by Skye Turner
Melonie
Dade left yesterday and I miss him. How can I miss him so much already? This feeling scares the hell out of me. I was freaking engaged and I didn’t feel like this about my fiancé. That’s also why I am no longer engaged.
I am sitting in my office watching Bayou Stix’s Good Morning America segment from this morning on my laptop in between patients. They did a song outside the studio and people were everywhere. Signs and people screaming. I can’t imagine what that’s like for them. But the interview went well. They talked about the concert tonight and threw out some press for the accompanying band, Devil’s Lair. I think it says a lot about them that they are giving another band press. So many people are filled with competition and jealously when there’s room for everyone. They just got another point in my book.
Dade messaged me from the plane yesterday. I was shocked when I came into the office for my call and saw a notification that “D. Rodrigue” sent a Facebook friend request. I was almost scared to open it thinking it was fake. It was real though and we flirted through messages for a brief minute. I had to get to a patient when he asked a question and then I didn’t respond until I was done for the day. He texted from his room last night and let me know he was going to dinner with the band and then getting some rest and then they did the GMA segment first thing this morning then the concert is tonight. He’s probably crazy busy. That’s why he hasn’t called or texted and I don’t want to be a weird stalker person, so I’m not calling or texting either.
Looking at my blank phone one more time, I slip it into my pocket and head back out to my patients. I have a light appointment book today. We book more during the week since we close the office at one on Fridays now. Of course, when my patients go into labor, that’s different, but the actual office is closed from one on Friday afternoons through nine on Monday mornings. It’s nice to have the little break since things are so busy now.
I didn’t have any plans for the weekend, so I told my Mom I’d meet her in town tomorrow for lunch and a little shopping. I know she wants to find out what happened with Dade after we left the other night.
A couple of patients called in thinking they were in labor today. I had them come in so I could check them out. Neither was in labor, but it’s not far off. I’d be surprised if they made it through the weekend, so by the time I get through my last patient of the day, I’m exhausted. I just want to kick my shoes off and relax with a glass of wine. There’s a knock on my open door and a red head pops in making me smile.
Monica is very pretty. She’s my mentor and friend. She took a chance on me and I appreciate her every single day. She asks, “Can I come in?”
I nod and gesture to the chair in front of my desk. She looks at the stacks of charts spread out over the surface. “You about done for the day?”
Sighing, I lay my head back and unclip my hair. It cascades down my back. I’m hoping that’ll stop the headache I have brewing from forming fully. I mutter, “Yeah. I just made my last notes. I have two patients I don’t think will make it through the weekend, but I’m all caught up.”
She laughs. “Want to hang out for a bit?”
I look at her in question. She chuckles. “Joe has the boys and they are going to get some new game that came out today after school, so, it’s just me tonight until later. I don’t want to go home. If I do, I’ll see a mess and I just can’t handle cleaning up after four teenage boys right now. I’m too damn tired.”
I laugh. Her boys are a handful alright. I don’t know how she stays sane. But she loves them and is a very dedicated parent on top of being a kick ass doctor.
Thinking about it, I think an afternoon in sounds awesome. “Yeah, but I’m too tired to really move. Want to just head to my place for some wine? I probably have enough ingredients to whip up some pesto pasta, too. Sound good?”
She looks at me beseechingly and then smiles. “Sounds awesome. I’ll follow you when you’re ready. I just need to shut my computer down and pull two charts for Monday.”
“Give me five minutes and I’ll be ready, too.”
She gets up, I straighten my desk, and unplug my laptop before shutting everything down and checking my cell as I grab it off of my desk. Still nothing from Dade.
Oh, well. He’s busy. I’m going to enjoy chit chat with my friend. It’s been awhile.
After turning off the lights, we set the alarm, and head to our respective cars. I live about twenty minutes from the office and hospital on a good traffic day. It’s 1:30pm on a Friday in Baton Rouge, so it takes us about forty minutes to get to my complex.
Monica follows me into the house and we both kick our shoes off. Laughing, I walk into the kitchen and take inventory of the wine fridge. I call out to the living room, “Moscato, Riesling, or Pinot Grigio?”
She calls back, “Whatever you want as long as it’s cold.”
I grab a Moscato. It’s a twist top. I love those. Swiping two glasses, I grab a tray and set all of it on there while I get some sliced cheese from the fridge and open a new pack of wafer crackers. I have grapes and strawberries already washed too, so I add them to the tray and carry it out.
She looks at it and smirks. “Kind of feels like a date. Of course I haven’t been on one of those in years, so I wouldn’t even know how to act.”
I wink and laugh. “I have the hottest date around.”
She laughs as she opens the bottle and pours us both a glass. We sip it and eat a few crackers and some fruit before lounging back. She’s sprawled on the couch and I’m on the love seat with my feet draped over the arm. This is really comfy.
As she leans her head back and gives an appreciative sigh, Peanut strolls out of my bedroom and meows loudly at me. Monica opens her eyes and laughs. “She’s such a pretty baby. I remember when you found her in the parking lot in the rainstorm. It looks like she’s settled in nicely.”
