SCARLETT

Getting off of the plane in Las Vegas was a bit overwhelming. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but slot machines in the terminal, definitely wasn’t it. I had never traveled anywhere alone before and I was a little nervous at first, but the enthusiasm began to take over quickly. As I walked through the airport, the buzz of the people combined with the constant dinging from the multitude of machines got my adrenaline pumping. Since I was only staying one night, I had fit all of my clothes and stuff into a carry on, so I bypassed baggage claim and went straight out to the taxi line.

Fifteen minutes later, I was dropped off outside of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and I hesitantly ventured inside. Once I stepped through the front doors, I was completely mesmerized. Thankfully one of the employees found me standing with my mouth gaping open in the foyer and helped me find the line to check in my room. Upon giving my name to the lady behind the counter, she smiled brightly at me and said, “Welcome, Miss MacGregor. I see that you’ll be staying in the Stones Suite for your stay here. I have you just down for this one night. Is that correct?”

Confused, I pulled out my reservation from my purse. “Well, yes I’m just here for tonight, but I didn’t book any suite. I just had a regular room.”

She looked at her computer screen, reading through something, then looked back up at me. “It appears that you’ve been upgraded as a guest of Jobu’s Rum, and you are indeed staying in the Stones Suite, ma’am.”

A few minutes later, she gave me a little folder with my room keys in it and reminded me that check out was noon the following day. I thanked her several times, still in shock over the upgrade, and followed her directions to the correct elevator bank. I only had to stop and ask directions once as I traveled through the half mile maze to get to the all-suite tower. Finally, I made it to my room. I slid the key card into the device and upon activation of the green light, I stepped into the most luxurious room I had ever seen in my life.

The living room area of the suite was decorated in gray, white, and a muted purple, and combined with the soft lighting and ceiling adorned in crystals, it truly felt like I was inside an amethyst. I continued further into the room, through a doorway, which led me to the bedroom. I think my heart stopped beating when I saw not only the huge four-poster, king-sized bed in the middle of the room, but the huge flower arrangement of every shade of pink flower that existed sitting on the banquet at the end of the bed. In addition, there was a basket of wine and chocolates on the bed and a box gift wrapped in silver paper with a huge pink bow on top of it. I slowly made my way over to the bed, noting that the box did indeed have my name scrawled across the small card. I dropped my bag to the floor and opened the card to read the note.

Scarlett,

I can’t thank you enough for being here for me… not just tonight but always. Because of you, I have come to realize that I do deserve to be loved, and most importantly, I’ve learned to love myself. I’m not there yet, but I’m much closer than I’ve ever been to finding my euphoria. Here’s a little something to remind you to never stop until you get there too. Later I’ll show you my new reminder I’ll see you tonight after the show, Angel.

Love you always,

Mase

With trembling hands, I opened the package, anxious to see what was inside but scared at the same time. I opened the top of the Pandora box and found a beautiful charm bracelet staring back at me. When I took the bracelet out of the box to better study it, I saw that each charm was separated with a diamond encrusted pink spacer. However there was no holding back the tears as I ran my fingers over each of the five charms: a guitar, a piano, a heart, an open book that had “Ever Afters for Evie” engraved on it, and finally, angel wings with the word Euphoria etched on the back. It absolute perfection. I had no other words.

An hour or so later, I changed into my solid black bikini and decided to go down to the pool for a couple hours of sunbathing before meeting Aaron’s girlfriend, Sophie, and Smiley for dinner. Before I left my room, I sent Ash a quick text letting him know that I had made it safely.

ME: Hey babe, just letting you know that I made it safe and sound. Heading down to the pool and then dinner with the girls before the show. I hope your day at work is good. See you tomorrow night. I love you! ~ Butterfly

Not that I should’ve been surprised at that point, but the pool area was just as breathtaking as the rest of the resort. Because I was staying in one of the suites, I got a complimentary cabana at the Paradise beach area. When I gave the waitress my name and room number, she told me that all of my food and drinks had been taken care of; I was to simply relax and enjoy. I ordered one of their specialty drinks, thankful that she didn’t ask for any identification, and did just as she said. I laid back with my ear buds in, ereader on my lap, and frozen yumminess in my hand and dove into the second installment of Jake Wethers, which I felt was completely appropriate seeing that I was going to a rock concert that night.

Just after seven o’clock that night, I was putting the final touches on my makeup when there was a knock at the door. I looked down to make sure that my robe was covering me completely and went to see who was there. I thought I couldn’t be surprised any more that day, but when I opened the door, Max and Andi were standing there with huge smiles on their faces and dressed for a night on the town. Squealing commenced followed by a bunch of jumping around and hugging.

“What in the world are y’all doing here?” I shrieked once we had all calmed down a bit.

