Heartless Few Box Set

by MV Ellis

  He whispered something into the security dude’s ear, who nodded and in turn whispered something to Natalie. She grimaced my way as though she had shit on her top lip and grudgingly unclipped the red cord, letting me in.

  Luke’s smile faltered as I walked toward him. What the fuck?

  “Well shit. Nice to see you too, Luke. What is it with you Jones boys? Are manners not your thing?”

  “I’m just surprised to see you, that’s all.” He spoke in a harsh whisper, and I noted the lack of actual greeting. Clearly, he was pissed. I lowered my voice too, though I was unsure what the intrigue was about.

  “How can you be surprised? You invited me here, remember? You sent me the address and everything. I didn’t just follow you here like a stray cat or a crazy fucking stalker.” As I spoke, I’d let my gaze wander around the room, and realization dawned like a sledgehammer between the eyes. Holy. Fucking. Shit.

  “Oh my God. Luke, why didn’t you fucking tell me? You let me come to the launch of Arlo and London’s coffee table book and make a complete ass of myself. Jesus!” I was aware that my whisper was slipping into more of a yell.

  “Will you keep your voice down? I’m sorry. I guess I fucked up. I didn’t want to make a big deal about it, and I kind of figured you’d already know. It’s been all over the press, so….”

  “So what if it’s been all over the press? I haven’t seen you or your brother for four months. Do you think I’ve been sitting at home tracking your every move in the meantime? Contrary to popular belief, I have this thing called a life, and just to be clear, the two of you aren’t at the center of it.”

  “Touché. Yeah, you’re right. I should probably have said something, but you’re more than two hours early, which doesn’t help. What gives?”

  “Ugh. I just… I was ready, and I didn’t want to sit around delaying the inevitable. Obviously I had no idea what I was walking into. I guess I’ll just go, before this turns into any more of a drama.”

  I was dimly aware that we were drawing curious looks from people around us. The realization must have hit Luke at the same time because he pulled me into a corner of the room, lowering his voice even further.

  “After all that fuss and attention you caused to get in here, do you really think that’s a good idea? I know for sure the paps will report it as though you barged your way in and then were immediately ejected. Do you really want that? Probably better just to hang here now. Besides, it’s not like I don’t want you around. It was just a misunderstanding, that’s all. Have a drink and something to eat. I need to go support Arlo and….”

  “London. It’s okay, you can say her name. I’m not some jealous crazy person.”

  Although I hadn’t been actively following Arlo’s movements in the press, he was one of the most widely reported on people in the world. I'd have needed to be in a coma to miss the fact that he and London were a thing these days. I’d also read about tonight’s show at some point, but if I’d seen the date, I certainly hadn’t made a note of it. London had apparently accompanied the band on tour shooting Arlo. The photos from which had been turned into a book and art prints, which were hanging on the walls of the gallery we were standing in.

  I wished Luke had told me what today’s event was when we’d arranged to meet. I would have refused to even come here later in the night as originally planned, let alone have turned up hours early when it was in full swing, like the lame stalker I claimed not to be.

  Luke carried on. “Stay. Please? It’s so good to see you. I want you here.”

  I looked at him long and hard, weighing my options and deciding on my next move. I stared into the chasm of his sea green eyes and knew I wanted to be there too. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. He waited expectantly.

  I nodded slowly. “Okay.” Shit.

  Luke’s face split into a wide smile, the one that made my heart melt into a puddle of lovesick goo.

  “Okay. Great. I gotta…” He motioned backward with his head, bobbing it in the general direction of the rest of the room.

  “Sure, of course. I understand. I’ll catch up with you later.”

  As soon as Luke disappeared into the sea of people, I seriously considered going against his request and shooting through as soon as his back was turned. I couldn’t have felt more conspicuous if I’d turned up to a black-tie gala event in a Halloween costume. Just as I was seriously considering disappearing out the door, a member of the waitstaff walked past with a tray of full champagne flutes. I helped myself to two. Something had to give, and it looked like that something was my sobriety. A drink would take the edge off, at least. I knocked back both glasses in a few gulps and turned to properly take in my surroundings.

