Full Circle (Rockin' Country Book 3)

by Laramie Briscoe

  Luckily for them, all that’s ever mattered is that they love each other. The other stuff is always secondary—except when it isn’t, and it’s thrust to the forefront of their lives.

  Life is never easy, especially for those who live it in the public eye. Sometimes they have to take a step back, take a deep breath, and let it all come full circle.

  Prologue

  * * *

  July 2015

  Hannah looked out over the German crowd, ninety thousand strong, as Black Friday performed their set for the summer festival. She was so thankful she had taken this time off. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t be here for this, and she knew that she wouldn’t want to miss it. Garrett held the huge crowd in the palm of his hand. Every time he asked them to do something, they did it without hesitating. She had never seen this many people before in her life. These rock festivals were much larger than the country festivals she attended.

  “Amazing, isn’t it?”

  She glanced up at Shell, nodding. “It is. I can’t believe all these people have been out in this intense heat all day.”

  From where she stood, Garrett was in the shadow of the setting sun, and his silhouette was beautiful against it. Pulling her phone out, she snapped a few pictures, uploading one of them to her Instagram account. So far, everyone who had told her the fans would love to get glimpses into their private life was right. Any picture she uploaded of the two of them got more likes than the last one. Pictures of just him were probably the most popular, but she didn’t let that affect her one way or another. Since taking her career break in November, she had been careful to keep the posts at a regular interval. Call her crazy, but it was important for her to keep them informed. She didn’t want to lose the fans who meant so much to her, no matter what she ended up deciding about her career. The past nine months had been amazing, and she knew she would never give them up for anything.

  “Are you nervous?” Shell asked, a soft smile on her face.

  “Kind of. I mean we didn’t expect for this to happen so soon. We thought it would take longer,” she told her friend, putting her hand on her stomach that, even though still flat, held a little bit of extra weight.

  “The two of you are magnetic together; I’m pretty sure that as soon as he looked at you when you went off birth control, it was like boom, pregnant.”

  Hannah laughed. “Kind of.” She turned her attention back to the concert, watching Garrett.

  He was now the father of her child. Conceived in early April, they were expecting the birth in January. It wasn’t ideal. While she wouldn’t be working, he would still be touring, but by the time she had to go back to work, the baby would be six months old and hopefully on some type of schedule.

  “Stop thinking ahead. I can see the panic on your face,” Shell told her. “We’ll deal with it, no matter what it is.”

  She knew that Shell spoke the truth. Her attorney had found a clause in some of the legal language that would allow her to terminate a portion of her contract if she so wanted to. It would allow her to take off as much time as she wanted, up to two years, after the birth of a child. Hannah still wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but she figured that by the time all of that rolled around, she would know. Her CD was still selling well, the lyric videos released on social media were well over the millions of views, and the record company was happy she was still active. Right now, they were all happy. She hoped it would continue to be that way. Just that morning, she had let the record company know she was pregnant, and they seemed okay with it. She was relieved they hadn’t asked her to get an abortion; she had heard of that before, even had a few friends in the music industry that had done it at the suggestion of a record company. A baby would ruin their image and their career, they had been told. For her and Garrett, this was planned, a symbol of the love that they shared for one another—only they hadn’t expected it so quickly. She smiled as she thought back to the morning she’d woken up feeling sick, wondering if the one time they’d tried, it had taken.

  “I can’t believe I’m here right now.” Hannah gestured out to the crowd and then looked back at her husband. He wore a T-shirt with the armholes cut out—white in deference to the hot day. Sweat caused the material to stick to his body. The long hair style he now sported caused his hair to curl up at the ends, and at that moment she hoped with everything she had they had a son that looked like him. She would love for their child to have the curly hair Garrett got when it was long. He looked over at her and she could feel his gaze, even though she couldn’t see his eyes behind the sunglasses.

  “My wife is here today,” he was saying to the crowd. “I’d like to invite her out here, if it’s okay with you?” There was a huge uproar from them, clapping and whistling.

  They hadn’t talked about this. She knew that he wanted to make the announcement today, but she hadn’t been aware that he wanted her to go out and be with him.

  “C’mon, babe.” He crooked his finger at her.

  She was immediately glad she had taken the time to put her hair in a braid. The black shorts she wore weren’t too short, and the tank-top she wore was billowy enough that no one could make out the fact that she had gained a few pounds. She pushed her sunglasses over her eyes and walked out onto the stage. It was breathtaking to see that many people in one spot, and it felt like it took forever until she reached where he stood. He held his hand out to her.

  “So everybody, this is my gorgeous wife, Harmony.” He toyed with the braid that rested over her shoulder.

  Not sure what to do, she waved out to the crowd.

  “Say hi.” He held the mic up to her mouth.

  “Hi,” she giggled, nerves getting the better of her.

  The crowd was so loud she was afraid they would knock her down with their response.

  “They love you almost as much as I do.” He stood behind her and grabbed her around the waist.

  He dropped the mic to his side and moved his mouth to her ear. “Do you wanna tell them?”

  “We can if you want. Everyone who needs to know already does.”

