Annabella's Oblivion (Hard World Tour #1) (36 page)

We had an amazing night together, and she fucking ran off.

I was angry with Bella but mostly I was angry with myself for believing it actually meant something to her.

I couldn’t blame her, I guess. I was, after all, just a geeky, clumsy kid who finally got hold of his crush.

Women, as I’d discovered in recent years, admired and desired confidence in men.

No one needed Mr. Nice Guy.

It was a lesson I learned the hard way.

“
I heard your dad wants to pass his hotels on to you. You ready for that?” Yeah, I was, if only it was what I wanted to do in life.

It was hard to explain, so I didn’t bother.

“
He already did, and I had to accept it, but only if I had control over it. I wouldn’t want to work for a bunch of narrow-minded people who didn’t want to change the way of doing business.”

“
I hear you, man. So listen, since you don’t want to come by my house and all, do you want to meet at Bella’s concert this week? They have this charity event in New York and it should be a great show.”

I knew all about this concert. My recent girlfriend was dying to go there and begged for me to buy the tickets. I would have never thought she was into rock music, but live and learn.

Actually, my refusal made her break it off with me, not that I cared.

I was good to my women when we were together, but there was never an emotional connection.

As much as it sucked to admit it, my heart still belonged to a wild girl with expressive violet eyes.

“
No, you know the whole crowd and shit is not my thing.” At least I didn’t have to lie there. I preferred something more peaceful.

Of course, if we were together, I wouldn’t have missed any of her concerts. I still bought all their CDs like a love-sick fool and listened to her husky and angelic voice every damned day.

I hated myself for that weakness, but there was nothing I could do about it.

Nick chuckled at the other end of the line and that brought a smile to my face. He was the only best friend I had, and I trusted the guy as though he was my own brother.

But he was Bella’s brother, which meant no matter how much I wanted to, I could never trust him with my deepest secrets.

“
Okay then, let’s make plans for next Saturday?”

“
Sure, I’ll call you then?”

“
Yeah, man.” He cleared his throat and said something I never expected to hear from him. “For what it’s worth, I would have liked you two together.” With those final words, he hung up the phone.

He knew, all this time. Of course he knew.

Nick Hastings knew everything about the people he cared for and considered family.

I would have to apologize to him the next time I saw him, because it was a violation of any bro code there was out there.

Little did I know back then that there wouldn’t be a meeting on Saturday, because my best friend’s funeral was held on Sunday.

Ryan

Jeremy and I were sitting in my office and he was drinking whiskey while I had orange juice. Never saw the appeal of alcohol and never could stomach it much except for whiskey; except that one time after her.

Ryan, you are such a sucker. Can’t even hold a beer down.

The memory of Nick’s teasing and laughter brought a smile to my face. He was one of a kind, and sometimes I still couldn’t believe he was gone myself.

I never thought that conversation would be our last, that I wouldn’t get to see my friend one last time and apologize to him.

When his funeral was held, I stayed behind longer and spoke to him.

I hoped like hell, wherever he was, he could hear me and he would understand.

“
So you and Bella, huh?” Jeremy mused. He looked anything but happy about the fact. Jeremy was the only one who knew who I was; even the girls had no idea.

I raised my brow and held his stare.

“
You and Sam?” His eyes narrowed, and there was a guarded expression in them. He took a deep gulp from his glass.

“
Isn’t it a bit early to drink?”

“
Not with the week I had, no.” He laughed, but it lacked any real humor in it. It was more like he was mocking himself. “She pushes me away. Constantly. It’s like I make one step forward and then a hundred back,” he suddenly said, and then leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. His voice was harsh and defeated, as though he’d given up the battle. “All she is willing to give is sex, and as far as she’s concerned, we’re not exclusive, either.”

Well, fuck.

I did understand his pain. Seemed like the girls in the band had one thing in common; they knew how to push away men who loved them. I opened my mouth to explain that my situation with Bella wasn’t exactly sunshine and roses when my office door opened and slammed to the wall. Drake entered, shutting it behind him loudly.

He was only wearing pants and a shirt; his hair was all over the place, and the guy looked like he’d had a rough fucking session.

He also looked pissed as hell.

Without a word, he came to the bar, poured himself a shot of whiskey, and drank it all in one go. Then he had another, grabbed the glass, and sat on the chair next to Jeremy and opposite me.

“
I suppose the reunion didn’t happen the way you planned it?” Though my voice wasn’t sarcastic, his eyes still flashed with anger and he moved forward.

“
You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about, so don’t sit there and lecture me.”

“
Funny, but your mess happened in my house and you are drinking in my office. So if I want to ask questions, I fucking will.” He was silent for a moment and finally spoke up.

