of willing female flesh. We drank. We fucked. We had a good time.
Most of the chicks we brought backstage were young. As long as they were legal, who cared?
How many eighteen-year-olds did Bash bang when he was twenty-eight? How many did I sleep with? The thing is, we lost count. We lost count because it didn’t matter.
Doesn’t mean shit, asshole.
The pain behind my eyes pinches. Sharp and stabbing, it settles into a low throb, like someone pounding a drum inside my skull. That’s not something I can blame on Bash. Our drummer is not home.
Nobody is home. No one except Angel.
Bash and Holly are taking a bit of time for themselves. The rest of the guys are out with their girls, sneaking in a couples’ retreat while we’re on hiatus.
Even Forest is ensconced within his private abode with his wife, Sara, and his companion, Paul. Those three have an interesting dynamic. That’s a massive understatement, but it’s nothing compared to the depravity of a twenty-nine-year-old rock star stalking an eighteen-year-old girl.
She’s a full-blown obsession.
Hard to believe it’s been a year.
A year ago, Bash didn’t know he had a daughter. His high school flame, Valerie, kept Angel a secret, denying both him and Angel the knowledge of the other’s existence. Only when it became clear Valerie would lose her battle with stage four breast cancer, before her daughter would become a legal adult, did Valerie tell Angel who her father is.
My heart aches for Angel. She grew up believing her father was a deadbeat dad who skipped out on her mother before Angel was born. Instead, Valerie disappeared from Bash’s life when Angel Fire started taking off. She did it for Bash, letting him pursue his dream, instead of tying him down with an unwanted pregnancy and a kid who’d slow him down.
I’ve searched all of Insanity, but there’s no sign of Angel. I head outside and put on my sunglasses to block out the bright rays of the California sun. High noon, it stands directly overhead, baking the summer air until it shimmers. Not a cloud to be seen, deep blue caps the sky. It arches overhead, diving down toward the horizon where it fades out in a band of mist and merges with the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean.
It’s a calm day. No storms lurk out to sea. No wind kicks spray off the waves booming along the rocky shoreline. Even the water of Insanity’s massive pool, with the infinity-edge cantilevered over the cliff, is mirror-smooth.
I thought maybe she would be outside, enjoying the sun, but she’s not here.
Bash would rip my balls off and shove them down my throat if he knew half of the things going through my head when it comes to his daughter.
With no sign of Angel, my shoulders slump. It gives me a moment to think.
Why risk everything when life is otherwise great?
Angel Fire is on top of the charts with no sign of slowing. The guys are more like brothers than friends. We live together, eat together, tour together, and with the exception of me, the last bachelor standing, they’re all getting a start on creating the next generation with their wives. That was the big news last Christmas. The entire chick brigade is preggers.
Our band of brothers is definitely moving on, adding children into the mix. Ash and Skye already have little Zach. Now they’re adding a second to the mix. Bash and Holly, Bent and Piper, Noodles and Mitzy aren’t far behind. They’ll all be welcoming new additions to the family by fall. Even Forest is expecting, only he’s going to have twins. We’re going to have to build on a daycare to keep all the kids contained.
I scan the grounds and scratch my head. The gondola leading down to the beach is not at its station. That means someone took it down to the beach. It could be Forest, Sara, and Paul, but I’m hoping it’s not. Knowing I should turn around, I march over and call the gondola back up the steep slope.
Walk away.
I lost that battle over a year ago.
The moment I laid eyes on Angel, the earth shifted beneath my feet. I let the guys think I was still out chasing tail, but the reality is far different. I haven’t slept with another woman since Bash brought his daughter home. Even then, I knew she was the one, even if the attraction I felt for her was wrong.
The gondola finishes its climb up the steep slope,