted to hide under my bed.

I must have fallen asleep, because when I woke up, Jade was gently shaking me. “You need to clean up,” he whispered in my ear. His tongue snuck out, tracing around the shell of my ear, making me squirm.

“Shower with me,” he said.

For my own sanity, I knew I should stay away from him. Sometimes it felt like Andy installed cameras in our rooms to keep track of our every movement, but I desperately needed to feel Jade.

“How did you get over here?” I asked.

“Dave,” he panted, and turned my head so he had access to my lips as he backed me toward the bathroom. “Andy wants to talk about the new contract as soon as possible.”

I stopped and stared at Jade. “I don’t want to discuss that right now,” I said.

“Rylan, please,” Jade whined. “He’s only asking for two years, and the amount of money would set us up for life.”

“I need a few days to think about this shit,” I said.

“We can do this for two more years. Only two years and then we could do whatever the hell we wanted.”

For the first time since I’d met Jade, I was happy when my phone rang. I stepped away from him, mumbling that I needed to take the call. I left him standing with his shirt askew and his pants undone.

“Hey,” I whispered into the phone to Maggie.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“No, I don’t know what to do. Jade wants to sign the contract and continue with this fucking charade. I don’t know if I can do this for another two years.”

“I can’t tell you what to do,” she said.

“I know,” I whimpered. “I miss you.”

The line went silent and my chest hurt with every breath I took. I was surprised when my phone buzzed again. Maggie had sent me a video.

Remember when things were simple.

I pushed play. It was Jade and me in Mrs. Morgan’s studio messing around with “From the Beginning.” It was the night we wrote it. The song was rough and all raw emotions, but it was fucking perfect. When the song ended, I almost shut my phone off, but the video kept playing.

“I know it’s early and crazy as all fuck,” Jade said. “But I can’t hold it in anymore. No one has ever made me feel so much. I love you, Rylan.”

The three most dreaded words known to mankind hung in the air, and for the first time in my entire life, I relished them and happily returned the sentiment.

“I love you too,” I whispered.

I closed my eyes and turned my phone off. The world could give me a few minutes peace. It fucking owed me for letting me believe that Jade was my always.

The next few concerts were tense, but we held it together and gave the audiences a great show.

We were in New York City on the eve of what was supposed to be the greatest night of our lives, and I was fucking miserable. The moment we got into the hotel, I fell asleep with my head resting on the table. Jade woke me up when he busted into the room, shouting about the new contract.

“Have you read it yet? They’re offering us the fucking world, Rylan,” Jade screamed in my face. “We’ll be touring all over the world. Think about it. Remember all that stuff you told me you wanted to do with me. It could come true.”

I laughed. “They would never let us stand on a balcony in Paris or ride the Eye without some unnamed woman. Kelli’s gone, Maggie’s gone, and now there’s a new girl following you around,” I snarled.

“I’m not cheating on you,” Jade snapped.

I pounded my fist on the table and stood up. “What the fuck do you call it? You’re shoving your tongue down these girls’ throats. And I have to see it over and over on the Internet, on TV, in the magazines and newspapers. It’s fucking everywhere, and it hurts.”

He pushed me and I stumbled back into the wall. I tried to twist away from him, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back toward the table and those fucking contracts.

“Let go of me, you fucking asshole,” I shouted. With one hard yank, I pulled my arm out of his grasp. My bracelet snapped and fell to the floor.

It was like watching something dying in slow motion. I dropped to my knees and stared at the infinity charm lying on the floor. Infinity was a hell of lot shorter than I realized.

“Rylan!” Jade screamed. “I’m sorry.”

I looked from the broken bracelet lying on the floor to Jade. It seemed so symbolic, that the choice I was about to make was already made. It was written in stone. I wasn’t going to sign the contracts.

“I’m sorry,” Jade said again. He kept repeating the words as he scooped the bracelet off the floor. He tried to hand it back to me, but I shook my head. I think he stuffed it in his pocket.