Damien
It was official. My bandmates were positive the real me had been abducted by aliens.
It’s like they’d never seen me smile before.
Fuck them. Can’t a guy be happy for once?
We were on our way to another show in Las Vegas, and I was doing my best not to lose my newfound jubilation.
But with these four dick wads busting my balls, it wasn’t easy.
I’d gone to text Cadence to drown out their incessant teasing, but she was still on the plane.
The last 48 hours with her were beyond the capacity of words.
And words were my life.
I made a living putting them together and capturing moments. But now, I struggled to name what I felt when I was with her.
She was incredible. Intelligent, sexy, and somehow unaware of her effect on the opposite sex. There was an unquestionable chemistry between us, and it was impossible forme to not reach out and touch her. Something I never experienced before with anyone else.Things between us were easy, fun, and completely chill.
Even telling her about Vanessa had been highly cathartic for me. It was a topic I didn’t talk about, not even to my bandmates. But for whatever reason, lying with her last night, I’d felt safe enough to open up about it.
Despite all this, I was caught somewhere between the fear of repeating what happened with Vanessa and embracing the serenity Cadence brought to me.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place was taking on a whole new meaning.
I ran my hand through my hair and pulled my phone up again.
“Don’t worry, the aliens won’t leave you here with us too long. You’ll be back home with mommy soon enough.” Colton was so used to being an asshole that even when he was happy, he was still a jerk to everyone around him.
And why would I say he was happy right now? Probably because of his new texting buddy.
But I owed some of my recently acquired elation to him and Jade, so taking the high road was a sacrifice I could make.
I stood, moving toward my bunk to grab my headphones and walking like one of those fake astronauts on TV, with my arms out, trying to balance as the bus continued down the highway.
When I got back to the couch, I put my Air Pods in, ready to drown out the rest of the chatter with music until we reached Vegas.
I wasn’t expecting a FaceTime call from my sister to come through.
“Hey, Vi.”
“Hey, Rascal.”
“Geez, you look like hell.” Her skin looked even paler, and her cheekbones were completely hollowed out now. She’d shaved off her thinning hair and kept her naked head covered in a silk scarf.
“I feel like it too. Which is why I’m calling.” She paused, coughing into her hands. But she had my undivided attention. There would have to be a monumental catastrophic disaster for me to stop this phone call.
When she caught her breath, she began again. “I’m getting my will set up and my affairs in order in case I die. The kids?—”
“Vi. You can’t.”
“For once, Damien. Please. Just let me talk.”
I huffed, but nodded for her to continue, chiding myself for making her talk more than she needed to. She sounded so winded, and we’d just started our conversation. But she had to know she couldn’t die. She couldn’t leave me or her kids behind.
“If I die, I want you to become the guardian of Maylee and Grant. They love you and won’t be able to handle going anywhere else. It would kill them.”
