Wha?!?!?! Can you believe another chapter? Y'all I'm ready to get this drama done and feel the love again...toward that end let's find out Slade's fate....
I love this cover of Lukas Graham's Love Someone by Levi McGrath. I think his voice approximates Leed's voice more than the original. Plus I think he has rugged looks like Leed...This song is pretty much what Leed is feeling in this chapter. Leed and Ash's six week estrangment and Ashlynn's near miss with Slade has brought back Leed's fears of commitment with a vengeance. He knows he loves her, but now it's almost too real. He knows what he has to lose...and that will be our last real hurdle in this book. Ash has come so far because Leed believed in her, but Leed is nearly right back where he started...
Leed
As I sit in a chair in my bedroom watching Ashlynn sleep, I reflect on the fact that a lot can happen in seventy-two hours.
Dev has been in emergency surgeryâtwice, because they missed a tiny bleeder the first timeâbut the dude just refuses to die. Mac thinks he's mostly motivated to live for that new shine on his repâa legit thug really does need a gunshot scar, so now he's made it. Trace says he wants to live just to give Matt shit about taking a bullet for himâfor the rest of Matt's life.
I know what's really keeping his sorry ass aliveâit's Bridge del Marco. She has a sweet soul like my Sunshine. He'd be a fool not to fight like hell to stay with that angel here on earth.
I stare at Ashlynn's slumbering form, thinking of the first time I met her. She was Bridge's age back thenânot quite twenty. None of the bad shit had happened to her then. None of the shit that striped her soul and makes her so reckless with what she doesn't valueâherself.
I'm still so fucking mad at her. We've had too much going on to get into it yet, but she has no idea what she's done to me. Knowing that she would risk herself like thatâputting herself into the hands of a killer, playing mind games with himâit's opened up a chasm in me...a pit of fear I thought I had filled in. But it's still there.
I remember now, why I was afraid to fall in love.
Now I have something to loseâand it seems like Ashlynn will always be standing on the edge, willing to risk what I love most in this world. So all I've done in the last seventy-two hours is try not to think about how fucking scary and confusing it is to love someone who doesn't love herself as much as you do.
It hasn't been hard to find other things to distract me from thinking too much about Ashlynn, though. My world is a shitstorm. Rumors, gossip and lies rage like a hurricane around my band. There's even one story running that I was trying to gun down Slade because Ashlynn cheated on me with him, and Dev got caught in the cross-fire.
It's funny how for once, the gossip is actually less outrageous than the truth.
Jesus, the shit we are in is so fucked up.
Slade is still in custody. The Devil's Breath that Ashlynn gave him was still working its way out of his system when he was first interviewed by the police. He ranted enough about Megan Davis' ghost that the police are giving credence to Varrick and Ashlynn's statements. Both indicated their suspicions that he murdered Megan Davis twenty years ago. He's also being held on the assault charges that Ashlynn filed.
But now he's back to himself and lawyered up. He doesn't have any memory of what happened after the Grammy's, but he didn't get to where he is by being a fool. He's putting the pieces together well enough.
His lawyers are claiming he was drugged and victimized in his own home, and it's likely that he won't be charged for shooting Dev, whom he's claiming he perceived as an intruder in his victimized state.
Not to mention, Megan's disappearance didn't happen in the US and Slade has influential diplomatic ties to the German government. The police won't be able to hold him much longer, eitherâwithout a judge issuing a formal psych evaluation.
And if he gets out, he's probably going to start a shit-storm of stealth assault against Ashlynn, me and maybe even the whole band, but there's nothing we can do but work to keep him in jail and disconnected from his many avenues of influence, while we circle our own wagons.
My foremost concern was securing my home-front.
While Ashlynn was being interviewed by the police, I took that time to get right with Ben. Now, Ben and Tam are on an indefinite leave of absence from work, and Ollie's with them up at a brand new place Ben and I leased in Monterrey. Plus, he's got a fucking combat squad of security personnel to keep it private.
