TWO UPDATES WHAT!!!!!
The concert ends without any major problems. Both band's sound fantastic. Steel Wolf finally sounding like the true selves all because the members were back on the same page again. A new lightness was in the air that wasn't there before.
Due to Ryder and I working through our differences I revisit the idea of leaving and decide against doing so. The only reason I was going to leave is no longer there. The band is back on track and so is Ryder and me.
Ryder rushes through the after concert activates not paying a single woman any extra attention. I heard more than one complaining how they thought he was back on the market, but he only had eyes for me.
Adam would occasionally send glares my way, but he never approached us. His extra attention did not sit well with me at all and I couldn't wait to get out of there. Thankfully the tour is in the homestretch and I will be able to get away from him. If I'm ever forced to go on tour with him again I will walk away. I set a reminder to send the big boss an email about all the strain Adam put on the tour in hopes they will prevent Adam from ever joining us again.
The last fan leaves the room and we too are able to leave. Tray and Mason try to convince us to go out, but we all decline stating we will be going out tomorrow. They both pouted all the way back to the hotel until they discovered the hotel had a bar and casino. After much pleading and promising they would behave I relented and let them go unsupervised. Other than Hayes Wicked Minion decided they wanted to join in on the fun. When I learned they too would be going I rethought letting them all go alone, but Ryder convinced me to have some trust. Also helps Lucan was tagging along with them.
When Axel asked Adam if he would like to join them Adam basically bit his head off and stormed away. I have a feeling the new status of Ryder's and my relationship was the cause of his bad attitude. Axel shrugs his shoulder at Adam's childish behavior and rejoins the group. Not any more is said about how Adam reacted.
Skylar and Dimitri also decide to call it a night and head back to the room claiming they were tired. By the way they were eyeing each other I'm sure sleep was the last thing on their mind. Ryder asks me if I wanted to join the guys, but when I decline he happily agrees.
We bid the others a good night and I remind them to stay out of trouble and call me if they need anything. To which Ryder told them don't bother since my phone will be off. They then proceeded to tease the both us till we could no longer see them
Ryder takes my hand and we follow behind Skylar and Dimitri back to the room. Let's just say once we entered not much talking happened between Ryder and my except with our bodies.
~*~
A loud banging on the door is what awakens me this time. Ryder true to his word made me turn my phone off and surrender it to him. Assuring me Lucan was more than capable of keeping the others in line and if he desperately needed me he would call Ryder.
"Aubree get up," Skyler yells for the other side. She even jiggles the knob, but since we locked the door, neither one of us wanting a repeat of the morning before, she is unable to open the door. "Aubree come on. Since when are you the one to sleep in anyways."
I stretch my arms above my head and yell, "since Ryder took away my phone. I'll be right there." I add the last part to get her to stop banging on the door.
"You weren't complaining last night," Ryder reminds me without opening his eyes. I shove at his chest laying next to me and all he does is roll over onto his stomach. "Don't make me get up you were the one who agreed to go shopping with her this early."
"But Ryder," I pout poking him in the back.
"No but Ryder missy. You told her you would go with her I never agreed to join the outing." He lifts his head up to stare at me. "In face when I did offer to go your words where no way girls only." He waves me away. "You are on your own with this one."
"Fine," I grumble slipping from the bed. "See if you get any tonight."
I can hear muffled laughter coming from the bed while I dress. "Sweetheart you want sex as much as I do so if you are going to threaten me with something might want to make sure you don't want it as much as I do." I pick up my pillow from the bed and throw it at him.
I finish getting ready and kiss Ryder goodbye. He snuggles into the bed retuning to the world of sleep. I open the door and step out to find only Skylar sitting at the table tapping her fingers.
"Dimitri decided to sleep in too?" I ask her heading directly to the kitchen and pouring coffee into a to go cup. When I get no response from her I pop my head around to stare at her. "Skylar."
