Page 26 of Edge of Heaven (Crimson Edge #2)

Mick

I hate waking up alone, but I can’t help but grin when I think about last night.

This morning, I guess, but whatever. Being with Taryn was incredible, and watching her leave was a lot harder than I anticipated.

She needed to get some sleep because she doesn’t know what to expect when Callum gets back.

Personally, I wish they’d let him rot in jail, but we got a text from Angus letting us know that the band’s attorney had been called and they were assuming Callum would be out by noon.

So Taryn left, I slept for a few hours, and then my eyes popped open.

I don’t know if it’s stress or worry or something else, but I gave up on sleep and took a quick shower before going downstairs in search of coffee.

Now I’m heading up to Jonny’s room for an early dinner meeting.

Sasha is ordering takeout for us, and we’re getting an update on both the tour and last night’s clusterfuck.

“Hey.” Jonny opens the door, and I step inside.

Ryleigh is handing out our meals from the Chinese restaurant Sasha ordered from and Angus is setting up his computer.

“How’s Taryn?” Ryleigh asks me.

“I don’t know,” I admit. “She went back to her room around eight this morning. She didn’t want to risk not being there when Callum got back.”

Ryleigh’s face tightens. “I fucking hate this for her.”

“Me too.”

“Hey, guys.” Sasha comes up on the screen with a big smile, a tow-headed toddler on her lap. “Say hello to Phoenix.”

“Hey, Phoenix! How’s it hangin’, little dude?” Tate asks him.

“Pop-sicle!” Phoenix responds, holding up a red bar that appears to be melting all over his hand.

“That looks good,” Tate says. “Can I have a bite?”

Phoenix holds it up to the screen, and Tate pretends to take a bite.

“Yum!” he says. “Thank you!”

“Bye bye!” Phoenix squirms to get down and runs out of the room.

“Welcome to my life,” Sasha says, laughing.

“He’s cute,” Sam says. “But I bet he keeps you busy.”

“We spend a lot of time chasing them around.”

“So what’s going on?” Angus calls out. “Do we have a solo tour?”

“We do.” Sasha nods emphatically. “But first, let me update you on last night’s insanity.

Luckily, you guys weren’t part of any of it, and today’s media reports are all about Karnal Death.

And the general consensus isn’t that positive, so it’s a good thing you’re breaking free to do your own thing. ”

“It’s definitely happening?” I ask with a mix of excitement and dread.

“It is, but I have to warn you—it’s going to be a bear.

I’ve got you playing five, sometimes six nights a week.

And travel is going to be rough. You’ll be sleeping on the bus more often than not.

You’re going from one city to the next. I don’t think you have gigs on any Mondays, and at least a few Tuesdays.

But the rest of the week is just go-go-go. ”

“It’s less than three months,” Sam points out. “We’ve got this.”

“Are you guys sure? Before I officially pull the trigger, you need to be sure this is a sacrifice you want to make.”

“Can we get a bigger bus?” Ryleigh asks dryly.

“So everyone has a bunk to stretch out on? Angus is way too big for us to share. If not, I’m going home for a while.

” There’s nothing accusatory or demanding in her tone, just a reality that we all understand because the bunks on a tour bus can be tiny.

“Don’t sweat it,” Sasha says. “We’re definitely upgrading the bus if you’re going to be sleeping on it every night. And you’ll be at hotels on Sundays and some Monday nights so everyone can get a good night’s sleep once or twice a week.”

“Are we good with this?” Jonny looks around.

“I’m in,” I say firmly.

“Ditto.” Tate lifts a hand.

“You know I’m in,” Angus says.

“Me too.” Sam nods.

“All right, I’m going to firm up these dates and work on the hotels and catering.”

“Are we still looking at a June eighth start date?” I ask, wondering how the hell I’m going to get Taryn away from Callum in the next four or five weeks.

“Yup. The first gig is in Atlanta. Then we’ll go down to Florida for four or five dates before heading up the Eastern Seaboard.” She discusses a few more logistics and promises to email us the schedule as soon as it’s ready, and once she logs off we all sit there looking at each other.

“To our first headlining gig,” Angus says after a moment, lifting his soda can.

We clink our cans and water bottles together.

A club tour isn’t like a stadium or arena tour, but it’s still a pretty big deal to be on a self-sustainable tour with our first album.

“To double platinum,” Jonny says.

“To a bigger tour bus,” Ryleigh adds.

“And a lot of fucking money,” I say.

