I narrowed my eyes at him. “Lily is more than just an ex-piece of ass, and you know that. Besides the fact she was once my fiancée, her dad was a helluva guy who meant a lot to me.”
He shrugged. “So send some flowers or a card. Or if you’re really feeling generous, give them a check.”
Closing the gap between us, I snarled, “You are one heartless motherfucker, did you know that?”
“I’m just being honest. Do you think the label is actually going to allow you to leave for some ex-girlfriend’s father?”
“I frankly don’t give a fuck what they think. There are more important things in life.”
With a snort, Jake said, “I can’t believe you’re going to jeopardize your career over that bitch. Hasn’t she caused you enough trouble already? She fucked up your mojo to where you can’t write a song to save your life, not to mention trying to tie you down.”
I grabbed him by the shirt. “Don’t you say one more fucking word about Lily!”
“Or what?”
AJ rose out of his chair and came over to us. “Okay, that’s enough.”
Jake sneered up at me. “Fine. Go home to your precious Lily. She must have one more gold-plated pussy if she can get you to throw your career away.”
As rage ricocheted through me, I didn’t take a second to think. I just reacted. My fist connected with Jake’s jaw hard enough to flip him over in his chair. I barreled over the chair and started pummeling his stomach. I got in three or four good punches when I was lifted up under my arms by Rhys and AJ. “Dude, knock it off!” AJ shouted.
With my chest rising and falling in harsh pants, I tried to catch my breath. “I’ll stop kicking his ass when he says he’s sorry. Lily’s never been anything but good and nice to him, and he’s a fucking asshole for talking about her that way!” I shouted back.
Wiping the blood from his mouth, Jake glared up at me. “Just get out of here.”
I shook my head at him. “Why can’t you say you’re sorry? Is that too much to fucking ask?”
“You don’t want to hear what I have to say,” he bellowed.
“Yeah, I do. Because if you don’t make things right between us, I’m not sure there’s a point for me coming back.”
Both AJ and Rhys inhaled sharply. “You can’t mean that, Bray,” AJ said.
“I sure as hell do. I can’t make music with someone who is as heartless and unfeeling as Jake.”
“Fine,” Jake growled, pulling himself to his feet. “You want the truth about why I can’t stand your precious Lily?”
His tone caused me to lunge forward, and if AJ and Rhys hadn’t been holding me back, I would’ve attacked him again.
“She chose you,” Jake said.
I could only stare at him as I tried processing his words. “What do you mean?”
“I’m only admitting this because I don’t want you to leave the band. We need you too much.”
“Get to the point,” I snapped.
“Somewhere along the way, I kinda started to like her.”
My mouth gaped open in both surprise and horror. “Like her? Like more than your friend’s fiancée?”
“At first, I thought it was because she reminded me so much of Stephanie, but then the more I got to know her, the more I started to like her. She was so good to us—cooking for us and caring about what was going on in our lives. After being surrounded by groupies, she was so fucking real. I thought I could make her want me.”
“So you could fuck her and dump her?” I snarled.
“No, so I could have what the two of you had. Something real.”
“And then when she didn’t show anything to you but friendly love, you sorta turned on her. Or at least used me to turn on her.”
Jake nodded. “You guys getting engaged was kinda what did it for me. I saw then she was never going to like anyone—love anyone else—but you. When you started to change, it was easy to manipulate you into treating her worse and worse.”
“But why would you do that?”
“So she would leave, and I wouldn’t have to see her anymore.”
“Jesus, Jake,” AJ muttered by my side.
Jake sighed. “I know you want it, but you fucking deserve it too. I’m sorry, Brayden. I’m really fucking sorry. I’m sorry for all the horrible shit I said about Lily. I’m sorry her dad got murdered. She’s too good to have something so horrible happen to her. But most of all, I’m sorry I treated her the way that I did there at the end.”
I cocked my brows at him. “You really mean that? You’re not just saying it to make sure I’ll stay in the band.”
He snorted. “Man, I must be some unimaginable bastard if you had to question that.”
With a shrug, I replied, “I’m sorry, but with your track record, that’s the way I feel about it.”
“Yeah, it’s the truth. Every fucking word. If she was standing here before me, I’d say the exact same thing to her.” When I still hadn’t budged, Jake said, “I’ll even call her and apologize myself.”
I knew then he was really sincere. Jake didn’t get emotional for anyone, least of all a woman, unless he absolutely had to. “Okay, I’ll stay.”
He nodded. “Besides the band, are we good?”
“I don’t know, man. I need some time to process all this.”
Sadness flickered in Jake’s eyes. “I understand. And hey, don’t worry about the shows. We’ll work something out.”
“Wasn’t worried, but thanks.” Without another word, I turned and went in the bedroom to call Gretchen, so I could get the hell out of there.
***
I arrived in Atlanta around noon. Instead of a driver waiting to meet me, it was my mom and dad. They even parked and came inside the airport, so they could hug and kiss me. Even though I was twenty three and far too old to be fawned over, I let myself truly enjoy it. For one, I’d missed them, and the other reason was I thought of how Lily would never get to put her arms around her father again.
My mom chattered non-stop on the drive home, asking me questions about the guys and the tour as well as filling me in on how my sisters were. When I was with Lily, she always ensured that I skyped or texted my sisters once a week. They never knew that I needed prompting. Well, I guess they did now since I rarely, if ever, messaged or called them. “Have you seen Lily?” I asked.