I pat my leg and she jumps up and curls into a ball on my hip. I pet her with one hand and cradle my wine with the other. “Yes. She’s my baby girl. Spoiled little shit.”
She smiles at me as she watches me with my fluff ball. When I look up and see her watching me, she says, “Soooooo…”
I was expecting this. I’m surprised she waited this long to bring it up. I figured she was biding her time. I slyly say, “So?”
She smirks and pins me with a look. “So, tell me about the fine ass rock star you bumped uglies with on St. John.”
I act innocent. “What about him?”
She’s not buying it. She throws a cracker at me. “Give me the scoop. I’m married with four teenagers. I want to live vicariously through you. Sex with a hot rock star. I can’t even imagine. We’re lucky if we have vanilla sex on Wednesday nights before the 10PM news these days.”
As I catch the cracker, I laugh. “Vanilla sex?”
She chuckles and glares at me. “All those romance books you read. You know what vanilla sex is and I’d be willing to bet you don’t have it. Especially since you got naked with Dade Rodrigue.”
My cheek flush and I choke on my wine. “How do you even know who he is? I didn’t.”
She laughs. “I have FOUR teenage boys at home. I didn’t know. I don’t listen to them regularly or anything, but I have heard them through the walls of my house. They’re good if you like that sort of thing. And I treated Clove and saw the staff at the hospital in a tizzy when that man meat stayed the night, remember?!”
I nod. “Of course I remember. He left me on the island to rush back here. Only I didn’t know that at the time.”
She gets serious for a minute. “I know that you were upset when you got home. I didn’t push, but from the bits and pieces you told me. I knew a man had broken your heart. It surprised me since you went there to get away after the Jake situation. But I also know that things hadn’t been right with you two for a long time.
Then two weeks ago, you come in to work and you’re even more upset. I finally get you to tell me what’s wrong and all you’ll say is that ‘Mr. Right’
was actually Dade Rodrigue, brother of your patient, and bandmate of her fiancé. You said you fucked up, but no details.
I respect you and I care about you, so I let it go. Then, you come into the office smiling three days ago and say you met back up with him and you two are going to talk it out.
Yesterday, you walked into the office with a good-and-fucked glow. It’s not hard to piece it together, Mel. But I’d like the details if you want to share them.”
She’s clasping her hands under her chin and batting her eyes at me. I snort. “Ok, I’ll tell you. How much do you want to know?”
She grins. “As much as you want to tell me. Don’t leave anything out.”
I start at the beginning and tell her from seeing him near the pool, to meeting him in the bar, and spending the week with him having monkey sex everywhere, to him leaving and me not understanding why or what happened. I finish with him being in New York right now after loving me thoroughly two nights ago on the couch she’s sitting on. She hems and haw’s as she listens.
She’s clucks her tongue when she’s done and takes a big sip of her wine and savors it before swallowing. She looks at me. “Mel, I love you. I’m a bit older and I’m a little bit wiser. I do not doubt Dade is a good man. But… I want you to be careful. He’s used to women being a certain way I would imagine and you are not that way. Don’t compromise yourself for anyone. You’ve worked damn hard to get where you are.”
She’s voicing the thought aloud that I’ve been thinking since I found out who he was. Yeah, I didn’t know, but now I do and I see firsthand the women that go to see them. I saw them on the video from GMA this morning. Robin Roberts asked them if they were single. Dade and Cruz said they were unattached… I understand what Monica is saying, I just hate that she said it. Dammit! Now my insecurities about what the hell this is are back in the forefront of my mind.
I nod. “I know what you’re saying. I hear you. I just don’t know what’s going on here.”
She smiles at me. “Well, figure it out. Go into whatever this is with a clear head. I see how he affects you. Just keep your wits about you, ok?”
She’s right. I have to keep my head straight. I can’t allow him to sway me or allow my feelings for him to allow me to compromise myself. I’d hate myself. I’m not doing that.
Fine, he’s in New York. He can’t call me. I’m ok with that. I have friends. I have things to do. I can’t make him more important than he makes me.
What the hell are you even talking about, Mel? You’re blowing smoke up your own ass right now. You’re already in too deep with him. Now all you can do is make sure your ass has a lifeline no matter what happens.
Woman overboard…
Sighing, I smile at Monica and try to fool her, since I can’t fool myself.
We drink the rest of the bottle and talk about the practice, her boys and husband, and life in general. It’s nice and relaxing, yet Dade is never far from my mind. Though I don’t appear to be on his, as I glance at my silent phone for the millionth time.
Chapter Thirteen
Dade
I stretch as the alarm goes off for the third time. Rolling over, I grab the phone from the nightstand and swipe the screen to silence it. The damn ducks are annoying as shit, but effective. Lying back, I stare at the ornate ceiling and try to clear my head for the day.
Last night was the concert in Central Park. It was insane. People were everywhere. We arrived at the venue around 4PM and started doing sound checks while the roadies finished the set up. It was closed to the public and there were barricades and police and security strolling the perimeter since the concert didn’t start until 7:30PM.
