Haze, Andrea Wolfe [english novels for beginners txt] 📗

took off in a huge way. Today, you can't go anywhere without running into her music, whether it be in a commercial, a movie, or on Spotify. The next concert in NYC after the CD release party took place at Madison Square Garden, something unprecedented for an artist as new as Lexy Brown.

It was huge, a moment I'll never forget. It was the first time I got to see Jack projected on giant video screens that surrounded the stage. I mean, the whole band was up there too, but obviously, I was most focused on the man I loved.

There had been almost a full year of non-stop, national and international touring. We went all across Europe, Asia, and even had stops in Japan and Australia. Everywhere we went, the shows were sold out and the crowds were insane. People loved Lexy. And due to Jack's involvement in the creative process, they loved him too. People recognized him in the street in Japan and begged for photos!

The road was luxurious, nothing like the amateur tours I heard about from friends of friends during college. As crazy as it was, on the United States tour we even had our own private, portable gym, a trailer that followed our caravan across the country and made physical fitness on the go a real thing. I got to experience so much of the world, every moment shared gloriously with Jack.

No matter where we were on the globe, he always knew great places to eat, sites to see, and anything else relevant to those particular GPS coordinates.

The thing was, as much as I loved that lifestyle—it often felt like an incredible, extended vacation—it sometimes felt like too much. Jack appeared to love it, so I usually kept quiet. Honestly, it was a lot of fun, but I was growing more and more worried that I would burn out and become lethargic and difficult to deal with.

And hell, I was lucky to have experiences like that. Most people never knew what life as a rock 'n' roll star was really like.

On another positive note, Jack was becoming more in demand as a producer than ever before. When I say that you couldn't escape Lexy's brilliant music, that was just the tip of the iceberg. Jack was the hit maker of the decade, as Rolling Stone so eloquently put it. It was unclear where that growing demand would take him, but I knew it would be big.

Sam had been sentenced to thirty-one years behind bars with no chance of parole for attempted rape and murder. I had testified at the trial, along with a number of other girls he had harassed over the years. It had been one of the most difficult things I'd ever done in my life. But I had to do it, and as Jack predicted, it brought me some genuine closure.

Facing the things that horrified me only made me stronger. Going through with something so heart-wrenching made everything else in my life that much easier. It was the truth.

Oddly enough, MCI was still around, but less powerful than ever. They had tried to buy Jack's label out on multiple occasions, and he politely told them to get lost. It only made me love him even more. He had lived his whole life wanting to really give the middle finger to a big corporation—and starting his own label had finally given him the opportunity to do so.

I had very seriously taken up writing in my spare time—Jack's suggestion that I find a creative outlet was a very good one indeed—hoping to eventually publish a book or maybe even a movie script. It had come pretty naturally, Jack's encouragement guaranteeing that I made forward progress. I loved putting words down on page, creating characters and stories like the ones I had spent so many years watching and digesting.

He had, unbeknownst to me, shown one of my works to Stacy, who sent me an email telling me how she liked it. That was a hell of a surprise. Hearing that your hero liked your work was a damn good motivator. I haven’t stopped writing ever since.

I was also still doing some of the accounting at the label, so I kept happily busy much of the time. Life felt meaningful and fulfilling, just the way Jack had promised it would be.

Jack and my parents got along great. They loved him from the very beginning, and we often flew to Michigan to spend the weekend at Lake Michigan, not too far from my old house. My dad liked to pick Jack’s brain about investments, and Jack was always eager to tell him what he knew. He even helped my mom in the kitchen, something that she couldn't say enough good things about.

The process of mending things with his parents was slower, however. But that didn't mean it didn't happen. Jack and I talked about it so much that I felt like I had had those negative experiences with his family. I urged him forward, just like he had with me in the Sam situation, encouraging him to face that which troubled him.

So finally, out of the blue one day, we flew to Minneapolis and he told them how he felt. It was a really emotional time, but the formerly tenuous bonds started to strengthen immediately. They weren't defensive at all as he poured out his heart, just accepting of his frustration and bottled up feelings toward them.

And when they apologized, he accepted it this time and wiped the slate clean. Unconditional love had won out in the end. So both of our families would be at our upcoming wedding—and that was perfect.

Timothy eventually apologized to me, shame overwhelming him and putting him into a nasty state of depression. As I predicted, he had realized how out-of-character all of his behavior had been—both before and after my move—and wanted to make amends for it.

I met him one last time—with Jack at my side, of course—prior to him leaving New York