Fame (26 page)

This was the biggest mistake of my life, but I still agree with what I did because it kept her safe, even if for a short period of time. I am telling you this because it has put a fence between two of your bands, something I know you despise and, once again, I am the cause of it. I couldn’t be sorrier for disappointing you once again.
 

I have a proposition for you, to make my mistake lucrative rather than damaging for you. If you’re interested, please contact me so we can set up a time to meet.
 

Moving forward, you can expect me to stay clean, to continue to write number one hits, and to make you and the label proud to have signed my boys and me. If anything, they deserve a chance to continue to do what they love best, make music and respect the label, which has made us who we are today.
 

Forever grateful,
 

Rook Tyler

Bile started to rise in Maisy’s throat as she dropped the paper on the table and bolted for the door. She ignored the calls from Kaid as she ran to the bathroom. She sat in front of the toilet, dry heaving and replaying the written words of Rook Tyler over and over in her head.
 

He was trying to protect her, to save her…

Bullshit, she thought. Bullshit! She cried into her hands as she thought about that day, that unfaithful day that haunted her. She would never forget it, and there was a grand possibility that she would never forgive.

**Rook**

“Why can’t you just leave her alone?” Kaid asked, after he read the paper in his hand. Willow and Pete left the room, leaving Kaid alone with the guys.

“Because I love her,” Rook said, without taking a second to blink.

“If you loved her, then you would let her go. Don’t you see you’re torturing her?”

Rook leaned back in his chair and said, “I’m hurting her more by not being with her, both you and I know that. She needs me, Kaid.”

“Then why the fuck did you push her away the way you did? Why didn’t you just talk to her? You annihilated her, Rook. You broke her spirit. She hasn’t been the same since.”

As if Rook didn’t know that already. He did because he could see it in the way she carried herself, in the look in her eyes. She almost looked like she was in some far off place, never really in the present, and it killed him to see her like that.
 

“Like I don’t fucking know that, Kaid? I see what I’ve done to her. I’ve seen the way her eyes are hollow and how she’s just going through the motions of life. I see it every time she’s in my presence, and I’ll be damned if she continues to live her life that way. I broke everything in her; it’s my responsibility to sew her soul back together, and I will do whatever it fucking takes to make that happen.”

Rook stood up from the table and left the room; he needed to catch Maisy before she left the building. He needed to talk to her, to gauge her reaction from the letter he wrote to Rob.
 

He was just as surprised as Maisy was when Rob decided to share his email. It was supposed to be private, but, apparently, nothing was private between the two bands, and they were going to become even more exposed to each other once they moved into the label’s house.
 

Just as Rook was leaving the room, he could hear Landon behind him, asking him to slow up.

Rook slowed his pace, but still continued toward the private parking garage under the building.
 

“Dude, what the hell?” Landon asked, catching up to him. “Could you be any more fucking selfish? I was just about to ask Quinn to marry me, and now I have to live in some stupid fucking house so you can attempt to patch up your problems? I love you, dude, but fuck, come on.”

Stopping in his tracks, Rook turned toward Landon and said, “Quinn is supposed to be in the house too, so put your penis on ice, fuck stick.”

Not glancing back, Rook walked down toward the elevator, nodding in appreciation toward the secretary, who had the elevator waiting for him. As he rode it down to the parking garage, he thought about the dynamic of the house. It was going to be all kinds of fucked up, and Landon was right, he might have been selfish, but he didn’t care; all he wanted was Maisy, and he would do whatever it took to get her back.
 

Plus, Rook thought the close quarters might help air out all their issues, because they were all a bunch of bottled up emotional fuck heads ready to burst. Luckily for Rob and the E channel, they were going to get some great TV and high ratings out of it.

It felt like forever as Rook casually leaned on his motorcycle with his arms crossed over his chest and his legs crossed over one another. The parking garage was empty, and he saluted his boys, his rather annoyed boys, as they walked off to their cars and drove away. They would get over it, Rook thought to himself, especially after they saw the pay raises Rook was able to squeeze out of the deal.
 

Pete was going to give Rook a serious tongue thrashing once he read through all of the paperwork Rook had set up without Pete present. Nothing was signed, so there was still room to make changes, but deals were never made without Pete, so it was just one more apology Rook had to prepare for in his pursuit to win back Maisy.
 

Just when Rook started to think Maisy had gone out another entrance, the door to the parking garage opened and Willow, Kaid, and Maisy strode out toward the curb, just as a black SUV pulled around toward a pick up and drop off circle.
 

Maisy walked with her head down, just as the others, but when she peeked up, she stopped walking when she made eye contact with Rook.
 

“Hey, Boo,” he called out, while tilting his head toward her.
 

Shaking her head and walking the other way, she turned away from. That just wouldn’t do for Rook, so he went up to her before she could get in the car and grabbed her hand. He pulled her to the side as Kaid eyed him with a glare to kill, but luckily, he just stood idly by and waited to see if he needed to step in.
 

“Let go of me,” Maisy said angrily.
 

He was a little thrown off by her attitude. He thought that, maybe, if anything, maybe she would have lightened up toward him because of the letter he wrote to Rob. He most definitely wasn’t expecting the cold shoulder.
 

“Can we talk?” Rook asked.
 

“Why? We’ll have plenty of time for Lord knows how long while we write an album and live together, all while being filmed, oh wait, and then we get to go on tour together as well. What the fuck, Rook?”

“It’s going to be great for both bands,” he tried to shine some positive light on the situation, positive light that she wouldn’t appreciate, because what he thought was positive light was not what she apparently considered a good time.
 

