Seducing Wrath (17 page)

Sally was nodding but Jack looked perplexed. “What exactly are you saying?”

“I went undercover and pretended to be a groupie to get up close and personal with Wrath. Joe, their manager, figured it out and sent me home. But I’d done it all with the best of intentions. I never thought it would hurt anyone.”

“I don’t think even you believed that, dear. I think you knew all along you were going to be hurt.”

I nodded. She was very perceptive. No wonder she was such a great foster parent. She started coughing again and Joe went to get her some tea.

“Are you here to ask for forgiveness, because I don’t think we’re the ones who can give it to you? You’ll need to go to the kids.”

“I know, but actually I’m hoping you’ll help me fill in some of the holes in my story. I promise it will only benefit them. I can even bring it back for you to check before I try to get it published.”

Jack came in with tea for all of us. They were such a cute couple. I could only hope I’d have their kind of relationship someday.

“That won’t be necessary. Of course we’ll help you.”

“Thank you so much.”

Sally smiled at me. She looked like she wanted to say something but changed her mind.

I sat with them for almost two hours as I asked and they answered everything they could. I learned a whole lot about all of them, but especially what Wrath’s childhood was like once he got to the Sherman’s. He’d had a huge abandonment complex and it had taken them over a year to get him to do anything more than answer direct questions. I’d guessed right too, they never found out anything about his father.

They shared cute stories about the boys, not as many about the girls since they didn’t come until high school. They all had a hard time adjusting but not anyone so much as Rage. They spoke about him the least, saying it was his story to share when he chose. When I looked at my notes later, there wasn’t really anything they’d shared on any of the kid’s lives before they’d moved in—only the very bare basics, like where and when they were born and when they came to live with them.

“Thank you so much for all of your help. I’ll let you know what happens. I hope you feel better soon. If my mom’s tea helps, please let us know and we’ll bring some more.”

“Thank you, dear. I’m sure I’ll be fine. Jack, could you show Teresa out.”

He kissed her cheek and led me to the front door. “She’s sicker than she’s letting on. We’re waiting for the test results. I do appreciate the tea but I’m not sure it will help much.”

“I’m so sorry.” I hugged him. I got into the car and sat for a moment. How sad. I hoped they’d be able to fix whatever was wrong with her. She was such a sweet woman. I wondered if Wrath knew she was sick. I wished they’d find some reason to come home and see her soon.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Wrath…

We were on the fucking west coast now. We’d made it all across the freakin’ country. We’d never been anywhere outside of the east coast before this tour. It was only the fucking beginning too. We’d be performing in Seattle, San Francisco Los Angeles, and Phoenix. Somehow we’d worked a few days free in our freakin’ schedule—a fucking miracle if you ask me. So what did we decide to do? Go to fucking Las Vegas.

Here we were, in the middle of Sin City, and I was bored to death. It was cool and all, the lights, the hotels, the crazy people on Fremont Street, but really, unless you wanted to gamble or go to shows, it was just boring. I didn’t want to fucking do either, so I stayed in my room most of the time.

I called Sally to see how she was doing but she wasn’t home. Jack said she was doing better, but I wasn’t convinced.

“Hey, dipshit.”

“What, fuckhead?”

“C’mon out with us. We’re all going to the aquarium at the Mandalay Bay and getting dinner.”

“Who is all?”

“Me, Cyn, Flame, Michelle, Fury, Rage, and Terrance of course.”

“Michelle’s here?” Again the fucking green-eyed monster tried to take over. Why shouldn’t they have someone just because I don’t? I never wanted someone anyway. Fuckin’ Blue. I hadn’t made any headway with Joe. He wouldn’t say a word about her. How the fuck was I going to find her?

“Well? You coming, asswipe?”

“I don’t fucking feel like it.”

“Fuck it. Like I care? Be downstairs in ten or we’re going to break down your door and drag you with us.”

Fuck me running. I guess they weren’t going leave me alone. It’s all I wanted. Let me have my pity party for once, I didn’t need anyone else.

Rage saw me first. “You look like shit, bro. You need to get laid or something.”

“Shut the fuck up, asshole.”

