Just an Illusion - Unplugged

by D. Kelly

  “Bethie married the right man, Wyatt. My best friend chose well picking my other best friend.” He laughs at my ridiculous reply. “We knew it was going to end someday. It’s fine.”

  “No, it’s not. Noah is taking all the blame from you for this, but if I hadn’t gotten married, I don’t think it would have lit that fire under him to quit. At least, not so soon. I should have manned up and told you what I was thinking and feeling. Instead, Noah took it upon himself to open the door, and I gladly followed him.”

  “You guys have the right to live your lives and want more for yourselves than this band. My failure to plan for the future isn’t your problem or Noah’s, it’s mine. If anything, the past year has given me a lot to think about.”

  The rest of them come back in, and Anna perches herself on Wyatt’s lap. “Have you come to any conclusions?” he asks.

  “Yeah, I have. I’m going to take a year and regroup. Enjoy life. Spend time with my nieces and my family. Maybe take Rory on a vacation and get to know her better. She’s always been Noah’s shadow, and I’ve been Diane’s, it’s time to change that. Afterward, we’ll see. Anything can happen, except a solo career. No matter what you all think, that is not in the cards for me.”

  “Sounds like a good plan, Sawyer. I’m proud of you,” Anna says before kissing me on the cheek.

  “Well, I’ve got a Skype hook-up happening soon, I’m out,” Darren says before leaving, and Wyatt takes that as his cue.

  “We’ve got lost time to make up for, so we’re off to …”

  Wyatt is trying to be a gentleman, but Anna doesn’t care. “Fuck like rabbits is what he’s getting at. See you guys later!”

  Once they’re gone, and it’s just J and me, I’m filled with peace.

  I turn my focus on him. “I’m so glad you came. How long are you staying?”

  “Not long, I have to get back soon. My plane leaves at five in the morning.”

  Disappointment floods through me. “Oh, why so soon?”

  “The bar is booked for a private event tomorrow. I just hired a new girl, but she isn’t starting until the end of next week. The night of your show, in fact. We’re short staffed, so I don’t have a choice.”

  “I thought the bar was doing well. Why don’t you hire more people? If money is an issue—”

  The dirty look he flashes me shuts me up quickly. “I don’t need your money. The bar is doing great, better than ever, actually. You know I hate people and paperwork. I need a new bar manager, but I’d rather work myself to the bone than go through the paces with someone else.”

  “It will only get worse the longer you put it off, but it’s your bar and your call. What do you want to do while you’re here?”

  “Get drunk and pass out.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  A few hours later, we’re both drunk as can be. Room service just delivered a ton of food, and the kid was on cloud nine. I guess Noah gave him tickets to the show earlier and he can’t wait to come. Not to be fully outdone by Noah once again, I tipped him a couple hundred bucks. It may not be highly-coveted concert tickets, but it’s at least enough for him to take his date to a nice dinner.

  After closing the door behind the guy, J’s eyes are still locked where he was. “Earth to Jordan. You know he’s gone, right?”

  Jordan laughs and plucks a fry from one of the plates. “Yes, I’m not that drunk, but he was hot.”

  “Eh, he was all right.”

  I learned long ago to try to appreciate good-looking men so I could be J’s wingman and shit wouldn’t be weird.

  “He was better than all right. You need to get your eyes examined.”

  “My eyes are just fine, asshole. He was too damn young.”

  Smirking, his eyes meet mine. “The young ones are fun. Besides, he was probably only five years younger than us, old man. If he were a girl, you’d have been fine with it.”

  “Not these days. I’m in a serious slump, but oddly enough, I’m okay with it. The girls this time around seem so much younger.”

  “Maybe you’re finally feeling your age?”

  “Definitely feeling my age.”

  A silence settles between us as we eat, and he pours more shots when we finish. “To my family, may they rest in peace far away from my asshole father. Hopefully, he’s burning in eternal damnation.”

  “You want to talk about it, J?”

