Righteous Obsession (6 page)

Surprised and touched, Alethea replied, “I’ll just be
a phone call away.”

Colin shook his head.  “Not the same thing.”

“You’ll be in Los Angeles in a month.”

“God!  A month might as well be forever right now!”

There was a honk as the taxi pulled up in front of the
house.  Alethea smiled and squeezed his hand.  “It’ll pass fast, you’ll see.”

“I hope so.”  Colin helped the cab driver load her
things.  He frowned suddenly as he finally realized what was bothering him most
about those calls he’d received.  It wasn’t concern about his own safety, but
fear that this person might take out his hatred of him on somebody close to
him.  “Look, would you do me a favor?  Would you call my cell when you get to
Los Angeles – just so I know you got there okay?”  He held up his hands to fend
off the protests he was fully expecting to hear.  “I know you don’t like me
trying to protect you, but since I love you, I feel I have the right.”

Alethea smiled then and agreed, “Sure, no problem.”

He leaned in the window and gave her a kiss.  “I’ll
try my damnedest to call you tonight.”

“You’d better,” She said then smiled.  “Have a great
time tonight!  Oh!  And kick their asses!”  She waved to him as the taxi pulled
away from the house.

Colin watched until he couldn’t see it any longer.  He
grinned and shook his head.  Maybe, he should give serious consideration to
Liam’s suggestion.  He went back inside and upstairs.  He made his bed and
straightened up his bedroom some and then finished packing.  He locked his
suitcases, took them downstairs and left them in the foyer.  He grabbed his
denim jacket out of the closet underneath the stairs and tossed it on top of
his largest suitcase.  He went into the kitchen, poured more coffee into his
mug then unlocked the kitchen door and stepped out on his deck.  Colin was
really proud of the deck.  He’d hired a local craftsman and carpenter to build it
so that matched the exterior design of the rest of his home.  He, his dad and
Liam had spent a weekend, sealing the wood then painting it to match the trim
on the rest of the house.  He sat down on the railing to enjoy today’s clear
view of the San Francisco skyline.  A cool breeze kept blowing his hair over
his shoulder and into his face.  His thoughts returned to the threatening
voicemails he’d received last night.  Maybe, it was just somebody’s idea of a
really sick joke, but his gut was definitely telling him not to ignore the
threats!  The doorbell rang forgoing any further speculations.  Colin glanced
at his watch and smiled.  One thing he could definitely count on was his
parents always being on time.  He walked into the foyer and opened the door. 
“Hi!”  He opened the screen door for them and stepped back.  “Come on in.”

They walked into the living room and Colin noticed
immediately that Alethea must have straightened it up.  The magazines he
usually left lying scattered about now lay neatly on the coffee table in front
of the couch.

“Are you ready to leave, Colin?”  Amanda asked.

“Yeah, but I’d like to talk to dad first, okay?”

Peter followed Colin out on the deck.  “What’s up,
Son?”

Colin picked his mug up off the rail and frowned into
it.  “I’m worried about you and mom – mom especially.  All the publicity that’s
been focused on our family in the last month and with the controversial causes
I support,” Colin paused and shrugged.

“You’re afraid somebody might try to hurt us because
they don’t like the causes you support?”

“Well, let’s face it, Dad.  California has more than
its fair share of psychotics!  Maybe you should hire private security guards
for yourself and mom.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little extreme?  Besides you
know your mother and she’d never agree to it.”

“She’d agree if you told her you thought it was a good
idea.”

“Possibly,” Peter nodded.  “But I still think it’s too
drastic a step unless you have some definite reason why I should change my
mind?”

Colin hesitated.  Should he worry his parents when he
wasn’t even sure there was anything to worry about?

Amanda appeared at the back door just then and asked,
“Are you guys finished talking?  We’d better get started or we risk getting
caught in the Sunday traffic.”

“We’ll be there in a second, Mandy.”  Peter assured
her.  He looked at Colin again.