“Well at least you sound fuckin’ normal,” Rage answered with a laugh. “It’ll be okay, bro. She’ll come crawling back, you’ll see. She was fuckin' into you.”

“I doubt it but who the fuck knows, besides, who says I want her back.”

Chaos came over in time to hear me. “You’re so fucking full of shit you’re brown, asswipe. Who are you trying to fool? Because we’re not fucking buying it.”

“Maybe, but you’re the one who kept calling her a skank.”

“Who’s a skank?” Turning, I saw Michelle with Flame.

Gritting my teeth, I didn’t want to talk about it, but it seemed like it was going to be the fucking main topic of conversation. “A groupie I was doing for a couple of weeks.”

“What happened to her?”

I sighed. This sucked and was exactly why I didn’t want to fucking go with them. “Flame, tell your girl so I don’t have to or I might break something.”

“No problem, bro. Fuckin’ take it easy, will ya?” He pulled her over to the side, and with their heads together he must have explained the clusterfuck that had been Blue. Looking at them it made me want to puke, they looked like they were fucking made to fit together.

Finally the limo arrived and took us from the Cosmopolitan down to the Mandalay Bay. I have to admit, considering it was inside a hotel, it was a pretty cool aquarium. The fucking sharks were my favorite. I wonder if I could come back in another life as a shark and fuckin’ eat everyone I didn’t like. Sounded like a plan to me.

We went to dinner at the Bellagio Hotel buffet, talk about a shit ton of freakin’ food. Holy shit. Blue would have loved it. She never ate a lot, just picked, so it would have been perfect for her. She could have grabbed little bits of anything and been happy. As I stood there mooning over my blue haired siren, Joe smacked me on the shoulder.

“Great to see you out, Chris. It’s about time you start socializing again. You can’t stay cooped up in a hotel room except for the shows. It’s not going to work.”

“Why the fuck not? There are plenty of rockers who don’t go out.”

“Really? Well, not the ones I manage. So snap out of it.”

“I wish it was that fuckin’ easy.”

“I thought you were through with her?”

“I should be but I can’t get her out of my head. I swear it’s like she cast a fuckin’ spell on me.”

Joe shook his head. “Let me see what I can do, but you may not like what you find out.”

“How the fuck would it be any different from now?”

“I guess not much, but you have to promise you’ll stop hibernating in your room, or I swear I’ll put Terrance on you.”

“Shit, fine. I’ll stop.”

“Good. Now go eat. This is supposed to be the best buffet in Vegas.”

In bed for the night, I wondered if Joe would tell me who she was and when. Would she want to see me? Maybe she was off fuckin’ other rockers already. I was probably just being a stupid prick. When I finally fell into a restless sleep, I dreamed about blue haired mermaids pulling me under the water.

*****

Sapphire/Teresa…

It was done, finally. I wanted to do the happy dance around my room but I didn’t think Mom was awake yet. I’d stayed awake most of the night working on it again. I had rewritten it so many times I could probably recite the damn thing. I couldn’t help it though, it needed to be perfect. I wrote and revised and wrote some more, edited, and back and forth for almost two weeks. I knew if I didn’t just stop I’d never stop. I’d never be one hundred percent happy with it, and so much hinged on it. Everything counted on today, I’d find out in a few hours if all of this had been for nothing. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to being nervous, and even nervous was an understatement.

Going downstairs to make coffee, I was surprised to see Mom already up and waiting for me at the kitchen table with the coffee pot and two mugs. She had a strange expression on her face and my already queasy tummy turned over.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m worried about you. You’re either crying or writing furiously on that article. It’s not healthy for you.”

Whew, at least it wasn’t something huge. With her it could have been just about anything, she might have seen a chicken on TV she thought needed rescuing and we’d have had to go get it. I loved her—but she really was a hippie born in the wrong time.

“I’m okay, no worries,” I replied while filling up the empty mug and adding half and half and two spoonful’s of sugar.

“Easy for you to say. I’m worried if I leave you alone tomorrow you’ll walk down the street and drop dead. I’m sorry but you need more of a life than this.

