Broken Fairytales Series Box Set (Broken Fairytales, Buried Castles, Shattered Crowns)

by Monica Alexander

  I looked up at Emily. “Babe, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

  She sighed. “I know. I was thinking the same thing, and if it was anyone else, I’d have said no, but it’s Rachel. She’ll use discretion and only print things that are positive.”

  “Do you know that for sure?”

  Below me, I felt Emily stiffen. “Yes, I do, Zack,” she said curtly, and her hands that had been absently playing with my hair suddenly dropped to her sides.

  I lifted off of her and propped my head up on my elbow. I reached for her hand, but she pulled it away before I could take it.

  “Don’t do that, princess,” I said softly.

  We’d had a long conversation fairly soon after I’d asked her to be our publicist, because we both knew that mixing business with pleasure could get seriously dicey if there weren’t parameters. I knew that I couldn’t get emotional about the decisions she made for the band, and I couldn’t pull the fiancé card. It wasn’t fair to her since she was trying to do her job, but it was times like these that one of us forgot our pact and slipped up.

  Emily looked back at me, her eyes blazing, and shook her head a few times. “Zack, she’s my best friend, and she’s been a fan of Liar’s Edge for years. She’s not going to paint you in a bad light. Trust me, she knows what she’s getting into. If you remember, she already slept with Derrick, and she’s heard me rant about him all summer. Nothing is going to surprise her, and she’s not going to print anything without running it by me first.”

  “Does her editor know this?”

  “No,” she said stiffly. “But we talked about it.”

  “What does Jonathan think? And Adam? How does he feel?”

  I knew Molly never would have gone for it.

  “They love the idea,” she said, almost haughtily. “But they both said it’s up to you guys.”

  I knew she wasn’t going to like what I had to say, but I was going to say it anyway, because I would not do something that could jeopardize the band. “Let’s just see how the article goes, and then we can make a decision.”

  “Zack, I don’t–” she started to argue, but her words were cut off by Lily’s cries. She was in the room next to ours.

  Emily started to move to get up, but I stopped her. I hadn’t seen my daughter all day. I wanted to get her.

  “I’ve got her,” I said, more stiffly than I’d intended.

  Emily paused and fell back against the headboard. “You’re mad,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked away.

  Yeah, I kind of was.

  Lily’s cries got louder.

  “We’ll talk about this later,” I said, as I left the room.

  I let myself into Lily’s room. She was sitting in the middle of her toddler bed, face red and tears streaming down her cheeks.

  “Daddy!” she cried, looking so pitiful, when she saw me.

  I sat down next to her, and immediately pulled her into my lap. She laid her head on my chest as I rocked her gently.

  “Shh. Shh. It’s okay, baby girl. Daddy’s here.”

  She continued to wail and hiccup and sniffle, but the noise started to lessen as she calmed down in my arms.

  “Did you have a bad dream?” I asked when her cries became whimpers.

  She nodded. “There’s a monthster,” she said.

  I smoothed her damp hair back from her forehead, as I continued to rock her.

  “There’s no monster, baby. You’re okay. Daddy’s here. I’ll take care of you.”

  A few seconds later I thought I heard Emily’s cell phone ring through the wall. It was after midnight. Who could be calling her? She picked up and talked to whoever was on the other line, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying. She hung up after a few minutes.

  I shifted Lily away from me so I could look at her. Her dark lashes, that she had me to thank for, were wet, and her big, light brown eyes were red-rimmed. Her lower lip still trembled. There was no way I was going to leave her alone in her bed. She was still terrified. She’d sleep with us.

  I stood up and walked to the door, and as soon as I was out in the hallway, Emily met me. I shifted my eyes up to meet her gaze, wondering if she was panicking about our fight. Ever since we’d been back together, I got the feeling that she didn’t fully trust that I wasn’t going to bolt again. If we even argued, she was fearful that I’d leave, and I knew it was my fault she was so insecure. But she had to know I’d never leave her. Never.

  “I’ll be back,” she said then, and I realized she was wearing jeans and flip-flops.

