‘Stop thinking so much,’ said Michael. ‘I’ll sort all the rent and bills. Your sister will have the whole place to herself. She’ll be okay. Trust me.’

‘Okay isn’t the same as good.’

‘She has her own life to live, just like you have yours.’ Michael kissed my hand. ‘Welcome to your chariot, my lady. The passion wagon.’

I laughed. ‘The passion wagon?’

‘We’re gonna have some fun times on this bus. Just you wait and see.’

Leaving Dee was a selfish choice. But as a dumb sixteen-year-old cancer survivor who thought herself in love with a rock star, nothing was going to stop me. I climbed right onto that magical, gleaming tour bus, with its fridges of cold beer and lounging rock stars plucking at guitar strings.

This was what heaven looked like, right?

The bus pulled away and I waved goodbye to my sister and sanity.

If only I hadn’t walked up those steps. But then again, I wouldn’t have Liberty. That’s a thought I cling to.

And so we hit the road.

For the first couple of gigs – Washington DC and Atlanta – everything was perfect. I hung out with Michael, the band and crew, being the pretty little tour bunny mascot. Michael gave me tight Crimson T-shirts to wear, and his assistant bought me tiny shorts, tight black jeans and kitten heels.

‘You look sexy in those clothes,’ he told me. ‘Like a supermodel.’

The compliments made me miss something important: I was no longer making decisions about my own clothes. Michael was now in charge of my wardrobe.

At night, Michael and I would head to the bus bedroom, crazy in love, naked, staring into each other’s eyes, sex all night. Like any good manipulator, Michael made sure he put in a lot of the good stuff up front. He always told me how sexy I was, how beautiful I looked, how madly in love he was, how I was his soul mate, the girl of his dreams. This, to my inexperienced sixteen-year-old self, was what a great sexual relationship looked like.

As the tour bus hopped from state to state, things got wilder. Michael wanted new things. I didn’t like all of it, but it was okay because I was still getting what I really wanted – Michael’s encouragement and approval.

You’re so sexy, Lorna. You’re an amazing girl. We’re wild, aren’t we, the two of us? A pair of rebels. My wife would never do this. We push boundaries. You’re doing that just right …

Michael’s good opinion meant everything to me, so ‘no’ was not in my vocabulary.