8. Creed
Chapter 8
Creed
(AGE 23) ~ ONE YEAR LATER
T he party celebrating our third album release is in full swing in our backyard. Music is thumping through the speakers, party lights are blinking and dancing along the lawn, girls are swimming naked in the pool, and I’m in the lounge chair just basking in the success.
Our band, Dark Sins not only released its third album since signing with Cort Records, but our song ‘Til the Bitter End is already sitting at the number one spot on the music charts after releasing twenty-four hours ago.
It was rough for a while because a few months ago, we lost Benjamin. He didn’t die or anything dramatic like that, but his longtime girlfriend found out she was pregnant, so he negotiated his way out of the contract and went home to be a dad. Good for him. We’re all happy for him. But what sucked was scouting a new drummer.
Nobody fit the bill and we were losing hope of finding someone since we clearly couldn’t trust Steve to not bring another piece of trash into our band like he did with Tony .
With a stroke of luck and a random-ass trip to the hardware store to pick up supplies for installing a pergola for the backyard, I stumbled across a young kid with wicked talent. Riley Graves. He was sitting on a stool in the back of the parking lot and had made a drum set out of various sized buckets and was going to town on them to a metalcore playlist in the background.
I was so impressed and just knew we had to have him in the band that I didn’t even consult Bear or Tony before practically throwing the kid in the car and taking him to the studio, sitting him down in front of a real drum set, and having him show me what he was made of.
Safe to say, he didn’t disappoint. Kid is fucking talented. Maybe even more so than Benjamin, and I make it a point to tell him that every day.
He’s young at only 18, but he said he’s got no plans for college and had no idea what to do next in life, so he was oddly emotional when we offered him the spot in the contract to be our drummer. He’s been a fucking rockstar ever since. Figuratively. And literally, I guess. He’s dedicated to the role and I’ve taken him under my wing. After finding out that his parents are also trash, I took him in and he’s been living with me for about a month now.
The pained expression in his eyes as his mother spewed venom at him from the other side of the phone reminded me of another person who was dealt a shitty hand in life. I haven’t had time to read, let alone respond to her letters lately because I’ve been so busy. So I guess taking Riley in was my fucked up way of trying to make up for not being there for Collins.
Riley thrives on affection and I’ve got it for him in spades.
He’s not very social, and he gets overstimulated easily, so he’s inside in his room to avoid the women and the party with his headphones and music that he loves to listen to that helps him to tune out the world. I finish off my third glass of Macallan when a very wet and very naked pretty brunette straddles my lap. As much as I don’t appreciate my clothes getting wet, her large round tits in my face more than make up for it.
My hands move around to cup her round ass when she grinds herself down on my hardening cock without so much as a word. These girls around here know I’m not much for talking because I have no interest in starting a relationship with them. They’re not interested in emotional connections and neither am I. So why bother with conversation?
She tips her head back and moans when I pull her wet little pussy across my erection again, and her long, wet locks spill down her back and brush to tops of my legs. She arches into me, pushing her breasts closer to my face so I lean up and suck one of her hardened nipples into my mouth, which has her body trembling on top of me.
I move to suck on the other one as she reaches between us to pull at the waistband of my shorts when my phone starts buzzing on the table beside me. I ignore it because I’m too fucking horny to answer right now.
Just as the brunette pulls my dick out and pumps it once, my phone starts buzzing again. Groaning I look over at the screen reluctantly. I don’t recognize the number, but the name of the city has my lust fizzling out real quick.
With a heavy sigh I tap the girl in my lap on her thigh twice, signaling for her to slide off. She pouts but does as instructed with no argument. I’d just tucked my softening dick back into my pants when it starts to ring for the third time.
Jesus fuck.
I jab the green button on the screen a little too aggressively to answer. “Yeah?”
A woman’s voice speaks in a professional tone from the other line. “Good evening, I’m looking to speak with a Mister Creed St. James this evening.”
I roll my eyes, annoyed that I’d answered, thinking it could just be a fucking spam call, after all. “Speaking.” I say blandly .
“Right. Well, my name is Monica Duinski and I’m with Child Protective Services. I represent the city of Stutton. Do you have a moment to talk?”
Child protective services? The fuck?
I pull the phone away, confused as fuck. But then it hits me and I feel the blood drain from my face. She said Stutton. As in, my home town.
