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He put a hand against my face, brushed my skin softly.
“I will
always
fight for you, Kaitlyn… and I will
never
give up. Ever.”
“I wish you’d been more like this in Vegas,” I said bitterly, and turned and walked away.
“I will be from now on,” he called out.
“If only I could count on that,” I yelled over my shoulder.
If only.
110
Show time.
The band waited in the wings of the stage, listening to the crowd chanting their name. The sheer number of people was enormous – maybe not bigger than the crowds at their arena tour, but it sure looked like it. Whereas stadiums could stack people upwards in the bleachers, here it was just one massive field and a gigantic sea of humanity extending further than I could see. Tens of thousands of people in the dusk, merging into one collective voice of “BIGGER! BIGGER! BIGGER!”
Miles made sure the band was ready to go, then stepped offstage to haggle with someone over something or other.
Ryan was nervous as always. He paced back and forth, fretting as he stared out at the crowd.
Derek, on the other hand, was a caged tiger. He couldn’t wait to be set free, to bound onstage, to drink in the one last acceptable drug available to him after rehab: adulation.
I hooked Ryan’s arm. “Are you okay?”
He gave me a grim smile. “I’ll be alright soon.”
“When you quit the band in an hour?” Derek sneered.
Ryan looked surprised. He glanced at me, saw my guilty expression, and knew immediately what had gone on. “You told him.”
This was the first Riley had heard of it. “What?!”
“Nothing,” Ryan said.
“Nothing my ass,” Derek spat. “This fucker’s quitting on us.”
Shit – where was Miles when we needed him?
But the band manager was nowhere to be seen.
Riley looked at Ryan with wide-eyed terror. “What? What the fuck’s he talking about?”
Ryan was enraged – as was I. Bringing Riley into this as a pawn was beyond fucked up, considering the events of the last couple of weeks.
“Maybe you should shut the fuck up,” Ryan snapped at Derek. If he was using language like that, he was furious.
“Maybe you should
man
the fuck up.”
“What he talking about, quitting?” Riley asked, looking back and forth between me and Ryan.
“He’s quitting because he can’t stand Kaitlyn being around me,” Derek said.
I wheeled around and shouted, “Or maybe because you’re an asshole who won’t stop hitting on me, no matter how much I tell you to!”
“You didn’t say that when you were kissing me last night.”
Mother
fucker.
“I already told him, you asshole,” I seethed. “And you kissed
me,
not the other way around.”
Derek smirked. “You didn’t seem to mind too much.”
“I seem to remember throwing your ass
out,
” I shouted.
Killian was standing in the background, trying not to watch the train wreck in front of him.
“You’re supposed to be with
me,
not this fucking traitor!” Derek shouted as he pointed at Ryan.
“He’s not the traitor who cheated on me!” I yelled back.
“And I’m
sorry
– I’m SORRY! How many fucking times do I have to say it?”
Derek fell to his knees – not ironically, but entirely in earnest. Over the top, sure, but he was sincere.
“I’m sorry, Kaitlyn. I should have
never
done that to you, and I swear I’ll never do it again. Please – forgive me. Come back to me.”
“You bastard – ” Ryan raged as he moved towards Derek.
Derek jumped back onto his feet. “Who’s the bastard? Who fucked his best friend over behind his back, huh? Couldn’t even be a fucking
man
and be upfront about it?”
“Who cheated on her?” Ryan roared.
“That doesn’t give you a fuckin’ pass for what you did!”
The MC chose that inopportune moment to announce the band.
“AND NOW… BIGGERRRRRRRR!”
The crowd roared like a tsunami crashing down.
Derek and Ryan stared at each other with unbridled hatred.
