I’m her Daddy, her secret, her man. And she’s my girl, for as long as she’ll have me.17KatieOne Year LaterYou never get used to an entire stadium screaming along as you sing.
It’s a surreal feeling. Everyone in this room knows me and wants me and is a fan of me. They love and hate me in equal measure and I don’t know them at all. To them, I’m not even a person.
And here we are, all doing this together, and it’s amazing.
It’s even more amazing because I’m not living in the shadows anymore.
After my last tour ended, I wrote another album in two weeks. It took another two weeks to record it, and as soon as the label gave the record the green light, I married Graham.
The world went insane. I mean, a pop star marrying her much older bodyguard is a scandal, to say the least. Everyone lost their minds, and a lot of it was bad, very, very bad.
We basically went into hiding. We lived out of this little vacation spot in the Caribbean for three months, doing nothing but fucking, drinking, and eating. It was some of the best days of my entire life.
But the real world came back sooner or later. “Can’t hide forever, princess,” Graham growled at me. “Time to do what you do best.”
And so, here we are touring again, barely ten months after the end of the last tour.
For a first show, it goes smooth. When it’s over, I’m sweating and exhausted and exhilarated. Graham’s waiting for me in the wings, grinning as I run up to him and jump into his arms.
“Damn girl,” he grunts, laughing. “You’re gonna break an old man’s back.”
“Please,” I say, looking at him, legs wrapping around his waist, his hands on my ass. “I couldn’t break you if I tried.”
He chuckles and kisses me nice and slow.
People are around and they’re staring, but they don’t say a word.
It feels good, not having to hide this anymore. He’s still my Daddy, and that part’s still a secret, but at least we’re not hiding in the dark anymore.
We walk back to the green room. It’s quiet and empty, exactly the way I told Norah it better be when I got back. She’s waiting on the couch, legs crossed, and smiles.
“Congrats on the first show,” she says.
I sit down and Graham sits next to me. “I’m so tired,” I say, laughing. “God, I’m out of shape.”
“Hardly,” Graham says. “I’ve been keeping you fit.”
Norah looks a little awkward at that and I kiss Graham, laughing.
“Anyway,” Norah says. “We have a bunch of stops this tour planned.”
“How are record sales?” I ask her.
“Good,” she says. “Really good. You even got a review in Pitchfork.”
“Did they hate it?”
“They didn’t hate it, but they didn’t love it.” She shrugs. “About as good as you could expect from them.”
I laugh and Graham growls. “I’ll take care of them, if you want,” he says.
“You can’t solve all our problems with your fists, honey,” I say.
He grunts. “Bet I could.”
I laugh again, remembering how he wanted to chase down Jasper and beat him up. That seems so long ago now.
After Norah sent the video to his manager and explained the situation, Jasper disappeared from public life for a while. There were rumors that he went into rehab, but I don’t really know what he did. I can say that he never contacted me again, and the stalker stuff instantly stopped.
He also hasn’t been in any movies since then. I suspect Norah had something to do with that, too. I think she sent that video to more than just his manager, against my wishes, but I don’t have any proof.
Oh, well. It doesn’t matter anymore.
Norah gets up and stretches. “Well, early morning tomorrow. You two up for it?”
“She is,” Graham says. “I’m just the old man tagging along.”
I grin and kiss him. “Cut it out. You’re not old.”
“Not yet.”
“See you two later,” Norah says, rolling her eyes.
“Alone again,” I whisper to him.
“Alone again,” he agrees, and we kiss, slow and deep.
When we finally break it off, he holds me tight against him. “Are you happy you’re out on the road again?”
“I guess,” I admit. “I don’t know. This isn’t my favorite part of being famous.”
“Why bother then?” he asks.
“This is how I make money.”
“Do you need money?”
I frown. “I mean, yeah.”
“You’ve got plenty already.”
“True.”
“So take time off. Write more songs. Do fun shit.”
“Too late now.”
“After the tour,” he says gently. “Promise me you’ll take time off.”
I grin at him. “Maybe we’ll start a family.”
He perks up at that, which surprises me. We haven’t talked about kids or anything like that yet, but the way he’s looking at me…
“I could take care of that,” he says. “I could get you nice and pregnant, if you want.”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I think I want to be a mom…”