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Ghost put down his guitar and hugged me. Sid joined in and then suddenly, all five of us were in a huddle. Ghost, our leader, gave us an inspirational pep talk just like he’d done countless times before when we jogged out onto the stage in front of thousands of fans.
“Ghost Parker still has a lot of gas left in the tank. This isn’t the end of us. Just a new chapter. Ride or die, brothers.”
“Ride or die,” we all confirmed.
7 years later...
It turns out that Kody is not going to be a drummer like me. He’s crazy smart in math and likes robots. His playtime went from playing with cars as a kid to constructing his own complex Lego models and then on to robotics sets. Currently, he was obsessed with computer coding. I didn’t understand any of it.
Delilah is a little spitfire like Lacey and she was most definitely Daddy’s little girl. It turned out that she may be our little drummer. Ever since she started crawling, she’d crawl over to me while I was drumming, demanding to sit on my lap. She would rest her tiny hands on my forearms while I played. I had to play slowly and modify my movements, but I loved spending time drumming with her. I got her a tambourine, and she’d march around the room playing it while I drummed. Now, at not quite seven years old, she excelled at drum lessons and I could see the passion in her eyes when she played. I wasn’t sure how I would ever handle it if she chose to drum in a rock band like me, knowing the lifestyle that would bring with it, but I knew I could never stifle her passion. Luckily, I had a few more years to figure that all out.
Then there was Jack, our four-year-old whirlwind of energy. He kept us all on our toes with his strong will and his gift of persuasion, even at his young age. He’d make a skilled politician or lawyer someday.
My boutique record label, which I ran with Sid and Lacey, was doing well. A year after we were married, Lacey resigned from Castle Music to help me secure my dream. Without her, it never would have happened. She was managing the business side and scouting the talent while Sid and I produced the music.
We’d recorded two albums for Ghost, which weren’t commercial successes, but important artistic contributions to the music world. Ghost had a hardcore fanbase for his work and he was already exploring ideas for his next album. After years of back and forth with Candace Collins, Lacey finally reined her in. Our little label was able to help her reach her potential, and it resulted in our first commercial success with her album. It put us on the map and enabled us to give more unknown artists a chance. We weren’t in it for the money. It was more important that we loved what we were doing.
Our house was overflowing with three active kids and a dog, our black and white beagle, Smoopy. I can’t believe how much my life had changed and how much for the better. My heart had expanded so much, sometimes I was afraid it might burst. I loved my family fiercely. I often thought about knocking up my wifey again. She said she was getting too old to have kids, but there was a definite gleam in her eye when I suggested it.
My best friend, Sidney, and my sister, Kaylie, bought a house across the street from us. The cousins went to the same school and spent so much time together. They were cousins, but they loved and fought like siblings. Brady and Emerson were 8 years old and their daughter, Aria, was six. They had two foster kids, Luca and Owen. Luca was placed with them when he was 6 years old and a year later, they officially adopted him. They were still in the process of adopting Owen, who was now five years old. I knew Sid, and I was pretty sure that Owen wouldn’t be the last foster kid to join their family.
Besides recording some new stuff, Ghost had participated in a few acting stints on a lark. The roles that Greyson had helped him land were minor, but he had a definite presence on the screen. Grey finally got killed off Devious and was trying to break into a movie career. It wasn’t easy, but he’d landed some roles. Besides juggling three kids, Emma, 7, Colt, 5, and Maya, 4, Remi was the author of a best-selling book. It was her third political spy thriller and will have more than one politician clenching their ass cheeks as they read the ‘fiction’. The three of them made juggling their family, their careers, and their unique relationship look easy.
Ryder was a success in his new band. He was the frontman and had his own huge following. To his chagrin, the most requested song they got at shows was for the cover of Okay Babe. He’ll never get away from it. Talia had her own business as a personal shopper. I didn’t know too much about it, but it was so successful that she had to hire people to help out. Zoe was almost 9 years old, and they had another daughter, Harper, who was six.
Some sad news for the Ghost Parker family was that Summer’s mother passed away last year. Summer took it hard, so we all joined forces to help her get through it. Over the years, Knox jumped from band to band, always keeping busy. He helped collaborate on Ghost’s albums, so for a while, four of the five of us were working together again. Knox’s younger brother, Ian, moved to California a couple of years ago and we saw him often at gatherings.
The Ghost Parker family had exploded. What started out as five guys (or five manwhores making music, as Lacey liked to say) had grown to five guys with their six soul mates, 15 kids, 4 dogs, a few cats, a turtle, and even a weird chinchilla. We may not be sleeping a few feet away from each other’s bunk anymore, but we were still as tight as ever. Ghost Parker wasn’t going away anytime soon.
I ran back into the house to grab some more hamburgers and buns for the grill. Sadie’s husband, Marius, was inside by himself, probably enjoying the air-conditioning and quiet.
“Hey, Bash.” He looked a bit shell-shocked. “I don’t know how you do it. Every time I come to one of these things, I go home and thank God that Sadie didn’t want to have children. It’s like a zoo out there.”
I smiled. “You get used to it.”
When I stepped back outside, it was pandemonium. Kids were running everywhere. Most of them were either shrieking, laughing, or shouting. Their parents were all keeping an eye on them, but there was no reining in the chaos. And I loved it. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I delivered the burger patties and buns to Sid, who was on grill duty, and then handed a cold beer to Lacey’s dad. He was still the head of Castle Music, but he was remarried now and enjoyed spending as much time with his grandchildren as he could.
Lacey’s mom was on her 5th husband. We didn’t see her much, but she did manage to send cards and gifts for all of our birthdays. We recently saw her at Lacey’s surprise 40th birthday party. Both mom and daughter had hated to be reminded of their age on that day, but we’d done the party up big and were looking forward to a slew of new 40th birthdays to celebrate. Lacey had vowed to get us all back.
I searched the crowd, looking for my wife. I finally spotted her chatting with Remi and Summer. She felt my gaze on her and looked up. Our eyes met across the wide expanse of our backyard. She said something to the girls who laughed and then she was heading my way with a secret smile on her lips.
“Come with me.” She grabbed my hand and then led me back into our house and up the stairs to our bedroom.
My mind was already spinning with dirty thoughts. We didn’t have a lot of time, but I was a fast worker. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her with an urgency that even surprised me. After all these years, she still got my motor racing. I was as hard as a rock in a few seconds.
She pulled her lips from mine, laughter dancing in her eyes. “Sebastian, there’s an entire party going on in our backyard.”
I grumbled a reply. “They won’t even notice we’re missing.”
She patted my chest. “You’re going to have to wait till later for that, but I can’t wait any longer to tell you something. You know when I had to run out to the drugstore right before the party started?”
“Yeah.” She hadn’t even gotten back before the first guests started arriving. I figured it was an emergency run for girl supplies, so I didn’t question it.
She pulled away from me and walked over to her nightstand. She opened the drawer and then took something out of it, hiding it behind her back. “Close your eyes and hold out your hand.”
I shook my head but played along with her game. She placed something very light in my hand.