  Holy. Shit. The photos were incredible, and Arlo was in love with London. The emotion shone from every photo like the flare from a lighthouse on a dark night. It was a bizarre realization, accompanied by an emotion I couldn’t quite identify. It wasn’t jealousy as such. I had never been in love with Arlo, and I knew from day one that he didn’t love me and never would. What I had wrong was the assumption that Arlo was too broken to love anyone, too emotionally stunted to let someone in. Little had I known that it was a simple matter of him finding the right person to unlock those emotions. Even with the water that had gone under the bridge between us, I was happy for him.

  As though encouraging me to toast to Arlo and London’s present and future happiness, another server walked by at that exact moment. I helped lighten her load by ridding her of two more glasses of champagne, quickly sending them the way of the first two—sailing down my throat, barely touching the sides on the way. Rinse. Repeat. I felt like Luke’s dirty little secret, hovering in the corner hoping not to be noticed and feeling like more of a bunny boiler with every passing second. I regretted not leaving when I realized what I’d walked into. As the time slipped by, so did the drinks, and possibly my sanity.

  Nineteen

  Luke

  “Hey.” Marnie jumped a foot in the air, clearly unaware of my presence before I spoke.

  “Luuuuuuuuke! You nearly gave me a heart attack.” She seemed to be trying, but failing, to give me a stern stare. She was a sloppy drunk, always had been. I normally found it unbelievably cute, but I couldn’t help but be a little irritated that night. Her timing absolutely sucked.

  “Shhhhhh! Would you keep your fucking voice down, please?” I reached for her elbow to lead her to the side a little. Marnie had other ideas, however, repeatedly swiping at my hand as though swatting mosquitoes in a swamp.

  “What if I don’t want to keep my voice down? What if I’m sick of being controlled by the almighty Jones brothers? What then? I’m not just a toy the two of you can pick up and put down when you feel like it. Or worse still, a dirty little secret.”

  Jesus. That was all I needed. Maybe her drunken antics weren’t so cute after all. Messy drunk was one thing, blunt and bitter was another.

  She looked at me as though I was something she stepped in on the sidewalk. Still she was absolutely stunning. I’d missed her so much while the band had been back on the road, completing the remainder of the Cold, Hard & Heartless tour once Stevie was out of rehab. I drank in her features like a thirsty man in the desert.

  I realized too late that having her there was a mistake. No matter how bad it would have looked, I should have put her in a cab as soon as she’d arrived and sent her on her way. As the thought crossed my mind, it occurred to me that she was exactly right about the two of us, Arlo and me. We could be so totally wrapped up in ourselves and what worked for us that it made us callous assholes.

  Normally I thought of Arlo in those terms and considered myself a cut above him in regards to my conscience and sense of personal responsibility, but lately I’d been forced to reconsider that viewpoint. Times like this, when I’d caught myself doing the exact same things I got up Arlo’s ass for, had started to make me question my own integrity. Big time.

  While I was distracted thinking about what douches Arlo and I were, Marnie
must have somehow managed to score two more drinks and skull them in record time. She was holding two empty glasses and stumbling and swaying. Oh. Shit. I had an increasingly bad feeling about how this would all go down. I knew then that I needed to get her out of there before her presence became an actual train wreck or, worse still, attracted Arlo or London’s attention. As though sensing my discomfort, Marnie wobbled unsteadily toward me.

  “Why the loooooooooong face, Lukey? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or some ssssshit. Is that any way to treat an ooooooold friend?” She had a point, but this was neither the time nor the place to assess the nature of our so-called friendship.

  “Okay, Marns, I’m always happy to see you, but I think it might be best if you head home. I’ll call you a cab and then see you there later. ’Kay?”

  “Ha! ‘Always happy’ to see me.” She air quoted, her face distorted with sarcasm. “Well, if that isn’t the biggest pile of bullshit I’ve heard since you told me I was a mistake after you fucked me. Twice. Screw. You.”

