“Ty, please. You are my son as much as Zane is.” Carter pleaded. “I was trying to—”
“Shut the fuck up. I am not your son. My mom is an abusive junkie whore. I have no idea who my dad is. That is the truth of who I am, I might as well face facts.” Ty stood and looked at us all. “I don’t talk about my life much, but you are all my family and have put up with me this past year when I didn’t deserve it. Zane, you will always be my brother. But, Carter? From now on? Stay the fuck away from me.”
“Don’t quit the band, Ty,” Carter whispered.
Ty literally roared. “Don’t you dare, Carter. I would die for my band. They’re all I have. You made sure of that, and I will never let them down.”
Ty headed for the door. Before he thundered off, he turned back to address the room. “I’m going to pour everything I have into our music. I’m done moping around over a chick who didn’t care enough about me to—You know what, I’m just fucking done.”
Carter sat with his face in his hands after the door slammed. I got up to follow Ty, who gave me a run for my money.
“Dude, hold up.” I chased him.
“Jace, I want to be alone,” Ty bellowed.
“No fucking way.” I caught up to him and we strode with determination to our bus. We grabbed our toiletry bags and towels and made our way to the facilities to shower. Ty wouldn’t speak, and I didn’t push him. Once we were back on the bus, Ty reclined in our lounge area, shirtless in a pair of sweats. I sat next to him and put my hand on his shoulder. Ty’s sad look caused a lump to form in my throat. Despite the past couple of months of squabbling, the four of us had gotten so close, our bond felt unbreakable.
Ty sobbed silently, big tears streaming down his face. I kept my hand firmly pressed on his shoulder in support.
“How do I get over her?” He choked out sadly.
“You loved her.” A flash of Alex unexpectedly crossed my mind, and for the first time, I had a glimmer of understanding of how he felt.
“No, Jace. I love her. I fucking love her. Still. She was it.” He wiped his eyes with his thumbs. “I’ll never love anyone like that again. I’ll never let myself.”
“When we get home, maybe you could go talk to her folks. See if you can get back in touch now that you know what happened.” I offered.
“Is that what Alex said to do?” Ty looked up at me, his eyes wet with fresh tears.
“No, we made a deal not to talk about you or Zoey that way. We’re friends, that’s all.” I leaned back. “But, if it’s any consolation, the one thing she told me—”
“Stop.” Ty sighed. “Don’t betray Alex’s trust. I actually don’t want to hear about Zoey second or thirdhand. It’s too hard.”
“Okay.”
“I just need to make a change; I’m exhausted from always being so sad.” Ty knitted his brows. “What kind of man cries himself to sleep for over a year?”
“You. You’re a good man. The best front man in the business. I’ll— We all will be here, whatever you need.” I stood. “Do you want some time for yourself?”
“Yeah, thanks.” Ty rose from his seat and jumped up into his top bunk. “Oh, and Jace?”
“Yep.”
“You don’t have to hide your feelings for Alex from me.” Ty smiled slightly.
“Um,” I stuttered.
“You were with her in Barcelona, right?” He flopped back on his pillow.
“Um . . .” I hung my head.
“Like I said.” He flung the curtain to his bunk closed.
“Okay.” I smiled to myself and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed, feeling touched that we had such a profound bonding moment.
In the weeks that followed, as an unspoken rule, no one brought up Carter when Ty was around. When the first big publishing royalty checks arrived, all of us were stunned to learn that we were millionaires. While Ty wrote most of the lyrics, all of us contributed to the music so we shared our songwriting credits equally. Somehow financial freedom lightened everyone’s mood. Our hard work had paid off. We were truly a success, our bank accounts showed it.
We ended up scheduling a few more dates in Europe, and during our travel days Ty, Connor, and I all browsed real estate sites for properties in Seattle. Connor and I wanted to pay off our family’s mortgages, and I bought a condo in a new downtown high-rise, sight unseen. Ty wanted to purchase his own place outright, so he’d never be homeless again, and he lined up a realtor to help him. Zane was less enthused about becoming a landowner and wanted to wait until he got home to make any decisions.
Just when things seemed to be getting happier, my sister dropped a bombshell when she showed up in Munich for Oktoberfest. Connor had been ecstatic for Jen’s visit; he hadn’t seen her in person for months. Many of their fights were because Jen hadn’t made the effort to visit him on the road. Their relationship was strained, but he seemed hopeful that reconnecting would put them back on track.
They left right after the show for the hotel. Ty, Zane, and I, on the other hand, went out and got obliterated on giant mugs of Augustiner beer with some of the other bands. There may or may not have been lederhosen involved. When I finally stumbled into my hotel suite near dawn, I was shocked to find my sister curled up and asleep on the pull-out couch.
“Jen? What the fuck?” I slurred.
“Sorry, baby bro, do you mind if I sleep here?” She sat up, pulling the blankets around her.
“Of course not. Where’s Connor?” I plopped down next to her.
“I had to break it off, J-bird,”
