Neglected Desires

Chapter 32

The month of May flew by without me even realizing it. After that morning nothing more was said about that small article that seemed to have caught the attention of everyone at Paisley Park, but no one else of note. I heard whispers around the complex that the director of Child Protective Services had reached out to Prince to apologize for that information getting out to the media and whispers that Prince had been in contact with the paper over the article and the conduct of the journalist who wrote the article. It was all whispers, noone, not even Prince brought the issue up too me again. It was as if it never happened, and that was his way of dealing with it for me. At first the idea bothered me, it made me feel as though he didn't think I could handle something like this, but after a few days of dwelling on those few small paragraphs I started to accept that maybe I wasn't able to handle that sort of thing and maybe I was alright with that. So I let it go. Prince had promised to handle the problem, so I stopped worrying about it and put my trust in him to take care of it and take care of me.

Once that all seemed to pass we fell back into a comfortable rhythm; Prince was spending as much time as possible rehearsing and trying to get the band in perfect shape for the upcoming tour and when he wasn't rehearsing he was working on material for a new album, one he was determined would be released next year. I on the other hand stayed busy catching up with a few local friends before I left the country, working on a handful of writing projects I'd already been contracted to complete before the end of the month and also keeping my eye on Adrienne. After our last few interactions and knowing that she would be working closely with Prince while we were on tour I decided having her close to me was better than having her as an outright enemy. I still didn't trust her and had a very clear impression that she would happily make a move as soon as an opening appeared.

Overall the month was really very quiet. Alysha hadn't even been a blip on my radar after the article incident and I tried to silence my nagging fear about Kevin's wellbeing by telling myself we had done what any reasonable person would do in reporting Alysha and now the entire situation was in the hands of the authorities. At least once a day something would remind me of him and I would have to tell myself there was nothing more I could do, and as the end of the month quickly approached I found it easier and easier to convince myself that the situation was being handled.

Now here we are at the end of May, in less than 48 hours we would all be boarding a plane and heading to the Netherlands for the first show. Prince has basically been missing in action for the last 24 hours. I'd neither seen him nor heard his voice through the complex. He'd been bouncing between rehearsing, recording, wardrobe, meetings finalizing some additional shows and who know s what else. Every time I asked people where he was I'd go to where they directed me and it was always as if I'd just missed him; finally I gave up and decided if nothing else I'd see him once we all got on the plane. So here I am, standing in our bedroom, my suitcase splayed out on the floor in the corner of the room as I took inventory of everything in what has become our shared walk in closet. Running my right hand cautiously over the smooth fabrics of his shirts hanging in order of color, and glancing over to my little corner of the small room holding my day to day clothes; jeans, yoga pants, a few pairs of nice slacks, a couple party dresses. I was going to look like a roadie compared to him. I could feel the worry starting to show on my face the longer I thought about that. As well as I knew him, I knew for sure he wasn't going to be seen around town with me looking like that. Maybe he wouldn't be going out much besides the shows I pondered and the very next thought turned my stomach. Maybe he would be going out, but without me. My heart started pounding hard as I worried about that prospect; who would he have on his arm while I'm back at the hotel?

"Just hanging out in the closet these days?" the slightest laugh in that deep voice caught me before I could fall head first into a pool of worry, his arms wrapping around my waist, as his body came up flush against mine.