She shakes her head and sends me a tight smile. "Sorry I was lot in my thoughts."
"I can see that," I tell her pulling out the chair next to her and taking a seat. Skylar fidgets with her glass of water. Water? Since when does Skylar drink water in the morning instead of coffee. "Want to tell me what's going on?"
She glances to the door Dimitri is still sleeping behind. "Yes. But not here."
"Okay," I say standing and taking my cup with me. Let's head out and find a place we can talk privately away from listening ears."
She nods her head and grabs her purse. Skylar waits at the door while I track down my own bag, finding the purse under the bed of all places. We both double check we have everything and head out the door. Both of us are silent the entire ride down the elevator.
Since none of the rockers were with us not a single person pays us any attention. I send a quick text to Frank asking is he knows of someplace Skylar and I can go where we won't be bothered. He sends me a place he used to go to when he used to live in Vegas and assures me only the locals go there. Frank even says he sent a message to the owner letting them know who we are and they promised him they would make sure we had privacy.
I share with Skylar the plan and she readily agrees, both of us enjoy the smaller places more than the bigger. Plus, the promise of privacy was huge. We don't get much of that while on the road.
I thank Frank for his suggestion and tell him we are going to order a Uber and head there. He tells me to give him a few minutes and he will take us himself. Both of us agreed we would rather have Frank drive us than anyone else.
We head outside to sit and wait for him since the weather was so beautiful. Frank doesn't leave us waiting long and soon we are zipping through the streets heading to our destination. I ask Frank if anything crazy happened last night because right before Ryder stole my phone I sent a text to Frank asking him to keep an eye on them. He reports nothing out of the ordinary occurred and I have no damage control this morning to deal with. In fact, they only staid out for a couple of hours because they were all falling asleep except Lucan.
As Frank promised only locals where here and since it was early on a weekday they weren't overly crowded. When we enter an elderly gentleman greats Frank with a hug and eyes the two of us with a smile. He leads us to a table away from everyone and drags Frank with him. Turns out they once served together in the military.
The waitress comes, takes down our order and disappears. I have a feeling the owner explained our desire for privacy and the staff was trying to accommodate us. Taking a sip of my coffee I wait for Skylar to start the conversation.
"As you know," she begins fidgeting with her napkin and tearing it into small pieces, "Dimitri and I have been fighting a lot." I nod my head encouraging her to continue. "But it's not all about what I lead you to believe," she discloses hanging her head down.
"Then why have you been fighting," I press her gently.
She sighs brushing the napkin pieces from her lap. "True some of the fights were because we both view the you and Ryder situation differently. The big ones were because Dimitri could tell I was keeping something from him. And the last time I kept something from him I promised I never would."
I remember the time Skylar was referring to. Those days of not knowing if she was sick or not was hard on all of us. I hope she isn't sick. "Hard to forget Skylar."
"Anyways. He picked up on I was hiding something and we would argue over what I was hiding. But I wasn't emotionally ready to share with him what I was going through." Her lip quivers and tears glisten in her eyes. Her gaze meets mine while she shares when me what happened. "I realized I was a week late so at one of the stops I grabbed a pregnancy test without him seeing. Then the next morning I got up super early and took the test." I hold my breath waiting to hear what she has to say. A sad smile forms on her lips. "The results were positive. I was pregnant."
"I'm so happy for you," I say with a smile, but my smile vanishes because of Skylar's haunted gaze. I reach across the table and lay my hands on top of her. This tale is not going to end happy.
"So I started to think of a creative way to tell him I was pregnant, but we started fighting about Ryder and I never was able to find the right time. Doing some quick math, I figured I was ten weeks along." She takes a drink of water. "One morning I started spotting and thought nothing of it since some women spot during the first trimester." She shrugs her shoulders and slouches forward. "But the bleeding got heavier and I realized I was losing the baby."
"Why didn't you say something we would have taken you to the hospital," I interrupt her upset she didn't say something sooner.
