by Sm Donaldson
I look over at him seriously. “He will, trust me. But it will be my style, calculated and planned. Plus, Ivie will know nothing about it. Get me?”
They both have known me long enough to know that I don’t make idle threats. They nod that they understand. Keeg leans in. “Do you think she’ll ever tell us what all happened?”
I look down the vacant hallway. “When she’s ready.” I lean back and take a nap on our way to our first show.
~*~*~
Our first show is going to be in the Florida Panhandle at some Festival. I let Cade know it’s close to Destin, where he and his wife have a beach house. They are going to be down anyway, so he’s going to drive over for the show. Daria said she’s too pregnant and too tired to come out, plus Madison is not really old enough.
I arrange for Cade to come to the bus before show time so he and I can talk.
When we met, he got a little drunk that night. He and I were sitting out back talking and he mentioned some stuff to me, some connections that Daria might have. I have to say I want him to see Ivie and see what happened to her. Then, I’m going to ask for his help. This dipshit Chad is a cop and he has to be dealt with carefully.
I look over at Keeg and Stoney when we pull into the parking lot. “When Cade gets on here I’ll introduce you guys, then I want you to wake Ivie up so I can introduce her, then he and I are going to take a walk.”
They shrug. “Okay.”
An hour later someone knocks on the door. I let Cade on the bus and he gives me a back slapping hug. “Hey man, this is awesome, I’m proud of you.”
I nod. “Thanks.” I wave my hands around at the dated tour bus. “So this is it, home sweet home, for a few months, anyway.”
He chuckles. “Well, you have to start somewhere, right?”
I laugh and nod. “So these are my two best friends and bandmates, Keeg and Stoney. We’ve been friends since we were kids. And coming down the hallway is our lovely Ivie.”
I see Cade tense when he sees her face. I shake my head slightly. “Guys, Ivie, this is Cade, my brother.”
They all mumble hellos. “Let’s go for a walk. I have a feeling I’m going to be cramped up in this bus for long enough.”
He laughs. “Sure.”
We step off the bus and walk to a nearby tree. “Cade, I need a favor, like a big brother favor.”
He nods. “Sure. If I can.” He looks off into the distance. “Does it have anything to do with that poor girl’s face that looks like someone used it for sparring practice?”
I nod. “She showed up like that this morning, right before we left. Her ex, or now ex-boyfriend, is a douche, but he’s a douche that’s a cop.” I give him that look, saying he’s untouchable to the normal guy.
His jaw tenses. “I see. So he thinks he’s above the law and he can do shit like that to girls.”
“I guess. She hasn’t really talked to us about it, but something tells me it wasn’t the first time. But Ivie has always been a private person. Look man, I know after you got drunk that night and said those things, I promised I’d never breathe a word of it to anyone, even Scarlet, and I haven’t. But if you know someone who could effectively get the point across to this guy, I would appreciate it. I would go kick his ass myself, but then I’d go to jail and ruin the band. This band is really the only thing she has.”
Cade looks across the fair grounds. “I never use Daria’s connections, but I can tell this is important to you. Plus, the caveman in me wants to help her. Hell, if Daria saw that girl right now, pregnant or not, I’d have to stop her from driving there and putting that guy in the ground herself.” He shakes his head. “Look, Daria does still have some protection and some friends. Give me everything you have on the guy and give me info on Ivie, too. Where did you say her family is?”
“Her dad went to prison years ago and her mom, last time we knew, was married to a loan shark in Biloxi.”
He nods. “This might be easier than I thought. I’ll talk to Daria, her parents may be able to help.”
“Humph, I doubt it. They’ve never took care of her.”
“Nope, but in my years with Daria I see things in a whole new light, and people like her parents owe someone favors, too.”
He pulls me into his big arms. “Thanks, Cade. I’ve never known what it was like to have someone help me. I’m always the one helping. I’ve always tried to take care of Scar and my mom. I’m always the level headed one in the band. I was really afraid I’d do something stupid if I tried to take care of this myself, but I don’t want Ivie to know anything about it.”