The best thing I can do for my son and Baby Mama right now is let Ben and Tam get some shit worked out. I've been up in their relationship from the day my son was born, and it's not working. They need some timeâmaybe even months without my presenceâto become the family they need to be. I'll miss my son, but Tam's agreed to bring him to see me every other weekend, depending on where the fuck I might be, because once again, our tour is in jeopardy. I don't know if I'll be on the road, or in the unemployment line.
Right now, a magic-eight-ball has as much probability of knowing what's going to happen with the tour as anybody associated with Skid Marcs or Soundcrush or the label. Even if by some miracle this Slade shit gets settled this week, I'm not sure we can drag Matt del Marco out of Dev's hospital room to put on his leather pants and claim a stage.
They said he didn't leave the hospital at all until Dev's parents arrived, but I missed the first night waiting game at the hospital. I was at the police station, comforting Mac and pacing a hole in the floor during Ashlynn's private four hour interview with the Detective Branson.
After that was over and Mac got a few minutes with Adam before they processed him, I brought both Ashlynn and Mac home to my place.
I had Lennon's nanny bring her over from Madam's place in the middle of the night, and I put my niece in her mama's arms and I put Ashlynn to bed and I've acted like an asshole, mostly, to keep all of my girls locked down at my place ever since.
I'm being a shit, keeping Mac out of the band business she doesn't even realize is going on, and I'm being a douche not dealing with the emotional baggage I'm dragging around for Ash right now, but Jesus Christ, sometimes I just need to be a dude like all the other dudes, you know?
Hide from my feelings and get busy doing shit?
So yeah, I'm keeping myself scarce from my women. I've got Sawyer looking after their needs, Kat keeping them cheerful, Lennon keeping their hands busy, Ravi keeping them both in the yoga studio as much as possible, and Marley keeping me informed on every little detail about them.
I'm worried about Mac's PTSD and I'm terrified that Ashlynn's going to have a seizure/headache relapse. According to Marley's assessment, Mac is in the more fragile state right now, but it's not surprising because Slade basically recreated her assault and the support system she's most comfortable with hasn't been available to her.
Bodie, Trace and Adam haven't been on the homefront much, either. We've been at the police station, the hospital, the label, in lawyer's offices, in Marcy's place of business, at the house of every member of Skid Marcs and in dozens of private bars. We've had exhaustive discussions with Riley, Moran, attorneys, label suits, the Skid Marc's guys and pretty much every fucking body in the industry that Skid Marc's includes in their network of influence. We are trying to stay ahead of the Slade problem and tell our version of events.
Basicallyâ ruin him before he ruins us.
It's hard to tell if it's working. LA is a cut-throat place. People will shake their heads in sympathetic horror and tell you that they are with you, but it doesn't mean shit. Not until the media machine starts to flesh out your fate. Then industry insiders will pile on in earnestâeither with you, or against you, depending upon public opinion.
In the middle of all that, we had to deal with Adam's situation, too.
He was arrested on an illegal weapons chargeâthat surprised none of us except Mac who still didn't quite believe they would arrest him for possessing a gun that he didn't even shoot. The DA had a mind to make an example out of a celebrity who played fast and loose with his piece, and it wasn't looking good for our boy, despite our lawyers best efforts to get the charges dropped.
Until Preacher had his day in court.
Cause you know, I think God is on his side.
At his arraignment, when the judge asked Adam to account for his actions, he was humble. He said he knew he broke the law. He apologized. He spoke about the two worlds he lives in as an LA celebrity and family man back home in Tennessee. He said as a public figure, he knew he needed to evolve his attitudes on guns beyond his rural upbringing that was guided by responsible experiences with guns for hunting and sporting recreation. He questioned whether his responsible recreational habits had altered the way he views guns, conflict and personal protection in a very different setting than farmland Tennessee.
He was sincere and questioning his own values on a difficult subject and the judge thought Adam would be an excellent spokesperson for a "rehabbed offender." He dropped the charges in a plea deal in which Adam agreed to work with an advocacy group on gun control education.
