Page 129 of Pretty Obsessed

I tried to keep my expression as natural as possible. "I'm not following. What's going on?"

"Did you miss the quitting fiasco? You had to come back from your trip for it. It's like we exist in different worlds." He turned his face and bit down on his lip. "Where have you been? You have to see how he's been."

"He's been upset. I've seen that."

"You mean out of control," Cas said flippantly, making me cringe.

It took everything I had to keep my anger off my face. "Is there a reason he's acting that way?"

"We've gotten into it." He shrugged, eyes leaving mine.

"Okay… what does that change?" I had to keep pushing for it despite the simmering anger in my blood.

"He's losing it. He's going to quit the band or… I don't know… hurt himself. He has a problem. If he keeps this up, we'll lose him and then where will the band be?” He shifted in his seat, still not meeting my eyes. "We need all the help we can get to get him to a place he's healthy and in the right state of mind."

"What are you saying?"

"He has a drug problem, River, surely you've noticed." He fixed me in a hard stare, blond locks dusting his forehead. Hazel eyes shone with intensity and lips formed into a perfect pout.

The rich boy who'd never wanted for a thing. He didn't fit in with the rest of us misfits, except he came with so much melody inside him. How could anyone say no to the golden guitarist?

"What changed? He's been doing this for a long time." I stuck to the facts and had to stop myself from pointing out he and Alexander were his enablers.

Cas stared at me like I was a moron, but better that than realize I wasn't with him in this. "He wants to quit the band. Do you understand what that would mean for us?"

"I can't imagine there would be a band without him." The sadness in my tone was genuine. I truly didn't want it to end, but if it was the best thing for Iris, I couldn't ignore that.

We couldn't keep doing this to his detriment.

"So you see my point. If we let him keep going down this path, all of this goes away." He gestured around us.

I refused to tell him he was right because he'd take it as an agreement with the rest of his insanity.

"What happened between you two?"

That got his attention.

He stiffened like someone had rammed a steel pipe down his spine. "What makes you think anything happened?" His words were emotionless. Practiced. Too calm.

The hairs on the back of my neck raised. "He's been sleeping in my room. Did you not think that would tip me off? You two went from spending all your time together to none at all and suddenly he wants to quit the band?" I lifted a shoulder, trying to get this just right. "It just seems like there is more to this than anyone is saying."

"What did he say?" His jaw sharpened.

"He won't say, Cas. That's why I'm asking you."

He studied my face. "He's mad at me. I'm sure there are three sides. I'd rather not get into our interpersonal relationships. I wouldn't tell anyone else what Alister says to me, or what you say to me."

That's because neither of us speaks to you. I fought my lip as it tried to curl. "And what do you expect to do? We have a tour to finish and an album to record."

"Alexander thinks we should postpone the album and maybe the tour so Iris can get treatment."

Iris' words rang in my ears. ‘Once we finish this album, my contract is done. I can do whatever I want.’

It suddenly hit me. They wanted to delay the album to keep him under contract. Was that the point of the single as well? Give the fans more music without a full album. Would they bleed singles out of Iris until they got him to do what they wanted?

I hated feeling like the thing I loved was a battlefield. We should be working together but instead, we were fighting on all fronts. Tiny battles to win a war of greed. It put a sour taste in my mouth.

"I don't think we should delay the tour."

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