Page 113 of Five Summers

He wraps his arm around my shoulder, guiding me back to the couch. On the way there, he pulls out his phone and calls Ace.

“Hey man, we’re hanging out at Xander’s. Can you pop over for a quick band meeting?”

I can hear the muffle of Ace’s voice, but I can’t hear what he is saying.

"Yeah, see you soon," Nate says, ending the call and slipping the phone into his pocket.

“He's on his way. Sit down and we’ll clear everything up.”

I nod and plop onto the couch, still fuming about the surprise that was set up behind my back. If it wasn't for Theo and Nate dropping by to give me the lowdown, I would've been totally clueless.

Nate goes to my fridge, grabs a six-pack, and brings it over. Once he hands out the beers, he plops down next to Theo on the couch across from me.

“Just wait to see what he has to say,” Nate says, eyeing me. He can clearly see that I’m pissed.

“We didn’t want you to board that plane tomorrow and be caught off guard when you see Poppy there.”

"You know about Poppy?" I ask, giving Nate a look.

“Yeah, he knows. I already filled him in,” Theo chimes in.

"Chill out, I kept bugging him until he spilled about the girl at the bar. That's why he told me,” Nate says.

The front door swings open and Ace comes in with a big ass smile, plopping down on the couch next to me. I resist the temptation to punch the asshole for hiding this shit from me.

"Hey, what's up, fuckers?" Ace says, leaning in and grabbing a beer off the table.

“He’s in the loop,” says Theo.

The look on Ace's face says it all when he meets my eyes. I glare at the jerk, feeling totally betrayed. Even though I never told him what happened between Poppy and me, he must have suspected something since he asked if we were hooking up.

"Which one of you spilled the secret?" Ace asks, turning to look at Nate.

"We both did,” Nate answers.

“Why?”

“Because he fucking needs to know this shit, Ace,” says Nate.

I can't handle this conversation anymore, so I turn to look at him on the couch. “Seriously, when were you gonna give me a heads up, or did you just not fucking care?”

He doesn't say anything, but his face tells me everything - he never intended to tell me any of this.

“Fuck you, man. I thought we were like family. Family doesn’t do shit like this to each other and you know it.”

“Seriously, Xander, what else am I supposed to do when you’re constantly fucking up?”

“Fucking up, you mean by your standards and the labels.”

“We’re going to lose our contract. There’s already talk about replacing you.”

I can tell by the expression on his face that he’s let something slip. This is news to me, once again left in the dark. What else is he hiding from me? Let those bastards even try to replace me. This is my fucking band. The band I created.

"Wait a second," Nate cuts in. “What do you mean there’s talk of replacing Xander?”

Nate and Theo shoot Ace a death glare. Obviously, they had no clue what was happening.

Ace pauses for a second, scanning the group.

---