“Oh, I don’t know… we just decided to fly to Vegas for the hell of it,” Max said sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Well, come in, come in. I’m almost finished getting ready. Please make yourselves at home. I’m supposed to be meeting Sophie and Smiley for dinner in about twenty minutes at the steakhouse downstairs.”

They both walked into the suite, looking around, obviously as impressed as I was. “Wow, this room is amazing,” Andi said. “And yes, we know, we are going to dinner too. No one told you so that we would be a surprise.”

My face was starting to hurt I was smiling so much. I just couldn’t believe how amazing the day had been. “Okay, well let me finish getting dressed real quick. I shouldn’t be any more than ten minutes. Y’all take a look at the bedroom too, it’s so posh; I feel like a rock star myself here.”

In the bathroom, I quickly changed into my a short black dress and black heels. I looked at my reflection in the mirror, pleased with what I saw. The dress was sexy but not slutty, and as if all the stars were aligned just perfectly, my hair and makeup looked pretty good too. Evie would’ve been so proud.

Stepping back into the bedroom, I burst out laughing as Max and Andi were sitting on the bed, helping themselves to a glass of wine and some of the chocolates from the basket. Max looked up at me, with a smirk. “You said make yourself at home.” Both of them started giggling like little kids and I couldn’t help but think how cute they were together.

“Come on you two, you’re going to ruin your dinner,” I scolded them as I shooed them off of the bed. “Let’s go downstairs.”

Right before we walked out the door, I grabbed my new charm bracelet off of the night stand and clasped it around my wrist. I looked down at it, thinking what a perfect day this had turned out to be. I only wish that Ash could’ve been there too.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

Counting Stars ~ One Republic

Chemistry of a Car Crash ~ Shiny Toy Guns

MASON

I was a nervous fucking wreck. Damn if I didn’t crave a shot or five of whiskey for the first time in over seven months. I had been on stage in front of people hundreds, maybe thousands, of times before, but for some reason, that night seemed so different… so significant. Jobu’s Rum had finally gotten our big break ~ we were headlining in Las Vegas to kick off our tour! It was if the night set the tone for the next four months of shows, and I wanted it to be flawless.

My schedule had been booked solid from nine o’clock that morning straight through until show time. After breakfast, we had interviews, followed by a photo shoot, and then a sound check. We were fed a late-lunch-slash-early-dinner before attending an autograph signing and photo hour. There was barely enough time to shower and get dressed before we were due backstage for the show. Everything was so different from when we opened for VanderBlue, when we just showed up, went on stage to perform, and then hung out backstage signing a few autographs. We were really given the star treatment, and it was cool as shit. I made sure to tell Jag how appreciative I was several times throughout the day.

As I got dressed for the show, I wondered how Scarlett’s day had gone. I had done everything I could possibly think of to make it a day that she’d remember forever too. She had played such a huge role in getting me to that point, and I wanted to not just show my gratitude, but to let her know that I would always love her and wanted the best for her always. I stood in front of the mirror in just my jeans and ran my fingers over the word I had tattooed on my upper chest. Euphoria. It was my reminder every day of what I was striving for. I smiled as I thought about her reaction when she opened the bracelet. I really hoped she loved it; I thought long and hard about each of those charms and I knew each one would be special to her. Flying Max and Andi out to be with her once I found out she was coming alone was just a bonus. I loved knowing that the three of them, along with Marcus, would be in the front row, experiencing it first hand with me.

Cruz tapped on the door and walked in the bathroom without waiting for a response. “You ready for this, man?” he asked me.

I turned away from the mirror and looked at him. “More ready than I’ve ever been. Let’s do this.” I slid the plain, fitted black t-shirt over my head and my feet in my black and white checkered chucks before following him out of the room.

The closer we got to show time, the more relaxed I got surprisingly enough. There were a ton of people backstage; I didn’t have any idea who half of them were. I practiced some of the stress relieving techniques that Heather had taught me, and got myself into a happy, secure place mentally. Jag came into the waiting room and told us it was time to follow him out. When we took the stage, the cheers from the crowd were overwhelming. I looked out into the audience and all I could see was a sea of people. Our first single, She’ll Never Know, from the new album had released two weeks prior and had done well on the charts, but I had no idea that many people even knew we existed.

Before we began our first song, I thanked everyone for coming out and being a part of such an epic night for Jobu’s Rum, especially our family and friends that had made the trip to see us. I looked down at all of them when I made the comment, overjoyed to see each of their faces. Then, wasting no more time, we began what would end up being the best show of my life. The excitement buzzing through the air was electric, and every one of us felt it deep in our bones. The music flowed out of us like it was what we were born to do. At one point, I ripped my shirt off and gave it to Scarlett. I was like a man possessed; the music had completely taken over my body. We played through many of the songs on our latest album as well as a couple that would come out on the next one. As the show was nearing the end, the lights were brought down a little and I took a moment to address the crowd again.