Page 238 of P.S. I'm Still Yours

Other artists and Anaya’s friends started taking notice of how good the art in her house looked. Anyone who stepped foot inside would eventually ask her where she’d gotten those sick paintings from.

Word of mouth and social media did their thing, and Hadley’s career took off faster than a speeding bullet.

If you’d told me a few years ago that my girlfriend would be the one in the spotlight while I worked behind the scenes, I would’ve pointed you to the nearest drugstore so you could get some good painkillers for tomorrow’s hangover.

There was a time where I thought I’d be a front man for the rest of my life, but it turns out setting my own career on fire was the best thing to ever happen to me.

Aside from Hadley, obviously.

After the news came out that I was involved in Gray’s murder, my entire world stopped turning. I was sure working in the industry was no longer an option for me.

Little did I know the world didn’t hate me as much as I hated myself.

Quite the opposite, actually.

My fans stood by me, supported me, and sure, there were a few haters, and I’d still get the occasional death threat every now and then, but most of my supporters saluted me for taking a few pedophiles and Gray’s murderer down.

Both Josh and Brody wound up in jail in the end.

Josh got put away for life, while Brody only got fifteen years.

Hadley and her mom were devastated about the relatively short sentence, but in time, more and more cases got linked to Brody through his fingerprints and DNA testing.

We later found out that it wasn’t the first time Brody had robbed a store and held the employees at gunpoint.

The extra charges added another ten years to his sentence. As for Brody’s accomplice, Dean, I was surprised to hear that he and Axel, the other guy who was in the van that day, both OD’d on weed laced with fentanyl just a few months before I came clean to the police.

In the end, they died alone in Axel’s parents’ basement.

Some might say they got off easy. That their accidental deaths allowed them to avoid punishment. But then again, people could say the same thing about Scar and me.

After Josh’s lawsuit against me was dismissed, Scar and I got sentenced to a thousand hours of community service.

We put in twenty-hours a week for a little over a year.

Then that was it.

We were free.

The first thing I did was put my house up for sale and move away from downtown LA. Hadley and I found this gorgeous house in a quiet gated community and moved in together a week later.

I’ll admit I didn’t know what to do with my life after I served my sentence. Sure, I was set for life, and I had enough to support my family and myself until the day I died, but I had no intention of sitting on my ass and doing nothing until I retired.

Hadley had to talk me into it, but I eventually picked up the phone and made a few calls to some of the music producers I’d worked with during my short career.

Which brings us to now and what I do for a living.

I’m a songwriter.

I spend my days holed up in the studio, writing songs for others.

Songs I’m actually proud of.

Some do incredibly well; some don’t. I don’t have any expectations. As long as I get to do what I love.

I’m able to work with amazing artists without feeling the pressure of being scrutinized and treated like a zoo animal for the public’s entertainment.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss singing, though. I put out a few more songs over the years, but I paid to produce them instead of selling my soul to a label. People can stream them online, but I’m not doing tours or interviews. I’m an independent artist now.

---