Page 90 of Revelry

“That’s not true.” He shakes his head. His gorgeous face twists with pain, his gaze begging me to believe him.

“Coop,” I say, removing his hands from my face. I gently push him back a step, so I’m no longer pressed against the wall, so I can think clearly without his touch clouding my judgement. “I think it’s best for all of us if I just go home. I’ll go back to Vanessa and beg for my old job back. If that doesn’t work, I’ll find something else.”

“This is your dream job.”

“No, managing Kings of the Iron Age is my dream job.” I smile sadly at him. “Right now, I’m just a glorified whore because I’m sleeping with two members of the band, and I get paid for it.”

“It’s not like that. You don’t get paid for fucking us.”

“What would you call it then?”

He doesn’t answer. He just stares at the floor, his expression tight.

“I need to go home,” I whisper. “I can’t be the thing that tears the two of you apart. You’ve been friends for a long time. I couldn’t live with myself if this came between you.”

“You think I give a shit about what Levi wants?”

“That’s exactly why we can’t keep doing this. He’s your friend, Coop—he was a brother before I came along. Now he’s the other guy, and I can’t do that. Jesus, people everywhere hate me enough. Can you imagine the public slut shaming directed towards me if I singlehandedly broke up the band? There’s more at stake here than just us.

“We just—I think we need to take a breather. You have the European leg of the tour left, and then you’ll be home, and we can sort out where to go from there. I can’t be on this bus anymore. I wake up every day wondering whose feelings I’m going to hurt today. Knowing I’m just going to fuck it all up.

“It’s killing me. I feel like I’m being torn right down the middle and you’re both pulling me in opposite directions, and I can’t not break apart. I can’t do this anymore.”

“Can’t do what anymore?” Levi says, and I don’t know how I didn’t hear him come in, but he stands behind Cooper, arms folded across his chest and an angry expression I’ve grown accustomed to these last few weeks on his face.

“Ali’s leaving,” Cooper says, and I don’t miss the painful edge to his voice.

I take a deep breath. “I think it’s best for us, and best for the future of Taint, if I go home to Australia.”

“Bullshit,” Levi says.

“Hey look, Quinn and I finally agree on something. This is bullshit.”

Levi ignores him, looking only at me with a tight-lipped expression. “So you’re just going to run away?”

“I’m not running, Levi. I’m just trying to do the right thing here.”

“So what? You think leaving is just gonna make this all better? Everyone just goes back to fucking normal?”

“No. I don’t,” I whisper. “But I think eventually we’ll all be okay if the problem is removed.”

“The problem?” he asks, with his brows raised, his gaze searching my face. “That’s how you see us? As a fucking problem?”

“Levi—”

“No, you know what?” he says, shaking his head. His body tenses. “I’m out. Problem fucking solved.”

“Don’t—”

“Don’t fucking what?” he shouts, as he backs me into the wall, much the way Cooper had just moments ago. His aggression is so much worse, though. “Don’t walk away? Don’t love you? Don’t tell you that my fucking heart has just been torn in two?”

“Back off, Quinn,” Cooper says, as he grabs for Levi’s arm. Levi pulls back his elbow, connecting squarely with Coop’s jaw.

“Stop it!” I shout.

“Ah fuck!” Cooper cups his jaw, shaking out the dizziness, and then grabs Levi’s shoulder, spinning him and throwing a punch. He misses, though, probably on account of being drunk, and winds up smashing into the wall beside me.

“Jesus Christ, Levi, what the fuck is wrong with you?” I say, crouching down and lifting Cooper’s chin up to the light. His eye is swelling, and a drop of blood trickles down his face from a tiny cut near the corner. “You’re bleeding.”

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