Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 138287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
How am I going to live without her?
Later that night, Emmy had gone. I know this because the suite was empty then hours later, the door opened, the guys returned and Lee started throwing shit.
“Fucking bullshit,” he roared. “Noe, talk to your boy, because I swear to God I’m this close to grabbing my shit and leaving.”
Hell broke in with, “We’re at the end of the tour, dude. We got a show tonight.”
Lee returned, “Fuck the tour! It’s drama, drama, drama with his moody ass. I’m done with this shit.” Lee’s voice got farther away. “If I wanted drama, I’d join a fucking frat house, bitches.”
The door slammed.
Nobody spoke a while then Hell broke the silence. “You think she’s okay?”
A long sigh then, “No, Hell, I don’t think she’s okay.” He paused then added a quiet, “I think we broke her.”
Lying on my bed with a crushed soul and blackened heart, I ignored the knock at my door.
The hinges squeaked when it opened. “Hey.”
My mood soured immediately. “I’m not in the mood, Noe.”
Noah returned instantly, “Think Emmy was in the mood for the shit you pulled today?”
I licked my lips, staring up at the ceiling. “She gone?”
He huffed out a long breath. “Yep.” A second passed then, “Happy now?”
“Doesn’t bother me.” I was dying on the inside.
Noah sniggered. “Sure, it doesn’t.”
My hackles rose and I pushed up on my elbows to look at him. “You got something to say, Noe?”
He stared at me a long moment before he uttered a cold, “I saw you.”
With a sigh, I threw my head back on the bed. “I’m really not in the mood for riddles so if you got something on your mind, say it or get out.”
Noah stepped into the room. “I saw you. You were different with her.” I didn’t want to hear it but he kept going. “I saw the way you looked at her when you thought no one was watching. I saw the way she made you laugh. I saw you be gentle with someone for the first time in your miserable life.” He paused. “Until today.”
What did he want me to say, that I was a heartless asshole?
My lids closed and I relished the darkness it afforded. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure. Tell the world you don’t care. Tell us you don’t care. I know what I saw.” He uttered a solemn, “She loved you and I have no problem telling you that you don’t deserve her, you selfish prick.” From the corner of my eye, I saw him take a step backward. “And because of you, that sweet girl and her grandmother are out on the street. Well done, Clash,” he stated matter-of-factly. “That’s low, even for you.”
When I heard what he said, my head snapped up. “What?”
“What was it you said?” Noe smiled spitefully. “Oh yeah.” He moved to shut the door. “Doesn’t bother you.”
I sat on my bed a long while and the silence began to turn on me.
Jesus Christ.
What the hell had I done?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Changes.
Emmy
From my place on the end of the black leather sofa, I sat in my pajamas with a heavy blanket wrapped around me. I just couldn’t seem to get warm enough. Probably because I was still disoriented.
I had been through a lot of crap in my life and nothing rocked me the way this had. I guess it hurt more because I was blindsided.
Cherry stepped out of the kitchen and placed a smoothie in front of me. I blinked down at it. “I’m not hungry.”
She bit into her toast. “I know you’re not but you’re going to drink that, okay?”
I felt like a petulant child and let out a small sigh. “Okay.”
It had been a week since “Virgin Tears” was released. A week since I’d been back home in California. My first night back, I found my way home only to realize I didn’t have one anymore.
Once on my old doorstep with my luggage, I stilled at the gate then turned right. When I knocked on the door, it took him a while to answer, and before he even got to me, I was weeping quietly, ashamed of where I’d allowed myself to be led by a beautiful rock star.
Jim answered the door and the moment he saw me, his eyes lit up. But then he focused on my tears and when he spoke, everything inside me ached to feel well again. “Oh, Em, sweetheart. Come here.” He held out his arms to me. “Come to Pawpaw.”
Jim held me a long time and I breathed him in. He smelled familiar, like spicy cologne and mint candies, and I never realized just how comforting that smell was until now. When I explained I’d left my job and had nowhere to stay, as per usual, he came to my rescue, allowing me stay in his home for as long as I needed.