  “I just wish Mom had put Carly in the closet with me.”

  Aunt Carol was trying to escape Jordan’s room to hide Carly when her husband caught up with her. The police figured she was trying to hide each kid in a different room to better their odds of staying alive before the police came.

  “She was trying to keep you both safe.”

  Now crying, he looks up at me. “I know, but why was I the only lucky one? Some days it’s so fucking hard, Sawyer.”

  This is why we needed to be together tonight. I’m the only person in the family who has the slightest idea what it was like inside their house that day.

  “You were meant to be our brother, J. That’s the only reason I’ve got,” I answer, finally letting my tears spill over as I pull him into a hug.

  After we’re both cried out, we pass out for a few hours until Jordan’s alarm goes off. I ride with Mac to drop him off at the airport with promises to visit him for a few days when we get home next week.

  This weekend sucks every year, and it probably will for the rest of our lives. At least with the dawn of a new day I feel a bit lighter. Too bad the feeling couldn’t last.

  Crazy Bitch

  “What’s with the extra security?” I ask, pulling out a chair and taking a seat next to Anna.

  “You haven’t heard?!” Darren exclaims.

  I’ve got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Anna passes me the coffee the waitress just brought and asks for another. “I haven’t heard anything.”

  “Sara is here. She broke into Noah and Mel’s room yesterday when they were in the casino,” Wyatt answers for him.

  “Why am I just now hearing about this?” I’m trying to keep my voice down, but this isn’t okay. Security breaches should immediately be sent to all of us.

  Wyatt stirs his coffee before replying. “Warren and Noah decided to keep it on the down low until they worked out all the security details, I guess. You should have an email by now though, have you checked?”

  “No, after I got back from dropping off J, I slept for a couple of hours and then came straight here after taking a shower.”

  “Hey, guys,” Noah greets us as he takes a seat.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, Sawyer, really.” When his eyes meet mine, the tension in my shoulders lessens.

  “Why didn’t you call me?”

  “It was unexpected. I called Tony and Warren while Ryan got rid of Sara, and then I spent a long while explaining everything to Mel. Once I was finished, I figured if I called you, you would get all hovery and I didn’t want to make your bad weekend any worse. What about you, are you okay today?”

  Darren snickers and I smile, trying to ease Noah’s anxiety. “I’m great. Wyatt flew J in for the night.”

  “No shit?” Noah flashes a huge grin at Wyatt. “Thanks, that’s the best thing I could have heard today, seriously. Is he okay? Why isn’t he here?”

  “Bar shit. He flew back at five this morning. He’s fine. We … got through it like usual.”

  “Carly?” he whispers, and I nod. Jordan’s little sister has always been his biggest regret.

  “What in the actual fuck?” Anna blurts out, and when we look up, we see exactly why she’s pissed. Sara and her friends have just been seated at a nearby table. When she sees she has our attention, she waves as if we’re long lost friends. “That demented bitch. She may not realize she shouldn’t fuck with you, Noah, but she’s about to get my foot up her ass right now.”

  As Anna pushes herself back from the table, I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her back down. “Com
e on, killer, we have men we pay good money to do that. Let’s keep you off Lizzie Borden’s radar for a wee bit longer, shall we?”

  I’m joking, but it’s just to lighten the mood. The last thing I want is Sara setting her sights on any of the rest of us. Having one of us on her crazy-ass radar is scary enough. She’s eerily unhinged, and I don’t like that she’s back in our lives one single bit.

  “Yeah, babe, please listen to Sawyer.”

  Anna leans across the table and kisses her husband. “For now, but if she starts something, I’m going to finish it.”

  Wyatt chuckles. “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t.”

  “Damn straight.”

  We manage to make it through breakfast with each of us only occasionally glancing at her table. The security guards pretty much have us surrounded anyway; we’re quite a spectacle. It’s probably a good thing Mel isn’t here.

  “Where’s Mel?” I ask now that she’s in my head.

