Brooklyn & Beale (25 page)

“I’m a fucking master conversationalist, Josie,” Anders retorted, affronted.

Chloe covered her mouth and giggled. “You two alone are reason enough to move to LA.”

Anders rolled his eyes. “Before Josie, no one in their right fucking mind would have said shit like that.” He leaned forward and looked at Josie over her shoulder. “You’re making me fucking likable, Ivy. Quit it.”

Josie opened her mouth to protest, but Chloe beat her to it. “Oh, don’t worry. Your reputation is safe. Over the course of the day, you’ve insulted my home, called me a fucking idiot, and suggested my mother having a stroke would be a good thing. And those are just the highlights. Your jerk tendencies are still going strong.”

“I prefer asshole. Maddie favors prick. Jerk seems too PG for Anders,” Josie said, her eyes lit with mirth.

“Keep it up, you two,” Anders warned, his lips pursed with annoyance. “But you can’t argue that everything I said was true. This apartment is too fucking small. Not moving to LA where you have dozens of job offers because of a guy you’ve known less than a year would make you a fucking idiot. And if everything I’ve heard about your mother is true, making her less able to be a bitch wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen. Just because people don’t agree with my delivery doesn’t mean my thoughts aren’t on fucking point.”

Chloe dragged her hand down her face. “I both love and hate that you’re completely right.”

Anders straightened his posture and clapped his hands, causing both Chloe and Josie to jump in surprise. “Finally,” he sighed dramatically. “You have a friend who appreciates my input. When we get home, we’re replacing Maddie with Chloe.”

Josie laughed. “When Maddie hears what you just said . . .,” She turned and wrapped her arms around Anders’s neck, her eyes filled with pity. “She’s going to make you pay.”

Anders smirked and dropped his forehead to Josie’s. “You do that, and I’ll invite Owen and Walker over every time we make plans with Maddie and Holden. You know how much Holden loves them.”

Josie’s face twisted with distaste. “Fine. You win. Now, stop being a dick.”

Anders kissed the tip of Josie’s nose and straightened his back. “Chloe, do you need help with anything else because I’m ready to take Josie back to the hotel and do dirty fucking things to her.”

Chloe’s hands once again found their way to her face as Josie’s skin flushed. “Nope. I’m all set. Thanks for everything.”

Josie stepped away from Anders and wrapped her arms around Chloe. “I’ll be back in LA in a few days. I’ll let the movers in when they arrive. Send me your flight info and I’ll pick you up at the airport, then we’ll go to the house and get you settled. I’m so happy you’re going to be so close,” she added with a whisper.

“Me too,” Chloe said, her voice thick. “Thank you for everything. I’m terrified, but knowing you’ll be there makes everything a little less scary.”

“Everything is going to be fine. You’ll see.” With a final hug, Josie stepped back and slipped her hand in Anders’s. “However, if you don’t show up next week, I’ll assume your mother has you locked in her basement and I’ll send help accordingly.”

Chloe laughed and crossed her arms, hugging herself. “She’ll have no option but to accept it once she realizes I’ve moved out of my apartment and shipped all my things to LA.”

Josie’s eyes widened in understanding. “Ah, now it all makes sense. You were waiting until everything was already done so she couldn’t talk you out of it.”

“Exactly.”

“All right, you two will have all the time you want to chitchat soon enough. Right now, I’m going back to my five-star hotel and scrubbing away the grime of manual labor. Later, Chloe.” Anders tugged a giggling Josie into the hallway before disappearing around the corner and leaving Chloe alone once more.

With a tired sigh, Chloe grabbed a blanket and stretched out across the sofa. She looked around the room with bleary eyes. The bare walls and stacks of boxes littering the floor caused her stomach to flutter with nerves as they confirmed once again that, when the sun rose in the morning, everything would be different.

Reid groaned and rolled onto his back. Using his arm to shield against the bright sunlight streaming through the windows, he looked around the room, freezing when a figure came into view. He sat up quickly, the room spinning until he was able to focus his vision.

“Greer?” Reid’s voice was thick with sleep and his throat burned like he’d swallowed fire.

“Well, well, well. Good afternoon, fuckface.” Greer’s voice was loud, chipper, and a little bit smug.

“What time is it?” Reid kicked his legs over the side of the bed and cradled his head in his hands. He felt like shit. Like, beat-up, put through a meat grinder, and run over by a stampede of wild horses
shit
.

“Almost four.”

The remaining traces of sleep vanished when Reid realized what that meant. “Shit,” he swore, jumping to his feet. “Fuck.”

“You missed your flight. There’s no point in busting your ass to get to the airport. It’s not like they’re holding the plane for you.”

Reid dropped his shirt to the floor and threaded his hands through his hair. His stomach rolled and a sheen of sweat broke out across his skin. Saliva filled his mouth and with it came a surge of nausea. With his eyes closed, Reid swallowed and willed his heart to slow.

