now, a time that felt so short to me, had left a lifetime of ruin on the former guitar player's face.
He glared at the camera as he was shoved into a police car. It was a split second, his green eyes burning into me. They were seeing me, even if I knew that was impossible. I started to shiver.
“Lola?” Brenda stood next to me, sunglasses hiding her expression. I didn't need to respond, she'd seen the television. Even in my grim fog, I could feel the distress wafting from her. “Oh, son of a—is he really getting air time over this?” The phone was in her hand, long nails stabbing the buttons.
My fingers ached when I squeezed them together. Something about being confronted with Johnny's sky-dive into destruction was scaring me. This is what's happened to him since Drezden kicked him out. I swallowed around the sand in my throat. I've replaced him. Does he know that, has he seen me on stage, playing with his former friends?
I was being worshiped in the media. He was being destroyed.
In my soul, I was sure Johnny Muse loathed me.
“Hey.” Brenda flicked her cellphone shut. “Hey, Lola. Snap out of it. You okay?”
My head moved neither up or down. I didn't know if I was okay or not. “It's weird to see him like that. Why did he get arrested? What happened, when was that?”
We both heard her phone buzzing in her purse; she didn't move to retrieve it. “I'd say you should check the internet for once, but honestly? I'd rather you didn't see what people were saying about you and Drezden.” My mouth twisted at her comment, but she only pressed on with a groan. “This band is going to kill me from stress. Johnny sort of... after he got kicked out so unceremoniously, he tried to get in touch with me. He called me from prison—”
“Prison?”
She hushed me, looking around at the milling, mostly empty store. “Jesus, not so loud. It's not as bad as it sounds. That time it wasn't, I mean. The night Drez hit him, he was wasted and going insane so the cops just put him in a cell to sober up. He called me around six in the morning the next day. Of course, I already knew about the whole situation by then.”
Everything I'd heard about Johnny and Drezden had been in regards to the fight. The aftermath had escaped my mind. “What did he say to you?”
“Just tried to talk me into overruling Drez.” Those strawberry lips quirked. “I knew better than that. Drez formed the band, keeping Johnny in would have just made it all fall apart permanently.” Her tiny smile faded. “I sent someone to bail him out after we signed your contract. There was never any clause saying we couldn't kick him—or anyone—out.”
My fingers curled, recalling how the pen had felt when it ran over those crisp white papers. “You waited to bail him out until our bus had left.”
Thin eyebrows flitted over the rims of her glasses. “I knew he was angry. Figured it was safe to get out of there. But honestly, I never thought Johnny would do anything. He's immature, not dangerous.”
“You thought he would cause some trouble, though.”
“Trouble as in causing a scene.” Brenda pushed the cart of groceries towards the front of the store. I followed behind, bending in to hear her low grumble. “Which he did last night.”
Last night. Those words didn't give me the same warm thrill they had before. No, now they sent tremors down my spine. “Tell me what he did.”
Her jaw, normally such an elegant curve, hardened. “The idiot got drunk, no surprise there, and caused a brawl trying to get into the club he knew you and Drez were at. It's lucky that you two left before he arrived or he might have punched one of you, instead.”
I covered my mouth, my eyeballs straining. “He what?”
“Got drunk. Punched a security officer.” The cart bumped into the check-out counter. Brenda turned one sharp heel, leaning in so close I could smell her minty breath. “When I told Drezden I could smooth over the gossip about you and him, I meant it. Johnny's insanity will be just as much of a headline, or even bigger. He's sitting in jail right now, he can't give his side of the story, we can cause a real fuss.”
“How do you know all this?” I gripped the cart tighter. "Fuck, did he ask you to bail