by Anna Paige
“Fucking Kane!” he spat, knowing who it was from the ringtone. His eyes played over my face one last time before he spun and snatched up the phone, not bothering to unplug it, letting the cord be yanked out in his haste. “Goddammit, what?” he growled, rubbing one hand over his hair, his back to me. Kane spoke for a moment, and I watched as Kade’s whole body went rigid. He slowly turned to look at me, all traces of fondness gone, replaced by obvious anger. No, not anger. Rage.
What the hell? He didn’t look pissed off in general, either; he was pissed off at me.
“I’ll be right there.” He strode by me without so much as an acknowledgment, practically forcing me back into the bathroom to avoid being knocked out of his way. The bedroom door slammed behind him, and I was left standing there with my jaw on the floor while he moved around inside, angrily slamming drawers and sending things bouncing off the walls. He emerged less than a minute later, fully dressed. I was still rooted to the floor, in the same spot where he’d left me, off balance and unsure what had happened.
In the span of one phone call, I’d gone from thinking he was about to tell me he loved me to watching as he behaved as if he utterly despised me. I didn’t understand what had changed.
“Kade? What’s wrong?” I sounded meek and scared, even to my own ears, and I hated myself for it. I hadn’t done anything wrong.
Had I?
He stopped at the top of the steps, turning back and glaring at me so hatefully, I flinched. Without answering, he turned away and left, the door slamming shut behind him as he left me there wondering why it felt like my world just ended.
•••
Kade
“Show me,” I barked, climbing onto the bus Kane and Lennox were currently sharing, the bus I’d called home only a couple days earlier. The bus where I’d first touched Aubrey, kissed her, taken her. After all the time we’d owned the damn thing, all the memories I had were erased and replaced with her. The whole damn bus reminded me of her. I couldn’t fucking wait to get rid of it.
Kane and Lennox were at the table, looking more somber than I’d ever seen them. Lenn handed me his iPad, grimacing.
The story was already pulled up. Headline reading: Thrill of the Chase rocks private concert for cancer kids at secluded retreat in Virginia mountains.
“There are about fifty variations of that same headline circulating the web in hundreds of stories. All of them citing the press release from Aubrey’s PR firm. The original release has her contact info listed as the author,” Kane muttered, looking defeated.
I jumped from one open tab to another, scanning each title. “Do they all refer to them as ‘cancer kids?’” I was seeing red. They weren’t cancer kids, goddammit. They were just kids—good kids, smart kids, kids with big dreams and bigger hearts—who happened to have cancer. Seeing them labeled that way pissed me off to no end. This was un-fucking-believable. How could she?
Each article was basically a verbatim recount of the press release, a few of them adding short commentary on what great humanitarians the five of us were. A couple referenced the recent troubles and suggested that we had done the concert to serve our own image, rather than to benefit the children.
My grip tightened on the iPad, and I had to hand it off to Lenn before I flung the motherfucker out the window.
“This is just perfect,” I ground out, grabbing myself a beer from the fridge. “She played us. I knew I was right from the very beginning. I told you all we shouldn’t trust her, but you talked me into believing she had our best interests at heart. Now fucking look at what’s happened—what she did to those kids, to Clay and Brant and the gang, to us. To me.” I leaned back, gunning the beer and throwing the empty bottle in the trash so hard it shattered. “When did I get so fucking stupid?”
Lennox looked surprised by my vehemence, but Kane didn’t. Smug bastard knew exactly why I was so livid, didn’t he? He even warned me away, told me what would happen, but I didn’t believe him. Fuck. Me. Why didn’t I listen?
Because you have to be right, you have to be the one looking out for everyone else, protecting everyone else and now look at you, you fucking moron. You were so busy watching their backs, you never saw the knife about to plunge into yours.
I took my phone out, teeth grinding together as I searched for what I needed. Finding it, I looked over at my brother, ignoring the questions in Lennox’s eyes. “I’m going to the gym. There’s one not far away. If I don’t work this shit out, I’m gonna explode. You coming?”
Kane knew what I needed—a heavy bag, maybe a particularly brave sparring partner, whatever I could get my hands on. I needed to vent this anger. Now.
“You need to borrow a pair of shades and a hat?” He jumped up, already sending for a ride. He was not arguing and not willing to let me go alone.
“Yeah. Don’t want our Uber driver narking on us. I left my shit on the new bus with her. Not going back there for a while, at least while she’s there.” After donning a pair of Kane’s favorite aviators, I pulled my hair back into a knot, fastening it with an elastic and pulling the hat low on my head. Kane went to get changed.
“Not that I blame you, but shouldn’t we at least hear her out before we all rally against her?” This from Lennox who made no move to try and join us. He knew when to back off and let me be. After all these years, they all did.
“You talk to her if you want to; I have no interest in being lied to again. I’m past my limit already.”
He shook his head, looking genuinely hurt that she’d betrayed us. He tried to play it off like he was just a shallow party boy, but we all knew better. It pissed me off even more that my friends—my brothers—were hurt by this shit, too.
Jesus, how the hell could I have let myself fall… for her shit?
I was so done with Aubrey Taylor.
