Page 48 of Revived

“I hear you learned your lesson in going after rock stars today,” Sky informed me the moment I started digging through my bag to find clean clothes to change into. I stood, holding the clothes far afield of the blood-stained ones I was still wearing.

“I’m really not in the mood for your attitude tonight, Sky,” I explained in no uncertain terms to her.

“What happened?”

“A groupie happened,” I told her. “I was left to clean up the mess she left behind,” understanding seemed to dawn on her as she took in my appearance and put it together with what she had obviously been told.

“He thought you were cheating,” she told me. “If he had known…” For the first time since I knew her, Sky’s eyes clouded over in what could only be sympathy. It wasn’t something I wanted from her though.

“Well, that’s what people get for assuming things, I guess.” The minute the words were out of my mouth, they left a sour taste behind because I had done the same thing. Only, when I had heard what I did, my response had been to go be alone for a while. Gabe had chosen a different route altogether. It was one that I didn’t think I could forgive, for two reasons. One, he assumed I was sucking some guy’s dick backstage, when I felt like he should have known better. Two, his immediate response was to get even.

That wasn’t a healthy way to cope, in my opinion. Especially not after listening to all the advice that Gabe had given his son about Opal while he was convalescing at home. I remember him warning Chevy about the fact that the press would take tricky photo shots of people and make it look like one thing when it wasn’t. If you jumped to conclusions, before talking it out, that it could be detrimental to the relationship. Yet, he didn’t follow his own advice. Granted, it was a little more damning to think you walked in on something and saw with your own two eyes. But I’m the medical professional on staff, and it didn’t even cross his mind that I was helping someone.

“Whoever it was you helped tonight,” Sky started as she pointed to the blood on my shirt, shoulder, and in my hair, “are they okay?”

I nodded my head. “So far, so good. If you don’t mind, I really need to get washed up.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll make sure no one disturbs you for a bit, okay?”

“Thanks,” I offered up, too tired for anything more as I all but crawled my way to the little closet of a shower the bus had to offer. It made me wish I’d gone directly to my hotel room instead, but my clothes were all still here anyway.

15 - Dizzy

My head was spinning. This could not be happening. I’d been angry earlier in the day when no one knew where Mel had gone. Once Chevy called and told me she answered his call, and informed him that she was out getting some new clothes, I settled down a bit, knowing that I’d still have some explaining to do. My son had been right. Her hearing that, despite how cool she played things with him on the phone, had to have been tearing her up inside. Hell, it was just the night before when she told me about how she thinks her sister and ex-husband had always been in love with one another. I can’t imagine how she was taking the fact that she heard me tell Chevy his mom was my only love.

I hadn’t meant that she would continue to be, but it certainly hadn’t come out that way. Then, I walked in on her and Lonny in a back room and thought my heart was going to burst right out of my fucking chest. She was there, on her knees, as he held onto her head, or was it her shoulder? It all looked the same from what I saw. She appeared to have been servicing him. The only thing I could process was that she was doing this to hurt me. It’s something so many of the women in my life over the years had tried in order to trigger jealousy with me. They thought if I got jealous enough, I’d fight to keep them.

I nearly laughed at the thought. I’d never keep a woman that I thought would have problems remaining faithful. That was one of the things that intrigued me so much about Mel. She didn’t seem the type to ever play games and do something like that, because she had taken the brunt of someone else doing it to her before.

“Judging by the bullshit flickering across the ugly mug of yours, I’m guessing you’re reliving exactly where you went wrong tonight?” Lonny asked.

“Don’t you have someone else to go trick into thinking you’re in a band?” The woman I had just used to get back at Mel and Lonny asked him. “Oh wait!” She laughed. “You can’t do that because your dick doesn’t work right now.” She pulled on my arm, “Come on Daddy, let’s go.” That, out of everything else that went wrong tonight was the final straw.

“What the fuck did you just call me?” I growled the words out. “I’m not your fucking daddy,” I yelled. It was only then that I took in exactly how young she was. Granted, she wasn’t close to being mistaken for underaged, but she probably hadn’t hit thirty yet either.

“Don’t let the dickless wonder here ruin our night,” she cooed.

“You need to go home,” I told her as I tipped my head up to Phoenix. He came strolling down the corridor, anger written in every line of his face and the narrowed set of his eyes. At first, I thought it was directed toward the woman beside me.

“Apparently, she bit Lonny today, might want to see she’s escorted out.”

“Was that before or after you had a go at her?” Phoenix snapped. He seemed to remember his place here quickly though. “Sorry,” he mumbled and then grabbed hold of the woman’s arm and started gently, but firmly, tugging her away from me.

“He shouldn’t have apologized to you,” Lonny told me. “Mel’s a good woman. She didn’t deserve what you thought of her today, or how you reacted to just how wrong you were.” He didn’t wait for my answer, and just turned to leave. I watched as he waddled away, obviously too sore to even walk well. He probably should have been laid up in bed with ice somewhere, but he had come back to make Sure Mel had an escort to keep her safe when the lights went out in the hallway.

“Fucked up big, tonight, huh?” John asked. I wasn’t even sure where he’d come from since I was so lost in thought about what could have happened to Mel if no one had come to see her out to the bus or back to the hotel.

“John, I haven’t fucked up this big since I got on that plane to LA 19 years ago.”

“Seems to me, you didn’t fuck up then either. Your mistake was not owning what you did and fighting for everything you wanted. You can fix this,” he told me as he clapped me on the back.

“How the hell am I supposed to fix this? You don’t understand, she’ll hate me for that,” I pointed to the corner where I had just been making out with some groupie. Hell, I’d kissed the bitch and it turned out she had bitten Lonny’s dick with that mouth. “Fuck, I need some mouthwash,” I told my best friend as I turned to run for a bathroom, knowing damn well I might not make it before I got sick.

16 – Contractual Obligations

The one thing I didn’t want to have to do was become that woman that the tour manager, Deacon, had to find a replacement for. I remembered, very clearly, the day that I overheard him speaking to Gabe about Kaylee and needing to replace her with a man so that he wouldn’t have to do that again.

“What can I help you with, Melanie?” He asked as I stood there, outside of the room I’d watched him walk into earlier. Deacon would be leaving again after this stop and not joining us again until we hit the west coast from what Ev had told me. It was now or never.

---