Straight from the Heart (7 page)

I jerked my arm away from him hard enough to
where I bumped my elbow into the wall and heard a crack. “Please
go.”

“First you say ‘stay with me.’ Then you turn
around and say ‘Please go?’” He raised his voice, “I’m not missing
out on this,” He tried to finish where he left off, and my first
instinct was to scream.

So I did. I screamed loud and long enough
until my voice felt numb. I kneed him in the stomach and rolled off
the bunk, falling onto my butt. I felt so stupid trying to run away
from someone like this. Call it the alcohol, but I wasn’t going to
be taken advantage of when I was drunk. I knew better than that, at
least for now.

Of course, as soon as I stood back up Damon
had a hold of me again. “Leave me alone, I told you no,” I
struggled with the words as he grabbed my hips tighter and pulled
me against him. “STOP!” I screamed higher and louder with every
fingernail that dug into my skin.

“I should’ve known.” Damon joked as he
whispered through his teeth. He was starting to move his fingers up
from the bottom of my shirt when I heard the door to the bus slam
open. I already knew who it was.

Cale.

“You muther fucker.” Cale pushed Damon,
causing me to fall to the ground. He looked down at me with
sympathetic eyes and growled “Stay up front, B, I’m going to take
care of this idiot.” I nodded as I rose to my feet, holding onto
the walls and making my way to the driver’s seat. Over the course
of the next few minutes I heard an argument and punches were being
thrown.

“Is everything okay, Bryn?” Hal walked up,
looking concerned and worried as I curled my knees up to my chest,
trying not to cry. Once again. I blamed the alcohol. “I heard
screaming and shouting coming from the bus, I wanted to make sure
no one was hurt.”

I pointed towards the back, where a bloodied
up Damon stormed past us without a word, nearly bumping into Hal,
who would’ve taken him down with one punch. Cale soon followed, his
fist covered in red and his eyes filled with anger.

“I think it’s about time we grab the rest of
the group and go to a hotel, Pelton. You can’t afford to fight
him.” Hal placed his stocky hands on Cale’s shoulders, “We have
altercations like this and the word gets out about it,
you
lose your chance at a big time record deal. No more indie label.”
He turned his attention over to me and looked at me apologetically.
“Next time he tries to put his hands on you like that again, I have
pepper spray in the glove compartment. Use it, you hear me?” I
smiled slightly, trying to fight back tears.

“I’ll go out and get everyone,” Cale
suggested, but Hal stepped into his way.

“No. You stay here and clean up, macho man.
I’ll lasso everyone up.” Hal replied before taking off.

Cale stood there in silence as I stared at
the window in front of me out into the busy main street. I felt
like I was in shock. I had a guy try to force me into having sex
with him, and this other guy punches him to a bloody pulp? On day
one?

“Was that liberating for you?” I asked Cale,
still not making eye contact.

He took a step forward and reached for a
towel that was behind the seat, trying to wipe the flowing blood
from his hands. He seemed a little too calm about what he just did,
which surprised me. “Actually, yes. Damon’s not the kind of guy you
want to get involved with. I’ve seen him drink more than he did
tonight, and he would’ve kept taking advantage of you with no stop
in sight, B. You were screaming and I was coming back to get some
sleep when I heard you.”

“It’s just me overreacting, which was all it
was.” I admitted. “I told him to sleep in my bunk with me and then
pushed him away. It’s my fault.”

Cale laced my hand with his and stood me up.
“Don’t worry about it, Bryn. We played an amazing first show; Hal’s
going to take us to a hotel so we can all rest. Just try to stay
away from Damon as much as possible.”

“That’s going to be a little impossible you
know. It was just an overreaction Cale, he’s a nice guy.”

Cale snorted. “If you say so.” Then he put
his hands up in defense. “But that’s up to you. I know what this
guy does and I don’t trust him, despite being a Hell of a singer.”
And then he walked back towards the back as the other guys come
aboard, slurring their words and bumping into me not knowing.

I stayed in the front, making casual
conversation with Hal until we pulled into a hotel about an hour
away. I was relieved when Hal got me my own room next to the guys
so I could hopefully get some peaceful sleep.

