“Jimmy, you have a guest.” The large, built man with hair halfway down his back cleared his throat as he caught me before I left. I turned and looked around. It wasn’t until he moved aside and left me standing there alone that my blood went ice cold. Chilled to the bone. I stared with wide eyes at Tierney.
Everyone in front of me paused to see what was going on. Tierney looked absolutely batshit crazy. She was dressed in a sheer red and pink lace dressing gown. Underneath I could see her new, signature heart pasties on her chest and big, puffy bloomers resting low on her hips. While my eyes were large with shock, hers were large from glee. I could see clearly that her pupils were huge. She had relapsed. Was it her own doing, or was Jules forcing her to keep her habit up?
“Do you want to go?” Tate pulled me to him protectively. “Or I can stay with you if you want,” he offered. I couldn’t react outwardly to anything. I heard him order everyone to go on and leave us alone.
“You can go too GP,” Tierney said, smiling wide. It made my stomach roll. Her mouth was so large it looked like she could open it wide enough to lean forward and bite my face off. “Jimmy’s the only one I want to talk to.” She crossed her arms under her breasts.I swallowed the lump in my throat and took a deep breath.
“Alright, let’s go in here.” I motioned to the room we had all just left. Tierney glanced at it, and then with a smirk shoved past me to go inside. She turned at the door and tapped her foot, as if I was taking ages to join her. I rolled my eyes. “Tate, you guys go on. I’ll be outside in a few minutes,” I promised. The look on his face told me he didn’t want to go, but he would. I had a feeling he wouldn’t be far. Staring at Tierney, he leaned down and kissed me tenderly before turning and leaving us. We both went into the room, and I slammed the door closed.
“You dressed for my party but still didn’t come,” she smirked, looking me up and down in disgust.
“Did I hurt your feelings?” I snarled.
“This isn’t the first time. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you couldn’t get your head out of your ass long enough to care about someone other than yourself.”
“Why should I care about you? You ditched us, took the band, the music, and then lied to me,” I accused. Tears welled in my eyes, thinking of that day on the beach when she confessed to me what Jules Daly had done to her.
“What did I lie to you about?” Her eyes turned into small slits. My chin trembled as I replied.
“Jules Daly.” Silence.
“I didn’t lie about that.”
“Then how can you be with him? He raped you!” I screamed, throwing my arms up. “He fucking raped you and now you’re on his arm, talking about how much you love him and all this bullshit? Tierney, you disgust me.”
“You’re one to talk. You’re in a throuple with your bandmates.”
“I’m not seeing Ronny anymore. Nice try.”
“Oh really? See,” she took a step towards me. I took a step back as her grin widened again. She looked like she could stab me a thousand times and then walk out of this room cool as a cucumber. My heart stopped for a hard second when her hand dipped down to the pocket in her dressing gown. I relaxed a fraction when she pulled out her phone.
I was weary of her intentions as she stepped towards me, her gown flowing all around her as she moved. If we weren’t enemies at this point in our lives, I’d like to say she was beautiful tonight. Her hair curled in lazy, old school Hollywood waves. Her makeup was perfect, with dramatic eyes and a bright red to match her outfit. But I saw underneath the sparkle her label had created tonight. All I saw was a sick, bitter human being.
“My album was released, the tour announced, the singles and videos are out now,” she crooned. I continued taking steps back until I reached the wall. I bumped into it like a fly, caught in a spider’s trap. She slid over to me, eyes ablaze with something that put fear into my soul. “But we produced some tracks that aren’t going to be put on anything other than some free music sites. I want you to hear this one. I released it today.”
She handed me the phone. I took it tentatively. It felt like a brick in my hand. I looked down at the screen. I recognized the app she had posted the song to. We had some of our music on there. It was set to a song called, ‘Who Can You Trust’. I raised an eyebrow as I looked back up at her. She was almost giddy.
“Click play. I want you to hear it.”
When I refused to do it, she huffed and raised her hand to do it herself. The song began playing through the phone. It started with what sounded like a music box playing. Tierney started talking.
“Once upon a time, there was two princesses. Both beautiful in their own ways. Two stars in the sky, competing to be bigger than the moon. It was a shame that they couldn’t see that the world loved them both equally. They broke each other’s hearts trying to find love from everyone else.”
I glanced up at her, sadness flooding through me. Did she actually write this one? Certainly the label wouldn’t have given her something like this to perform. This didn’t fit her aesthetic. The creepy one twinkling note melody stopped and a more upbeat tune started. There it is, I thought.
The song itself was just another pop song. She was talking about how her and I used to be close but now we hate each other. The chorus was the title of the song, “Who can you trust?”. I was already bored with it. I was sure despite it being free to stream, she’d make lots of money on it. Good for her. But then, an all too familiar voice came in from the background of the song. Oh, my God.Tate.
My eyes swung up to Tierney’s. They glowed with glee as his voice came through her phone.
“You’ve already soaked through these. Naughty girl, I wanted you to wait for me before you got all riled up.”
I stopped breathing. I lost grip on the phone and it spilled from my hands, clamoring to the floor. Tierney didn’t make an effort to pick it up. The song continued to play, and that was all that mattered to her. We stared at each other, me in horror, her in pure satisfaction.
Tierney’s voice sang louder, but just barely. It had been produced and mastered in such a way that my husband’s voice was clear, and my responses were just as loud.
“Spread your legs and sit up on your knees.”
“Oh, you look so fucking sexy right now. That face you make when I’m stroking your clit is incredible.”