Blue hired a local photographer she’s worked with in the past and they caught the rehearsal, sound check, concert, and after party for Rock With Me. Kate and some of the other Angels showed up and were let backstage, so there was an informal photo session there as well. I think we’ll use a couple of the girls in the next music video. Bradi ran a tight ship and the small meet and greet before the concert went perfectly.
She’s good at her job and there were no hiccups. Devil’s Lair went on at 7:30PM and did their set much to the crowd’s enjoyment. I stood at the side stage with the guys, Blue, and Bradi to catch the show. Clove, Lexi, Micah, Erik, and Alec all had front row seats. We wanted Clove off of her feet, so we had a small horseshoe for VIP’s directly in front of center stage with barricades, so they were safe. The Angels were also there, along with the governor.
The crowd got a little wild when we joined Devil’s Lair on stage and rocked out with them for a few songs, but the security was top notch and removed the few overzealous fans promptly.
Our set went off without a hitch. It was a great show. The after party was also a good time, though I left about an hour into it because I was dead on my feet and I had enough of women making propositions in my ear and grabbing my dick through my jeans.
One woman was there with her daughter who had just turned eighteen and they both wanted to accompany me back to the room. Um, no. I’ve never been the guy who takes random women back to his room. I prefer to be a little more selective in my choice of bedmates. But that just weirded me the fuck out. They approached Cruz once I gently turned them down. I saw his face from across the room and I laughed my ass off. He looked at them like they were insane.
The daughter then approached Jessie and Blue quickly walked over. It’s easy to cast the ones looking to nail a rocker and they don’t care which one.
Her face was priceless with whatever Blue said. She can be scary. The fan turned tail and left pretty quickly, grabbing Mommy on the way out.
I laugh as I remember it. Crazy shit happens a lot with this lifestyle, but every now and then, something so fucking out of the box still surprises me.
I check the time and see I have time for a quick shower before meeting everyone downstairs to head to the children’s hospital.
We’re heading home late tonight, but today is going to be an extra-long day.
I make it downstairs with minutes to spare pulling my hair up into a ponytail as I exit the elevator.
There’s a small crowd in the lobby and from my vantage point, thanks to my height, I see Jude, Jessie, and Cruz in the middle of it. I sigh and make my way through the people, stopping to take pics and sign stuff as I shoulder my way through.
I love this life, but I’m glad this was only one show. We just toured not that long ago and we have another one that should be starting in about six months. We need to get this new album down. We were going to do an arena tour over the summer, but Jude just got married and Jessie and Blue and Liam and Clove are planning summer weddings now, so we scrapped that idea.
The new tour is slotted to start not long after Clove has the baby. We’re trying to get them to push it back a couple more months, but we’ll see. We’re going to be upgrading the buses though and we’ll drive much more for this tour so Clove and the baby can travel with Liam and Blue can travel with Jessie. They can run Rock With Me from the road.
Finally, I break through and see a clear path to the guys. Jude has his arm around Lexi’s waist and Blue is standing to the left of Jessie watching the crowds while the photographer she hired snaps away.
Making my way to Cruz, I ask, “Liam and Clove not down yet?”
He mumbles as he signs things, “No. They’re up though. He texted me. Said Clove’s a little tired, but they’ll be down in a few.”
My mind starts racing. I knew this was going to be too much for her. She’s pregnant and touring is exhausting. That’s it. Once we get home, she’s staying there. Nothing is happening to her or the baby. Liam better get on this shit and take care of her.
A few minutes later, I hear Bradi over the crowd. “Ok, guys. That’s enough for now. We have to get going. We have an appointment. Back up. Lady with a baby coming through. Make some room.”
Her presence is very commanding and most people listen to her though they grumble if they didn’t get to us yet.
Bradi gets to the rest of us and keeps walking, calling over her shoulder as she passes, “Fall in boys. We have a schedule to keep and kids to greet. Cars are out front.”
Security ushers through the large crowd in front of the hotel and we’re loaded into the waiting cars. There are three of them. We fit in the first two. I ask about the third. She laughs. “Well, it seems your friends wanted to come visit the kids, too. There are six Victoria’s Secret models back there. Kate is a sweetie.”
Well, I’ll be damned.
I nod. “She is.”
Clove is watching me closely with a peculiar expression on her face. I mouth, “What?”
She shakes her head and smiles tiredly before she looks out of the window.
We spend six hours at Morgan Stanley’s Children’s Hospital. We sign posters, hats, t-shirts, and cd’s. We take more photos than imaginable with the patients, the staff, and even the cafeteria workers. It’s great day and we have a blast.
I read a story to a few kids in the playroom. Seeing the smiles on their faces as they breathed through oxygen masks and wheeled around IV bags makes my day. All I did was show up and spend a little time with them but it really made a difference. I wish more people would take the time to visit these kids. Such a simple gesture can have such a profound impact.
Before we leave, I go into one more room. A little boy is in the bed connected to far too many tubes and wires. He tells me his name is Timmy and he’s eight. He has a congenital heart condition. He told me he spends a lot of time there since he has a weak heart and that he gets sick really easily since he has no immune system from all of his heart surgeries. He tells me that he loves basketball and dreams of being a basketball player, but that he can’t do it. His heart can’t handle the stress and exertion.