“
We met in Las Vegas. Was fucking love at first sight for me. I’ve never met someone like her before.” His face softened and a light smile appeared on his face. “We spent an amazing night together, and then she fucking ran off.” His face became grumpy again and he had a sip from his glass. “I hired a private investigator to find her, so imagine my fucking surprise when I discovered who she was. I contacted her, but she wanted nothing to do with me. She wanted a divorce, and I refused to give it to her until she would let me see her.” He finished and now just drank quietly. He stood up and, instead of getting another glass, he brought the whole bottle with him. Jeremy extended his hand with his own glass and Drake refilled it, too.

Those two would be wasted soon enough and I would have to deal with their drunk asses.

“
I had no idea she was married. She never told me. She never dates or screws around with guys like the rest.” My hand squeezed into a fist. I didn’t want to hear about my girl sleeping with all those guys.

I wasn’t a saint either, but those women would have never happened if she hadn’t pushed me away in the first place.

“
Yeah, because she wants you.” Drake said through his gritted teeth. I felt the tension in the room rise. Jer turned all his attention to Drake and his face was lethal.

“
What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Drake’s facial expression was cold as he gave Jer a look.

“
Dude, you can’t be that clueless, can you? She is in love with you. No, correction, she
thinks
she is in love with you.”

“
This is fucking bullshit. There was never anything between us, and I never gave her an indication I wanted anything, either.” There was disbelief written all over his face.

“
Jer, come on.” I finally spoke up. “Even I could see she has a thing for you.” Drake growled and I rolled my eyes. “Okay, she
thinks
she has a thing for you. It’s hard to miss with the way she looks at you and shit.” He just kept shaking his head and took the bottle from Drake, pouring himself another shot.

“
This fucking sucks, man.”

“
Tell me about it,” Drake replied and refilled his glass as well. The way they were going at it like there was no tomorrow, maybe I needed to bring more juice to my office. I doubted they wanted to go anywhere after that. Looked like we were going to stay here for a while.

“
Shit, well, that’s what’s stopping Sam from being with me then.” He laughed and then threw his glass against the wall; it shattered into pieces. “Five fucking years I’ve wanted her, and watched her screw random guys and reject me because she didn’t want to hurt her friend. It all makes sense now.” He stood up and leaned with his hands on the table, struggling to gain his control back.

“
Come on, man, calm down.”

He looked up at me and pointed his finger at me. “Don’t fucking tell me to calm down. I went through hell!”

“
Yeah, well, I had to watch my girl leave me completely and sleep with everyone else, so it’s not like I had it better than you. So calm the fuck down.” He gave me a mocking smile and started to drink from the bottle.

Yeah, I could relate to that, too. When she rejected me, I lost it. I drank and fucked random chicks, thinking it could help me forget.

It never did.

He sat back down, put his elbows on his knees, and covered his face with one hand. With the other he still held the bottle.

“
Do you have more of that stuff?” Drake asked in the stretched silence. I nodded, grabbed the bottle I had under my table, and gave it to him. He picked it up, opened it, and started drinking.

I felt like they were a bunch of teenagers and I had to deal with their sorry asses.

“
We drink, and then we come up with plans, and you’re gonna share yours,” Jer said, and I frowned.

“
What?”

“
We fucking come up with a plan to make our girls want to be with us and, man,” he turned to Drake and motioned with his bottle, “Jane doesn’t fucking love me. So let’s be civil to each other here. I never touched her.” My brother nodded, but still had anger in his eyes whenever he looked at him. “And you should tell us what the hell you’re doing with Bella.”

Un-fucking-believable.

Annabella

“
Lunch is ready if anyone is hungry.” I jumped as Marie’s soft voice reached the living room, which was dead-silent since Jane stormed off ten minutes ago. None of us moved or talked, each lost in her own thoughts.

“
Thanks, I’m not hungry, but the smell is delicious. I’ll eat later,” Ariel said quickly and gave her a warm smile, but then ran off to what I assumed was her room, without giving us as much as a glance.

“
Thank you, I just—I need to go now, but later I’ll have some for sure.” Sam’s voice was shaking a bit. She didn’t even try to smile, just picked up her jacket and went outside.

I was left alone once again.

“
They are hurting.” I looked up at Marie and noticed she followed Sam with her eyes, who was now sitting on the bench in front of the house, which was visible from the window. I bit my lip and smiled sadly.

“
I think we all are.” She shook her head.

“
If you just knew that you all suffer from the same thing.”

“
What is it?” I had to disagree with her there. I suffered with the fact that my brother was dead.

I never wished this kind of pain for anyone, but oddly enough, the pain was muted. It was like this scratch inside you that would always stay there, but it wasn’t a raw burn as it was before.

Some would probably say it was too soon to feel that way, but I did.

Maybe because I silently grieved for so long. Maybe because I had to move on to survive.