Only The Beginning (Rockin' Country) (25 page)

Hannah was quiet for a full minute, and Shell got a sinking feeling in her stomach. Maybe she shouldn’t have opened her mouth. It was then that Hannah rubbed her eyes.

“Are you crying? Please don’t cry.”

Hannah shook her head “I’m crying, but not in the way you think. I’m crying because you are so right. I did lose a piece of myself, and I finally feel like I can breathe again. But right when I feel like I can breathe, I still can’t let go of Ashton.”

“What the fuck does that mean, Hannah? And you better be honest with me.”

“He texted me the other day.”

“Erase it. Erase it and block his damn number, do you hear me? He can see that you’re happy—hell; anyone looking at you can see that you’re happy. He wants to ruin that because he’s not happy and because he’s not involved with it. I’m telling you, just let him be his normal self and you keep being who you are with Garrett.

“I’ll admit, I was worried about Garrett when you first told me about him. I mean, it was cute that you liked him and he liked you. But seeing the two of you together and meeting his family—you’ve got a keeper, and you’ve got someone who really likes you for you. Don’t let that go. He’s the type of man you’ve been searching for—whether you knew it or not. I’ll be damned if I let that sleazy little rat ruin this for you.”

“I’ll delete it,” she told Shell. “I promise.”

“Did you tell Garrett?”

“No, I was worried to. Garrett hates Ashton, with a passion. I didn’t want to make it any tenser than it already was.”

Shell started to say something, but they had floated back around to the beginning, and the rest of their party stood there waiting on them.

“Hey y’all,” Shell called out.

“The ’rents want to go walking on the strip, is that good for you two?” Garrett asked as he stepped into the water and helped Hannah put her tube up.

“Sounds good,” she smiled up at him.

Something about the tone of her voice didn’t sit well with him. “Hey, you okay?” he asked, pushing his sunglasses up so that she could see his eyes.

“I’m great.” She reached up and hugged him around the neck.

“You sure?”

“I’m good,” she told him again as she grabbed his hand. “We got to catch up with the rest of them.”

*     *     *

“Garrett, that looks like you when you were little,” Marie pointed to a child running on the opposite side of the road wearing a Pantera t-shirt. It was too big for him, and he was holding it up to keep from getting his legs tripped up.

Garrett laughed, a thoughtful grin covering his face. “Jared too. We were all the time trying to find something that would freak you out more. Remember when we wore the eye liner and black fingernail polish? We were hardcore.”

“That was the absolute worst.” Marie rolled her eyes, looking at the two women. “Black nail polish is okay for women, I see you’re wearing some today.” She pointed at both Shell and Hannah. “But when you’re son comes home wearing it, along with black eyeliner, you wonder just where in the world you went wrong.”

“What did you think, dad?” Garrett asked, letting go of Hannah’s hand and slinging his arm around his father’s shoulders.

“I was just wondering if I was going to have to bail you out of jail.”

The boys all shared a look. “There have been a couple times,” Jared smirked.

“What about your parents?” Hannah asked Jared. “Did they ever have to bail you out?”

Jared ducked his head. “My parents weren’t exactly…how should I put this…supportive of anything we did. Luckily, these two took me under their wing, and they’ve been my surrogate parents ever since.”

“Look at this face.” Marie cupped his chin and kissed Jared on the cheek. “How can you not love him?”

Hannah and Shell exchanged a look. It was obvious there was more to it than what they had said, but neither wanted to press the issue since they were having a great time together.

“Resistance is futile, it’s true, you can’t help but love him.” Garrett cuffed him on the back of the head.

“When did you two start playing music together?” Shell asked. It was a question she had been wondering for a while, but it never seemed to be a good time to bring it up when she and Jared were alone.

“We’ve known each other since second grade,” Garrett told them. “But in eighth grade, I started my first band, and I asked him to play lead guitar for me. You know what this bastard said to me?”

They all waited, knowing it would be good the way the two men smiled at each other. “I told him that I was too good for his damn band. We could be friends, but I didn’t think I could lower myself to play with him.”

“Ouch,” Shell laughed. “That’s pretty harsh, even for an eighth grader.”

“Yeah, talk about screwing with somebody’s self-esteem,” Garrett said. “But I’m persistent, and I kept at it until he agreed to play. Best decision this fucker’s ever made.”

“Is that true?” Hannah asked, side eyeing Jared.

“I guess so,” he sighed. “I mean I don’t know that I could be touring the world and making hundreds of thousands of dollars with anyone else. So I guess if I have to do it with someone—it might as well be with him and the rest of the group.”

“Gee thanks, man.”

“Somebody’s gotta keep your big-ass head under control.”

Hannah interjected. “How did you two put up with these two?” she asked Kevin and Marie.

Kevin slipped his finger into his ear and pulled out a piece of something. “Ear plugs. I wear them a lot when they’re all together. I’ve gotten pretty good at reading lips. So I know when I really need to discreetly take it out and listen.”

There was a moment of silence throughout the group before they all busted out laughing.

“Dad, man, what the fuck? How long have you been doing that?”

Kevin grinned. “Long enough.”

“I never had any idea, at all. You are one slick badass, I hope I can be like you when I grow up.” Jared clapped his hand on Kevin’s back. “You need to teach me that trick, it gets annoying listening to Garrett and Hannah on FaceTime at night on the bus.”

