Page 51 of Nanny for the Rockstars

“I’m not going to settle down, and I’m not going to let you all gaslight me into thinking that this isn’t what it so clearly is. I knew this was too good to be true when I got with you guys again. I knew that you were just using me because it was convenient for me to be here with you. God, I am such an idiot!” I cry.

“You really need to settle down and give this some real thought,” Caleb says. “If I wanted to be with her, I would have made that happen long before now. I wouldn’t wait until she tracked us down across the country then waited until you were away from the bus to make it happen. If there’s one thing you ought to know about us, it’s that we are who we are, and we don’t change who we are based on what someone else thinks.”

“So you mean to tell me that if you wanted to be with her, you would do it and you wouldn’t even give me a second thought?” I demand.

“Yes!” Caleb says. “Which is why I’m telling you right now that you aren’t making any sense with the way you’re freaking out about this. I don’t want to be with her, and I’m not going to pretend that I do. What you saw was unfortunate, but it doesn’t mean shit when it comes to how I feel or what I want. I want you, just like I said.”

“Well, you can’t have your cake and eat it too,” I reply. “I’m not going to let you guys hurt me the way you did before. I have standards, and I’m not going to be used.”

“No one wants to use you,” Julian says. “Look, I think you need to take a break and catch your breath. Let’s talk about this when everyone has settled down in a little bit, okay?”

“I’m going back to the penthouse,” I say. “And I don’t give a fuck what you guys do.”

I turn and walk out. I’m hurt and I’m pissed off. I know I’m reacting to this strongly, but I also can’t help it. I am more hurt than I’ve been in a long time, and I’m not sure how to deal with the feelings that are rushing through me.

I grab my phone and send for an Uber, then I step off the bus to wait for it outside. I don’t want to be around the triplets. Any of them. I don’t care if Caleb was the one I caught making out with Clarissa, the fact that his two brothers so quickly stood up for him pissed me off even more than the fact that he was the one doing it.

I don’t feel like I have anyone on my side.

It’s a silent trip back to the penthouse, and I spend the next few hours by myself, crying off and on, calling a few friends, and doing my best to digest my emotions.

It’s nearly ten that night when the triplets arrive at the penthouse, and they aren’t happy when they get there. I had hoped they were going to show up to apologize to me about what happened, and hopefully start picking up the pieces. Instead, Julian marches up to me and shoves his phone in my face.

“What the fuck is this?” he demands.

“Your phone,” I say as dryly as I can.

“The article!” he snaps. “Where did these people get this information?”

I glance at the article. It’s a tabloid website, and according to the headline, the article is one that tells all about the private lives of the triplets.

“That’s a tabloid,” I say. “I don’t know why you pay attention to what it’s saying.”

“Because there’s a lot of fucking information in here that’s fucking accurate!” he snaps. “Where the fuck did they get it?”

“How the fuck should I know?” I shoot back.

“Seems kind of convenient that you leave pissed off and all of a sudden the tabloids have stories on us,” Caleb says. “I can’t help but wonder if you might have gone out on the warpath.”

“What are you talking about?” I demand. “Why the fuck would I do that? I have way better things to do with my time than write about you guys and sell it to magazines.”

“So we’re just going to believe that this is a huge coincidence?” Terry asks. “Like, you get all upset with Caleb and then somehow the same day we just so happen to have our secrets spilled to the media? Seems a bit sketchy to me.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, but it wasn’t me!” I yell. “And you’re not going to come in here and try to make me feel like shit over something I didn’t do when you’re the ones who want to be involved with Clarissa!”

“There it is again! Clearly, you’re just hung up on that, so you’re not going to let it go!” Caleb yells back.

“This whole thing was a mistake,” Julian yells. “I don’t know what we were thinking with any of this. We should have gone with a stranger for Hendrix.”

“If you want a stranger so bad, then why don’t you go out and hire one?” I retort flippantly.

“Maybe we will,” Terry says. “But I know one thing for sure, and that’s the fact that there is no way in hell I’m sticking around here. I’m sleeping at the bus.”

“Me too,” Caleb says.

“Same,” Julian says. “Be there by the time we leave in the morning.”

They don’t give me the chance to say anything, and slam the door behind them.

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