Who Am I (A Jai Courtney Fanfic) Book 2

Chapter 131-Jai

The concert is extraordinary. I wasn't expecting this. I think the sound team is exceptional and has made them more pleasing than just the rehearsal alone. Simon mentioned bringing a staff with him.  I know I heard them practice a bit but this sounds even better—plus, I was a little distracted by her stories before. Now, she has my undivided attention and she's incredible. Em even makes a point of telling me so and she's hard to please at times.  Everyone is shocked—well, except her rellies and my mum who's heard her—but still, they're all making comments.  Her parents do look impressed and proud of her. Ollie and Johnno—who I'd never known before this trip to be Catholic—are telling me that if their church was like this, they might attend more frequently.  I don't think they're slamming their churches, just that they feel God's presence here.  So do I, and I appreciate it.  I'm grateful that they got to experience this.  I encourage them to see what else is offered at their churches—maybe Bible studies or couples' hangouts.  I even encourage them to try out visiting others for seminars or special events.  They're nodding that that could work. 
I focus ahead on her and sigh as a song ends.  She really is unbelievable.  This is defo what she was meant to do.  I hadn't realized I'm standing at the glass.  I grin and wave at her when she looks up here. She smiles in reply as she starts another song. I listen in and I'm just as impressed as the last but I do take my space beside everyone here. I just keep gravitating towards her without even realizing. Some songs I'm familiar with, others I've heard on the radio, and still a few are new to me. I find myself singing along with just about everyone else here, worshiping through all the songs and even praying along after the worship is through. Their words are powerful and moving. They have such heart for the lost. I realize this is how I was prayed for before I was one of them and it really touches me—the care and concern they have for everyone. After a while, Meg begins to join them in praying aloud and I'm grinning at her continued participation. I focus in on her words and she really does have such hope and compassion for this city. I know she'll always want to visit—frequently even, and I get it. I enjoy going home from time to time, too. That's why I have a residence there... and even here now. I know she'll want to come see her rellies and mates. So, I'll have to humor her on occasion. She finishes the prayer and they all thank us for coming, speaking a blessing over us then concluding the event. I watch as they leave the stage but I see her band mates approaching her with cases of headshots—probably the same or similar to the music video concert. I observe her greeting her fans in the crowd. I grin at how sweet she is towards them.
"Oh, by the way," Nick says getting my attention. I turn to him.
"Here are her keys. The police parked her car in one of my reserved spaces and brought me these," he says handing them to me.
I take them from him.
"We can drive back," Johnno shrugs.
"You sure?" I question.
"No worries," he says taking the other set from me.
"Alright. Meet you back at Hannah and Nick's," I tell him.
"Catch ya," he says hugging me. I reply the same.
Just about everyone heads out. I hug Artie's girls and wave goodbye. When it clears out a bit more, I head down to the locker room. I step in and she's not here but the band members—the local ones—are bringing their gear through to take home. I thank them for the bonzer show. They laugh thanking me as well. I step out to the dugout and see she's still signing. I figure it's not about me so I step back in and wait. Most everyone has cleared out already.  I lay down on a bench and wait for her to finish.  I eventually hear a stage crew member talking with her. 
I rise up and see her disposition.  I approach her quickly knowing something is wrong. 
"What happened?" I ask gently taking her into my arms and holding her.  She leans against me and doesn't speak... but she does embrace me taking the comfort. 
"The ex was out there," Rob answers for her.  "I sent a recording to Simon.  He'll handle it."
I nod as he surrenders his phone to me and I watch a bit of the confrontation.  I sigh irritatedly.  I've got to keep her out of this town as much as possible.  He's always hovering around and popping up.  He's never really touched her to harm so they're just observing the situation.  It doesn't help that the coppers are on his side and doing nothing but separating them. 
"Thanks, mate," I reply handing him back his phone. 
Shortly after that, I get a call from Simon suggesting we wait a while to leave.  He says the streets are filled with crowds and he wants her to be kept safe.  I thank him for that and we sit in the locker room chatting a bit while the masses exit the CBD.  Meg is on my lap, a little more at ease than earlier.  Her mates tell her how much they enjoyed the concert. 
"The electric guitarist was sweet," Zane says playing the air guitar and we laugh. 
Meg talks to him a little about who he was and that he has several albums out.  She mentions how much she enjoyed working with them—the violinist, ukulele player, and drummer in particular.  She adds that the keyboardist... and well, everyone was phenomenal.  I grin at that.  She loves everyone and doesn't want to leave anyone out.  She's so kind and thoughtful, caring, loving, considerate. 
