Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement was intended.
Song for this chapter – Gypsy Woman by Carlos Santana
The song listed in this story 'Gypsy Woman' is the property of Carlos Santana … I just wanted Edward to sing it like it was his. No infringements intended … I own nothing, not even the lyrics.
Thanks for dannibags for suggesting this story, for correcting my errors, and for being awesome. Piesmom for making sure that everything is good before it's début.
All hell is about to break loose for Edward. Aro had signed him into a solo career that is to start the moment he touches down in LA. However, the band had to hold it together for the two shows in Canada and the flight back to LA. What do you think will happen during this chapter? Just a little hint … the truth will set you free.
Chapter 13
Gypsy Woman
EPOV
The flight from New York to Montreal was the worse flight known to man. No one spoke the entire time, and Garrett kept giving me the evil eye. Of course, I couldn't help the shitty way I felt inside. I was having withdrawals from not having anything in my system, which I was planning on rectifying once I located the first person holding.
I was still pissed that Izzy had almost killed herself and that she wasn't here with me. Hell, I was pissed that I had instructed Jasper not to let me know where she was when they finally located her.
Instead I had Kate, who was all over my jock the entire flight. If only I would have taken the bull by the horns and gotten a divorce from Kate, she wouldn't be sitting beside me on this God awful flight wanting to have sex in the bathroom. Every couple a minutes, she whispers how much she loves me and wants me. It was sickening, maddening, and downright infuriating the way things had played out over the course of a couple of days. And the only person I could blame was my damn self.
Aro and Caius railroaded me into a solo career I didn't want, but had to for the band, that now hates my fucking guts. We still have to perform two more shows before we all could either blow up at one another or split ways forever. Actually, at the moment, I would be happy if we all came to blows so I could get the majority of the anger out of my system. Punching something, anything, sounded like what I needed … anything to feel something besides the pain that had resided in my chest.
When the plane touched down in Montreal, I ran from the others. I needed a fix because there was no way I was going to make it through two shows totally clean. Hell, I figured that just a little bump would get me through the hours it would take to complete the finally leg of the first part of the tour.
Once I found the man I was looking for and got enough in my system to survive, the next twenty-four hours passed by in a blur. I can vaguely remember my mother and father being at the concerts in Montreal. Hell, I didn't even notice when we boarded the flight for LA that it was finally over, or starting depending on how you looked at this life of mine.
The plane we had flown on from New York was much nicer than the tin can they currently strapped us with to fly home, but I didn't mind at all. I picked the first seat on the plane and didn't pay much attention to who was surrounding me. I leaned my head back on the head rest and closed my eyes. Hands rubbed up my tights causing me to open my eyes; I turned my head slightly to see Kate sitting beside me. When a throat cleared, I looked up into the faces of both Jake and Garrett sitting in front of us. I ignored all three of them, not wanting to get something started, but I knew it was coming; you could feel the tension in the plane.
Once everyone was on board, the plane taxied down the run away and the pilot announced that we would be in LA in roughly thirty minutes, if all went according to plan. I leaned my head back against the head rest again and closed my eyes, with Kate's hand still stroking my thigh. I was about a sleep when the plane started to shake.
"We are experiencing some turbulence. Please place your seat belts back on," the pilot announced, as the plane shook and jerked through the air. I quickly pulled my belt onto my body and gripped the arms of the chair holding on.
If the shaking of the plane wasn't bad enough, overhearing the pilot talking about how the left engine lost power, and thinking we were going to crash sent the band into a tail spin. I leaned up and tried to tuck my head between my legs. When Mike shouted, "I'm gay … I've been gay for as long as I can remember, and I have to tell you before something happens to us." We all stared wide eyed at Mike after his confession. That explained a lot about why he was never with any of the groupies, but his confession and the turbulence we were experiencing made me wish I had told Izzy that I loved her.
"I've been sleeping with Kate," Garrett hollered, as the plane jerked and shook.
"What?" I asked, looking between him and Kate.
"It was only once, and it was an accident," Kate said, looking deep into my eyes. I didn't really care.
