Redemption Song Read Free Page B

decisions are in her hands. I tried to talk her out of it, but she threatened to cancel the entire tour. I took the best we could get.”
    The driver slowed the Escalade and made a wide right turn. Ethan looked out his window to see jets taking off from the runway. The Los Angeles International Airport stretched out in the distance.
    “What exactly was the best we could get, Bruce?”
    Several things flashed through Ethan’s mind at once. He imagined all of the worst possible places his mother could have dreamed up for his punishment.
    Bruce refused to look up. “Know anyone in Alabama?”
    Ethan sunk down in his seat and he let out a helpless groan. It was exactly as he’d feared. The worst possible place his mother could have sent him. The middle of deep south USA in the small town of Fairhope, Alabama—also known as his grandmother’s house.
    “Bruce, you’ve got to get me out of this, man. Do you have any idea what it’s like down there? The woman doesn’t even have cable!”
    “Sorry, kid. Just look at it as a time of rest and relaxation. Ted’s going with you. If you get bored, you can talk to him.”
    Standing a good six and a half feet tall, Ted was an African American man with a surly brow and muscles that threatened to break the seams of his jet black suit coat. To say that he was intimidating would be an understatement. Ethan glanced up toward Ted. The bodyguard’s eyes never shifted. Ethan could barely even hear him breathing. Ted didn’t budge an inch until the Escalade came to a stop at the entrance of the airport. Then, he grabbed Ethan’s suitcase, and stood outside the door, convincing Ethan that if a statue was ever made of a Men in Black character, it would look exactly like Ted.
    Ethan let out one last exasperated sigh, popped two of the extra strength Tylenol he had swiped from Bruce’s “man bag” on the way there, and crawled reluctantly out onto the busy sidewalk.
    On with phase two.
     
    The plane ride to Birmingham was not quite what Ethan had expected. He realized his mom was mad when she insisted on banishing him to po-dunk USA for an indefinite time span, but he didn’t realize just how mad she was until he got ready to board the plane at LAX. Ted had followed behind like a well trained puppy while Ethan made his way through the airport, being forced to slow down every two steps to sign an autograph or take a picture with a girl who was so obsessed with him, she couldn’t even say hi without squealing and tearing up. Ethan hated that. The girls were cute, and they didn’t seem like they would be such basket cases, but it was always the same story, no matter where he went. They all acted the same, dressed the same . . . flirted the same.
    That’s why Ethan preferred a private jet when he needed to travel long distances. It was much less invasive. But in this situation, just to keep from having to call his mom to argue, he would settle for the commercial jet. Ethan couldn’t wait until he was seated in his big cushy first-class chair, a cold sparkling water in his hands and a hot towel behind his neck, and had the chance to lay back and relax the rest of his hangover away.
    There was only one problem with this little scenario. Ethan’s mother had planned for that, too. Relaxing was the last thing he was going to get to do. Instead, he reached the terminal to find out that his mom had booked him a seat in . . . COACH. Ethan got stuck between silent Ted and smelly Bob, a man who took up enough space that he technically should have bought two tickets.
    It was a long flight.
    Ethan spent the entire flight hidden inside the hood of his oversized sweatshirt, which was somewhat of an attention grabber in itself considering it was mid-June. His dark glasses never budged an inch. The last thing he wanted was to be forced to give a concert to the passengers midflight. After a couple of hours, Ethan was finally able to exit the plane into the Birmingham International Airport. Not