Chapter 3 #3
“We aren’t asking you to upend your life, but can we get you a nicer place? Please?” I beg.
“No, I can’t leave Kailee behind,” she says, lips pursed. “My roommate isn’t doing so hot. She won’t be able to make the rent alone. I won’t do that to her in this city.”
“Fuck, what does that mean?” Harris groans.
“Nothing. The mafia families are working on it,” Orla says primly.
“What the fuck—”
“Why do you have any involvement with the mafia?” I ask, talking over Harris.
“Who do you think I work for?” she giggles.
God, I’m going to have so many gray hairs from loving this girl.
Six months later
HARRIS
My drumsticks feel like an extension of my hands as they open the next song. I love the gritty, real feel of it. We’ve recorded some new songs with Orla as our muse in a different way, and our fans don’t seem to mind.
Noa growls out the lyrics about a girl who walked through fire to save her alphas, and the crowd screams as Trick plays the guitar. Orla is standing off stage, watching with wide eyes as her lips move to lyrics. She no longer avoids our music.
Tonight, we’re opening for Angelic Demons, and the stadium is sold out.
We coaxed Orla out to Anaheim to spend the weekend with us, and we’re taking things one day at a time.
She’s no longer on her heat control, and instead switched to birth control because she said she doesn’t think we’re ready to add a kid to our insanity.
Orla has always held tightly to her grudges.
When she was sixteen, she fucked with my food for six months because I made the mistake of telling her that the color purple was pretty.
That in itself doesn’t seem like a big deal, but a girl in school started wearing purple exclusively and Orla said that her nose was crooked.
Orla misunderstood the conversation entirely, because she’d been wearing purple shoes during that time, and I was trying to flirt. I just didn’t know how to with her, and I thoroughly fucked that up.
Now, she’s holding tight to our resolve that we figure out how to make this work while she lives in Minnesota.
My pack and I love a good challenge, so we have worked out our schedule so that it takes us near Minneapolis at least once a month.
Outside of that, we all video call her, tell her every day that we love her so she won’t forget, and remind her that she’s our world.
Orla won’t let us quit the band. We offered, and she told us that we have too much talent to stop playing. As long as it doesn’t interfere with what she needs, then we’ll continue to tour.
We now have a house in Minneapolis for the time that we spend there, though Orla says she’ll continue to live with her roommate until Kailee moves out.
Apparently, she’s dating a pack and it seems like it may be getting hot and heavy.
The fierce loyalty she has for others isn’t a surprise.
We were basked in that warmth for a long time, and are finally getting it again.
“Thank you, Anaheim!” Noa yells into the microphone. “We’re going to go hang with our girl and watch the rest of the show. Are you ready for Angelic Demons to blow your mind?”
The cheers follow us as the lights go out and we jog off the stage. Roadies swarm past us as they rush on stage to change out the instruments and set up the projection screen for the next band.
Belial is speaking to Orla as we walk up to them, his mask in place as he leans over her so she can hear his deep, gravel voice. He’s good people, and even though this is the first time we’re opening for Angelic Demons, we’ve run into him at other times.
Belial, Abraxas, Samael, and Haniel are the four band members of Angelic Demons. They always wear masks, and no one has ever seen their faces. The marketing works for them. All of the gossip around their names extends to guesses as to who they really are, but that’s none of my business.
They deserve as much privacy as they can get.
“That was quite the intro you gave us,” Abraxas says, his other band members coming closer. “We’ll have to make sure we can live up to it.”
Trick grins, shaking his head. “They’re so hyped, I don’t think you’ll have to try hard. Just play from the heart.”
“That’s what you think we play from?” Haniel asks. The only reason I can tell them apart is because their masks are unique to each of them.
Haniel’s is white with black tears, completely molding to his face. His black robe is open, his leather pants showing off just enough to make their fans hot and bothered.
“What else is there?” Noa asks.
Angelic Demons have some dark lyrics. While our acquaintance is surface level at best, it’s obvious to anyone that they have some demons they’re trying to exorcise.
Abraxas shrugs, his eyes on the stage as he watches for some unseen cue. “It’s as good a place as any,” he mutters. “Time to go, guys.”
Orla melts into my embrace as I press my lips to her neck as we watch them go.
“Do you ever wonder if they left someone behind?” she asks, turning toward me.
“I heard the love of their life died their first year on tour,” Noa says. “I think that’s enough to haunt anyone.”
Orla shudders in my arms and I hug her closer to me.
“Life is short, baby. Marry us?” I ask. It’s been weighing on my mind heavily. I just want her to be with me every day. “Please?”
Orla’s blue eyes turn to look at me in shock as the lights turn up behind us. We aren’t paying any attention as Noa drops to his knees and wraps his arms around her waist.
“We can grovel a whole lot better if you’re in our bed every night,” he purrs.
Trick’s fingers deftly release her hair from its knot, and he kisses her hard while we hold her up when her legs buckle under the force of his lips.
“Say yes, Pretty Girl,” he whispers.
“I want to,” she whimpers. “I have to talk to Caleb.”
“What if we could get Caleb a replacement manager?” I ask, the wheels turning in my mind. Maurice’s sister is having trouble keeping a job, but she just needs a chance. She’s smart as fuck. “Would that help?”
“Yes,” she says, nodding. Gazing at the three of us, she gasps out a sob. “I can’t believe this.”
“We miss you. Believe it,” Noa says, rising from the ground to kiss her.
As the notes rise and crash on stage and Belial growls out the first words to the song, it feels less hopeless in the glow of Orla accepting my very spontaneous proposal. Life twists and turns, sometimes because of our own decisions, and others due to fate.
All we can hope for is another chance.