Smolder (The Road to Rocktoberfest 2024)

Prologue

Skyler Ashe

“One. Two. Three. Four.”

I swung my right hand holding the baton to count off the beat for my middle school band members. The drummer began pounding the concert bass in time with me before I lifted my left hand to bring in the woodwinds.

The middle school band members were preparing for the end-of-school concert, and I was beyond proud of their progress. We were practicing “Go Tell Aunt Rhody,” which I was planning to have the kids who weren’t in the band sing along to as a finale. We had three songs at the concert, and my kids had been working hard to impress their parents. I was busting my buttons at how far they’d come since the beginning of the school year.

My cell phone vibrated in my shirt pocket, but I ignored it. It was a Friday, and it was likely my softball friends wanting to make plans for the evening. I was exhausted from a long week of preparing for the end of the school year, so going out wasn’t on my to-do list.

After glancing at the clock over my office door, I rotated my wrist while folding my hand into a fist to signal the band members to stop. “Okay, let’s call it a day. You guys are doing great. Monday, we’ll invite your classmates into the gym to practice the song for the finale. I’m proud of you guys. Get ready for the bell, and no roughhousing. We only have two weeks left of school, and you don’t want to spend it in detention.”

I gathered my music folder and baton, stepping off the podium as the kids began storing their music stands at the back of the room and putting away their instruments, which reminded me. “Don’t forget—two hours of practice over the weekend with a signed note from your parent or guardian, please. The concert is next Thursday.”

I unlocked my office door and went inside, placing my notebook on my desk and the conducting baton in my pencil holder. I retrieved my phone from my pocket to check the messages, seeing a text from my mother, Hope, and a missed call and voice message from Dusty Carson, one of my dad’s bandmates in From the Ashes.

With Mom, it could be anything from a leaking pipe to a question about her computer to something my little brother had done to piss her off. Dusty’s voicemail would be more to the point, though I couldn’t begin to imagine what he could want.

When the dismissal bell rang, I walked back into the band room. “Have a great weekend, everyone. See you Monday!”

I opened the door and stood in the hallway to attempt to keep things orderly as the kids went to their lockers to gather their things. The library was across from my music room, and I could see Mrs. Maroney through the open door, likely boxing up the books she’d banned for the next school year.

It never failed to amaze me the things people believed would harm children. They were a lot more resilient than they were given credit for. If we wanted them to grow into well-rounded adults, they needed to learn things that people like Mrs. Maroney wanted to keep from them. It made no sense to me.

Rumor had it she’d removed all the books that mentioned anything to do with the differences between boys and girls from the school library before the year started, and then she went after the local library. Thankfully, the librarian at the West Peoria Public Library was younger than forty, and she refused to kowtow to Mrs. Maroney’s demands.

Once the hallway was clear, I returned to the band room and straightened the chairs, picked up a few pieces of trash, and set the garbage can by the door to help the custodian. West Peoria Middle School was like a family—a very conservative family, but there were a few people at the school who weren’t homophobes. Nonetheless, I kept my sexuality to myself.

I returned to my office and tapped the voicemail icon from the earlier call. “Sky, this is Dusty. I wanted to give you a heads-up before someone else reaches out. Regal’s in El Camino Hospital in Mountain View. He had a heart attack, and the docs found his arteries were ninety percent blocked. He’s in surgery right now, and they say he’ll be okay, but I thought you should know. Call me back.”

A heart attack? Hell, I believed Reginald Regal Ashe was bulletproof. He was a hell-raising son of a bitch who had a long list of sins to his credit. A heart attack had to be anticlimactic as far as Regal was concerned.

I sighed and gathered my messenger bag to go home before I turned off the lights. I lived within walking distance of the school, so I could call Mom as I walked home.

I stopped to fill my water bottle at the drinking fountain and headed out the front door, waving to the school secretary, Mrs. Brownlee. She was a nice woman who tried to fix me up with her daughter, Natalie. I stayed out of her way as much as possible.

I opened the text from Mom to see it just said, “Call me, honey,” so I did.

“Sky? Thank you for calling me back. Have you talked to anyone?”

Obviously, she knew about Regal, which was a surprise. I knew she didn’t get along with wife number two, Jeanne, and I didn’t know if she knew fiancée number three. There were so many nameless women in between that I’d given up keeping track.

“I haven’t talked to anyone, but Dusty left me a voicemail earlier. He said Regal had a heart attack. Something about surgery?”

Mom released a huge sigh. “It’s not what you think.”

I heard a loudspeaker in the background but couldn’t determine what was said. “Mom, where are you?”

“I’m in Mountain View at the hospital, Sky. It’s complicated, sweetheart. Can you come out? Your father wants to see you, and I know River would love to spend time with you. Can you come?”

“What’s going on, Mom?”

“Just come, please. I need you, Sky.” I heard the tears in her voice, and they crumbled my resolve.

“Mom, it’s the second to last week of school, and we have the end-of-the-year concert next—”

“Sky, Jeanne and I were with your father when it happened. The three of us are in a polyamorous relationship, and we were having sex when your father had the heart attack.”

I stopped on the sidewalk and sat on a bench. How the hell would I ever get that out of my head?