He chuckles. “Excuse me. Sorry, Mrs. Everly.”
“Wait, how did you know my surname?” Sia asks, creasing her brows.
“That’s part of my job to know as much as possible about you all. I know that’s Anna Soulding and Deliah Norman sitting over there. And I know your husband’s real name is Rupert, not Dingo.”
I can’t help myself as I burst out laughing. Everyone turns to look at me, and I instantly stop and bite my lip, holding back more laughter. “Sorry.” I look down at the floor.
“What’s funny, Miss Norman?” Rob asks, and I feel intimidated immediately.
“Um… sorry, it’s nothing,” I say, looking at Dingo.
“You’re laughing at me, aren’t you, Dee?” Dingo states, and I break into a fit of laughter again.
“I’m so sorry… your name is Rupert Everly?” I try hard to stop myself from laughing, but it’s not working.
Everyone except for Dingo laughs, and I can’t help myself. The laughter is unstoppable at this point.
“Shut up! It’s not. My name’s Dingo. It has been since I was five. Never…ever…call me Rupert, or Iwillhurt you,” he sayswith a smirk, fueling me to laugh so hard tears start falling down my cheeks.
“Didn’t you know, Dee?” Sia asks as she wraps an arm protectively around her husband.
“No, I had no idea. How did you get the name Dingo?” I ask, and everyone groans and rolls their eyes.
“Oh, now that’s an awesome story. I was attacked by a dingo when I was holidaying in Australia with my parents, and we were in Uluru. The dog was massive and had teeth the size of a lion’s and—”
“Here we go,” Johnny interrupts as they all disperse, and Dingo walks over with Sia alongside.
Sia looks at me and shakes her head, rolling her eyes. “Youhadto go there.”
It doesn’t stop him. “No joke, Dee, that bloody thing was massive, and I was only five, but I fought it off with nothing but my bare hands. I even have a scar to prove it, but be warned, it’s pretty nasty and might make you feel sick,” he says. Everyone is pissing themselves laughing at this point. “Shut up. It’s my war wound,” Dingo states, lifting his shirt, pulling down his jeans slightly, and pointing to his hip. I look closely, trying to make out his scar, but I only see a thin, faint white dot, like maybe where one tooth might have gone in, and I mean, might have, but nothing that’d make me feel sick. I look up at Sia, who’s smirking, and she widens her eyes at me and mouths,Just go along with it.
I make a clicking sound with my tongue, then nod. “Yeah, that’s a pretty impressive scar you’ve got going on there, Dingo.”
Dingo nods like he’s proud of his massive, non-existent scar. “I know. It’s a good thing I’m so fuckin’ tough. That bloody Dingo had no idea what hit it,” he brags.
Rob walks over to Colt, and they start talking.
“Well, I’m sure he went and told all his other Dingo mates not to mess with Rupert Everly,” I say.
Everyone, and I mean everyone, cracks up laughing, except Dingo.
“Don’t be stupid, Dee. Dingos can’t talk.” He shakes his head while he walks away.
Sia looks at me and nods. “Well done, you even kept a straight face. When I first heard the story about two hundred thousand times ago, I couldn’t keep a straight face. He honestly thinks the scar is massive, but I can hardly even see it. You should hear his mother talk about it. I think that’s where he gets his overactive imagination from. You’d swear, to her, the thing was like a grizzly bear-sized and was so vicious that no one could go near it to stop it from attacking Dingo. Funny thing is, his father always said the Dingo was more like a six-month-old pup, and after it lightly bit Dingo, it was quite friendly, and they gave it food and were almost able to pet it. But don’t try to tell Dingo or his mum that. They’ll bite your head off,” she tells me.
Anna and I laugh as I watch Colt shaking hands with Rob again, who walks out of the room, and Colt moves over to me.
“Hey, baby, you ready to watch me rock?” he asks, lifting me into his arms.
“Sure am,” I reply.
He kisses my forehead, his touch lingering. “Then let’s make this a night to remember.”
***
The concert at the Staples Center in LA was amazing.
Colt knows how to work every crowd.