As we were leaving the courthouse, Bodie slapped Adam on the back and asked him if he actually believed all the stuff he said. Adam grimaced and said. "Fuck yes, I meant it. Now that I realize my bat-shit crazy wife thinks guns solve conflictâdo you know how fearful I am for my own life?"
I crowed. Which is probably the only time I've laughed in the last three days.
There's not going to be much laughing today, that's for damn sure. Today, shit is serious.
Slade is either going to be charged, released, or extradited.
In the gray dawn, I check my phone. It's time to wake Ashlynn. I cross to the bed, sit on the side and rub her back. She rolls over.
"Time to get ready," I tell her. I rise to turn on the shower, but she grabs my hand.
"Hey."
I meet her gaze. "Hey."
"Leedâ"
I give her a swift kiss on the temple. "Not now, okay? I know we need to talk, but there's no time right now. The car will be here in half an hour."
Ashlynn dresses in a modest pantsuit, but I just throw a suit jacket over jeans and a t-shirt. We climb into the limo and my gut tightens to see Varrick conversing easily with Riley.
I don't give a fuck if he and Riley have been on a whirlwind fact-finding trip to Costa Rica in the last two days...he's not SCIC and I don't like his familiarity.
Soundcrush is Trace's band, but the Inner Circle is a world I builtâa family for my sister than she never had before. I started with Tam and the road crew and the other people that work for us, and I built it party by party, adventure by adventure. I created loyalty and a sense of solidarity. Now the Inner Circle includes not just the working family, but the real families we are building.
I'll be damned if Varrick Von will be ever be welcome in my world.
I don't give a shit what he's been through. I don't give a shit if Ashlynn pities him and forgives him. He could have sent her to rehab. He could have sent her home to Trace. Instead, he kept hauling her back to a man that hurt her.
The conversation stops as I climb in beside Ashlynn. Varrick reads people extremely well. He knows I hate him almost as much as I hate his brother.
We ride in relative silence into heart of LA. Everything that needs to be said between our "team" has been said exhaustively on dozens of phone calls. We pick up Laurie Davis at her hotel, and if things had been somber before, now they are deadly silent.
At the police station we are shown into a large conference room. This meeting is being run by the two mid-level staffers from the State Department, whose names I forget immediately. The team of police officers included Detective Branson, several of her superiors in the department, and two INTERPOL agents. Then we are introduced to the Dev's father, whom I'm much more interested to meet than the other cats in the room.
The guy from the state department introduces him formally as William Cavendish, The Lord Bluemond. He's tall, thin, pale, grey, distinguished, but there is something about him that reminds me of brown-skinned, blue haired, sneering DevBlu. Maybe it's their cocksure loftiness, or maybe it's the intelligent squeeze around the eyes.
Riley amuses me by abandoning his typical LA body language and shaking with Dev's father very formally, giving a curt head bow and addressing him as Lord Bluemond, even though the Baron casually insists, "William, please."
"I'm so relieved that Dev is going to be okay," Ashlynn tells him as he puts her small hand in both of his.
He smiles at her as whispers confidentially. "Okay? That's is a very broad term, my dear. Truthfully, I expect Dev will be more insufferable than ever, but like you, I'm very glad he's going to be whole. Okay will surely come with time."
He smiles kindly at Ash, and I decide that I kinda like the old dude, and Dev's just got a typical adolescent chip on his shoulder when it comes to the Lord Blue.
Yeah, that's what I'm gonna call him. At least behind his back.
"Leed Lawson. Nice to meet you," I tell him. "Your son speaks...colorfully, of you."
He rolls his eyes with a grin of self-deprecation. "And I of him, I assure you." He looks between Ashlynn and me. "I thank you so much for coming today. Both of you, but especially, you, Miss Ballard. I know you've given exhaustive statements and I've read them personally. I've very sorry for all that you've been through, and I appreciate you making this effort. I feel it's important for you to be here, because it well may be the only moment of...reckoning for your ordeal. But I assure you, I will not let this man who has murdered a girl, so brutally assaulted you, and almost off-handedly endangered my son to continue in the freedom to harm others."
