Blessed Fate (22 page)

We exited the stage after our set, all of us dripping in sweat and in need of some shade when I saw Tanya waiting at the bottom of the stairs. "Not bad, Rain, but not great either." Was it impossible for Tanya to get over her shit and see that Rain had killed it out there? I'm pretty sure we could have been screwing on stage, and the fans would have gone crazy for her. She was that good.

"Gee, thanks Tanya. I'll try to step it up for you next time." Rain was fuming. Between the incident from earlier in the morning and now this, I was worried we were about to see the claws come out.

"I thought we'd agreed on what you'd wear when you have to be seen by people." At Tanya's disapproving scowl, I whispered a warning to Jon as we both moved to break up the impending fight.

"No, you agreed—" I wrapped my arm around Rain, pulling her away before she could finish.

"You can't let her get to you, baby. She's trying to get you to fuck up. Don't give her any ammunition." There was no doubt in my mind that Tanya was trying to hand Rain a shovel to dig her own grave. If she could provoke Rain into creating a spectacle in public, it would create the problems Tanya kept telling us were on the horizon. I tried to remember that as the pictures on my phone popped into my head. It seemed even more likely that Tanya had a reason for sending them.

Rain stopped in her tracks, pulling me back to her. "What do you mean 'she's waiting for me to fuck up'? Is that what you two were talking about earlier?"

"No, she'd never actually say anything like that, but it was obvious she was baiting you. If Jon and I hadn't been there, she might have gotten her way from the sounds of it." I breathed in her scent, a combination of strawberries and sweat as I kissed her head, reminding myself that this was the woman I loved, and I owed it to her not to fall for Tanya's bullshit games. "Just...watch what you say and do. That's all."

I ran into the bus as Rain talked to some of the crew. I needed to get out of my sweat soaked jeans and find a t-shirt before we went to listen to some of the other bands. When I got back to the front of the bus, I saw Rain and Jon driving off in the Silverado.

I texted Rain to see what was going on, but she didn't respond. While it shouldn't have bothered me since I knew damn well neither of them would do anything shady, anger built inside of me with every passing hour they were gone. I pulled my phone out and looked at the pictures Tanya had sent me, every time seeing more and more in the space, or lack of, between my girl and another guy.

After almost two weeks of burgers and chicken on the grill every night for dinner, I couldn't bring myself to eat it again, definitely not the brightest move when the beer was openly flowing and free. By the time Rain came back to picnic area, I was well on my way to shit-face drunk.

I saw her walking towards me, freshly showered and couldn't stop my mind from wandering. "Well, well, if it isn't my favorite little cloud. Have fun with Jonny boy today?" When I tried to wrap my arm around her shoulder, she pulled back from me.

"Yeah, sure."

"Whatcha do all afternoon?" I reached for her again, this time managing to slide a hand around her back to rest on her hip.

"Oh, you know...found a deserted park, invited a few groupies and had a wild orgy." Thomas, the bassist for one of the other bands showered me with beer as he burst out laughing at Rain's statement. I knew it was bullshit, but her flippant attitude pissed me off.

"Seriously, Rain. You fucking disappeared for hours. No one knew where you were. I'm really not in the mood for any shit tonight," I yelled, wanting to know why in the hell she didn't see a problem with her actions.

"Stop, Colt. I'm not talking to you about this here. Not while you're drunk." She pulled away from me, pushing me hard when I moved towards her again. I staggered back, trying to stay on my feet, the only saving grace being the snow fence barricade behind me.

"Whatever." I motioned for her to leave as I turned back to the guys. I didn't need to deal with her shit. I was trying to drink away the memory of her shit.

By the time everything shut down for the night, I was well and thoroughly fucked up and ready for answers. My best friend and my girl disappeared for half the fucking day. They couldn't get out of there fast enough after we got off stage.

Jon put his hand on my shoulder as I staggered back to the bus. "Get the fuck off me, man," I warned.

"What's your deal tonight?" Jon pulled me around to face him.

"You tell me," I growled, pushing him backwards. "Want to tell me where the fuck you were today? And I already know, so don't fucking lie to me."

"Colton, knock it off man. You're fucking drunk, it's not the time to talk about anything. Especially since you're obviously more fucked up than I thought you were."

"Fuck that!" I screamed. "I know what I saw, and I can't let it go, and then you two disappear all fucking day. What would you think if it was your woman?"

"Dude, listen to yourself. You're just going to throw away the one thing you've wanted for years without having any clue what's real and what's being twisted around," Jon growled. "You're letting that bitch manipulate you, don't you see that?"

He was right. The two brain cells that weren't saturated in alcohol knew that, but the rest of my brain had turned off already.

"Now you're sticking up for her? Are you screwing her too? How do you explain this? Does it look like manipulation?" I scrolled through the pictures Tanya sent me. Even Jon couldn't deny the proof in front of him. I knew I had crossed a line accusing him of sleeping with Rain, but there was no doubt in my mind that something was going on with the punk band director in her hometown.

"Man, fucking talk to her, but not tonight. Why don't you head over to the other bus, sober up and then you two can sit down when we get to Springfield tomorrow." He started pulling me past our bus to the bus our crew lived in. I jerked away from him and cocked back to hit him. Why, I'm not sure. I just needed to hit something and he was a hell of a lot softer than the side of a bus.

Pain shot through my arm as he jerked it behind my body, leading me in front of him towards the bus. "Man, you're lucky I need that hand to be intact. Otherwise, I'd break it off and feed it to you right now. You're beyond fucked up. Let's go," he growled into my ear.

"Yeah, you probably can't wait to get me out of the way, can you? Now that she's putting out, you can't wait to get a piece of it." As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I heard our bus door slam, pulling me out of my drunken haze just enough to know how screwed I was.

