Rock God, page 26
“That’s what I told her.”
I pulled her flush against my chest. “You going to be okay out there tonight? I don’t know what the crowd is going to be like and there could be some backlash over the abortion stuff.”
“I’ll be okay as long as you guys have my back,” she said.
“Always.”
“How are we going to handle things after tonight?” she asked after a moment.
“Press conference.”
She grimaced. “Do we have to?”
“You don’t, but I’m going to. I don’t like the level of crazy we’ve reached in the media, and I intend to take it down as many notches as necessary until we’re back on an even keel. Yes, we’ve gotten bad press before, but usually there are elements of truth to the rumors. This abortion story is bullshit, and I’m going to make sure everyone knows it.”
“But the porn story isn’t.”
“We’ll handle that one how ever makes you most comfortable, but we can’t hide from the truth, Dev. Those movies are out there and while I can hire a cyber expert to do some cleaning, they’ll probably never completely disappear, so we have to get in front of all that. And we have the resources to do whatever is necessary to make that happen.”
“Sasha mentioned Presley’s e-zine,” she said after a moment. “Maybe we could sit down with her and have a frank conversation about my past, the present, and our future.”
“She’d be down for that,” I said, rinsing the shampoo out of my hair.
“Okay.”
“How long do you need to do your makeup or whatever?” I asked. “Because we have to get going.”
“Can I have fifteen minutes?”
“Thirteen,” I countered, trying to keep a straight face.
I laughed when she lifted her middle finger in response.
The band was warming up in the wings when we got there, and Ross gave us a dirty look.
“This better not be a regular thing,” he said. “Giving me a heart attack before every show is going to piss me off.”
“It won’t be,” I said quickly. “We just had something to do.”
Kellan burst out laughing. “Yeah, I’ll bet.”
“Anyone know where Sasha is?” Ross asked, holding out his hands, palms up.
“She’s taking care of something personal,” I said. “Did you figure out the merchandise situation?”
“No. That’s why I need her.”
“Look, it’s one night,” I said. “Let it go. We’ll deal with it tomorrow. She’s where she needs to be and we’re here.” I looked around. “All right. This is it. It’s been a rough couple of days but we’re back on track and ready to rock.”
“You two back together?” Z asked, eyeing me.
I grinned, glancing over at Devyn.
“We are,” she said, coming to stand at my side. “And it’s not a secret anymore.”
“About time,” Tommy muttered.
“Then let’s get out there and bring in the new year with some rock and roll. Where’s Kirsten?” I looked around again.
“I’m here.” Kirsten came hurrying over to us.
“For the next week or two, you’re one of us, so come here.” I held out a hand. She took it curiously, allowing me to tug her into the circle we’d just made. This wasn’t our normal routine, but it was time to start something new. A lot of somethings.
“We’re about to start our first world tour without Carter,” I said. “It’s a new era for the band, and we have a lot of great music to play, with two fabulous additions to the line-up. I have no idea what the crowd will be like tonight in light of everything going on in the media, and I plan to deal with that first thing tomorrow, but tonight? Tonight is about us. We are stronger than anything they throw at us. We are one. We are Onyx Knight.”
I held out my right fist, so it was basically in the middle of our circle.
“We are Onyx Knight.” Z followed my lead and put his fist over mine.
“We are Onyx Knight.” Tommy and Kellan practically spoke in unison as they joined in.
“We are Onyx Knight,” Kirsten spoke up when Devyn hesitated.
I glanced at Devyn and saw the tears forming in her eyes.
“I love you,” I mouthed.
She smiled and put her fist on top of Kirsten’s.
“We are Onyx Knight.”
40
Devyn
I knew the songs, the music, and our choreography, but my stomach had other ideas. It rolled and roiled, making me want to heave the moment the lights went down.
“Five seconds,” Ross called out.
Fuck.
Everyone and their brother were here to support us, and I was frozen.
Kingston’s mother, future stepfather, brothers, and sister-in-law were down in the front row, while Dorian, Kate Martensson, and Ford and Sydney Malone, were just a few feet away in the wings. Since it was New Year’s Eve, Crimson Edge had hung around to party with us, and to my surprise, Greatty had shown up just a few minutes ago. Apparently, someone—Kingston?—had hired Grim to escort her here.
