Suddenly my dad starts tearing through the closet, but I can feel it’s more than that.
The coat in front of me slides sideways on the rack and I cower in the corner trying to cover my privates as I see Hendrix grab my dad by the waist trying to pull him back.
“You son of a bitch!” my dad says.
CHAPTER 10
Hendrix
Six weeks later
The crowd is chanting for an encore, but they’ll have to wait. I run backstage and send an SMS to Hope. I’ve sent hundreds and they’ve gone unreturned, but tonight I’ve got something special planned.
This is for you. Send.
I know she’s at home watching, or somewhere where she can watch if her dad’s managed to take away all her alternatives. I want her to know what we had isn’t a one night thing. It’s more. Way more. It’s all I’ve been thinking about since I got thrown out of their house in the middle of the night a month and a half ago. I walked all night to a dinner and waited until the next morning to try and go back to their house.
Steven wasn’t having it. He was standing in the front yard with a freaking butcher’s knife in his hand like he knew I’d be coming back. Then again we’ve been friends so long he should know me by now.
Know I’m not the kind of guy to give up on anything.
And I’m certainly not giving up on us. And by us I mean our friendship or what I feel for his daughter.
There are millions of dollars and people’s livelihoods which translate to their lives on the line with this concert tour. I’d cancel the damn thing tomorrow if it wouldn’t negatively affect so many people. Just cancel it and stand out front of their house until she came out.
Just sit on the cold, wet grass at night and strum songs for her until she at least came to her window.
But I can’t. So I’ll do it here.
I grab a chair from backstage and carry it onto the stage.
The crowd goes wild, especially the women. The chair on the stage isn’t a new trick. The ladies know I’m going to pick somebody out of the audience to come up here and have me sing to them.
But tonight that somebody isn’t in the audience.
“Ladies and gentleman,” I say and the roars of the women hit a level louder than I’ve ever experienced at an outdoor summer concert.
“I’m saving this chair for somebody real special.” I watch as the ladies stare at me with baited breath, their hands clasped in front of their chests. But I’m not trying to fool anyone or lead anyone on.
“And that someone isn’t here tonight so I’m just going to have to imagine she is. I’m going to sing to that chair, knowing her spirit is here.”
I’m a huge Clint Eastwood fan, and my fans know it. I can already see the memes hitting the Internet tonight comparing my talking to the chair performance to his a few years back.
But this is totally different. I’m not a political kind of guy at all. All I want in this world is a little peace and quiet and a place for us to enjoy it together. Strange that I should pick a sold out stadium, but this is my only shot at getting through to her right now.
“This song is a new one. It’s called Hope. And I’ve got a whole lot more for my Hope. I’ve got a promise that I’m going to come for her and make her mine forever.”
I think my line blows right over most people’s heads, but a few connect the dots from that paparazzi type moment we had back in her small town.
I hit the first chord on my guitar and sing from the heart.
I really get into my music. It’s personal and emotional and I think that’s why people connect with it. But this is next level.
I’ve never put so much of myself into a song and when I’m done I literally feel like I’m on stage completely alone, bared for the world to see.
For her to see.
It takes me a good ten or twenty seconds to right myself, remembering I’m on tour, but when I do I turn to the crowd and see tears in their eyes and smiles on their faces.
I get the loudest ovation I’ve ever received in my entire career.
And it’s too much. I turn to walk off the stage and I see even my band members look like they’ve been peeling onions all day long…at least that’s what they’ll tell me if I question them about their watery eyes after the show.
But I’ll never do that. Because I know the pain I’m feeling now and it hurts me the most.
And as loud as the ovation is that I’m receiving right now, it’s nothing without her to share it with.
Nothing without her.
CHAPTER 11
Hope
I unplug the earphones I had in and slide the sheet off of my head to take a quick breath of air before I slide it back on top.
I watch as Hendrix walks off stage and the tears come running down my face.
Thankfully the time difference, and the cheap mobile phone my friend picked up for me, allowed me to watch the show tonight.
It was hard to watch and even harder when he came out for that encore.
But I can’t risk crying out loud now. And I can’t pull the sheet off my head as the light the little phone emits will shine out my window and under the door and my parents will know I’ve been able to get a mobile device back in my hands.
They took the one I had after the incident with Hendrix. Here I am, twenty-two-years-old and without a mobile phone.
