Page 5 of Hidden Truths

“Let her go, Cal. She said she doesn’t want to be with us anymore. Just leave it,” the anger in Kai’s voice is almost tangible, but there’s so much pain woven into it too. From the look on Belle’s face, she’s only noticed the anger.

“What about Ezra? You’re just going to do this without him?” she asks, knowing how painful her words were and not seeming to care. What the fuck had happened between the two of them? They used to be so close.

“Ezra is gone. You heard the cops. He ran. Just like you’re doing.”

I flinch at Kai’s words. Yes, the cops ruled Ezra a runaway, but none of us believe it. That’s why we still search. Why we look under every rock and behind every dumpster. Kai is the one leading most of the searches. His words are out of anger, meant to hurt like a dagger.

“What the fuck, Kai?” Willa yells, jumping up to her feet. I grab her and pull her with me back into the kitchen.

“I think they have some shit they need to work out,” I mutter under my breath. Willa nods but keeps her eyes on Belle.

Once we’re out of their range, she turns to me. “Can we even do this? Without Ezra or Belle?”

I think about it for a moment. “I already knew we had to get another bass player. We could go without a keyboard player.” I hated saying those words, like I was fine replacing my best friend and making my sister’s role disappear. But what else are we going to do?

Willa nods, her brows drawn together in a frown, like she’s thinking the same thing I am.

“I know a bassist,” Kai says, entering the kitchen calmly like he didn’t just have a fight with Belle.

“Who?” I ask, choosing to ignore the fight if he was. At least for the moment. I sure as fuck will be bringing that up later.

“Mav. He and Ezra would practice together sometimes,” Kai supplies.

“How did I not know that?” I ask, more to myself than anyone. Kai shrugs, knowing the answer is because I was busy trying to maintain my barely passing grades, so I didn’t flunk out. It’s not that I’m stupid. School just didn’t interest me, and I couldn’t pay attention. But like the good friend he is, he doesn’t call me out on it.

“Too busy chasing women,” Willa says.

I wag my eyebrows at her. “Jealous?”

She makes a barfing sound, which makes Kai laugh. I feel my shoulders lower, thankful that the mood is less tense.

We spend the rest of the afternoon on a call with the label. They agree to our only demand. That Belle and Ezra be allowed to return to the band, if or when, they so choose.

By the next day, Kai has convinced Maverick to join Shattered Halo, and we all sign on the dotted line. And just like that, we’re rock stars.

one

CAL

NOW

“Where is she?”I demand, not for the first time. My voice is dripping with frustration. Every muscle in my body is tense, and my hands are clenched so tightly into fists that my nails are digging into my skin.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Griffin, but we need to wait for the test results before allowing you to see her,” the nurse tells me again.

“You can’t call me and tell me I have a fucking daughter and then not allow me to see her!” I yell, slamming my fist against the desk and causing both the nurse I’m speaking to and the one sitting next to her to jump.

“As I’ve told you before, we called on the request of the mother. Since she can no longer give consent, we need to wait for the tests to confirm you are, in fact, the father of the baby.”

I take a deep breath, trying with everything I have left in me to keep my composure. The last thing I need is to be thrown out of the hospital before figuring all this out.

“I’ve got them expediting it, Cal. We’ll have the results within the hour.”

I turn to see my lawyer, Frank, still sitting in the chair in the waiting room. I called him the moment I got off the phone with the hospital. I hadn’t even made it out the door before I had him agreeing to meet me here.

“Do I want to know how much that cost me?” I ask, taking the seat next to him and trying the breathing exercise I learned in yoga that one time Mav talked me into going with him.

“He wanted a signed guitar from Kai,” Frank says, still tapping away on his phone.

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