We eventually get a call from Simon saying it's clear enough but to take the back way I came in.  He also informs us to have security take us out with the tunnel underground.  When I question why, he says Spencer is waiting just outside of the main entrance.  If we walk the ground level, he'll see us and of course if we leave through that exit, he'll be waiting anyway.  I thank him for everything. 
"It's my job," he responds laughing lightly. 
"Thanks mate," I tell him. 
"Anytime," he says. 
Meg pats my arm and asks him if he wants to join us for dinner.  He humbly declines—so do her band members.  I thank him again and hang up.  I do the same with the blokes.  Meg—being the loving person she is—hugs them both in parting.  I shake their hands and wish them well.  Zane gives me an extra encouraging word and congratulations.  I chuckle at that. 
Before we leave, Meg takes her green knitted jumper off and tucks it into her carry bag.  She has a white t-shirt on underneath with what looks to be a white singlet on under that.  I have no idea how she can wear so many layers...  She can't change her fuchsia runners, though, so hopefully nobody will be that observant.  She also takes her hair down out of the plait and puts it in an entirely different style—a knot on top of her head.  When she's finished, she looks different and hopefully unrecognizable.  We follow some security dressed in street duds.  I put my sunnies on and so does she.  The bloke in the back has her guitar—which is pretty smart so people might not identify her in a glimpse as we pass.  This crowd was crazy when we got here and it's possible she could get overrun by fans.  Hopefully the crowd has really died down. 
We cross through what feels like a maze of corridors before we come upon a door.  It leads us up a stairwell that needs the first bloke's access card for entry.  He takes us all in and we ascend the staircase together.  The tread boards are metal and echo off the walls with each step as we climb.  When we reach the top, the key card bloke waits for us all and we exit together but staggered somewhat.  They don't want us to look surrounded or obvious.  Thankfully, nobody is near this end of the stadium.  The same bloke uses his keycard once more to let us into the same hallway as I came in upon entry.  We stride down it without incident.  They lead us through the sports shop instead of the restaurant which is probably best—less crowded.  We exit to a pseudo-busy footpath but nothing like before.  We follow the pair of blokes down to the crossing. There's no barricade now and car traffic is moving freely, along with the footpath. We walk together down to the intersection to cross. When the light changes we cross the bitumen to the opposite footpath. Everyone surrounding us is talking about the concert—all positive. I keep a tight hold on Meg, though. We walk a block down and cross at another crosswalk once more. We're waiting here a while since the stoplight changed just as we approached.
"Did you hear if Megan was having any other concerts?" a lady asks another.
"I heard someone say they just announced a tour in August," the other responds. 
I glance at them to see one looking up the tour on her phone. 
"Oh man!  The tickets were just released today.  The first one in town is already sold out," she says worriedly. 
"No way!  The site just posted it today?" the other whinges. 
"Yeah, and the second one is more than half sold," she continues. 
"What?" the second says in surprise. 
"Yeah," the first responds nodding. 
"How much are they?" she asks. 
"They're a hundred and twenty.  All the cheaper ones are gone," the girl replies. 
The second moans in irritation. 
"Oh, wait.  My page refreshed.  They're going fast.  Only about seventy remain," she frowns. 
"Ugh, just buy them.  I'll pay you back with my next check," the second insists shaking her mate's arm. 
"Alright, alright.  Back off," she laughs teasingly.  "We got 'em!"
"Yes!" the other shouts excitedly. 
The light changes and we progress across the road and down the next footpath.  We enter the car park. 
"We'll walk you up," one guard says motioning to another while the other two remain by the exit. 
He takes us up and I feel like we've parked here before—once or twice.  Meg knows just where to go.  I hold her hand and we head up a series of stairs.  We go up four floors and exit still accompanied by the two. 
"I've got the keys.  You want me to drive?" I offer. 
"Sure," she shrugs. 
I unlock the 4WD and open the boot for her guitar.  I thank the two blokes with a handshake each.  They smile and tell us to stay safe.  Meg waves thanking them.  I climb in and adjust the seat and mirrors before I start it up and drive us off. We drive through the several levels of the car park before we're at the ground level. We pull up to the gate. The two blokes are there along with a car park employee. 
"You're all set," the attendant says not charging us. I'm not going to complain.
"Thanks," I reply.
He nods and signals us to pull out. As we drive down the road, traffic has mostly cleared. I notice some restaurants are chocked full for tea but it's calmer than earlier. We leave the CBD and I exit onto the highway.
