The Complete Tempest World Box Set

by Mankin, Michelle

  “It’s Melinda,” April explained.

  Every exhausted cell in my body perked up. “What’s wrong with her?” I sat up straighter feeling a chill as the air conditioning blasted my sweaty skin. We had just finished the concert, three hours under the hot spotlights.

  “She’s getting her hair detangled.”

  “By who and why?”

  She didn’t immediately answer. I heard quite a bit of sniffling and the sound of a stern voice in the background.

  “The Queen,” I guessed.

  “Mel’s still sort of banged up from the fall.” April’s voice sounded strange, her words choppy like she was measuring them or maybe being told what to say. “She let some things go that she couldn’t manage on her own. That’s being remedied right now. Her dad’s...unreliable. We moved her out of his place tonight and into a guest room in Mary’s house.”

  “What’s going on?” Dizzy leaned forward from the seat across from mine. “Is that April?”

  I nodded. “Well, that’s better I suppose. Put her on the line I want to talk to her.”

  “Alright but just for a minute.” There was silence on the line for a moment. When April spoke again her voice was low like she didn’t want to be overheard. “Her dad’s a complete douche, Sager. He...he wasn’t taking care of her at all. She didn’t even go to the initial consultation with the psychiatrist. She hasn’t been eating right. She’s all skin and bones. I’m out in the hall. She wouldn’t want me to tell you, but I thought that you should know.”

  My blood ran ice cold.

  “April.” Melinda’s voice. “What are you doing? Are you still talking to Sager?” She sounded scared, unsure. Beat up. Raw.

  “Yeah, honey. I couldn’t hear him in there over the sound of the tub draining. Here. I think you should talk to him.”

  There was a long pause. I gripped the cell tighter.

  “Hello,” she whispered. One simple word, but it dripped with longing. Or was that just projection of my own feelings?

  “Babe,” I returned. “What’s going on?” I covered my ear tuning out everything but her. “Why didn’t you answer my calls? I was worried.” I was still worried, but she was stubborn. If I pressed too hard I knew she would get defensive.

  “I’m sorry.” She sounded sincere, overly so, almost as if she were apologizing for a greater infraction. “It’s just...sometimes...it’s too much. Talking to you. The things you say. The way you make me feel. I’ve got so much going on inside my head right now. Sometimes I have to step back so I can process.”

  “I understand that, Blue. But surely you can text to tell me. If you don’t want to talk that’s ok. But it’s not cool to leave me hanging. Out here on th e road I’ve got no freakin’ idea what’s going on back there. No way to help you if you need it, which you obviously did.”

  “I’m alright.”

  I didn’t quite believe her. “That’s not entirely the truth, is it?” I asked carefully. “Not if you’re still putting off doing the things you need to do to get better. You’ve gotta eat. You need to keep your appointments. You can’t do it alone.”

  “I’ve got April... Mary.”

  “Even so, there’s no shame in talking to a professional. In fact, it takes a lot of courage to get help when you need it. I wish I were there so you could lean on me. I feel like I’m letting you down. I don’t want you to feel like I’m choosing my job over you. If you need me, I’ll get on a jet and fly to Vancouver right now.”

  I heard a murmur of misgivings from my bandmates. But they could suck it up. Not a one would turn down their woman if she were in trouble any more than I would turn down mine. We might have our issues as Southside guys but loyalty to those we cared about wasn’t one of them.

  “No,” she stated firmly. “Do the tour. Finish it out. Nothing’s going on here that won’t keep for four more weeks.”

  • • •

  Melinda

  “I don’t like misleading Sager,” April told me after she switched off the blow dryer and set it on the bathroom counter. The plastic clattered on the granite top. “You’re forcing me into an untenable position with Dizzy, too. I agree with Mary. I don’t like the way you’re handling this. You should have told him the truth from the beginning. I don’t see this ending well.”