And I couldn’t fucking move.
Staring out at the crowd, I felt like the proverbial deer in the headlights.
What was happening to me?
Tommy ran to his drum set, immediately setting off the bass drum.
Bam-bam-bam-bam.
Z’s guitar licks filled the room.
Wah-wah-wah.
Kellan’s melodic finger work was next, adding a touch of metal to the groove.
Kingston looked at me, giving me a little nod, but I couldn’t move.
I’d never had stage fright like this.
I broke out in a cold sweat as I tried to breathe through my nose.
“Dev?” Noah gave me a little nudge. “You okay?”
“I…” Fuck, I couldn’t even respond. My tongue felt like a wad of cotton and my heart was beating so fast I was afraid it might pump out of my chest.
Kingston cocked his head, a faint smile making his eyes crinkle. “I love you.” I couldn’t hear him, but I read his lips.
And my insides slowly began to settle.
“We are Onyx Knight,” Kirsten whispered in my ear when I still didn’t move. “If I’m one of us, then you sure as shit are.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you.” I turned and ran onto the stage, my eight-string around my neck. I hit the strings, matching Tommy’s beat.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
“What is up, London?” Kingston grabbed his mic and the crowd went wild. “How’s everybody doing on this last day of the year?!”
There was screaming and whistling and cheers.
“Are we gonna have some fun tonight?”
“Yes!”
“Let me hear you say Onyx!”
“Onyx!”
“Knight!”
“Knight!
I was still more nervous than usual, but I had it under control now that I had my bass in my hands. We went right into “Judgement Call,” and I was finally able to ignore the buzzing in my brain to concentrate on the music.
The crowd was excited and loud, and so far, I hadn’t seen any hate.
The signs they carried were all the usual stuff.
“Marry me, Tommy!”
“I’m single, Kellan!”
“Pick me!”
“Onyx Knight Forever!”
Nothing about me.
Nothing about porn.
And nothing about abortions.
Thank fuck.
When I looked over into the wings and saw Greatty and Presley’s Aunt Meg singing and dancing along with us, I couldn’t help but grin.
There was something magical about Onyx Knight’s music.
Hard rockin’ melodies that made people move.
Lyrics that hit you right between the eyes.
Songs that people wanted to sing along to.
Music that made people happy.
And now not only was I part of the magic, Kingston Knight was in love with me.
I couldn’t think of anything better.
Even the insanity in the press had suddenly become bearable, just knowing I had something larger than life to hold on to.
Kingston.
Onyx Knight.
Greatty and Jesse.
The extended Onyx Knight family.
I was a lucky girl.
“We’re going to slow down now,” Kingston told the crowd a few songs later. “I know you love our hits, but we’re going to play something brand new for you. No one outside the band has heard this song, so you need to let us know what you think.”
The crowd sounded as excited about this as everything else.
He looked at me before putting down his mic and sitting on a stool Pete had just run out on stage.
I put my bass in its stand and walked over to the piano, sitting down and resting my hands on the keys.
We’d practiced this.
I’d play piano, Kellan would play bass, and Kingston would sing and play an acoustic guitar.
“This one is ‘Symphony of the Broken,’” he said, giving me a nod.
I took a deep breath and launched into the intro. I’d been imagining a time when I could play this song live for years.
It was literally a dream come true.
Thanks to the man I loved.
The haunting melody was familiar and poignant, and I closed my eyes, immersing myself in the moment.
Kingston’s rich, melodic voice washed over me, and I couldn’t help but look over at him.
There was a reason they called him a rock god.
Based on the way the crowd was currently mesmerized, probably hundreds of thousands of reasons.
A handful of camera flashlights blinked at me from the crowd.
Then there were more.
And more.
Until they lit up the room.
I stared out at a sea of cascading lights and arms swaying back and forth.
They liked it.
They were entranced with my song.
Our song.
“Symphony of the Broken” was no longer my personal anthem; now it belonged to Onyx Knight.
And the fans.
We are Onyx Knight.
If people were upset about my past or the abortion I’d supposedly had this morning, you wouldn’t know it by the audience’s reaction to our set or the throng of fans backstage. I was dealing with a plethora of emotions but there was something I had to do before I could allow myself to revel in our success.