My mom or dad drive me to and from my job waitressing each and every day making sure I don’t try and run off or do anything else.
I feel like I’m in prison, all because my dad thinks I’m not an adult.
This isn’t his generation. Not anymore. I can choose who I want to be with and when and where I want to be with them.
And if I keep up my double shifts I’ll have enough money to get out to California right when his tour ends.
Wouldn’t that be a surprise? I want to just show up at his front door and see the surprise and joy on his face and feel his big, strong arms wrap around me again knowing this time they’ll be there to surround and protect me forever.
My protector. My super singer. My manly man.
I shut down my phone and roll over onto my stomach so I can slide my phone under the mattress until I can take it out again.
As I extend my arm around the side of the bed I notice my boob hurts like heck when it presses into the bed.
I think I may have overstretched my arm too, but jeez…what’s up with my breast? Make that breasts.
I notice it in my other as I roll back in the other direction and decide to sleep on my back.
I stare up at the ceiling and then look towards the spot on my wall where his poster was, before my dad removed it.
He may have been able to remove the poster of him, but he’ll never remove the visual memory I have when he was here in my bed with me.
And as much as I enjoyed that hot passionate sex, I wish we had more time that night.
It’s not that I didn’t enjoy each and every minute of it, but the thing I want most of all now is to make love to him.
Because I love him more than anything in the world.
CHAPTER 12
Hendrix
Six more weeks later
“We got another one boss?” Gus, my security guard, says.
“They don’t even wait these days. It’s like they know the second you arrive back home.”
“Social media’s to blame. That’s why I won’t let my kid go on it at all. Want me to get this one not so nicely to leave and never come back?”
I look at Gus and exhale hard my cheeks puffing out.
“Nah. Be nice, especially if it’s a woman or a kid. They are fans after all. Without them I wouldn’t have a career.”
“You’re too nice, boss. You can’t give them hope. Gotta stop them before they get worse.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right but let’s err on the side of caution and friendliness.”
“Okay. You’re writing the checks,” he says.
Gus is some ex-special
forces trained killer type. He’s great to have around the house but sometimes I need to remind him that Newport Beach, California isn’t exactly a combat zone. It’s mostly wealthy people with boats and some tourists looking for a photo op with a celebrity. Violent crime is almost unheard of, and I’m big enough to protect myself if someone ever did find themselves inside the house. Gus just serves as a first line of defense and allows me to relax in my house in peace, which is priceless especially after completing such a grueling road touring schedule.
“You there, Eagle,” comes in over the walkie-talkie on the kitchen counter.
“Eagle here,” I say. We use Eagle as a not so super secretive call sign. No point in confirming my name to someone who thinks they might be in the right place or broadcasting it over an easily hacked radio frequency for everyone to hear.
“Young woman. Twenty-two years old. Says she knows you,” Gus says.
“Hendrix!” I hear her yell in the background.
Hope!
“I’m coming right out!” I yell into walkie-talkie.
“Stay in the house, Eagle,” Gus yells into the walkie-talkie just before it hits the floor and smashes into hundreds of little pieces.
I dart out through the front door and off the front patio and clear the three-foot concrete barrier like I’m going for gold in the Olympic hurdles.
I scoop her up in my arms before Gus even has a chance to do anything to either of us.
“Be careful, boss! She might be packing.”
“She’s packing all right. Packing one hell of a kiss,” I say as I lean in and plant my lips on hers and feel that rush of electricity hit my mouth and extend right through my body all over again.
The sun shines down on us. There’s a light ocean breeze in the air. And I don’t have a care in the world anymore.
My baby’s back in my arms and this time she’s not going anywhere.
CHAPTER 13
Hope
He scoops me up off the sandy shore of Newport Beach and kisses me with a hunger like he’s wanted me this entire time, and like he’s never forgot what he lost.
It feels incredible to be loved again…to be with him again…and to be here.
“You came,” he says.
I nod.
“Did you see my performances for you,” he asks. After the first encore to an empty chair for me he made it part of the act at the rest of his tour stops.
“Every last one.”
“Damn, I can’t tell you how happy I am right now. Let’s get inside.”
He carries me into the house and motions to the security guy that now would be a good time to patrol the outside perimeter…for awhile.
