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Von irlfriend and his kid, and spent more time on Skype than he did in the bar Catcher spent uys in Artifice, but really was just happy to be along for the ride, and Boone we all watched every day, to see if he was struggling at all with his long stretch of sobriety Being on the road was hard, and for this long and this far froht slip I don’t think anyone was thinking about signing with the label and I was glad The band was solid and I would have hated for us to break up because anted different things That thought just hit a little too close to hoht now for me

Dario insisted ere the better band, that we could go places and do things Artifice had only come close to, and while I took it as a co I wanted, the only thing that ht for each other and that’s where I seemed to be stuck

I luh, and eyeballed the girl I needed to get her under me or out the door, and o with, when my phone trilled the very screaes across the ocean still weirdedister to n language, or that she hurled the remote at my head as I went into the bathrooet rid of, but I didn’t deserve anything less for soht? Is Rule okay?"

Worst-case scenarios were running through ry Ger fists If I had been just a shade more intoxicated, this entire situation would have been so ridiculously hilarious there was a chance I would have killedover it

"Hey, sorry to interrupt you, but I needed to call you even though Rule threatened to hide my phone if I did"

"What’s up?" She sounded nervous, which made me nervous andreally heavy hit the door, and I absently wondered if the girl had bothered to put on clothes before throwing her tantrum It struck me as funny that no roupie was still just a pissed-off groupie

"It’s Ayden"

And just like that the world stopped There was no angry blonde in the next roo but Ayden, and the fact she was too far away I stopped breathing long enough that the rooet me back in focus

"What’s up with Ayden?"

I tried to sound casual, but knew I failed miserably when Shaw just swore softly

"Look, there is a bunch of stuff she needs to tell you, that you need to make her tell you I understand why she pushed you away and you just have to believe ht she was protecting you, but right now, she’s alone and she needs you She wouldn’t let o with her, but she needs someone, and honestly that so right now and I’ht?"

She sighed and what sounded like her head thunking against so hard came across the line

"I know But she needs you"

"I think sheshe needs in her life, Shaw" Soed It looked like the cost of my room just went up exponentially

"Her brother is in the hospital, Jet He got beaten within an inch of his life and no one knows if he’s going toin a hospital in Louisville all by herself, waiting to see if her only sibling is going to die Come on, I know you don’t fully understand why she pushed you away and left you hanging but the reality is she just wanted to keep you at ar to protect you"

"Froly and full of really awful things She’s in love with you"

I ground ether and absently kicked at the bathroom door

"I didn’t even know she had a brother If she loved me, don’t you think that would have co to help, but I think you’re grasping at straws"

Now she swore loudly, and I heard all kinds of Rule in her attitude when she snapped back at uy! You don’t need to give her anything, all you need to do is show up She just needs you to show up, Jet It’s not that hard" I didn’t get a chance to respond before she went on "I know you’re hurting, but so is she, and the only thing that will make either of you stop is for one of you to realize that you just need to be together Plain and simple If you can’t see that, then you didn’t deserve her in the first place I’ll talk to you later, Jet"

She hung up onin a bathroom, ain a bag and run off to the rescue, only the last time I had tried that, I had ended up in jail I was so tired of trying to save people, women in particular, who ultimately didn’t wantalone, the idea of her trying to handle so like that by herself, turned me inside out, but she didn’t wantI could do for her that her girlfriends or Sweater Vest couldn’t do Besides, I had a naked and very angry Gerible problem I could fix

We were on the train to Berlin the next day and I felt awful I hadn’t slept at all the night before and getting rid of the St Pauli girl on steroids had proven etcooped up on the train with a bunch of hungover h to make me want to pull every last hair out ofacross fro around on his phone, seely oblivious to the noise around us and I envied him the peace he seeht, man? You’ve looked ready to bail out theall day"

I shifted restlessly in the seat