“You ready?” Jim asks, looking back at all of us before opening the door to the conference room.
“Here we go,” Joel mutters as the doors are opened and we see all the flashes going off. At the beginning of my music career, these flashes used to freak me out, but with time, I got used to it. But not today. The minute the door opens, my body tenses, my wolf suddenly fighting to be set free. What the fuck? Every nerve in my body is tense. My senses are on high alert. I can sense excitement, anxiousness, but not any danger. Then why is my wolf so stressed?
We walk past everyone, down to the raised stage with the long table and five chairs. He told us we were going to meet the winner of the competition, but I guess we’re going to be interviewed first. Would have been nice of him to mention that. Jim raises his hands for everyone to calm down, he loves being the centre of attention.
“Good Evening, everyone. As promised, you can ask a couple of questions to your favourite band before we announce the winner of the Dreamcatcher Competition.” I take a seat next to Jake, who is sitting on my left. Kevin takes the seat on my other side and Joel plops down at the end.
“Kristy, you go first,” Jim calls out to one of the journalists of a well-known magazine.
“Thank you, Jim. Good evening,” she greets, which has all of us greeting her in return. I hate this whole show and dance. “This concert was an unexpected surprise, but as usual, you sold out. I think your fans would like to know why the dates were brought forward of your tour?”
“I’ll answer that one,” Kevin says as he looks at us and then at Kristy. “We finished the album we have been working on, and just couldn’t wait to share it with everyone.” If they only knew that the album had been finished before we even went off, but that’s one thing about these guys; they might not like the fact that they had to come back before the time, but they won’t show any of that resentment to the media or the public.
After that answer, a barrage of questions are asked. We answer with humour until Jim finally calls a halt to the questions. “Now, we would like to welcome the winner of the Dreamcatcher Competition. You will see that this year our winner is a very special young lady—a lady which the guys are dying to meet. Before we call her in, I would like to thank the thousands of fans that entered on behalf of myself and the band.” Jim might be a prick, but he knows how to market. “Now, without any further delay, let’s welcome Denise Spenser.” My stomach knots as the door opens and I see the young girl sitting in the wheelchair. I start to stand so I can greet her, but halfway off my chair I freeze.
“Fuck me,” I whisper, which has Jake looking back at me in surprise. My eyes are trained on the woman pushing the wheelchair in. Her gaze locks with mine and I can feel my heart start to race. No fucking way is this happening right now. I want to rush towards her and make her mine, right here and right now. Shit, my cock is as hard as a fucking steel bar. There is no way that the cameras won’t catch that. Perfect, I’ll be labelled a perv who gets excited over disabled girls. Looking down at the table, I grab the envelope that Jim was holding earlier, placing it before me as I walk towards them.
Her eyes have now snapped down towards the girl, but I see her swallow and her tongue flicker out, wetting her kissable lips. Her honey blond hair is tied up in a messy bun. Strands have escaped and are now framing her stunningly beautiful face. She’s a tiny little thing; she probably doesn’t even reach my shoulder. Her eyes meet mine again, and in them is the wanting passion that I’m sure she must see in mine, too. And at this moment I have no doubt in my mind that she’s mine.
SIENA 2
Why, oh why, do I have this crazy attraction to the man?
Yes, his music can lull anyone into a calming trance, but I know it’s all fake—that he’s fake. I’ve been raking my mind over ways to meet him for over a year now, so when the call came through to say that I had won the Dreamcatcher Competition, I was ecstatic.
If everything goes according to plan tonight, I will ruin Blue Strada like he ruined Lee Ann, my beautiful and once carefree sister. He managed to deceive and break her heart to the point where she tried to take her own life. Lee Ann is still a shell of the person she used to be, I promised to always be there and protect her, but I let my mom down, and I let myself down.