He nods. “Hey man, no big deal. So you really care about this girl, huh?”
I shrug. “Yeah, I mean she’s Ivie, she’s been my bandmate and friend for like five years. She’s had a rough life.”
He shakes his head with a smirk. “No man, that’s not the look I saw on your face when you were telling me about what happened to her. Trust me, I have my own inner caveman, as Daria calls it. I come out swinging my damn club every once in a while, flare my nostrils, scratch my balls and piss around my wife. Figuratively speaking, of course.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, whatever, it’s not like that for us.”
“Dude, you care about that girl, don’t fuck that up.”
I start walking back toward the bus. “Yeah, I gotta go get ready. I hate that as soon as you got here, I had to ask you for a favor. That wasn’t my intention.”
He shakes his head. “No man, it’s cool. I can’t wait to hear your band play.” He stops and grabs my arm. “Remember what I said about her though. One thing I do know, what happened to her with that other guy was wrong. But I know from Daria, with everything she’s been through, she thinks she deserves it, she believes since her family doesn’t care about her or want her, no one else does either.”
Cade makes his way out to the area he’ll watch the concert from and I head to the bus.
Once I’m inside, I walk down the hallway to the bathroom. I open the door and Ivie is just stepping out of the shower. “Sorry.” I say as I back out of the bathroom. Her delicate sweet curved body is covered in bruises and whelps. I hope Cade makes sure that son of a bitch pays.
She tucks her head down as she walks out of the bathroom. “S-sorry. I thought all of you guys were gone.” She shuts herself in the back room to dress.
I lean back against the wall. Cade was right, she really is fragile. Big question, why do I care? Ivie will get through this.
I’m so embarrassed. Gable just saw me completely naked. Not only did he see all the bruises, but he saw me. Chunky Ivie, naked. Great, now he actually saw my big ass and cottage cheese thighs.
I dressed quickly and made way out to the main part of the bus. Keeg and Stoney are sitting on the couch, they weren’t here earlier. I raise my hand and wave slightly as I flop down in a chair. I really didn’t say much when they woke me up earlier. They just wanted me to meet Gable’s brother, so after they went for a walk, I went back to my bunk to make a list of things I needed to accomplish by the end of this tour. I was only going to depend on me when I was finished with this. I wouldn’t need Stoney or any man to ‘let’ me live at his place. I would have my own.
Once they were all out of here, I went to shower and found myself naked in front of Gable. Great!
“So, what time do we have to be out there for sound check?” I ask.
Stoney looks up from the magazine he’s reading. “Oh, she does still speak. See Keeg, I told you she hadn’t lost her voice in all of this.”
I roll my eyes. “Shut up, I have a headache.”
Gable walks back in. “Well, since you’ve had the hell beat out of you, slept like twenty hours and haven’t eaten anything since before we left town yesterday, I bet you do.”
I shake my head and stand up. I walk over to the fridge and grab a bottle of water and some ibuprofen. “So what time is sound check?”
Keeg stuffs a cookie in his mouth. “At two. So you have a couple of hours to make yourself look p
retty.”
I knew he was just playing but it still hurt a little. I nod. “Yeah, I need to go get started.” I walk down the hallway and I hear a low argument between the guys.
“Real smooth jackass, remind her she looks like hell right now with your fucking pretty comment. And you, Gable, why don’t you remind her just a little more how much her life is sucking right now.”
I didn’t need to listen anymore, I just locked myself in the back bedroom to get ready. We’d put all of our clothes in here and agreed that this would be a dressing room, the only way someone would sleep in here is if they had someone with them, and it couldn’t be some groupie trash. The guys really tried to give it to me since I’m the only girl, but I took a rack just like one of them.
