Part I
Sage
Chapter 1
Present
I waseighteen when I wrote my first hit single from the inside of a jail cell.
It didn’t become a hit until years later after I was released on parole. After I’d served my three-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter for killing my father.
As you can imagine, careers and jobs are slim pickins’ when you’re a convicted felon, and there’s not much opportunity for a guy like me. Born and raised in a small-town, a high school diploma, and no living family to speak of.
With no one and nobody to go back to, I moved to Nashville and did what I had always dreamed about doing before my shitty life came to a screeching halt and I was imprisoned. I formed a band.
The fact that I became a famous alt-country singer after I was paroled is a gigantic what-the-fuck moment and something I’m still scratching my head about. I never dreamt I’d become an award-winning, highly sought-after musician. My dreams were never that big.
The crazy ups and downs of my roller coaster life could easily fill ten amusement parks. The lowest point being my years in prison.
Getting out and starting over, without London and Cam, definitely another low.
But the highs of stardom, of being a revered celebrity and musician, is pretty fucking high.
As was the unexpected opportunity I recently had to spend a weekend with London and Cam.
For once in my life, things seemed to finally be turning around for me, giving me hope for something good to last. Something that will endure and make me feel whole. Lord knows I’d give up this crazy, chaotic rock-and-roll lifestyle in a heartbeat if I could spend the rest of my life with Cam and London. To be with them in the manner in which I’ve always wanted. To love them like a family – a forever home within my heart.
“Yo, Sage. We gotta roll, man. Bus leaves in five minutes and you need to get your ass on it.”
I heave a sigh and stamp out my cigarette butt on the cement with the heel of my boot. My tour manager, Cliff, steps down off the tour bus and gives me the hurry the fuck up sign with a flick of his wrist. He’s a good man and has been with me since I started on this crazy-ass journey. He keeps me on a short leash when we’re on tour, which is probably a wise thing to do. And possibly something London tapped him to do.
The exhaust from the retro-fitted bus that has my band’s name in big bold print across the side filters through my nostrils and a cough escapes my throat. I hesitate, glancing sideways in both directions, wishing for a miracle. Hoping to see the two people I love – the two people I’ve given my heart to - walking toward me.
No such luck.
They don’t love you like that anymore.
I check the phone I’ve been clutching in my hand for the last hour to see if I’ve missed any notifications from either Cam or London. Maybe they’re simply stuck in traffic or running late and will be arriving any minute?
It was a long shot to invite them to come on tour with me. But after the incredible reunion and weekend we spent together last week, I couldn’t bear to say goodbye for the next two months. My lonely and reckless heart needs them by my side.
Just thinking back on our night together – the sex, the laughter, the memories – and the possibility of having more of that has my dick perking up in an uncomfortable manner. It was a night that my dreams were made of, with the two most important people in my life.
I stare off, unseeing, at the car that pulls up in front of me. While it’s a long-shot that it’s either Cam or London, my heart hammers loudly in my chest, growing tight with anticipation that they’ll step out together and into my arms.
But I’m left disappointed when Deg, my drummer, hops out of the back, dragging me from my wistful thoughts. He stumbles out, throwing a wave in the air at his girlfriend, Madeline. Ducking down, I peer into the car, realizing I’m wrong. It’s not Maddie. It’s an entirely different chick.
I shake my head, watching as he staggers toward me, dripping in leather and not much else, a pair of drumsticks shoved in the waistband. Makes me queasy to consider what else may have been stuffed down there. My body shivers unbidden.
“Sage, you’re here on time, man. That’s a first.” He gives me a one-armed bro-hug, smelling of booze and weed, his voice hoarse from too much whiskey.
Lifting my eyebrows, I pin him with a snarly smile. “I think you have me confused withyourself, dude. And who the hell was that?”
Deg shrugs with a quick look over his shoulder. “Dana? Danni? Deena? I don’t know man, not a clue. You know how it is. Me and Maddie broke up so I’m a free man now.. You of all people should know how it is since you’re the king of snatch, bro.”
He’s not wrong there.
I’ve had a pretty wild past and been notorious for my conquests with groupies, both men and women. While I made it look like I was having fun, it was really only a way to block out my past. To shut down those memories with sex, booze and drugs was the only way I could survive.
