International Love

Chapter 15

“Alright guys,” Katie said, “You guys did amazing tonight! Friday we are in Orlando, FL. We should arrive there Thursday morning which means you have all day Thursday to yourselves. You all deserve. Also, tomorrow will start your first night with the stage. It’s finally ready and has already been loaded up. Get to the back for your meet and greet.”

“Nope, there is no meet and greet here.” Our tour manager, Jason, said, “We never had a meet and greet on opening night due to the magnitude of people that are actually here.”

“Alright, then let’s load up the bus.” Lacey said bouncing off.

“Hey guys don’t go.” Katie whispered to Steven, Derek, and Me.

She turned to make sure Lacey was out of sight. Katie never left anyone out of meetings. I knew immediately this was about Lacey and her future with the band.

“I wanted to see what you three thought about become a trio.” She began, “Our lawyers are trying to find a loophole in her contract. We cannot continue on with the way she’s been acting. It’s getting out of control. Tonight put the cherry on top. She cannot be bringing people around that have had a hand in putting another members life in danger.

Steven I know she’s your cousin but this is just getting out of hand. We’ve heard the constant threats of her destroying Ivy. She’s made this a toxic work environment. It may get to the point where she doesn’t finish the tour. How do you feel about that?”

“I cannot continue to stand by the decisions that Lacey makes. The jealousy thing is just completely out of hand.” Steven said, “The only reason the dynamic in our group has been messed up since Derek and Ivy got together is because of Lacey’s jealousy. She took it too far tonight by bringing Cathy here. I do not support her any longer.”

I looked at Steven and smiled. I walked over to him and hugged him, “Thank you so much for understanding. You have no clue how much it means to me. I never wanted something like this to happen because I love Lacey like my sister. But I’m scared for my life.”

“I’m sorry that she’s put you through this.” He responded.

Hearing that there were lawyers looking to find loopholes in Lacey’s contract was heartbreaking because I didn’t want this to happen. I wanted to mend my relationship with Lacey and hoped she would get over the jealousy thing. It appears as that would never happen. I didn’t want Steven to have to choose us or his cousin but he made the decision himself.

After we had our brief meeting with Katie we all dispersed to our dressing rooms to change out of our stage clothes and head to the bus to head to Florida. I handed my clothes to Daniel and hugged him goodbye until Thursday even though I knew I’d text him.

When we got to the tour bus Cathy was there again. I rolled my eyes and knew Lacey was screwing with me again.

“Lacey, we need to go. Why is she here?” I asked looking at her.

“Oh she’s riding with us to Florida and then flying back to California from there.” Lacey responded smugly.

“Absolutely not.” I said, “No. Nope. She needs to go.”

“Oh come on Ivy, this is a chance for you and I to get back on good terms.” Cathy answered.

“Nope.” I said, “You threw that chance out the window when you lied and said you had cancer and allowed Michael to choke me.”

I grabbed my bag and walked to my bunk. I could not believe I was going to be on this bus with for not just a couple hours but damn near two or three days because we will stop in different cities for site seeing. I mean we had 4 days before the next show. I don’t think I could mentally do this. Why was Lacey doing this to me?

I got in my bunk and shut the curtain. I just wanted to wallow in self pity for a little while. I felt tears sting my eyes as I truly realized Lacey was too far gone. And I was going to have to spend the next few days with this evil woman that birthed me.

Some time between all the crying I managed to fall asleep. In my dreams, I was back in the hospital reliving the moment I saw my life flash before my eyes. Then I was in the moment that I was abandoned. Then I was in a dark field and Michael was chasing after me with Cathy following behind. I couldn’t get away from them.

“Baby.” I heard, “Baby wake up.”

“Oh my gosh.” I woke up shooting up and smacking my head off the ceiling above my bunk. I cannot believe I just did that.

“Ivy!” Derek yelled, “Are you okay?”

“I know you want to laugh.” I groaned looking over at him.

“I’m sorry for laughing.” He giggled, “Are you okay? You were thrashing around and you’re sweating.”

“What time is it?” I asked rubbing my head.

“It’s just after 1am. Everyone is still awake. You haven’t eaten do you want to get something to eat and shower?” He asked.

I nodded my head and he helped me down from the bunk bed. We walked out into the main sitting area and it looks like we had gotten pizza during one of the stops. I got a plate and put two slices on it and sat at the table.

“How was your nap, sweetie?” Cathy asked.

“Cut the s**t. Don’t speak to me.” I grumbled taking a bite of pizza.

“You will not speak to your mother like that.” She said standing up, “You will treat me with respect.”

“You’ve got some nerve, lady. You abandoned me. You’re not my mother.” I said standing up as well, “Don’t pretend you give a rats ass about me now CATHY. As far as I’m concerned you’re dead to me.”