We both nod, but privately I'm hoping Lord Blue's assurances count for something, here in the middle of the morass of red-tape surrounding Slade.
"We're ready," says the State Department guy, and everyone but Varrick takes a seat. He remains standing because his brother is being escorted through the door under guard in handcuffs and prison orange. Slade's longish undercut is greasy and unkept, and he's unshaven. His eyes look bloodshot from lack of sleep and he's shaking slightly. It's shocking how different he looks from the assured CEO I've met.
He tries to shuffle past Varrick, but Varrick says, "You won't even look at me and admit the truth?"
Reluctantly, he meets Varrick's hate-filled gaze with a stoic face. "I've been advised to say nothing."
"You sick fucking son of a bitchâ" Varrick surges forward but the guards immediately internvene.
Viggo laughs. "That's truthâwhat you say. Very true, brother."
Varrick is still pressing against the guards, glaring at Viggo, ignoring the State Department guy who is asking him to sit down. Ashlynn rises. I try to grip her hand and keep her in her seat but she slips me and goes to his side. "Varrick," Ashlynn says softly. "It's time to help Megan. Finally. Come sit, because it's your evidence that will help her now."
He steps back from Viggo and the guards thrust the shackled man into a chair, but behind him enters a man that looks so much like Varrick that he can only be Martin Von Schlater, the German diplomat who has risen to the penultimate seat in his fieldâthe German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs.
He's tall, strong-boned and dark haired just like his sons. He's absolutely grim, but I imagine it would be difficult to be anything else in this situation.
"Father," Varrick says formally, offering his hand.
"You look well, Varrick." He gives him a hard perusal and sighs, shaking hands like he regrets it. "My son, the ex-patriate."
"Your ways didn't suit me," Varrick says with a shrug.
"Perhaps that was my fault. You got your...adaptability from me and you simply spent too much time here as a teenager."
"So did Viggo. He still claims his mother country."
The Minister's glance slices to Viggo, who refuses to look up from his hands placed on the conference table. "Yes, but he was always more like his mother," the Minister says with a viciousness that burns my third eye.
Bastard. He's always known his son was mentally ill. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess.
Varrick introduces Martin Von Schlater to the room. Apparently he and William Cavendish need no introduction. Riley explained to Ashlynn and I earlier that Dev's dad chairs some House Of Lords Subcommittee that oversees foreign affairs, so he and Varrick's father are acquainted because Martin Von Schlater is basically the German equivalent to our Secretary of State.
When the Minister is introduced to Ashlynn, he blinks and his grim expression falters for a second. He looks...like a man out of time. "Jesus," he swears, forgetting his impeccable English and pronouncing like yay-zoos. He shakes his head. "I apologize," he shakes Ashlynn's hand. "You look precisely as my ex-wife did as a young woman, and seeing you is a very difficult...experience."
My beautiful angel lifts her chin and says to this very intimidating man, "I am not the only young woman who had the misfortune to bear a resemblance to your ex-wife, and you are not the only man who has difficulty experiencing that." She gestures to Viggo, and then to Varrick.
"Yes, well," he says, busying himself unbuttoning his jacket, preparing to sit.
Before he can, Varrick tosses a thick folder down on the table in front of his father. It falls open and there is an eight by ten glossy of Megan. To my right, I feel Laurie Davis, who has said nothing, move in her seat and I reach under the table and take her hand.
One of the guys from the State Department says, "I think before we dive in the wrong end we should-" but William Cavendish, cuts him off.
