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I paused to gather my thoughts. “I went looking for Larry around midnight. I found him in one of the guest rooms. And the A&R guy from Hi-Hat was blowing him.”
“Oh, shit.” Kingston bit back a laugh. “So, the night with Carter wasn’t a one-off.”
“No. But in the moment, I was frozen, because it caught me by surprise. Things between us hadn’t been great the last six months, but cheating was a hard limit for both of us. At least that’s what he’d always said, so I felt betrayed on multiple levels. And the worst part was, when he saw me, he laughed.” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Like hurting me was funny.”
“Aw, babe.” He reached out and slowly linked his fingers through mine. “I’m sorry. He really is a shit human being.”
“It was an ugly scene. Crying and yelling and—I’m not proud of this—I shoved him when he tried to talk to me. Like hit him hard, in the chest, and he stumbled and went down a few steps. I mean, maybe three, it wasn’t like he fell down a flight of stairs or anything. Then a fight broke out between him and our professor, the one whose house it was. Which turned into a free-for-all. Neighbors called the cops and it was a whole thing. I slipped out the back and walked home to our apartment. I packed up all my shit and called Greatty. She was in town for graduation, of course, and staying at a hotel.
“Basically, we stayed up half the night packing up what was left in my dorm room and spent the night at her hotel. We flew home to L.A. in the morning, and I walked away from all of it. Didn’t go to the upcoming meeting, told the rep from Hi-Hat I wasn’t interested unless it was just me and Roscoe, and you can figure out the rest.”
“Larry was hooking up with the A&R guy, so he had him on his side and they were never going to choose you.”
“Exactly. And at that point, I didn’t want to be anywhere near Larry, much less playing in a band with him. Not even for a record deal.”
“Understandable.”
Our hands were still linked between us and the warmth of our connection was comforting to me. Even this watered-down version of the story made me sick to my stomach. Secrets were never a good thing, especially in a budding relationship, but sometimes sleeping dogs needed to stay asleep. Both because I didn’t like the humiliation I felt every time I thought about everything I’d done with and for Larry, and because I didn’t want the band to think less of me when they found out. I especially didn’t want Kingston to think less of me.
“I don’t like talking about it,” I whispered. “There was more to it. Ugliness between Larry and I, threats and all kinds of shit that makes me shudder just thinking about it.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was so bad. But it seems like Larry is looking for his fifteen minutes, which means he’s going to use anything in his wheelhouse to potentially get some attention.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“I can’t protect you if I don’t know everything.”
“I don’t need protection,” I said. “I can handle my life. I just need to know you’ve got my back.”
“Well, that’s a given. In all of us.”
“I just want to play. Show you and the rest of the world I deserve to be here.”
“You don’t have to show me—and I include the rest of the band in this statement—anything. We already know what you can do. And that crowd at the Whiskey saw it too. That part is easy. The hard part is you learning to deal with the rest of the bullshit that comes with fame. There are going to be dozens of Larrys. People from your past are going to be crawling out of the woodwork. It’s Dorian’s job to keep that shit at bay, but there’s only so much she can do. You need to make sure you stay on top of anything that might blow up in your face.”
“I hadn’t heard from Larry in years. I hoped he’d faded into oblivion and had no idea he was in L.A. Seeing him the other night was jarring.”
“He’s been playing the local scene for a couple of years now. I knew him in high school.”
“You’re originally from Vancouver,” I said, putting it together for the first time since I knew that was where Larry had grown up.
“Right. And he was always a sniveling little punk.”
I chuckled.
“So, trust me when I say I’ll crush him if he comes after you. Okay?”
Part of me desperately wanted to unburden myself, but I knew better.
Larry had promised he would always be there for me too.
And look where trusting him had gotten me.
No matter how much I wanted to trust Kingston, there were limits. And that was another reason we had to keep things professional in public.
I gently pulled my hand from his, even though I hated having to hide what was happening between us.
“I think the food is here,” I said softly.
