Harmony's Healing (Downtown Book 2) (18 page)

He turns around to face me. We look at each other for a moment; he sees me crying, but from him I see nothing - his eyes are lifeless and I see, even through blinded tears, he’s tempted to say something. His jaw tightens, I know he is clenching it. He’s still staring at me like I am a complete stranger, someone who has betrayed him. That hurts more than anything.

“No,” he growls. In a flash, he turns back around and exits my apartment. The slam from my front door causes me to jump. I begin to breathe hard, unaware that I am still in my towel, dripping wet. I cover my eyes with my hands and let the towel drop to the floor. I fall to my knees and sob an ugly cry. I am now in my own puddle of humiliation, guilt and anguish.

I have ruined any chance at any happiness with Danny, and I owe that all to Wayne.
I am so going to kill him!

I have no idea how long I’ve been balling my eyes out. They feel raw, puffy and my body is insanely weak. However I gather my strength and get dressed in a pair of jeans, t-shirt and chucks. I give myself a once over glance in the bathroom mirror; I hate what I see in the reflection and never want to look at her again. I snarl at the bitch who chose to hurt the one person who meant everything to her. I don’t recognize her anymore.

The anger is building inside of me, I really want to do some damage. Yet there is only one person who I want to beat up on...and that is Wayne. He’s going to regret he ever put me in this position. What he convinced me to do was stupid and cruel and I hate myself for going along with it. I grab my purse and decide to drive over to the studio to see if Wayne is there. Most likely the band is rehearsing. I have a feeling Danny won’t be there, though.

After I screech my car to a halt, I slam my car door and march my way inside the studio. The girl at the front desk greets me with a hello, but I ignore her and walk straight to the sound room. I cause the girl to panic, I hear her calling June with a frantic voice as I continue down the hall. Once I reach the room, I peek through the side window and find Wayne. He and the guys are standing around. I bet they’re waiting for Danny. My guess is he won’t show up.

With clenched fists, I open the door and go straight for Wayne. All the guys, including Faith and June see how angry I am - I am so angry I should have smoke coming out of my ears.

Wayne’s eyes widen as I appear before him. Without notice I smack him across the face and yell, “I hate you, Wayne!”

He blinks a couple times, a bit stunned from the smack. “Holy shit babe, what was that for?”

“Danny found out, you asshole!” I push his chest as hard as I can, yet he doesn’t move an inch; he is so friggin big! “He saw your text from this morning, and now he hates me!”

He wipes his face down with his hand. “Damn. I am so sorry.”

“How could you make me go along with this! You ruined everything!” I scream. “I told you he would hate me.” I begin to choke up. “I told you!”

I’m about to push him again when I feel someone’s arms wrap around my shoulders. “Harmony.” It’s Faith.

I point to Wayne. “He ruined….” My voice fades, I am unable to speak anymore.

“Come with me,” Faith says. I can’t seem to move, I am so mad. “Come on.” She soothingly takes me by the waist and guides me away before I decide to do anything else. Everything becomes a blur as we walk to another room. My eyes are filled with tears, I just want to crawl up in a ball and disappear. Faith has me sit down on some leather sofa. She gently wipes the hair and tears away from my face. “Tell me everything,” she encourages me.

She sits beside me and holds my left hand. I look down at our joined hands and break down. “I love him, Faith,” I choke out. The tears are uncontrollable.

She brings her arm around my shoulders and allows me to cry into her embrace. “I know. I know,” she quietly says. After a few minutes I am handed some tissue. I blot my eyes and stare into my hands. I am a complete mess.

“Here, drink this,” June sits on the other side of me and offers me a shot of something that looks like vodka or tequila. I don’t care what it is, I shoot the damn shot into my mouth and swallow; I shiver from the extreme taste - it’s tequila. June takes the shot glass away.

Both of my friends are waiting for me to say something. “He’ll never forgive me, Faith. He won’t,” I manage to say.

“You don’t know that,” Faith answers.

“I do,” I look up at her with my blurred vision. “You should have seen his face. He was so angry.” My voice fades. I’m on the verge of crying again.

“Listen to me,” Faith firmly tells me. “I’ve been on this rollercoaster with him for the past year and there is one thing that I have learned...with Danny...when he loves someone, he loves them hard. He’s stubborn to a T and gets angry, spins out of control when something or someone gets in the way. He reacts first, before he thinks. Maybe what you and Wayne decided to do wasn’t the best choice, but I believe it worked.” I scoff, knowing the decision to fake a relationship was the worst thing I could ever had done to anyone I care about. I am so naive. “Unfortunately Danny doesn’t see it that way. He’s caught up thinking you and Wayne did this to hurt him, but we know that’s not true. He’ll figure that out soon enough. I know he’s not easy, believe me I know, but he’ll come around.”

If only I can believe that. “That’s the thing. I don’t think he will come around,” I shrug. “I lied to him. Whether or not it was about helping him, I still lied. That’s where he draws the line.” I explain to June what Wayne asked me to do, even though I was totally against it from the beginning.

June gets down on her knees and plants herself in front of me. “Well, Danny will be a true asshole if he doesn’t forgive you. I love the guy, but he needs to grow the fuck up if he can’t see what’s right in front of him.”

“What’s that?”

“That you love the hot-pocket, guitar player,” she smirks. “He would be a fool not to listen to your side of things.”

“June’s right,” Faith agrees. “He needs to listen. If he doesn’t, well….it’s his loss.”