  She had a point, and I really wanted to talk things over with her properly and apologize, but I couldn’t let that shitshow play out in the middle of Arlo and London’s launch. That had never been the plan. Not only would neither of them forgive me, but even if they would, I wouldn’t want to steal their thunder and ruin the night. Especially not London’s. This event represented so many months of blood, sweat, and tears for her—and of putting up with my asshat of a brother. She deserved all the glory and none of the headache for that fact alone. I needed to fix this. Stat.

  “I didn’t mean it like that. We need to talk about this but not here, okay? Let’s split.” I reached out to take one of the champagne glasses, but Marnie had other ideas, and her reflexes were still surprisingly on point for someone as drunk as she was. She jerked her arm out of my reach, but in doing so, lost her grip of the glass in question. As it flipped and spiraled in the air, I became increasingly aware that we were drawing curious stares like a terrible floor show. Despite my attempt to catch it, the glass hit the deck, smashing into a thousand tiny pieces and taking my hopes of keeping this exchange off Arlo’s radar with it.

  “What the fuck is going on?”

  Speak of the devil. Kill me now.

  “Well, Marnie—”

  “Wait.” Arlo raised his hand in my face, and it took all my willpower not to rip his arm off and bludgeon him to death with it. I felt the vein in my temple throb as I tried, and failed, to think calming thoughts. We stared each other down for the longest time, but as enraged as I was, I knew I couldn’t win this one. The fire in Arlo’s belly over London was like nothing I’d seen in him before. Protective didn’t even begin to cover it. He’d truly tear me limb from limb and not think twice where she was concerned.

  “First of all, what is she even doing here? I sure as shit didn’t invite her.” It was a fair question, but again, it was neither the time nor the place to discuss it. “In fact, how did she even know about it unless she’s fucking stalking me?”

  “I may have mentioned it to her in passing.” It was a half-truth, but it was all I was prepared to tell him at that point. Anything more and it would have unleashed the whole sorry can of worms and ended up tabloid news for sure—I was still acutely aware of the eyes around the room on us.

  “What? Fuck, Luke. Inviting her here when you know what’s gone down between the two of us is a special kind of stupid. Are you really that dumb? ’Cause you always claim to be the smart one.”

  I hadn’t ever actually claimed to be smarter than Arlo in IQ points, but to the outside world, I had always been the sensible one. Of the two of us, I was considered the even-tempered thinker. Arlo was the unpredictable hothead.

  In reality, though I was never as arrogant and wild as Arlo. I had always been able to hold my own when we went head-to-head, which had been often growing up. Still to this day, when he pushed my buttons, he was the only person who could send my temper from zero to sixty in a nanosecond. I wasn’t proud of it, but pissing each other off seemed to be a specialized skill for both of us, especially where the women in our lives were concerned. Arlo’s “thing” with Marnie had been one of the biggest sources of conflict between us for almost as long as I could remember, and we’d also had more than our fair share of clashes over his relationship with London for one reason or another.

  As Arlo ranted, I looked across to Marnie often. I just wanted to scoop her into my arms and take her home. For all her tough exterior and blasé attitude, I knew she was more fragile than she wanted others to know, and I guessed she was still hurting as a result of what had happened the last time we were together. A stab of regret shot through my chest at the knowledge that I’d been the one to cause that pain. Oblivious, Arlo continued with his rant.

  “Unless you knew that shit would get ugly, and that’s what you wanted. Is that it? Are you jealous of what London and I have, so you thought you’d take this opportunity to fuck it up? Is that what’s going on here?”

  Really? Was he some kind of delusional narcissist?

  “For fuck’s sake, Arlo, will you listen to yourself for just a minute? You sound like a paranoid, self-absorbed asshole. When are you going to grow up, get your head out of your ass, and realize that you’re not the center of the universe? We all have lives. We all have shit going on, and newsflash, every fucking thing that happens around us isn’t about you. Right?”