"Aubree please," she pleads. I fight down my frustration at her. "From everything I read there wasn't a single thing they could do so what was the point. I kept an eye on the amount of blood and it ran its course."
"Skylar you have to stop not telling us what is going on with you medically. I'm starting to see s trend here."
"I'm sorry I really am, but you were dealing with your issues and whenever Dimitri and I would talk we would end up fighting. So I dealt alone."
"Does Tray know," I ask her taking a drink of my coffee. Before she can answer out food was placed before us. We thank the waitress and she leaves.
Skylar takes a few bites before answering my question. "No. You are the first I've told."
"Skylar I'm so sorry for yours and Dimitri's loss. I can't imagine one day finding out your pregnant than losing the baby the next."
We spend the next ten minutes crying together. Frank notices are tears and goes to join us, but I shake my head no and he returns to his seat.
"You have to tell him. And the sooner you do the better," I tell her.
"You're right. I'm going to tell him once we get back. Thanks for listening Aubree."
"Anytime," I reassure her. "This way the two of you can morn together and continue to strengthen your relationship."
We fall into an easy silence because I wasn't sure what to say to her and she didn't seem like she minded the silence. I pray Ryder and I never have to go through something like this. I hate the fact Skylar felt like she had to go through this alone. And as much as she would deny this Ryder and I played a part in her thinking she had to deal alone.
If by some chance this sparks another argument between her and Dimitri, I will step in and make him see reason. He can be mad at her all he wants but she needs him and that is more important than anything else.
Skylar's phone rings and she answers. "Hang on," she tells the caller, "I'm with Aubree so I'm going to put you in speaker." Skylar sets the phone on the table. "Go ahead."
"Hey Aubree," Vanessa says through the phone.
"Hi Vanessa. How are you?" I ask her taking a bite of my toast.
"Doing alright," she sounds exhausted. "I was just calling to see how you were since it's been awhile since we last talked."
"Waiting for the tour to be over," Skylar says. "This one was worse than the last."
"Really now," Vanessa asks. She pauses for a second and we all sit their awkwardly.
"How's Keith," Skylar asks trying to continue the conversation.
"He's okay," she says nothing more about him. "Actually I was calling because I could use a break from Chicago and was seeing if I could come stay with you for a while."
"Of course," Skylar states sitting up and eyeing me with concern. "You are welcomed any time. If you want to go now and stay at the condo I'm sure Dimitri won't mind. We only have a couple of weeks left till the tour ends."
"I don't want to be a bother. I can wait till you are both back from the tour," she says in s rush lowering her volume. "Well I have to go we can talk details later." Without waiting for us to say goodbye she ends the call.
Both Skylar and myself sit there staring at the phone unsure of what we just witnessed. "Somethings wrong," Skylar says breaking the silence.
"Agreed. Maybe when she comes to visit you will be able to get out of her whatever is going on."
"No maybe about it. I will get to the bottom of this. This should be interesting her and Tray not only in the same state, but the same town."
"They are both adults I'm sure they will be fine."
Skylar takes the words out of my mouth when she says, "Tray an adult." We both start laughing.
I pay the bill and tell Frank we are going to head out. He insists on driving us to the stores. Once we reach the shopping area he asks if we want him to come with us and we both agree we would be fine without him. We both put on a hat and sunglass to blend in.
Our disguises work and we spend the rest of the morning and early afternoon shopping. Escaping from the stress of being a part of the rock star world. For the hours we spent shopping we were only two friends enjoying the day.
When he got back to the hotel Skylar dragged Dimitri into their room. Ryder and I sat on the couch watching TV and when he asked me if I knew what was going on I simply explained when Skylar is ready she will explain. I heard a bit of yelling and then nothing. The nothing was what worried me.
Eventually the door opens to reveal a red eyed couple. My gaze zero in on the fact they were holding hands. The nonverbal cue spoke volumes. They would be okay.