Текст книги "Untamed"

Автор книги: S. C. Stephens

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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 29 страниц)

My hip hurt from where that jackass had tossed me on the cement. I inconspicuously rubbed it while I told Anna, “I’m just excited to go. This is going to be so much fun. You’ll see.” She gave me a small, unconvinced smile before getting up to get ready.

The doorbell chimed just as Anna finished getting dressed. Time to go. Wrangling the kids and all our stuff took a surprising amount of time. Gibson cried and refused to leave her purple room. Onnika needed food, then a diaper change, then another outfit. By the time we finally made it to the airport, I was done with this trip. Couldn’t we just be there already?

We needed two carts to hold all our stuff, and even then I was bogged down with bags. When the automatic doors swished open, I spotted something that put me even more on edge. Kellan and Kiera were here. Kellan was dressed in a ball cap and sunglasses, but he still had a group of fans around him. He was smiling, autographing scraps of paper, and posing for a few pictures. Airport security was hovering around the crowd, looking a little uneasy. I figured they’d put a stop to this in about three more seconds.

Readjusting the car seat in my hand, the diaper bag on my back, and the stroller balancing on the cart, I worked my way to Kellan’s circle. He looked up when he noticed me, then gave me a wave. Fans in the crowd turned my way, but if they recognized me, they didn’t show it.

Anna squealed when she noticed her sister. Clutching our daughters tight, she dashed over to where Kiera was standing off to Kellan’s side. They hugged, and Anna’s smile was the brightest I’d seen since I’d told her we were leaving.

Kellan politely brushed through his fans to get to me. Wondering if he was going to chew me out like Matt had, I brusquely asked, “You here to bitch me out too?”

Kellan sighed, so I figured he knew about the incident with Matt at the bar. “No. I’m here to say goodbye. Regardless of…recent events…you’re family, and I can’t let you leave without a send-off.”

I didn’t want to be moved by the fact that Kellan gave a shit, but I was. He extended his hand to me. I hesitated, but eventually took it. His grin under his ball cap had the lingering fans sighing like he’d just asked them to marry him. “Good luck, Griffin. I mean that.”

Nodding, I pumped his hand a few more times, then let go. “Thanks.” I felt like I should add some sappy shit about how I appreciated his encouragement, but the words wouldn’t come out. All I kept hearing in my mind was Not tonight, maybe tomorrow. Well, tomorrow was today.

I had to peel Anna away from Kiera. She had tears in her eyes when she said her final goodbye to her sister. “I’ll call you when I land,” she told her as their fingers finally separated.

“You better,” Kiera said, wiping her eyes.

Even though I didn’t get why this moment was getting so unnecessarily dramatic, I found it hard to swallow; it was like my throat was superglued shut. I started herding my wife toward check-in, then stopped and looked back at Kellan. “Hey, Kell,” I called out. Even though he was wearing dark sunglasses, I could tell his eyes were locked on mine. “Tell…” Tell Matt and Evan I’m sorry. My mouth wouldn’t form those words though. “Thanks for seeing us off.”

Kellan nodded, then held his hand up in a wave. With nothing more to say, I turned my back on him, and Seattle.

Chapter 12

Let the Awesomeness Begin

Anna was near silent on the plane. Holding Onnika in her lap, she stared out the windows like the endless sea of clouds was some all-encompassing book that she couldn’t put down.

I told her that my parents were picking us up from the airport, but all I got was a nod in response. Even the flight attendant didn’t get a verbal answer when she asked Anna if she needed anything. Just a shake of her head while she stared out the window. Whatever funk she’d slipped into, it was so unlike her. It scared me some that she wasn’t snapping out of this. I missed my spunky, carefree wife who didn’t bat an eye at all my outlandish antics. Her ability to accept all my craziness was one of the main reasons we worked so well. If she lost that ability now, I wasn’t sure what that might mean for us. God, I hoped my old Anna returned soon. I needed someone to bounce my excitement off of. I needed her to be stoked about this.