  “So you told her about it, that’s one thing. But her name wasn’t on the guest list. I know, because I double- and triple-checked it myself. How the fuck did she get in here?”

  “She was at the door carrying on and making a fuss. I didn’t want to leave her out there causing a scene in front of the paparazzi, so—”

  “So your stupid ass thought it was better to let her in to make a scene in front of the invited journalists and all of London’s closest friends and relatives? Are you an actual moron? Not to mention a selfish dick. You claim to be London’s friend, but clearly you don’t have her back at all. Why didn’t you put her in a cab and send her on her fucking way like any sane person would? Remind me never to leave you in charge of anything of any importance, you fucking halfwit.”

  I seriously contemplated just swinging a punch and taking him the fuck out. It would have been the first time I’d thrown a punch since we were teenage hotheads. These days I would never do it, of course, but that didn’t make it any less fun to fantasize. The thing was that Arlo had a point. That was the bitch of hindsight. I should have just hailed her a cab, even left with her and explained my premature departure to Arlo later. He would have been a little pissed, but anything would have been better than this shitshow I had created instead. I was normally so levelheaded, but Arlo and Marnie seemed to be my triggers—my Achilles heel. Anything to do with the both of them, but Marnie especially, and all sense and reason seemed to fly out the window.

  “Who, or whommmmm doessss a girl need to screw to get a drrrrrrink around here?” Oh, God. She was so drunk. This couldn’t end well, no matter how many ways I cut it. I ran a few scenarios in my mind, and they all ended in disaster. I was brought back into the room by sharp jabbing at my chest. I looked down to see Arlo’s finger jackhammering, punctuating each word as he spoke.

  “You. Need. To. Get. Her. The. Fuck. Out. Of. Here.”

  Nope. Not today fuckface. I grabbed his finger and squeezed it hard, but he didn’t budge. In fact, he didn’t show any sign he’d even felt anything. That always had been his way. I could have snapped his finger clean off, and he’d probably still be nonchalant about it, even if it hurt like a bastard. He was never one to admit defeat. No retreat, no surrender. That was my brother.

  “Take her home. To her house.”

  As though I didn’t know what home meant. Fuck, he knew how to grind my gears.

  Marnie grasped Arlo’s hand, the one that had just been poking me in the chest and was still ground into one of my pecs, and kissed it. It wasn’t funny in the true sense of the word, but I kind of want
ed to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

  “Buuuuut the night is young, Arlo. Letsssss spend schome time together….” She looked at him like a somewhat drunk toddler eyeing up an ice cream on a hot summer day. Okay, time to shut this the fuck down.

  Arlo managed to peel himself away from Marnie before turning to me again. “Fix it. Now.” This was his parting shot before pulling away from us completely.

  Marnie stumbled after him on Bambi legs, the sound of her heels on the polished concrete floors seemingly magnified a thousand times as it resonated around the room. I took her gently by the elbow, which in her state was enough to stop her in her tracks but evidently not enough to silence her. She continued calling out as I led her toward the door of the gallery. “You can’t treat me thissss way. Arlo. Arlo… Arlo…?” Her voice faded as we headed toward the door, thank fuck.

  Twenty

  Luke

  She was right of course. As she dozed beside me in the cab on the way to her place, I contemplated just how much so. Arlo and I had both done her wrong in this situation, and she deserved better than either of us. I wasn’t proud of myself, especially after all these years of bitching and whining at Arlo for the way he treated her. In the end, I’d done the same. Worse, even. I’d abused her trust, and I hated myself for it.

  I looked down at Marnie as she lay with her head in my lap, snoring faintly. Jesus. She was unbelievably gorgeous, even passed out drunk. I leaned back against the headrest and let my eyelids fall closed. As so often happened, scenes featuring Marnie swam into my head, some real, some imaginary. She was always there in my mind’s eye. Even before I knew her, she was there. Then when we met for the first time at school, the image of her in my subconscious that had always been blurred suddenly came into sharp focus with her face at the center.