  “Me, either,” I agreed. “I didn’t want him to cancel the tour because of me, but it’s for me not to tell him, even if it is stupid to delay the inevitable. He’ll likely hate me for deceiving him. He would have every right to.” I dreaded his reaction. I wasn’t any more ready to let him go now than I had been then. But I knew I had to. I had reached too high, dazzled by the allure of an impossible dream. Blinded by my own wishful heart.

  Trepidation crawling across my chest, I pulled the lapels of the plush robe together. The softness of the thick cotton did nothing to alleviate the chill I felt growing inside of me.

  Get used to it, my inner voice chided. It’s going to get worse soon.

  “Oh, honey. Surely it won’t be as bad as all that.”

  It would be, I was pretty sure. But I kept that to myself. My choices. My consequences. My catastrophe.

  “He might surprise you. Dizzy surprised me. I have a feeling that there’s a lot more to Sager, a lot more to all of the Tempest guys than what’s on the surface.”

  I nodded. Sager was caring, sensitive and patient. Forgiving me for so many missteps. Disarming me with his intelligence and charm. Building me up with his love. There were layers upon layers of depth to him and talent that flowed out from those foundations into his music and his art. But even someone as gifted as he was couldn’t reshape the current set of circumstances into a happy scene.

  “Belle, oh Belle.” Her thumbs skimmed through the new patch of wet on my cheeks. “We’re gonna make it. You’re gonna make it. We’ll ride this storm out together. Only stop crying because you’re making me cry, too.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  Melinda

  “Your alarm went off an hour ago.” Displeasure dripped from Mary Timmons’ tone. “Get up.” My eyes snapped wide open. It was impossible to disobey an order when the CEO of Black Cat Records was in full queen mode. “You have a busy day in front of you, including an entire afternoon with the psychiatrist. Make yourself presentable. Your rehabilitation trainer is waiting for you outside in the hall. If you don’t want him to see you in your pajamas I suggest you put on the clothes we laid out on the chair last night.”

  “Ok. Not that it matters what the blind girl looks like,” I complained throwing back the covers, sitting up, feeling groggy and disoriented after my first real night of non-self-medicated sleep since the accident.

  “It matters. I believe I made my expectations clear. But I will reiterate. Part of earning your keep is maintaining a standard of grooming and hygiene. Another part is following the doctor’s orders. You will eat. You will put your full effort into your rehab. The mornings will be spent relearning your activities of daily living with Grant. The afternoons will be devoted to the psychiatrist and the nutritionist. This is your job, Melinda. Don’t let me down. Am I understood?” I could hear the determination in her voice, and the little girl in me that remembered being toted around on her hip all those years ago responded.

  “Yes. I’m sorry.” I cast a glance around, only hazy unfamiliar shadows greeting me.

  “Your clothes are a foot away from your right hand.” She seemed to anticipate my need.

  “Thanks.” I threw my legs over the side of the bed, feeling a shiver as my warm feet came into contact with the cold hardwood floors. Arms outstretched, I located the folded stack of clothes and brought them to my chest.

  “The attached bathroom is about twelve steps to your right. The door is open. The light is on.”

  “Alright.” I took a step in the direction she described noticing the light up ahead. “Melinda.”

  I stopped at the sound of her voice. “Yes.” I turned toward her.

  “You might think that I can’t eve
n imagine what you are going through.” Her tone was thoughtful. “Or how you must feel.”

  I swallowed hard and bobbed my head. Tears that always seemed to be brewing since the accident rose to the surface.

  “But you would be wrong. I do know what it’s like to have something terrible happen to you. Something you can’t escape. Something that takes away your dreams and crushes all your hope.”

  She was describing how I felt perfectly. A brewing tear spilled over and rolled silently down my cheek. It tracked into the seam between my tightly pressed lips, the salty taste of my grief. Suddenly arms enfolded me, an embrace unexpected but welcome. I sagged into it. Mary hugged me tighter.

