I jolt and spin around. “Where the hell did you come from?” I ask Calvin. People are popping up out of the woodwork.
“Tanner just fired me!” he whisper-shouts.
My hand comes up to my face, trying to cover the smile that’s wanting to creep out. Damn, he works fast. “Really?”
“Yes, really!” He starts pacing in a circle around me. “He found out about the drugs thanks to big-fucking-mouth Ellie.”
My spine snaps tight. “The hell did you just say?”
“Ellie and her big mouth! How are we going to fix this? You gotta back me up. He can’t fire me without everyone else agreeing.”
He’s rambling, but I quit listening. All I can hear is my heart beating in my ears.She wouldn’t.
My feet carry me down the hall. Calvin yells after me, but I ignore him. I couldn’t care less about him or his job. Good fucking riddance.
I walk to the bus, texting Ellie as I do. I trusted her, and she let me down. It doesn’t make sense. What changed so quickly?
Travis:
That’s fucked up, Ellie. How could you rat me out?
She reads it but no dots dance. I wait, but she doesn’t reply. I slip on the bus to check on Cinnamon. She’s curled up with Liam, and I don’t have the energy to tease him right now, so I back away.
Penn’s sitting at the table, eating a burger, and I sit across from him. “Tanner knows.”
He looks up. “How?”
“Calvin said Ellie. She knew.”
He shakes his head. “Nah, no way Ellie told.”
“How do you know? It had to be her. It wasn’t you.”
He drops his food and sighs. “I knew Ellie knew something. I wasn’t sure what was going on with you, so I went to her room the other night. Saw you passed out in her bed. She wouldn’t tell me what was going on. If she was going to tell someone, it would’ve been me.”
My stomach clenches, a mountain of guilt and regret piling up. At this point it’s going to bury me alive.
“Who else knows?”
“Calvin was getting them for me.” I wince.
His jaw flexes. “Motherfucker.”
As he says it, Calvin and Tanner step on the bus. “Band meeting!” Tanner barks.
Here we go.
Liam slips by us and moves to the couch. Tanner paces the small area like a lion about to pounce on it’s prey while Calvin stands in the middle of the room, sweat beading his forehead.
“I’m just wondering what the actual fuck you were thinking?” Tanner seethes. I remain quiet, too afraid to move or even breathe too loud and be the one Tanner turns his wrath on, because I know it’s coming. “You signed a contract. No drugs. That included supplying them for our lead singer,” he continues, scowling at Calvin, who keeps looking at me, likely wondering when I’m going to take up for him. I’m not. I’m going to sit and wait for my punishment and accept whatever comes my way.
“I was trying to help! He wasn’t sleeping. He was passing out at rehearsals!” Calvin pleads his case, but no one is interested. He knew my history. It was years ago, but Tanner was trying to protect me, protectuswith the no-drugs pact. Knowing how easy it would be for any of us, especially me, to slip into bad habits. I have an addictive personality. When I like something, Ireallylike it. That’s why I work to not let myself get attached to things—even people. My restraint is normally pretty good, but lately it’s been blown all to hell. I’ve been fucking weak.
“Get your shit and get the fuck off this bus.”
My attention slowly shifts to Penn. His voice is lethally calm. Even I get a chill from it.
Calvin’s jaw hangs open, his eyes wide. “How is thisallmy fault?! He was the one eating them like candy!”
