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“Matt. You and Frankie?” she asked, looking shocked. “Actually, don’t tell me. There’s enough going on right now. I can’t cope with anything else. You forget you saw me like this.” She moved her hand in front of her body, obviously annoyed someone had seen her looking less than perfect. “And I’ll pretend I didn’t see you.”
I zipped my lips, throwing away the invisible key before leaving to go shower and change.
Chapter 15
Frankie
Wewereoutfordinner after Hazel Dowling demanded we needed to be seen more, as part of her fucked-up PR plan. We sat around the table, like an exhibit at the zoo. Usually, we liked to stay under the radar, but she’d tipped off the press so we’d been accosted when we arrived and she’d had the restaurant seat us in the most visible place, so everyone had their phones out trying to get pictures of us. Luckily, Matt knew how uncomfortable we’d be and stopped people coming over to us asking for selfies; something that Hazel was furious about.
Gray looked miserable. He’d been getting worse and worse lately. Separated from the two people he was in love with. Made to deny the fact the three of them got married in Vegas. Having to pretend he was engaged just to prove to the world that he was ‘normal’ and keep the record label happy. He was withdrawn and Mav said his OCD had flared up again.
Guilt hit me that I’d not tried harder to check he was okay. I was just about to say something when I saw him, Hazel, and Addi having a heated conversation. Then, without another word, Gray stood and left, Ed following him out to the car.
Our main courses arrived, and I picked at my food, knowing every mouthful I took would be being filmed and photographed and I didn’t fancy being in one of those red circles of shame in a magazine next week because I pulled the wrong facial expression while chewing.
Suddenly, Mav leaped from his chair, as if he’d been electrocuted, the color drained from his face. “Addi, we need to go now,” he cried out.
“Mav?”
“Now, Addi. Please,” he begged.
“Okay, let’s go. Matt?”
Matt nodded at Eli, obviously silently telling him he was in charge, and then they vanished. Tanner looked at me and shrugged, taking another mouthful of his dinner while Hazel started ranting about the poor image we were creating for the band and how disappointed the label was with us.
“We’ve sold out every date on the tour. We have a number one album and single right now in the UK and the US and people are crawling over each other to interview us. What the hell about any of that is the label disappointed with?” Tanner fired out, always defending us to her.
Hazel rolled her eyes.
Putting down his knife and fork, Tanner downed his glass of water before standing. “Come on, sis, let’s go.”
“You know, she’s not even your real sister,” she hissed, like the vile snake she was. “Your mother abandoned you, and Frankie’s family took pity on you.”
Tanner slammed his hand on the table in front of her, making the plates and crockery jump. Leaning down over her, he spoke, his eyes blazing with anger. “You don’t get to pass judgment on my relationships, Hazel. In fact, you shouldn’t be passing judgment on anyone’s relationships. You are a spiteful, hideous woman, and I will find a way to get you away from the band and away from my brother because you are breaking him. Come on, sis. Let’s go.”
I grabbed the hand he was holding out for me, taking it without question, because the tattooed man in front of me was as much my brother as the twins who’d tormented me since I was born. I loved that our parents took him when his mum left him home alone for weeks on end. My folks never treated him like anything other than one of their own kids.
We were halfway back to the hotel when Tanner’s phone rang.
“Matt, we’re just on our way back, although we’ve left that bitch Hazel behind… What? What do you mean? He’s done what… is he?” he asked, fear masking his face as he closed his eyes. “Which one? Right, we’ll meet you there. I’ll call Lori and Phil. Yeah, she’s with me. I’ll tell her.”
He hung up, pushing his fingers through his hair, looking panicked.
“Tan?”
He took my hand in his as if he needed to hang on to me before he said whatever he was about to say.
“It’s Gray. He tried to take his own life. Mav found him. It’s why he ran from the restaurant… he got a weird feeling there was something really wrong. Twin connection, apparently.”
“What?” I cried, unable to believe what he was telling me. “We were just at dinner. Why wouldn’t he talk to us? Why wouldn’t he come to one of us?” I let out a sob, my heart hurting.
“Come here and hug your big brother. I know I’m not as sexy as Matt, but will I do for now?”
I shook my head against his chest. “Are we going to lose him, Tan? Gray. Will we lose him?”
“Let’s get to the hospital and find out more.”
My brother was so unhappy in his life that he took a razor to his wrist while he stood in the shower and bled out so much before Mav found him that they didn’t know if he’d make it. He was on a ventilator to help him breathe, attached to wires and monitors.
