Chapter Seventeen
Xander
"Did you say wife?" Jerry, our manager, asks.
I nod. "Yep. Got married on Christmas."
He blows out a frustrated breath and runs his hand over his balding head. "No, no, no. This isn't good."
"What do you mean?" Jesse asks as we pass another car. This bus driver is wicked.
"You guys are new. You'reyoung.You're supposed to be available for these women and girls to go crazy over. If you're married, they're going to have an issue. That's going to put a dent in your popularity," he replies.
Jesse folds his arms. "Too fucking bad, man. He's married."
"I'm not saying he can't be married, I'm saying maybe we should keep it a secret. Just for now, until the end of this tour."
I give him a glare. "I don't like this. Tera's not going to like it either. And how the fuck are we supposed to keep an entire town quiet about this? What you're asking is something I don't want to do and it's probably not even possible at this point," I growl, not bothering to hide my annoyance.
"Fuck this," Linc says.
"Calm the hell down," Ethan tells Linc, grabbing his arm to stop him from launching at Jerry.
"I'm not trying to piss you off. I'm trying to help get you as big as you can be."
"Fuck you," I answer. "I'm not going to run and announce it to the world but I'm sure as fuck not going to hide it either. If you have a problem with that, fucking sue me."
Jerry opens his mouth to say something else and Jesse cuts him off. "Quit while you're ahead."
Fuck him. Fuck this.
I look at Jesse and he looks at me. He's not happy either. When Jerry makes his way to the restroom, I lean forward.
"When we get a chance, I'm gonna talk to Cage about this fucker and his bullshit. How is my being married going to hurt theentireband? I'm one guy. You all are single. This is fucking bullshit," I snarl.
Jesse nods. "I hear you, man. We'll call Cage when we get to where we're going."
"Good," I reply. I'm proud that Tera is my wife. I'm not hiding her from anyone unlesssheasks me to. No one else matters but her.
* * *
New Year's Evecame and went. The party we played was a success. Cage said we didn't have to keep the marriage a secret, but when I talked to Tera she said maybe we should. It wasn't for the reasons Jerry brought to the table. Her reasons were for her safety and privacy and I never even considered that until then. I don't like it, but for now, our marriage is on the down low.
* * *
It'sthe third week in January, four weeks on the road, when Tera calls me out of the blue. We have set times that work best for both of us, so my first thoughts are something bad happened.
"Tera?" I answer. We're on stage, getting ready to do sound check for our concert tonight and it's loud.
"Xan!" she shouts.
"What's going on? Is something wrong?" I ask, plugging my non-phone ear with my index finger.
"No, just the opposite. I won! I won the art competition!" she squeals.
Pride fills my chest and a genuine smile pulls across my face. "That's fucking amazing, babe! What happens now?"
"Now I have to go to Los Angeles to accept the award and bring a portfolio of all of my completed works so they can choose which ones they want tofeature in a showing!" Tera squeals again.