  “Where are you going?” I asked, looking down at Lily whose head had fallen on my shoulder. Her eyelids were heavy.

  “The county jail,” she said resignedly, and my eyes got wide.

  “For who?”

  She hesitated for a few seconds, obviously not wanting to tell me.

  “Em, who is in jail?” I asked again.

  “My sister,” she said, and my heart sunk.

  Her sister Keely was a freshman in college at UNC Charlotte. Emily was protective of her, even though Keely was eighteen, since she didn’t always make the best decisions. My cousin Jared, Molly’s younger brother, had dated her for a minute the summer before, and he’d said she was kind of crazy. I’d never told Emily that, but I think she already knew.

  “And Derrick,” Emily said then, and my eyes got wider.

  “Excuse me?”

  She shook her head. “Zack, I don’t know what the hell is going on or how they were even together,” she said, suddenly sounding exhausted, “but Keely needs me to bail them out.”

  “I’m coming with you,” I said, and Emily raised an eyebrow at me, her gaze drifting to my shoulder where Lily had dozed off. I looked down at my daughter’s peaceful, sleeping face and knew I couldn’t leave. “What were they arrested for?”

  “You don’t want to know, but I’m going to kill Keely, and then I’m going to kill Derrick, so you might want to start looking for a new drummer.”

  “Em, what were they arrested for?” I asked again.

  “Public intoxication,” she mumbled, and my head dropped. “Oh, and he was caught peeing in a fountain.”

  Fucking Derrick. He never learned. It was the second time he’d been arrested for being drunk in public in three months.

  When we’d been in Tuscaloosa, he’d gotten caught making a disturbance after one of our shows and had spent the night in the drunk tank. He’d gotten off with a fine that time, but this time he might not get so lucky.

  I was going to kick his ass – the next day when I saw him.

  “You should just let him stay there for the night. It might teach him some humility,” I suggested, even though it probably wouldn’t work. He obviously hadn’t learned his lesson after the last time. What the fuck had he been doing peeing in public? He was such a dumbass.

  She shook her head. “I can’t do that to my sister. She can’t stay the night in jail.”

  “Hey guys, what’s going on? It’s after midnight.”

  We both turned to see Sierra, my dad’s wife, standing at the top of the stairs. When we stayed at my dad’s house, we always stayed on the third floor. My dad and Sierra’s bedroom was on the second floor. She yawned widely as she appraised us.

  “Hey, sorry,” I said apologetically. “We didn’t mean to wake you.”

  She shook her head. “You didn’t. I woke up when I heard Lily. It seems my mothering instincts are already kicking in.”

  She rubbed the little bump protruding from her stomach. I found it incredibly odd that she was pregnant with what would be my little half-brother or sister, and Lily’s uncle or aunt. Of course, Sierra was closer to my age than my dad’s, so her having a baby wasn’t really odd, but my dad was fifty-two. She’d begged him a long time to have a baby. He’d finally given in five months earlier. I wasn’t sure he was thrilled with the idea. He’d never been the most attentive father to me, but he couldn’t take it back now.

  “I’m sorry,” Emi
ly apologized, as I shifted Lily in my arms. “I have to go pick up my sister.”

  “Oh? Is everything okay?” Sierra asked.

  Emily shook her head, and I saw tears well in her eyes. She was probably crying because her sister had been cavorting with Derrick, and I knew she had a hunch they’d slept together. I know that would make me cry if it was my sister. I loved him, but he was a dirtbag. I put my arm around Emily to comfort her.

  “I should go,” she said then, pulling away from me. I didn’t want to let her go, not if she was upset.

  “Zack, are you going with her?” Sierra asked.

  I shook my head. “No, I’m going to stay with Lily. She had a nightmare.”

  Sierra walked toward us. “But she’s asleep now.”

  I looked down at my daughter whose eyes were softly closed. She looked so peaceful.

  “I’m afraid she’ll wake up again,” I said, because usually when Lily woke up once, it would happen again. She either slept through the night or she woke up two or three times.

