Page 149 of Pretty Obsessed

"Then don't," he said it so easily like I could abandon everything and live on tour with him.

I didn't say anything for a long time. I wanted to be here. My heart wanted to be here. But I had my work and my life and… I nearly said, my father. "You'd really—"

Alister grabbed River, interrupting me. "They are having it out."

"Who?" River asked, looking around the bar. No one seemed to have a care in the world.

"Iris and Cas in the alley. The cops are going to get called or some shit. It's not good. Imagine the press if one of them gets arrested in a foreign country."

River's jaw sharpened and he pushed back from the table, getting to his feet. "Show me."

I got up to follow but he put a hand on my chest. "Do you want to risk getting caught up in this?"

"I'm not letting you go alone."

Alister led us around the party and out the back door. As soon as we were away from the music, I could hear them screaming at each other. We came out near a river that muffled their words but not their voices, making it hard to tell what they were saying until we were upon them.

"Why the fuck do you have to be so unreasonable all the time? It's infuriating," Cas said, cheeks even rosier than they'd been when we'd wrapped, despite the drop in temperature. He had to be intoxicated.

"If you'd stop trying to control every single aspect of my life you wouldn't find me so unreasonable." Iris got in his face. "You made your bed, now leave me the fuck alone."

"I'm not going to do that while you keep making shit decisions," Cas replied, louder still.

"You didn't have a problem with any of my decisions while they benefited you." Iris' hands balled into fists at his sides.

This could turn physical any second and they were much too close to the river for it to go well if it did.

"You two need to cut it out. Someone is going to call the cops or worse, the paparazzi. Alexander will lose it." River's voice was surprisingly soothing.

I don't know how he did it with as tense as he was. He had to be irate, dealing with this on our last night together.

"See how unreasonable he's being? Starting fights out in the open," Cas said to River.

Iris seethed, lips pulling back in a scowl. "I'm the unreasonable one? You're the one who started this and dragged me out here so you didn't have to say it in front of Lowe and Alister."

"What did we miss?" River asked Alister.

"Iris was about to leave with some guy. Cas didn't think he should go."

"Because he's intoxicated?" River asked carefully.

"I don't know," Alister said. “I’m going to go find Alexander.”

"You don't get to control if he leaves with someone, Cas. I don't like it either but as long as he takes a bodyguard and they sign an NDA, he's an adult." River stepped closer to them.

I hated it. I didn't want him to get between them.

Cas turned on River. “Why don’t you just go to the orgy with Iris then? You can babysit tonight. You're lonely. Why don't you go watch him destroy himself?”

River stiffened and his fists clenched at his sides. His story came back to me. Defending Iris, and why he didn't drink anymore. Cas had no clue.

"You're out of line," River said carefully.

I grabbed his arm. "Come on. Let's call Alexander or someone to deal with him, you shouldn't have to."

He shook his head and pulled out of my grasp. "I need to handle this, or he won't stop."

Twenty-Nine

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