  “We ah … didn’t get much sleep last night, so she opted to sleep in and call for room service. Mac has one of the new guards up there.”

  From the blush on his cheeks, I know they finally had sex. I’m happy for him; he needed something good in his life right now, especially with Sara here.

  “Gotcha. As long as there’s security, she’ll be fine. Besides, we know where the bitch is right now, and that’s far away from Mel.”

  After breakfast, Anna ignores protocol and starts walking out ahead of us, passing right by Sara’s table. Great.

  The next thing I hear is Anna’s angry voice as we all catch up to her.

  “You’re such a bitch!”

  “I’m the bitch?” Sara retorts with a laugh.

  “You’re a lying, thieving whore with a staring problem if you want to know exactly what I think of you.”

  “Oh, Bethie,” Sara coos as I shoot daggers at her for using my nickname. “Haven’t you learned yet that playing mother hen to these guys is a waste of your time? Why don’t you run along and play with Noah’s new slut so he and I can have some much-needed alone time.”

  The guards are surrounding the situation, and Noah signals them to move in closer, but he’s giving Anna respect and letting her deal with it—for now. Wyatt places his hand on Anna’s hip and tries unsuccessfully to get her to walk away.

  “Instead of picking a fight with me, you could better use your time to … I don’t know, actually get a fucking job so you can pay Noah back all the money you siphoned away from him. You’re a lazy bitch, though, so maybe a fundraising campaign is more your style. Let’s see, you can call it something like ‘Thieving whore needs a sugar daddy for Lasik surgery and more.’ Hmm, actually, it sounds like a better title for your Tinder page. What do you think, Noah? Can she—”

  “You fucking bitch!” Sara shrieks, lunging at Anna. Ryan is on it though. He picks Anna up around the waist and walks out with her before Sara can even get to her.

  If Sara wasn’t crazy, that would have been amusing to watch. Now I’m just worried Anna is going to be in her crosshairs too.

  “Anna, I love you, but let Sara be crazy. I don’t care about the money, but I do care about you. Stay away from her.”

  “Listen to Noah, babe, please,” Wyatt says, pulling her close. He’s worried, I can see it in his eyes, and he’s got a reason to be. Wyatt has always given Anna free rein. He recognizes she needs her freedom and the ability to express herself, but I know he kicks himself in the ass a lot for not listening to his protective instincts.

  “Fine, let’s go upstairs and catch a quick nap before you have to get to sound check.”

  Darren, Anna, and Wyatt all head for the elevators, but I linger with Noah.

  “Where are you going?”

  He rubs the back of his neck and shakes his head. “Conference center, I’ve got a call with Warren and Tony. Warren is meeting me there.”

  “Can I come?”

  “Of course.”

  Warren isn’t in the room when we get there, so we get comfortable.

  “Tell me what really happened yesterday.”

  Noah flashes a weak grin. “Honestly, it was a mess. There was a clinger in the casino, so we went upstairs.”

  “How did Mel handle the clinger?”

  Noah chuckles. “With utter amusement. I swear she was trying not to laugh her ass off while I was trying to extricate myself from the girl.”

  “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me in the least. Dating a Triton has its perks.”

  “Yeah, but I’m not sure that’s always going to be a good thing,” he confesses.

  “What do you mean?”

  “When Ryan pulled Sara out of our room, it was almost like Mel shut down. I tried to get her to stay with me so she could see Sara meant nothing to me, but she insisted on leaving us alone instead.”

  “And that’s a bad thing?”

  “No, I was relieved because she was at least safe and out of Sara’s eyeline.”

  “Okay, then you need to explain this better.”

  Exhaling, he leans back and props his feet up on the chair next to him. “When I got inside, she was sitting on the balcony. She was quite buzzed and only had on a sweater. She was freezing, Sawyer, and she didn’t even seem fazed by it. Almost like she was completely disconnected from reality. She thought I was going back to Sara.”