  Sierra smiled. “I’d love to take care of her if that happens. It’ll help me practice.”

  She held her arms out for Lily, and I hesitated for a second, not sure why I was doing so. Lily loved Sierra, because Sierra would sit and play dolls with her for hours. She’d been a pre-school teacher before she’d gotten pregnant, but she’d decided not to go back to teaching since she wanted to stay home full time. I think she still missed the kids, so she took ample opportunities to get her kid fix in with my daughter. But she’d also babysat that night so Emily and I could go out, and I didn’t like imposing on her.

  “Zack, seriously,” Sierra insisted, her arms extended. “I don’t mind. Go handle things with Emily.”

  “Okay,” I relented, as I passed Lily to her. She stirred for a second, but she didn’t wake up.

  “She’ll be fine,” Sierra insisted, as she rocked Lily softly in her arms.

  I nodded. “Call me if anything happens,” I told her. “We’ll be back in about an hour.”

  “We’ll be fine,” Sierra assured me again.

  I leaned over and kissed the crown of Lily’s head. “Sleep tight, baby girl. Daddy will always protect you.”

  From monsters but even more from guys like Derrick.

  The fact that my daughter could one day be interested in a guy like him made me shudder. Derrick was a good guy, but he definitely did some stupid shit, and from the look on Emily’s face, I knew she was wondering how her sister had gotten mixed up with him.

  * * *

  “I’m here to bail out Keely Cole,” Emily said softly as her hand squeezed mine. I squeezed it back. She was probably thinking those were words she’d never have to say.

  “And while you’re back there, can you get Derrick Chandler,” I said, almost as an afterthought. It definitely wasn’t the first time I’d said those words.

  The female police officer gave me a look.

  “I’m sorry if he hit on you or made any inappropriate comments. He really doesn’t know any better,” I told her, and she just shook her head.

  “You can have a seat,” she said. “Bail is set at a thousand dollars each. They’ll be out in fifteen minutes.”

  After I posted bail for both of them, we crossed the room to the hard folding chairs they had set up for people to wait. Emily was quiet, but she held onto my hand. I put my arm around her and pulled her close.

  “I’m sorry about earlier,” I said.

  She shrugged. “No, you were right. It’s a risk. I should have thought it through more carefully.”

  “There’s just a lot that can happen on a tour bus, and I don’t want to expose us to any negative publicity.”

  I think we both knew the underlying message I was conveying – case and point the fact that we were at a police station picking up a member of Liar’s Edge. Not that we were so famous that the media would even care about Derrick getting arrested, but there was always a risk.

  “I know. I understand. I’ll just tell Rach we can’t do it.”

  We. I liked that Emily was like the fifth member of the band.

  Of course she cared about the band as much as we did. Maybe I needed to give her a little more credit.

  “How about I talk to the guys and see what they think,” I said then, catching her off-guard.

  “Really?” I couldn’t miss the hidden excitement in her tone. “That’s great, Zack. Thank you. I honestly think this could be really good for you guys. If people got to know you, they’ll love you as much as I do.”

  I chuckled. “Oh, I think you’re a little biased.”

  She shrugged. “Maybe so, but still, you guys are fairly lovable.”

  I smirked. “I guess. So Jonathan was really cool with it?”

  I was kind of surprised, but maybe he knew something I didn’t.

  “Yeah, he thought it sounded like a great idea,” Emily said, and then she froze. “Oh, shit. I guess I need to call him about this mess, right?”

  “Yeah, probably.”

  I didn’t want to bring Jonathan into the mix, but he was our manager. He needed to know about Derrick. I wouldn’t have thought twice about letting Molly know. Hell, I would have dragged her with me so she could help me kill Derrick. Jonathan and I just weren’t there yet.

  Emily pulled her phone out and started to scroll down to his number. “This is one hell of an introduction to you guys,” she murmured.

  She was right. Jonathan had just met us that day, and already I’d been standoffish, Andrew had been an unprofessional dick, and Derrick had gotten arrested. Jonathan’s opinions of us couldn’t be all that great. Maybe he’d decide he couldn’t handle us and quit. That might not be so bad.