“Right now, I could care less about the band. Why would you do this?”

Wanting to be completely honest with her, he ran his hand through his hair and looked her dead in the eyes. “Because I’m desperate to be near you, because just seeing you, even if you’re scowling at me, threatening to slay me with those deep brown eyes of yours, it makes me feel whole again.”

She pressed her finger to his chest and said, “Should have thought about that when you were fucking that other girl, Rook. How many times do I have to say it? We’re over.”

The hate pouring out of her was slightly debilitating, but before she could walk away, he pulled her flush against his body and held her close as her hands went to his chest. She tried to push away for a second, but he held her close enough to make her stop trying.
 

Gazing down into her eyes, he said, “How many times do I have to tell you that you’re mine…that you’re meant to be with me, no one else?”

She was about to answer, when a flash of something around her neck caught his eye. His heart bottomed out as he reached up to her collar in disbelief. When he pulled out the necklace he’d given her awhile back, he just stood there in shock.
 

Quickly pulling away from him, she shoved the necklace back in her shirt and said, “Stay away from me.”

“Why are you wearing that?” he asked, still in disbelief.
 

“I…” she searched for words, but nothing came out as she looked around, trying to think of something to say, while gripping the necklace through her shirt.
 

“Maisy,” Rook breathed heavily as he stepped forward, “Why are you wearing that necklace?”

As if a light bulb flickered on in her head, she stood straight and stuck her chin in the air. “It’s to remind me of how you completely and utterly destroyed me when you left me. A reminder to never give in, never give up, and no matter what fuck-up I come across, he can’t destroy me.”

Ouch, he knew he deserved her hurtful words, but they still stung, and hearing her call him a fuck-up was like a dagger to the heart. Out of everyone in his life who had ever doubted him, he never thought Maisy would ever use those words with him.
 

Stepping back and away from her, he saw a light twinge of regret on her face, but she brushed it quickly away, laying on a stoic appearance.
 

“Well, I guess everyone was right about me, I am a fuck-up. Daddy knows best, I guess. Once a fuck-up, always a fuck-up.”

The spirit inside of him was broken as he turned and went back to his motorcycle. He wasn’t giving up, but he was wounded; he needed to lick the scabs she’d just ripped open and take a second to breathe, because if he took another look at her hateful scowl, he would be just about ready to throw in the towel.
 

Out of everyone in his life, Maisy was the one person who ever truly saw him for who he was, and for her to see him as a fuck-up downright stole the breath right out of his chest.
 

He needed to pack and think about his next plan of action. He had her in close proximity, now he just needed to erase the abhorrent feelings she had for him. It wasn’t going to be easy, by any means, but he was bound and determined to make it happen.
 

**Cruz**

Dropping his bags on the entryway floor, Cruz looked around and took in his new surroundings. It wasn’t the first time he’d lived at the label’s house with his band; it’s where they used to stay all the time when they were back in town, because they were on the road so much that they never really had houses. It wasn’t until they had six months off that Cruz decided to put some roots down and get a place. He could most definitely afford it.
 

The label’s house had been renovated since he’d been there. The walls, floors, and furniture were all white, and there were little touches of color in unexpected places…like an area rug and molding around a door. The only colors that were used, though, were forest green and a silver color. The place screamed modern.
 

Black and white photos of all the label’s artists decorated the walls. Shattered Souls had big solo portraits of themselves hanging in the living room, making Cruz feel a little prideful. Even though the label hated to admit it, they were their money makers.
 

Cruz studied the four pictures of him and his bandmates. In his picture, he was flipping off the camera while wearing his infamous “fuck you” shirt, and he was sticking his tongue out. Landon was holding his drumsticks in his picture, wearing his dark rimmed glasses, and giving the camera a little side smirk duck lip. Basically, he was portraying a teenage girl in the picture, flat chest and all. Grey was the pretty boy. He was wearing a sock hat and had his right arm pulling on the back of his neck while he “smyzed” into the camera. Tool, Cruz thought, while he shook his head and laughed. Then there was Rook. If people didn’t realize the man was disturbed from the picture on the wall, then they clearly weren’t paying attention. He was holding onto an old school mic stand with one hand and the other hand had his shirt lifted up, showing off his six pack abs. His head was flung back and a cigarette was hanging out of his mouth while smoke wafted around him. It was a badass picture, Cruz had to admit it.
 

“Admiring perfection?” Rook asked, as he walked up next to Cruz.
 

“Yeah, it’s hard not to look at myself,” Cruz teased.
 

“You look like a dickhead in that picture.”

“No, Landon looks like a dickhead.”

Both Cruz and Rook looked over at Landon’s picture and nodded their heads while chuckling.
 

“What the hell was he thinking?” Rook asked.
 

“He’s the goofy one, remember? The dingleberry was trying to really play up the part, kind of backfired on him.”

“I can agree with that.”

There was some ruckus from the front of the house, causing Rook and Cruz to turn around and find Grey and Willow trying to walk in the entryway at the same time. Well, Grey was trying to let Willow through, but she was throwing a temper tantrum and waving her arms about, which Grey kept running into.

“I swear to God, if you touch me one more time, I’m going to go psycho bitch on you and cut your balls off in the night.”

Grey stopped in his tracks and practically cowered in the corner of the entryway while Willow got her items together and stormed off toward the second floor where the bedrooms were. Just as Willow was leaving, Landon and Quinn walked in the house holding their suitcases. There was an awkward exchange between the three of them. Grey looked pained as Landon and Quinn ducked their heads and walked off, leaving Grey fuming.