I quickly sit up and rush across the backyard to the house and slip in the back door. I pass Riley in the kitchen and he gives me a quizzical look as he pops a handful of m&m’s in his mouth. I shake my head once and he nods, heading back to his room while I jog up the stairs to mine. Once I’m in my room with the door shut and locked I speak.
“Talk about what, exactly?” Please don’t be who I think it is. Fucking please.
“I’m calling on behalf of Miss Collins Weston. Her records have you and an Asher Sutton listed as next of kin?”
Next of…
“What happened? Did you call Asher first?” I question.
“We tried, sir. Over the last twenty-four hours we’ve attempted to reach him several times, but we’ve been unsuccessful in doing so. We need to speak to her next of kin before proceeding with any further actions.”
I run a hand through my sweat slicked hair then grip the back of my neck. “Sorry lady but you’re freaking me the fuck out with your words, here. Collins, is she…” I swallow nervously, feeling sick to my stomach. “Is she okay?”
“ She is okay, physically. But we currently have custody of her after her neighbor called the police on her behalf. She came home from a friend’s house and found her mother unresponsive, and her father has yet to be found for questioning.”
“Unresponsive? You mean her mom…died?” I whisper the last words. My voice feeling like gravel.
“Unfortunately yes. I’m so sorry. But right now the nature of my call is in regard to the care of Miss Weston. With her mother now gone and her father at large, she’ll be placed into foster care unless the next of kin is eligible and able to care for her.”
Shit. Her mom was practically a ghost of a person when I still lived in Stutton, but according to Collins, her mom was getting better. What the fuck happened?
I glance out my bedroom window and watch the very adult-rated party rage on in the back. There’s no fucking way I can take care of a kid. Even if that kid is my best friend’s sister. She’s got to be, what, thirteen or fourteen now? We’re about to set off on another tour soon and I know that Collins is out of school for the summer based on the letters she’s written to me in the past, but the crowds we draw during and after the concerts are not what I would want a young teen exposed to.
I haven’t seen her in years, and I miss her and Asher like crazy… but I just don’t think it’s something I could do.
Fuck, though. The thought of her going into foster care, letting some other fucking unknown family care for her? Would they even be worthy of all the goodness in Collins’ heart? Doubtful . But would I be any better with her having to spend time alone on a fucking tour bus? And where the fuck is Asher? I know he and Dani broke up and it messed him up, but you’d think he’d answer to take care of his sister.
That was his whole plan, after all.
“Listen, Miss Duinski,” I pinch the bridge of my nose, squeezing my eyes shut as I pace the floor in my bedroom. “I am not asking this to sound pompous, but do you know who I am?”
A moment of silence before she answers, “I—no, sir, I can’t say that I do.”
I huff a laugh, “Well, I’m the lead singer in a band, and we’re about to go on tour in a few weeks. Both US and UK.” I sit on the side of the bed, my shoulders slumping and a deep sadness washing over me. “I…Collins is an amazing kid, but I don’t think it would be wise to drag her around while I’m on tour. Being stuck on a tour bus for hours on end almost every day for several months? That’s no fair life fo r a kid. I-I’m sorry,” my voice cracking and my heart squeezing. “I can’t take her. She’s technically not even my family. She’s my best friend’s little sister”
A beat of silence passes before I realize the mistake I just made and my lungs become devoid of oxygen. “Oh,” Mrs. Duinski speaks again before I can even try to take back my words. “I do apologize for the mix up. We’ll remove you from her list as next of kin. Please understand, Mr. Saint James, that we will not contact you again regarding Collins. We will attempt to contact Asher again before proceeding with arranging foster care for Miss Weston.”
I have nothing left to say after my huge fuckup so I hang up and stare blankly at the wall, feeling sick to my stomach. I wonder if she’s informing Collins of the words I said without thinking. Would she be upset? Angry? She’d have every right to be. She just lost her mom and she has no one there to comfort her or help her through the mourning process and my words just added salt to the wound. Also, where the fuck is Asher and why isn’t he answering?
Why did I have to open my damn mouth?
“Fuck!” I yell as I throw my phone across the room, knowing I’ve just let my family down.
Though going on tour is completely out of my control, letting my family down is exactly what I did. I just lost that contact with her, I haven’t heard from Asher in months, so all I have left is the undeserving hope that forgives me, that she still wants to send her letters and pictures, and that she can stay strong.