prologue
prologue
Dreams are
the stuff of Disney channel song-a-thons and fairytales. Trey Johnson believed in reality and kept his feet firmly planted on the ground.
That was… until he and his best friends, Jace and Will, got their big break.
Armed with a contract from Roc-a-Reggae Records based in Kingston, Jamaica, the nineteen year old boys spit an album out of the label’s recording studio and began promoting their music.
They toured throughout the Caribbean region, stopping frequently in Belize to rest between concerts and to record music at a studio that they founded with their earnings.
Two years later, they produced a single entitled ‘
Laugh Belize
’ that received not only regional but international recognition.
On Trey’s twenty-third birthday, they signed with a UK label and spent most of their time touring Europe, promoting their album and climbing the charts.
The storm of support, encouragement and approval of their sound was stunning and frankly, quite overwhelming.
Trey and his friends were suddenly caught up in a whirlwind that propelled them into fame and fortune with very little warning.
Though the view from the top was mind-blowing, nothing in their journey had come easy.
They’d lost half of their money to a talent manager that promised many things he could not deliver.
They’d faced angry black crowds, ticked at the fairness of their skins and the paleness of their faces.
They’d run from crazy fans and angry legalists who branded their sound as “rebellious” and came to their concerts just to stir up trouble.
But Trey wouldn’t change a thing if it meant waking up every day doing what he loved.
And the benefits.
Whooo, he loved
the benefits
.
The more popular
Dust and Ashes
became the more women seemed to throw themselves at the band members.
Will was shy and ignored them. Jace got married and his focus was completely on his wife, but Trey…
Trey had the females to himself and he enjoyed all the perks that came with having casual encounters with beautiful women in hundreds of cities.
Soon, his reputation for partying, drinking, and sleeping around got to the fans, who labeled him the Bad Boy of the group. It was a title he claimed with honor and enthusiasm.
What was he supposed to do? He was twenty-four years old and rich beyond his wildest dreams.
His two band mates were excruciatingly well-mannered, responsible, and mature. He considered it his duty to keep them both young.
Plus, what was wrong with having a little fun?
Nobody got hurt.
The women he messed with knew he wasn’t a one-girl kind of guy. And if they thought differently, that was a mistake on their part, not his.
Trey wasn’t the settling down type and no woman on earth could drag him to the altar.
Not now and not ever.