“Geez. Scary.” He had my complete attention.
“It happens. Not actually common for us but not unheard of. These girls are quite crafty. It’s not flattering. It’s a tad scary even for me. Normally we can fight one lone rabbit fan off, call security and get them escorted off the premises. Three days ago Archie’s groupie fan had a gun. She’s naked with a damn handgun. She threatening to kill him and kill herself and his room was connected to mine. He’s able to text me without her getting wind. I go over and she’s crying and waving a gun all for my mate she doesn’t even know. They think they know us. But they don't know us at all. It’s all such bullshit. We’re only doing our bloody jobs.”
“What happened?”
“I literally had to tackle this groupie like I was a bloody rugby player. I gun goes off and puts a bullet in the wall.”
I heard him say the gun went off? I knew he was okay because he was here with me. “Is Archie okay?”
“He was a bit shaken up. I literally had to tackle this girl and wrestle the gun away from her fingers. She was one sandwich short of a picnic. It was a nightmare. That bullet could’ve gone anywhere. I got chewed up for intervening. Glynn was made at me for saving my mate. He literal said to me what happens if two members of the group get murdered.”
“He said that?”
“Yea, he said it. I got cheeky and told him he would have to marker Winston and Colin as a fucking duo. Was a supposed to wait around and let my mate be terrorized by a psycho?”
“You guys need better security.” Was all I could think to say. I wasn’t surprised by Jagger’s bravery. He had that bad boy in his blood. He wasn’t an imposter.
“Doesn’t matter when these girls are determined. They hide in suitcases, under beds, in closets for hours, sometimes days. They will crawl into cabinets. Once there was one in my bloody armoire.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Yea, where are their parents? Some of these girls are primary school age. Security arrived quickly after the gunshot. We all had to scramble to keep it all off the tele. I try to keep my mates safe but sometimes I fail. Maybe I should’ve walked Archie to his room.”
“It’s not your fault. You had no idea some crazy naked girl would be waiting for Archie.”
“But is it my fault. Without me, it would be a wash. I could just break this group up and they could go back to their normal lives.”
“Jagger they don’t live regular lives now and you guys are so successful they never will again.”
“Even if they went solo they wouldn’t be in this danger. There’s something about being in a boy band that causes this mass hysteria in pubescent girls. A solo artist never gets this level of crazy. If I leave the group they could just go back to living a normal life. We’ve already made enough money. I’m the one the label wants. I could literally get them out of their contractual obligations. Archie, Winston, and Colin have families. I’m the only one that is alone. I’m the only one without a family.”
“Jagger, you’re not alone.”
“Maybe.” He hung his head and lifted it to engage me. “I am well aware that I am being selfish. I’m trying to keep my mates as my brothers because I have no one.”
“Jagger, that’s not true.” Didn’t he realize he had me? I was all in.
“Kat, my mum was murdered and my father put a pistol in his mouth and blow his bloody brains out.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. He’d never explained his father’s death to me. Why did I think his father died from cancer? Suicide, I didn’t know that at all. His parent’s deaths weren’t something we discussed after leaving Dr. David back in Galena. Now this drug addiction was making more sense to me. Jagger had a lot on his plate and a lot to deal with from the past. This was just another reason he didn’t seem like your typical twenty-year-old man. He had heavy things to contend with. He was in my kitchen talking about disbanding one of the most popular groups of this decade.
I didn’t have any advice. I didn’t know what was best. Jagger loved music and talked about it all the time. If the band loved music like him they would be devastated.
“Babe, I don’t want to bring you down.”
“No, you should talk about it. You can tell me anything.” When I thought about it. I meant it. I was willing to listen to whatever he had to say because I loved him. I really did. His feelings mattered to me.
“Please just ignore my outburst. I’m talking complete rubbish. I can’t leave Toxic Shock. Everyone expects me to go solo. I’m not leaving my brothers.”
“I think you should stay for now. Don’t make any rash decisions. You an Archie are safe.”
“Guess what?”
“What?”
“If I leave the group everyone will blame it on you. You will be Yoko Ono. You will be this legit super female villain.”
“Okay, no, I will not. No one even knows who I am and that I exist.”
“Bullocks, I told all my mates about you.”
“You did not.”
“Yes, of course, I did. Do you think I talked about boring drug rehab? I talked about meeting the most beautiful and sexy American woman on the planet.”
“You didn’t do that and you definitely didn’t say that.”
“I swear on my mum’s grave.”
“Jagger.” Was he for real?
“I told them you had the sweetest candy I ever tasted. And they thought it was something sexual because I left out the part about you selling sweet candy at an actual