"No. Let's get to it. The Minister's time is valuable, as is mine. Martin...Viggo shot my son without apparent cause, and I don't pretend that this isn't personal. But as I have learned, Viggo's reckless behavior goes far beyond a drunken Wild West shoot-out. He has apparently bullied and abused women in questionably consensual relationships and Ms Ballard accuses him of..." He fishes police shots of Ashlynn's scars from the file, "of holding her down and doing this atrocity. Moreover, she says he confessed that he stabbed his brother's girlfriend in the midst of a psychotic episode. He also told her the German embassy in Costa Rica covered this up with your knowledge twenty years ago. What say you? Appease my concerns and sense of justice here in this room, Martin, or rest assured I will take this home and continue to investigate in a more official capacity. I understand you are quietly being vetted for ...more political responsibility."
Damn, Lord Blue is fucking good. I'm pretty sure he just said, Punish your pyscho son or I will create a fucking ruckus that ruins your dreams of ever being the German Chancellor.
Martin Von Schlater has yet to sit. He braces himself against the table and glares at Cavendish. "I'd like to say quite unequivocally that I know nothing of a...murder. I will admit off the record that I was aware of an accident involving an American companion during a youthful trip to Costa Rica. The implication made to me at the time from colleagues at the embassy in Costa Rica was that she died of an overdose. My understanding was that the officials at the embassy there helped expedite her burialâbefore I was apprised. I did not sanction such an act, obviously."
Varrick snorts and picks up the file, rifling though it.
"Hmmmmm, funny thing about the Embassy in Costa Rica. Despite their obsessive need to document everythingâeven their darkest secretsâtheir security and technology are not quite up to the impeccable standards you might think. Frankly, neither are the ethics of some of its low level employeesâyou might want to check into that. See, I was able to sneak, bully, and bribe my way to Megan's autopsy report in the basement. I ask you...does this look like a fucking overdose to you?"
Varrick tosses file down again with a new picture on top. A picture of a lifeless and naked Megan on an autopsy table. With a large, jagged abdominal wound.
In the instant, Laurie makes an inhuman sound of distress, I'm letting go of Laurie's hand, and slapping the folder closed. "Jesus, fuck, Varrick!"
Varrick steps back, raking his hands into his hair, keeping them atop his head, looking like a much younger man in his violent distress. After a long moment, he holds out a hand to Laurie. "I'm sorry, Laurie. I'm truly sorry, it's just...it's like it's..."
"Like it just happened," Laurie says softly, putting her hands in front of her face.
"Yes." That's Viggo, and everyone turns to him. "Like it just happened. I couldn't stop it, I swear. It's like the real me was trapped inside, watching the...other me." His hands are shaking and he is staring at them, like he can still see the blood on them. He looks at Ashlynn. "Just like what I did to you."
Then Varrick is launching himself across the conference table at Viggo. The guards move to stop him but I find myself reacting without thinking, shoving one against the wall. To my surprise, the other is stopped by the rather elderly and distinguished Lord Bluemond stepping to his feet and blocking the path.
I turn to watch. After the first few vicious blows, Slade starts to defend himself out of instinct. Honestly there's nothing I would like more than to see these two monsters kill each other.
"Leed!" Ashlynn says sharply, her beautiful features wound with concern as she stands with an arm around Laurie who is watching them stoically. "Varrick has enough on his conscious. Laurie's been through enough."
I huff resentfully, but the guards and I pull Varrick off Viggo. "Walk it off, man!" I yell at him as I shove him hard to the other side of his room. His father grabs him by the shoulders, staring at him.
"You loved this girl. Everything you are now, is because of this, isn't it?" he taps his hand on the closed file.
Varrick nods, and his father puts a hand in front of his face. "This illness that I thought you had so blessfully escaped...it has claimed your life long enough. You have to live in the now, not in the past."
"How can I do that?" Varrick hisses and slings a hand at Viggo. "I have spent my life being responsible for him! You left us to chase power. You left me to deal with him! I tried to escape him, but he's always here, on the edge of sickness that I can't walk away from as easily as you."
Martin looks between his sons. He stares at Viggo, who is bloodied and heaving in the chair the guards have returned him to. He gathers up the file. "He is your responsibility no longer."
