Kai looks pissed, but I roll my eyes. iI is just in Vance’s nature to be a dickhead.
Taking the pictures with Kai is so fun. The set is completely white, and we are wearing dark denim jeans. My makeup is bare other than my eyes. They are done up in a smoky fashion.
Most of the shots have us staring into each other’s eyes. They snap a few of us being playful too though. I told Kai I want a copy of the one of me laying across his chest. The photographer assures me we will get copies of all the pictures.
The band is brought back in for a few more shots. Kai is not happy that I am topless for this as well, but the guys aren’t even getting to see a hint of my chest. I am standing with my breasts pressed into Kai’s back.
After I get my shirt back on, Kai and I join the columnist for dinner to do a brief interview. He already interviewed Cooper’s Religion as a whole.
“Kai, Katie, thank you for agreeing to sit down with me. Your fans want to know what the lie that sparked your break up was. Are you willing to go on the record with it?”
Kai decides to answer this one. His publicist already prepared a statement. “Katie and I chose to separate. We had just gotten out of high school and we had our own personal issues to sort through. It was just hard for us to work them out together.”
“You have a large female fan base. Do your fans need to worry about wedding bells in the near future?” He directs the question to me.
“Kai isn’t putting a ring on my finger anytime soon, so they can rest easy for now. But the other members of Cooper’s Religion are incredibly good looking and single.” I wink.
“In one of your songs, you call Katie your biggest regret. What do you mean by that line?” He looks to Kai.
“I wasted a lot of time being too intimidated to approach her. I regretted the time I wasted.”
The writer has a few more questions for Kai. I excuse myself to take an emergency call from Penny.
When I answer her call, Penny is a sobbing mess. Bradly, her fiancé, passed away two days ago in Iran. The Humvee he was a passenger in hit a roadside bomb, killing him instantly. His side of the vehicle suffered most of the extent of the blast.
My stomach drops. I feel so helpless. I cannot fix this for her. My best friend is devastated and alone. I offer to come to her, but she says she is going home to her parent’s place for a few days. She wants to know what she should do with Percy. I hate to bother him, but I text Stewart. I feel so bad for just blowing him off after he was so sweet to me.
Me: Stewart, I hate to bother you, but I am out of town and Penny has something personal going on and has to leave Percy unattended. Is there any way you could take Percy to the clinic until she is able to pick him up? I will pay for anything you need for his care.
Stewart: I can take Percy to my house, it isn’t a problem. I hope you are happy, Katie. I wish you the best. Just let me know when you can about future arrangements for Percy.
Poor Stewart, I hope he finds him someone to make him care for them the way that I feel for Kai.
2 months later
Kai and I are back in Kentucky this weekend visiting with his family before he starts recording his second album. Seeing Raven at first was awkward, but she did apologize in her own roundabout way. When Khloe first laid eyes on me, she started squealing and clapping. I can’t believe how much she has grown. She is more than happy to take Percy off my hands. Stewart and Kai had an awkward meeting when we picked my cat up from him. I thought Stewart was going to shit his pants when Kai shook his hand. He is a huge fan.
Kent and Kelli are happy to see Kai and I back together. They aren’t happy about us living together without at least being engaged but we are young and happy. There is no need to put a rush on anything. Kai and I are happy just to be together. Kai told them to stop pressuring us…it will happen when it happens.
I am so excited that I am going along with him on his European tour after this next album gets recorded and released. Penny is going with us. She is still depressed over Bradly, but I am hoping this trip will help. Vance and Hunter are both eager to help her heal her broken heart. Kai is worried that she is going to cause a divide
in the band by coming between those two, but who’s to say what the future will hold. I found out that my Mom is really my aunt and my mother died during labor. My father was unable to raise me on his own and dropped me with Nancy and never looked back. I searched him up and found out that he is serving a life sentence in prison for an armed robbery gone wrong and he killed two people. I still don’t know how I feel about it, but I have Kai and his family. Nancy has reached out a time or two but I’m not ready to reconnect with her. I don’t know that I will ever want to.
“I can’t believe you are going to be singing on tour with Kai and you are going to be singing a duet on this new album,” Raven says, smacking me in the chest with her copy of The Hit List.
I look down, see Kai’s photograph and mine on the cover. “I had no idea this was out,” I shriek, flipping it open to the feature on Cooper’s Religion.
Band
Cooper’s Religion
Album
The Suffocation of Katie
If you haven’t heard of the band, Cooper’s Religion, chances are you might be dead. Their debut album, the Suffocation of Katie, has been topping the charts for nearly a year now since its release. With a grunge sound reminiscent of the mid 90’s, Cooper’s Religion brings all the raw edginess rock lovers have been missing. Front man, Kai Cooper, makes you feel his pain, singing haunting lines such as “…I’ll be your pain and you’ll be my biggest regret…” Most of the album centers on front man, Kai Cooper’s relationship with longtime girlfriend, Katie. I recently sat down with the band and the infamous Katie for an interview. I can assure you she has not been suffocated and is breathing just fine.
Kai comes over, resting his chin on my shoulder, and reads the article along with me. “Fuck, Katie. You look so hot in these pictures.” His facial hair scrapes against my jaw, making me tingle below.