Iridescent

With thoughts of failure sinking in

The days following the wedding were tough. Mila's hand and forearm were bruised not only from the punch but also the grip Alejandro had on her forearm at one point. Keeping the promise to her mother, she got it checked out to find she had a sprained hand and wrist. Thankfully, the sprain didn't have any broken or fractured bones and was just sore ligaments so she didn't lose time out of work.

Everything that had happened, everything that had been said was weighing heavily on her mind and he could see it. This wasn't the first time Mila had heard Alejandro say those things, but just like every time before she was stuck in the emotions that came with them. Not wanting to get too far down, Mila contacted her therapist asking for some sessions which he was proud of her for doing. Mike had also been making sure to check in daily with her about how she was doing. It didn't matter if she was at work or had just come home, the daily 'how are you feeling?' was a constant now in her life. He was worried about her, granted he always worried about her in some way, but now it was elevated. She told him she was 'fine' and that made him feel a bit better about everything. He just hoped she really was.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late," Mike said walking into the studio about fifteen minutes later than everyone agreed to.

"It's cool. Traffic was horrendous," Joe mentioned getting a nod from the man who took his seat at the computer. He noticed that Rob was staring at him in a concerned manner from where he sat near the computer in a chair. Mike raised a brow getting a head shake in response. He began to wonder what Rob knew about everything. Rob, who Mike knew had began to date Jecca again and figuring Jecca worked with Mila, knew that he might have been told about the events. Mike on the other hand hadn't told the guys what had happened at the wedding, to be honest he was still trying to wrap his mind around it. A part of him felt like he let her down by not stopping everything before it went down but as Mila said 'you can't predict everything'. He still felt however, that he could have protected her more than he had and that wasn't sitting right with him.

Clicking through to the server he needed, he went to reach for his hard drive which he usually placed down onto the control console only to realize it wasn't with there. "Fuck."

"What's wrong?" Chester asked seeing the distressed look on his best friends face.

"I forgot the hard drive at home," He groaned rubbing his face. The guys looked at each other wondering who was going to bring up the obvious distracted look their band mate had come in with and now the stress he seemed to carry.

"Is everything okay, Mike?" Brad asked concerned. He wasn't sure what was going on to cause this in the usually organized and put together man, but he had to ask.

"I'm just dealing with some shit," Mike told them honestly. "I probably should have said something sooner, but I've been busy making sure Mila is okay."

"What's wrong with Mila?" Chester asked sitting next to Mike.

"Her father was at the wedding. Mari told us the week leading up the wedding that he would be there and she handled it rough. He's not a good guy and always made comments about her whenever she came up in conversations. During the reception, Micah and Cata were at our table and he came over to talk to them. He was right behind Mila and he knew he was. Alejandro made sure to take a stab at her by saying he was talking to his 'two kids' when she was trying to leave the table and he got annoyed with her. He ended up grabbing her arm at one point before Mari stepped in. She tried to get him leave them all alone, but he wouldn't stop. He said some really fucked up things from the fact that Mila is the reason they aren't a family, Mari chose her over the family and the worst, that he told Mari to get 'rid of her' and she didn't," Mike told them seeing the disgusted, surprised and angry looks on the others faces.