"That was crazy about those two girls," Meg says softly.
"The ticket ones?" I clarify.
"Yeah," she replies.
I glance over at her and she's looking at the website for her concert tickets. It's got a pic of the whole band together from the music video. 
"The first few of them I've checked are sold out," she mumbles.
"Really?" I ask in disbelief. I could understand the hometown but she's got some big venues she's booked in major cities.
She hums a reply. "The two here are sold out," Meg tells me.  That was fast.  "Then New York, LA, Red Rocks in Colorado, and both in Chicago. Nashville is mostly sold and so is Wisconsin. Miami is more than half sold," she adds.
"That's fast," I say in surprise.
"Yeah," she nods in agreement.
"What others are there?" I ask in curiosity.  I can't recall. 
"Salt Lake City... Virginia is sold out but that one was smaller.  Dallas and Houston... Kansas City, Missouri is sold out but it's another smaller one.  Duluth, Georgia is sold out, too, but I know nothing about it.  It might be small.  The rest aren't sold out yet," she shrugs. 
"Where else are the concerts?" I question.  That wasn't that many. 
"There were twenty-two locations.  Most of them are big cities," she says looking out the window.  "Let's see... DC, Seattle, Detroit, Sacramento, San Diego, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, and Boston.  That might be it."
"How much will you make off the ticket sales?" I ask curiously.
"I don't know," she shrugs.  "A percentage.  Since I decided to keep the band, I'm letting them get a bigger cut."
"Why?" I question. 
"Because they deserve it," she responds easily. 
She doesn't really give me a dollar amount... but then I recall she'll want to talk finances if I persist.  I still would rather not so I don't push the subject.  I decide to ask about something I really want an answer to, though. 
"What did he say?" I ask her.  It was kind of noisy on that recording and hard to hear with the crowds in the background. 
She sighs as if expecting this.  She explains that he was there when she went out to the stage.  He left up to his box and then came back down during the end of the prayers. 
"What did he say to you, love?" I ask softly caressing her cheek. 
"I think he's lost his mind.  He thinks everything with me is an act and that I should move back to my old apartment.  Apparently he kept it.  I didn't know that.  He's living there now and wants me to come home," she annunciates.  I can almost hear the roll of her eyes as she says this. 
That infuriates me.  He really is loopy.  I dismiss his lunacy as nothing but that. She continues to explain what happened—that Zane mentioned me, he stepped forward and security intervened while her band members walked her away from him. I'm grateful for them looking out for her... and the security.
We arrive to her home and I realize this is her last night here. Most of her things are already at my place except for what she's taking to Jamaica and her things for tonight. I grin at that. I've got nothing to worry about. I know she loves me. He's just off his rocker. We just need to keep him away and on occasion have security here—defo for her concerts.
We walk inside and her mum immediately greets us, congratulating her on the concert. Nick welcomes us in and prays so we all can enjoy the tucker the blokes caught today and Hannah prepared. We sit with our rellies and mates enjoying our last night together before we fly out. Tea is phenomenal. I'm not sure what fish I got but it's good—different from what I've had before. We leave a bit early to get some shut eye for the flight. Meg decides to stay here to work on one of her dresses—it's a new blue one for her art show. I kiss her gently at the door.
I hear Damo honking the horn teasingly.
Meg chuckles. "I think they're ready to leave," she says playfully putting her arms over my shoulders.
"Let 'em wait," I whisper going in for another.
I kiss her once more and they honk again.
"Flamin' galah," I whinge.
"What does that mean?" she grins pecking me again.
"It's a stupid, noisy bird," I shrug and kiss her again.
"Stupid?" she laughs.
"It's known for flying into windows," I grin.
She chuckles at that.
"We're flying out in the morning," I whisper.
"Yeah," she smiles leaning in.
They blare the horn again. I hear a house door open but it's not hers.
"Sorry, Mr Wilson," Meg apologizes. "They're leaving."
"Congratulations," he waves.
"Thank you," we reply in tandem. We look to each other and laugh. I kiss her again as we part.
"See you in the morning," she says.
"Goodnight, love," I tell her.
She smiles at me and waves to me, then everyone else. I climb in and shove Damo's shoulder in the passenger's seat.
"When you get married, I'm doing the same to you," I joke.
"You think I'll get married?" he asks surprised.
"If you stop messing around in the Cross, you might. If you keep at it then, no," Dar says—half teasingly, half serious.
"Yeah, yeah," Damo says dismissively.
I drive us off home and crash into bed as soon as we arrive. I drift off dreaming about my bride.