“Whatever, dude. You just wish you had somebody to FaceTime with.” Garrett slung his arm around Hannah’s shoulder, hitching his chin up in acknowledgement of Jared’s words.

“He does now,” Shell piped up.

“Well there ya go then. Now I’m gonna need a pair of those earplugs too.”

“Reaper, Harmony!!”

The group stopped and turned to face the person yelling.

“Oh hell,” Garrett mumbled as he saw a group of girls running towards them. Some of them wore Harmony Stewart t-shirts, some wore Black Friday t-shirts.

“Hey,” Hannah waved at the group. “How are you ladies doin’?” she asked, as they came to a stop, all heaving.

“Good,” they answered.

“Where did you all run from?” Garrett asked as they each tried to get their breath.

“From way up there.” One of them pointed almost a mile down the road. In the distance, he could see two parents trying to make their way through the crowded streets.

“Are those your parents?” he asked, squinting in the bright sun, even with his sunglasses on.

“Yeah, Mom is gonna kick our asses, but we really wanted to get a picture with the two of you. We like both of you,” one of the girls said.

“Don’t you ever run away from us like that again,” the lady, who they assumed was the mother, screamed as she and the man finally caught up with the girls.

“Sorry, Mom, but do you see who this is?”

The girl wore a Harmony shirt, so Hannah smiled warmly, putting her hand out. “I’m Harmony. I am so sorry they scared you like that. It’s not the smartest thing to take off running in Vegas, but I would have done the same thing if my favorite artist was walking down the street, so I can understand.”

The woman shook Hannah’s hand and then took a good look at Garrett. “I can see why they did,” she said on a low breath. “Would you mind if they got pictures with you?”

“Not a problem,” Garrett grinned, putting his arms around the two girls with Black Friday shirts on.

Hannah smirked as the girls smiled so wide she thought their cheeks were going to break. He seemed to have that effect on any woman, young or old.

Fifteen minutes later, the girls had autographs, pictures, and a story to tell their friends when they got home. They had even been introduced to Kevin and Marie. Garrett saw the time on his phone and turned to Hannah.

“It’s going on three, do you need to go?”

“I should. There’s a few things I need to do, and I need to be at the Hard Rock for sound check at five. The show starts at eight, so make sure you’re all there on time. I have no opening act.”

“We’ll be there with bells on, honey,” Marie assured her.

Shell and Hannah broke off from the group and went back to the hotel while the rest of them continued on their tourist adventure.

*  *  *

“S
he’s amazing on stage, isn’t she?”

Garrett smiled, not turning away from where he watched Hannah to answer his mom. “She is. I wish we could be the way she is on stage. Her crowd isn’t as angry as ours, if that makes sense. I know that has to do with the kind of music that we do, but it would be nice every once in a while if it wasn’t so hardcore.”

“I can see where you’re coming from, but that is who you are. You’re passionate and you aren’t soft. Your voice is strong and your sound is loud and aggressive. It really wouldn’t be you,” Marie told him.

“You’re so damn smart.” Garrett put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her to him. “You wanna take a picture, Momma?”

“I would love to,” she beamed at him.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and stuck his arm out, turning them around so that Hannah was in the background. He quickly took the picture, kissing his mom on the cheek, allowing her to hug him just a little bit longer than he normally did. “Love you, Mom.”

“Love you too, and I am so glad that you invited me here. I really have missed you,” she said with uncharacteristic tears in her eyes. Marie Thompson was a strong woman, and she hardly let anything ever get her down, but the water he saw swimming there hit him in the gut.

“I missed you too, but you’ve got me for one more day.”

“I know, but that doesn’t mean that it’s enough. I hope you slow down, we’re all missing you,” she told him wiping at her cheeks.

“I’m planning on it very soon.”

She nodded and went over to stand with his dad as they watched Hannah put on her show. Quickly he uploaded his picture to Instagram, tagging his mom and Hannah.

Me and my beautiful mother @ReapersMom watching the equally beautiful @HarmonyStewart kill it tonight here in Vegas.

“Hey, Shell,” he yelled as he realized what song Hannah was on.

“Yeah?”

“Did you get that shirt I asked you to?”

She grinned. “I did, let me go grab it for you. She’s going to call you out on stage during the next song.”

He waited patiently for Shell to come back, and when she did, he shed his shirt and placed the one she had handed him over his body. It fit very tightly. “Does this make me look fat?” he joked, trying to stretch the sleeves so that they didn’t cut into his arm muscles.

“That’s the biggest we have, and you know all those are feminine cut. You look ridiculous,” she giggled. Jared sat next to her, tears streaming down his face as he laughed.

“Do I look that bad?”

“Damn, son. What the hell are you wearing?” Kevin asked as he and Marie got a good look at what was going on.

“It’s a Harmony Stewart shirt, but they aren’t made for 6’3”, 245 pound men,” he said as he stretched the bottom of the shirt, hoping that it covered his stomach. A flash in the corner caught his eye. “Oh, tell me you didn’t just take a picture of me,” Garrett pointed at Shell.

“It’s not like all those people out there aren’t going to do it once you walk on stage,” she reasoned. “Just let me have my fun.”

“Y’all want to see my boyfriend Reaper come out here?” they heard Hannah ask the crowd from on stage. When there was an overwhelming scream of affirmation, he plastered a smile on his face, made sure his sunglasses were in place, as well as the hat he normally wore on stage, before making his way out.