Authors: Clara Bayard
Rocked in Pieces (9 page)
I briefly wondered if he could make good on that threat and realized it didn’t matter. Fired or not, I
was
done. The band would never speak to me on camera again, and I couldn’t blame them. And truly, I barely cared. Because the pain on Matthew’s face was all I could feel.
As Rick kept berating me, I looked over his shoulder, my gaze locked on the man who’d kissed me and made me feel like a new person. He was so close, and yet so far from me. I could see him closing off bit by bit until he might as well have been a wax figure on the other side of the room.
I cast one last glance at him and then turned on my heel and left. Reeling, I found Steven in the empty bar, packing up the equipment we clearly weren’t going to need. I was so furious I almost couldn’t speak. Just looking at him made me shake with anger. After all the years of only having each other to count on, I felt so alone, so broken.
“You fucking asshole. You ruined
everything
. All my work. Everything I’ve done. You destroyed it with one damn email.”
He gaped at me. “What are you talking about? I saved us. I did the job you’re supposed to do. I got the story.”
“Idiot, they hate me. They’re probably trying to get us fired right now and cancel the contract. How is that saving us?”
“It won’t matter. If these assholes won’t play ball the company will send us somewhere else. We’re making headlines all over the world, sis. Your words. My footage.”
“None of that matters if no one can trust us.”
“Oh, please. What are you, a classic newsman all the sudden?”
“No.” Rick’s harsh reminder that I wasn’t a journalist at all echoed in my mind. “This isn’t about that. What celebrity is going to agree to work with us when they hear what happened? You don’t think Dream Defiled has the clout to blackball us? Grow up, Steven.”
“Whatever. We’ll figure something out.”
“There is nothing to figure out. We’ve lost all the control we had. Any upper hand. If we’re lucky I’m going to end up writing captions again and you’ll be shooting birthday parties. And for what?
For what
?”
Steven glowered at me. “For the footage.”
“Fuck the footage. I promised him.
Them.
I promised them we wouldn’t use it.”
“I didn’t promise.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it.”
“I don’t where this crisis of conscience came from, but be happy. Your hands are clean. I did the dirty work. You were having so much fun hanging out with rock stars that you forgot we’re here to work. So I took care of it. Like always.”
“Fuck you, Steven. You didn’t do this for me. You just didn’t give a shit that you made me a liar.”
“You’re right, I don’t. I don’t give a single solitary fuck what these people think of us and I don’t know why you do care.”
“Because my word means something to me. The same promise I made to you when we were kids: that we’d always stick together. No matter what. We swore it. Just like I did to the band. And I’d never break either of those promises.”
“How can you compare the two?”
“I’m not. Being honest doesn’t work that way. Either you keep your word or you don’t.”
“Bullshit. This is about him.”
My heart lurched. “Shut up. I’m not talking to you about that.”
“Ellie, come on. You’re my sister. No one knows you like I do. I see how you look at Matthew. And sure, whatever. He’s a nice guy I guess. I don’t disapprove. But don’t choose him over me.”
“I’m not.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Never. But this isn’t about choosing you. We could be out of jobs already. And if we are, you’re to blame. How am I supposed to forgive you for that?”
Steven slumped down, defeated. “I don’t know. El, I wasn’t thinking…”
“I know. And now we both have to live with the consequences.” I stared at him silently for a long moment. My heart was broken. About the job. About my brother. And yes, about Matthew. If we got fired and sent home I’d never see him again. Never know what could have come after our few brief encounters. Never know what those incredible kisses could have led too.
I shook my head, unable to say anything else to Steven. I turned around and headed back to the lobby. Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone outside the bar, but I didn’t care enough to even look to see who was eavesdropping. It didn’t matter. Nothing did right now.
Everything I cared about was so messed up and I didn’t see a way to fix any of it. As I walked through to lobby to the elevators, the sounds of the room closed in on me, overwhelmed me. I felt hot and dizzy, and suddenly the floor tilted and everything went black.
TO BE CONTINUED IN
ROCKED DOWN & OUT
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Rocked Series
Seduced by Danger
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Clara Bayard is a wealthy business owner who, following the brutal death of her parents, used that wealth to create a secret identity and a lot of cool gadgets in order to protect the city she adores, and keep others from experiencing the same pain she did.
Wait, no. That’s Batman.
Clara is a just a regular gal living in the Mid-Atlantic region. She loves writing sexy stories about flawed people doing exciting things. When she’s not writing she enjoys talking to strangers in bars and marathon-watching TV shows everyone else has seen already.
