Chapter 2
I was standing on the cliff, the same cliff that I’d shot the album cover for Dreams on.
Ironic, because I was aware enough to recognize that I was in a dream.
Staring up at the storm clouds hovering above me, I reached out, mirroring the action that had been captured on the album cover.
But unlike the way that photoshoot had gone, I saw people approaching the cliff from the safety of the more stable land.
Their faces weren’t visible, clouded by a darkness that the dream wouldn’t allow me to pierce through.
My heart quickened as they approached, pitchforks suddenly materializing in their hands.
I waited for the torches to follow, but as they neared, the only thing that joined the pitchforks in the mob’s hands was a slew of guns.
With my heart rattling, I looked toward the cliffside, the raging waters waiting for me down below. With one final look at the mob, I knew I had a choice to make. I could either stay up here on the cliff and withstand the mob, or I could jump to the water and hope I wouldn’t break my neck.
It wasn’t until then that I realized I’d had this dream before. I’d been having it off and on since my debut album had started growing an audience online.
The water always looked safer. Every time.
This time was no exception. Before the crowd could truly reach me, I gave myself a running start and leapt off the cliff, praying to the universe that I wasn’t about to take my final breath.
Usually, when I’d have this dream, plunging into the water always woke me up. For the first time, I’d stayed asleep after rocketing into the cold, raging waters that resided below the cliff. Now submerged underwater, I blinked my eyes open, trying to focus on what was around me.
Vast blue water surrounded me, filling the entire field of my vision.
Nothing but bubbles from my entry threatened to swim near me, a sense of weird calm settling into my bones.
My eyes widened as the bubbles from my jumping impact started to turn into tiny diamonds, shiny from a light source that wasn’t logical as the diamonds floated around me.
It was beautiful. Nonsensical, but absolutely beautiful.
The diamonds were shifted out of the way as a blur of movement swam toward me, my eyes catching on the blonde hair that whipped through the water.
My mother’s face suddenly peaked through the water diamonds, mascara running down her face, the long neck of a beer bottle in her grip.
She held up the bottle in mock cheers, her face in the most terrifying smile I’d ever seen on her face.
Even worse was the face that housed this smile had been haunting me for years.
Panic slithered up my bones and out my pores, scaring me beyond the point of recognition. The blue eyes we shared started to bleed, bloody tears staining her cheeks, falling in parallel lines with her already ruined mascara, as she said, “Congrats, Alistair. Hope it was worth it.”
I awoke with a yelp tearing its way out of my throat, choking on the imaginary water that was no longer around me. My heart pounded, the contents of my room bouncing back to my dilated pupils. I closed my eyes, trying to regulate my breathing.
I was okay. I was safe.
Fur prodded along my palm, lifting my hand as it roamed over one of my cats.
I looked over the white comforter and saw Fawcett’s cute face staring back up at me.
She gave me a concerned meow and I felt a smile pulling my lips out of the tight line they’d been.
I scratched behind her ears and pulled her into my chest, savoring the comfort that my cats always gave me whenever I was rattled by the dream.
I just wished this one hadn’t been altered.
Seeing my mother, even in a dream, was not something I wanted to keep experiencing.
The bed shifted as another cat bounded on the bed.
Another Scottish Fold prodded over to me, meowing over and over until my hand roamed over her shorthaired coat, my little brown colored kitty demanding to know that I was alright.
I smiled even wider, using my fingers to scratch under her chin the way I knew she preferred.
“Good morning, Thiessen.” I said to her, scooping her up close to my chest so she was joined with her sister. I placed a kiss atop both of their heads. “I love you both so much.”
Fawcett and Thiessen started to meow back and forth and even though I assumed it was because they were hungry, I chose to believe it was their way of saying they loved me back.
My phone started to chime from my grey wooden nightstand, reminding me of the night that had occurred beyond the horrible dream my brain had forced me to live through.
The album was out. Holy shit, the album was out.
I remembered staying up as the release had gone live.
I’d been glued to my phone, making posts announcing the album’s official release, going through fan’s accounts of them reacting to the album in real time, of hearing what people were thinking of the album.
But I hadn’t been able to stay up beyond around three in the morning, falling asleep as soon as I’d placed my phone on the nightstand.
Still ringing and buzzing from the nightstand, I let Fawcett and Thiessen scamper out of my hold in lieu of grabbing my phone. I grinned at the name running across my screen. She was always the first person I heard from every morning.
Clicking the answer button, I pressed my phone to my ear. “Morning, Priyanka.”
“Excellent morning!” She corrected me, her hyper tone already causing me to smile as much as I knew it would give me a headache later. “Have you seen what people are saying about the album?”
“I just woke up, so no.” I chuckled. Leave it to my publicist to be on it before I even had a chance to. “I saw some of the things fans were saying last night, though. Good things coming in this morning, I hope?”
“Omg, you need to get online now!” It sounded like Priyanka was either passing by some weird sounding construction or she was on public transportation.
There was no telling what she was up to this morning.