When the plane touched down in L.A., I was rearing to go. I was tired of this tiny, cramped cabin. Tired of my tiny, cramped life. I wanted to explode out into the world. See my name forty feet high. See the crowds losing their shit at just a glimpse of me. See the judgey critics speechless, because my awesomeness was impossible to portray in mere words. As the world was soon to find out, nothing in the English language could properly summarize me. I was ready for the solo spotlight. I’d been ready my entire life.

While I watched luggage landing on the rotating belt, I wondered if I could still call myself a D-Bag. I’d been one for so long, it was odd to think of myself as anything else. But Denny was disavowing me, so technically…I was an ex-D-Bag. That thought darkened my mood a bit; it wasn’t all that long ago when the band had been everything to me. But they hadn’t felt the same, obviously, and now I was a reformed D-Bag. Nah, I’ll always be a douche.

My inner joke perked my mood back up, and a laugh escaped me. Anna flashed a glance my way; the lingering sadness in her eyes momentarily shifted to prickly anger. Even though I was happy to see any sort of mood change from her, I had to know what had sparked it. “What?” Thinking maybe she wasn’t happy about our temporary arrangement, I told her, “Are you ticked we’re staying with my parents? It’s temporary, babe. Soon as we’re settled, we’ll start looking for a place. Promise.”

She looked away, and the brief spark of angry life left her. Damn it. I really had no idea how to deal with sullen women; I had zero experience. If a chick turned moody, I checked out. But I didn’t want to do that with Anna. She was my dream girl.

Once we had our bags, we met my dad outside. He looked haggard when we all piled into the minivan. “Something up, Pops?” I asked.

With a glance at me, he sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Let’s just say, the house is kind of…busy right now. This may be the most peace and quiet I’ve had in a while. God, I’ve missed being able to hear myself think.”

I looked around the crowded airport, cars coming and going, people shouting, hustling, and scrambling to get somewhere else. This was peaceful? Anna sighed after Dad’s statement. Tossing my arm around her shoulder, I gave her as encouraging a statement as I could. “It’s my family…how bad could it possibly be?”

Her blank expression clearly told me just how epically awful she was sure it was going to be. It also said that if I ever wanted to get laid again, I should start looking for a place as soon as possible. I started scrolling through the classifieds in the van.

As the airport became indiscernible in the rearview mirror, I thought over the complete and total lack of a fan freak-out there. No one had asked for an autograph, no one had screamed, no one had bitched about me leaving the band. No one had even recognized me. What the hell? Wondering if my parents had heard the news about the band, I asked Dad, “So…did you see me on Live with Johnny?” That puffed-up cocksucker.

Dad frowned. “No…I must have missed it. What night were you on?”

I rolled my eyes. Typical. Unless I gave them about ten reminders, my parents missed everything I did. Except making children. They flocked to grandkids like flies to a shitpile. “Well, you missed a good one. I quit the band.”

Dad snapped his gaze to me; he jerked the wheel along with his head, almost colliding us with a taxi. Maybe I should have driven. “Why the hell would you quit the band?” He gaped at me like I’d just told him I was having a sex change.

Frowning, I indicated the road. Last thing I needed was to damage my face because Dad rear-ended somebody. Especially now, since I had nothing to fall back on. This gorgeous mug was about to be my sole source of income. “I found something better. The TV show? Remember? That’s why we’re here.”

Dad closed his eyes and I almost socked him in the arm. Pay attention, old dude! “Griffin…TV shows are a dime a dozen around here, you know that. And most of them never even get picked up, and if they do, they only last a season at best. You know that too. When you said you were filming one, I just assumed you were doing it for fun, in your downtime. I didn’t realize you’d quit…” He groaned, like he couldn’t believe he’d raised such an imbecilic child.

