Page 19 of Not the Punk

“It’s not really. That’s just my ex.”

“Joe. This.” He held up the note. “This is a threat. And proof that someone did fuck with your bus, putting that snake in there. It could have hurt someone. If it bit you and we couldn’t get you to a doctor in time. We were way the fuck out at Black Rock with minimal first aid.”

Joe shook his head. “I know but—”

“No buts. Anything else like this happens, you better tell me. If he contacts you in any way, I need to know. In fact, I think I’ll call Don and see if we can get a restraining order.”

“Jinx, you’re overreacting. It’s just my ex, and he's never gotten physical.” I heard Colten’s words about that echoing around in my head. Not yet.

“Sounds like he’s ready to up that to the next level. You should put a stop to this now before anything else happens.”

It sounded reasonable. Maybe if I asserted a little pressure of my own, he’d stop. “I’ll call Don and get him working on it.”

“You better.” He pointed at me, then picked up the box. “I’m taking this. Tell Don someone will be sending him a police report.”

I wanted to protest, but nothing I’d ever done had worked, so now it was time to get help.

Jinx left with another scowl. He wasn’t happy with me, but he’d get over it. Plus, I was going to do what he said. I bolted the door behind him and pulled out my phone to call Don.

I was more shaken up than I wanted to admit. Jinx agreed that it meant Trent was most likely at Rocktoberfest. And backstage. Not anywhere he should have been allowed to go. Where could he turn up next?

I called Don and gave him the information.

The next morning, my phone pinged, waking me up. I hoped it was Colten, and I’d call him if it was. It wasn’t.

Block. Block. Block. Stupid Trent.

Then I forwarded his message to Don. Because at this point, I had to. Hopefully, they’d get a restraining order of some kind out to him, and he’d stop before it escalated further. But I was trembling. I called Colten.

“Joe, hey.”

“Daddy, I’m not okay. I’m scared, and I want you here.” That felt like a major breakthrough. After that, I spilled everything that had happened.

“I wish I was there too, but maybe I can come for Christmas.”

“You don’t have to work?”

“I’ve kind of already been working on the scheduling, so I have a bunch of time off together.”

“So you’ll be here?”

“Yes. I’ll make it happen.”

“Promise?” I couldn’t believe he was going to come to my house for Christmas. “And you’ll stay with me?”

“Yes, and I promise. In the meantime, listen to Jinx and trust your security. Don’t go anywhere without a guard.”

I could get through this without him here until Christmas, but I wasn’t sure about after that.

Chapter ten

Colten Christmas

There was no way I was gonna skip Christmas with Joe, especially after he broke down with me on the phone. It was more than him calling me Daddy—he let me inside his heart, telling me what was going on and admitting to how he felt about it. It couldn’t have been easy, but he needed it. As soon as I got off the phone with him, I booked a ticket to Miami. According to the band schedule, he should be there midday tomorrow, and I wanted to be there to meet him.

But first, I had to order some presents. There was no way I was showing up empty-handed. Thankfully, I had Saxon’s address and could ship everything to his house so I could get it wrapped and under Joe’s tree by Christmas. What to get him, though? Sure, there were the easy things like coloring books, blank notebooks… oh, I found one with music notes on the cover. That went right into my cart. But I needed something special, too. I wanted it to mean something more to him. That was going to take time to think about. My flight and layover would give me eight long-ass hours to think about it.

By the time I arrived in Miami, I had plenty of Christmas goodies for Joe. Probably too much, but it was our first Christmas together and I wanted it to be special. I checked the time against Joe’s schedule and made my way to the car rentals. The drive to the airport where the private Midnight Hunt jet landed would take nearly half an hour, or more if there was shitty traffic. I wasn’t familiar with the area, but I wanted to be there when he got off the plane.