I didn’t want to deal with this now, I wanted to have some coffee, take a shower, and get ready for the meeting Mom had arranged for me at Rolling Stone. I learned a long time ago when she got something stuck in her head there was no budging her until I agreed to whatever she wanted. As always, I just gave in and agreed to whatever that was pissing her off at the moment.

“Okay, I’ll do my best, and I promise to do better than I am now. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Mom dropped me at the New Jersey Transit station and we waited for the train. She wished me luck and gave me a piece of amber telling me it would help me in my endeavors, I took it and hugged her. I knew I’d need all the help I could get. She’d already used some of her ‘old’ connections to get me an appointment with one of the editors, I couldn’t believe it when she told me. I should have known though, all of our lives when things were needed stuff just happened. When I was little I used to think it was magic but Mom just had a way of making things work out. I hoped this would be one of those times.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Sapphire/Teresa…

Everything had gone smoothly so far. I arrived at the offices of Rolling Stone half an hour before my scheduled appointment with Mr. Lowery. I knew he was some kind of editor but that’s all Mom told me, so when I was led to his office I was excited to see he was the print editor.

I’d been impressed with all the activity throughout the floor, it looked like a sea of cubes and they were all filled. It was a hotbed of information and I’d craved the experience, it’s why I had embarked on this stupid thing to begin with, or at least part of the reason.

“Here we are,” the receptionist said. She’d led me through the maze of cubes, people, and offices to reach my destination.

“Thank you.” I took a deep breath, rubbed my hand against my slacks, and walked through the door that would make or break my future.

“Ms. Duncan?”

“Yes, thank you for agreeing to see me, Mr. Lowery.”

He smiled. It was one of those smiles that put you instantly at ease. I was so grateful he wasn’t some obnoxious New York City executive—but then again he worked for Rolling Stone. It was too cool for stuffy executives.

“Please sit down. Sunshine tells me you’ve been working on a piece you think will work for our magazine. She also mentioned you’d recently graduated from Syracuse.”

I nodded, not sure he actually needed an answer. I reached into my case and took out the print version of my story on Raining Chaos. It was long, probably too long for a magazine but I’d wanted to cover everything. “It’s been a dream of mine to work for your magazine for as long as I can remember. I don’t know how much my mother shared but needless to say I went about it the wrong way.”

“Yes, she did mention you were in a bit of a mess.”

“Oh hell yeah.”
Shit. You cursed, seriously? T, could you be any more stupid.
“Sorry.”

“No problem. We say a lot worse around here on a regular basis.”

Thank God.

“Do you have the article with you?”

Looking down I realized I was still clutching it in my hand like my life depended on it. “Yes.” I handed it to him and sat back in the chair as he read it. He was fast too, but then he was an editor.

“I don’t know what I was expecting but certainly not this level of work. You’ve covered all the bases and written an excellent article. I think we can find a place for it in our next issue.”

“Really!?!” I did my best not to shriek, jump up and down, and do a back flip. This was more than I’d expected.

“Yes, really. I think we may even have a place for you.”

Now I knew my mother had some powerful connections but I never in a million years expected this, would I be able to pull it off? Could I be good enough to write for them?

“Before you decide it was your mother who got you the job, let me dissuade you from that train of thought. You’re very talented. I think you have a real knack for this and I’m willing to take a chance on you. You’ll be a junior writer. You may not have anything published for a while other than fillers, but you’ll be learning from some of the best in the field.”

I was speechless. You know how you hear people say they’re speechless and you think, nah, how the hell could anyone be knocked speechless? Well I can say without a doubt it can happen. It took a few minutes for me to regain the power of speech, all the while staring at him wondering if this was some kind of joke. Would people be jumping out with cameras and yelling gotcha?

“Ms. Duncan?”

“Uh...sorry. Yes, yes. Definitely yes, I’m like, wow. Damn, I mean yes, thank you for this opportunity.”

He really did have a good sense of humor. He laughed at all my stammering and it made me wonder if he was used to this kind of a reaction. Here I was, trying to be all professional and sophisticated, and I’d blown it big time. At least I hadn’t blown my opportunity though.