Page 42 of Laying it Bare Backstage

“You’re probably right, but let’s try to keep it at a minimal.”

After Ivy and Ascher got settled in the other chairs, Teak took the opportunity to grab a quick shower and put on clean clothes. His shorts and t-shirt looked much better than his ruined dress pants and hospital gown. His hair was his normal sexy loose waves; his face now clean shaven; and he smelled like soap and him instead of four day old rotting road kill.

My parents arrived about a half an hour later and the doctor stopped in a little after that. My prognosis was good; I was ordered some dinner; but I wasn’t going to be released from the hospital for at least another three days. That last bit brought a frown to my face.

When visiting hours were over, Ivy, Ascher, and my mom and dad headed out. My parents were driving the entire way home but planned to return in about a week, after I was released, to visit again.

“I’ll be okay here tonight if you want to go home and sleep in a real bed and get some decent rest.”

Teak grasped my hand and ran his thumb over my knuckles. “No way. That bed won’t feel right without you in it. And I’m not leaving you alone at all. I know you are safe, but I want to be here with you, for you. You are mine to take care of.”

“I like you being here too, but I just feel bad. That chair has to be awful. Although, this bed really sucks too.” I dropped my gaze to the blanket covering me and pulled at some of the fuzz. “I’m going to need to talk to someone about this. I know; we agreed we weren’t talking about it, but I wanted you to know, I feel like I’m going to need help moving past it. Sometimes when I close my eyes or someone says something; it triggers those horrible memories.”

“I’ll help you find someone who comes highly recommended. You’re probably suffering from PTSD. I’ll make sure you get the best care available. And on that note, I decided to postpone our upcoming tour.”

Stunned, I snapped my eyes up to meet his. “Wait. What? You can’t do that. You don’t need to do that.”

Releasing my hand, he reached up to stroke my hair. “It’s going to be six weeks until you are allowed to start doing things and months after that until you are back to normal. And I’m talking about your physicalandmental health. I’d take you with us, but that will be a strain on your body. We’re still going to release our next album, but we don’t have to tour every year. Besides, the guys are okay with taking an extended vacation. Although, we do need to get together and record.”

“But what about your disappointed fans?” Without my permission, her venomous words bubbled to the surface. I tried to swallow the bit of fear they summoned.

Still running his fingers gently through my tangles – even though he was careful not to pull – he stood up and leaned over me to give me a tender kiss. His tongue swept across my bottom lip so I opened and he dipped inside to softly tangle with mine. This kiss was short and sweet and enough to help me get my nerves under control. When his eyes locked on mine, his strength washed over me. “This will be something you can talk with your therapist about, but the chances of youevermeeting someone like her again are slim to none.” Then he beamed at me, his eyes twinkling with humor like he was in on some private joke. “Besides, according to social media, my fans adore you. Between my manager sharing the snippet of you on stage with me and others who were in attendance, our pages have been blowing up with comments and posts. They were raving about the new song and how excited they were about my sweet, shy, adorable girlfriend.” He shot me a wink. “And then there were some more boisterous ones who voiced their demands for ‘Justice for Serenity.’ They were outraged that someone, who claimed to be one of my devoted fans, could be so cruel and monstrous. I’m not sure who leaked about that, but those posts have gotten a shit ton of views, likes, and comments. From what I could tell, they don’t know anything about the new developments though. I spent a bit of time scrolling social media while I’ve been here and that was pretty amazing to see. It helped lighten my heart. Although it didn’t make me truly happy until after you woke up. Now I can fully embrace it. And I want you to think about that. I know it’s going to take you a long time to fully heal from all of this, but let that little tidbit help ease your mind somewhat.”

Tears streamed down my face in a never ending torrent. “Oh my God. That is so unbelievable. They don’t even know me.”

Teak’s eyes shifted to my monitor.

“It’s okay. I think releasing the tears is actually helping me not to get worked up. If that makes sense.”

Reaching over to the portable table, he grabbed me some tissues to wipe my snotty face and nose. “In just those few moments on stage, I think they could see the real you that I had fallen in love with. After all, I started falling for you when youconvenientlygot lost looking for the bathroom after my concert.” He waggled his eyebrows at me, a teasing smirk tugging at his lips.