“Looks like you had quite the night,” Greer commented.

Reid opened his eyes to slits and swept his gaze around the room again. A half-empty liquor bottle lay on its side. Next to it was an ashtray full of cigarette butts. Bile rose to the back of his throat, the burn causing his eyes to water. It wasn’t the sight of the liquor or cigarettes that caused his reaction, though, it was the small mirror covered in white residue with a rolled bill lying across it.

“Shit.” Reid swallowed thickly, but his attempt at taking a deep breath was thwarted by his stopped-up nose. “Where is everyone?”

“Gone.” Greer smirked and laced his hands behind his head. “Well, everyone but Tom. He’s currently making sure no pictures of you walking around Devon coked up out of your mind have surfaced. You’ll be the luckiest son of a bitch on earth if they don’t.”

Reid paced the length of the room. “I only left once,” he muttered, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes as he tried to bring the memories of the night before to the surface.

“Why the fuck did you leave at all?” Greer asked, his cool demeanor slipping. “Any of us would have done a run for you, man. Hell, we have people who have people who would have gone out to get you fucking alcohol and cigarettes. Why would you take the chance of someone seeing you? You’ve managed to find someone to do it for you this entire tour; why slip now? Shit had finally started to cool down.”

Reid froze, his hands falling to his sides as he stared at Greer. “What the hell are you talking about? You’ve been with me every damn day. You know I haven’t been fucking around with this shit.”

Greer narrowed his eyes, his gaze distrustful as he stared at Reid. After a beat of silence, he spoke. “No way, dude. I don’t buy it. You might not have messed with it in the beginning, but your mood swings have been all over the damn place. I wasn’t sure at first, but since we got to Devon, you’ve been in a bar fight, bailed on the band the last day of the tour, and well, I think the evidence speaks for itself about what you did last night.”

Reid pressed his lips into a thin line, his anger surging past his regret. “What I did yesterday is none of your fucking business, and if you would’ve taken care of Chloe in the first place, I wouldn’t have ended up in a bar fight. Also, for the record, until last night, I hadn’t touched a line of coke.” Reid was too angry to worry about his half-truth. For months, he’d struggled almost every day with his desire to chase that high. To forget about everything wrong in his life and instead focus on the vastness of nothing. With his posture tall and his eyes locked with Greer’s, Reid dared Greer to refute him again.

Greer sighed and leaned back in the chair. “Then what the hell happened? Why do something like that the last night of the tour? You were fine before the show, but the minute it was over, you were dragging Chloe down the hall like some kind of psycho” Greer’s lips parted and his eyes widened as a look of understanding crossed his face. “Son of a bitch. This is about Chloe.”

Reid balked. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t I?” Greer asked, his voice taking on a hard edge. “You think everyone can’t see what’s going on with you two? Did she get pissed about you going to spend the next few weeks with your girlfriend? Or did she tell you to fuck off when you tried to convince her you were going to end things with Jess?”

Reid lunged toward Greer, grabbing the front of his shirt and yanking him to his feet. “I am not fucking Chloe. She is not pissed that I’m going to spend the next few weeks with Jess, and I haven’t tried to run any kind of game on her. That’s your style, remember?” He pulled Greer closer before shoving him back into his chair once more. The sound of Greer’s breathless chuckle caused Reid’s back to stiffen. He turned around, his hands balled into fists.

“I’m sorry, man,” Greer sighed, his hands held out in front of him. “I just needed to hear you say it. I like Chloe. I don’t want to see her dragged into some kind of fucking love triangle. And it’s obvious there’s something between you two, whatever it is.”

The anger drained from Reid as he realized Greer was being sincere. “She’s my friend. I care about her.”

Greer pulled out his phone and exhaled heavily, the action causing to tense. “Tom was checking to see if you were awake yet,” Greer explained as he typed on his phone. “He said to check your phone. He sent your new flight information.” Shoving his phone in his pocket, Greer walked to the door, pausing a moment before turning back to Reid. “One of these days you’re going to have to deal with all the shit you’re trying so hard to avoid. Have fun in Memphis.”

Greer didn’t wait for Reid to respond before he slipped out the door. Alone, Reid turned in a circle in the room. Everything was a mess. He walked over to the table and grabbed the mirror, pressing his thumb into the white residue, the powder sticking to his skin. Using his forefinger, he swiped across the surface until it was clean before rubbing the same finger across his teeth and gums.

Reid sighed as the bitter taste filled his mouth. Tossing the mirror back onto the table, he started cleaning the evidence of his night. After dumping the ashtray and pouring out the liquor, he walked back into the living room, stopping to grab the notebook off the floor. He flipped it over, freezing when his eyes landed on the page. Everything he’d tried to silence came rushing back as he read the words he’d written the night before.