My hands clenched into fists. Why was my family always the first to condemn me? “This one is getting picked up, that’s already a done deal. And it’s going to be huge, so you can quit freaking out.” I looked around the car; Anna was in the middle part of the minivan with Gibson and Onnika on either side of her. She still looked dull around the edges, like she was in mourning. “Everyone can quit freaking out…and have a little faith in me.” Facing front, I crossed my arms over my chest. This was supposed to be different.

Anna sighed, then rested her hand on my shoulder. “We do, Griff. We do.” It was the first words she’d spoken since we’d left Seattle. Smiling, I met eyes with her in the rearview mirror. It looked strained, but she was smiling too. Seeing a positive emotion on her almost made me crumple with relief. Thank God, she was recovering. I’m not sure what I would have done if she’d never bounced back.

Then Dad said something I wished he hadn’t. “What’s with your hair?” I still had the short cut and brown dye job that I’d gotten when I’d filmed the pilot, although my blond roots were starting to show through. I’d need a quick fix before we started filming again.

I was about to answer him when Anna’s grip on my shoulder tightened. I slowly turned to meet her heated gaze. “He didn’t see your hair when you filmed the ‘commercial’?” Before I could explain, she answered her own question. “No…of course he didn’t see it. Because you didn’t really stay with your family while you were here. You lied to keep me away…so I wouldn’t find out that what you were filming wasn’t really a commercial.”

Shaking her head, she leaned back in the seat and turned to stare out the window. Fuck. And just when I’d been getting somewhere with her. Dad looked over at me with a frown. “You were in town and didn’t say hello? Marsha is not gonna like that.” Great.

When we got to Dad’s house, I immediately understood what he meant by “busy.” Mom was babysitting the twins for Chelsey, and about a billion of my relatives were visiting; both Mom and Dad came from super-huge families. Somebody was always stopping by. The house was chaos incarnate. Liam was there too, practicing lines for an audition.

Liam blinked in surprise when he saw me. “Wow, you actually did do it. You quit the band. Are you an idiot or just plain stupid?”

I was about to comment, but Anna beat me to it. “Griffin’s not an idiot. He made a career change, that’s all. He’s got a plan…and it’s going to work out fine.”

She said that last part like she was convincing herself as well as my brother, but I was too impressed that she’d actually defended my decision to really care.

I pulled my gaze away from Anna as Dad started pointing to a room down the hall—my old bedroom. “The four of you are going to have to share a room.” He shrugged, like nothing could be done about it. Anna sighed but followed me as I walked down the hallway to our new, albeit temporary, home.

When we got to my old bedroom, which was still awesomely decorated in KISS and Poison posters, I turned to Anna. “Thanks for that.”

“For what?” she murmured, laying Onnika on the ground.

“For having my back with Liam. For saying I wasn’t an idiot for doing this.”

Anna gave me a small smile then started checking Onnika’s diaper. “I’m still not sold on this, Griffin, and I’m still really pissed that you agreed to this behind my back, that you lied multiple times, and that you ever spouted the words ‘end of discussion’ like some controlling dickwad asshole…but I didn’t like what he was saying.” Peeking up at me, her tiny grin slightly widened. “You may be an idiot, but you’re my idiot.”

Grabbing her hand, I yanked her to her feet. She squeaked as she let go of the elastic on Onnika’s diaper, making Onnika smile. Her deep green eyes were a smaller version of her mother’s; even though Onnie’s dark hair wasn’t very long, they were near twins already.

Wrapping my arms around Anna’s waist, I pulled her tight to my body. “Come with me tomorrow.”

Relaxing, she linked her arms around my neck. “To the set?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Come with me and check it out. Then maybe you’ll get excited about this.”

She chewed on her lip, and my cock twitched. Damn that was sexy. “Maybe…All right, I’ll go with you. Could be fun.” She smiled while she held her lip in her teeth, and I saw the familiar playful gleam in her eye spark to life. There’s my girl.

