Vintage Volume Two (6 page)

eight

The Chicago shows were perfect. The tour took us through a journey of the Midwest to Milwaukee, Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Louisville, and then we headed toward Florida for shows in Jacksonville, Miami, and Tampa.

Randy had been unusually quiet, but it was probably because my dad had stepped up security. George was permanently on Parker and me, and in his rare absence, Bruno was on us. My dad hired a few extra men George trusted to keep all of us safe, and our rooms hadn’t been breached since the night my journal had been stolen.

Nothing changed where Jadyn was concerned. I still didn’t trust her, and I avoided her as much as I could. It was a difficult task given the fact that I was her husband’s assistant, despite the fact that George had taken over for me in the interest of Parker acting as my personal bodyguard.

I was still piecing it all together, but I had my suspicions that things weren’t over between Jadyn and Randy. Something told me she continued her involvement with him. Maybe her job was gaining information on me so Randy could make his move. Stealing my journal of all things would certainly accomplish that.

Except my journal was really just snippets of thought. The only person who would really understand its meaning was the writer. 

After the night Parker had confessed his past to me, we’d managed to grow closer to the point of being inseparable. It was convenient anyway since my dad wanted him near me at all times with the exception of when he was working, which was fairly often.

I wondered often what Vinnie, Fitz, and Garrett thought about all of it. Even though Parker and I had grown close, I still didn’t know the guys very well. We tended to spend all of our free time together, mostly naked. And since our bus was separate from theirs, even though we were traveling together, I didn’t know them any better than I had before we’d left for the tour.

Our tour was nearing its end, and I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do with myself once it was over. Parker had started the dialogue in my mind about whether I had ambitions beyond working at Vintage, and I was sure that I did. In fact, part of me wondered if owning my own store like Vintage was a possibility. I’d surfed the website of the community college near my house, but I wasn’t even sure what degree I would need. I had no concept of how to run a store because I’d spent so much time living in my own world and not caring what came next.

It had been an empty existence living day-to-day that way, and it had taken the right person to motivate me to get out of my rut. And now that I’d opened my eyes to the fact that there could be so much more out there for me, I wanted to explore it. I wanted to take some chances and see where my ambitions took me.

But aside from a career for myself, I also wondered what was waiting back home where Randy was concerned.

“Wondered” wasn’t the right word.

“Feared” was a little closer to the truth.

I was terrified of what waited back in California, but I couldn’t dwell on it.

Even though my relationship with my dad had been strained ever since the journal incident, I trusted that he always had my back. He’d always do what was best for me, even if I didn’t like the decisions he’d made or the way he’d reacted. He’d always do whatever he could to keep me safe, as evidenced by the fact that there were always at least two people watching over me.

I missed privacy. I found myself taking extra bathroom breaks, or spending a few extra minutes in the shower (although most of the time Parker was in there with me). I knew the end of the tour didn’t necessarily spell the end of security surrounding me, but I was ready for it to be over. I was homesick. I was tired of sleeping on a bus or in a hotel. Granted, I didn’t have a lot to complain about where our hotels were concerned, but there was nothing quite like sleeping in my own bed.

With Parker.

“You ready for the last night?” Parker asked. We were hanging out on the bus in the parking lot of the Smoothie King Center on the Fourth of July in New Orleans, Louisiana, as Parker broke into my thoughts.

“Me?” I sat up from my lazy position nestled in the crook of his arm and looked at him.

He nodded.

“Sure. You?”

“Yep. Playlist is a little out of order tonight, so I’ll have to meet with the guys early.”

“That’s fine. I have some things I can take care of for my dad, anyway.”

“I thought Vanessa was handling it.”

I shrugged. “It’s the last show and it’s a holiday. He’s got more demands.”

“Take George.”

I rolled my eyes and earned myself an irritated look from Parker. “I know. You don’t have to tell me every time.”

“You’re irritable today.”

“How’s that different from any other day?”

“Touché.” He chuckled, and I punched him in the arm before he stood and stretched. I saw his abdomen peek out from under his black shirt. Just the glimpse of the cut muscles hidden beneath that shirt caused my mouth to water.

But we had work to do.

We headed toward the backstage area of the arena. Parker located the boys from Flashing Light, and then we parted ways as George led me straight to my dad.

Gideon sat on a couch, his legs stretched out and his feet resting on the table in front of him. His ever camera-ready wife was snuggled into his side much the same way I had been with Parker only moments earlier.

I rolled my eyes.

“Can’t we all just get along for the last night of the tour?” my dad asked.

I sighed and sat in a recliner chair, my eyes focused on the television that wasn’t even on as I hoped that someone else would join us in the room aside from the typically silent security team.

He tried a different tack for the conversation. “Did PJ tell you about the party tonight?”

“What party?”

“And she breaks her silence.” He grinned at me.

I’d been short with my dad ever since the journal incident, but he knew as well as I did that it would eventually pass. I was hurt that he’d sided with his wife over me, but I tried to look at it from his perspective. It was hard when the very smug Mrs. Price was cuddling into him.

Parker and I hadn’t really discussed what we’d do after the show. I tended to go with the flow, and sometimes that meant parties, but more often than not, it meant our group hanging out by our buses. Black Shadow could still rock the hell out of a sold-out arena, but they weren’t the party animals they’d been back in their twenties. Now most of them were married, some with adult children and others with lost loves under their belts.

