This night was not going how I wanted it to. The show was fine, soundcheck went well. I only kind of paid attention to Crown the Empire before I decided to head back to the dressing room. The problem was I didn't make it that far.

"Well hello, Mr. Radke, how are you?" She stood there in her 5 foot 8 inch glory, head to toe black. Tight dress, leather jacket, leather choker. Stupid fucking big hat inside. And those goddamn Christian LouBoutin shoes. There was $995 I would never get back.

"How are you doing tonight?" It was like she purred, with the stiletto nails she literally had claws. "What, cat got your tongue?" I swear that woman was a cat herself. Not a nice one though, not a house cat. More like one that would eat you alive.

The light bulb that hung above the two of us flickered, stage hands walked past and around us, but my feet felt glued in place.

"Well, I was much better about ten minutes ago, honestly." I wanted to walk around her, I needed to go eat something before the show that wasn't sushi, but I didn't want to have to move her out of my way and have anymore contact than I needed to. I had made that mistake before.

"Why, worried your new piece of ass will find out that she can't hold a candle to me?" Panther. Did panthers eat people?

"What in the actual fuck are you talking about?" I held my breath, waiting. We hadn't been in contact since the last tour and she just shows up throwing stones already.

"Just because I don't talk to you, doesn't mean I don't talk to anyone around you. She's just a child, Ronnie."

She called my bluff, there was nowhere I could go from there. How the fuck did she find out already though? In literally one night she was acting like she knew more about my personal life than I did. I could feel my heart racing in my chest. Luckily she was wrong about Julianne. She wasn't just some girl.

"Marie, you know why things didn't work, can't you just fucking let it go?"

"What, things didn't work because I wanted to spend time with you uninterrupted? To have it be just us?" I swear, everything had to fucking be about her. I thought I was bad.

"Point number one, yes, exactly. My daughter is my fucking world, and thankfully we never got to the point of you meeting her. Point number two, we make plans to go out and then I find you in bed with someone else. How the fuck does that seem like a good idea to you?" Reel it back in. Deep breath.

"Well if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black. We weren't even a thing because you wouldn't make it one, so I would say you missed out." She took a few steps toward me, her eyes gleaming in the minimal light that there was.

"And you know what, I am so grateful that I missed out. I'll admit it, I've been in your position, and you think you're just going to do it once, but until you wake up and realize you're the problem, everything is going to be the same, Marie. You're always going to think there's sweeter fruit on a different tree. I'm glad I was able to avoid whatever mess you would have created."

She laughed, and in all the terrible things I've heard in my life, her laugh sent a shiver down my spine like no other. She kept coming toward me, putting her hand on my chest as she leaned in, whispering in my ear, "Oh, sweetheart, it's only just the beginning." I closed my eyes as she pressed her lips to my cheek before walking off behind me.

I didn't need food at this point, I needed fresh fucking air. I ended up outside in a daze, checking my pockets. Phone? Check. Wallet? Check. Vape? Check.

I took a long draw off of it before heading back inside.

I had hoped in my last interactions with Marie that she would be mature, and possibly never contact me again, but that hadn't been the case. Now that she knew that something was going on with Julianne who knew what she would do.

In the case of extreme food shortage, a black panther may feed on human flesh.

I plugged my phone in and turned it off. I just wanted silence.