Everlasting played every night for the next
week straight. It became like a ritual. We woke up, got breakfast,
drove to the next venue, played our show, got back onto the bus,
and started over again. I kept in touch with Gina and Bethany,
telling them in a few weeks we were playing out in California near
L.A. for a couple of shows so I’d get them tickets.

My mind flickered every so often to Ethan.
Some part of me missed him. Besides completely humiliating me my
last year in high school, he had been a good guy. He kept no
secrets from me. He turned me on to music and drove me to buy my
acoustic guitar that I held onto dearly. He was brought up in the
same kind of lifestyle that I was raised in, wealthy and messed up
on all levels. His parents were more lenient and laid back than
mine though, but still had no compassion for Ethan or their other
children.

“
I expect you to be properly dressed for
dinner in an hour, Bryn,” my mother said in that neutral tone I
couldn’t stand. Her newly painted nails were tapping on my vanity,
where I was brushing my hair for what felt like the millionth time
today, but if one piece was ever out of place, I would be in deep
shit.

“
Who’s even coming tonight? You just had
a ‘fancy’ dinner party yesterday,” I replied, trying not to sound
too snotty, but my mother caught on quick.

Her fingers dug into my arm as her eyes
narrowed. “Listen here you little brat. Mr. and Mrs. Donahue are
coming along with Ethan and Rebecca. They believe Ethan has taken a
liking to you, and would like you to start spending time together.”
Ethan Donahue? That was out of the question. He was who all of the
girls fantasized about when he walked down the hallway. His brown
hair, bright green eyes, he was model material and totally out of
my league.

“
Just so I can get out of your hair huh?”
I snapped back, reaching for the long black silky dress that was
laid out on my satin sheets.

“
Keep your mouth shut and speak proper or
you’ll be out on the street young lady. You’re only 16 and I would
hate to see someone as naive as you on the streets begging for
food.” She was now shooting me daggers, which meant I do what she
says or I really would have no home. What harm is there in talking?
I’ve never had a conversation or said two words to Ethan, now I’m
just nervous to be in the same room, let alone having dinner with
him.

“
Fine. I’ll be down in a few minutes,” I
spoke in my typical fake tone of happiness. My mother spun around
on her heels and I heard the clicking down the hall until my room
was completely silent again. I turned my iPod on to some classical
Beethoven and slipped the black dress over my head. It looked
decent on me, a square neckline hiding my cleavage, and the bottom
went down almost to my ankles. Very conservative, the complete
opposite of what I wish I was. I curled my hair so it formed loose
curls down to the small of my back and put a very light coat of eye
liner on. I told myself that was as good as it was going to
get..

I slipped a pair of black lacy stilettos
onto my feet, studying myself in the mirror. Not too shabby for
only turning 16. Smoothing out the fabric of the dress, I took a
deep breath and heard the clicking of my own heels as I took slow
steps down the staircase, careful not to trip on my dress.

“
You look stunning, my darling daughter.”
My father took my hand and gave me a cold hug. “Caroline, doesn’t
your daughter look like a beauty?” I knew this nice act wasn’t
going to last. It was only because of the company tonight. I wasn’t
stupid. My mother looked over from where she was setting up the
fine china and gave a slight nod of approval.

“
Help me set up these plates, darling.”
She gestured to me and I took a stack of plates from her, setting
them in the precise spot in the middle of the placemat between the
silverware. Once everything was set up, the doorbell chimed. He was
here.

“
Welcome Donna, Richard. It’s nice to see
you again Ethan. Rebecca, you look ravishing.” My mother gushed as
she kissed the cheeks of our guests. “You remember my daughter Bryn
and my son Brayden.” Brayden and I shook Mr. & Mrs. Donahue’s
hands as they praised how beautiful and grown up we looked. I
looked over at Brayden and he did look handsome and grown up for
being almost 18. His brown hair was slicked back with a slight
amount of gel and he wore a brand new black suit with red tie. We
waved to Rebecca and I was last to greet Ethan.