I was just about to ask Gibson to take her sister into the next room when Mom appeared in my doorway. “Oh good, you’re here. You can help me make dinner. And by help, I mean get your ass in the kitchen.” Her smile was warm but her words were firm. There was no getting out of kitchen duty once it had been assigned to you.

“Thanks, Mom, be there in a minute.” Maybe after a quickie with my wife.

Mom started walking away, then she stopped, walked over to me, and smacked me across the head. “That’s for not visiting while you were in town. Nice hair.”

She left the room and Anna started laughing. My head hurt, but hearing Anna laugh again was a relief. “Serves you right. That’s karma telling you not to lie, especially to your wife.” Her eyes grew icy, and I knew that even though she was trying to let it go, she was still pissed about my deception.

Holding her shoulders, I looked her square in the eye. “I’m sorry, okay? And I won’t do it again.” We were already here, there was no reason to lie again now. This was going to be smooth sailing from here on out.

Resentful fire brightened her eyes. “You better not lie to me again.”

Giving her a sheepish smile, I made an X over my heart.

Anna pursed her lips, then slowly nodded. “Okay…why don’t you tell me about your show then, so I know what to expect tomorrow.”

I was giddy to finally be able to tell her about it. Holding it inside had been killing me, but once the secret was out of the bag, and I could talk about it, she hadn’t wanted to listen. Every time I’d tried to tell her about the show the last few days, she’d quietly left the room. “Well, for starters…I’m a rock star.” Her eyes widened and I grinned. “Yeah, I know, ironic, huh? And in a way, appropriate. I’m still living out my childhood dream, it’s just bigger and badder than ever.”

Anna gave me small smile that was more on the encouraging side than the humoring smile, and my mood lifted even higher. With Anna firmly at my side, there wasn’t anything I couldn’t do. I was going to own this town, it was just a matter of time.

The next morning, Anna and I made our way to the studio in my dad’s minivan. It was embarrassing to drive it, but we hadn’t had a chance to rent a car yet. I texted Harold when we were there, and he met us in the parking lot in a golf cart, same as before. He said hello to me, then took in my wife with surprised eyes. “Mrs. Hancock…it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Harold Berk, the executive producer of the show. We’re so thrilled to have your husband on board.” He extended his hand in greeting.

Anna gave him a polite smile as she shook his hand. She didn’t exactly share his opinion on the matter. “Yes, I believe I’ve heard of you. Briefly.” Her irritated eyes flashed a glance my way. Even if she did forgive me, she’d never completely let this go.

Harold laughed at her comment and released her hand. When his gaze got a little too lengthy, I stepped in front of Anna. Yes, my wife is hot. She’s also mine, so go ahead and back that dirty thought up. It’ll never happen, bro.

“Should we get going?” I asked.

Harold returned his eyes to mine. “Yes! Hop in, and I’ll take you to your new home away from home.” As Anna and I scooted in beside him, he told me, “I should let you know, Mr. Hancock, you’re the only cast member here who has their own trailer. You should feel very special.”

I gave him a heated glance. “Well of course I should. I’m the star. Remember?” I considered asking him if what Denny told me was true—that he’d asked every other band member to do this before he approached me—but I decided not to. Denny had it wrong. Thinking of Denny made me think of Matt and our tiff at the bar. Was he still mad at me for that? Yeah, probably. I was still mad at him for his comment—You’re dead to me. Whatever, fucker.

Harold kept his eyes glued to the street as he answered me. “Yes, yes. The most important star.”

Anna had her brows furrowed when I glanced at her, so I gave her an easy breezy grin. This was going to be amazing. I could feel it in my bones.

Walking around the set helped bring Anna out of the funk she’d been stuck in, and for the first time in a long time, I saw genuine excitement on her face. Seeing it helped remove the final remnants of guilt that had been hanging around my gut. Given enough time, she was gonna be cool with this. In fact, just watching her face light up as we walked around reminded me of the old pre-responsibilities Anna. It amped me up to see the playful girl I’d married returning.

