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“It wasn’t like that.”
“The fact that you can’t see it says you’re still fucked up,” Julian said, his voice laced with sympathy. “This happened to a friend of mine back in Vancouver. She fucking disappeared because her boyfriend went crazy anytime she talked to anyone else. He could do whatever he wanted without consequence, but he had her so warped that she didn’t even see it. She cut us all out because she said she loved him. It was only years later when she got her and her daughter out and was in loads of therapy that she came back to us. It’s emotional and psychological abuse, Hollin.”
I shuddered. It made me sound so…weak. That I’d let her rule my life for so long because of everything we’d gone through. That I still wasn’t over it. That she could still wind me up. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Campbell put a hand on my shoulder. “Which means, it isn’t your fault.”
“Maybe not,” I said. “But hurting Piper was.”
“To an extent. Abuse fucks you up though, man,” Julian said. “I can’t defend what you did to Piper. I’m not saying what you did was smart. It wasn’t. It was fucking stupid, and Piper has every right to be mad at you. But you’re not coming at it from a good place to start.”
“And you definitely need therapy,” Campbell said. “It helps.”
“You’re in therapy?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“If I wasn’t, do you think I’d have my anger in check the way it’s been on tour?” Campbell shot me a look. “I had a problem, and I got help. The only real triggers now are people hurting my family.”
“August,” I said.
He nodded.
“Jennifer has been in therapy for years, too,” Julian said. “I went once we started dating. She thought it would help me deal with my dad. Literally every person on the planet should be in therapy. We’re all fucking traumatized by our childhood.”
I snorted. “True.” It helped, hearing that the other guys were in therapy. That this kind of thing happened to other people. I wasn’t alone. It wasn’t just me. “I’ll…I’ll think about it.”
“Good,” Campbell said with a smile.
Julian clapped me on the back. “That’s what we like to hear.”
“But what do I do about Piper?”
Campbell and Julian exchanged a bleak look.
“Give her time,” Julian said. “She’s the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met. Do you think she’s going to forget that you abandoned her at her sister’s wedding to talk to your ex without telling her?”
I grimaced. “No, but I’m not going to stop fighting for her.”
“That’s my brother,” Campbell said, punching me on the arm. “May I recommend a bottle of Maker’s for your broken heart?”
The three of us commandeered a bottle or two, and I drowned in my own misery. They were there to try to pick me up. Jordan appeared at some point and tried to convince us to stop. The guys filled him in on the situation, and then Jordan took a seat across from me and poured us both another glass. I was that thoroughly screwed that even Jordan didn’t see another solution. I was well and truly fucked.
37
Piper
I didn’t go into work on Monday.
My dad called to find out where I was and when I was coming in. I didn’t answer. Blaire finally picked up after he called seven times in a half hour and explained that I wasn’t feeling well. It wasn’t a lie. I felt terrible. I was wrapped up on the couch, watching mindless television.
The problem with having roommates who worked from home meant that they spent most of the day babying me. When, in reality, I wanted to be left alone. My heart was shattered in a million pieces. The two things I cared about most in my life were gone.
There was no way that I was going in to work at that place that held all of my memories and all of my joy. Knowing now what had happened and how it had been stolen from us by our accountant’s stupidity and then the sale of the property. I didn’t even know all the specifics about how it had happened, but I found I couldn’t care.
And Hollin…he was just as bad. He’d sent a number of texts that I deleted without reading. He’d called until Blaire, once again to the rescue, answered and told him to leave me alone.
“You’re going to be okay,” she said, brushing my hair back from my face. “You’ll get through this.”
“How do you know?”
“You’re too stubborn to do anything else.”
Over the next couple days, Blaire and Jennifer made me tea and fed me through my misery. After I told them what had gone down, they didn’t ask too many questions. Jennifer had already known. Hollin must have told Julian. Great. Everyone would know soon enough. I was glad at least that Jennifer did the majority of filling in for Blaire, who was personally offended on my behalf.
