“You’re making a big mistake!” she screeches. “Mark my words, you’ll regret this!” I recognize the snide edge to her voice. The same tone I’ve heard her direct at others over the years. She’s not someone you want to get on the wrong side of because she’s been known to tear down reputations, but I’m not wavering on this. “Legal is already sending papers.”
“They can send whatever they’d like.” I stay calm, holding the cell phone away from my ear to avoid being deafened by more of her warbling. “Goodbye, Valerie.”
My shoulders sag in relief as soon as the call ends. Good fucking riddance.
“How does it feel, bud?” Tae claps my shoulder. “To be free?”
“Amazing.”
I blow out a long exhale. Despite the lingering guilt about potentially ruining Delilah and Nash’s bonding announcement, it feels like a huge weight has been lifted. Even the email that appears in my inbox seconds later from the record label’s legal team doesn’t dampen my spirits. My lawyer will deal with it and has assured me my reasoning is water-tight.
“Should we do something nice for Delilah and Nash when they get back? We can maybe run into Forestville and get—” He’s interrupted by his cell phone ringing. “What now? I feel like we’re in a newsroom today.” He groans but answers when he sees it’s Kady. “What’s up?”
His brow furrows as he grabs his laptop, balancing the phone between his ear and shoulder as his fingers fly over the keyboard. Seconds later, a photograph of me and Delilah appears on the screen. My short-lived feeling of freedom comes crashing down.
No…
All this time, I’ve wanted to protect her, and now this?
Underneath the photograph of us is a picture of Brad and Drew, fake-pouting, wearing full black like they’re going to a funeral with the accompanying headline, “Ditched for an omega!”Their smug faces are so punchable. Sure, they were nice at the start. We had fun, but then their jealousy kicked in. It began with snide remarks made at my expense. They hated how I got more attention than them, yet they acted like my best friends to get into clubs or exclusive events. They used me.
My ears are ringing, only half-listening when Tae explains how Kady and Calder are working on keeping Delilah’s name out of the press and how they suspect that Valerie had a major part to play in the leak.
Next to me, Tae keeps scrolling through article after article, shaking his head as he reads some of the speculation and comments that go alongside them.
I can basically hear Valerie’s pre-rehearsed words in my ex-bandmates interviews:
“Devastated to hear about this… Potential mental breakdown … Omega infatuation…’”
“The talentless bastards!” Anger heats my blood, my fists clenching. “I’ll kill them.”
“Jagger,” Tae warns. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
But it’s too late as my arm vibrates, clutching my cell phone so tightly that I think the screen may shatter as I call Brad.
“What the fuck, Brad?” My voice shakes as the words rip out of my mouth. “I saw the article.”
“Oh, you wanna speak to me now, huh?” Brad’s nasally voice immediately has my hackles up. “You clearly didn’t think leavingPack Firewas something you should have discussed with your bandmates.”
“Both of you knew that I wanted to leave years ago. Remember last year when I tried to leave, but you all talked me out of it, making sure I stayed?”
Despite his and Drew’s good looks, neither of them contribute much. Neither of them can sing well. I’m the one who carries the group vocally; they just came along for the ride.
“You’re just looking out for yourself and your omega.” He hisses “omega” like it’s a dirty word. “You could have had it all. Me and Drew were happy to be your pack, but then you chosethem, and everything went wrong. If you want to blame anyone for this, blame them.”
He sounds like a petulant child. I’m used to his diva-like attitude—demanding outrageous VIP treatment, leading groupies on, and treating people like shit on tour. I’m embarrassed that I used to believe that he actually knew what he was talking about and thought that was how celebrities behaved. Luckily, I now see both of them for who they really are.
“This is all about the fact that I didn’t want to form a pack with you?” I pinch my nose between my fingers, a headache brewing. “This is exactly why I didn’t want to form a pack with you. Printing a photograph like that was only going to cause chaos. You know what the Fireflies can be like!”
“That’s not my problem.” Either I’m on speaker or Drew took the phone from Brad as he’s speaking now. “If your bitch can’t take the heat, then?—”
“Don’t you fucking dare call her that. If you do anything else, I’ll make sure every sordid little thing that Valerie’s helped covered up gets aired.” A stagnant pause follows before I continue. “I hope you both made a quick buck from this sob story, because when the dust settles, people will see you both for who you really are. Pathetic, talentless backup singers.”
“Ouch.” Tae winces. “Burn.”
“Fuck you, Jagger,” Brad seethes. “I hope your new life is worth it.”
Unwilling to listen to another word, I hang up on him.