"We've been together more than once, Kate and you know it. If we are going to die on this plane, I won't go without telling Edward about us; nor will I die without telling you how much I love you," Garrett confessed from the seat across from us.
I busted out laughing at this new revelation. I knew something was off about Kate and Garrett, but had never guessed they had been fucking one another for a long time. Hell, ninety-five percent of the time they both acted like they hated one another.
"I've been with Kate since the moment you two were married. The night of your wedding, Kate and I snuck off before you said your vows. I can't die with something like that on my chest," Garrett said, as I sat speechless over his latest revelations.
"I'm pregnant," Kate screamed, as the plane trembled. I looked at her as if she had sprouted two heads all of a sudden. I tried to remember the last time I had been with Kate and tried to figure if there was a chance that the child she was carrying was mine.
The plane evened out and things seemed to be getting back on track when the pilot announced that everything was fine and that we would be landing in four minutes.
"Who's baby is it, Kate?" Garrett demanded. Kate shook her head crying and tried to stroke my thigh once again. I politely removed it with a sneer and asked her.
"Garrett's," she barely whispered, but I heard it. There would be nothing stopping me from getting a divorce now, and nothing stopping me from finding Izzy. I had to make everything right.
Once the plane landed, I tried to escape the clutches of Kate, but she wouldn't let go of me.
"Stay with me, Edward … we can make this work, and I'm not even sure if the baby is Garrett's or not," she said through her tears, holding onto my elbow.
"No," I said, pulling my arm from her grasps.
"Like you never cheated on me," she screamed. I turned and looked her right in the eye, not planning backing down.
"I may have cheated on you after we were married, and I know that is wrong. However, if I had known about Garrett, I wouldn't have married you. I never loved you really; I only thought I was in love with you. I figured that out the first time you wouldn't back me and stand behind me as an artist. I never pretended to be someone I wasn't … I never held you back from your dreams. Frankly, the only reason you are hanging on so tightly now is because of the solo career thing. Isn't it? Garrett never had the money or the family to support you like I did. So, you married me with dollar signs in your eyes. Just let go … you never cared about me either," I said, walking away from Kate and walking toward what I hoped was finding Izzy and finally making her mine.
After getting off the plane, I hitched a cab to Jasper and Tink's place, but no one was home. I wasn't really shocked, but left a note telling Jasper to call me at the Riot House when he got the message.
I settled into the room at the Riot House fairly quickly and started unpacking my things when a note fell to the ground. I could see my name scribbled in Izzy's messy writing. I grabbed a bottle of Jack from the night stand and reached for the letter.
Dear Edward,
I don't know when everything went wrong between us, but I do know somewhere along the road at some point, everything was right.
I wish you and the band all the luck in the world; I will forever be your biggest fan. I promise to buy every record released, and I plan on following your solo career, even though I don't believe that's what you want.
I never said anything, but I fell in love with you. However, you broke my heart like I knew you would.
Don't look for me. Our paths have been chosen for us, and we were just shooting stars in the night, destined to collide with one another for a brief time. If fate brings us back together again by mistake, maybe then things will have changed enough for us to be something more than shooting stars. But don't change anything to be with me. Ride out your dreams and see where they take you.
The only word of advice I can give is that I wish you would listen to us and get help for your problems. You were brilliant before you allowed them to rule your life.
Know that you will always have a piece of me and I, a piece of you. I love you and will think of you often.
Love, Always and Forever
Bella
I tossed the note on the bed, sipping from my bottle, deciding that if I didn't hear from Jasper in the next couple of days that I would make a trip to Izzy's mom's house to make sure she wasn't there.
~AASS~
In the middle of December, Aro wanted to start producing my solo album. I didn't get the first say in anything, and when I bitched about having no say, Aro threatened to go to Kate with information on my drug addiction, cheating, and anything else he could find out about my time on tour. I didn't want him telling her anymore than Garrett was probably already filling her head full of, but if he knows what's best for him, he had better keep his mouth shut because I could walk away from this solo deal and cause us both financial issues.
