If I was just a casual fan off the streets, I’d die to be in this room. But I’m not just a casual fan.
I’m somehow part of this crew.
Gage and I have only officially been together for three weeks, but we already knew a lot about each other. We’ve settled into an easy routine where we spend nearly all day every day together before we spend the night together—usually at my place, depending on our evening activities, which almost always includes live music of some kind.
He’s incredible. He’s talented, and he’s sexy, and he’s smart and strong.
I never knew I could love someone the way I love him, but more importantly, I never knew I could be loved the way he loves me.
It’s like we were two souls destined to find each other, and through an incredible set of circumstances and a twist of fate...we did.
And neither of us is letting go.
It was a good two hour drive to San Diego, and Adam runs into the waiting room about a half hour after we arrive. “The baby’s here!” he yells, and his cheeks are red and he looks freaking exhausted. “He’s perfect, and Em’s perfect.”
A rousing chorus of gasps and excitement and congratulations run through the room.
“Well?” Dax asks. “Boy or girl? Name?”
“It’s a boy! Joseph David Wilson. He’s...uh...twenty-something inches and weighs nine pounds and some ounces. Holy shit. I need to sit down.” It appears to just be hitting him that he’s a dad now. Dax claps him on a shoulder as he falls into a chair in the waiting room.
“How’d you choose the name?” Dax asks.
Adam takes a deep breath. “My middle name for his first name, and Em’s brother’s name for his middle.”
“It’s perfect,” Kylie says. She holds her and Dax’s baby girl, Violet, in her arms. “They’ll be best friends.”
“Joey and Violet, sitting in a tree,” Rascal starts, and his fiancée, Amber, elbows him in the ribs while some of the others roll their eyes or turn glares on him. “What?” he says, holding up both hands.
“Violet won’t be allowed to date until she’s at least twenty-five,” Dax says.
“Even Joseph?” Adam asks, and everyone laughs.
“Maybe Joseph,” he concedes with a shrug.
I smile as I watch the exchange. I may be here as Gage’s girl, but they’re all so welcoming and lovely and they’ve never once made me feel like I don’t belong. In fact, Kylie has offered to help me choose the best manager from the options Ashmark has lined up for me. Brody has offered to help interview drummers, and all the other guys have expressed similar sentiments.
I never could’ve imagined everything that would follow when I got a random call from Ethan Fuller, but my new life in Los Angeles is more than I could’ve ever dreamed.
At the center of it all is music, and even more importantly, love.
EPILOGUE: GAGE
I slide my fingers through hers as we sit on the couch.
We’ve already seen the first episode of Rock on the Road: The Replacement War at the viewing party at Ashmark, but tonight is the official premiere. The MFB guys are back in San Diego with the exception of Rascal, who’s at our place.
Lexi and I are at her place, just the two of us as we eat pizza and watch the first episode where we say words we both regret saying and where we do things we both wish we could take back.
We’ve been warned.
Mark Ashton, Dax Hunter, and all the other guys have told us what to expect.
They said that once the show starts airing, our lives would change.
They said I’d need to stay away from the MFB guys because there will be eyes on me, watching to see if I’m in contact with them.
I guess I’ll be spending more time at Lexi’s place for the next six weeks.
That’s not a bad thing.
Tonight’s the last night we might be able to go to a bar and just sit and have a drink without someone wanting something from us, whether it’s a signature or a selfie.
But we chose to just be together the two of us, because that’s what matters to us.
Bars and restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations...they’re all important, but tonight and every night I’d rather be here, home alone with the girl I love, than in any of those places.
We both apologize when the show ends even though we’ve already buried it in the past, and then we go to bed, where we don’t just fuck or have sex, but we show each other the love that we both feel in our hearts.
And the guys were right to warn us.
When we wake up, we decide to head out to breakfast.
Our waitress recognizes us.
When we get home, it’s everywhere.
Top enemy contenders in new reality show spotted together in Los Angeles.
Have they buried the past?
Have Gage and Lexi of The Replacement War kissed and made up?
The headlines are all accompanied with photos of us at breakfast.
One Instagram post even comments on my choice of pancakes.
Nobody has ever cared what kind of pancakes I ordered, and suddenly the fact that I ordered the banana split ones is a fucking headline.
I didn’t take the warnings to heart.
I didn’t believe them. I didn’t take them seriously.
The banana split pancake post is the first look into this new world where I suddenly reside.
And it’s honestly a little scary.
But Lexi’s fingers find my jaw before she leans in to kiss me, and with her by my side, life seems just a little less scary. This whole thing feels a whole lot more manageable as I navigate it with her by my side.
It gets worse as the show airs each week—the paparazzi, the headlines, even the finger pointing and the ones that try to paint us in negative ways. Some say that we’re doomed, but they don’t know us. They don’t understand what we’ve been through, and they don’t see how connected we are because of what we’ve already overcome.
We’re stronger than they think.
Each accusation, each new article, each blog post or stolen image of the two of us only pushes us closer together in a bond that no one else could really understand.
When the final episode is upon us six weeks later, Ashmark holds another party.
When I pick up my date, her jaw drops.
“What?” I ask, and I glance down at the suit I’m wearing.
“I’ve, uh...just never seen you in a suit before.” Her eyes roam the length of my body before they return to mine. I shift uncomfortably until she says, “You look good. Like, really good. Do we have time for a quickie?”
I chuckle as I look her up and down. God, she’s smoking hot in a purple dress that hugs every delicious curve of her body. How did I get so damn lucky? “You look really good, too, and no, we don’t have time. But I did manage to secure Tony for our ride, so maybe we can mess around in the back of the car.”
She giggles. “Deal.”
We manage to keep it PG-13-ish in the car, and then we’re at our destination.
But this building has become so much more than just a destination to us both. It’s the place where we’re employed. Our bosses and colleagues are upstairs, and that fact blows my damn mind.
I’m nervous.
This is where it becomes official. This is where the world will know that I’m part of MFB now.