"You know what, Colton...you just fucked up the best thing you ever would have had. Fuck you, accusing me of sleeping around. Fuck you for making it sound like you're the one who opened me up to sleeping with anything with a stiff dick. Whatever you
think
you know, you've obviously lost your damn mind." I could see her balling fists at her sides, trying hard to fight the urge to hit me. I couldn't say I would have blamed her in that moment if she had started wailing on me. I deserved it. I was a complete and utter dick.

"Rain, baby..." I hiccupped, a sure sign I was going to puke and pass out soon. Probably for the best, since I knew I was fucking up every time I opened my mouth but couldn't stop it. "I didn't mean it like that..."

"Really? So what exactly does 'Now that she's putting out, you can't wait to get a piece of it' mean? Please, tell me how I'm taking that the wrong way. I'd love to hear your bullshit explanation." She stepped closer to me, puffing up her chest like she was preparing for a fight.

Jon pushed his way between us, pushing me back. "Rain, let me get him to bed. You two can talk tomorrow."

"No Jon, we're going to talk about this. Now. How can you not be pounding the shit out of him right now? He told you he thinks we're screwing around too." She glared at Jon, poking her finger into his chest.

"Because he's an idiot when he drinks. We'll probably have to remind him why we're pissed off once he sobers up," Jon stated flatly. "Now, let me get him to bed, and then you're going to come with me. I need to keep you two away from each other so you don't light a stick of dynamite under all of our asses tonight."

I swallowed hard, willing the bile rising in my throat to retreat. It did, but once again, I couldn't stop the words from flowing out of my mouth. "That's right, probably gonna take her—"

Jon's fist making contact with my jaw cut my rant short. My neck popped as my head whipped to the side. I wanted to pummel the hell out of him, but his first punch woke me up enough to know there was no way in hell I was in any condition to fight. "Colton shut the fuck up and get in that bus. I'm not going to sit here and listen to you talk about her that way. Go sleep it off."

I sat on the crew bus, replaying every stupid thing I had said to Jon and Rain. I would let Tanya get under my skin, and then I drank about three times as much beer as I should have. If either of them were still talking to me, it would be a fucking miracle. As I started to drift to sleep, I saw Rain and Angie jumping into the truck and leaving.

Less than a minute later, Jon walked onto the bus, looking like he was closer to ten feet tall than six and a half feet as I was slumped in one of the chairs. He kicked me hard, making sure I was awake. "Come on, asshole. You get to sleep in your bed tonight." He pulled me up and started dragging me off the bus. "If you're gonna puke, better fucking do it now. Not having that shit on the bus."

"Where'd she go?" I asked, praying the answer wasn't that she had quit because of the bullshit she'd been through.

"Don't fucking worry about it. You have
much
bigger problems than the fact that she's not on the bus for tonight." He threw a bottle of water and the bottle of aspirin. "You might want to think about the shit you were spewing tonight. Maybe write it down so you remember it when you're sober because I'll guarantee she's not gonna forget."

I hadn't often fucked up so bad Jon couldn't look at me, so I knew I had screwed the pooch with my drunken word vomit.

The bus was stopped by the time I started to wake up. Not only were we stopped, it was eerily quiet, like everyone was gone. There was a note from Travis next to the bed telling me to call when I woke up so they could give me directions to the hotel. I struggled to put the pieces together, not remembering most of the details from the end of the night. I laid there trying to figure out how to fix everything I had screwed up when I heard someone moving outside of the bedroom. The footsteps were too light to be any of the guys.

"Rain, is that you?" I swung my feet over the edge of the bed, praying she would hear me and actually talk to me. I didn't deserve it, but I needed to apologize to her.

There was no response for a long time, and I was sure she was ignoring me. I knew she hadn't left because I hadn't heard the door slam shut.

"Yeah, it's me," she said flatly.

She looked almost as bad as I felt, which was pretty damn bad. I had been lucky enough to pass out; she looked like she had barely slept. "Where'd you go last night?"

"Angie and I drove up here and got the suite early." She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, and still couldn't look at me.

"Why?"

I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head with as wide as they grew at my question. Ignoring my inquiry, she held out her hand. "Can I see your phone?"

"Fuck, does this have to do with the pictures?" Bits and pieces of the night before started falling into place. Me showing Jon the pictures of Rain and the band director, accusing her of sleeping with him.
Shit, did I accuse Jon of fucking her? Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"The pictures? What pictures?" She started grabbing for my phone, but I pulled her down on the couch next to me. I needed to get off my feet before I fell over, still feeling the effects of everything I had drunk.

"I need you to tell me it's not what I think," I whispered as I handed over my phone. Finding it hard to breathe, I leaned forward on the couch, resting my elbows on my knees.

"Is this what last night was all about?" She shoved the phone back at me. She sounded like what I saw was no big deal, like I shouldn't be upset.

"What am I supposed to think? Why didn't you tell me you and the band director spent that much time together while you were there? And why were you spending time with him at all?" I tipped my head to look at her, only to see her looking away from me.

"He was a friend of mine when we were younger. Mike invited him to the bar, and we danced," she said, showing me the first picture. "Then we went to dinner to talk about some shit that happened when I left town, and the morning before I left, we met for coffee. It's something friends do when they don't see each other often."

"But why didn't you tell me?"

As I sat there listening to her explain how she and Garrett had been friends since they were little, I felt like the world's biggest ass. She had plenty of friends back in Portland that I didn't know, and none of them was an issue. My mind fixated on little details, like the fact that they had briefly dated, and he had kissed her the morning of graduation, as a way to justify my jealousy.