I sat down and looked in the mirror and noticed the bruising on my face was becoming very obvious. I tried to work some magic with my concealer and some foundation. I normally never wore this much make-up on stage because I would just sweat it all off, but tonight I was going to need it. I don’t want all the other bands to see what a fucked up mess I am.
A couple of hours later I’m behind the guys, making my way to the stage for sound check. We pass by a group of girls who obviously want the guy’s attention. They are dressed like something you would find on a runway in a shit hole strip club or on a street corner.
I’m used to the sneering looks that are sent my way when I pass by with the guys. There is always a loud drunk girl in the group. She puts her hand out to stop me. “Hey, can you get the guys to turn around?” I shake my head no. Trying to work my way past them, she grabs my shirt. “Hey, I was talking to you. Can you give Gable my number? He’s so fucking hot.”
“No. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get the stage.”
I hear her talking as I walk on by. She turns back to her friends. “She’s just wants me for herself, you know she’s probably gay, and if she’s not, she might as well be because those hot guys are never gonna want her big ass.”
I shuffle on past the crowd and make my way to the stage. Gable looks up. “Where were you?’ He looks pissed.
“I was battling the skanks off of me. The ones who stopped me to get your number or for me you give theirs. I thought I might have to get a shot for STD’s once I got away from them.”
The guys never cease to amaze me because they look straight past me to see the group of women. “Look guys, just go on out there, ask them back to the bus, whatever, but we need to sound check. I’ll make myself scarce until the show. I’m dressed anyway.”
Keeg and Stoney lit up like Christmas morning. “Thanks, Ivie. Are you sure?” Keeg says.
“Yeah I’m sure, I’m gonna go for a walk around the grounds.”
Gable stops. “Ivie.”
I put my hand up. “Stop, I’m in a band with guys. I understand that. You guys like to bang anything that walks.” Besides me. “So who am I to stand in your way? You play better after you’ve nutted, anyway.”
We do a great sound check. I stop when I see one of the event coordinators. “Hey, um I need a new cell phone. Is there a store near here that I can walk to or something?”
She smiles. “Yeah, it’s right down the street, but let me get one of the crew to take you there. That way I know you’ll get in and out of the gates okay.”
I nod. “Thanks. I can’t believe I left it.”
She radios someone to come over where we are.
I seriously don’t know why I’m worried. The only people who called me on it were Chad and the guys. Well, and Dottie on the rare occasion that Gable didn’t answer.
A young guy, probably fresh out of high school, pulls up in an SUV.
The lady looks at me. “Ivie, this is Jacob, he’ll run you down to the store.”
I nod. “Thanks again.”
I slide into the SUV and head to the store.
The half-naked girl sitting across me would normally be great for me, but all I can think about is Ivie. What is she doing? Where is she at?
The girl starts rubbing my dick through my jeans. “So, Chubby really told you guys about us, huh? I didn’t figure she would. I figured she was a lesbian or that she was a jealous girl keeping you guys to herself.”
I grab her hand. “What did you call her?”
The girl shrugs. “I thought she was a lesbian or that she was an insecure chubby girl who likes keeping you guys to herself.”
I stand up and she falls on the floor. “Get out!”
She jumps up. “What in the hell?”
“I said get the fuck out.”
“My friends are in here.” She looks down the hall to where two of her friends are in the bunks with Keeg and Stoney.
“You can wait for them outside.”
She slides the scrap of material she was calling a top back on. “Unfucking believable. What, do you have a hard on for chubby girls?”
“What the fuck makes you think she’s chubby? Because she’s got a gorgeous fucking rack and an ass to kill. And you are a scrawny bitch with enough fucking padding in that push-up bra for a queen size mattress.” I know this is true about Ivie because I just saw them in the flesh a couple of hours ago and it is all I can think about.
She stomps to the bus door. “Fuck you and your fat girlfriend!”
I grab up my shit for the show and walk out the bus door, just in time to see Ivie getting out of the passenger side of a really nice SUV. She has a bag in her hand and she makes her way back stage.
