Book 2 - Page 52 (1/2)
I swallow down the tightness building up in my throat. “I can’t exactly do that if you don’t want me around.”
He bends his head to mind and whispers against my temple, “I’m not going to stop wanting you just because of last night. I’m not going to let go of you just because of this.”
I lift my face slightly, my nose skimming across his until our eyes touch. “I just don’t want there to be secrets.”
“And if the secret turned me into a monster?” It’s the same word he used to describe himself last night. Monster. It makes every bone, every muscle, in my body scream in fear. “What the f**k happens then?”
I’m at a loss for words for a moment as I study his expression. “You’re not a monster. You could never be that to me.”
His smile is sad, and it makes my heart ache more than the look in his eyes had. “We better get you to the airport before you miss your flight.”
Like the last time I flew from Atlanta to Nashville, this flight is depressing, and I’m sick to my stomach by the time I step off the plane. The nausea only gets worse as I check my text messages while Gram drives home. There’s one from Tori and two from Ashley. Tori’s message is upbeat, letting me know that she can’t wait for me to come to Los Angeles soon, but when I read what Ashley wrote, my heart freezes mid-beat.
9:52AM: Please tell me the band isn’t really breaking up?
9:54AM: Because if they are, I still love you but that SUCKS!
I’m shaking as I Google Your Toxic Sequel, and it takes me several tries to type coherently enough for the search to yield something worthwhile. Once it does, I scan the newest gossip articles. Sleaze Cop, Buzz Online, and Alternative Entertainment—they all say the same thing: Your Toxic Sequel is calling it quits. And it’s all because of one of the member’s relations.h.i.+p with a certain redhead from Music City.
This can’t be happening.
As soon as Gram and I get home, I quietly turn down her offer of eating lunch in the kitchen and race upstairs to my bedroom. Clutching my phone, I call the first person I can think of to confirm the news. Kylie answers happily, speaking theatrically into her phone, “h.e.l.lo beautiful! I’m so p.i.s.sed that I missed you this morning, and—”
“Is the band breaking up?” I blurt out.
Kylie quiet for a few seconds but then she releases a laugh. “Why the h.e.l.l would you think that?”
“I—” I grip the edge of my computer desk and ease down into the rolling chair behind it. “It was on a gossip website, and one of my friends asked me about it.”
Kylie sighs. “Babe,” she says in a serious voice, “I thought I warned you about this a long time ago. Never, ever read the c.r.a.p they write online. It’s almost always wrong, and you’ll drive yourself crazy worrying over it. But to answer your question, no, the band is absolutely not breaking up.”