Straight from the Heart (10 page)

When we got back to the hotel Hal was
waiting for us with the tour bus loaded and our suitcases already
packed. We were playing at the United Center, and as the bus pulled
up to the other tour buses in the lot, all of us were getting
pumped up. After unloading everything and moving our equipment
backstage, Cale had drinks poured and waiting for us in the
dressing room. For the show, I opted for red jeggings and an off
the shoulder Aerosmith t-shirt that was tattered up at the bottom.
It showed off skin at the edge of my stomach, which I was getting
more comfortable with since I tried to work out with the guys as
much as I could. I styled my hair so I was channeling the 80’s hair
bands, combing my hair into a huge poof and tying in a black bow to
top it off. If only my parents could see me wearing this. It would
be a field day!

When I stepped out from behind the small
curtain that the guys built for me to use when I changed my
clothes, I felt all eyes on me. Lucy was in the room chatting it up
with Luke and came over to give me a nod of approval. She had dyed
her hair to have bright blond streaks in her black hair and had it
in loose ringlets with a purple top hat on top of her head. I
envied this girl and how she could pull stuff like that off.

“Damn I have some competition now!” She gave
me a devilish smile and hugged me. “You better get out there and
find Damon. All he’s been talking about is you and your romantic
little date last night.”

I blushed. “So he told you everything?”

“Oh you’re too cute, Bryn. Yes, and that’s a
shock for him because usually I find him with a different girl
every night. I’m the one that kicks the whores out of the bus and
sends them on their way!” She took a drink from the can of lemonade
in her hand and let it linger.

“I’ll see you around, Luce,” I told her,
giving her another hug and slipping out the door before anyone else
could comment about how I looked. Because we were at one of the
biggest venues on the tour, I had a harder time finding my way
around, but I soon found Damon standing in front of Ignite the
Flames dressing room. He was wearing a blue plaid shirt that was
rolled up his sleeves, and tight black pants that hugged his
muscular legs perfectly. His hair wasn’t gelled tonight so some of
it hung in his eyes, but those eyes were only on me.  

“Hey.” I said coolly, bumping into him. He
wrapped his arm around me and drew me closer to him.

“Hey yourself.” He mumbled as he kissed my
forehead. I felt his smile in between my eyebrows.

“I loved your note by the way.”

“Well you looked too beautiful to wake up.
Plus I didn’t want you to think I was a creep or anything by
staying in your room.” He winked and squeezed my hand. “I can be a
gentlemen when I want to be. Especially for someone as pretty as
you. You deserve someone that will treat you right.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Ahh, well you were a
good date Damon. I had fun last night.”

“Me too. Next time we have a long stop I’ll
take you out for the day and we can sight see, pose for crazy
pictures, and possibly sightsee.”

I giggled. “Do you do this often?”

He threw his hands up. “I never said I dated
girls. You’re the first I’ve taken out in a long, long time, and
I’m glad.” I half expected him to say that. He was a hot lead
singer of a pretty big rock band. Of course the girls were going to
flock to him and try to jump him. I didn’t consider us ‘dating’ per
say after only one date, but it wasn’t out of the question.

Just then Abel, lead singer from The Nemesis
walked by us and slapped Damon on the back. “Break a leg,
fucker.”

“Don’t fall off the stage moron. I won’t
catch you this time!” Damon shouted after Abel, who didn’t look
back but gave him the finger as he walked away. I gave him a look
of uncertainty and he waved Abel off like it was nothing. “Once an
asshole, always an asshole. He’s my brother so I give him shit all
the time.” Abel was Damon’s brother? I should’ve guessed it, since
they had the same longer blond hair and bright grey eyes. I never
really talked to him much so far on the tour except in passing
between dressing rooms and after show parties.

“I never would’ve guessed,” I replied
sarcastically.

Damon looked at the oversized watch on his
arm and stood up straight. “I better get back in and get everyone
pumped up.”

I was sad to see him go, but I knew my
‘brothers’ would come looking for me at some point. “If you must.
But you better be watching me from the side of the stage tonight.”
I winked, and he smiled widely.

