Annabella's Oblivion (Hard World Tour #1) (40 page)

Jane and Sam took positions too, and I grabbed the mic.

“
Hello, New York!” I shouted with everything I had, and the crowd only cheered and screamed louder. “Are you ready to rock tonight?” Again, loud squeals; but maybe they didn’t pause in the first place? “Great! Let’s do it then!” I motioned for Sam to start, and she wildly started to play the intro on the guitar. Ariel joined in with a single note on the keyboard, and then Jane added the soft beats of drums.

I grabbed the mic, counted the beats, and opened my mouth to start singing.

It was showtime.

Annabella

The breakfast was awkward at best.

After I woke up Nate rather provocatively—still blushed inside from all the things that happened this morning, and couldn’t believe the things that man has done in bed—we took a quick shower and went downstairs to grab some food.

Marie had the breakfast table ready and there was lots of food, as though there was an army to feed. I raised my eyebrows in surprise and asked her why she cooked so much.

She just gave a hard stare and said there were three men to feed and went back to preparations.

Apparently, in her dictionary, that meant enough said.

I sat down next to Nate and bribed my way to coffee again, and thank God for that. I needed some caffeine for the long day at the studio; I always did.

Then Jane came in wearing a white tank top and a pair of denim shorts that used to be a pair of pants, but she cut them. This girl was the only one who didn’t bother to spend much money on clothes; she preferred to make the most of what she had.

She gave us a slight nod, grabbed some coffee and toast, and started to eat. She had dark circles under her eyes and I was worried she didn’t get enough sleep. I didn’t like the fact she wasn’t herself. Ariel and Sam joined us too, both still in their pajamas, which wasn’t so surprising, and they were really loud.

Everything was fine; they joked and even had a conversation with Nate about global warming—did I mention Ariel and Sam were obsessed with our planet?—when Jeremy and Drake entered the room.

They both looked like shit and were still wearing their clothes from yesterday.

“
Why is everyone shouting?” Jeremy grumbled and took the coffee mug from my hand. He finished my drink in one gulp.

“
Hey, that was mine!” I glared at him and then quickly pointed to Marie. “I deserve another cup. He drank mine.” She shook her head and gave me the look, which meant hell freaking no.

“
Jer, look what you did! Left me with no coffee.” He looked at me, then her, then back at me, and finally at the full coffee pot.

“
I don’t get it. We need permission for coffee?”

“
No, only I do because I’m not allowed to drink it that much.” I felt Nate move beside me, and then his mug ended up under my hand.

“
Drink, beautiful.” Oh man, wasn’t he just sweet. I grabbed his chin and gave him a loud kiss on the lips, not caring who was in the room.

I was going full open on my relationship.

“
You are the best,” I said, and inhaled the smell of coffee.

“
Crazy,” Jer muttered, and sat down on the opposite side of the table. But somehow it was close to Sam. Drake didn’t even bother to hide his attempt and occupied the chair that was next to Jane. She tensed and glared at him.

“
There are other chairs here, you know,” she snapped, and he just gave her a half-smile.

“
I know. Babe, please, not so loud.” He grabbed his head and then gave a pure, pleasant smile to Marie and, man, the dude was hot. I mean, obviously not as hot as Nate, but he was good-looking, and by the curious looks of Ariel and Sam, I wasn’t the only one who noticed it.

“
Marie, do you have some aspirin for this head of mine?” In a minute, two tablets were in front of him. She also gave some to Jeremy, and they drank them down.

They were going at food like there was no tomorrow, and now I understood why we needed so much.

“
You need to give me a divorce,” Jane finally said, and all pretense of conversation left the table.

“
Really? I do?” His voice held amusement, which pissed Jane off more.

“
Yes, you do. We need to do it quietly so no one will hear of it. Or better yet, let’s get an annulment.” Now he just openly laughed.

“
Really, baby? Annulment? I think that only happens when there was no sex involved.” She became all red and looked down at the table.

“
Don’t call me baby.” Her voice sounded as though she was barely holding herself back from killing him.

“
No can do.” Then he was silent for a second. “I’ll give you a divorce.” She snapped her eyes at him as though she couldn’t believe what he was saying. “But only after your tour, which I’ll have to spend with you because Bella needs me to be there.” Smooth, really smooth, using me as his excuse to be near her. “Then when it’s all over, if you still want to get a divorce, I’ll give it to you.” They held each other’s gaze for a few moments, and finally she nodded.

“
Okay, fine. I can deal with that, but you don’t tell anyone we’re married. I don’t want any rumors.”

“
Fair enough.” Then he leaned down closer to her and said in a low voice, “Want to seal the deal with a kiss?”

She moved back. “No.”

He shrugged, finished his coffee and food, and stood up. “Okay. I’m gonna take a shower and change, and then we can have our session, Bella.”

