“How so?”
Reid rubbed his palms over the tops of his thighs and dropped his chin to his chest. “I haven’t told anyone what I’m about to tell you. I know that I can trust you, but for my own peace of mind, I have to ask you not to repeat this. I need you to promise.”
“I promise,” Chloe said without hesitation.
“The night of the first show . . . I was in my room and I emptied my pockets. There were several scraps of paper that girls had put their number on and shoved in my pocket after the show. Which is . . . whatever. But apparently one of them added a little something extra. There was a small baggie of coke, too. I tried to flush it, I swear to fucking God I did, Chloe.”
“Oh, no.”
“I didn’t snort it,” Reid added quickly. “I wanted to. Christ, I wanted to, but I didn’t. I opened it, I dipped the tip of my finger in the bag, and I rubbed it across my gums. I thought I was going to throw up. I flushed it down the toilet right after, but I was so ashamed of myself. Disappointed.” Reid turned to Chloe and grabbed her hand. “I know I didn’t kill that girl, but every time a craving hits me and I start to rationalize that one line wouldn’t be that big of a deal, I feel like a failure.”
“You’re not a failure, but you need to be stronger than your addiction. Look how far you’ve come. You’re on tour—” Chloe waved her free hand toward the pile of pages on the table. “—you’re writing music, and instead of going out with Drew and Greer to do God knows what, you came here.”
“I knew her. The girl they left with. Well, I don’t know her. I don’t remember ever seeing her before in my life, but she knew me. Apparently, we partied the last time we played here. She invited me for a repeat. Told me she had her cousin score some killer snow, just for me.”
Chloe grimaced. “That explains your reaction to the guys leaving with her.”
“Yeah. The truth is, I can’t be mad at them. They’re the same guys they’ve always been. But when I saw them leave, knowing what they were going to do . . . Jesus, Chloe, I wanted to beat the shit out of something.”
“I’m so happy I didn’t go now.”
Reid’s posture stiffened. Chloe gasped when Reid tightened his grip on the hand he still held. “They invited you to go?”
Chloe tried to pull away. “Ease up there, Padawan.” When Reid didn’t loosen his grip, Chloe snapped her fingers in his face. “Reid, unless you want to find another violinist, you need to let go of my hand.”
Reid’s eyes widened as he released Chloe’s hand like he’d been burned. “Shit. I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “I’m fine, but I figured if I wanted you to release me from your death grip, I’d have to turn the girl dramatics to high.”
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“Of course not,” Chloe laughed. “I’ll admit it wasn’t pleasant, but if you were really hurting me, I would have skipped calling you Padawan and gone straight to dickhead.”
“Shit,” he exhaled. “I’ll have to remember that I’m in the clear as long as you’re using Star Wars references.”
“That’s an excellent guide.”
Reid opened and closed his mouth before his eyes widened. “You did that on purpose.”
Chloe shrugged and looked away. “Did what?”
“Distracted me with your girlie dramatics to keep me from getting pissed about Greer and Drew inviting you out.”
“Okay, first, I didn’t keep you from getting pissed. You were already well into that emotion. And second, their invitation was completely acceptable. They’re my bandmates. They were going to party and extended an invitation for me to come along. I’ve toured with a lot of bands, Reid. I know what goes on after the show ends.”
Reid sighed. “This whole calling me on my bullshit thing . . . Will this be a common occurrence?”
Chloe grinned. “You better believe it.”
Reid relaxed against the back of the sofa, his eyes beginning to droop. Chloe looked at the clock, unsurprised to see that it was almost five a.m. Pushing off the sofa, she moved to the small closet and pulled a blanket from the top shelf. “Why don’t you get some—” The words died in her throat when she turned to find Reid’s eyes closed. With a sigh, she walked to the couch and draped the blanket across him. There was no way he would sleep comfortably, but she couldn’t bring herself to wake him.
Crawling into bed, her body melted into the soft mattress. A million thoughts bounced around inside her head. There was no way she could sort through the events that had taken place tonight, but as sleep closed around her, one thing was clear: her relationship with Reid had irrevocably changed.