Chapter Thirteen
Michelle…
Our phones vibrated on the coffee table at the same time. Saved by the bell? It’s probably good or we would have ended up back in bed. I peeled myself off Flame and grabbed the phone.
Cyn: “We’re waiting did you forget again?”
“Cyn says their waiting downstairs.”
“Chaos is saying the same thing but probably not as nicely.”
“Are we okay?”
“Yes, babe. I told you, I’m not going anywhere and I mean it. If I have to tell you every day I will until you believe me.” He dropped a kiss on the tip of my nose and then sent a text to Chaos. I answered Cyn.
Me: “We’re on our way.”
With a quick kiss, Flame grabbed my hand and we were out the door.
The elevator doors opened to a mob scene.
No wonder Cyn was pissed we were late. Apparently news got out the band was staying at the Waldorf and a crowd formed.
There were definitely somethings about being a bestselling band that sucked, at least as far as I was concerned.
The guys didn’t look like they minded so much, except for Fury and Rage, but then the two of them always looked pissed off.
It also looked like Candy and Sweets had their own fans now.
Men who wanted to a piece of “their” action.
Candy didn’t look all that comfortable with it, but Sweets was eating it up—figures.
I didn’t totally forgive her yet for the trouble she’d caused and how Cyn and Chaos almost never happened because of her.
Cyn was a much more forgiving person than me.
Flame held my hand in a firm grip as we pushed through the crowd, at least until they recognized him too.
It was like a swarm of bees, I swear. There was no getting around or even through them, the crowd moved you along whether you liked it or not.
I was over by one of the seating areas and trying to find Flame, and as I scanned the crowd I thought I saw Bob Williams. But a blink later nothing.
Were my eyes playing tricks on me? A chill slid down my spine, raising goosebumps on my arms and making the hairs on the back of my head tingle.
My spidey senses were on full alert. If it was him, why was he here?
Hotel security and Terrance were finally getting control of the fans and media too.
I didn’t even see them at first, at least not until the cameras were turned on, then there was no missing the bright lights.
I was thankful I wasn’t near Flame when he was on camera, and I hoped there weren’t any pictures of ‘us’ or I’d be paying another visit to the principal’s office on Monday morning.
Who says you only get called the principal’s office when you’re a kid. I can blow that right out of the water.
Once the fans were gone and only the TV crews were left, Teresa found me. I tell you it really sucks being short. Even in my four inch heels I could barely see over the crowd when the lobby was packed.
“Are you okay?”
“Besides not expecting this crap, yeah. Why?”
Teresa met my eyes and shrugged. “You look a little spooked.”
A quick scan of the room told me we were alone for now. “I think I saw the Bob Williams here.”
“What? Are you shitting me?”
Of course even stressed the first thing that came to mind was one of Flame’s favorite sayings, ‘I’m not shitting you, you’re my favorite turd’. “I wish I was, but I’m not sure. Really. I think I saw him. But when I looked again he wasn’t there.”
“Have you told Flame or anyone else about him yet?”
“What’s to tell? A creepy guy who teaches at my school might have been here?”
“True. What if he’s a stalker?”
God I wished she didn’t say those words.
I had been avoiding them like the plague, forcibly pushing them out of my brain each time they tried to sneak in.
I didn’t want to have a stalker. It made no sense for me to have one.
I was a freakin’ kindergarten teacher, and nothing all that special—not some gorgeous model or Hollywood star. I was totally average. So why?
“I’m going to go with coincidence.”
Teresa turned from surveying the crowd and gave me a skeptical look. “Riiighht. And I’m the Queen of Sheba.”
“What?”
“Okay so maybe he’s not a stalker and maybe it’s all a coincidence like you say. But do me a favor, talk to the other teachers at school on Monday.”
It was an easy favor to agree to, especially since I’d already decided to do it. I was glad she didn’t ask me to talk to Flame because I would’ve said no. No sense in worrying anyone or pissing him off ‘til I knew for sure. Right?
Finally the rest of the group showed up, having ditched the TV crews and any lingering fans.
