“Okay,” I said.
“Everyone is under the impression that the women of Runaway Train get along very well together.” He cocked a brow at me. “Is that the truth or a very carefully constructed PR façade?”
“No, we really do all get along and like each other. We’re so very lucky that we’ve become best friends, especially since we’re all so very different. Abby, Mia, and now Allison feel more like my sisters, than just my friends or bandmates wives. Over the years, I’ve really leaned on them, and they have me. I can’t even imagine how awful it would be if we hated one another.”
When Brayden snickered, I cut my eyes over to him. “What?” I demanded.
He held up his hands in surrender. “Nothing. I was just thinking myself how thankful I am that you girls all get along because there’s nothing scarier than one pissed off female, least of all four.”
Giovanni and I both laughed at his response. Brayden then winked at me before looking at Giovanni. “It really is the truth that the girls get along well. Any bitchy attitude is usually given to their men, not each other.”
“That is true. Although I would add that the men usually deserve it,” I replied, with a smile.
Brayden laughed. “I would agree with that, too.”
After smoothing my fingers over my skirt, I sighed. “In the end, it isn’t easy being a rock star’s wife. The somewhat nomadic life on the road with all the endless touring, the overeager female fans…it’s an emotional landmine. I really don’t think I could have survived if I hadn’t surrounded myself with supportive women like the girls.
“But you didn’t always have them to fall back on. You two were together before Runaway Train, or what would become Runaway Train, formed.”
“Yes, that’s true. Two of the guys in Brayden’s first band had girlfriends, but we were all so busy with school and jobs that we really didn’t get to be together that much except at shows. The Benders didn’t do any touring either.”
“I can only imagine it was hard being the only female with the four very different men of Runaway Train,” Giovanni remarked.
I nodded. “Very hard.
“Now that brings me to the question I really wanted to ask. What was it like the first time you met Brayden’s bandmates?”
“Oh God,” Brayden groaned, burying his head in his hands at the same time a flush entered my cheeks.
Giovanni’s eyes flashed like he had hit the jackpot. “Hmm, so it wasn’t all fun and games in the beginning?”
As the different memories of meeting Jake and AJ flickered through my mind, I gave an embarrassed laugh. “I guess you could say that although they were hours apart, my first introductions to the men who would become my brothers were quite interesting.”
LILY
THE PAST
The summer I turned twenty one was the first birthday I had to spend away from Brayden since we had become a couple. I had been accepted into a summer internship program that I received college credits for. It was a camp for troubled teens up in the North Georgia Mountains. I would only have every other weekend off, and I didn’t know how Brayden and I would get through our first real separation. The day I had to leave him, I cried the entire hour trip to the camp, and I didn’t stop until the next day.
I wouldn’t have been able to survive if we hadn’t been able to talk to each other every day on the phone. I shared stories about how far some of the campers were coming in their ability to trust or control their anger while Brayden told me more about his new band that had formed a few months beforehand. Two of the guys, Jake and AJ, were childhood friends who had formed a band in high school. Their bassist was Jake’s cousin. They hadn’t gotten as far on the music scene as the Benders had, but Brayden said they had way more talent. They just needed some polishing, and he hoped with his experience they could start to go places.
It was good hearing the excitement about music in Brayden’s voice again. After the breakup of the Benders, he had been adrift. I had begun to worry what would happen to him if he didn’t find another outlet for his music. With work and school, I hadn’t had the chance to meet them yet, but it sounded like they were all a perfect musical fit.
The weekend before my birthday, I drove home so I could spend some time with my parents, but most of all, with Brayden. After we had a home-cooked birthday dinner at my parents, we left on the pretense of Brayden showing me his new apartment. The truth was we wanted to be alone. Before this separation, we had never gone longer than a few days without having sex. Now it was two weeks each time, and we were both feeling the pain enough to want to rip each other’s clothes off.
Since I had left for the summer, he had moved into a loft with his new bandmates. I was really interested in seeing the place since Brayden had been hounding me for a year to move in with him. We’d both stayed in campus housing our first two years, and after that, I moved back home to save money. Most of the time, I’d end up staying at Brayden’s apartment anyway.
When we drove up to the building, I began to wonder if it was a building with lofts or an abandoned warehouse. “Is this place safe?” I questioned, after I got out of the car.
Brayden chuckled. “This block was once one of the most up and coming neighborhoods in the city.”
“Once?”
With a grin, Brayden replied, “Yeah, this know-it-all developer bought it and then went bankrupt. The new contractor who bought it got it for a steal. You should see the way they remodeled our floor.”