  “Let me do it,” I said, taking the phone from her hand before she could dial and pulled out my own.

  After three rings, Jonathan picked up, and from the sound of his voice, I knew I’d woken him up.

  “Zack?” he questioned.

  “Yeah, hey man, sorry to wake you up, but we’ve sort of got a situation here.”

  He inhaled deeply, as if he was trying to wake up. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m at the police station picking Derrick up. He was arrested for public intoxication and peeing into a fountain.”

  “Fuck,” Jonathan muttered. Then he let out a big sigh. “You need me?”

  “No, I’ve got this, and Emily’s with me. I just wanted to make sure you were looped in.”

  “Right. Got it. Well, thanks for letting me know. Is he going to make it to the shoot in the morning?”

  I could tell what Jonathan was thinking. The photo shoot had been booked for a month and changing the date wasn’t an option. The magazine was already pushing it to the last minute to get us into the November issue. If we couldn’t do it, we’d lose the cover.

  “Yeah, he’ll be there. I don’t give a shit if he’s hung over and puking, I’ll make sure he’s there.”

  “Thanks, Zack. I appreciate it.”

  “Yeah, you got it. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  I hung up the phone wondering if I’d been too hasty to judge Jonathan. I hadn’t expected him to be that cool, but he’d handled the news better than I had.

  “Em!” I heard then and looked up to see Keely being led out by the female officer. They handed her an envelope with her personal affects and she launched herself into her sister’s arms as soon as she could.

  “Your friend is passed out,” the officer told me blandly. “You can either wait for him to wake up or come back in the morning.”

  “We’ll come back tomorrow,” I told her, and she just nodded. I was not waiting around for Derrick’s drunk ass to wake up.

  I turned around to see Emily hugging her sister fiercely before pulling back and slapping her directly across the face.

  “Emily!” I hissed, looking around to see if anyone had seen, but the officer had disappeared into the back.

  Holy shit. I was not bailing my fiancée out of jail for assault. I’d alre
ady bailed out two other people that night.

  Keely was looking at Emily with a look of horror on her face. “What the hell was that for?” she asked, her hand pressed against the side of her face Emily’s palm had connected with.

  Emily opened her mouth to say something, but I interrupted. “Okay, let’s go outside, shall we?”

  “Fine. I can yell at her just as easily out there as I can in here,” Emily grumbled and stalked out the front doors with her arms crossed over her chest.

  Keely gave me a scared look, but I could only shrug. She wasn’t my sister. Whatever this was between her and Emily was their business. Keely shot a look back toward the door she’d just come from, but she didn’t say anything. She was probably wondering why we weren’t waiting for Derrick, but she had enough common sense not to voice that concern.

  When we got outside, Emily turned and got in Keely’s face as much as she could, seeing that Keely had several inches on her.

  “What the hell were you doing with Derrick?!” she roared, and I grabbed her arm to guide her toward the car.

  She walked backward while she glared at her sister and waited for her to respond. Keely didn’t say anything.

  “How do you even know him?!” Emily tried.

  “I met him last summer,” she hissed. “Remember? He was at the beach that day.”

  “I know that,” Emily snapped back. “But it’s not like you stayed in touch with him or anything.”

  “No, but I remembered him. Shit, he’s hot. It’s a little hard to forget him.”

  I chuckled, which earned me a glare from Emily. I raised an eyebrow at her, as if to say, ‘Don’t get mad at me. I didn’t do anything wrong.’ Then she growled in frustration.

  “Calm down, princess,” I whispered into her ear as I unlocked the doors to my truck.

  I saw her take a few deep breaths as Keely climbed into the backseat. As she pulled her brown curls into a ponytail, her elbow bumped Lily’s car seat.

  “Sorry about the car seat,” I told her.

  “Hi Zack, how are you?” she asked, trying to change the subject, but I knew it wouldn’t work. Emily wasn’t going to let up.

  “Oh, I’m just peachy, Keely. I enjoy bailing people out of jail at two in the morning. Thanks for asking. How are you?”