Colin shook his head.  “Forget I said anything.  I
guess I’ve just got a bad case of pre-tour jitters.”

Peter had a definite feeling that there was something
Colin was holding back, but unless he chose to tell him what it was, there was
no way he could help him.  As they walked back into the house he laughed,
clapped Colin on his shoulder and confided, “Don’t tell your mother I said so,
but I think she has a bad case of pre-tour jitters, too!  This is the first
time she’ll have both her sons gone at the same time.”

Colin smiled.  “That’s right.  Up until now she’s
always had Liam at home when I’ve been gone.”  He and his father walked back
into the living room where Amanda and Liam were waiting.

“Did you find someone to take care of your fish?” 
Peter asked.

“Page is going to look after them.  You remember Page,
don’t you?”

“Your artist friend,” Amanda replied, keeping her
voice perfectly neutral.

Colin frowned.  Page was probably the only thing he
and his mother had ever fought about.  He’d been eighteen and she had been
twenty-five when they’d first met and his mother had strongly disapproved of
their relationship, saying a woman Page’s age had no business dating a teenage
boy.  He’d told Alethea that Page was an old friend, but he hadn’t told her
that they were former lovers and she’d been his first really intense
relationship.  “Page said she’d feed my fish, collect my mail and keep an eye
on the house.”

“Good,” Peter replied as he opened the front door for
his wife.

Liam picked up Colin’s biggest suitcase and Colin put
on his denim jacket, picked up his flight bag and the remaining suitcase and
set them out on the front porch.  He went back inside, took one last look
around, set the alarm, and shut the front door.

“You’re really going to miss this place, aren’t you?” 
Liam remarked.

His brother laughed and admitted, “I will.  When I
lived in an apartment I was always so glad to get away from it, but since I
have a home now things have changed.”

As they loaded the luggage into the trunk of their
mother’s Pontiac Grand Prix™, Colin asked, “Did you get things straightened out
with Tiffany?”

Liam frowned.  “I did, but she wasn’t too happy about
it.  I tried to let her down easy.  I told her there was no way I was ready for
a permanent relationship right now and if she wanted to date other guys while I
was gone I’d understand.”

“Maybe, I ought to start asking you for romantic
advice,” Colin kidded as they got into the back seat.

“What’s on the agenda for today?”  Liam asked Colin as
they were backing out of the driveway.

“We’ve got an in-store at one.”

“You have an in-store that soon after you arrive?”
Amanda interrupted.

“That’s okay, Mom, we’re tough and we can handle it,”
Liam joked.

“I don’t doubt it.”

“We’ve got the sound check at three,” Colin continued.

“How long does the sound check take?”  Liam asked.

“Usually around forty-five minutes.  After the sound
check, Jake and I have an interview with Z-ROCK 99, but you and Mace are free
until we go on at nine.”

“I wish you and mom could be there to see us in our
first headlining concert,” Liam said to his father.

“Actually, guys, we’re going to be.”

“What!”  Amanda exclaimed.

“I just happen to have these two plane tickets to
Atlanta I bought when the boys got their schedule.”

“How can we go when we both have to be at work
tomorrow morning?”

“We don’t because we both have two weeks vacation.  I
called your office and told them you were taking two weeks off.  Gloria and
Rhonda said you were long overdue for some vacation and to have a great time.”

“I guess I’m outnumbered here,” She replied ruefully.

“Yes, you are, Mandy.  I even packed us a suitcase so
we go straight from Atlanta to wherever.”

“A suitcase – just one?”

“I didn’t figure we need more than one.”

At this, Colin cleared his throat, clapped his hands
over Liam’s ears and joked, “Whoa, you two, there is a minor present!”

“Quit it, Colin!”  Liam yelled, giving him a shove.

“Two weeks in the Caribbean does sound wonderful,”
Amanda conceded.

“Go for it!”  Colin urged.

Peter pulled up in front of the terminal.  “I’ll park
the car and meet you inside.”

