Rush

Finally, there are no police or lawyers or prison guards to smother the beauty of those words. “I love you, too, Daddy.”

I stroke his hair back from his face, going over everything that’s happened.

“The prison sentence. Your reputation suffering. The band being dropped. Is there anything about the past year that you regret?”

Rush rolls over on top of me and slides between my legs. He hovers over me, smiling, and I smooth my hands up his muscled chest. “What did I tell you, baby? Phoenix. From now on, we’ll be stronger and better than ever.”

Epilogue

Rush

Four months later

“Babygirl, did you do all the things you had to do today?”

In the hotel room in Berlin, Dree finishes putting in her earrings and then sinks down onto the carpet between my feet. Her cheekbones shimmer with glitter and her long, dark hair flows down her back. I cup her face between my hands, the smile on her face taking my breath away.

She holds up a finger. “I said one nice thing about myself every time I had a negative thought.” She holds up another finger. “I looked at social media for only thirty minutes in total.” And she holds up a third one. “And I kissed Daddy.” She grins, sits up a little and presses a kiss to my mouth.

“Good fucking girl.”

I cuddle her close, hugging her body with my thighs and leaning over her to kiss the top of her head. This is what I’ve always wanted, even before I had a name for it. Someone to protect and care for as well as love.

My hand sneaks down to her shorts, and I flip open the button and delve inside. She’s due onstage soon with Rin, Jasminta and Cassie, but I’ll make enough time for this.

Dree gasps as my fingers slide against her clit and her eyes flutter closed. As I keep rubbing, her body arches against my legs and she grips my shoulders.

“Say you’re mine, Dree,” I murmur, my lips against her ears. “Tell me that you’re my good girl, and you always will be.”

I move my finger slowly, drinking in the pleasure that flickers over her face.

“I’ll always—” she breaks off to moan, and then she gazes up at me through half-lidded eyes. “Always be yours, Daddy.”

Happiness floods through me.

Mine.

All mine.

“Say it again.”

“I’m yours—ah!” she breaks off in a cry and arches back over my thigh, her breasts pushed upwards. I kiss her throat as she comes, feeling her pulse thundering beneath my lips.

That’s fucking perfect. When she comes back to earth, I button up her shorts and study her face. “You nervous?”

It’s the first show of the summer. The first show Saint Cyprian has performed since Glastonbury. And Dree’s first show ever. After her reluctance to be in the public eye for so long, I’m excited to see how she does tonight with Itch Scratch and Rin.

Dree licks her lips and strokes her fingers down the veins on the backs of my hands. “A little bit, but I keep reminding myself that I’ve been on stage at Glastonbury and I didn’t die, even if it was just for a moment.”

I kiss her forehead. “That’s my girl.”

Ten minutes later, we walk through the humid summer air into the festival grounds, showing our passes to the security guards, and head for the main stage. Music is blaring out of various tents and there are happy people everywhere. Festival season is my favorite time of year.

Rin’s on first at the main stage, and when he heads out, Cassie, Jasminta and Dree go with him. The girls are his backup singers and dancers and they look fucking fantastic as the music begins and they start to move.

Dree wasn’t sure about any of this when Rin first asked her and the Itch Scratch girls to perform with him, protesting that she couldn’t sing to save her life. But most people assume that. I put Dree in the recording booth at home and coached her, and then played back the recordings. Once she gained a little confidence, her voice became stronger and stronger. She doesn’t want to sing lead, but I’ve been watching her rehearse and she’s got a good voice and she’s an even better dancer, of course.

Now that I look at her out there with the stage lights on her face, I can see she’s fucking loving it. I glance over and see that Wes is documenting this with his handicam. I want to be able to look back on these moments next week, next year, in ten years’ time. Things are changing so fast and we’re all riding high on it. Our label, Phoenix, has signed Rin, Itch Scratch and several other fresh acts. I’m working on producing three albums for our label. Best of all, Saint Cyprian’s album was released six weeks ago and it’s still at number one.