Anna squealed when she saw the bar set. “It almost looks exactly like Pete’s!” I smiled at her reaction; I’d thought the same thing myself when I’d first looked at it.

Harold seemed uncomfortable with the similarities. “No, no, it’s a generic bar…I assure you.”

He quickly moved us along to the living quarters sets after that. Anna gave me a crooked grin when she ran her finger along the edge of my bed. Since I’d been away from her on that damn promo tour for weeks, and then cut off by her prickly anger or strange mopey mood for the past few days, it had been forever since I’d had sex. My cock started coming to life and I suddenly wanted to take Anna to a private room more than I wanted to continue this stupid tour.

I had work to do though. I had to get my hair touched up for one thing. Fucking brown hair. I almost growled at the hairdresser when I saw her again. It was her fucking fault that I looked like Denny. And once she was done removing all traces of my glorious blondness, I resembled him even more.

Anna seemed to like it though. When we were alone, she fingered a dark strand with a curious smile on her lips. “You know, this is the one aspect of all this that I actually like. You pull off the dark look really well, babe. Very sexy…”

The look in her eyes told me just how much she enjoyed what she was seeing. Grabbing her hips, I pulled her into me. “Oh yeah? Just how sexy is it? Am I making you wet, baby?”

She ran a hand down her shirt, outlining the succulent curve of her beautiful breasts. “Mmmm, you know you do. All the damn time.”

Seeing Anna get more and more into this TV idea was turning me on faster than her body. Her support meant everything to me, and now that I was finally starting to get a little bit of it, I wanted to physically reciprocate. I wanted to worship her body, to thank her for accepting all my shit. It was the least I could do. “You are so gorgeous,” I murmured in her ear. “Every girl on this show is going to wish she looked as hot as you.”

She let out a soft moan as she tilted her head back, exposing her neck. I placed a soft kiss against her jugular. All thoughts of being responsible on my first day of the job instantly left me. What could they do if I disappeared for an hour or so? I was the star, the reason this show was going to skyrocket. They’d tolerate a slight delay for epic glory, I was sure.

Once we were outside, I pressed Anna’s back into the hair and makeup trailer and she groaned as our bodies came together. “What do you want me to do to you, baby?” I asked. Bringing my hand to her chest, I barely touched her nipple with my finger. The light touch drove her crazy, and her eyes were heated when they locked on mine.

She threaded her hands into my new dark ’do. “I want you to take me back to that bedroom set and screw me on your new bed…”

Well, fuck me.

I looked around for our guide, but Harold had disappeared once he’d delivered me to makeup. He’d said he’d be back to take me to rehearsals, but who knew when that might happen. And he never told me to wait here…surely he could find me if I toured the set again with my wife. My hot, horny wife who I hadn’t fucked in weeks.

Grabbing her hand, I pulled her away from the trailer and led her back to the bedroom set. It wasn’t the most private place in the world, since most of the walls were missing so the cameras had room to record. This particular set was already prepped though, so no one was around when we stumbled across it.

Laughing, I flung myself onto the bed, pulling her with me. She laughed too, then attacked my mouth like we hadn’t kissed like this in years. And it felt like years. I was rock hard in under six seconds.

“God, you feel good, baby,” she murmured between breaks in our lips.

“You too,” I repeated, grabbing her ass and pulling her hips into mine. By the way we were both already panting and groaning, I knew this was going to be a brief but powerful fusion. Good thing too, since someone would eventually come in here for one reason or another.

Thankfully, Anna was wearing a loose skirt, and hiking it up was easy. While she nibbled on my ear, I slipped a finger into her underwear. Fuck, she was so ready. An erotic cry left her mouth as she jerked against my hand. “Yeah, you like that?”