“Kellan, you have a minute?” I asked him.
“Sure.” He turned to me curiously.
“I hate to put a damper on the night, but there’s something you should know.”
“What’s going on?”
“It’s about Jesse.”
“Is she okay?” He instantly looked alarmed.
“She had a miscarriage this morning.”
I paused, letting my words sink in.
He frowned, the wheels obviously turning.
“Wait, are you saying… it was mine?”
“Yes. Before you freak, she didn’t even know she was pregnant. She was cramping really bad, and then she started to hemorrhage. I went to the ER with her, so that’s probably where the abortion rumor came from. But it wasn’t me, and technically it wasn’t her either. She’d miscarried before we even got there. They had to do a D&C to stop the bleeding.”
“She’s at the hospital here in London?” He stared at me. “Do I need to be there?” He seemed flustered suddenly. “I need to be there. Right?”
“I think it would mean a lot to her if you were. She was pretty scared.”
“Can you text me the info?”
“Reach out to Sasha. She’s been with her all day since I couldn’t be.”
“Jesus.” He wiped his face with a towel. “I gotta go.” He pulled out his phone and went in the other direction.
“You told him?” Kingston asked softly.
“Yeah. He’s going to the hospital.”
“I’m glad.”
“I was afraid he would say something stupid like, ‘it wasn’t mine’ or something.”
Kingston shook his head. “He wouldn’t do that. Especially not with someone like Jesse, who’s your best friend. Underneath the wild child, he’s one of my favorite people.”
“Good to know. I wouldn’t want him to be a jerk to Jesse right now. She’s a big girl and one-night stands are fine, but this is different. She was really scared this morning.”
“Of course.” He leaned over to kiss me. “Don’t worry about Kellan. He won’t do anything to upset her.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. Now, what do we do? Is the press waiting to talk to us?”
“Yes, but Dorian will be with us to nip anything inappropriate in the bud. There isn’t going to be any more random conjecture. And no one is talking about abortions tonight. Period.”
“Okay.” I reached for his hand. “We’re ready to go public, right?”
“I’ve been ready.”
I smiled. “Let’s do this.”
“We’ll give them twenty minutes or so, sign some autographs and take pictures with the handful of fans who won backstage passes, and then I want you to meet my family.”
“Yes.” I smiled up at him. “I love you, Kingston.”
He kissed me and I was vaguely aware of a camera flash going off.
But that was okay.
I no longer had anything to hide.
EPILOGUE
Kingston
A month later
The European tour was a raging success so far.
The fans loved us, loved the music, and were starting to love Devyn too.
If they had a problem with her history in porn, you couldn’t tell by the crowds at the shows every night. We sold out every show, and Sasha had just added five more to the end of the tour.
As expected, the narrative about porn and abortions had faded away within a few days. We’d had the opportunity to sit down for an interview with a well-known primetime talk show host, and that had made a huge difference. We discussed how it had felt to lose Carter, how he’d been the one to discover Devyn, and even how I’d taken one look at her during her audition and fallen in love.
We were done with secrets and slowly but surely, Devyn was winning over the fans. Especially the women. They were beyond excited that a previously all-male rock band now included a woman, and Devyn was bombarded backstage most nights with young women and girls asking her about playing bass.
And I loved it for her.
Hell, I loved it for all of us because the more popular she got, the more popular we got. All over again. This mini-tour had given our backlist a huge boost, and “Break Your Promise,” which had been out for about six years, was number one in the iTunes store again.
“Kingston.” My attorney, Madeline Aronson, had flown out for a handful of shows and had just arrived earlier today.
“Hey. Good to see you.” I hugged her. “Did you enjoy the show?”
She laughed. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t enjoy the music. I can make money off of you remotely.”
I laughed too.
She was a tough-as-nails, seasoned attorney who knew the entertainment industry inside and out. Which was why I’d hired her to be my personal attorney, even though the band as a whole was represented by someone else.
“So, did you take care of our little problem?” I asked her.
She met my gaze. “I did.” She pulled some papers out of her bag. “Signed, sealed, and delivered.”
I smiled. “Thank you.”
