Page 104 of #Moonstruck

“I can’t believe she just took off. It must have killed him.”

“You can’t really blame her for that. Maisy has a tendency to overreact to things. She jumps to conclusions without having all the facts. Hopefully he already knows that about her.”

“I don’t even believe in love, and I thought they were really in love.”

“She’s going to regret this for the rest of her life.”

“Stop!” I yelled, my fists balled up in my lap. I wouldn’t be able to take much more of this. I felt completely overwhelmed by their observations. It was all too much to process. “Enough. I don’t need your judgments. I came here for Fitz’s news. Can we please get back to that?”

Parker looked like he was going to argue with me, but Fitz stood up, holding out one hand toward Parker. As if he was trying to placate him instead of me. “Okay. The first thing I should tell you is that Piper and I decided last week to become exclusive.”

That was what he wanted to tell us? Like it wasn’t bad enough that I already had three knives sticking out of my back? He wanted to make sure he twisted his in nice and tight?

“And Piper wants to become our manager. She’s ready for a change in her career, and she’s been doing this for long enough that she’s got the right kind of connections.”

“I thought Piper didn’t crap where she eats,” Cole said.

“She does now.”

Ugh. That was completely gross. “What if you break up?”

“We’re adults and professionals. We’ll be fine.”

Raging anger blinded my vision for a second. So it would be fine for Fitz, but it hadn’t been fine for me. They’d all given me such a hard time about dating Ryan, fearful for their careers. I guess now it didn’t matter. I really couldn’t call Fitz out on his hypocrisy, given how badly Ryan and I had ended and that we were no longer together. Another sharp, stabbing pain throbbed in my belly.

“The great news,” Fitz went on, “is that Piper has already booked us another tour. We’ll be flying over to Europe to tour with Many Maus.”

“We’re going on tour with Minnie Mouse?” Parker asked.

“No, the German rock band. Many Maus. Bunch of Top 100 European hits. It won’t be as nice as ...” Fitz’s voice trailed off as he looked at me. “But if we want, they’ll send us the contracts tomorrow, and we can all sign. So I thought we should take a vote.”

While I wanted to vote no on Piper as our manager purely out of spite, I reluctantly and angrily raised my hand as a yes for her and the tour.

“Is that it?” I asked, standing up. I wasn’t sure how much more brotherly love I could take.

Fitz nodded. “Yeah, that’s everything. But, Maisy, I really think we should talk.”

I went to his front door and put my hand on the doorknob. “You know, after all we’ve been through together, the one thing I could always count on was my brothers having my back. No matter what.”

Cole got to his feet as well. “We still have your back. Just not the way you wanted. You messed up. Who else is going to tell you that kind of truth?”

Furious, I slammed Fitz’s front door behind me before Cole could say anything else. He was lucky I didn’t punch him first. How could they pretend that they were on my side and trying to help me after the horrible things they’d accused me of? Weren’t they supposed to love me no matter what? The utter and total betrayal of my brothers not standing by me was more than I could bear. Tears blurred my vision as I stomped out to my car. I was careful not to take my anger out on the road. My brothers’ idiocy was not worth getting in an accident over.

Problem was, I didn’t know where to go next. I didn’t want to go home. Where I would sit and seethe.

I wanted my mom. I needed her.

So I drove to Century Pacific, and I wiped away my tears of frustration and anger as I followed behind the orderly. This really wouldn’t do me any good. She couldn’t actually help me. Not the way I needed her to.

I couldn’t even hug her.

Taking in a big breath, I reminded myself to be thankful for what I had. At least she was still here, in some form.

I introduced myself again, and she immediately started chatting about the prom. “You seem sad,” she commented in the middle of her monologue.

“I am. My boyfriend and I broke up.”

“This close to prom? Why?”

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