“
It’s nice to see you outside of school,
Bryn.” Ethan said as he bent to kiss my hand. Up close, I could see
why all the girls flocked over to him. His dark blond hair was cut
short, but not buzzed, showing off his bright blue eyes. They
reminded me of the river that flowed behind downtown, always shiny
and the prettiest mix of turquoise and baby blue.

“
Same here. It’s nice to get a chance to
get to know you in different circumstances.” I replied, smiling
from ear to ear. We stood there for a moment in awkward silence,
and then mother announced it was time to eat.

I couldn’t wait to get dinner over with. All
our parents talked about was the upcoming benefit dinner for some
mayoral candidate…I didn’t listen to half of it. All I could think
about was the guy sitting across from me, casually nudging my foot
with his leather shoes. It was a little gesture, but it was driving
me wild.

After we ate our main course, which
consisted of lamb chops and garlic herb mashed potatoes, my father
told us kids to take a break while the “adults” discussed business.
I could tell Brayden wanted to screw the shit out of Rebecca, and
Ethan led me out to the back patio.

“
So how come I’ve never really noticed
you in school?” He asked me, sitting down in the wooden swing my
grandfather had built for my parents before he died. I wanted to
ask myself the same question. I’d seen him enough times from a far
distance to assume that he was
not
my type.

But that night changed my world, and I fell
in love.

“Everything okay?” I heard Luke ask me as I
was still half in my daydream. I sat straight up from my bed and
peeled the headphones off my ears, setting them down next to
me.

“Yeah everything’s fine, Luke, just trying
to chill.” I told him, and he smiled.

“I’m just checking. You just seemed a little
out of it and I wanted to let you know we were stopping to get some
food in a little bit, stock up on groceries for the bus.” Luke
explained, and as silly as is sounded, I kind of liked the idea of
grocery shopping. “And the rest of us wanted you to do it, since
you’re a girl. And honestly girls just seem to be better at grocery
shopping as bad as that makes me sound.” 

“Fine, I’ll do it. I was just getting used
to wearing my pajamas during the day, that’s never happened
before!” I admitted. I shooed him away so I could slip on a pair of
jeans and throw on a bra underneath my tank top. I’d become so laid
back around the guys that wearing a shirt with no bra had become a
daily thing on the bus. It was OK as long as I didn’t step
outside.

We stopped at a grocery store in town where
our next show was, and by the time the bus pulled into the parking
lot, I had been handed a list a mile long. “Why do you want like 10
lbs. of sausage? We don’t have an oven or anything to cook so you
have to keep it simple.” I scolded everyone as I glanced over the
strange requests they were throwing at me.

“It’d be a good investment sometime when we
upgrade out of this fucker.” Cale joked as he patted my back.
“You’re a woman. You should be good at this right?”

I snickered. “Yeah right. I told you I grew
up in a house where my parents paid people to deliver us our
groceries remember? They didn’t dare step foot in a grocery store
unless it was ‘gourmet,’”

Cale followed me off the bus and into the
store. “You sort of failed to mention that before, Miss ‘I grew up
rich.’” He air quoted.

“Well lead the way, Mr. Know-it-all. I may
have had money at some point, but I walked away from it, remember?”
I asked, grabbing a shopping cart and wiping it down.

“You would be one of those wiping the carts
down Miss Paranoid,” Cale teased, and I slapped his arm, taking the
cart and going into the opposite direction as him. As I was piling
things in and checking items off the list, I felt a pair of hands
grab my shoulders, causing me to scream.

I turned around and saw Cale. I wanted to
slap him again the jerk. He was making things more difficult than
it already was. I really felt sorry for whoever his lucky wife
would be someday. I wondered if he was going to sit around and
taunt the poor girl to death. But I had to admit, the pestering was
kind of hot.

“Jeez what the hell were you thinking? We’re
going to get kicked out of here!” I shrieked, nearly slipping on
the wet floor. Cale was about ready to fall on the floor from
laughing so hard.

“You’re wayyy too easy to scare, lady. I’ll
change that soon, don’t you worry.” He put some more food in the
cart. We scoured all of the aisles, paid a couple hundred bucks for
everything, and that included a big bag of Dove chocolate, much to
Cale’s disagreement, and left the store.