When I was with her, I forgot about everything else. She made me want to shake off the shackles of my past and live inthe moment. If only we weren’t from two different worlds. The divide between us seemed too wide to breech, not to mention the almost fifteen-year age gap. I’d almost choked when she told me how old she was.
“You ready for tonight?” Xander’s question pulled me out of my head. It was probably for the best. Nothing good ever came from me dwelling on shit.
“Yeah. How’s it look outside?”
Xander was in charge of the band’s security. When I’d first joined the tour, I wondered what a bunch of washed-up boy band has-beens would need with a major security detail. Over the past several months, as we traveled from city to city, I began to understand just how deep and how wide the Soul Obsession fandom had become.
Xander shook his head. “This might be the rowdiest bunch we’ve seen so far. Makes tailgating at a Cowboys’ game look like a tea party. Fans have been whooping it up on the street out front since last night.”
“Damn. Maybe I should have learned how to sing and dance instead of going straight into the service after high school,” I joked.
“I can’t really picture you moonwalking across a stage to the beat of a tune like ‘Heartstrings.’” His lips twisted into a grin.
The first couple of times we met, I wasn’t sure he was even capable of smiling. Since he’d been spending so much time with his girl, Chastity, the grins had become a hell of a lot more frequent. He was quite a bit older than her, too. Maybe a big age gap wasn’t such an issue.
The thought flew out of my head as soon as it entered. Unlike Daisy, his girl probably didn’t have parents who were up her ass about making sure she married the right guy. Whoever the “right guy” was, he definitely didn’t have anything in common with me.
“Be careful out there.” I wrapped up my check of the front of the stage. The guys had a close call in Denver when one of the roadies hadn’t gone back to double check the set up, and I’d be damned if that happened again now that I was in charge.
“You, too.” Xander turned to head backstage when Growler let out a low snarl from the front of my shirt. “What the fuck? Did you just growl at me?”
I’d ripped up a hoodie so I could tie the sleeves around my waist and carry the little pisser in the front pocket. He’d been behaving most of the afternoon but must not have liked Xander’s voice.
“It’s this dog.” I reached into the pocket and pulled out the fur-rat. His ears flattened and he bared his tiny teeth.
“Where the hell did you get a dog? And why do you have a dog with a pink bow in its hair?”
Those were two very valid questions, and I wondered how much to share. “It started yesterday…” I gave him the short version of how I’d met Daisy and Growler but chose to leave out the part about her getting cut off by her parents and waking up in my arms.
“She’s one of Chastity’s friends. I’ve been hearing all about the fan club they belonged to and how much they loved the guys in the band. I’m pretty sure all of them had life-size posters plastered to their bedroom walls when they were younger.” Xander gave me a sympathetic grin. “As far as I’m concerned, I didn’t see a thing.”
“Thanks, man.” I waited until he disappeared backstage before tucking Growler back into my pocket. Xander made a good point. Daisy and her friends had been crushing on these teenage heartthrobs and waiting for them to get back together again for ten years. There was no way I could compete with that. It wasn’t even worth trying.
The best I could do would be to take care of her dog until she came back, then help her move her things to one of her friend’s rooms. She’d be out of my life just as quickly as she’d entered. Instead of feeling better about that, the hollowness in my gut expanded.
“Come on, Growler. Let’s see if you can find a patch of grass out back to do your doodle so I can clear my head and get back to work.” I needed some fresh air. Hoping a quick walk outside would clear my head, I grabbed his leash and made a beeline for the back door.
6
DAISY
Lunch with my besties had been an absolute blast. It had been way too long since we’d been together. I’d forgotten how much fun it could be to spend time with people I actually cared about. I didn’t have to be careful around them or think through every sentence in my head before I uttered it out loud. They loved me for who I was, not who my parents were or what I could do for them.
They also didn’t look at me like I’d sprouted an extra head when I told them about my dream to open a posh pet store. I’d been having so much fun dressing Growler up in different outfits that I’d looked into starting my own business. There were plenty of doggy bakeries and puppy daycares in the Houston area, but I’d had trouble finding fun accessories. If I felt like I had a say in my future, I’d want to start a retail location where dog owners could shop for their furry friends and a portion of each sale would go to a non-profit, no-kill shelter.
When I’d told my parents about my idea, my father completely forbid it. He said no daughter of his would be photographed by the media picking up dog shit. My mother handled her response with a little more finesse. She’d alwaystold me my job was to do good in the world, but gently suggested something not dealing with animals would be a better fit. She seriously thought all I needed was to meet a man. That once I got married and started having kids, I’d be happy being a stay-at-home mother just like she’d been. And her mother before her, and her mother before her.
They didn’t understand, but my friends did. Talking about it this afternoon made me wish I felt like I had a say in my own future. Without my parents’ support, I’d never be able to pull off opening my own business. I’d always thought they had my best interests at heart but turns out that only mattered when my interests aligned with theirs. I’d been naive and trusting my whole life and only had myself to blame. They controlled the purse strings which meant I was stuck. I might be able to run away for one last weekend with my friends, but if I didn’t get with their program and show up at that country club on Sunday morning, I could kiss my future goodbye.
With the concert starting in just a few hours, we wrapped up lunch and got ready to head back to the venue. All I wanted to do was give my furbaby a hug and start getting ready for the concert. Knowing I’d be meeting the band after the show had butterflies zooming through my belly at Mach speed. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so excited.
“Who are you most looking forward to meeting tonight?” my friend Luna asked. She was the one I was closest to since she lived near Austin, and we got together from time to time over the years.
“Gosh, I don’t know. I’ve crushed hard on every single one of them over the years. Maybe Mason? He’s the only one who hasn’t been claimed by one of our friends yet, right?”
Luna’s pretty nose scrunched up like she’d just smelled something horrible.
“Oh, that’s right. You met him backstage at the Austin concert, didn’t you?” She’d mentioned her run-in with the drummer right after it happened, but we hadn’t had a chance to dissect it yet. “Maybe he was just nervous. He’s always been the quiet one.”
