The Biker's Fate Chapter 470

Melody

I paced back and forth, phone in hand, desperately fighting the urge to call my sister. Harmony had made it perfectly clear when she'd resigned as my assistant/road manager/firefighter that she needed to draw a healthy boundary line between our sisterhood and my career. Her decision to leave was rough on me but I'd understood it completely. To say my life back then was out of control would be the understatement of the year. Hell, I would have walked away from the burning wreckage that was my life if I could have.

After the "leaking" of my sex tape with Bam Nelson, followed by the incident with my stalker who ended up being Harmony's stalker, followed then by marriage and divorces numbers two and three, legal battles with my former record label, then blah, blah, fucking blah, I was sicker of me than anyone.

"Come on Melody," I said out loud to myself. "You've got this handled all by yourself. You don't need your sister."

I'd spent the past three days calling everyone I knew, trying to find a suitable guitarist with an open schedule, to no avail. Everyone in the band had exhausted their contacts list as well. The problem was, all the summer tours had been booked months ago, so all the top players already had gigs lined up. Plus, I was damaged goods. Of course, no one in the band was going to tell me that, but I knew it was the response some of their buddies had given them. Who could blame them? My flameouts were as epic as my successes.

Then there was the fact that some people simply would never see me as anything other than a "child star." I could hardly blame them. After all, I did start off in the business when I was just four years old as the baby of the Morgan Family singers. By the time I was fifteen I was the star of my own Dizzy Channel show and had signed my first recording contract as a solo artist. Within five years, I was considered a modern pop diva and ten years after that, a cautionary tale. A shining star reduced to fodder for the gossip bloggers and bottom feeders.

But I was in a completely different place now. Mentally, artistically, and spiritually. Only, the world didn't know that yet. This tour was my chance to show them who I'd become over the past three years. To show them the real me.

For this tour we'd scaled back the stage production, big time. Partially because I was now working with a smaller label and a greatly reduced budget, but also by design. I wanted this tour to be more intimate and personal. Less of the three-ring circus we used to take on the road, and more like bands back in the 90's would tour. For the first time, I didn't have dancers or my usual arsenal of backup singers. The entire show would be carried by me and the five band members on stage. Four if I couldn't find a guitarist.

My thumb began to cramp as it hovered over Harmony's name.

"You don't need her. You can do this," I said, defiantly sliding my phone into my pocket, before immediately digging it back out and calling my sister.

"What have you done?" Harmony answered.

"Oh, I didn't expect you to pick up so quickly, I…" I stammered, caught off guard.

"Spill it."

"I really didn't want to call you, NiNi," my voice began to quiver. "I know you're not my tour manager anymore and this isn't your problem and I want to respect your boundaries, and—"

"Hey," Harmony stopped me. "Slow down. It's okay. What's wrong?"

"Are you sure, because if you want me to fuck off, I can figure this out on my own."

"It may not be my job to help you as a singer, but I can still help you as a sister, right?"

I started sobbing. Like, super ugly sobbing. Gasping for air, snot shooting out of my nose, sobbing. I told her all about firing Gill and not being able to find his replacement, my worries about my new security team, and then eventually about every problem I'd had so far putting this tour together. I was so busy being excited over the tour, I guess I hadn't realized how much stress I'd been holding in.

"Wow," Harmony replied once I'd finished my mega dump.

"So, as you can see. I'm doing a real whiz-bang job without you," I said.

"Yes, you are," she replied enthusiastically.

"What? I was being sarcastic."

"I'm not," she said. "I have never been more amazed by you. The amount of work and dedication you've put into this tour? Are you kidding me? I've never seen you so focused or passionate. Sure, you've hit a bunch of roadblocks, so did I, but you've overcome every single one of them."

"Except this one," I said. "I was lucky to find Gill, and now he's gone, and I'm screwed."

"He's gone because you did the right thing. You protected that girl from a dangerous creep. You put the safety of a stranger before your own needs, and I couldn't possibly be prouder of you."

"Thanks sis," I sniffled.

"Any time. Besides, I just won a hundred bucks in the 'how long will it take for Melody to call Harmony' pool."

"Shut up," I said. "That's not a real thing."

"I put twenty dollars on one to five days. If you'd waited one more day Lyric would've taken the pot."

"You guys are horrible," I said, unable to fight back a giggle.

"Jaxon was the only one that had you making it through the entire tour without calling."

"Thank your sweet husband from me. I'll bring him an official crew jacket at the end of the tour."

"Gonna need a guitar player for that tour, aren't you?" Harmony asked.

"Got any ideas?"

"I just might," she replied.