Page 104 of Of Heartbreak and Harmony
The whole time I do, Torren’s words bounce around in my skull like pinballs. They repeat over and over, giving me a headache and a twisting feeling in my stomach.
Since Glendale.
I remember everything.
All of it.
And then that kiss.
God, that messes with me more than anything else, and I angrily swipe a tear away when it escapes my lashes. Why did he have to go and kiss me now, after fucking everything? Not once in the desert did he kiss me. Not once. But now...
I remember everything.
All of it.
Firebird.
That’s the problem. I remember all of it, too.
Fuck Torren King.
I feel so damn foolish. Cheated. Lied to. Vulnerable and exposed.
Worst of all, I feel embarrassed.
I knew this was coming. Part of me was longing for it. But now that I’ve been slapped in the face with it, a whole slew of formerly suppressed emotions has resurfaced, and I can’t handle it all. I can’t make sense of it. I need to get out of here.
Glory said Mom is doing better. She’ll forgive me. I’ve already received the first two checks. We don’tneedthe rest. We will be fine.
Fuck.
I sit back on the bed, setting the duffle beside me, then drop my head into my hands.
Why couldn’t he have gone on pretending?
My phone buzzing interrupts my thoughts. A text message. I pick it up, expecting to see a text from Torren, but instead it’s Ezra’s name in the notification.
All the text says isSorry, Cal,followed by a link from a gossip blog.
When I click the link, my stomach falls to my feet. Photos of me and Torren with the guys in the bathroom hallway at the club are already uploaded. They’re dark, but they’re in focus, and it’s very obviously us. The blog post correctly identifies Becket, Ezra, and Rocky, then goes on to mention our band, Caveat Lover. The blogger says the band used to be signed but then was unsigned without explanation, and they promise to update later with more information aboutthat potentially juicy scandal.
None of that bothers me, though. I had been waiting for news about the band to come out anyway. I’m surprised it took this long, to be honest. It’s the rest of the blog article that has my heart thudding with anxiety in my chest.
The blogger claims Torren and I are in a PR relationship to help relaunch my music career. They go even further as to say howcuriously convenientit is that the bad press surrounding Sav and Torren has died down, too. Luckily, there are no photos of me leaving the club without him or of our argument in the hallway...yet...but this is bad enough on its own.
Is our cover blown? Did I fuck it up?
“Goddamn it.” I toss my phone on the bed and pinch the bridge of my nose. “Goddamn it!”
“Open the door, Callie.”
Torren’s muffled voice on the other side of my bedroom door has me groaning.
“Fuck you!”
“Callie, open this door before I open it myself.”
“Fuck. You. I don’t wa?—”
