AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’d refused to take her money at first, so we agreed it would be a loan. That was the excuse I used when Goss kept convincing me to ask her for more. We would pay Cat back as soon as we were famous, so it was okay to ask for more, especially when she kept offering to pay.
I thought Steve was going to throw a punch when he turned back to snarl at me. “Months, Max. Fucking months of you drifting around like a ghost. You were an absolute wreck, mate.”
“It took you a year just to break out of it,” Luc added.
It was a pretty dark time. Sleepless nights, bursts of anger, endless drinking to remember and forget. If she was alive, it meant she deliberately left me. If she was dead, then she had no choice, like my parents.
One reason I’d gone so fucking crazy when she disappeared was because of them. I was twenty-one when they died, still living with them, staying out all night partying with the band and our friends. I thought they’d done their usual thing of heading to bed early after going out for dinner. They used to worry and wait up for me when I was younger, but as I got older, they got used to my antics. I thought it was nothing when I stumbled in at 2 am and their bedroom door was closed. I just passed out in bed. I was woken up the next morning by pounding on the door and two policemen telling me my parents had crashed their car on the way home. Then they were gone. Just like that.
A year later, when my girlfriend suddenly disappeared without a word, I went crazy. Her number was disconnected, and her friends had no idea where she was. There was no trace of her.
At first, I thought she’d been taken away from me the same way they had, until I saw her picture in one of those gossip mags a dancer had left in the rehearsal studio. I nearly tore up the room, blind with rage, yelling at anyone who came near me. I couldn’t do the interview we’d been scheduled for. Luc, Goss, and Steve dragged me back to my place and stayed with me, listening to me cry and rant for hours until I drunk myself to sleep. They’d been furious with her too.
Now I’d seen her again in the flesh, and I couldn’t leave her until I’d at least found out what really happened.
“Luc, I said I’ll be fine.” I was trying to warn him off, but it felt like I was trying to reassure myself.
“You’re not fine, Max.” Luc’s face revealed nothing, but it was obvious he was worried. “Nothing is ever fine when it comes to Cat.”
“I don’t see what the problem is,” Bevel said. He was the innocent party in all this. “The song was banging.”
“The problem is, Bevel, she is going to fuck with everything.” Steve fumed. “It’s what she does. She’s going to fucking ruin Max, and he’s going to lie down and let her walk all over him.” He rubbed his forehead and grunted.
It wasn’t his problem to figure out. He was being dramatic. He made it sound like she was out to bring us down, but I’d only seen her once. Just because my obsession was creeping back in full force didn’t mean everything was going to go to shit, right?
Cat
“And now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for!” Bunny’s voice blared through the ballroom speakers, silencing the excited chattering from the guests she’d invited to her engagement party.
She stood front and centre on the white runway that bridged the middle of the room. Walking through a sea of soft pink and white rose petals, draped in layers and layers of bright fuchsia, Bunny flaunted her pre-wedding dress, as she called it. All the lights were dimmed, the spotlights shining directly on her. Five hundred or so guests filled the old Victorian ballroom, gathering around the runway, dying to be as close as possible to the stage for the unveiling. After enduring the half-hour catwalk of Bunny showing off her new designs, we were getting impatient for the main event.
I’d been to the Grand Connaught Hall so many times since I was a child. Mum loved Covent Garden, and it was her favourite place to hold her parties and galas, so, naturally, it became society’s favourite too.
Swaths of pink silk hung from the high ceiling, the walls covered in vines and fake roses. Huge hearts constructed of lilies and roses lined the room in front of giant white sheets emblazoned with the “SweetBuns” designer logo for photo opportunities. Candelabras lit the tables, and an enormous fountain filled with champagne dominated the east corner of the room. The theme clashed with most of the dresses she had her guests wearing, but it was all about Bunny and Max. So, who cared?
She’d outdone herself with the dress she’d sent me. It was completely sheer. Thousands of tiny diamonds glittered on the fabric, catching the light and making me sparkle. She’d covered the entire dress in electric-green spider webs. The centre of three webs rested on my nipples and crotch, spread out over my belly, shoulders, and arms, leaving my back exposed. Another spiderweb tastefully rode my tailbone. The dress dropped to the floor, hiding simple black heels. It was fantastic.
Tense music began to pulse around us as Bun walked to the end of the runway, positioning herself in the centre of the room for all of us to gaze upon her beauty. She turned and took slow steps towards the thick red curtains at the back of the stage, holding the microphone to her lips as she began.
“Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess. She loved and cared for everyone, and she was the treasure of the land. Many handsome princes desired her hand, but she wanted something more.”
“She’s seriously doing this, isn’t she?” Dom muttered in my ear.
This was such a classic move for Bun. Dom and I had parked ourselves at one of the long dining tables at the back of the room, away from the scrambling crowd, the smoke machine, and the rose petals raining from the ceiling.
“One day, a shadow descended upon the castle, and the Dark Lord, a fearsome beast and warrior, stormed the gates.”
The curtains broke apart, and Max burst through, striding towards Bunny, dressed head to toe in spikes and leather, sporting a giant black sword, a leather cape, and a crown of black glass. There was a loud crash of guitar chords, covering the gasps and shouts of the crowd. One of Clutch’s most famous songs played, depicting this exact story.
Bunny continued to speak. “He’d come to claim a bride. The moment he laid his eyes on her, he knew he wanted her, knew she was his.”
Max fell to his knees before Bunny, bowing as he placed his sword at her feet, taking her hand and kissing it before the crowd, who started cheering the moment they realised who it was. He pulled a box from his pocket and opened it with both hands, holding it to show her a beautiful pink diamond ring. I was sure it was the one she’d been wearing last week.
I reached out across the table and took Dom’s hand. My throat was tight; my stomach had dropped. I was seething as I watched the farce play out in front of us. Dom gave me a squeeze, anchoring me, but it wasn’t enough.
I didn’t have room for weakness in my life. Not with the cases I dealt with and the chaos surrounding my family, all thanks to Mum’s dramatics and Dad’s questionable business deals. I couldn’t afford to let myself slip into old habits like innocence and love. Vulnerability left cracks, and those cracks could widen into caverns, and before I knew it, I’d have nothing left to hold on to.
I’d been preparing myself for this all week, fighting through the memories and nightmares plaguing me, unresolved phantoms demanding to be heard. Worse was the tremor of anticipation building as the party drew closer. Though I was determined to avoid him, I still felt a toxic thrill when I laid eyes on Max again, even if he was looking up at Bun with complete adoration.