He needs some alone time with his girl. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.
“How did you get here?”
“I drove all night. I knew when your tour ended and I wanted to be here the moment you arrived.”
“And I’ve wanted you ever moment since that night in your room.”
I get up from my chair at the bar in the kitchen where he sat me down and hug him. I want him to take me right here and now, but it can’t be like that. I’ve got news for him that could change everything.
“Can I get you a glass of water? Maybe you want to take a shower? You must be exhausted.”
“I’m okay, actually. I’m still running on adrenaline, but a glass of water would be great.”
“Coming right up.”
I take a deep breath and brace myself as he gets me a glass of water.
After he hands it to me I take a sip, pause, and then finish the entire glass.
“Whoa. How about another?”
“I’m good. Hendrix,” I begin as he takes the glass from my hand.
“What’s the matter babydoll?”
“I’m pregnant.”
I hear the sound of glass shattering on the Spanish tiles below our feet and watch as Hendrix just freezes. He’s looking at me and his mouth has come open slightly. He’s not moving a muscle and I’m terrified.
Terrified he’s going to tell me he’s not ready for this. Terrified that he might ask me if it’s for sure his. Terrified of being alone during this pregnancy.
He takes a step toward me, the glass crunching beneath his shoes.
“Those are the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard in my entire life,” he says, taking my face in his hands and kissing me hard right on the smacker.
He takes a step back and looks at my stomach. He reaches his hands carefully toward me like I’m fragile or something and places them on my tummy.
“Right in there?”
I nod.
“Oh my god, we did it. We made a life. Our little life. Our little guy.”
“Or girl,” I say.
“Little guy. Little girl. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is it’s ours and your here now.”
Suddenly his reaction changes. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you. That you’ve had to go through this alone so far, but not anymore. I swear to you.”
I lean back into him and feel those big arms wrap me up all over again letting me know everything is going to be okay.
“I just found out for sure. I was having some worries on the drive out here, but now I don’t have a care in the world. With you by my side I know everything’s going to be alright.”
“More than alright. I’m going to make everything perfect.”
“Let’s get you a shower and get you off your feet so you can rest.”
I laugh. “I’m only three months into this, Hendrix. You’re treating me like I’m due at any minute.”
“Hey, you got my baby in there…our baby in there. You can be damn sure I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that baby gets the best treatment and doctors from now until, through, and after delivery. And that starts with making you comfortable 24/7.”
“24/7? I like the sound of that.”
“And you know what else is 24/7?” he asks.
“What’s that?”
“The amount of time you’re going to be at my side from here on out.”
CHAPTER 14
Hendrix
The boat docks at Catalina Island and I take Hope’s hand and we get out on dry land. The one-hour boat ride was super fun, but I know we’ll have to do it again at some point so we can drink champagne and live the life on the ride over. On the way back I’ve already scheduled the fifteen-minute helicopter ride. The boat over is fun, but after a long day of walking around we’ll want to get back quickly…plus I have a surprise planned for tonight.
I take Hope’s hand in mine and she looks up at me and smiles.
“After we have our child we’re going to go surfing and all kinds of other outdoor activities here. You’ll see how great it is to live here and you’ll wonder how you ever survived without being here.”
“I already wonder how I ever survived without being with you,” she says. This girl should be writing songs, not me. Her words hit me right in the chest and the only response I have is to shower her with kisses again. It’s what I’ve been doing since the moment she arrived.
It’s like we got our perfect ending except for one thing…her parents aren’t talking to her anymore. She left a note before she left and they called her when she was driving out but no amount of trying could convince her to turn back.
I feel terrible about her having to give up her relationship with her parents, and my friendship with them, but in the back of my mind I’m pretty sure things will start to get better once they find out they’re going to be grandparents.
She hasn’t told them yet since all they wanted to do on the phone was yell at her.
And we don’t need that stress right now, or ever for that matter.
Which is why we’re at Catalina Island today. We’ll hit the casino later for a few minutes and have a nice lunch overlooking the water, but mostly we just want to walk around and explore the beauty. She’s been stuck in a car and I’ve been stuck on a tour bus. It’s great to get out toge
ther and stretch our legs and more importantly hold hands. And most importantly spend time together.
We laughed last night when we thought about how long we’ve “been together” and how long we’ve actually known each other.
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