I tried several times to get them to return to the tour, but each time whoever was closest would give me a patient look and tell meyou’re our priority. We’ll get back to the tour when you can come with us.
A week later I signed the final piece of paperwork, and felt adrift. Nothing tied me to this place anymore.
It was time to leave.
Otis wandered into the hotel room we’d booked after we finished with the house and gave me a soft smile.
“What do you need?”
I lifted my face for a kiss he gave eagerly and sat back, frowning as I tried to remember the date.
“Where are you guys supposed to be?”
“Here,” he said without hesitation.
“No, I mean on the tour.”
“Oh, uh… Bismarck is the next stop. I’ve delayed canceling because it’s the first show Red String Riot is playing with us. I wanted to see how you were feeling.”
Ruby’s band was heading for Bismarck. They were finally joining the tour.
We bookeda last minute flight and had to fly economy, with Calix complaining the whole flight, but the second we stepped out of arrivals, Ruby was there with flowers and my whole world was right again as I hugged my best friend with my men at my back.
“I’m sorry about Ma and your dad,” she whispered. I wiped my wet eyes on her shoulder and squeezed her a bit harder.
Red String Riot killed their opening night, and I screamed for them from the wings as Ruby seduced every member in the audience. She was a natural and I was so damn proud of her.
Goats and Vandals proved the time off had done nothing but make them hotter — in my humble opinion — and the crowd ate up every moment of their set. When they got to the acoustic portion of our set, Calix sang a song that was still a work in progress, and bittersweet tears clouded my vision at the memory of that night in my parent’s house.
It was perfect.
Epilogue
Tatum
6 months later…
It feltweird to be in amongst the crowd as I followed a tall redhead toward the VIP box at Halas Stadium in Chicago. She’d briefly introduced herself as Gia, and I had the weirdest sense I’d seen her face before somewhere. She was the wife of Otis’s cousin, Weston, and she’d offered to be my babysitter for the day while Goats and Vandals played a set for the Chicago Engines’ first game of the season.
I wasn’t much of a football fan, but the energy of the crowd was intoxicating.
Gia waved me through a door and into a comfortable looking room with a long table of food and beverages on one side and plush chairs overlooking the field on the other.
“Come on, I’ll introduce you to the others,” Gia said, waving me over to a small group of people.
I smiled politely at a blonde woman with glasses and a pink haired woman who looked slightly out of place with her Chicago Blizzards hockey jersey.
“Nice to meet you guys.”
As they moved aside I noticed a smaller woman behind them who made the blood drain from my face.
Don’t make a fool of yourself, King.
Cami Morales glanced up before turning her attention to the man next to her.
Gia cocked her head, looking between me and Cami.
“Are you a baseball fan?”