So fucking done.
•••
Aubrey
Oh my God. This is not happening.
I stared at my laptop screen in horror. There were breaking news articles everywhere, the Milly’s Mountain concert was trending on every social media platform—calling the campers ‘cancer kids’ and either praising or admonishing the band for their efforts.
Son of a bitch.
Now I knew what happened, why Kade was so mad at me. But I didn’t do this. I would never have done this. It was a total violation of their trust.
Of course, the press release had apparently come from my firm, from me specifically, and I was the only one who was supposed to know about it, so how the hell did this happen? I hadn’t told a soul, not one person. Period.
The whole thing smelled like Trish’s handiwork but—despite being the biggest pain in the ass on the planet—she wasn’t clairvoyant. There was no way she could have known this quickly. Sure, I expected some of the parents to start posting pics in a few days, but no one had done that yet; I’d checked all over the web to be sure. Not one tagged photo from the retreat.
How the fuck had this happened?
I was racking my brain for answers when the door hissed open, Lennox’s platinum spikes coming into view a moment later as he climbed the stairs. He stopped by the driver’s compartment—now vacant since we were at the venue—and just looked at me with weary, care-worn eyes. “Make me understand. Please.”
I pointed to my laptop, tears gathering in my eyes. “I didn’t do this. I swear to you I didn’t.”
He didn’t say anything, just kept looking at me.
“Lennox, I’m telling the truth.” I bit back the tears and squared my shoulders against the weight of his stare. “I don’t care whose name is on the release; I didn’t write it.”
“Then you told someone about the concert.” He made a slow path across the room, sitting on the nearest couch, angling toward me. He could have sat at the table, but clearly he wanted to keep his distance, as if I were tainted somehow.
“I didn’t.” I shook my head forcefully. “Not one word. I promised I wouldn’t, and I kept my promise.” I looked helples
sly at the headline on my screen. “I don’t understand how this happened. I can’t explain something I don’t know.”
His eyes remained trained on my face, his posture stiff and angry. “As much as I want to believe you, I just don’t see how this could have been anyone else.”
The door opened again, and I braced myself for Kade’s enraged stare, but Ethan and Jared boarded instead, looking hurt and angry in equal measures. They glanced at Lennox and took up positions beside him on the couch, presenting a united front against their perceived enemy: me.
I tried again, hoping at least one of them would believe me.
Though they heard me out, neither seemed inclined to believe or defend me.
Kane probably wouldn’t either.
And I knew just from Kade’s initial reaction that I’d been tried and convicted in his mind.
I was alone in this, just like I’d been alone in everything else since the accident. I suddenly missed my father so much it physically hurt to breathe. He would have known exactly what to do. He would have been calm and focused, thinking of things that wouldn’t have even occurred to me. And he would have proved my innocence without one second of doubt, because he knew me, knew I would never do something like this. Not to my friends, not to the band, and certainly not to the man I’d fallen in… No. I wasn’t going to go there. I couldn’t. I’d clear my name first—though I had no idea yet exactly how—then I would grieve for what this accusation had cost me.
Instead of begging for the guys to believe me when it was clear that wasn’t going to happen, I squared my shoulders and looked them each in the eye, refusing to back down. “I didn’t leak the story, didn’t mention a single word to anyone. I most certainly didn’t prepare that press release. And I have no intention of spending my time trying to convince any of you that I’m innocent. If you choose not to believe me, that’s your problem.” Ethan and Lennox narrowed their eyes. Jared just listened with one brow arched. “Now, if you’re all done looking at me like I’m the devil, I’d like to get busy finding out who’s responsible for this clusterfuck.”
I didn’t look at them again, shifting my attention to my laptop and navigating to my firm’s official website to read over the press release again. Eventually, they stood and shuffled out. Not one word was uttered by any of them. It was eerily quiet after they left, not so much the calm before the storm but more like that moment of total silence right after Dorothy’s house slammed down in Oz, all alone and having just watched helplessly as her whole world was torn apart.
I glanced toward the front of the bus, where the guys had disappeared. I hadn’t asked them where Kade and Kane were, because I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
Out buying a hanging rope, perhaps?
Making calls to have me fired?
Whatever they were doing, it probably wasn’t anything to help me. That task was mine and mine alone. Fighting back a wave of fury, I put in calls to both Trish and Miles, getting their voicemails and leaving relatively calm messages asking them to call me back immediately. I hoped Miles called first; I would need him on my side when I tried to go up against Trish. I knew it had to be her— somehow, some way, she had found out about the concert and exploited it despite my intentions and promises to keep it secret.
But how?
That’s what I needed to know.
If I could recruit Miles, maybe he could snoop around the office, check up on her in a way that I was unable to at the moment. If I could prove it was her—that she’d crossed a line getting the information—I could oust her once and for all. And more importantly, I could prove to Kade that I hadn’t betrayed him.
I closed my laptop with a soft click and sat back, staring at my phone.
Come on. Ring, goddammit. Ring.
