Broken Strings (A Rock Star Novel) (22 page)

Epilogue

Three Months Later

He’s already standing there waiting for me as I pull up to
the entrance of Forbes Clinic. I pop the trunk and he stows his luggage, then
takes a seat beside me. Our mouths find each other’s, and for a moment we
forget there are others behind us waiting to be reunited with their loved ones
as well.

As we pull onto the freeway the events of the past three
months filter through my mind. After the comeback concert, I drove Silas back
to Forbes. I was well aware of the fact that I may be in some hot water there
and they may not be at all happy to see me. Silas argued that we stay the night
then go back in the morning but I just couldn’t relax and would not have
enjoyed our time together despite the overwhelming success of the night.

Brand slunk away that night with his tail between his legs,
but not before he leaked to the press about my marijuana conviction. How he got
that information I have no idea. I was a minor, so those records were supposed
to be sealed. He of course thought that information finding the light of day
would ruin my career as a paramedic. But nobody showed even the slightest he
played his trump card. He told everyone how I had hacked his Gmail account and
impersonated him when I wrote the retraction. That really worried me for a bit.
I really did do something wrong that time, and I wasn’t sure people would turn
a blind eye to it. Finally, it was Guitar Player who shut him down. They
refused to believe I was the one who wrote the letter since the information he
gave them really was wrong. They just assumed he wrote the retraction after he
had a change of heart about lying about Silas and the band. Looks like he’s the
one who is going to have to consider a career change, not me. They invited me
to submit my story about the events that had taken place from the time of the
backstage passes, how I broke Silas out of Forbes, and how I managed to put
together the whole show that night. I demurred and directed them to Walker who
was the one who really put the show together. He in turn begged off saying it
was all me, so now I’m writing my story after all. I guess it’ll be kinda fun.
It was a pretty crazy period in my life and it would be nice to see it in
print.

By the time we arrived at Forbes Clinic, they’d already seen
the news coverage of the event. No one seemed the least bit interested in the
fact that not two days ago I had broken Silas out of their facility, or the
fact that he was kinda sorta high as a kite when I returned him back to them. I
think the fact that he was so willing to cop to everything and was totally
honest and serious about recovery really went a long way with them.

He did his detox like a champ as well as the full two months
of inpatient treatment there as well. By the time he walked out, he was a
living legend and a treatment success. We have three weeks together before the
start of the new world tour. Fringe is co-headlining an 18 month world tour
with Disturbed, and it’s already sold out in twenty countries. Yeah, I’ll miss
him, but he promises to fly me out whenever I have time off.

Six months later, Walker flies Silas, the band, Stewart,
Gabby and I out to the Seychelles for some R&R and a private wedding. He’s
patched things up with his boyfriend, and we were there to witness the nuptials.
Silas and the band have patched things up as well. I guess having a wildly
popular, famous lead guitarist in your band counts for something after all.

Later that night after the wedding, Silas gets on one knee
in the moonlight on the beach and asks me to be Mrs. Lunatic. I never wanted to
be the girlfriend of a rock star, but I never said I couldn’t be the wife of
one.

A year later, back in the Seychelles, we have a private
ceremony. Gabby, Silas’s band mates, Stewart, Walker, and his partner are all
there. I become Mrs. June Mann, or as I’m now known to my fellow Lunatics, Mrs.
Rock Star. After a brief, romantic honeymoon, Silas returned to the tour with
Disturbed, and I went back to Oakland where I am still just a paramedic and no
one really cares about my newfound celebrity status.

And that’s just fine with me.

~END~