“Believe me, Bryn, I won’t miss it.” He
promised, and hugged me, letting his fingers linger on my open skin
for a few seconds longer than I expected.

The set went ten times better than I ever
anticipated. We were high on the crowd of thousands that were
rocking out in front of us, heads rocking back and forth and
shouting the words to our songs. I couldn’t explain what was
happening, but I felt tension between Cale and I on stage. He
wouldn’t come near me, instead throwing himself elsewhere, onto the
ground, and nearly into the drum set.

It was finally time to debut “You’re Going
Down.” Cale wiped the sweat off of his forehead as he talked to the
crowd. His eyes met mine with a slight nod and the bass line took
off. I swear I could never have as much stage presence as Cale did.
He looked hot as hell as he sang; sweat now pouring off of his
biceps and that tattoo by his shoulder. Argh, I had to tear my eyes
away and pay attention to the crowd.  My eyes drifted to the
ever growing mosh pit in front of us and I let out a slight laugh
as I ran over to the microphone stand on stage right and joined
Cale for the chorus. Our eyes locked again as he strode over to me,
now only inches away. Our voices were in perfect harmony and I gave
him a smile. Even just a little one, but he had to put on an act
when he was onstage. I’m sure once we were all done with our set he
would go back to acting like an ass all over again.

Once we were done with the song, it was pure
insanity. I whipped the hair that was in my eyes out of the way and
waved to the crowd again, not breaking my brand new guitar this
time. I decided I’d only do that at the end of the tour. But I knew
I’d change my mind.

I walked off-stage and Damon was standing
over by Cale and the guys, huddled together like that were a little
football team. He poked his head up and casually walked over to me,
his face in awe. 

“Another amazing performance,” Damon said,
kissing me on the cheek. Cale moved towards us and put an arm
around me, pulling me close. “I was telling him he’s lucky to have
you in the group. Way better than…”

Cale coughed loudly, which meant he wanted
Damon to leave it alone. “Oh she knows that we love her. Right
little sis’?” I peered up at him and he grinned.

“Little sister?” I shrugged his arm off my
shoulders and slapped him in the arm jokingly. “You have enough of
those already!” I grabbed Damon’s hand and squeezed it. “For good
luck,” I whispered, grabbing a bottle of water from one of the
roadies standing in the corner. Damon high-fived Cale as the
curtain closed and he was helping the rest of Ignite the Flames get
ready for their set.

Going back to the dressing room, Cale backed
me up into a corner. “We’re never singing that song again,” He
growled. His eyes told me everything. He seemed a mix of tired,
confused, and hungry for something. The amber color was turning
more of a shade of brown. I held my breath, not sure what to think.
It wasn’t like I could get away. Cale’s arms were on both sides of
me, encasing me against the cold stone walls. I may have been
locked in between his arms but I wanted to know why he was acting
like this. I didn’t see him much before the performance so I wanted
to assume he was drunk and wasn’t thinking clearly.

That’d be the easy thing to do.

“Why?” I spat back as I pointed to the
direction of the stage. “We murdered that song. That’s the best
we’ve ever played. Are you kidding me?”

He was contemplating what to say next and
shook his head. Then he stood back and took all of his anger out on
the wall next to me. I stood motionless as his eyes scanned every
direction except for mine. “It’s not worth it. Whatever Charming
wants he gets.” He took off in the opposite direction and I grabbed
his arm, letting my nails dig into his tanned skin. “Let go of me
please, I just want to get out of here.”

“What has been your problem lately, Cale? I
can barely be around you. I never know if you’re going to be a dick
or completely happy.” I scolded him, almost to the point of
pleading just to get him to tell me what his problem was.

“I meant what I said. It’s impossible. Damon
gets whatever the Hell he wants. He sees something in you,
therefore he wants you. It’s pretty frickin’ visible and that kills
me, B, to no end,” Cale finally confessed, his eyes softening. “I
shouldn’t tell you this but I really like you, Bryn. You drive me
crazy, in a good way. But you’re something I can’t have. We play in
the same band and that wouldn’t end well.” Stopping to take a deep
breath, he sat down on the concrete floor. “Gah and now I’m just
blabbing and talking non-sense. I’m sorry.”

