“Have you seen this?” I said, thrusting the magazine at her face.
She pulled away so she could focus on it. “See what?” Chelsey stopped curling her hair, and both girls studied the article that had just blown my mind. Anna’s mouth fell open while she read. When she was finished, she looked up at me. “Is this true?”
“I was hoping you knew,” I told her. “Have you talked to Kiera, Jenny…Rachel?” Or the guys? I didn’t ask that last part though. I didn’t want to say their names, especially if this article was true. “What about last month, when Kiera visited? She mention anything about this?” Not wanting to hear any more gossip about the band, I’d spent the entire weekend at my parents’ place while Kiera had stayed with Anna.
Anna looked like she was at a loss as she handed the magazine back to me. “No…she didn’t mention anything, and we haven’t spoken in a week or so. They’ve all been so busy, and I knew we’d get to catch up tonight…There is just no way this is true,” she suddenly decided, her face firm. “One of them would have called me.”
She seemed so sure that for a second I believed her. But then Matt’s words filtered through my head—You’re dead to me. “I wouldn’t be so sure. Matt could have asked…” Anger flooded my stomach, and I tossed the magazine onto the bed. “That fucking son of a bitch! I can’t believe he eloped and didn’t invite me!”
The magazine landed on the article in question. It was a two-page spread on Matt’s nuptials. No wedding pictures were there, but then there wouldn’t be any photos. It said the couple had an impromptu secret wedding, with only close friends and family in attendance. Close friends and family. The article then went on to point out the very glaring fact that I hadn’t been invited. Or wanted. Or even informed. I’d been snubbed personally and publicly. He really had disowned me. They all had…
Standing, Anna looked over my face, then told Chelsey, “Give us a minute, please.”
I paced beside the bed, swearing and fuming. Chelsey gave me a sympathetic pat on the back before she shut the door behind her. I was too riled up to respond though. Pointing at the door where they’d just exited, I yelled, “She should be ticked too! She’s family, same as me, and that fucker excluded her too! And you! He left you out of the loop, and even your friends played along with his plan. Aren’t you pissed?”
I felt like steam was rising from the top of my head, and my cheeks felt like someone had poured acid on them. Anna was calm as she stepped up to me. Placing both hands on my arms, she stated, “We don’t know if this is true.”
I balled my hands into fists; I felt like driving them through a wall. “Yes, we do. This is exactly the type of crappy payback thing he would do. He snubbed us, Anna. He snubbed me.” Something else besides hatred started bubbling up inside me. It was thorny and painful, and I didn’t want to touch it or be feeling it; I wanted to drink it away.
Anna’s eyes started watering, which only made the sensation in my gut all the more uncomfortable. “I need alcohol,” I muttered, pushing past her.
She grabbed my elbow. “Wait, let’s talk about this. We’ve never really talked about…how you feel about leaving the band. So…how do you feel?” She seemed just as uncomfortable saying it as I did hearing it.
Jerking my elbow away, I raised my chin and pushed away the turmoil trying to boil to life. I am Griffin Hancock…nothing bothers me. Nothing even touches me. “I’m fine. Leaving those fuckers was the best decision I ever made, and I haven’t looked back once since making it.”
Anna pursed her lips. “Griffin…I know that’s not true. I know it bothers you that—”
Raising my hands, I cut her off. “The only thing that bothers me is that the alcohol is out there and I’m still in here. But that’s something I can easily fix.” I turned and left without another word.
The drive to Inglewood took a while, and I was silent the entire ride. I’d rented us a limo so we could show up in style, but I wasn’t enjoying it. I wasn’t enjoying much of anything, except the minibar.
“You might want to slow down, babe. Throwing up on the red carpet may not be the type of exposure Harold had in mind.”
Anna looked amazing with her hair curled and pinned, her makeup emphasizing her plump lips and smoldering eyes. If I were in a better mood, I’d rip off all her clothes and take her right here in the backseat. She’d be pissed that her hair and makeup were ruined, but she’d let me do it, and she’d rock the just-fucked look all the way down the carpet. But my mood wasn’t up, so my dick wasn’t either. Fuck my life.