“But I don’t want that!” I argue. “I don’t to be his loss. I want to be his his triumph, his happiness - someone who he can rely on, and I want him to be that for me as well.” I pause, shaking my head. I am so disappointed in myself. “I’ve lost so much; losing my parents, my self-worth and self-respect. Being with Danny has given me a piece of what I want for my future...he’s given me hope.”

I AM GUTTED. SEEING WAYNE’S
text pop up on Harmony’s phone was shocking. I never meant to look at the text, but it was right there beaming at me when I woke up. What happened with me and Harmony last night was epic, I felt on top of the world. However waking up to the woman who I thought was my everything, turned out to be a total ass fake. I have the worst fucking luck on the planet. Everyone seems to be a liar; they love to drag me into their lies and try to say they were protecting me or trying to help me. When is it ever going to stop! I must have some sign tattooed on my forehead saying - TARGET, hit me with your best lie. I am drowning in a pool of people I can’t trust and I have no idea what to do about it; my mother, Wayne, Harmony - fuck! Why did Harmony do this to me! She ripped my heart out and has completely ruined me for anyone else.

I am seriously fucked up.

I skipped rehearsal and went straight to Whiskey Flats. Yeah, the paps were there waiting for me as I headed inside the bar, but as always I ignored the shitheads. Immediately I ordered a beer and a couple shots of something stronger. How come I always find myself drinking when things get tough? I should really try to take up yoga. Nah, I think I’ll stick to my alcohol. It’s worth getting drunk and finding a really hot ass on your lap; kissing the back of your neck and putting her hands down on your junk. I wasn’t even hesitant to grab her ass and make out with her. I needed to forget about Harmony, get her smell off me, her taste. I needed someone to make her go away. I didn’t know who the hell this girl was, but I was having a good time until there was a tap on my shoulder. I flicked, whoever it was away and kept kissing the girl. God she felt like sex in my lap, her pussy was waiting for my dick to attack.

“Hey, sweets, I’m Wayne.”

What the fuck?

“Holy shit, Wayne!” The girl squeals and quickly jumps out of my lap and into Wayne’s arms. “This is definitely becoming my favorite place to hang out in!” I roll my eyes and take a chug of my beer. I keep my back facing him. I don’t want to look at him. He’s the last person I want to see. “Have a seat, will ya?” The girl offers.

“Right now babe, I need to talk with my buddy here. Maybe another time?”

Buddy my ass!
I am no buddy of his. Not anymore.

“Well, here is my number.” I hear the girl fumbling through her purse until she finds a pen. “Don’t forget me.”

“Never,” Wayne purrs.

I need another fucking beer.
Once the girl goes away Wayne plants a chair in front of me and straddles it. I glare at the jerk. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

He rests his arms on the back of the chair and yells at me. “Are you stupid, man?”

“Apparently, no thanks to you,” I mumble.

“You have a girl back home and you’re sucking face with another?”

“I never had a girl!” I get to my feet and kick the chair away. I am so pissed off I don’t realize that the bar as quieted down and all eyes are on me. The bartender walks up to us and tells me to calm down and warns me if there is any trouble he would kick me out.
I guess that means I won’t be getting anymore booze
? Once the bartender walks away, Wayne drags over the chair I kicked and forces me to sit back down. One hand on my shoulder almost sends me over the edge. “Get the hell away from me, Wayne!”

“Or what?” He straddles his chair again. “You’re going to punch me again, because dude, I’ll have you six feet under before you even get the chance.”

I chuckle without humor. “Have at it.”

“You’re being such a douchebag.”

My vision is so fuzzy I can barely see what’s in front of me. “If you haven’t noticed,” I point toward Wayne’s face. “I want to be alone because the woman I have fallen in love with and the guy that I called my best friend decided to play fake hookup just to get me to talk. And you’re the one calling me the douche?”

“Look, I know you’re hurt - “

“You think?” I scoff. I can’t believe he just said that!
Of course I’m hurt!

“Okay….my idea wasn’t smart, I get that, but….”

“But nothing!” I shout. “You both lied to me! You let me believe you were no good for her, that you treated her like shit! She wouldn’t even get near me because she wanted me to spill my guts to her, just to make
all
my hurt go away. Well, I’ve got news for you, bro….your plan became a bust. I’m worse off than I ever was before I laid eyes on that woman.” I glare at him and lower my voice. “So, I’ll tell you again...leave me the hell alone.” I lean my elbows onto the table and place my head into my hands. I really hope he gets the picture and just leaves already.

“
That
woman,” he argues. “…..she’s back at the studio crying over you because I have news for you too...she’s in love with you.” I become even more tense from what he just said. “The idea was mine and I pressured her into going along with it. She wanted no part of it - “

“But she did!” I retaliate.

“Yeah...she did,” he says matter-of-factly. “But what I just learned before I came over here was...she was letting go of her past, because of you too. The hell she went through, losing her parents, stripping for nasty beefheads, just to pay off some fucked up medical bill. Believe it or not, you have become her happiness.” Fuck, I don’t want to hear any of this. I don’t want to know I was helping her too, that I made her happy. It’s too much! All the empty spaces in my head that were filled with her goodness need to be gone. “My plan sucked balls, but it got you talking to someone who fell in love with all your flaws and crazy-ass temper. You won’t find another one like her.”
Bastard.
He just had to say that, didn’t he? Of course she’s the only one who would ever want me as I am. We’re made for each other, but she ruined all of that by teaming up with Wayne.