Page 141 of Fame and Obsession

There are too many details I can’t disclose and judgment I’m in no way prepared to hear. The less they know, the better, but after what’s getting ready to go down with Mia’s arrest, standing at a microphone and acting normal just isn’t going to happen.

Glancing up, I notice that the red light is calm and unlit, so I walk into the studio, forcing myself to look each one of them in the face.

“The king returns. How gracious of you to bless us with your presence, oh, royal rat fuck.”

I stare at Zane in shock “What the hell is this shit?”

He and Stan, a Surge security guard are sitting on the small couch in the control room playing cards as Zane’s guitar sits undisturbed.

“A tea party, motherfucker,” Zane shoots back, stroking his long beard. “What the hell does it look like? It’s Texas Hold ’Em, brother.”

“Where is everybody?” I ask, glancing around the corner into the empty sound room.

He doesn’t bother looking up from his hand “Gone. Tanna wasn’t feeling well. She started making these nasty-ass puking sounds, so Stan and I got her the hell outta Dodge, man.”

The security guard grimaces. “Yeah, I don’t mess with puke.”

“Especially chick puke.” Zane twists his mouth into a disgusted frown. “They expect you to hold their hair and shit. Tanna’s like family, but no—get a bucket, woman.”

That sinking feeling comes back. Trying to push it away, I ask my next question before losing my shit. “What about Ty?”

Zane smirks again and throws down a card. “That big asshole couldn’t be here ten minutes without climbing the walls. He texted Tanna every five seconds. When she didn’t answer, he packed up his shit and left.” He pulls on his lip ring and snorts. “Made up some bullshit story about not being able to forgive himself if she got so bad she couldn’t call for help.”

Walking farther into the room, I slap the back of his head.

He twists around, scowling. “What the fuck was that for?”

“Because Ty actually gives a shit about Tanna, you heartless prick.”

Zane retaliates by punching my arm before turning his attention back to his cards. “What the fuck ever. He wants to pop that cherry, and you know it. Fuck, everybody knows it. He’s had a thing for Tanna for months.”

“That’s insane.” I glare at him. “He told me himself that she reminds him of his kid sister. God, man, don’t you remember when Rachel died? It almost destroyed him.”

Ty’s kid sister was a little younger than Tanna when her leukemia came back for the second time. It quickly spread to her lymph nodes and liver, and she was gone within three weeks. Ty leeched onto Tanna shortly after they met, and even I could see him treating her as a Rachel surrogate.

Zane is a gigantic dick for insinuating otherwise.

“Rachel’s been gone over three years. It ain’t like that, I’m telling you. Ty’s got it bad.”

I refuse to listen to this anymore. “Whatever, man. I just came to tell you that I can’t be at rehearsal today either.”

Zane laughs. “You came all the way to the studio to tell us you can’t come to the studio? You sure you’re not pregnant?”

They look so calm and relaxed that a pang of jealousy hits me. They trade insults and throw cards at each other like it’s just another day—like a girl who’d done nothing but want what I couldn’t give her isn’t lying in a drawer at the morgue.

Like Phoebe and I hadn’t just poked a stick at a madwoman.

“I call, man,” Stan announces, staring Zane down.

Zane shakes his head in pity, then drops his cards. “Straight flush, asshole. All pathetic, little, red heartless ladies. Sucks to be you.”

Finally dropping his poker face, Stan breaks out in a grin and fans his cards out on the table. “Yep, they’re pathetic. Read ’em and suck my dick, fuck-face—royal flush.”

The shock on Zane’s face is priceless. “No fucking way! You cheated.”

“No, you just don’t pay attention for shit, Z. Now pay up before I kick your ass.”

I shake my head at them just as the studio door swings open. Turning, I see Ty, his chest heaving, and panic in his eyes. “Ty? You okay, man?”

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