“Crimson Edge for the win!” Tate yells.

It’s a damn good day for us.

So why is Taryn the only thing I can think about?

* * *

I don’t see her for a couple of days. Karnal Death delayed the show in Houston since none of them were in any condition to perform after spending the night in jail, so now we’re in Dallas.

The press is having a field day covering the situation, and we’re all grateful no one from Crimson Edge was caught on camera leaving the party.

More than anything, I’m glad no one saw Taryn with me.

Not because I give a shit about being seen together, but because Callum would lose his mind, and deep down, I’m worried about her. I know he’s been abusive to women in the past—we’ve run in the same circles for a long time—so I don’t trust him much.

And with the woman I’m in love with? Not at all.

It’s taking all my self-control not to get involved, to ask Angus or Sasha to lend me the money for Toby’s treatment and get her out of there. I understand her pride and the desire for us to start a relationship with a clean slate.

But is it worth her safety?

Now that we’ve been intimate again, she’s fucking mine.

I’m not letting her slip away a second time, no matter what it takes.

Things will undoubtedly be complicated for us since she has a kid she wants full custody of.

Having a long-distance relationship won’t be easy, but it’ll be manageable once we have some money.

She still has to work, and I can fly her and Toby out to shows whenever he has time off from school. He’s being homeschooled right now, and I don’t know what their plans are in that regard, but I’m sure it’s going to have a lot to do with his health and the results of this treatment.

I can’t even think about what will happen if she loses him, but I’m going to be there for her no matter what.

I’m already trying to think about things I can do to bond with Toby. He likes Pokémon Go, so I’ve downloaded it onto my phone and started hunting for the little guys. It’s kind of funny when you open the app and there’s a character in the room with you. Then I snatch up the little bastards.

Of course, I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with them after I catch them, but I have time to figure it out. I’m going to make Tate or Jonny do it with me until I get the hang of it, then I can hopefully have something to talk to Toby about.

He also likes Legos, which were never my thing, but I can figure it out.

There seems to be a way you can build a rock concert set with Lego’s, so I’ve started researching how to buy the pieces and the tutorial.

It’s probably way above my skill level, but I know Sam is into that kind of thing, so I’m sure he’ll help me.

There are a lot of logistics to work out, like where we’ll live and how to see each other if she’s a full-time mom, but my hope is that she can live with her mom this fall while I’m on tour.

That will give us both time to work and save money so that we can either buy or rent something.

At the very least, she needs to be able to hire an attorney so she can get custody.

I’m probably jumping the gun, but I already let her go once before. I can’t do that again. I knew she was it when I was twenty-two but was too stupid to act on it. I’ve had close to five years to regret that decision, so I won’t make it again.

Of course, everything is contingent upon getting her away from Callum first.

And I don’t know how I’m going to watch over her once we leave the tour.

She says she’s working on getting the money to break away sooner, but I don’t know how she’ll pull it off. Payments are slow, and both her agent and the government take a cut off the top, so we don’t know exactly what will be left.

Sasha doesn’t take any kind of agent fee from us—she’s paid by the record company—but we may have to discuss something additional if she continues to coordinate these modeling jobs that keep coming up.

If she doesn’t want to handle it, I can always sign on with Taryn’s agent, but I think it would be easier for Sasha to do it since she knows my music and the band comes first.

“You okay, bro?” Sam sinks down next to me as we ride over to the arena for soundcheck.

“Yeah. Just trying to figure out if it’s possible to have it all.”

He cocks his head. “In what way?”

“Even when Taryn leaves Callum, she still has to work. And technically, she lives in L.A. I don’t know how we’ll manage the long-distance thing.”

“Kirsten and I do it. She’s in college in New York, I’m here, and we’ve made it work. She’s about to finish her freshman year and we’re still going strong.”

“Yeah, but you guys—at least her—have money. Right now, Taryn and I don’t. Kirsten can afford to fly out whenever she wants. Once we pay taxes and, in Taryn’s case, her agent’s fifteen percent, we’re not left with a lot.”

“Yeah, but things are changing and she’s getting a lot more work lately, right?”

I nod.

“Why does it feel like there’s more to this story?”

“Because there is,” I mutter. “I just can’t break her confidence.”

He sighs. “Whatever it is she’s hiding, just make sure the two of you are on the same page. There’s no other way for it to work.”

If I ever get Taryn alone again, we are definitely going to talk about everything.

I just don’t know when that will be.