Aside from being the best publicist ever, she was also my unofficial assistant.
The woman was a working powerhouse and always seemed to be doing something for her clients, even if it wasn’t something for me.
“You’ve already almost surpassed the sales of your first album, Alistair. ”
I shot up in bed. That was impossible. My first album took two years to sell over a million copies. No fucking way had I been able to sell that much so quickly.
“How close is almost?”
“The album’s already at a quarter mill units.”
I breathed a little easier, shaking my head.
Priyanka always massively rounded up. Not that two hundred thousand copies of my album selling wasn’t absolutely bonkers.
It was. But thinking that I was actually selling that much, that quickly, made me feel a lot more unlike myself.
So knowing that the numbers weren’t unheard of grounded me a bit.
“Okay, that’s awesome.” I said, swinging my legs over the edge of my bed and making my way toward my bathroom.
I needed to get ready for the day and I knew that Priyanka was probably going to update me about numbers and things of that nature, so I could definitely get mostly ready during that time.
I sat down my phone on the sizable marble counter and put Priyanka on speakerphone to free my hands. “Has the label called?”
“I’ll call them after we get off here,” I ran a hand through my hair, seeing the action reflected back to my in the mirror.
Grabbing my hairbrush off the counter, I started to tame the unruly strands of blond hair that had been ruffled by my sleep as she went on.
“But everything is looking really fucking good, Alistair. The album is moving more than we thought and your getting a lot of great attention from the Fox Jennings interview.”
“Yeah, I caught most of it last night.” I nodded, putting down the hairbrush so that I could focus on the next part of my daily routine. “I didn’t like Fox’s mention of Reed, though. Especially after we told them that I wasn’t going to talk about anything concerning Reed.”
Priyanka’s sigh was a steel barrel, heavy and falling fast. “I know, I’ve already spoken to the producer about it. But you handled it incredibly, as usual.”
I preened at the praise, turning on the faucet and covering my hands in water before lightly splashing my face. “I just wanted to talk to Reed before there was any mention of us again on TV.”
“He still hasn’t returned your call from before the taping?”
“No.” I’d tried reaching out to him, to warn him about some of the subject matters on the album, but he’d yet to get back to me. I knew he was off shooting a movie in Indonesia, but it had been three days and now the time to warn him had come and gone.
The truth was, Reed and I had split months ago.
The public, however, did not know that. Rumors of our separation had started circulating a couple weeks ago, but nothing substantial had been uttered from the online vultures wishing on our downfall.
We’d promised each other when we’d broken up that we’d be open and honest about how we would handle the public announcement of the breakup.
But now, with the Fox Jennings interview and the content of the album out there in the world for all to see and hear…
well, it wasn’t going to take a genius to piece shit together.
“I’ll see if I can reach out to his agent or something.” Priyanka’s helpful suggestion pulled me out of my thoughts. I shook my head. I could worry about Reed later. “But right now, we need to talk about when you want to start tour rehearsals now that the tour’s been mentioned.”
Right, so much to do. “We’ll announce tour after the music video for Birthstone Baby surprise drops tonight. I’ve got the posts ready and scheduled for the tour announcement.”
“Amazing! Okay, so first is the BB MV release and then tour will be officially announced, so then we can talk tour rehearsals next week?”
I pumped a dollop of my moisturizer on my hand, pausing at her words.
“Weren’t we supposed to be interviewing bodyguards?
” My newfound fame had warranted someone going with me everywhere I went.
Once I’d experienced a few fans getting a little too grabby, tearing my clothes in one instance, I’d brought up the idea of needing a bodyguard.
Luckily, the label was all for funding it.
“Right!” I heard the sound of Priyanka rustling through something, likely her purse to pull out the iPad mini she wrote everything in.
I took the opportunity to finish washing my face while she got situated.
“Okay, yes, we have those interviews happening tomorrow actually, I just momentarily overlooked it.”
A scoff rumbled my lips. If Priyanka would ever release a memoir, it would be called ‘Momentarily Overlooked’. “Sounds good. Just message me later where we’re doing the interviews.”
“Oh, it’ll be at the studio. I forgot to mention that earlier.”
I just let a smirk glaze my features. “Alright, cool. Well, let me hop off here, I was going to get ready to head over to the studio to check on the mix of those new songs I was working out with Blue.”
“Alrighty, keep your phone nearby and I’ll talk to you soon!” Priyanka’s cheery voice rang loudly throughout the bathroom.
“Later, Pri.” I ended the call, still wearing my incredulous mask with the upturning of my lips.
I’d meander through social media after I went into the studio, to really see evidence of Priyanka’s claims that everyone was loving the album as much as the numbers seemed to suggest.
A meow sounded off from the floor next to me, seeing Thiessen curling herself through my legs as she kept meowing. I shook my head.
“Alright, alright. Come on.”
I sauntered out of my bathroom, watching both my cats leading the way toward the kitchen where they knew their bowls resided. Before I could continue being Alistair Finn the music star, I had to be Alistair Finn the cat dad.