I didn’t know what to say to him. In his own
Cale Pelton way, he had just professed he had feelings for me.
That had to have been what that, right
?

“You’re driving yourself crazy over nothing,
Cale.” I said, crossing my arms. “Damon and I aren’t a thing. We
went on ONE date and that was it. Nothing more. We’re friends. Just
like you and I are.” I gestured towards him and I. “I don’t even
know what I want. I had a boyfriend and learned guys only want one
thing. That’s not me.” I could feel a tear forming in my eye.
Remembering Ethan was something I didn’t want to happen. He showed
me a different side that I never knew I had. He was the reason I
was standing in this position now.

But the bad outweighed the good. Memories of
the night my life changed flowed through my brain and caused my
breathing to hitch.

“Trust me. I’m not that guy, Bryn. You have
such a good heart. That’s why I’ve been trying to hold back that
little tidbit.”

I tried to believe him. But he didn’t need
to explain how he felt about me. I just wanted to wallow and admire
him without being in a relationship. I knew that was horrible. I
could tell my inner self what I wanted, and then change my mind the
next minute. I supposed that was part of growing up, being eighteen
and all.

“Don’t feed me the ‘I’m not that guy’ crap,
Cale. I hate that. You’re a normal person. You don’t owe me a damn
thing.” At that point I was fuming and confused. I had to get away.
I wanted to catch Ignite the Flames set and watch Damon in his
element. “I’ll see you back at the bus.”

Those fans were relentless when it came to
Damon. Granted, all of the guys in the band were drop dead model
worthy hot, but had a bad boy quality to them. Then there was Lucy,
who I’d become friends with fairly quickly. But when I peeked and
saw girls in the front row, glued to the metal bars that separated
the crowd from the security and the stage, I wanted to gag. They
were dressed in very little, one holding up a sign that said “Be my
Prince ‘Charming’ Damon.” I wanted to gag. Everything about them
screamed fake, from their perfectly formed faces, to the triple D
chests. Part of me contemplated going out and choking them for the
Hell of it, but I left them to whatever they were trying to
accomplish.

Damon didn’t even seem fazed by the girls
throwing their bras in his direction. He commanded that stage like
no other singer. More so than Cale. I’ve watched him out of
curiosity for quite a few shows and this was by far his best show.
Towards the end, he took a sip of the bottle of beer that stood in
front of the drum-set, his eyes landing on me. I think by that
point I was turning into one of those crazy fan girls. I gave him a
thumbs up and he smirked, returning his attention back to the crowd
as the band closed out their set.

I hurried back to the tour bus before he got
off-stage. All of the day’s events had worn me out, so needless to
say I slept through everything that night.

I woke up the next morning to Cale blasting
Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” from his iPod speakers and I
groaned. I turned on my cell phone, realizing it was almost 10 in
the morning. To a lot of people it was early, but to me I was so
used to getting up at 6 am for school. It had stuck with me from
graduation until now.

Sitting up from my bunk, Cale poked his head
around to see what I was up to.

“Finally awake, sleepy head?” He joked, and
I noticed a towel in his hand. “Doing some cleaning. Raptor puked
up here after we got back last night.” I must’ve missed it. I had
slept like a newborn baby, tuning every bit of noise out while I
was in dreamland.

“You, cleaning? And to country of all
things?” I questioned, never knowing he liked to listen to country.
I loved country. I was one of those girls who could listen to any
kind of music, heavy metal, cheesy pop songs or country music and
never get tired of it. But I imagined Cale to be one of those guys
that despised everything about every other genre of music.

“Remember I was the only guy in the house
back at home? I helped my mom with a lot of the heavy lifting and
dusting in the places she couldn’t reach. And I happen to love this
song, Bryn. ‘
You make me wanna roll my windows down and
cruiseeee…’
” He started to sing in a fake twangy voice. I threw
my pillow down at him and fell down laughing as if it was the
funniest thing in the world. “Even better, I could impersonate
Nelly. I mean he did do a remix of this song.”

Cale as a rapper? That was pretty funny.
“Please no!” I pleaded. “I’m still trying to wake up, even though
that would be quite hilarious to see.”