Kate signed the divorce papers without too much fan fare, and the album sales shot through the roof after the first of the year. Jasper never called or even came back to his house in LA. I had heard through the grapevine at the record company that he had gone back to Seattle to work with bands in the area again. Aro kept me busy, and when the second leg of the tour started, I couldn't get away to find out where he was or even where Izzy was. I don't know if she went home to Renee or if she was in Seattle with Jasper and Tink, and the not knowing was driving me insane.
By the middle of January, I was back on tour with AC/DC. The second leg of the tour started in Alabama and would end at the end of February in Phoenix. Around mid-February, the tour was supposed to play at the Seattle Coliseum, and I decided I would look around the local club scene for either Jasper or Izzy. I knew it was a shot in the dark, but something had to give.
~AASS~
Things were going as good as to be expected during the first half of the tour, and the closer the tour dates rolled along, the more anxious I got for the upcoming show in Seattle. I didn't go back to the yak, but pain pills and booze became my only means of stability during that period in my life. I tried to quit, but every time I tried, my body would ache and shake. Not only did the alcohol and the pain pills help the hurt, but they also allowed me to step more and more into the spotlight. I wouldn't set foot onto the stage until I had enough to ensure that I would be able to perform.
During a show in Memphis, I was so intoxicated that I fell down the stairs and found myself in the emergency room. The doctor prescribed me sleeping pills to help me rest, and pain killers to ease the pain in my back.
In Texas, I renewed my prescriptions with another doctor and even told him about my anxiety of going on stage where he prescribed me Xanax. By the time I made it to Seattle, I could barely remember the words to the songs. I was taking my pain pills for the pain, xanax to relieve the anxiety, and sleeping pills to sleep at night.
When a show would end, Sam, one the roadies on the tour, would carry me to my bus, where I would sleep off the effects of the meds before heading to another town. This was my life during the second leg of the tour, and I never found Jasper or Izzy.
We landed in LA after the tour was over. AC/DC was heading out for the Asia and European aspect of the tour, but because of the last show in Phoenix, Aro wanted me to go to rehab. I was to pull three months, getting myself clean and off all the meds while he worked on making me the headliner of my own tour. I wasn't impressed or happy with the fact he wanted me clean. Caius drove me down to Rancho Mirage, California, where I entered into their ninety day treatment program. Esme was happy that I was finally getting the help I needed. There were moments during my treatment that I did everything for Izzy. She had asked me to get help and that's what I did.
Aro did everything he said he would, and while I was in the presence of the record label, I played the reformed Edward Cullen, solo artist. However, once the tour started, it was hard to stay away from the pills that would make my life easier, but I did.
Staying clean those three years helped, and my second record went straight up to number one on the charts with my song about Izzy, 'Gypsy Woman'. It was the first number one hit I had; nothing Caius and Aro ever wanted me to sing was good enough. So, I finally bitched enough that Aro finally allowed me to write my own songs for the second album of my solo career.
My second album had to make it in order for me to continue, according to the label. When 'Gypsy Woman' hit number one, I was the highest paid performer of 1985. I was living the life, but Izzy never strayed far from my mind.
Every night before the show was over, I would dedicate 'Gypsy Woman' to the one who got away.
"From nowhere through a caravan," I sang the first lyric of the song and crowd would roar.
"Around the campfire light, a lovely woman in motion, with hair as dark as night; her eyes were like that of a cat in the dark. They hypnotize me with love" I continued. "She was a gypsy woman, she was a gypsy woman"
"She danced around and round to a guitar melody from the fire her face was all aglow. How she enchanted me? Oh, how I'd like to hold her near and kiss and forever whisper in her ear. I love you gypsy woman"
"All through the caravan she was dancing with all the men waiting for the rising sun. Everyone was having fun I hate to see the lady go knowing she'll never know.
That I love her"
"That I love her"
"She danced around and round to a guitar melody from the fire her face
was all aglow. How she enchanted me? Oh how I'd like to hold her near
and kiss and forever whisper in her ear"
Once the song was done, I would walk back stage and out to my tour bus. Most nights, I didn't even try to have women in my bus. I never could get her out of my head, and there wasn't any use in trying.
It had been years, and LA didn't even feel the same anymore. I was sitting at the Riot House when I finally decided to see if Izzy was still in LA. I was looking for something from the old days. I had spent many years getting clean and many more wondering what she was doing now.