“Oh my God. Not that again. Whatever. You believe what you want to. I know the truth. And truthfully, I love you.”

“I love you too. Are you ready to try to get some sleep? You’ve been awake since your eyes opened. You probably could’ve used a couple of naps today.”

“Yeah, you’re right. And knowing you’re here will help me sleep.”

“Not going anywhere.” He placed a long kiss on my forehead before settling back in his chair and fussing with the pillow.

“What if you put the pillow on the side of my bed at my hip? You won’t disturb me. Will that make it more comfortable for you? If we raise the bed a bit too so like you’re laying your head on the bar in the kitchen or something.”

“It can’t be any worse. And bonus, it will put me closer to you and I think it might be a touch more comfortable.” Teak turned off some of the lights and then arranged the pillow by my hip. Once he settled his head beside me, I ran my hands through his hair.

“That feels wonderful.”

It sure as hell did. And the tender motion lulled both of us to sleep.

The next three days I at least had company, but I was going out of my mind, spending most of my time lying there. However, mercifully, I was encouraged to take short walks down the hallway to get me up and moving, which I jumped at – although not literally. And on a positive note, my doctor found me a therapist and I met with her the day before I was released. I asked that Teak be permitted to sit in the session with me because first, I had nothing to hide from him and second, he needed to be well aware of my mental state, to help him fully understand the tormented thoughts, so he was better equipped to help me.

Also, as more things leaked out about my abduction and almost murder, social media continued to blow up, causing some eager people to try to sneak into my hospital room to get details or an exclusive story. Some were fans who had been following the story and some were even reporters. I was in complete bafflement. They weren’t seeking a feature article with Teak. They wantedmystory. Teak hired guards to stand at my door for my duration at the hospital. He didn’t bother Jasper or even Ryker since he wasn’t looking for protection for me; he was only looking for someone to deny entrance to my room. However, he did ask both of his usual guys to help escort me from the hospital to Teak’s SUV on the day I was finally released.

During the first two weeks at home, I was in the process of officially moving in with Teak and things were a bit chaotic. Well, not for me so much since I was only permitted towatchthe chaos unravel. Well, in all fairness, I guess it was more organized chaos. He paid for movers so Ivy and Ascher only had to pack up our personal things – since we didn’t want strangers touching some of our belongings.

And yes, I saidoursbecause Ivy moved in with Ascher. As I had suspected, their relationship was serious too and she figured since I was moving, it was the best next step for her as well. Most of my furniture went to Goodwill, but I did keep my book case and had them install it in the bedroom and I kept my small dresser, which with a little bit of rearranging fit perfectly. His house was starting to look likeourhouse now, with some of my additions. Although I had felt like I had belonged from the very first day, I now had some of my throw pillows on the couch, my dishes mixed in with his, and my pictures and artwork on the walls.

Even though I wasn’t permitted to lift a finger for anything, Teak arranged and rearranged furniture and items until we were satisfied. It took a bit longer because I insisted he still made time to work on his music each day. And during this time, because of concussion symptoms – for the second time recently – I was even more limited on what I was permitted to do, provoking me to really want to crawl out of my skin. I couldn’t work, watch television, or lift anything. I spent my time lying on the couch taking a nap or reading a book – but I could only do that for short periods of time – or at the bar sketching. That part I loved, as I always found drawing therapeutic and it was so easy to get lost in my artwork, more so when I was sketching it by hand. Or I lounged out on the deck watching the vacationers at the beach.

And it was nice when my parents drove up for the day to visit. They arrived around lunchtime. We hung out on the deck, relieved my parents were fine with my new living arrangement. When Teak mentioned that he wanted to be able to take care of me while I was healing both physically and mentally and that we had been talking a little about doing this before, my parents agreed with only a little hesitation. We counted that as a win. At sunset, we took a short stroll along the beach behind our place, figuring waiting until then would make it more difficult for people to recognize me. My parents headed back home that night with the promise that when I was able to travel long distances, we would visit them.

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