I gave him a nod, although I wasn’t feeling like sharing anything today, but I knew it was important for my healing process, and I did want to get better.

“
I had no idea he had a room here,” I whispered to Nate.

“
He does. We aren’t close, but sometimes he likes to come and stay over.”

“
What do you mean, you aren’t close. I thought you guys weren’t even friends.” He frowned.

“
We aren’t, but he is my brother, and he helped you, so it wasn’t like I could kick him out.” I felt like my jaw physically hit the table, but I know that wasn’t possible.

“
He is what?” He tensed, and I understood this wasn’t something he wanted me to know.

“
My brother,” he finally said through his teeth. Suddenly the events from the other night came to my mind and I remembered that I missed this small fact because I was focused on Drake being Jane’s husband.

“
So he told you about everything, and all this time you—” For some reason, I felt betrayed and didn’t understand why.

He quickly turned to me and palmed my face.

“
He never said anything about your sessions except that you guys were moving in the right direction.” some sort of guilt flashed through his eyes, but it was gone so quickly I almost thought I imagined it. “Your secrets and talks are and will stay between him and you. I asked for his help because he is the best and I trust him. I know it sounds weird because we don’t talk much, but I know he wouldn’t do anything wrong by you.”

His explanation made me calm down a little and I kissed him again.

For this to work, I needed to learn to trust him. The relationship wouldn’t last without that, and it was important. I had feelings for him and I wanted to embrace them, and not run away from them.

“
Okay, so let’s go to the studio now, and then when you have your therapy session, we can work on some technical things that you don’t need to be there for.” Sam’s voice distracted me a little; I completely forgot we weren’t alone in the room.

“
I need to have a meeting with the four of you, just us. Let’s do it tonight.” Jeremy’s voice held no secret that he didn’t care for our refusal. It was an order, and we needed to follow it.

We all gave him a nod, and then I kissed Nate again.

“
See you later tonight.” He gave me a smile, but I felt like he was still tense.

I’d need to talk to him later and discuss what just happened.

Ryan

I felt like a total dick when Bella asked about Drake. It was the truth that he never told me anything about their sessions, but he did tell me about the whole Ryan thing.

About me.

This secret was hanging over our head like an axe, and judging by her reaction to the revelation of who Drake was, I really had a bad feeling about this.

When everyone went out and about their business, I went to the office to get some work done.

I was in the middle of studying a contract when my private phone rang and I froze.

Not many people called me on it.

Recently, though, there was only one person who called me, and that made my guilt even deeper. I picked up on the third ring and cleared my throat.

“
Megan.”

“
Ryan,” she said softly, and didn’t that make me feel more like shit.

“
How are you?”

“
I’m okay, Ryan. Really.” She was, and didn’t that just prove how strong she was.

She survived a lot of things this year, namely Nick’s death and drug addiction. The whole Nick thing that happened to her and what came after. The fact that she was still able to stay strong and move forward, it was all about inner strength, which I wasn’t even sure I had.

But she had a reason to live. I heard a deep exhale on the other end of the line. “How is she?”

“
She’s better. She finally accepted that he is dead.” There was a long silence, but it had to be said. She didn’t have such a problem; she knew he was gone and dealt with that fact.

As much as she could, anyway. But it was still painful, even for me, to admit he wasn’t here with us anymore.

After all, she was the love of Nick’s life.

He loved her so much. He lived for her and Bella. I sometimes wondered what it was like to have this special woman with you all the time. He used to say she saved him and gave new meaning to his life.

Finally, she spoke up.

“
I’m happy she did. I mean, it hurts, but she needed that to move forward. Hopefully, she will move forward. Did you tell her?”

That was it. One more secret I hid from Bella, and I had no idea how to tell her about it.

“
No.”

“
Ryan, how long can we keep it from her? I want to see her, and I think she deserves to know. I don’t know what’s going on with you two, but she has to know the truth. I need her to know it.” She sounded angry, and I could understand that.

Initially, I wanted to tell her from the start, because it was better that way.

But then I saw what messed-up condition she was in and just couldn’t do it. Somehow, I felt like knowing the truth would mess her up more, and I just didn’t want that.

It was selfish, and, unfortunately, lately I’d done a lot of selfish things that I wasn’t particularly proud of.

“
I know. I just . . . I don’t know how to tell her. I’m afraid it will upset her, and she is still vulnerable.”

“
The more time goes by, the more upset she’ll be. It’s time.”

She was right, of course. She was right, and I had to own up to it. I gave her a promise; I gave Nick a promise, and I must keep it.

“
I’ll tell her tonight.” She made a sound of relief.

“
Thank God. I want to talk to her once she knows.”

“
Sure.”

“
Bye, Ryan.”

“
Bye, Megan.” She hung up. I threw my phone on the table and stood up.

I needed to ride one of the stallions to clear my head and think through the talk I would have with her tonight.

The talk that would change everything.