“Sorry I lost you babe. That was fuckin’ whacked.”
“Yeah you could say that,” I said, the sarcasm heavy in my voice.
Cyn shook her head. “I can’t get used to this, it’s crazy, and it’s gotten so much worse since we left on tour.”
“It was bound to happen,” Joe said as he joined the group. “You are getting bigger and bigger, wait until the next album comes out.”
“Shit, we won’t be able to go anywhere,” Rage fumed.
“Hey it’s the price of fame. Would you rather be back in Jack and Sally’s garage?” Chaos asked.
No one said anything after that, but after the mob in the lobby nobody felt like going out so we picked one of the restaurants in the Waldorf. The food was great, but the bill had to be outrageous.
“This is so expensive.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s all a write off anyway according to Joe.”
“Baby, if you keep spending it won’t matter.”
Flame laughed. “It’s all taken care of. Joe knows what he’s doing and you don’t have to worry. We have our own accounts and investments and there’s more money than any of us know what to do with right now.””
I nodded, it really wasn’t the best place to have this discussion, but I didn’t like him spending tons of money on me.
My grandmother was middle class, and I didn’t lack for anything, but I didn’t need a lot either.
She instilled in me the ‘just because you can buy it doesn’t mean you should’ mentality.
I gave in sometimes, especially with shoes, my secret addiction, or maybe not so secret if you looked in my closet.
“I’ll be leaving for Sunshine’s after dinner, but I called a realtor to arrange to show you apartments tomorrow. I’ll see what I can do about finding some land near Marlville too,” Joe announced.
Living in New Jersey would make getting to work a lot more difficult for both of us. I never even thought about any of this and I should have until earlier. Maybe I shouldn’t have sublet my apartment then we could have moved in there, although it was small, Flame probably would have hated it.
The steak in front of me didn’t look as appetizing anymore, and I grabbed my wine glass instead. The deep red wine looked like blood, but it was smooth going down my throat, leaving a warm trail to my stomach. I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and I could already feel the effects.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Not really.”
Flame frowned. “If you don’t eat you won’t have any energy for later,” he said as he waggled his brows. I laughed, who wouldn’t. It was such a Groucho thing all he was missing was the cigar.
“Fine, I’ll try.”
“Good girl.” That earned him an elbow to the side, he groaned and I felt a little better then.
He wasn’t the boss of me, maybe I would have to get out some more surprises from the goody bag later.
All of a sudden, I felt a lot better and I was able to eat some of the steak, baked potato and broccoli.
Dinner was actually kind of fun. They all shared stories of the tour and Candy and Sweets’ many shopping trips. Apparently they couldn’t stop anywhere without buying stuff. Chaos teased they were going to need a house just for all the shit they bought.
“What was your favorite place,” Teresa asked, always the journalist.
Wrath winked at her. “Off the record or are you doing another piece on us.”
We all laughed, it wasn’t that long ago she’d written an article on the band. It was a huge mess for a while but worked out in the end. I was glad too, having met Wrath the same night as Flame, I was surprised at how much less of a jerk he was now. The guys all should thank Teresa for that.
“I was just curious, and no I’m not writing about you…yet.”
Rage and Fury groaned, they were all for flying under the radar, which was pretty hard when you’re a rock star. I wondered if they realized when they decided to start the band how it would be if they made it big. I knew a lot of Fury’s story from Flame but not Rage’s. He kept it pretty quiet.
One of the bellman came to tell Joe his car was ready and we said goodbye.
He told Chaos he’d let him know when he found out anything about the land and the recording schedule.
Teresa reminded him to say hi to Sunshine for her.
I wondered if her mom and Joe dating was kind of weird for her.
I’d have to remember to ask her one of these days.
After dinner I thought we were going back up to the room but the guys found out there was a piano bar in the hotel and they wanted to hit it. Even though it was Sunday night the place was packed but we managed to find two tables we pulled together.
The guys went to get us drinks and all of us girls were alone for the first time.
Candy pulled out a chair and sat on my right side.
