Chapter Twenty-ThreeChaos…
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chaos…
Somehow we managed to get through the freaking show. I don’t know how. Sweets and Candy were gone and we had no idea where they were. Cynda was gone, I knew why she left and I should be fuckin’ happy but I wasn’t. I had the horrible feeling I’d made a fuckin’ huge mistake.
I went back to the bus as soon as the show was over, leaving the guys to party with everyone. We were leaving for Virginia—the next tour stop—as soon as everyone was back on the bus.
Joe and Terrance went looking for the girls, luckily with all of their tweets it wasn’t hard to track to them down.
Candy should have been a news reporter. She couldn’t sneeze without fucking tweeting about it.
Once I knew they were on the way back I felt a little better.
I’d tried to call Cynda but I kept getting her frigging voicemail.
It was late but I needed to make sure she was safe, so I tried again, and once again I got her voicemail. Listening to her soft voice, I waited for the beep.
“Cynda, I want to make sure you’re okay. You didn’t have to leave like that. I’d appreciate it if you would give me a call.” I tried to be pleasant, I should have apologized but I couldn’t, not yet. I needed fucking answers, from her or somewhere, I couldn’t just fuckin’ forget what happened.
Hopefully she’d call me in the morning, if not, I’d have Flame call Michelle again to see if she’d turned up there.
I shouldn’t care, right? She’d betrayed me?
Or had she? Sally said I jump to conclusions, had I this time?
So many times in my life shit happened and it was exactly like it looked, I’d learned to freaking expect it.
Was I wrong? I didn’t know what to do, and my head felt like someone was banging on it with a fuckin’ hammer.
Going through the first aid kit, I finally found the aspirin when Joe and Terrence came in with the girls. As soon as Sweets saw me she tried to turn around and get off the bus.
“Wait, Sweets, Tammy…” She stopped when I said Tammy. We didn’t use our birth names much since we’d started the band, except when we were really serious about something.
‘What?” Her blue eyes were filled with tears and anger, and I felt like shit for hurting her. How did things get so fucked up?
“Please sit down, we need to talk, you too Candy.”
Candy nodded and pulled out a chair at the small table. Sweets hesitated but then sat down. I popped a couple of aspirin and took a swig of water, then sat with them.
“I’m sorry I hurt you. You’re like sisters to me, both of you. It’s always been that way, and it will always be that way, nothing more nothing fucking less.”
Sweets watched me, and she looked so sad.
Candy grabbed her sister’s hand and gave it a squeeze.
It was easy to forget they were sisters since they looked nothing alike.
Sweets was outgoing, with lots of curves she liked to show off, and long red hair, Candy was small with brown hair and pale blue eyes.
“We’re a family. I don’t want to break us up, but I am not in love with you, I do love you—both of you, you’re family. Can’t that be enough?”
“I don’t know. Why won’t you give us a chance?”
“I know you think you’re in love with me, but I think when you meet the man you’re really meant to be with you’ll forget all about me.”
Candy nodded. “That’s what I was telling her.”
“Tonight’s show wasn’t the same without you. The crowds were calling for you too.”
“Really?”
“Yes, ask anyone. They’ll tell you.”
They looked at each other for a bit, maybe they had some kind of fuckin’ sister talk, I didn’t know.
“You’re going to be even more pissed at me.”
“Why? What else is going on?”
Sweets looked uncomfortable, and it was clear she didn’t want to tell me.
Candy pushed her. “You have to tell him.”
“Fine, I tweeted about it, and even put a picture up of how I looked after the fight.”
“You did what?” Fuck. What was she thinking? Holy fucking shit this was going to be a huge mess. “What did you Tweet about?”
“Only that Cynda stole your songs and beat me up.”
I closed my eyes and put my head in my hands.
I couldn’t look at her. She was right, I was even more pissed.
It was my fault. I was older, I should have known better.
She thought she was doing the right thing, I think.
Unless she’s just using all of this. Damn, I couldn’t even think straight anymore.
“Fuck.” I took a deep breath, trying to calm my temper. I felt like I was talking to a little kid, and maybe that’s the problem. She was twenty-two, maybe all of us sheltered her too much once she got to the Sherman’s. “Can you at least delete the picture?”
“Yeah.” She pulled out her phone and clicked away. “Okay, it’s gone.”
“What about the tweet, can you delete it?”
“Yeah, but if people have seen it, and I know they have, it’s been liked and retweeted a shitload, it won’t matter.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Why not? She lied to us all.”
“But we don’t know that for sure. I was too pissed to listen, maybe there was a good reason she had lyrics to my song.”
Joe came out from the front of the bus. He looked upset, but I didn’t know how much more I could handle.
“If you’re talking about the song, then yeah, you’re wrong.”
I heard the words but they weren’t sinking in. “What do you mean? Do you know what she was doing?”
“Yeah, I do.”
Obviously I was going to have to play dentist and pull it out of him like a bad tooth. “Will you tell me…us?”
He sighed and looked like he didn’t want to say anything.
She must have asked him to keep it a secret.
“I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I can’t have you believing she was going to steal from you.
She heard you writing the song the other night when she was trying to get to sleep.
She said it was the most beautiful thing you’d ever written and the words came to her, she couldn’t stop writing.
She wanted to surprise you with the finished lyrics. ”
“You know this for sure?”
“Yeah, I’ve even heard her sing them. She has the voice of an angel. But then it’s not surprising considering her who father is.”
“Her father?” Now I was really confused. She never mentioned anyone other than her mother.
“Her father is Preston Mitchell.”
“No fucking way. The Preston Mitchell? Singer and songwriter for The Hurricanes?” Holy fuck. He’d been one of my idols growing up. He’s the reason I started writing songs. Cyn’s his daughter? Why didn’t she tell me?
Joe nodded. “Yeah, it’s kind of a long story but it’s hers to tell, I really can’t say anymore.”
“I understand, I think. Fuck. How am I going to fix this?”
Candy hugged her sister, trying to calm her down since she was crying again, but Sweets was losing it fast. “I’m sorry, Chaos. I didn’t know. I thought...oh my God I’ve fucked everything up. Everyone who sees my tweet is gonna think she stole some of your songs. I fucked up so bad.”
Yeah she did and they were, but I didn’t know how the fuck I was going to fix it.