Blessed Fate by Hb Heinzer Page A

last night in Baton Rouge. Is the blessed coupling over before they began? (see inset)
     
    I slammed my hand on the table hard enough to make the cell phone near the edge fall to the floor. "Damn it!" I shouted.
    It had been two weeks since we left Lexington, and someone had leaked a picture of Rain and I at the burial to one of the gossip sites. No wonder she was so untrusting; someone from her hometown had decided to cash in on a very private moment and twisted it to be something it wasn't. As if that wasn't bad enough, the burial picture was beside a picture taken at last night's concert, supposedly showing Rain upset with me.
    We only needed to make it through two more shows before Rain and I began our cross-country trip on the Harley, so we could have some time to figure out our relationship. She had finally agreed to talk about her fears and feelings, and now that was all going to be blown to hell if she saw this article.
    "Hey, you know anything about this?" I said, not looking up from my laptop when Rain stormed onto the bus. I couldn't look at her, afraid of what I would see reflected back at me from her bright green eyes. She shook her head, avoiding eye contact just as much as I was. Obviously, someone had talked to her already.
    "This is why I wanted to talk that night in your room. Now, I'm the asshole less than a week before our trip."
    "You're not the asshole. If you take a look at the story, I'm pretty sure they're giving me that title." She slid into the seat next to me, turning the laptop slightly. "Look... you tell me who the bad guy in that picture is. It sure as hell ain't you. I'll probably need extra security tonight to protect me from angry groupies."
    I started tugging at my long blond hair, a nervous habit I'd had for a long time and wished I could get rid of. I couldn't shake the feeling that everything was going to fall apart, and I desperately needed to think of a way to fix it. "Look, this is your deal. I've already said my piece; you know what I want. Of course, this kinda changes things, doesn't it?"
    "Why would it change anything?" She seemed shocked that I would think anything was different. I was shocked that she thought it didn't change things. I'd spent years trying to make her see that she could trust me, that she could trust in us enough to make things work without tearing apart the band, and just as soon as there was a glimmer of hope, the tabloids were lining up to tear us apart.
    "Oh, I don't know...maybe because the very thing you worried about is happening now, and we're not even a fucking couple. It's like I'm getting all of the bullshit that goes along with a relationship without the satisfaction."
    Smooth, Bradford. Way to be the asshole. I wished there was a way to rewind and not be the insensitive ass only interested in sex.
    Sure, there was part of me dying to bury my cock so deep inside of her it would rock our worlds, but it was so much more than that to me. I wanted the freedom to pull her body close to mine and kiss away her pre-show nerves. I wanted to walk through the halls of every arena with the most beautiful woman in the building on my arm, knowing that the world knew how much she means to me. I wanted to sneak her off for dinner in the middle of the afternoon just so we could have some time away from our crazy lives. I could easily envision the day when I could walk into my condo knowing she would be on the other side of the door. Hell, if we managed to make it through our first fight I had just managed to start, I would even take more fighting if it meant having her in my life.
    "Is that what this is about to you?" She shot out of her seat, pacing up and down the aisle of the bus.
    "No, dammit. You know it's not." Had she not paid attention to anything I said? Ever? "You know I want the whole package. But let's be real, other than incredible sex, would anything really change between us if we were together that way?"
    I cringed at my ability to, yet again, bring it