  “What? Why would she assume that?”

  “I’m not sure, but she was … insecure? She was taken with Sara’s beauty.”

  “Well, I’m sure you told Mel Sara is nothing compared to her, right? Mel is gorgeous.”

  “Of course I did, but it still took some convincing. Everything worked out though. We had a good night, and you were right.”

  “I typically am, but what was I right about this time?” I ask, kicking my feet up on the table.

  “She loves me.”

  When the words leave his mouth, everything clicks in place. This is right. This is what should be happening. I ignore the ache deep down in my chest and give Noah a genuine smile.

  “I’m happy for you. There’s something about the two of you that gives the rest of us hope.”

  With a raised brow, he counters, “You have hope now?”

  “Shut up. You don’t have to rub it in.”

  “It’s about time, little brother. When does the great woman search begin?”

  “Ha! One thing at a time, big brother. Let’s finish the tour first and adjust to regular life again before you set up my online dating profile or anything.”

  “Oh, I could have so much fun with that,” he adds, chuckling.

  “So the rest of your night was …”

  His answering smile says it all. “It was perfect. I’m a lucky man.”

  Knowing Noah is happy makes me feel good.

  “Good, so when is the big announcement?”

  Coughing, he replies, “What announcement?”

  “That you’re dating, official, whatever you want to call it. I’m sure Belle will dub it something like ‘Noah Weston is officially off the market. Kleenex stocks rise and sales soar.’”

  “I’m not sure, but I’d like to do it soon. The fewer secrets we keep, the better. I hate trying to hide shit.”

  “Amen to that. What did you think I meant? You looked a little freaked out there.”

  “I don’t know, for some reason my mind jumped to marriage and babies.”

  Laughing at his answer, I shake my head. “I’d hope not. Mel’s great, but it’s a little fast for all that with anyone, don’t you think?”

  He pauses and answers slowly, “Maybe, but … I can picture all of it. With her … eventually. Honestly, sooner rather than later.”

  “I’m so glad it’s you who inherited that gene.”

  His brow furrows. “What gene?”

  “The hopeless romantic.”

  With a serious expression, he moves his feet and turns his chair to face me completely. “Don’t fool yourself, Sawyer, you’ve got it too. When you least expect it to r
ear its ugly head, it will. In fact, I’d be willing to bet once you fall, you’ll fall harder than I did.”

  “Guess you’ll have to wait and see.”

  He gives me a smug smile. “And I can’t wait to tell you I told you so.”

  “I wasn’t expecting both of you, but I’m not surprised,” Warren says as he closes the door behind him. “Shall we get down to business?”

  Unexpected Surprises

  I’ve just wrapped a towel around my waist when the door between my room and Darren’s flies open. I didn’t expect to see him until our next show now that Belle made a surprise appearance. From the look on his face, something happened. He’s completely pale, and his hands are clenched into fists.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask while continuing to dry off and get dressed.

  He paces, and I let him process what’s going on in his head. Once my boxers are on and I have a shirt halfway over my head, he speaks.

  “Belle’s pregnant.”

  For a moment, I lose my equilibrium and struggle to get my head through the top of my shirt. Once I can breathe air again, I pour us both a drink, and we take a seat at the table.

  “It’s yours?” He gives me an angry glare, and I lift my hands in surrender. “Just asking as a responsible friend. You’d do the same.”

  With a slight nod, he concedes, “Yeah, I know. What do I do?”

  Man up is the first thing that comes to mind, but it’s not what he needs to hear right now.

  “Do you love her? Or could you love her?”

  He finishes his drink, and I pour him another. Eventually, he meets my eyes. “Yeah, dude, I think I do. She’s the only woman who has ever made me want to stay true to one pussy.”

  Laughter pours out of me, and he joins in.

  “Magical pussy aside, is she someone you can picture in your life forever? Or at least for the next eighteen years?”

  “Damn, that’s a long time.” He sighs.