She reached out and slapped me across the face and pure rage came through my body.

“Do NOT touch me again you psychotic b***h!” I yelled as tears formed in my eyes, “I hope you’re f*****g satisfied Lacey. This is the toxic s**t that we can’t stand.”

“I’m very satisfied.” She smirked.

I rolled my eyes and walked to the bathroom back in the second sitting area. I shut the door and turned on the shower as tears streamed out of my eyes. This was a miserable start to tour and I couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Baby.” I heard a voice say. Not just any voice but a comforting voice. Dereks voice.

“Derek.” I cried opening the door for him to come in. He shut the door and locked it and scooped me up into his arms.

“Why is this happening to me?” I cried into his chest, “Why can’t I just be happy?”

“Just be patient my love.” He whispered as he stroked my hair, “This will all be over soon. I promise. No one is going to hurt you.”

“I just want to be happy Derek. I don’t want to be scared of my life. I don’t want to be scared to fall asleep. I just want a little bit of normalcy.” I cried.

“Oh baby.” He said hugging me tighter. He was at a loss for words. Even he didn’t know what to say anymore. Things have gotten so out of control, “Let’s get in the shower.” He said.

He helped me out of my clothes and then took his clothes off. We didn’t have s*x in the shower. As much as I wanted him when I saw him naked, I knew it wasn’t the time. Plus, I wasn’t quiet and I didn’t need everyone knowing when we have s*x.

Derek squeezed some shampoo in his hands and started washing my long brown hair. He knew I loved when I had my hair washed for me instead of doing it myself. Especially when he did it. The way he massaged my head and scratched it at the same thing. It was entrancing.

“I love when you wash my hair.” I smiled as I turned around to rinse out the shampoo.

“I know you do.” He winked.

We finished our shower and got out and dried off. I slipped on one of Dereks T-shirt’s and a pair of shorts while he slipped on some boxers and pajama pants. We walked out of the bathroom and instead of going back to the main sitting area we stayed in the back and watched a movie.

We lied on the couch and I started to doze off. I wanted to go get in our queen sized bed in the main sitting area but that’s where Cathy was going to be sleeping. Derek situated himself so he was lying on his back and I was resting on top of his chest. This was the perfect position I needed to fall asleep.

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The next morning I woke up lying on Dereks chest still. His arms were around me holding me tight. Dereks soft snoring was the only sound I heard. It seemed as if everyone was still asleep. I shifted a bit and it woke Derek up.

“Good morning, babe.” I whispered looking up at him.

“Good morning gorgeous.” He said as he stroked my back.

We lied there for a little while longer before he mentioned needing to use the restroom. When he came out from the restroom he sat down next to me on the couch.

“I think I heard someone say something about being in West Virginia.” He said, “They switched drivers just a little while ago.”

“Still so far away.” I said looking at him.

“Well I know we’re getting to stop and get off the bus for a bit today so that will be good for you to get some space from Cathy.” He said.

“I just don’t know if I can do this for three more days.” I said.

“Well, I think we’re about 3 hours from the nearest airport. Do you want to be dropped there and fly the rest of the way?” He asked.

“Can we do that?”

“Well, I don’t see why we wouldn’t be able to.”

“Let’s call Katie and ask. I want her to be aware of everything.” I said handing Derek the phone.

Derek dialed Katie’s number and it rang a few times. I didn’t think she was going to pick up but she ended up picking up on the last ring.

“Hey Derek what’s up?” She answered.

“Hey, Ivy is here, too.” He said, “I don’t know if you know this, but Lacey has allowed Cathy to ride to Florida with us and she actually ended up smacking Ivy across the face. Ivy doesn’t feel comfortable sitting on this bus with her for two more days. Quite frankly I don’t want Ivy around her any longer so we’d both like to fly out of Columbus, OH to Florida and check into our hotel today.”

“Derek, Lacey is out of control. I don’t know what to do anymore.” Katie said, “I will call the Four Seasons and let them know that two of you will be checking in today. We will remove Ivy from this. I’m also going to work on getting a temporary protection order for the remainder of the tour because we can’t have this happening. This is going to wreck the entire tour.”

“I agree. I just don’t know what to do anymore.” Derek said.

“I’ll send you an email with a couple plane tickets and the hotel reservation information. I’m so sorry that this is going on.” She said, “Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Thanks, Katie.” I said as the call was disconnected.

As we disconnected the call with Katie, Steven walked in to use the bathroom. After he came out he asked us who was on the phone. We explained what our plan was and he looked extremely upset. He was probably upset that he’d have to be stuck with Lacey and Cathy by themselves. I just knew that I was not going to be able to make it anymore time on this bus with that woman.