Page 104 of Rock On

“Just let me grab River’s bag.” She hesitated, as if waiting for me to say something, but I didn’t know what the hell to say. I was so fucking frustrated.

It felt like she’d betrayed me all over again.

How was this happening after how far we’d come? Had it all been some kind of mind game to get back at me for something? It made no sense, but neither did her talking about private band business.

And just like that, my world started crumbling around me once again.

FORTY

Harley

How could I have been so stupid?

I felt like an idiot.

I never should have trusted any of them, much less Freya, who’d spent the least amount of time with us. I’d thought it was weird she jumped at the chance to meet us for lunch when she’d barely hung out with us outside of group when we’d been at Harmony Place.

There was something so deliberate about the timing I couldn’t help but wonder if Freya had somehow been planted at the wellness center specifically to become friends with me? Spy on me? But that was stupid. Only a couple of people had known I was going there, and absolutely no one, including me, had any idea I would be making up with Tommy.

This had to be a horrible, unlucky coincidence, and I didn’t know what was going to happen. Tommy was upset, the band would probably hate me, and the wonderful new life I was building with Tommy felt like it was in danger of collapsing.

I’d been trying to get him to talk to me, but he’d said he needed a little time to think. He was quiet the whole way to Z’s place and there was an emotional distance between us I’d never felt before, not even when we’d been divorced. I’d stayed far away from him after serving him with the papers, and I’d had my lawyer go in my place the day we’d had to sign the final papers, so we hadn’t actually been in the same room together until Carter’s funeral. But even then, we hadn’t spoken.

I had a million things to say to him, to try to explain, but none of them felt like they were enough.

How could I possibly explain my stupidity or make up for this?

The ad, and ‘Judgement Call’ by extension, was everywhere from what I’d seen since we’d left the house, and I didn’t understand how it could have happened so fast. I’d only talked to Freya on Monday and today was Sunday. It felt like the highest form of betrayal on every level, and I planned to let the other girls know we had a traitor in our midst. I knew without even talking to them that Mina, Betty, and Harriett hadn’t been involved, so I wanted to warn them just in case they’d spilled any secrets.

Of course, my gut told me Freya was only after me. Whether it was because of Aurora or something else, I couldn’t be sure, but this had nothing to do with the others. They would probably be furious too.

I couldn’t imagine what Tommy had to be feeling.

The worst part was that there was nothing I could do to fix it.

When we got to Z’s house and I told them what happened, the rest of the band seemed less upset than I’d anticipated.

“You’ve forgotten how often people look to exploit us,” Kingston said after I’d explained. “You have to remember that almost no one is truly your friend.”

“I’ll look into how far the reach of that NDA from Harmony Place extends,” Madeline said from where she’d joined us via video chat. “But it’s probably not going to hold out. I’m sure Freya had her own attorneys look at it before she did something like this.”

“We start damage control immediately.” Dorian Malloy, the band’s publicist, was also on video chat. “If you want, I can reach out to Kate Martensson. She’s the best crisis control publicist in the biz, and I’m willing to bet she can make this go away.”

“It’s not a matter of it going away,” Z grunted. “We can’t get her to stop running the ad, which means millions of people are going to hear that song and equate it to Freya Colson and everything she stands for.”

I nearly groaned.

This was my worst fucking nightmare beyond something happening to River.

How could I have let this happen?

“Should I reach out to Freya?” I asked finally. “Do you think I could try to get her to take it down?”

“You can try,” Madeline said, “but my gut tells me this was orchestrated by Aurora, which means either Freya is some kind of spy for her, or she has something on her and Freya didn’t have a choice.”

“But no one knew I was going to be at Harmony Place,” I protested. “Least of all Aurora.”

“Probably a matter of coincidence for them and bad luck for us. You can call Freya, but don’t say anything about anything else we’re doing. Stick to asking her why she would do such a thing. Maybe she’ll let something slip we can use.”

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