People tended to think that big name rock tours were non-stop parties, and while that was true for some bands, this was a group of professional men who still knew how to have a good time. The bands typically kept to themselves for no other reason than the fact that they were each focused on their music with the goal in mind of making each show better than the last. Some of the guys in Pure Adrenaline had gotten close with some of the boys from Flashing Light, but that was largely without Parker. Mostly because Parker was always with me.

One night I’d asked him what he’d thought of that, whether he felt like he was missing out because he was always by my side as my hired protection.

And he’d said the words that would remain in my heart forever. “I’d rather be here with the woman I love than out partying with people I’ll never see again.”

“We rented out a place on Bourbon Street,” my dad said, bringing me back into the present conversation.

My immediate thought was that it sounded dangerous.

“Is that a good idea?” While there had certainly been sporadic debauchery on the tour, the members of Black Shadow tended to keep a pretty low profile. Likely it was because of the Randy threat, but it seemed odd to me that my dad would pick such a high-profile place to hold the final after party of the tour.

But then again, it
was
the last night. The last night always ended with a bang. Plus it was the Fourth of July.

My dad untangled himself from his wife, who had remained suspiciously quiet during our brief exchange. “It’s an excellent idea, CC. We’ll rock it out, have some fun, and be back in California tomorrow. You ready for that?”

I nodded. I wanted to tell him that I was terrified about what awaited me back in California, but I refrained from the confession in front of Jadyn.

“I’m ready, too, but I always hate to see the end of a tour.” My dad smiled wistfully.

“You really love the road, don’t you?”

“I really love performing our music. I love the atmosphere. I’ve never not enjoyed performing on the road.”

“When’s the next tour?”

My dad shrugged. “We have to get back in the studio. After our next release, we’ll probably hit the road again.”

“Have you been writing?”

He glanced at Jadyn, and then back at me. He nodded.

“Will Rebecca’s wedding be over by then?”

He chuckled. “Should be. She’s getting married next month.”

Jadyn seemed to perk up at that. “When are you and Parker getting hitched?” she asked.

“We haven’t picked a date yet.” I sounded defensive, but she wasn’t privy to my private life just because she was married to my father.

I glanced at the clock. “Have you eaten?” I asked my dad. He shook his head. “We need to get you fed and ready. Meet and greet in under an hour.”

I took care of my personal assistant duties and got my dad off to his meet and greet, and then I let Vanessa take over.

My job was officially over. While I had split PA duties during the second half of the tour, it still felt good that we’d managed to consistently deliver Gideon Price wherever he needed to be—and always on time.

Flashing Light took the stage first, and I watched from the trench in my favorite spot directly in front of Parker. When he backed up the words to “Trial and Error,” I felt the tears forming in my eyes. After we’d spoken about his family, he eventually confessed to me that I was the only person who knew what that song was really about. He’d never even told the guys in Flashing Light, the same men who played that song night after night. It held a very special meaning to him, and now to me. I loved watching his passion on the stage as he sang the back-up vocals and played the guitar.

After Flashing Light ended with a cover of Motley Crue’s “Home Sweet Home,” an homage to the fact it was the last night of the tour, I watched Pure Adrenaline perform. I’d seen bits and pieces of their set throughout the tour, but I never stayed long enough to watch the entire thing. Their energy pumped the crowd for the final act, my dad’s band.

Parker joined me in the trench during Pure Adrenaline’s second to last song, freshly showered and looking delicious and dangerous in a black shirt and a pair of jeans that hugged his body perfectly.

Someone in the crowd behind us evidently recognized him, because I heard additional screams and then I saw a security guard lean over to yell at someone on the other side of the rail separating us from the crowd. George took my dad’s set of credentials back to him as Parker and I stood in the trench. He rejoined us a few minutes later.

Parker poked me in the ribs. “Come with me,” he yelled over the music in my ear. He grabbed my hand, and George followed the two of us. Parker led us backstage off to the side.

“This is my favorite place to watch,” he said, and the three of us stood and watched from the side of the stage while Pure Adrenaline finished their last song. It was a vantage point people would’ve paid serious money for, but I liked the trench, down in front of the stage where I could see all of the action.

We moved out of the way after they finished their set. Roadies moved equipment off the stage while others moved equipment on to prepare for the final band. They moved with accuracy, precision, and speed.

It was fascinating to watch the transformation, and soon the stage was set for Black Shadow. Occasional waves of noise roared up from the crowd, and I could only assume it was the wannabe groupies who loved to flash their tits to the entire crowd before my dad’s band took the stage.

I’d been attending Black Shadow concerts for as long as I could remember, and tits were definitely a staple to the action. Since it was the last night of the tour, they were out in full force.

Soon the lights in the arena blacked out, and then Gideon, Mikey, Johnny, and Carlos walked by us to take their positions on the stage. We moved back to where we stood when we had watched Pure Adrenaline’s set. I felt Parker’s hand clutching mine, and it was one of those perfect moments where everything felt right in my little corner of the world.

A loud display of pyrotechnics sounded and flashed brightly before my eyes, and then drums and guitar and bass worked together to produce Black Shadow’s opening song, which was their most recent single. I watched my dad sing the words as the crowd sang along with him, and I couldn’t help the surge of pride that I always felt when I watched Black Shadow perform.

At some point, Jadyn appeared beside me to watch her husband perform. I did the most civil thing I could think of: I completely ignored her presence backstage.

We watched most of the set, and then Parker led me back to Flashing Light’s dressing room before the craziness ensued and the backstage area filled with horny women looking to hook up with Gideon Price.