Who in the fuck was she with? I make my way backstage and find her in the small area set aside for the bands in large tents. She’s messing with a phone. I sit down beside her. “Hey. Where did you go?”
She shows me the phone. “I left my phone at Chad’s yesterday. I needed a new one.”
“Oh, well who took you? I saw you getting out of an SUV.”
“It was one of the volunteers, he was a young kid. One of the event coordinators set it up for me. I was going to go myself and just walk, but she didn’t want me to have trouble getting in and out of the gates. After I paid for it I realized I really don’t need it. You guys and Chad are the only people who call me.”
I put my elbows down on my knees. “So, do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really. But I guess I owe you guys an explanation. He didn’t like me playing in the band. He thought I was trying to sleep with you guys. I told him I wasn’t and that you guys didn’t think of me that way, either. He said he knew you guys could never look at me that way, but that I lusted after all of you. I’m pretty sure he’s on something. He’s been getting paranoid about little shit. It just started to get out of hand.”
“The other week, when you came in with the bruises on your arms?”
“He left me handcuffed to the bed for a day. Yesterday was by far the worst that ever happened. I was trying to sneak out and leave before he got off duty.”
She drops her head in her hands. I touch her knee and she jumps. “Ivie, why didn’t you tell us this sooner?”
“I was determined to make this relationship work, plus I was living with him. I really didn’t have money for my own place.”
I shoot her a look. “Seriously? Like you couldn’t go back to Stoney’s or anything.”
“Look, I’m tired of being the group fuck-up. I’m tired of dating shithead guys, falling for their crap, and then having to go back to Stoney’s and be the laughing stock of the group. This tour just happened to come along at a good time. Now, when I get back home, I should have enough money saved up to get my own apartment and maybe a dog. NO man. I’m not going to be poor Ivie who’s homeless again.”
“Ivie. You are not the laughing stock of the group.”
She stands up. “Yeah, well it sure feels that way some times.” Then she turns to grab a bottle of water and walks off.
I sit there waiting for her to come back but she doesn’t. Does she really see herself as being that messed up? That asshole, Chad, really told her that none of us would ever go for her. Obviously he did
n’t meet the seventeen year old versions of us who made a pact not to mess with her. We knew that if one of us screwed her over it would fuck up the band, and she was too great to lose. Who the fuck does he think he is to treat her like that?
I run my hands back and forth over my head. He left her hand cuffed to a bed for a day, and there is no telling what he did to her while she was handcuffed. I saw so many bruises on her today.
I shake my head, she thinks we laughed at her. Cade is right, she really does have some self-worth issues.
Soon, I see Stoney and Keeg walking through the tent. “Hey man, why did you kick their friend out? Luckily we were finished before they found out you kicked her out.”
“Get over here and sit down douche canoes, we gotta talk.”
I start off telling them why I kicked bitchy girl out, which they were pissed that she said those things, too. Then I told them about my talk with Ivie.
Stoney looks up sadly. “Why would she think we were laughing at her? I’d never laugh at her life. I love her like my little sister, I want to protect her. I honestly don’t think I would care if she lived with me for the rest of our lives.”
About that time, Ivie walks up. Keeg stands up and hugs her. “Sweet girl, I want to kill that bastard.”
She glares at me. “You told them. I didn’t realize I was fucking talking to a blabber mouth. Look, fucking stay out of my business, all of you. I don’t try to counsel you guys on the whores you fuck, don’t worry about my pathetic life. I’m a big girl, I can handle it. Now let’s go, we have a show to play.” She storms toward the stage and we follow.
The guys are trying to catch up but I stop them. “Look, just give her space, I guess that’s what she wants. I guess she needs time to process it or whatever. I know dealing with my sister can be a pain in the ass roller coaster ride of emotions sometimes, but she works through it.”
The boys nod and we walk to the side stage and wait to go on. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I had not butterflies, but fucking birds, flying around in my stomach right now. I’m so damn nervous.