Mom must be rolling in her grave to know that her little girl is hurting, that a man that has no morals tricked and wounded my little sister like he did. Blue Strada thinks he’s above others just because he’s well known and famous. Well, I will teach him that playing with people’s feelings is a double-sided sword. Taking in a deep breath, I open the door to Lee Ann’s room. “Rise and shine, sleepyhead.” Walking towards the curtains, I draw them back before turning around to face my sister.
“Why?” she mumbles as she raises her arm to cover her eyes.
“Because it’s a beautiful day, and I thought that before I go to work today, we could both go for a walk.” Lee Ann has hardly left the house in the last year. I worry about her every time I leave for work, but I can’t afford to stay at home because the bills keep on flying in. Things got even worse with all the doctor bills, after Lee Ann attempted to commit suicide, and was institutionalized for a while. She hasn’t done much with her life except sit around the house. I constantly worry that she will try it again, and I fight through every day of my sister’s depression, hoping that one day she will realize that she’s a beautiful, intelligent woman that was handed a bum deal, but also that life goes on and that assholes like Blue Strada aren’t worth someone’s life.
“I don’t feel like it.” That is her usual answer, and even though I get tired of fighting with her—pushing her, the alternative is unacceptable to me.
“Lee Ann, come on, get up. You know that you need to exercise, and the fresh air will do you good.” She doesn’t answer but just lies there. “I will have to call Taffy to come and sit with you if you don’t get up.” Taffy is one of our friends, but Lee Ann doesn’t like it when Taffy comes over. I have realized that she doesn’t like Taffy to see her in this state, therefore I use it every opportunity I can.
She lowers her arm and then turns to look at me, her big sad eyes wrenching at my heart. “You’re such a pain,” she whispers.
“Yes, but this pain loves you. So, please come on this walk with me.”
She sighs but pulls the duvet back to show her thin body. A strong wind will blow her away, something else I need to worry about. Lee Ann and I have a small bone structure, and are naturally thin, but with her depression, she’s eating like a bird. Before all of this happened, she was radiant, laughing, and happy, but then one night when she went out with her friends to one of Blue’s concerts, her downfall started.
For a whole month I hardly saw her. She was always out at one of his shows. At the time, I couldn’t make the shows because I was working night shift, then one day I get home, and she’s crying, saying that it’s all over and not giving me more than that until two months later when she found out that she was pregnant.
Since then, that pain has entered our home, but I have hoped that soon she will realize what a wonderful and caring person she is, and that he was the asshole. Making my way towards the bedroom door, I smile to myself when I see her getting up to get dressed. At least I’m getting her out of the house. It might not be the war won, but it’s a step forward. Looking at the watch on my wrist, I hurry towards the kitchen, placing my lunch in my bag.
A few minutes later, she walks into the kitchen.
I wrap my arms around her shoulders, kissing her cheek. “I love you, sweetheart.” I close my eyes to keep the tears in check. I know that she will feel even worse than she is if she sees how sad this makes me.
“Thank you, Siena.” Her voice is choked, the last thing I want to do is make her more depressed than she already is.
“Well, let’s go, Angel, a brisk walk will be perfect.” Taking her hand, I make my way towards the door. Lee Ann and I have always been the best of friends. We have always looked out for each other; mom spent her life working to support us. Dad died in the line of fire when Lee Ann was still a baby, and I was two. She had to turn herself inside out to keep us fed and dressed.
I won’t let mom down, that is why I have continued with my plans to make Blue pay for what he did to my little sister. When she went to tell that bastard that he was going to become a father, he sent her packing, saying that he didn’t want anything to do with her or her child. That is the day she miscarried. Since then, the happy life we had before changed into this incredibly sad fight for normality.
“I’m going to be late tonight; I have this thing with Denise.” I’m a trained Orthopaedic Nurse, and at the moment one of my patients is Denise. She’s a sixteen-year-old that has had a hard life. To add to it, she was in an accident which left her fighting for her life, but she’s a fighter and got better. There was extensive damage to her pelvis and legs. Denise has been in a wheelchair since the accident, but I see great improvement in her because she’s working really hard to walk again.