  He dropped a kiss on her nose, and the crowd went wild. “The reason I brought her out here is because we wanted to share something with all of you.”

  Hannah held on tightly to his hand that spanned her stomach. If he hadn’t been holding her up, she was afraid she would have slid down in the face of all these people. The crowd continued to yell as he waited; they grew louder and louder until he put the mic back up to his mouth.

  “Okay, okay. You wanna know, I’ll tell you. Sometime in the new year, there will be a little Reaper or Harmony running around. She’s pregnant.”

  The roar of the crowd was so loud and the enthusiasm so much that they both physically took a step back. At some point a “kiss her” chant started, and Garrett smiled at her, pulling her to him. “Now that the cat’s out of the bag, we don’t have to worry about keeping secrets anymore.”

  “We sure don’t.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, squealing when he bent to pick her up and put her legs around his waist.

  This time the picture that went around the world was the one of them lip-locked in front of ninety-thousand fans in hundred-degree weather. It would be the most popular picture of the two of them for months.

  Chapter One

  * * *

  January 2015

  “Whose bright idea was it to schedule upstate New York in January?” Jared complained as the band and Hannah sat in the front of their bus, breaths held as they traveled along roads that were growing more dangerous by the minute.

  No one else dared to utter a word as their driver, Bones, navigated them through the snow coming down at an alarming rate. Roads had turned to shit well over an hour ago, but they all knew they were close to their destination.

  Hannah grabbed hold of Garrett’s hand, threading their fingers through one another’s. At least if they were going to die, they’d be together, she reasoned. Normally, she didn’t tour in January, and this was precisely wh
y.

  “Let’s go sit in the back.” Garrett turned her towards the lounge area with a strong arm around her shoulders as he felt her shake slightly. “There’s no need for us to be up here, making Bones nervous,” he joked. It was strained, even to his own ears.

  “This makes me nervous,” she told him, having a seat on the couch, her back to his front.

  He knew it did. He could feel it in the tense set of her shoulders, in the slight shake of her hand, and the almost imperceptible chatter of her teeth. “You’re going to be fine, we’re going to be fine,” he assured her, grabbing the throw they kept on the couch and covering their bodies with it. A soft whine was heard coming out from under the couch and they spotted Havock, who had become a tour dog this time.

  “I’ve never seen snow like this.” She shook her head.

  Neither had he, as evidenced by how he’d reacted to the small amount that Nashville had gotten over their holiday break. Patting the couch, he got the dog up there with them, and cradled them both in his arms.

  “Bones is great at what he does. I have a feeling he’s driven in this kind of weather up a mountain before.”

  She appreciated that he was joking with her, trying to get her mind off the very real danger they faced. Roads that were quickly becoming snow and ice covered, with the amount of weight their bus carried, could be catastrophic. “I know.” She rubbed his arm as he held it tightly against her stomach.

  Opening his mouth to speak, he quickly shut it as he felt the side of the bus turn, and he closed his eyes, praying they weren’t about to tip over. In less than a minute it was over and they were at a complete stop. Loud clapping came from the front and the two of them disentangled themselves to go make sure everyone was in one piece.

  “Fuckin’ amazing driving,” Jared clapped Bones on the back, breathing normally again for the first time in hours.

  As Hannah made her way through the galley kitchen, she saw the sign that indicated they’d made their way into the Hilton parking lot—exactly where they were supposed to be for the night. “We made it!” She squealed, throwing her arms around Garrett, latching on with her legs when he lifted her up.

  “We sure did, thank fuck.”

  Everyone was shaky as they grabbed coats, suitcases, and whatever else they needed while Rick, Black Friday’s manager, went to secure their room reservations and to make sure it was okay for Havock to be with them. A couple of times, he’d had to stay on the bus, but he was comfortable wherever. As Garrett dropped Hannah back on the ground, she looked back up at Bones, who still sat with his hands at ten and two on the steering wheel. His gaze was pinned outside the tour bus, onto the whiteness of the parking lot.

  “Hey, Bones,” she whispered as she walked up beside him. “You did great and we made it, you can let go of the steering wheel now.”

  He breathed deeply and then turned to look at her. “We did make it, didn’t we?”

  She took his hands off the steering wheel, and leaned in hugging him around the neck, before giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Yes, and I definitely think you should get up outta that seat, go find your room, and call your wife to let her know that you’re okay.”

  Dazed, he did exactly what she said as he grabbed his jacket and walked off the bus.

  Behind her, she could feel Garrett. “Poor guy. That frayed our nerves, you know he needs a drink and a cigarette right now,” he spoke softly as he helped her put her jacket on.

  “I need a cigarette and I’ve never smoked one in my life,” she told him as she wrapped a scarf around her neck and grabbed the suitcase he’d brought up for her. Making sure that her boots were on securely, she walked to the exit and stepped down, dragging her suitcase along with her. As soon as she got out of the cover of the vehicle, the wind hit her hard, almost knocking her over, as she tried to keep her balance.

  “I got it,” Garrett yelled to be heard, as he took her suitcase. “You make a run for it.”