“You must be Madeline.” Devyn came over to join us, and I realized they’d never met.
I made the introductions, and they made small talk for a few minutes.
“Well, I just wanted to give you those papers and now I’m going to go have a drink.”
“Thanks again,” I told her.
“That’s what you pay me for.” She waved and headed toward the small bar that had been set up backstage.
“What papers?” Devyn asked, cocking her head.
“It’s an NDA.” I handed them to her.
“A non-disclosure? For whom?” She seemed confused.
“Larry Hanks.”
She knit her brows together in confusion. “You had Larry sign an NDA?”
“I did.”
“For what?”
“He’s not allowed to ever talk about you, the record deal situation with Lace and Venom, or the porn stuff. If he does, he has to not only give the money back, but another half a million on top of what we gave him.”
“You gave him money?”
“Happy birthday, baby.” Her birthday was technically tomorrow, but it was almost midnight so that seemed close enough.
“Let me get this straight. You gave Larry—how much did you give him?” She narrowed her eyes at me.
“Half a million. Cash. Tax-free for him because we’ll be paying them.”
“You gave him half a million dollars in exchange for signing an agreement to never talk about our shared past?”
“Yup.”
“Without telling me?”
“It was a surprise for your birthday.” I pulled her up against me. “And I know how much you like surprises.”
She laughed. “I like shoe surprises.”
“Well, your birthday isn’t over yet.”
“Have I told you how much I love you yet today?”
“No, but I’m listening.”
She used her hand to push a lock of hair out of my eyes. “I fall more in love with you every day, Kingston Knight. And you continue to do things that make me love you that much more.”
“I promised you we would change the narrative in the press about you, and that’s what we’re doing. You did your part when you let Presley do the story about you, and this was the last loose end that needed tying up. Larry isn’t going to try to blackmail you or hold anything over your head ever again. It’s done.”
We’d had a week or two of stressful headlines at the beginning of the tour, but it had slowly faded into oblivion. Then Devyn had told me about Larry’s attempt to blackmail her, and I’d known I would do whatever was necessary to make it stop. The payment and NDA had been Madeline’s idea and now that it was done, it felt like we’d done the right thing.
I pulled her flush against my chest. “You going to be okay out there tonight? I don’t know what the crowd is going to be like and there could be some backlash over the abortion stuff.”
“I’ll be okay as long as you guys have my back,” she said.
“Always.”
“How are we going to handle things after tonight?” she asked after a moment.
“Press conference.”
She grimaced. “Do we have to?”
“You don’t, but I’m going to. I don’t like the level of crazy we’ve reached in the media, and I intend to take it down as many notches as necessary until we’re back on an even keel. Yes, we’ve gotten bad press before, but usually there are elements of truth to the rumors. This abortion story is bullshit, and I’m going to make sure everyone knows it.”
“But the porn story isn’t.”
“We’ll handle that one how ever makes you most comfortable, but we can’t hide from the truth, Dev. Those movies are out there and while I can hire a cyber expert to do some cleaning, they’ll probably never completely disappear, so we have to get in front of all that. And we have the resources to do whatever is necessary to make that happen.”
“Sasha mentioned Presley’s e-zine,” she said after a moment. “Maybe we could sit down with her and have a frank conversation about my past, the present, and our future.”
“She’d be down for that,” I said, rinsing the shampoo out of my hair.
“Okay.”
“How long do you need to do your makeup or whatever?” I asked. “Because we have to get going.”
“Can I have fifteen minutes?”
“Thirteen,” I countered, trying to keep a straight face.
I laughed when she lifted her middle finger in response.
The band was warming up in the wings when we got there, and Ross gave us a dirty look.
“This better not be a regular thing,” he said. “Giving me a heart attack before every show is going to piss me off.”
“It won’t be,” I said quickly. “We just had something to do.”
Kellan burst out laughing. “Yeah, I’ll bet.”
“Anyone know where Sasha is?” Ross asked, holding out his hands, palms up.
“She’s taking care of something personal,” I said. “Did you figure out the merchandise situation?”
“No. That’s why I need her.”
“Look, it’s one night,” I said. “Let it go. We’ll deal with it tomorrow. She’s where she needs to be and we’re here.” I looked around. “All right. This is it. It’s been a rough couple of days but we’re back on track and ready to rock.”
