time I opened my eyes, I was halfway to my feet somehow, mumbling that I was fine.
Raf caught me and that I felt, but then everything went black.
Chapter 20
Chaz
All I could hear was that stupid fucking song over and over, except the drums had been replaced with a shrill, mechanical beep. The rhythm kept driving into my head, which was the first part of me that regained feeling, of course. When I finally managed to open my eyes, I realized the beeping was coming from the heart monitor beside the hospital bed I’d ended up in.
It took a few minutes to get my bearings, mostly because as the memories of the press conference came back, I fought them with every shred of willpower I had left. I didn’t want any of it to be real, but when I finally lifted my head enough to see Dante sitting in the chair across the room, his arms folded as he stared off into space, I realized it was.
Whether he’d noticed me awake or not, he said nothing as I sat up. I thought of making a joke about waking up in hell to lighten the mood, but my throat was dry and I doubted he would appreciate it.
“You should be proud of yourself,” Dante finally remarked, only looking at me when I had lingered in confused silence for a few seconds. “The doc who treated you said in her twenty-one years of medicine, she’s never seen anyone that dehydrated who managed to function. Your potassium was practically a negative.”
“And Mom said I’d never amount to anything,” I said dryly. My head was still spinning, but I was thinking more clearly than I had in weeks.
It sucked.
“So I guess the mystery of where you’ve been disappearing is solved. I have to admit, I’m impressed. You covered your tracks better than I ever did.”
“To be fair, binge drinking was the least of your problems.”
He stood, his arms still folded as he walked over to the end of the bed. “I was talking about you moonlighting as a pop star, but yeah, that too.”
I grimaced. “It’s folk rock at worst.”
“That’s debatable,” he quipped. Still pissed, but I was surprised he was speaking to me at all. “I have to admit, it was good. A little saccharine for my tastes, but the world obviously disagrees. You’re already number-three on Billboard.”
I groaned, running my hands down my face. “Alicia screwed me over. I didn’t even mean to send her that song, and she just ran with it. I know you don’t believe me, but if nothing else, you have to believe I never wanted Raf to hear that shit.”
“I believe you,” he said, ignoring my look of surprise. “Only you could fall ass-backwards into a platinum hit.”
I tried to laugh, but it came out more of a cough. “How’s your dad?”
“He’s fine. He knows plenty of good plastic surgeons,” Dante said in a tone I probably wouldn’t have taken as sarcastic if I hadn’t known him as long as I had. “Raf’s got a couple of busted knuckles, but you blacking out kind of diffused things.”
“For now.”
He pursed his lips, and I could tell he wanted to say something else. Dante never minced words, so I wasn’t sure what was holding him back. Maybe just disappointment.
I was rescued when a nurse came in to remove my IV and speak with me for a few minutes about my discharge paperwork. Dante remained silent the entire time, visibly thinking about his words. I dreaded hearing them, and when the nurse left and Dante faced me again, I felt myself withering under his gaze.
“I talked to Drake,” he finally said. “He was freaking out about the breach of contract, and he wanted me to kick you out, but I managed to talk him down on a few conditions.”
“And what might those be?” I asked, trying to ignore the gut punch he didn’t even seem to know he’d delivered. The fact that kicking me out of the band I’d helped him start over a fucking mistake was even on the table just peeled the last scale off my eyes and helped me see that Alicia was right--and she was right about more than one thing.
I couldn’t trust anyone.
Not her, and not Dante.
Especially not myself.
“First, you’re going to rehab,” he said as if it was a bygone conclusion that I was going to jump through whatever hoops he and Drake asked me to for the privilege of staying in the band. “We’ll