Page 39 of Not the Punk

“Doing it now…wait…okay. Done.”

“Are you okay?”

Was I? I didn’t know. “I’d be better if you were here.”

“Me too, but we’ll deal with it. You have people supporting you there. Oh, where are you? On your bus?”

“Yeah. Waiting to go. Brax is up front.”

“You haven’t left yet?” Where was he going with this?

“No.”

“I’d feel better if you rode with Kay. Can you go to his bus? Don’t hang up with me. Just go.”

“Let me grab my goosey.” I dug through my luggage and found him along with my binky and blanket. Plus, some comfy jammies. I stuffed my binky in my pocket and hugged the clothes, blankie, and my goosey as I headed out the door. “I’m going now.”

I went straight to Kay’s bus and banged on the door

“What’s going on, Joe?” Saxon opened the door.

Colten whispered in my ear, “Put me on speaker.”

“I have Colten on the phone.” I clicked it to speaker so everyone could hear him.

“Hey, Sax.”

“What’s going on, Colten?” Saxon scratched his head.

Before Colten could answer, Don did, pulling Saxon away from the door. “He got another text from the asshole. Come on, get on the bus. I texted Marci to let her know where you are.”

“Thanks. I mean it. Thanks, guys.”

Don ushered me in and I got comfy on the couch while they talked about the restraining order with Colten. Donny decided he would order a new phone for me. “We’re going to do more around increasing security, too. Jinx is having a conference call with the security company tomorrow.”

“In the meantime…” Kay hugged me. “You ride with us. I don’t want you to be alone. Brax isn’t enough. You know, for emotional support.”

I wasn’t really alone. Matty shared my bus and we had a security guard on there as well, but with Kay and his guys, it felt a lot less lonely, and that was a different thing. Brax went back to my bus so he’d be there for Matty. We all felt safe with Alden, plus Saxon was there. “Thanks, guys. I need the rest of my luggage. I only brought this.” I held up my pajama pants and my goosey. The shirt and my binky were still in my lap, and the blanket was draped over my shoulder.

Saxson stood and held his hand out to me. “I’ll walk you to the bus to get it.”

“Thanks, bro. I appreciate you looking out for my rocker-boy. I gotta go. I’ll call you later.” I heard the alarms going off in the background. He had a call to go to.

“Bye, Daddy.” I didn’t care if Kay and Don heard me call him that. Hell, they probably knew it would happen before I did.

I tucked my phone in my back pocket and retrieved more of my stuff, then got situated on the extra bunk on the bus. Their bus had a big room in the back where they all slept together, so it only had one small single bunk. I wanted to call Colten back, but it could be hours before he finished his call. My smart Daddy had taken care of that issue.

That was a new nickname, sort of, but I’d take it, and Daddy was right. I changed into my comfy jammies and wrapped up in the blankie with my goosey. With my binky in my mouth, I fell right off to sleep despite everything that had happened that day. I didn’t look forward to the next show all that much, but at least I felt safe enough to sleep.

When I woke up a few hours later, it was to the rich scent of fresh coffee. MH Management did not skimp on the beans. With a big stretch, I got up and stumbled through the short hall to the main area of the bus, aiming for the caffeine-infused elixir of the gods.

Kay and Don were sitting at the table, coloring, with sippy cups in front of them. “What are you drinking?” I pointed to them.

Kay snorted. “Duh.”

“Coffee,” Don added, more helpfully.

“Huh.” Well, it made sense. I fixed my own in a regular mug, then joined them at the table. Don slid a book over to me that had lots of different vehicles in it, from cars, trucks, and vans to construction equipment with cranes and bulldozers. There was also farm equipment and tractors and then an ambulance and woah…a firetruck. “Did you know this was here?” I held it up.