He turns to the Americansâthe INTERPOL and the State Department officials. "These are official German government documents. Varrick is right. The evidence is iron-clad. Please start with the extradition."
Viggo looks up startled. "You're sending me to Costa Rica? You can't do that! I can't go to jail in Costa Rica!"
"No, you are no condition to linger in a prison where you could hurt yourself or someone else. The extradition is just a formality to bring you into INTERPOL custody immediately, freeze your assets, and render you completely unable to fight me on this. I'll speak to the Costa Ricans and have you declared unfit for trial and remanded into my custody before we even leave US airways. By the time we arrive home, there will be a place for you at the Bethel Foundation."
Viggo's eyes go wide. "The psychiatric hospital? No! She's there. How could you send me there? No! I won't go!"
Martin opens the file, holding carefully near him. Then he closes his eyes, swallows heavily, and says, "It's where you belong, Viggo."
The Interpol officers take charge of Viggo, who looks to Laurie as he leaves.
He opens his mouth but she cuts him off. "Don't speak to me. There is nothing you can say."
He nods. He turns to Ashlynn. "Megan was an accident. I've learned to control it. If I hadn't stopped shallow on your skin...none of this would have happened. I spared your life and you destroyed mine. "
Ashlynn tucks an arm in mine. "You're wrong, Viggo. You were still hurting me even after you cut me. You struggle with your illness all the time. This is the Universe giving you a chance to find some healing in a safe place. I hope you take it."
Then Viggo is gone into INTERPOL custody and Varrick finally collapses into a chair. His father stands behind him, but just as he tries to lay a comforting hand on Varrick's shoulder, Varrick senses it and moves away.
Martin von Schlater nods, almost to himself, and squeezes his hand into a fist. He looks across the table to William Cavendish.
"Lord Bluemond, don't make the mistakes I did. Don't allow your exasperation with your youngest son, let him continue in bitter pursuits. You should call that rap star of yours home to his duty, before he's your son no longer." He turns to Varrick. "Because I have lost two sons and this loss," he nods at Varrick, "is entirely my fault." He stands still behind Varrick for a long moment, before saying quietly. "Good-bye, Varrick."
Varrick stares at his hands. "Good-bye, Father."
Everyone quietly exits the room, even Riley and Dev's fatherâalthough he quietly whispers in my ear he hopes to see us later at the hospital.
Finally, it's just Laurie, Varrick, Ashlynn and I in the room.
It seems no one can speak. I'm looking at Ashlynn who is now sitting beside Laurie, silently holding her hand. Moved by some unknown instinct I can't explain, I feel like it's tremendously important for Ashlynn and I to memorialize Megan Davis.
She and Ashlynn are connected by the horror they suffered at Slade's hands. I want to reach out to Megan, pray for her peace, maybe ask for her to help me, if her soul still exists somewhere. Because I know I'm going to spend my life trying to love and understand a woman that is scarred by the same man who took Megan's life. Viggo took something from her that I can never give her back. I can only learn to live with it, like she does.
"Laurie...can we take you home?" I say hesitantly and the older woman looks at me blankly. "To Costa Rica, I mean? I can get us a jet and we can be in the air in a couple of hours..."
Ashlynn looks at me with wonder. She's catching my vibe without me saying more. She turns to Laurie at once. "Yes, I'd like to come, too. I think Leed and I would both like to visit Megan's grave, if it's all right."
Laurie nods. "Thank you, I would like that."
We rise to go and Varrick remains seated at the table. Laurie pauses beside him. "Are you coming with us, Varrick?"
He shakes his head. "I have no right to visit her grave. I have no right to intrude upon your grief. Megan is dead because I cared for her."
Laurie sinks into the seat beside him, laying her hands on top of his. "Megan is dead because your brother is a very sick person, and that is not your fault. It's maybe not even his fault, thought I don't have it in me to forgive him. You, I don't have to forgive. I spent years suspecting you, villianizing you, and now I have to ask you to forgive me, because you didn't do anything wrong, Varrick. Not then, anyway. You cared about my daughter and she died and it changed your life just like it changed mind. Your grief is not my grief, but it is real and it is valid. I think you should visit Megan's grave. You worked so hard to find her. I think it might help you...let go."
