Page 94 of Revelry

I scratch at the stubble that lines my chin, I haven’t slept, and I’m still wearing the stinking clothes I wore on stage at last night’s concert. I let out a strangled grunt and glare at our interlocked hands.

How do I tell her this? How do I tell her that Leif, a kid I looked on like my own brother betrayed us, betrayed her in the worst possible way?

“Do you remember anything?” I ask, chewing my lip.

She shakes her head, but I know she’s holding something back from me.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Nothing. Where’s Levi?”

“Getting coffee.”

“Ali,” I say softly, placing my free hand over our joined ones. “Do you remember anything about what happened?”

“I was sick, and Leif gave me a glass of water. I don’t know what happened after that.” She takes a deep shuddering breath. “There was another man … I thought Levi was there, but he wasn’t. Was he?”

“No. He was on stage.”

Her resolve cracks, and then her expression crumples, tears track down her cheeks and slide off her jaw. “What did they do, Coop?”

“Baby, I’m so sorry,” I whisper, and she flinches.

“What did they do?” she bites out.

“We came off stage, and exited out the back door when Deb said you hadn’t been backstage the whole show. I had this weird feeling in my gut; I can’t explain it. None of us felt like partying, but there was a crowd at the back door.” I rake my free hand through my hair, staring down at the bed. “I caught that Gainy fucker lurking alongside the groupies. He was snapping pictures of us as we signed autographs. Security knows not to let him near us, and by the time we got through the crowd he was gone. And then we found Leif, bailed up by James. And you were lying naked on the couch, tanked up to the eyeballs, your eyes rolling back in your head.”

She sobs, her hand squeezing tightly in mine. “They didn’t—”

“No, the doctors checked you over, you weren’t … assaulted.”But she had been. Not in the physical sense, but this lifestyle had raped her. It had chewed her up, used her and spat her out. All for the sake of a fucking magazine article. So people could buy a copy and read all of the bullshit within its pages and somehow feel as if they were closer to me. As if they knew me, or her, or they felt they were worthy to judge her.

“Leif promised Gainy an exclusive,” I say, my voice breaking, my whole body shaking with rage. “He got you high, and he let Gainy take your picture. He already sold it to the tabloids.”

A strangled sob leaves her mouth and she clamps her free hand over her lips to stifle it.

“I’m gonna fix this,” I say, begging her with my eyes to believe me. “I’m going to make it so that it never happened.”

“How, Coop? How can you possibly fix this?” Fat tears spill down her cheeks, she pulls her hand from mine and covers her face.

“I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so, so sorry.” I reach for her hand, but she yanks it away.

“Don’t. Touch. Me. He told me what you did.”

“Who?” I frown. “What are you talking about?”

The door opens, and Levi enters the room carrying two cardboard cups of terrible vending machine coffee. I know it’s terrible because we’ve been drinking the shit all night. His face lights up when he sees her sitting up in bed. “You’re awake.”

His gaze darts back and forth between us. He hands me the cup. “You told her already?”

Ali glares at him. “Did you know?”

“Did I know what? That they were going to drug you and take your fucking picture? No, I didn’t know. I would have beat the shit outta him even more for entertaining the idea.”

Ali’s gaze drops to his busted up hands, and she shakes her head.

“Did you know he was paying me?” she whispers, and even though she’s asking him the question, her cold gaze is directed at me.

Fuck. My heart squeezes painfully in my chest because she knows from Levi’s expression that it’s true. And more to the point, she understands it’s something I didn’t want her to know about. I can see it in the venom in her gaze. “Ali.”

---