“You two back together?” Z asked, eyeing me.
I grinned, glancing over at Devyn.
“We are,” she said, coming to stand at my side. “And it’s not a secret anymore.”
“About time,” Tommy muttered.
“Then let’s get out there and bring in the new year with some rock and roll. Where’s Kirsten?” I looked around again.
“I’m here.” Kirsten came hurrying over to us.
“For the next week or two, you’re one of us, so come here.” I held out a hand. She took it curiously, allowing me to tug her into the circle we’d just made. This wasn’t our normal routine, but it was time to start something new. A lot of somethings.
“We’re about to start our first world tour without Carter,” I said. “It’s a new era for the band, and we have a lot of great music to play, with two fabulous additions to the line-up. I have no idea what the crowd will be like tonight in light of everything going on in the media, and I plan to deal with that first thing tomorrow, but tonight? Tonight is about us. We are stronger than anything they throw at us. We are one. We are Onyx Knight.”
I held out my right fist, so it was basically in the middle of our circle.
“We are Onyx Knight.” Z followed my lead and put his fist over mine.
“We are Onyx Knight.” Tommy and Kellan practically spoke in unison as they joined in.
“We are Onyx Knight,” Kirsten spoke up when Devyn hesitated.
I glanced at Devyn and saw the tears forming in her eyes.
“I love you,” I mouthed.
She smiled and put her fist on top of Kirsten’s.
“We are Onyx Knight.”
40
Devyn
I knew the songs, the music, and our choreography, but my stomach had other ideas. It rolled and roiled, making me want to heave the moment the lights went down.
“Five seconds,” Ross called out.
Fuck.
Everyone and their brother were here to support us, and I was frozen.
Kingston’s mother, future stepfather, brothers, and sister-in-law were down in the front row, while Dorian, Kate Martensson, and Ford and Sydney Malone, were just a few feet away in the wings. Since it was New Year’s Eve, Crimson Edge had hung around to party with us, and to my surprise, Greatty had shown up just a few minutes ago. Apparently, someone—Kingston?—had hired Grim to escort her here.
And I couldn’t fucking move.
Staring out at the crowd, I felt like the proverbial deer in the headlights.
What was happening to me?
Tommy ran to his drum set, immediately setting off the bass drum.
Bam-bam-bam-bam.
Z’s guitar licks filled the room.
Wah-wah-wah.
Kellan’s melodic finger work was next, adding a touch of metal to the groove.
Kingston looked at me, giving me a little nod, but I couldn’t move.
I’d never had stage fright like this.
I broke out in a cold sweat as I tried to breathe through my nose.
“Dev?” Noah gave me a little nudge. “You okay?”
“I…” Fuck, I couldn’t even respond. My tongue felt like a wad of cotton and my heart was beating so fast I was afraid it might pump out of my chest.
Kingston cocked his head, a faint smile making his eyes crinkle. “I love you.” I couldn’t hear him, but I read his lips.
And my insides slowly began to settle.
“We are Onyx Knight,” Kirsten whispered in my ear when I still didn’t move. “If I’m one of us, then you sure as shit are.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you.” I turned and ran onto the stage, my eight-string around my neck. I hit the strings, matching Tommy’s beat.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
“What is up, London?” Kingston grabbed his mic and the crowd went wild. “How’s everybody doing on this last day of the year?!”
There was screaming and whistling and cheers.
“Are we gonna have some fun tonight?”
“Yes!”
“Let me hear you say Onyx!”
“Onyx!”
“Knight!”
“Knight!
I was still more nervous than usual, but I had it under control now that I had my bass in my hands. We went right into “Judgement Call,” and I was finally able to ignore the buzzing in my brain to concentrate on the music.
The crowd was excited and loud, and so far, I hadn’t seen any hate.
The signs they carried were all the usual stuff.
“Marry me, Tommy!”
“I’m single, Kellan!”
“Pick me!”
“Onyx Knight Forever!”
Nothing about me.
Nothing about porn.
And nothing about abortions.
Thank fuck.
When I looked over into the wings and saw Greatty and Presley’s Aunt Meg singing and dancing along with us, I couldn’t help but grin.
