at me. “Sure.” Her grin was malicious. “Go ahead, Connor. Explain.”
Pearl looked at the other guys, worried. “Emmy just heard the song.”
Noah shot up, his eyes anxious. “Where is she?”
Cherry shrugged out of Hell’s hold. “In her room.” She looked me up and down before heading to the fridge and taking out an energy drink. “Crying.”
I swallowed hard. Oh, I did not like that.
But this was for the best.
That night, I was this close to telling her I loved her.
Didn’t anybody understand?
I was Connor Clash.
I had a reputation to uphold.
Emmy did not fit with me. She was ruining everything.
Wrong.
You ruined everything.
Whatever. She didn’t belong here. Not with me. Not with us. So I did what I needed to see her gone.
When the door swung open, everybody turned to face it. Emmy stood there, hugging herself. She looked so small and when she shuffled into the room, eyes bloodshot, tearing up, and she asked me one question.
“Why?”
Her injured tone, her woeful appearance, it was torture.
The whispered word was enough to set me off.
“What?” I chuckled. “Don’t tell me you thought you were special.”
It was harsh. Harsh was good. It was also a lie but she need never know that.
She was special.
Fuck, she was everything.
Her face crumpled and she lifted both hands to cover her face as her shoulders shook.
My anger spiked. “Emmy, we fucked. That’s all.”
She lowered her hands, I watched her tears trail her cheeks and fall to the floor. She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t, and you know it, Connor.”
I can’t believe she was calling me out. She was definitely stronger than I thought.
I scoffed nastily. “So we had a couple of stolen moments.” I shrugged blasé-like. “Don’t make it out to be more than it was, baby.”
She balled her fists but her voice was weak. “It was more than that.”
This was killing me. I felt ill. I needed to end this now.
“What do you want me to say, Emmy? That I liked feeling how desperate you were for attention?” My voice rose. “That I like knowing I’m the only one whose had that pussy?” And then I was yelling so loud the veins in my neck bulged. “You were nothing but a distraction!”
“No,” she cried, her body quaking. She stomped her foot and yelled, “Stop it!”
My heart squeezed when I put the nail in the coffin. “What did you think, that I loved you or something?” I sniffed heartlessly. “Baby, please. You were hardly writing inspiration.”
The room was silent and I’d done what I needed to.
Yeah.
But at what cost?
It didn’t matter.
Ignoring how badly I hurt on the inside, I stepped back, away from her. I disregarded every instinct that told me to go over, take Emmy into my arms, and beg for forgiveness. What was done was done. It was over.
What was she going to do now?
Where would she go?
The moment I got into my room, I shut the door behind me and punched the wall as hard as I could but I felt nothing.
Running a hand down my pale face, a better question assaulted my mind.
How am I going to live without her?
Later that night, Emmy had gone. I know this because the suite was empty then hours later, the door opened, the guys returned and Lee started throwing shit.
“Fucking bullshit,” he roared. “Noe, talk to your boy, because I swear to God I’m this close to grabbing my shit and leaving.”
Hell broke in with, “We’re at the end of the tour, dude. We got a show tonight.”
Lee returned, “Fuck the tour! It’s drama, drama, drama with his moody ass. I’m done with this shit.” Lee’s voice got farther away. “If I wanted drama, I’d join a fucking frat house, bitches.”
The door slammed.
Nobody spoke a while then Hell broke the silence. “You think she’s okay?”
A long sigh then, “No, Hell, I don’t think she’s okay.” He paused then added a quiet, “I think we broke her.”
Lying on my bed with a crushed soul and blackened heart, I ignored the knock at my door.
The hinges squeaked when it opened. “Hey.”
My mood soured immediately. “I’m not in the mood, Noe.”
Noah returned instantly, “Think Emmy was in the mood for the shit you pulled today?”
I licked my lips, staring up at the ceiling. “She gone?”
He huffed out a long breath. “Yep.” A second passed then, “Happy now?”
“Doesn’t bother me.” I was dying on the inside.
Noah sniggered. “Sure, it doesn’t.”
My hackles rose and I pushed up on my elbows to look at him. “You got something to say, Noe?”
He stared