I was surprised since I don’t think she’d said two words to me since I met her back in September.
She was definitely the shy one, blonde, blue-eyed, she looked more like Alice in Wonderland than a back-up singer for a rock band.
Cyn told me she’d heard Candy singing when she thought no one was around and she was blown away.
Sweets on the other had didn’t have a shy bone in her body.
Loud and bossy, she oozed sex all over every guy she met.
I knew girls like her in college and I never liked them, and it was weird she and Candy were so close.
But then they were the only two girls in the foster home, so if nothing else I guess it would have given them a bond.
“How’s married life?”
Cyn laughed. “I’m not sure I can answer that yet. You know how we used to think our lives were so boring?”
I nodded. In a way mine still was except when I was around Flame.
“Well not anymore, and I don’t think we had two nights in a row alone since we got married. I am looking forward to some down time.”
“I bet. But it must have been fun too, right?”
“Oh yeah, it was. Right girls?” She looked at Candy and Sweets.
“Oh shit yeah, and the shopping was amazeballs,” Sweets said.
“I liked the food, it was fun eating in all the different countries,” Candy added.
Teresa nodded. “I think I’d like the food part best and all the sightseeing.”
“We didn’t have a lot of time for that. Here and there. We got to see the Louvre, which was awesome.”
“Damn I bet it was. I’d love to see it one of these days.”
Flame appeared at my shoulder and put another glass of wine on the table in front of me. “See what?”
“The Louvre, and I’d love to tour Paris, just wandering around and all the little surprises of the City of Love.”
“You will, next time we go you’ll come with us.”
I wanted to, it would be wonderful, but it would depend on when they went. If it was summer time I’d be all over that. “We’ll see I guess. Are you leaving again soon?”
“No,” Cyn said. “We have to finish the second album first. Then Joe said we’d probably not do another European Tour for about a year.”
“See, a lot can happen in a year, babe.”
“That’s true.”
The stories were great, but every once in a while I felt a pang of jealousy I didn’t get to do all of that, and when I glanced at Teresa I wondered if she was feeling the same way. I wasn’t jealous Cyn had gone, just that I didn’t.
Flame surprised me when he convinced the piano player to let him take over and he started with some classical music.
I didn’t even realize he knew that kind of music, I guess I figured he was just a rocker and always had been.
It didn’t take long though before he started playing some of the songs from their first album.
I was kind of shocked at how many people knew the words, especially in a stuffy hotel like the Waldorf.
But it just reinforced how popular they’d become.
They guys were having a blast and I didn’t want to take Flame away from their fun but it was getting late and I had school in the morning. I felt like a stick in the mud but I saw Teresa looking at her watch.
“I think I’m going to head upstairs, want to go with?”
“Yeah, good idea or I’ll never be able to wake up tomorrow. I’m not used to all this on a work night.” She winked at me. But she was right, we’d be in our rooms already either reading or watching TV until we fell asleep.
I caught Cyn’s eye and signaled we were going upstairs and waved goodbye. As the elevator doors closed we both yawned and laughed.
“Damn we’re boring.”
“No kidding. I bet they don’t notice we’re gone for hours.”
“Probably not. Maybe we need to hang do not disturb signs on the doors.”
We giggled. I wasn’t sure if it was the wine or being tired but either way just thinking about the look on Flame’s face when he got to the door and saw the sign hanging cracked me up.
We hugged, said good night, and both headed to our rooms. I jumped in the shower and was in bed in less than half an hour.
I almost forgot to take my birth control pill and was glad I’d dropped my purse next to the bed.
There was a bottle of water on the nightstand so I didn’t have to get one from the other room.
I didn’t remember leaving it there, but who else would have?
It felt good to stretch out on the soft bed.
It was peaceful, cool and the only light was from the skyscrapers visible through the slightly parted curtains.
It had been a crazy day, so many ups and downs but I was happy we’d worked things out, at least I hoped we did.
As I was falling asleep I heard him say I love you and smiled as I drifted off.
If I hadn’t been so tired I would have realized it wasn’t Flame’s voice I’d heard.