I pulled into the driveway of the house that Izzy claimed was her mother's. I walked onto the porch and knocked a couple of times before a dark haired woman opened the door.
"Can I help you?" she asked, pulling her hair behind her ears and straightening out the shirt she was wearing.
"Does Isabella live here?" I asked. I wasn't sure if the woman who answered the door was her mother or not, but I needed to know.
"No, she ran off with all my money years ago," the woman said, placing her hands on her hips.
"Sorry about that … do you know where I could find her?"
"What has she done now? Taken you for a ride too?" she asked.
"No Ma'am, she's just a friend from school," I lied.
"Well, if you see that little bitch, tell her she owes me," she said before she slammed the door in my face. What a piece of work. I thought as I walked off the porch and back to my car.
One thing's for sure, wherever Izzy was, she must have never came back to her mother's place, but then again, wouldn't that also rule out her father. I figured that at least the two would be looking for their daughter, but maybe neither one really cared what happened to her.
~AASS~
After visiting Izzy's mother and finding out that she wasn't there, I slipped back into my old ways and gave up any hopes that I would ever see her again. Then when the third record didn't sale, even the record label started to lose faith in me. Hell, I was losing faith in myself, and it didn't take long for me to spiral out of control.
I had my pills for on stage, my booze for the after parties, and the ladies to carry me through the nights. I tried every way in the world to fuck Izzy out of my system, but no one ever compared or even came close to her. I still thought about her and wanted her more than air to breathe. At night, when I wasn't with anyone … she was all I could think about, and if I drank just enough, I could smell her scent on my pillows at night.
Aro cancelled the completion of the fourth record, especially being that the third one didn't even break a thousand dollars in sales. The tours stopped when I could no longer remember the words to the songs I had written. Aro tried to get me little gigs at places like 'The Whiskey'. However, after missing shows, forgetting the words, and even fighting with the crowd, I was fired. No one wanted to work with me while I was a train wreck, and being I couldn't have the one girl I wanted more than anything in the world, I gave up.
One night after drinking myself into a ditch beside the Riot House, I watched as Jake walked by me. I hadn't seen him since the plane landed in LA all those years ago. I jumped from my seat on the bench outside the Riot House and followed him.
"Jake," I screamed from behind him on the street.
Jake turned around and looked hard at me. It wasn't until I was standing in front of him that recognition registered on his face.
"Edward," he said, still unsure.
"Yeah, man it's been ages," I slurred.
"Good God, you reek of booze," Jake said, holding his nose.
"Yeah … just spent the last twenty four in the ditch in front of the Riot House."
"Don't you have some place to live or be?" Jake asked. I shook my head. Things had gotten so bad that not even the staff at the Riot House wanted me living there, and being the fact that I had burnt every stitch of my money on pills and booze, I didn't have a way of paying for my rent.
"Come on man," Jake said, motioning me to follow him, and I went along. I talked Jake into stopping at the liquor store and buying me another fifth of Jack Daniel's for the night.
When we got to Jake's house, we talked for hours about the tour and Izzy. Sometimes, her name would come up in conversations, and it almost gutted me hearing about her. I could close my eyes and see her like it was yesterday. Her long brown hair blowing in the wind, as we drove down the road in Bertha. Those were the days I wanted back … the exact moment in my life that I was in love and happy; happy with her by my side.
I passed out at some point and woke during the night with a headache. I didn't have anything strong enough in my pockets to get rid of the ache that resided between my eyes, so I stumbled to the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. Lucky Jake's old man had the good kind of medicine store there, and I helped myself to a little of everything on his shelves.
I crawled back to the couch, where dreams of Izzy and the sound of her voice lulled me to sleep.
A/N: There are only three chapter and outtake before I bridge this story into it's sequel 'One Hit Wonder' … Edward has done okay, but had already pulled one stent in rehab. Years of drug addiction sometimes takes it's toll on people and some are not so lucky. In this story, Edward had perfected, or so he thinks, the art of being a closet addicted, but will his days be numbered. The next chapter we will look in on Bella before we wrap this story.