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Click here"Read it, inside, the credits."
I opened it and scrolled to the song list. In bold letters at the bottom, it said, "All songs written by Jake Mellows."
It stunned me. "Why did you do that? You wrote them, too."
"No," she said. "Those songs would never have eventuated. It was you who unlocked them. Without you, we had nothing, they would never have been born. It's my way of saying thank you."
"Thanks, Paisley, but you didn't have to."
"I know, but I wanted to. It's not much for all the bullshit I put you and our family through. The thank you is for much more than the songs."
Nothing runs smoothly with relationships like this. Once they finished the recoding, there was the next phase: another tour, concerts, interviews. She was gone a lot, but once that surge was over, she came home and was home for most of the time. When the concerts were in New Zealand, we went as a family. We brought a small camper van and we followed along like groupies.
I never really settled my differences with the guys in the band. They were idiots, still living the stupid rock star dream. They blew all their money. They were always broke. It was never going to be sustainable, not for them.
Their desires and need for more money, always needing another show to keep the creditors at bay, was what destroyed their band.
Paisley had slain her dragon. She had a string of number one hits, so she was comfortable saying no. She didn't care; we didn't need the money, they did. It was that need that destroyed the band.
I came home from work one night to find Paisley and the girls huddled together on the sofa. She had obviously been crying. The girls looked sad and their faces were also tear stained.
"Sheesh, what the hell happened?" I said, falling into Paisley's open arms.
"The band, we broke up."
"Why?"
"Lots of reasons, mostly they wanted to go back to Australia to tour. I said no."
I hugged her tight. "I'm sorry."
She sniggered, a slightly derisive tone creeping in. "Are you? I figured you'd be happy."
"No, I know how much the band meant to you. You know I didn't like the guys, but I know how important it was to you. I am truly sorry."
"Thank you." She whimpered through the sniffles.
It changed things a little. She still received requests to perform, though now, it was as a soloist, or she would need to find another band.
Daisy and I had moved along, also. We still did our little sets around town, but that grew, and now we were receiving requests from far and wide. We evolved, and that grew from the jam and rehearsal sessions in my music room.
Paisley loved to come and join in when we rehearsed, so it sort of morphed, Paisley's involvement also encouraged Sabrina to join in. Turned out she could sing.
It was Daisy who made the suggestion one night as we were getting ready for a Sunday session. "Paisley, why don't you perform with us? You know all the songs. You add something special. Please, come and join us."
Paisley turned to look at me. "Would that be okay?"
"Of course, but if we are growing, then Sabrina, I think you should also join the band."
Sabrina looked shocked. "Really?"
Paisley hugged her. "Absolutely."
So now we had a little band. Paisley, who had been learning the Cello, brought that element, Sabrina, who had always had a love of drums and percussion, brought a small drum kit: just a kick drum, snare, and a few cymbals. It all added another dimension to our performances.
Of course, having a famous singer as part of the band really helped. Paisley, being the person she was, it was obvious she wanted more, and it didn't take long before she was really the frontline and the rest of us became the support.
Our sets grew in popularity; we regularly packed out the garden bar and other venues cued up to book us. That allowed us to push up the price.
I dreaded the day Daisy finished her course at Polytech. We had talked often about how she was looking forward to going back to Gisborne. The day finally arrived. I was nervous, but excited for her. The little band had grown to become such a huge part of our life that it was going to be sad to see it all come to an end.
Paisley organised a huge party to celebrate Daisy's graduation. We had lots of friends and kids. It was a barbecue and lots of drinks. It was a great afternoon. It was later in the night, most of the crowd gone. There was just Sabrina, Daisy, Paisley and me left.
"So when are you heading home?" I asked.
Daisy gave me a little shrug. "I'm not sure I am. Sabrina's got a cool job at Te Papa, we've got the flat and, well, we have the band. I mean, if you don't want to continue, that's cool, but Sab's and me love it."
"You are not going anywhere," Paisley snapped curtly. "Damn it, I love the band. This is the most fun I have ever had."
They all looked at me. "Hey, I didn't want you to go. I was hoping you'd stay. I love the band, too."
The birth of our third child was totally unplanned, but thankfully a boy. I was sick of getting out-voted by females. That arrival changed everything again. Paisley had to wind back the travelling. No more big concerts for a while, but it gave us time together as a family.
- COMMENTS
Anonymous7 days ago@FaShUnPhOtOg: didn't know about the story being ripped off from Literotica.