  “Don’t despair. I know that you want to run from your problems rather than accept your life as it is now. But I’m here. I won’t abandon you to struggle alone. But I won’t let you wallow in self-pity, either. What happened to you is awful. It is going to be difficult to readjust, I have no doubt. It may get worse before it gets better. I know this from my experience. You will want to quit, but don’t do it. We are stronger than we realize, Melinda. Find the power within yourself to move forward. Find a reason to get up and put one foot in front of the other each morning. You might be surprised to discover that there are more of them than you thought.”

  • • •

  Sager

  “Babe, the phone rang twelve times before you answered. You gotta understand that I’m all paranoid after what happened last night. What’s going on? Is everything ok?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Melinda mumbled. “I was asleep.”

  “At five thirty in the evening?” I peeled back the heavy hotel curtain and stared out at the pretty orange and pink sunset over the red hued desert hills wishing she were here with me in Vegas to enjoy the view. Every pleasure seemed cut in half without her to share it.

  “Yeah, I needed a nap.” She yawned. “I had a long day and an early start with...” There was a significant pause that left me wondering before she continued. “I had a lot going on. To get adjusted. That kind of thing. It was exhausting.” She grew silent.

  “How is it, staying with Timmons? Is that going to work for you?”

  “Mary’s alright. Tough. But real. Deep. There’s a lot more to her than she lets most people see.”

  Yeah, I totally agreed with that assessment.

  “I went to the psychiatrist for the first time.” Her words were tentative.

  “And...” I prompted gently.

  “Beyond the fact that I have some serious daddy issues?” She gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Well let’s just say I think Dr. Clifford filled up her entire steno pad with notes.”

  “So you felt comfortable with her.”

  A pause. “Yeah, I actually did, but I didn’t think about it that way at the time. The way she was scribbling I figured that I must be a real head case.”

  “You’re not. You’re sweet and sensitive, but you’re not nuts, babe. Not any more than any of the rest of us. It takes courage to get help.”

  “Thanks.”

  “All true, but you’re welcome anyway.”

  “What did you do today so far?” She was redirecting me, uncomfortable with my praise.

  “I slept till noon,” I answered. “Ate breakfast in the middle of the day in lieu of lunch. We had three encores last night. Vegas loved us I guess. The meet and greet after went on till two a.m. My schedule seems to be the opposite of yours.”

  “Yeah. My day went eight to five, but it’s good to be busy, right?”

  “Sure, but I still miss you. I think about you all the time.”

  A long silence. “I think about you, too. I don’t know why you wanna put up with someone like me with all my...issues. I...I keep wondering when you’re going to get tired of it and call it quits. I wouldn’t blame you if you did. No one would.”

  “Blue, this is nonsense talk. Like at the hospital. I’m in this with you every bit of the way. I know you’d be the same with me if I went through a rough patch and needed you.”

  “I would do anything for you Sager. Anything. I want to get stronger and be better for you.”

  “I appreciate that babe. But do those things for you first. You’ve already got me. That’s not going to change.”

  “It means a lot for you to say that,” she whispered. “When I got tired today, when I started to feel overwhelmed with all that I need to do, I remembered encouraging things you’ve said to me like that.”

  “Good.” My throat constricted with emotion. I think I had almost as much trouble as she did with that kind of stuff. It tore me up not being there myself with her and all that she was going through. “What else did you do today? You’re being pretty vague. Makes me wonder. Has some guy already come along to try to replace me?”

  “No one could ever take your place. You’ve ruined me for anyone else.”

  “You’ve done the same for me. I was just running from my past and hoping no one would find out about it until you came along, and loved me in spite of it.”

  “Loving you is easy.” She went quiet. I almost thought I heard her mumble, “Keeping you will be hard.” Before I could call her on it, she admitted something monumental. “I picked up my guitar again. It’s been a while. I was a little rusty. But when I closed my eyes, my fingers knew exactly what do to. It’s not like being at the top of the mountain. There’s no adrenaline rush, but it felt familiar...comfortable...good to play again.”