To the bottom I sink with my arms open wide

I don’t swim, don’t fight the tide,

I wanna stay lost in her Liz Taylor eyes

His fragmented thoughts, hooks, and lyrics covered every inch of the paper. He smoothed his hand over the page, his brows denting when he felt raised lines. With shaking hands, he looked at the other side. What he saw caused his stomach to twist and an ache of longing to swell inside his chest. Like the front side, lyrics covered the page. Lyrics about longing, want, need. But it wasn’t the lyrics that twisted him in knots, those were familiar. It was the name scribbled in every available space between them. Over and over, he’d written her name until it overshadowed everything else. He wasn’t surprised; Chloe had a way of outshining everything around her.

With a final glance at the page, he closed the notebook and pushed it inside his bag. No longer comfortable being inside that room, Reid quickly gathered his things and grabbed his phone. Like Greer promised, there was a text from Tom with his flight information, but that wasn’t all. There was also a short message with a photo attached.

Was it worth the $20K it took to make this disappear?

“Fuck,” Reid exhaled when he opened the picture. His eyes closed and his jaw snapped shut as he tried to forget what he’d seen. The picture wasn’t incriminating; it was just him standing between two female fans with his arms draped over their shoulders. But for anyone who knew him, there would be no doubt what he’d been up to. His eyes were glassy and red. His smile was too wide, his posture slumped and rigid all at once.

“What am I doing?” he whispered, his chin falling to his chest. The image of Chloe leaving his dressing room, her eyes hurt, sad, and full of disappointment caused Reid’s throat to tighten. He wondered if she would forgive him for what he’d done.

When his plane landed in Memphis, Jess was waiting. She stood at the entrance of baggage claim wearing a pair of cutoff shorts, Chucks, and a T-shirt that read “Move over Winona, there’s a new Ryder in town.” It was a shirt she’d made when he first signed with the label. From the threadbare material, he could tell it was the same shirt. A wave of nostalgia crashed over him. Jess had been there before he was discovered, and she would have stayed had he not hurt her so badly. Was he really going to break her heart again? Were his feelings for Chloe real? What if she didn’t feel the same? What if he changed his mind and lost them both?

That wasn’t an option.

“Your mom wanted to come, but I convinced her to stay home.”

Reid smiled. “How on earth did you manage that?”

Jess slapped her hand gently against his abs and tsked. “I’d never tell my secrets. Also, don’t you know the old saying?”

“What’s that?” Reid asked, grabbing his bag from the carousel.

“Hoes before bros.”

Reid stumbled to a stop and looked at Jess, his mouth hanging open with shock. “Did you just call my mom a ho?”

Jess lifted her hand and flashed two fingers, mimicking some kind of gang move. “Damn straight. She’s my homie.”

“Are you drunk?” Reid whispered, looking around. A few people were staring, but that was to be expected. It didn’t appear anyone noticed that Jess had clearly lost her mind.

She laughed and threw her arm over his shoulder. “Of course not. I’m just stupid happy you’re home. It’s making me act completely ridiculous.”

Reid chuckled. “If that’s the way you want to deal with this, I’m cool with that.”

The pair ducked out of the airport, only stopping to sign a few autographs. Once inside the car, Jess turned to Reid. “So where do you want to go? Tom sent me a text that your flight was changed and your phone was dead, so I’m assuming you’re exhausted.”

The familiar feeling of shame wasted no time hitting Reid like a tidal wave, but along with it came a flood of relief. Tom had covered for him. He didn’t have to tell Jess. He didn’t have to see the disappointment in her eyes. He didn’t have to relive the moments of embarrassment as he struggled to explain the cause of his relapse.

“I’d actually really like to see my parents, if that’s cool with you. I know it’s probably not what you had in mind, but the last time I talked to my mom, she seemed . . . lonely. I’d just like to see her.”

Jess put the car in drive. “Of course. I actually have a few things I need to take care of. Why don’t I drop you off so you can spend some time with them and then text me when you’re ready for me to come get you?”

“You’re the best,” Reid sighed, leaning against the headrest.

The remainder of the drive Jess peppered Reid with questions about the tour. He was all too happy to answer, enjoying the monotony of it all, until the conversation turned to his birthday. His stomach dropped and his mouth went dry at the memory of their last conversation. The conversation itself wasn’t the cause of Reid’s anxiety, it was what her call interrupted. His vision blurred as the memory of kissing Chloe invaded his mind. His pulse pounded as he remembered the silky feel of her lips and the way his muscles tightened from her soft moan when he tugged the silver ring piercing her lip.

With short answers and uncomfortable pauses, Reid played off his behavior by exaggerating his jet lag. He didn’t want to think about kissing Chloe. Thinking about Chloe led to the memory of the last time he saw her, angry and hurt, as she left his dressing room. It led to the memory of the events that followed. On edge and filled with anxiety, Reid wasted no time grabbing his things the moment they pulled up to his parents’ house. With a swift kiss and a promise to call soon, Reid vanished into the safety of his childhood home, fighting the surging guilt of his lies to Jess.