However, Paisley never cheated emotional or sexually. But she did everything else under the sun that is detrimental to a marriage. Still was an enjoyable read. At least no gaslighting abiut fragile male egos, polyamorous agendas, or other psycho babble about it was only sex and good for the marriage. Refreshing in that way. That is why I like "Free Pass". Technically not real cheating, but nonetheless devastating, and while rough, believable it could be solved and fixed. But so many other stories by CVG? Gah!
FaShUnPhOtOg12 days agoI’m not sure how I feel about this story yet. Before I realized it had been “appropriated” from Literotica, I had begun listening to it on youtube while walking the dog. It was not a conscious decision on my part. It came up in the que. I turned it off as soon as I got home and discovered it here on Lit. As a published author myself (not here but worldwide through bookstores and Amazon), I understand the importance of protecting one’s intellectual property. So once I realize a story is coming off the literotica site, I research it and try to find it and once I do I post a notification on the YouTube channel that the story was taken from literotica and was probably not being used with permission from the original author. In this case, somebody else had already notified the YouTube channel owner that they did not properly credit. Not that properly crediting means that they had permission to use or that the author is being remunerated properly.
Anyway, as I was saying, I have only just begun reading the story. I stopped listening on youtube only a few minutes in. My initial reaction is: MC is allowing Paisley to take advantage of his support. Whether she realizes it or not, she is flaunting her success in his face. She’s also toying with destroying their marriage by flaunting her flirting and entertaining her bandmates in her room. And then calling him at 4 o’clock in the morning to rub it into his face does not help either. Since it was his funds that were supporting the band he should’ve done a few different things. First, when the band returned from their tour, he should’ve beat the shit out of the two bandmates. They were obviously trying to get into his wife’s pants. Second, he should’ve cut off the funding. Not out of spite or revenge, but to make his wife realize what she was doing and how she was risking their marriage. He was not seeing any return on his investment and that was not helping the family. Third, if he’d had any balls at all, he would’ve insisted that he be paid for every one of the songs that he had written and provided for them to use on tour. He also should’ve demanded that he be credited in each and every program that the band had in any venue they played. Crediting him would have provided another avenue stream in that other artists may have hired him to write songs for them as well. Plus, there were royalty fees that he could’ve been earning and that would’ve added to the family coffers too.
Now, that may have already been addressed but as I said I have not finished reading it. So I may make an update once I’m done. So far, I’m finding it and enjoyable read, which is odd because I usually find Cagivagurl’s stories lacking.
northstanderrhino28 days agoIt felt as though the author suddenly fell under a bus and couldn't finish it.
Anonymousabout 2 months agoExcellent story. The stressor in their marriage were very different than usual LW story.
Anonymous3 months agoNo sex in this story, most assuredly. But the wife Paige was engaging in emotional infidelity, of which using his work unaccredited, and knowingly because she knew his disapproval of her band's interpretations was a big part. But then, when they DID work together finally on what he considered 'pop' songs, it went well. It was the emotional connection and respect she showed him in that process. The accreditation on the album simply clinched it. Had she approached it all honestly from the beginning, and acknowledged her family interest too, much of the subsequent mess could have been mitigated if not avoided. Note he accepted her different use of his music when up front and respected. That was part of his duty as a family man I suspect. I enjoy Cagivagurl's stories that end this way when the offending spouse realizes and mends (and amends for) his or her mistakes. That is how a real marriage works. When she writes this way, it's her best work.
Anonymous3 months agoThis story reminded me of a biography of the singer Linda Ronstadt. She never married or had a family by choice because she understood the costs of her passion. Her mother had the same talent but gave it up because of family obligations, and had supported her decision against family opposition because she understood. When you marry such a successful showbiz person, you marry their lifestyle too. And that often brings infidelity too, so this guy's worries were not unfounded. I was married to a Chihuahua, Mexico girl with that same talent in my 20s, and who took a similar path as the wife Paige did in this story. We had a 3 year-old when she did cheat on a tour, and it almost ended our marriage. Much like some of Cagivagurl's offended spouses who invoked family, I went to her family who treated me like the adopted Anglo son, and they read her the riot act. So she ended up restricting her touring to local and regional performances and tours which our family could deal with. That, and her family said they would disown her if she cheated again. It worked as far as I could tell and we continued for 7 years before cancer took her. Would I do it again after a long second marriage without that stress? No, but then I remarried in my late 30s.. What makes this story interesting is that the husband was a talented song-writer himself and the marriage stress was her cheating him of such recognition in pursuit of her own promotion.
