Chapter 1: Last day of tour.
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The cold air managed to worm its way into the rental car they hired for their last tour in the city, even though the windows were all sealed to avoid the chills slipping in. That was the least of his worries right now, he could handle the cold…and the heat.
What he couldn't handle was the nostalgic awakening the smell of lush greens and burning tarmacs brought to him.
He could smell the lush green all the way through the woods as they headed to the airport.
Anderson could feel the little dip in the melody of his heartbeat, this was going to be their last performance for their tour 'WIDE AWAKE', which also was the lead single on their latest album. The car dipped again indicating they were coming down the hill and closer to the airport, the smell of tarmacs and burning tires reminding him of their last flight from New orleans. Things like this were his new normal.
The ever so familiar wave from this deja-vu experience almost made him believe against his better judgment that all of this was a front.
Notwithstanding, he was definitely going to miss all of this for a while, the jet lag, the lodging in five star hotels he half or fully owned, getting to eat different native dishes and performing for different crowds, mostly important, performing with his band.
As summertime time in Paris kept playing in the background by one of his favorite artists, JADEN, his phone started vibrating in his breast pocket, he knew it would be no one else but Darla, the true heart of the band and his longtime companion. It was a video call which meant he was in for another live interrogation.
Darla has always been the one who understood him the most even though she was the last to be recruited into the band or the fact that she was the only female amongst four werewolves. She was last to join for more complicated reasons but somehow at the last minute, she walked into his home with a signed contract and a regretful smile.
"Hey Darla," Anderson waved at a sleepy looking Darla, after all they only got three hours sleep so he didn't blame her.
She was wearing a white fluffy head warmer and black shirt with a huge black cat print on it, with a set piercing blue eye and dull amber on her left and right eye respectively, almost reminding him of her when she was in her beast form. Darla was just weird like that, a werewolf that had a thing for cats even though he thought it was weird.
"Andaar, it's a surprise you are not crying," Darla teased, chuckling a bit. Her tired voice filled the car for a bit. This is exactly what he meant by she understood him the most, he was always known for being this tough, cold and heartless son of the Alpha, some even rumored that he didn't have a heart and his mind was of raw gravestones.
What they never knew was that emotion was his biggest weakness. He has never seen himself in the mirror all warm and fuzzy, nor has he seen anyone who has caused this effect on him. So he stayed cold and inert, according to what Papa Joe always told him, "staying cold never let you go stale", wise old man.
"Oh please, shut up," Anderson replied, scoffing as she propped her eyebrows up and he knew what was coming next, the re-cap she was always ever ready to bring up whenever he denied anything she accused him of. He could see her adjusting in her seat and he knew she was going full-on story mode.
"So, just about almost this time last year when we were at Rockwell park, performing our last track and last song from the tour and we were all pumped, but then there was you, feeding on cookie dough ice cream with dramatic tears you managed to hide with dark specs and facemask—" Darla narration was cut short by Anderson raising his hands swiftly, a gesture meant to shut her up before the driver heard more than he was supposed to.
"Enough Darla, I get it. I get nostalgic at the end of every tour because I don't want it to end sometimes," Anderson confessed before letting a sigh out. The smell of tyre burning on tarmac indicated the airport was drawing closer.
"I understand," Darla smiled at him genuinely. Their relationship was that of hot and cold and she was used to it. She appreciated every bit of vulnerability he let her see.
"We are almost at the airport," Anderson alerted, clearing his throat with clear intentions of stirring the topic in another direction.
"I know Andaar, I'm not blind, the smell of tarmac and burning tyres are really starting to disturb my senses," Darla rolled her eyes.
"So, has Willy told you anything?" Darla asked timidly, watching Anderson's expression. After not seeing the reaction she was expecting to see, she knew she fucked up because now he was going to drill and claw the answer out of her. She regretted asking about it because she knew Anderson, he would never let go and he would go all next Alpha mode on her till she spewed whatever she was about to say.
"No, he hasn't told me anything Darla, is there anything I should know perhaps?" Anderson asked with a sweet tone, narrowing his eyes at Darla. If there was anything he didn't like, it was secrets kept away from him between people he trusted or kind of trusted.
"Oh, It's nothing, just that he was asking If he had any new drumming progressions, you know how he is, always trying to stay current," Darla lied through her teeth.
"Oh, is there anything wrong with the ones he's using now?" Anderson asked, confused.
Williams was about to get married to the group publicist. Not that he had any problem with that, just that she was the only human amongst them who knew that they were all werewolves and also he didn't want to stress him about any work because he was already stressed about the wedding, his wedding where he was blackmailed emotionally into being his best man.
That was why they chose this location as their last place for performance, it was just a twenty minutes drive from Barbara's home town where they were going to be having a little cottage wedding.
"No no, nothing is wrong, just wanted to check in with you if you had similar thoughts too," Darla quickly replied, not wanting the lie to accumulate further.
"Well, goodbye Anderson and see you at the airport," Darla waved, ending the call with a sigh of relief. She almost ruined the moment for Willy even though he told her he would personally tell Anderson and she only got to know because she was friends with Barbara and part of her train of bridesmaids.
They arrived at the airport heading for New jersey, and Chris arrived last at the airport with the usual excuse he always gave, either there was a huge traffic or they ran into a deer even though they drove through the woods full of just domestic wildlife or they drove through the city, either, he has a thing for not giving logical excuses.
"Hey, so who is pumped about our last performance?" Jeremy asked patting one of the sound engineers on the back as we headed to their private jet housed in the airport for maintenance purposes.
"I don't know man, but okay, I mean, I'm just a sound engineer, I'm just here to make sure you have no technical difficulties," the bald guy replied nervously, readjusting his glasses before staring at Chris who was towering over him with blond hair and blue eyes almost reminding him of Thor.
"I mean but I'm excited to meet my family again after over two months of touring around the world," The guy said, looking down and smiling a bit.
He tried his best to mirror Jeremy's excitement but he couldn't, he was too exhausted from driving around and short naps. Even though Jeremy was the nicest of them, and he was the cool one since he played bass and had a high fangirl rate on his account, he still couldn't help but long for a foot rob and his wife's comforting soup.
Anderson caught the tired smile that lazily stretched across the bald guy's face. His name he couldn't remember because he was bad with names, his guess was it was between Bob or Steve, some proper family guy name. He walked beside Chris who was wearing his regular leather jacket with blue jeans that seemed to reveal a lot of his activities at the gym, at least for once his outfit watched the weather.
It was the word 'family' that got to him. Asides his mom and dad with his sister, alongside cousin sister, he didn't have anyone else who was like family to him, even though he had the band members, Some of them already had a significant other but he has never met anybody to make his heart beat out of rhythm except when he was on his killing spree.
"Family…" He muttered to himself with a strange taste lingering on his tongue.
He knew what it was, and he didn't like it one bit.