  And run for it she did, she slipped once, but kept upright by bracing herself against the side of a car. It felt like an hour before she made her way to the lobby of the hotel, Rick holding his hands out to haul her in. Once she was safely there, she looked back at the guys struggling, only Garrett was making headway and she knew that was because of his height and strength.

  “If he didn’t have my suitcase along with his, he’d already be in here,” she worried, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

  Rick agreed. “Yeah, but when you put a ring on it, it makes you kind of love stupid. Trust me, he doesn’t care, he’d take a bullet for you.”

  That was something she definitely hoped he would never have to do.

  * * *

  “I have to say, my favorite nights so far are when we stay on the bus, because I like being cramped with you, but there is something to be said for a nice bathtub,” Hannah sighed as she stepped out of the bathroom, steam billowing out behind her.

  He had to agree, there was something that he loved about being on the bus with her, but he also loved having her all to himself. “Are you hungry?”

  “What did you have in mind?” She asked, towel drying her hair before having a seat on the bed.

  Garrett sat across from her, weighing their options as he looked in the informational booklet the hotel had given them. “Looks like they have a restaurant that’s open for about another hour, there’s a bar, or we could do room service,” he looked over, grinning at her as he said the room service option.

  “Stop,” she giggled. “We’ve only been on the tour for two weeks.”

  He got up, stalking towards her. “Yeah, but my friends do a very good job at cockblocking me. They love you and it’s cutting into my time.”

  Garrett’s gripes made her smile, but the fact of the matter was, when she had stepped foot on the bus, she’d never been more nervous in her life. She’d performed in front of crowds of tens of thousands and not been as nervous as she was with Garrett’s friends. It was one thing to be excited about touring when she knew she would be with her husband, but she had also been aware of the dynamic he had with the other members of the band. They didn’t have to like her, but it was important that they did. In the two weeks they had all been together, she had found something to do with each of them.

  Jared and she enjoyed doing puzzles together, which surprised her like nothing else could have. In the moments they spent together, she saw exactly what Shell saw in her boyfriend, and she could see just how much he did love Shell. He might have a hard time saying the words, but every time he spoke of her, his eyes shown brightly against the scruff he liked to sport on his face.

  With Brad, she had found that they both loved to watch criminal investigation and dramatic shows. Give them Amazon Prime or Netflix and they were marathoning either Law and Order (whichever unit struck their fancy) or Sons of Anarchy. In him, she had the person who also loved to yell at the TV and who didn’t mind to lie on the back couch with her, sharing a blanket, but never making it seem like more than a sibling relationship. Sometimes Garrett joined them, but most of the time, he stayed in the part of the bus that had been fashioned into a small bedroom for the newlywed couple. There he had his video games and a quiet place to write when the mood struck him. It was all a balancing act, one they were succeeding in making work.

  Nightmare, aka Christopher, was the only one she wasn’t very close to, but he was the smartest of the group and was working towards a master’s degree. He had told her more than once that when drumming was over for him, he wanted something to fall back on. She respected him for that, and generally left him alone because she knew he was usually studying.

  “We can do room service, if you want to, but what are they gonna do?”

  “You’re a bleeding heart, you know that?” He gifted her with a grin that tugged the edges of his lips and put his dimples on full display.

  She grinned back at him. “They’ve welcomed me onto the bus with open arms. They could have made it difficult or awkward for me, and they
haven’t. They haven’t even mentioned the bunks we took away so that there could be a bedroom for the two of us,” she pointed out.

  “Fine, I’ll call them and see what’s going on tonight.”

  Reaching up, she kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you. I just can’t think of them sitting around doing nothing while we get to enjoy each other’s company.”

  “Well, you better get used to it, because I plan on enjoying your company every chance I get, seeing as how you’re my personal groupie.”

  Hearing him call her a groupie took her mind back to a night on the balcony at his house in California. “Hmm, maybe we’ll have to explore that,” her tone was breathless.

  “Yeah, we definitely will,” he cleared his throat, “and I do mean at every available opportunity.”

  Chapter Two

  * * *

  Hannah stood at the window of the restaurant and took a picture of the swirling snow outside. Never in her life had she seen as much snow, and she’d definitely never seen it drift before. In her head, she wondered if they would even be able to have a concert tomorrow night. Quickly she posted it up on her social media account and then fired off a text to Shell.

  It’s freezing here tonight and it’s snowing like crazy! Wish you were here! How’s school?

  Their opposing schedules made talking difficult, and to be honest, Hannah hadn’t wanted to infringe on Jared’s time with his girlfriend. Shell’s time was going to be spent studying and doing a few things for their business, even though the Harmony machine was on a break, Shell would be as busy as ever.

  Fucking hard! Who knew I’d have to take Gen Ed again?? I feel like an idiot! Awww, I wish I was there with all of you!

  Sometimes when they texted, Hannah wanted to ask her friend if she would change her mind and come on tour with them. It was selfish, but they would all love to have Shell with them. Hannah knew though, that it had to be Shell’s decision. If it wasn’t, she would never know what she wanted to do with her life.