There was something magical about Onyx Knight’s music.
Hard rockin’ melodies that made people move.
Lyrics that hit you right between the eyes.
Songs that people wanted to sing along to.
Music that made people happy.
And now not only was I part of the magic, Kingston Knight was in love with me.
I couldn’t think of anything better.
Even the insanity in the press had suddenly become bearable, just knowing I had something larger than life to hold on to.
Kingston.
Onyx Knight.
Greatty and Jesse.
The extended Onyx Knight family.
I was a lucky girl.
“We’re going to slow down now,” Kingston told the crowd a few songs later. “I know you love our hits, but we’re going to play something brand new for you. No one outside the band has heard this song, so you need to let us know what you think.”
The crowd sounded as excited about this as everything else.
He looked at me before putting down his mic and sitting on a stool Pete had just run out on stage.
I put my bass in its stand and walked over to the piano, sitting down and resting my hands on the keys.
We’d practiced this.
I’d play piano, Kellan would play bass, and Kingston would sing and play an acoustic guitar.
“This one is ‘Symphony of the Broken,’” he said, giving me a nod.
I took a deep breath and launched into the intro. I’d been imagining a time when I could play this song live for years.
It was literally a dream come true.
Thanks to the man I loved.
The haunting melody was familiar and poignant, and I closed my eyes, immersing myself in the moment.
Kingston’s rich, melodic voice washed over me, and I couldn’t help but look over at him.
There was a reason they called him a rock god.
Based on the way the crowd was currently mesmerized, probably hundreds of thousands of reasons.
A handful of camera flashlights blinked at me from the crowd.
Then there were more.
And more.
Until they lit up the room.
I stared out at a sea of cascading lights and arms swaying back and forth.
They liked it.
They were entranced with my song.
Our song.
“Symphony of the Broken” was no longer my personal anthem; now it belonged to Onyx Knight.
And the fans.
We are Onyx Knight.
If people were upset about my past or the abortion I’d supposedly had this morning, you wouldn’t know it by the audience’s reaction to our set or the throng of fans backstage. I was dealing with a plethora of emotions but there was something I had to do before I could allow myself to revel in our success.
“Kellan, you have a minute?” I asked him.
“Sure.” He turned to me curiously.
“I hate to put a damper on the night, but there’s something you should know.”
“What’s going on?”
“It’s about Jesse.”
“Is she okay?” He instantly looked alarmed.
“She had a miscarriage this morning.”
I paused, letting my words sink in.
He frowned, the wheels obviously turning.
“Wait, are you saying… it was mine?”
“Yes. Before you freak, she didn’t even know she was pregnant. She was cramping really bad, and then she started to hemorrhage. I went to the ER with her, so that’s probably where the abortion rumor came from. But it wasn’t me, and technically it wasn’t her either. She’d miscarried before we even got there. They had to do a D&C to stop the bleeding.”
“She’s at the hospital here in London?” He stared at me. “Do I need to be there?” He seemed flustered suddenly. “I need to be there. Right?”
“I think it would mean a lot to her if you were. She was pretty scared.”
“Can you text me the info?”
“Reach out to Sasha. She’s been with her all day since I couldn’t be.”
“Jesus.” He wiped his face with a towel. “I gotta go.” He pulled out his phone and went in the other direction.
“You told him?” Kingston asked softly.
“Yeah. He’s going to the hospital.”
“I’m glad.”
“I was afraid he would say something stupid like, ‘it wasn’t mine’ or something.”
Kingston shook his head. “He wouldn’t do that. Especially not with someone like Jesse, who’s your best friend. Underneath the wild child, he’s one of my favorite people.”
“Good to know. I wouldn’t want him to be a jerk to Jesse right now. She’s a big girl and one-night stands are fine, but this is different. She was really scared this morning.”
“Of course.” He leaned over to kiss me. “Don’t worry about Kellan. He won’t do anything to upset her.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. Now, what do we do? Is the press waiting to talk to us?”
“Yes, but Dorian will be with us to nip anything inappropriate in the bud. There isn’t going to be any more random conjecture. And no one is talking about abortions tonight. Period.”
“Okay.” I reached for his hand. “We’re ready to go public, right?”