  “Do you have it in the room with you right now?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Play something for me. I’d love to hear your voice.”

  “Alright.” I heard shuffling. A tap, tap, tapping that I couldn’t identify. The clacking of guitar case latches opening. A few strummed chords for tuning. Then her voice. The sultry singing one that knocked me on my ass the first time I heard her. The one that made me miss her so much I felt like I’d been shot through the heart with a blazing arrow. “You wreck me” she started in on the familiar chorus of Tom Petty’s hit. A song about rescue. About staying together win or lose. I joined in. I couldn’t resist. I was a man who had been drowning without any real purpose inside my own life until she came along like a sweet siren guiding me home to a safe shore.

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  Melinda

  “If I were there,” I told Sager, cell tight in my hand. “I would be turned on like I have been every single time I’ve had the pleasure of seeing you perform. I would have stood just off stage waiting for you. My eyes locked on yours when you came toward me. My pulse pounding harder than your bass.” My breaths were heavy now. I was sure he could hear them on his end of the line. “You would say, ‘Blue’ and I would melt, the way I always do when you speak to me in that low sexy rumble. I wouldn’t reply. Words would be unnecessary. I would just reach for you, desperate to touch you. My hands would tremble, then a surge of desire would wash over me the instant my fingers closed around the taut muscles of your biceps, your skin hot and sweaty from being on stage. I would grip you tighter. I would think I can’t believe this sexy rock god is mine as I pulled you away from the others into a dark alcove beside a stack of amps. Your gorgeous brown eyes would darken as they focused on my lips. But though I would want your mouth on mine I would want something else more. Hands gliding down your arms, sliding fast over your slick skin I would stop at your belt buckle. You would say my name again. This time it would sound like a plea. I would lower your zipper. I would feel the hard length of your cock behind it. I couldn’t wait to taste you, to wrap my lips around you, to hear you unravel with pleasure the way a stadium of fans had moments before including myself as we had watched you perform.”

  “Let me see you, Blue. For real. Please.” Sager’s voice was gruff and turned on from the imagined scenario I had concocted over the phone. If only it could be true. “It’s been too long.”

  “No...I...”

  “You are beautiful to me, no matter what you weigh.”

  “I have put on nearly five pounds.”
/>
  “Wonderful. That’s great, Blue.”

  “Yeah, Sager, I can’t do this right now. I’m sorry. I just need a little more time. When you get back...” My voice cracked. I restarted.

  “Just your pretty face babe, your eyes...”

  “I have to go. I just remembered something. It’s important.”

  “Blue...” he protested, but I said a quick goodbye and ended the call.

  • • •

  Melinda: I don’t feel like talking tonight, Sager. Sorry

  Melinda: I’m going straight to bed. I’m tired. Don’t wait on me. Go out with King and the others. Have a good time. They’ll be better company

  Melinda: That’s cool about Shaina coming to see War and Lace and Bryan. I’m sorry I’m not as put together as they are. I need a little more time before I consider traveling

  A knock sounded as Siri’s voice trailed off on the replay of my last reply to Sager. I had been sinking back into the bog of depression lately, since he had mentioned my eyes again several days before.

  I pulled in a steadying breath and swiped a hand through the wetness on my cheeks before turning my face toward the door. “Yes, who is it?” I asked, trying to engage my other senses to identify who it was before being told.

  “It’s Mary. Can I come in?”

  “Ok, I guess.” She was home early from work.

  “Why do you have the light off?” Her voice and silhouette came closer. “It’s only six thirty. You’re already under the covers. Are you going to bed already?”

  “Yes. I’m tired.”

  “But I thought you were going to have dinner with me tonight.”

  “I already ate. You can ask Stan. I met my caloric minimum for the day. I’ve done everything I am supposed to.”

  “No need to be defensive.” Her heels clattered with the force of her authority. “This makes three nights in a row that you’ve gone straight to your room after Stan brought you back from the psychiatrist. Did Dr. Clifford delve into something that upset you?”