Screams and squeals greeted Colin and Liam as they
walked through the sliding glass doors of the terminal.  Twenty or so excited
teenagers suddenly surrounded them.  Colin smiled and shook his head in
wonder.  No matter how secret they kept their departure date, some fans always
managed somehow to discover it.

Amanda watched as Colin talked, joked, and laughed
with the teens.  He sighed autographs, accepted kisses from the female fans and
seemed to be right in his element.  Liam, on the other hand, didn’t appear too
comfortable yet.

Steve, Mace and Jake with Jazz Conrad in tow, bore
down on Colin and Liam as the blissful teens dispersed.  Steve looked anything
but happy.  Colin was always giving him gray hairs with his impulsive behavior.

“Colin, one of these day…”  He warned, lifting his
eyebrows.

“Steve, they’re just a bunch of teenagers!”  Colin
complained.  “They didn’t cause any harm.”

“I’m not worried about that but I am worried you’re
going to get accidentally trampled the next time you decide to jump into the
middle of a bunch of stampeding kids!”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that, Steve,”
Jazz spoke up, “from what I’ve seen, Colin’s able to handle the fans real
well.”  Jazz was in his late thirties, average height with shoulder length
reddish hair, showing some gray and worn in a ponytail.  He had a warm smile
and mischievous brown eyes that twinkled behind wire-rimmed glasses.

Colin turned to his mother and to his father who had
just joined them.  “Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet Jazz Conrad who’s the editor
of Rock Hard magazine.  Jazz, these are my parents, Peter and Amanda Matthews.”

“I’m glad to meet you.  Colin’s spoken of you so
often,” Amanda said, nodding.

“It’s nice meeting you.  I enjoy reading your
magazine,” Peter said.

“I wish everybody up in Sacramento could think like
you and stop trying to play the censorship game.”

“Unfortunately, Jazz, there’s always going to be those
few who feel they have to impose their ideas on the rest of us,” Peter
remarked.

Steve cleared his throat.  “I hate to be rude, people,
but we do need to get into the air.”

“Are you sure that plane is safe?”  Amanda fretted. 
“I mean you just never know about these chartered planes.”

“Mom, this jet belongs to the Hellraisers.  The lead
singer won’t even get into the same car with Joe Elliot because he’s convinced
Def Leppard’s cursed so you know he won’t skimp on his jet’s maintenance,”
Colin joked, trying to reassure her.

“Well, I have two sons flying on it so I think I’m
entitled to worry just a little!”

“Some, yes, but not so much that you can’t enjoy your
vacation, okay?”  Colin replied, giving her a hug.

“I promise,” She agreed.

“Great!”  He gave Peter a hug.  “I’ll see you later
then.”

Liam gave both his parents a hug and then hurried
after the rest of the band.  Once they were in the air, Colin stretched out in
his seat and closed his eyes.  He didn’t remember falling asleep, but suddenly
Steve was shaking his shoulder and telling him they were preparing to land in
Atlanta.

“That was fast!”  Colin yawned and stretched, getting
all the kinks out of his 6’2 frame.

They arrived at their hotel, the Omni at CNN Center on
Peachtree Street, and checked in.  When Colin got to his room, he fell face
first onto the bed and closed his eyes.  His stomach growled loudly.  “Hell!” 
He muttered, opening his eyes.  He figured he’d better eat lunch since he’d
skipped breakfast. He got up and opened the sliding glass door to his balcony. 
It was much warmer than San Francisco had been so he decided to change his
shirt before he did anything else.  He opened his suitcase, dug around and
found his Hard Rock Café San Francisco
T-shirt and pulled it over his
head.  There was a knock on his door and he opened it to find Steve.  A large
individual who looked to be about 6’5 and probably weighed in the neighborhood
of 220, stood behind him.  “Hi, Steve, whose your friend?”

“Colin, I’d like you to meet Buck McGregor.  He gets the
fun job of being your bodyguard for this tour.  Buck, this is Colin Matthews
whose a real headache more times than not!”