“I’ve been ready.”
I smiled. “Let’s do this.”
“We’ll give them twenty minutes or so, sign some autographs and take pictures with the handful of fans who won backstage passes, and then I want you to meet my family.”
“Yes.” I smiled up at him. “I love you, Kingston.”
He kissed me and I was vaguely aware of a camera flash going off.
But that was okay.
I no longer had anything to hide.
EPILOGUE
Kingston
A month later
The European tour was a raging success so far.
The fans loved us, loved the music, and were starting to love Devyn too.
If they had a problem with her history in porn, you couldn’t tell by the crowds at the shows every night. We sold out every show, and Sasha had just added five more to the end of the tour.
As expected, the narrative about porn and abortions had faded away within a few days. We’d had the opportunity to sit down for an interview with a well-known primetime talk show host, and that had made a huge difference. We discussed how it had felt to lose Carter, how he’d been the one to discover Devyn, and even how I’d taken one look at her during her audition and fallen in love.
We were done with secrets and slowly but surely, Devyn was winning over the fans. Especially the women. They were beyond excited that a previously all-male rock band now included a woman, and Devyn was bombarded backstage most nights with young women and girls asking her about playing bass.
And I loved it for her.
Hell, I loved it for all of us because the more popular she got, the more popular we got. All over again. This mini-tour had given our backlist a huge boost, and “Break Your Promise,” which had been out for about six years, was number one in the iTunes store again.
“Kingston.” My attorney, Madeline Aronson, had flown out for a handful of shows and had just arrived earlier today.
“Hey. Good to see you.” I hugged her. “Did you enjoy the show?”
She laughed. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t enjoy the music. I can make money off of you remotely.”
I laughed too.
She was a tough-as-nails, seasoned attorney who knew the entertainment industry inside and out. Which was why I’d hired her to be my personal attorney, even though the band as a whole was represented by someone else.
“So, did you take care of our little problem?” I asked her.
She met my gaze. “I did.” She pulled some papers out of her bag. “Signed, sealed, and delivered.”
I smiled. “Thank you.”
“You must be Madeline.” Devyn came over to join us, and I realized they’d never met.
I made the introductions, and they made small talk for a few minutes.
“Well, I just wanted to give you those papers and now I’m going to go have a drink.”
“Thanks again,” I told her.
“That’s what you pay me for.” She waved and headed toward the small bar that had been set up backstage.
“What papers?” Devyn asked, cocking her head.
“It’s an NDA.” I handed them to her.
“A non-disclosure? For whom?” She seemed confused.
“Larry Hanks.”
She knit her brows together in confusion. “You had Larry sign an NDA?”
“I did.”
“For what?”
“He’s not allowed to ever talk about you, the record deal situation with Lace and Venom, or the porn stuff. If he does, he has to not only give the money back, but another half a million on top of what we gave him.”
“You gave him money?”
“Happy birthday, baby.” Her birthday was technically tomorrow, but it was almost midnight so that seemed close enough.
“Let me get this straight. You gave Larry—how much did you give him?” She narrowed her eyes at me.
“Half a million. Cash. Tax-free for him because we’ll be paying them.”
“You gave him half a million dollars in exchange for signing an agreement to never talk about our shared past?”
“Yup.”
“Without telling me?”
“It was a surprise for your birthday.” I pulled her up against me. “And I know how much you like surprises.”
She laughed. “I like shoe surprises.”
“Well, your birthday isn’t over yet.”
“Have I told you how much I love you yet today?”
“No, but I’m listening.”
She used her hand to push a lock of hair out of my eyes. “I fall more in love with you every day, Kingston Knight. And you continue to do things that make me love you that much more.”
“I promised you we would change the narrative in the press about you, and that’s what we’re doing. You did your part when you let Presley do the story about you, and this was the last loose end that needed tying up. Larry isn’t going to try to blackmail you or hold anything over your head ever again. It’s done.”
We’d had a week or two of stressful headlines at the beginning of the tour, but it had slowly faded into oblivion. Then Devyn had told me about Larry’s attempt to blackmail her, and I’d known I would do whatever was necessary to make it stop. The payment and NDA had been Madeline’s idea and now that it was done, it felt like we’d done the right thing.