Varrick looks up slowly, like it's painful to meet Laurie's gaze. Whatever he finds there, makes him relax slightly. "Thank you, Laurie. If you're sure, I will come with you."
She rises and they both exit, but I hold Ashlynn back.
I wrap my pinkies around her pinkies. It's weird, but it's like we are starting over. I haven't kissed her, not more than a temple kiss or a peck, and I haven't slept in the bed with her either, not since Costa Rica. There's so much shit we haven't talked out between us.
I have so much I need to say, but right now there's only time for the most pressing things.
"I love you. I'm very proud of what you've done in the last few days...filing charges, facing up to Viggo's abuse. Ashlynn, you toppled him. You are free, Sunshine."
Her angel's smile spreads across her face. "You're free, too."
I wrap my hands in hers. "Baby, I've never been so bound."
She steps a little closer. "You don't sound too thrilled about that."
I draw my fingers up the backs of her arms and gently grasp her shoulders. "Well, to be honest, you got me all tied in knots, Subshine. I love you, I want you like crazy, but I'm also angry and a little scared at how you handled things."
She smiles shyly. "Angry sex is not always a bad thing. We could figure out some way to have a quick make-up session before we get on the jet with Laurie and Varrick, if you want."
I tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Nah. I think once we visit Megan and say our good-byes to Laurie and Varrick, you and I should find a tree-house in Costa Rica, have a serious conversation and...try to make things right between us."
"Try?" Her blue eyes turn troubled. "You think it's going to be hard to make it right between us?"
I slide my fingers back down her arms, taking her hands in mine, bringing her knuckles to my lips. "Maybe in some ways. Not because I don't want it, or you don't want it. But because this relationship shit takes a lot of work and honesty and openness and we've lost some ground, baby. But it's time we time we start retracing our steps and gaining it back."
I'm still learning the intricacies of all of Ashlynn's expressions but I think the closed mouth smile and beaming eyes she's giving is her proud look. She always looks that way when Ollie does something new, or when Kat acts very mature.
"Wow. Are you telling me the Lion of Soundcrush is planning to do some serious adulting?"
Yeah, that's her proud look, alright. I like it, but I can only raise her expectations so much, and I have a sudden urge to see her silly look.
I grab her ass and force her crotch to mine. "Oh, I'm planning to do a lot of adult things in Costa Rica. You just wait."
I clamp my hand over her peal of laughter. "Shhhh. We can't get carried away. There's still some sad business first."
She nods silently underneath my hand, and I kiss her forehead. "Come on. Let's help Laurie and Varrick find some peace, and then we'll work on ours."
Well, what do we think of Slade's fate? It may not seem like enough punishment, but I think for him, Bethel will be his own personal hell.
What about Adam? Are we glad he resolved his charges? Or do we feel like MAC should be doing a stint in the slammer for her reckless behavoir?
Who likes The Lord Bluemond? I do. I hope we are able to grow the readership with these latter Soundcrush books enough to justify spinning the del Marco series, because I would love to see Dev woooing Bridge as Upstairs Prince Charming in his father's castle...and also getting into trouble with the Downstairs Crowd... but I gotta tell you guys, it's not looking good. Tantric's numbers aren't that great. I love love love my loyal readers and really really appreciate every single one of my readers but numbers tell me that in general, a lot of readers aren't continuing past Urgent. If we want to see more of these characters in a spin-off series, please help me grow new readership by listing and promoting! Don't worry, I will definitely finish Drastic...and maybe will see our numbers increasing by the time we get that far!
We're getting near the end of Tantric now. What's going to happen with Leed and Ashlynn? Will they take their relationship to the fairy tale ending or will we find Leed putting on the brakes and slowing their relationship down to real life levels?