“Yes…fuck, yes. More, Griffin. I need more…”

She rotated her hips, grinding her pussy against me. I just about came it felt so good. “Yeah, baby…I’m ready for you.”

Pushing her back a little, I unzipped my jeans and freed myself. I wasn’t quite as naked as I wanted to be, but I didn’t have time for anything else. I didn’t even take Anna’s underwear off; I just moved them to the side so I could plunge into her.

She sat up on my lap, dropping her head back and showing off her chest. Fuck…they should really be recording this. It should be the opening scene of the show.

“Oh God, Griffin,” she cried, moving against me.

Grabbing her hips, I worked her over me. “Call me, Ace,” I murmured. My peak was approaching faster than I wanted it to. Fuck, this was hot.

Anna slowed her pace and looked down at me, then glanced at where we were and smiled. I wondered if she felt as electrified by the openness of our setting as I did. Any second, someone could walk around the corner and see us. It made every nerve ending in my body come to life. I was sizzling, and I hadn’t even come yet.

Closing her eyes, she cried out, “God, Ace…you feel so good. More…I need more. I need you to come. Come with me.”

Fuck, yes! My hand ducked under her shirt as we moved together with a furious intensity. Ripping down her bra, I twisted her nipple between my fingers. She instantly clenched around me. “Yes, Ace, now…now,” she cried as she climaxed.

“I’m there, baby,” I got out, just before I finished.

Oh my God…I loved being an actor.

After our grunting, groaning, and panting calmed down, she lay on my chest. Giggling, she made a circle over my pec. “I can’t believe we just did that…Ace.”

Even though my jeans were chaffing me, I didn’t care, that was fucking amazing. Squeezing her breast still in my hand, I nodded. “Let’s do that before every show, ’kay?”

Anna smacked my chest, then pushed herself up. She carefully removed herself from me and stood up. I wanted to keep lying there with my spent dick on view for the world to see, but Anna tucked me back into my underwear. She looked around with a secretive smile on her face, like she couldn’t believe we’d gotten away with that with no witnesses.

Harold found us just as Anna was straightening the covers on the bed. “Oh good, there you are. I thought I’d lost you. Everything…okay?” He quirked a brow as he took in Anna’s actions and the pleasing flush in her cheeks. My girl had had an orgasm for the record books. But I’d totally bend her over and give her another one if she wasn’t satisfied yet. She deserved it, after what I’d put her through recently.

Anna giggled in a charmingly seductive way that made me want to sit her on my lap. “Oh yeah…everything is good.” Smiling brighter, she turned to me. “Let’s go meet your costars.”

It gave me no end of delight that she was finally as eager about this as I was. We followed Harold with fucking springs in our step. Everything was turning out exactly as I’d hoped. It just reaffirmed the fact that I was doing the right thing by cutting ties with the D-Bags. It was time.

On the way there, Anna asked Harold about the pilot. “So, who picked up the show? What network?”

Harold started playing with his tie while he walked. “LMF.”

Anna and I exchanged a glance. I hadn’t heard the name before, and it was clear Anna hadn’t either. “LMF? I’ve never heard of ’em. You sure they’re legit?”

Harold nodded. “Yeah, yeah, they’re a bit on the new side, but they are a real up-and-coming network. They’re going to blow the big boys out of the water soon. And they’re the perfect vehicle for this program…they’re focusing on real cutting-edge stuff. And they are crazy about you. They are going to promote the hell out of this show. You’ll be everywhere!”

Smiling, I hugged Anna tighter. “Everywhere…I like that. So, when’s it airing?”

Harold’s smile matched mine. “Monday night, prime time.”

My smile dropped. “Wait…I’ll be competing with Monday Night Football?” Damn, even I might not watch me now.

Harold swished away my concern with his hand. “With DVRs it doesn’t really matter anymore. It will hardly affect us, and who knows, it might even help. This is an incredible deal for us, truly something to celebrate!”

