Page 91 of Edge of Heaven

Oh, hell. This isn’t good at all.

Death Metal Rockstar and Girlfriend have drug-laced Hospital Altercation.

Drugs and Alcohol Fuel Argument Between Rock Guitarist Callum Yates and Model Girlfriend Taryn Blakely.

“What?” she asks.

She’s going to be pissed.

“Looks like the judge denied bail,” I murmur.

“Fuck.” She holds out her hand. “Let me see.”

“You don’t need to get upset again,” I say quietly.

“Mick. Give me the damn phone.”

Well, it’s not like I can say no, so I slowly hand it over.

Her eyes widen and she starts combing through the articles.

“What the—” Her face gets even paler. “Oh my God. What are they saying about me? I don’t do drugs! Fuck fuck fuck!”

“Honey, you were the victim,” I say gently.

She wiggles the phone angrily. “That’s not what it says here! This is all about our drug and alcohol use leading to a physical altercation that put me in the hospital. And every single article mentions drugs… someone has video of him calling me a coke whore!” She closes her eyes. “Mick, what did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything,” I protest.

“You told the cops! And now look at me—I’m everywhere as some drug-addled idiot who lets her boyfriend hit her. How the hell am I going to get custody with this shit everywhere?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong and—” I try again but she’s not having it, shaking her head at me.

“This was the leverage I needed! Don’t you understand? I finally had him where I wanted him. I wouldn’t have chosen for it to happen because he beat me up, but once he did it—he was high. When he came down and saw the results of what he did, he would be sorry. I could use that to keep him on his best behavior. Two more payments, Mick, and I would’ve been free. Now you ruined everything. Not only can he not make those payments if he’s in jail, I can’t make those last two payments!”

“I can help! I told you?—”

“Stop it.” She looks furious, her pretty face marred by both bruises and tears. “And I told you a million times—I don’t want money from you! I can’t be with you unless I come to you free of debt and outside obligations. Why can’t you understand and respect my boundaries?”

“Because they’re stupid!” I snap. “This is about your son, not some misplaced sense of pride or whatever it is you’ve got going on.”

“It’s not misplaced,” she hisses. “I’m trying not to bring baggage to our relationship and you’re just shitting all over how I feel.”

Christ.

This isn’t the conversation I thought we’d be having.

“Look, I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. I don’t mean to. I’m just thinking about what Toby needs. Short-term, I want to get through this. We can sort out everything later. Once he’s okay and you’re?—”

“You don’t understand,” she whispers. “There can’t be a later if we start everything on the wrong foot now.”

I’m trying to be patient, but I truly don’t understand.

“So it’s okay to take money for your kid from your abusive boyfriend, whom you hate, but not from the guy who loves you? Please make that make sense.”

“I always make bad decisions!” she snaps. “Always. Getting pregnant at fifteen. Leaving Toby behind and letting my parents have custody while I went to college. Dating guys who don’t appreciate me. My spending habits. Turning down work I thought was beneath me. Even walking away from a great guy like you because I was going to be a supermodel and I didn’t have time for a long-distance relationship.

“My entire life has been built on a series of bad decisions, and I refuse to do that with you. Not this time. I refuse to come to you with the baggage of my past. And if you can’t respect that, then we can’t have a future.”

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