“Nah, man, it’s all good.” Taking another deep inhale of my blunt, I jerk my chin toward Cameryn who flies past Tyler, anger blazing in her gaze.
I step off the wall and prepare for what’s next.
I just hope that maybe one day Cherry will see why I made the decision I did.
Why I had to turn my back on her to keep her.
Slipping into the same greenroom both Cameryn and Harmony were getting ready in earlier, I snatch up my oversized hoodie and wrench it over my head. Then, opening the message thread I have with Cameryn, I see the words I had typed out earlier sitting in my drafts,unsent.
Me
Please don’t hate me, something has come up. I’ll make it up to you xx
Fuck it.I push send like I should have and swallow hard, the muscles in my throat tensing. A phone beeps behind me, and I peek over my shoulder at the lit-up device on Cameryn’s messy dressing table.
I’m the worst friend.
“I’m so fucking sorry,” I whisper before turning around and moving out the door. When I step through the threshold, my forehead instantly connects withanothersolid wall of muscle. Only this time, I know it’s not Harlen because I can hear that he’s still on stage, the echoing buzz of their instruments reverberating through the walls.
Lifting my chin, my eyeballs shake from the intensity of holding back tears as they connect with Trav’s. His dark eyes gleam with that after show high, though it quickly diminishes when he realizes the state I’m in. I turn to my right, meeting the wide-set bright blue orbs of Cameryn’s.
Too late.
Again.
“Fuck, Blaine.” She’s curling her crimson beat-up fingers into mine and pulling my head into her shoulder as I just…break.
I wish I could be as tough as her.
She never cried. She never broke. She was so strong,everything I could never be.
“I’ll catch up with you after.” She dismisses Travis.
I step back, though my hand is still locked in Cameryn’s.
Trav says something to her, and she nods in response before guiding me into the room I had just tried to escape from, closing the door behind us and locking it.
Letting go of her hand, I fall into the emerald suede couch across the room before pulling myself to the edge and resting both of my knees together. I bend over and curl my fingers into my cherry hair.
Cameryn ambles over to me, and there is a piercing light that falls into my vision as she bends down, the already peeling skin at her knees ripping back further when she settles at eye level. Her warm fingers wrap around my forearms, pulling my hands away from my face while the other holds her phone in front of my eyes.
“What the fuck is this?” she asks.
I raise my eyes to the screen and see my message from no less than five minutes ago staring back at me. My stomach turns acidic, words now bitter on my tongue.
My eyes flick between both of hers, and I suck on the inside of my cheek. “I’m an asshole, aren’t I?”
Silence ripples between us before a smile hooks her full lips. She drops her eyes from mine and squeezes my arm a little tighter, laughing slightly under her breath, and that small sound lightens the room almost instantly. “There’s only room for one asshole here, and I already claimed that title.”
I join her with a light chuckle.
“How do you know him?” she asks, and I find my eyes snapping back to hers as a chill wraps itself around my nape, leaching its way down my spine.
I swallow hard when Cameryn collects a tear that rolls down the center of my throat. Goosebumps overtake my limbs at her gentle touch, and she smiles wider, her eyes flicking from her thumb, back to my eyes. “I saw the point you had to prove the other night, at the club.” She stops talking, clearing her throat before she whispers, “So tell me, how do you know him, Cherry?”
“I, uhh-” I almost choke on my words. “I was attempting to hitchhike out of Devil’s Peak after I spent the night with this biker guy when Harlen found me on the side of the road. I’d seen him the night before at…” I stop talking when I realize maybe she doesn’t know who Harlen is, who he knows, how he grew up.
She’s shaking her head, the smile still on her full lips. “Don’t worry, I know, the clubhouse, right?”