Grinning, I replayed screwing Anna on the set. Damn straight I was celebrating. I was going to rule the airwaves this fall. Take that, D-Bags.

When we got to the room where the rest of the cast was waiting, I introduced my wife. “Anna, this is my ‘band’—Vicky, Elijah, Cole, and Christine. They play Scarlet, Crash, Stix, and Kiki. Guys, this is my wife, Anna.” On the show, Vicky and Christine’s characters—Scarlet and Kiki—were blonde, busty babes who totally wanted me…they’d even gotten into a hair-pulling catfight over me in the pilot. It was awesome. I think Cole’s character, Stix, wanted me too, but I wasn’t entirely sure yet. But all my costars’ eyes were on my wife right now. She ruled the room just by being in it. Yep, I know. Go ahead and be jealous, ’cause that hotness you see before you is all mine.

“Nice to meet you all. I just saw your set. It’s pretty amazing.” She winked at me and my dick twitched. Fuck, I’d love to take her on Ace’s bed again.

Harold handed me a script though. “Best get started.” He introduced me to the guy who’d be directing the episode; it was a different person from last time.

While I flipped through the script, the director dude held his hand up. “Okay, in this episode, the main story line is Scarlet hooks up with Stix to try and forget about Ace.”

He pointed at me, and I nudged Anna in the ribs. “Fat chance of that, huh? I bet she cries afterwards. Sorry, dude,” I said to Cole. He flipped me off.

While Anna laughed, Harold approached her. “Excuse me, Mrs. Hancock, would you like to watch the completed pilot? It’s an amazing piece of work, if I do say so myself. And then I could arrange for a ride home for you. This is going to be a long day, and the actors need to focus.”

I bristled at that, I’d wanted Anna here for the whole thing, but Anna seemed content to let me work in peace. “Knock ’em dead, babe. See you tonight.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek before leaving with Harold.

I clapped my hands together once she was gone. “All right! Let’s kill this shit!”

When I got home after rehearsal wrapped up, I felt like my head was going to explode. It was a lot to remember, and I already felt like I remembered too much, what with all the D-Bags lyrics and rhythms spinning in my head. I supposed I could let myself forget those, now that I didn’t need them anymore. That thought made my chest hurt, like an elephant was stepping on my sternum. I didn’t want to deal with that feeling right now though, so I shoved it to the I’ll worry about that later section of my brain. It was a full section.

Mom and Dad’s place was chaos, with a half dozen relatives visiting for dinner; that happened a lot. Anna greeted me at the door with Onnika in her arms; her smile seemed forced, and I wondered what had happened since this afternoon. She’d been in such a great mood while touring the set with me. Onnie smiled and I reached out to take her. “Hey, baby girl, I missed you.”

Just as Anna was handing her to me, Gibson weaseled her way between us and unceremoniously shoved Anna away from me; Anna almost lost her hold on Onnika with the unexpected movement. “Gibson!” she snapped, “I almost dropped the baby. Be careful.”

Ignoring her, Gibson tossed her arms around my legs like we’d been separated our entire lives. “Daddy!” she exclaimed.

“Hey, kiddo,” I said, putting a hand on her back. “Be nice to your sister…and listen to your mom.” Anna’s smile turned genuine as she kissed Onnika’s head. She always liked it when I backed her up.

Lifting Gibson, I twisted her around so she could ride on my shoulders. Usually when I did this, she grabbed my hair and used it like reins, but I had a lot less hair now. “This is weird. I like your old hair,” she told me. She timidly patted my Denny-hair like it was some bizarre animal that might bite her.

“I know,” I sighed.

Mom barked an order from the kitchen to help her with dinner, so Gibson and I headed that way. I recited lines to her while I walked. “Kiki, I know we had a thing once, but it’s time to move on. The band comes first.” I pointed up at Gibson. “Now you say, “But Ace…besides bass, you’re my only love.”