Chapter Thirteen
Kade
I didn’t go back to the bus when we finished at the gym. I couldn’t. Instead, I went to the old bus and raided Kane’s wardrobe for something to wear and headed into the arena to take advantage of one of the larger showers. Kane stayed behind on the bus, talking to the guys about their little chat with Aubrey. I intentionally tuned it all out, not even wanting to hear her name, much less her line of bullshit.
She had done this, but it was still my fault. I should have chased her off, scared her away like I’d planned.
But no, I was fucking weak—stupid—and this was the result.
Security let me into the dressing room and took up post outside the locked door, since I was the only one backstage that early. Sure, there were sound techs and roadies milling around the stage, but they weren’t in need of protection, apparently. Just me. The famous rock star with the broken fucking heart. Why didn’t we have security guards to prevent that, huh? That’s the real danger, not overzealous fans or drunken idiots looking for a fight. I could handle those things. But this? This feeling of utter betrayal, of being the most gullible fucking loser on the planet? That was something I’d have paid big money to avoid.
I stayed in the shower far longer than I’d intended, needing the punishing spray to wash away the anger, the pain, the weight of my stupidity. When I emerged, skin red and steaming, hair dripping in my face, I heard the rest of the guys in the dressing room. Their voices were low and somber. I wrapped a towel around my hips, snatching another from the neatly folded pile to dry my hair on the way out.
They were gathered on the couches in the lounge area, all leaning forward and looking solemn. This dressing room was starker, emptier than a lot of others we’d seen over the years. It fit the situation and my mood perfectly. Empty. Blank. Kane noticed me first, nodding almost imperceptibly as the rest of their heads swiveled in my direction.
“You okay, bro?” Jared asked, looking like he already knew the answer.
“Just fucking perfect,” I muttered, pulling the towel over my head and rubbing at my hair with more force than was necessary.
“They know, Kade,” my brother announced quietly and I froze, the towel hanging down to block my face.
I took a breath and jerked it down, tossing it into the corner and not bothering to deny I’d fucked her. “So what? It was nothing, just a nut; a way to kill time,” I lied, refusing to acknowledge the tremble in my voice.
“We know it was more than that.” Lennox’s expression left no question. They knew everything, even the things I’d refused to admit to myself.
“None of it matters now, so drop it. It’s over.” I grabbed my borrowed clothes and stepped back into the bathroom, tugging them on angrily.
Kane appeared at my back as I was pulling one of his favorite tees over my head. “They already suspected. And the way you reacted today…” He huffed out a big breath. “There was no point in lying. I’d say there’s been enough of that to last us all a lifetime.”
“Yeah, she got us good, didn’t she?” I mumbled, buttoning my jeans.
“She did, but I mostly mean you.”
I turned to glare at him. “Don’t start with me, Kane. Not today.”
“I’m not starting a goddamn thing. Just pointing out the facts. You lied about the pictures to save my ass, you lied about what happened in St. Louis to save a stranger’s ass, and you lied about Dad to protect Mom’s secrets and my so-called innocence. You’ve built your entire existence around deception and now you have the nerve to throw away what you and Aubrey have because you think she lied to you? Hypocrite much?”
“What did you say?” I blinked at him stupidly, not believing my ears. “What are you talking about? Dad…”
He held up a hand, shaking his head slowly. “I know about Dad. I’ve known for a while now.”
“How? Who told you?” I sure as hell hadn’t and I knew Mom would never.
“No one had to tell me; I just started remembering things, putting things together that I’d missed back then.” He gave me a pointed look. “How you never wanted to visit him, how you started hovering over Mom right after the separation. At first, I assumed it was because she was alone, and you were protect
ive, claiming the man of the house position. But it was more than that. I just never put it all together until a couple years ago.”
“Thanksgiving.” I knew exactly when it had happened, dammit. I hadn’t realized he’d seen. We’d been with Mom, doing last-minute food shopping when we ran into Dad coming out of the store, some underdressed twenty-year-old clutching his arm. He gave my mother a long once-over, leering, and I stepped in front of her, ushering her past without even speaking to him. Kane had stopped to chat, but I had nothing to say, so I stuck by mom. I guess my protective stance was more telling than I realized.
“Yeah. You went into human-shield mode. I started going back over everything in my head later that night, and it suddenly made sense.”
“She made me promise,” I offered by way of apology, the only one I intended to give.
“I know. You were both hoping to shield me from it. But I could have handled it, Kade. I’m not a little kid; I wasn’t one then either. Just like I could have handled the bad press over those pictures. But you thought lying and taking the blame was your job.”
“What I’ve done, what I’m still doing, is protect the people I care about. I haven’t lied in an attempt to harm anyone. Not like she did.”
“You don’t know yet what she did. None of us do. I know she swears she isn’t responsible for this.”
I scoffed at his gullibility. “And you believe her?”
“I don’t know what to believe. But here’s the thing,” he said, his tone serious. “I’m not the one who’s in love with her, so what I believe isn’t particularly important. Before you start lighting torches and looking to roast her on a spit, ask yourself what happens if you find out you’re wrong. How would you ever repair damage like that?” He sighed wearily, looking drained. “And even if she did do it, could you really never forgive her? She’s the one, brother, and we both know it. Are you sure one mistake should be enough to walk away from that?”
