Page 21 of Perfect Storm

She thinks she is entitled to more than what she has in life. She only saw it when it was too late.

"What happened to her big record deal with Dearborn?" I ask.

Nash shrugs and Dylan scoffs. Yeah, another one of Riley's stupid fucking mistakes. Someone dangled a lot of cash in front of her, told her she was better than the rest of us, and the band was holding her back.

She doesn't see the bigger picture, she never has. It must be fucking tedious going through life being so self-obsessed.

“We need to put a gag on her before she causes us even more shit," Dylan grumbles.

“I don’t think so,” I take a sip of my tea. Dylan frowns at me, irritated I’m not agreeing with him.

“What the hell? Not you too.”

Fuck him if he thinks I’m anything like Nash. There is no point showing how annoyed that makes me.

“She’ll hang herself,” I tell him. Nash twists his head to look at me. It’s true. “She can’t help herself. She’ll say the wrong thing, pull the wrong face and people will see she’s full of shit. No take backs if it’s live either.”

“If it was one of these guys,” Dylan swings his hand in the direction of the band behind him. “But we’re not at their level.”

“It has nothing to do with fame or exposure,” I point out. “She’s an idiot. She will say something stupid, and it will be picked apart. That is when we retaliate.”

“You make it sound like a fucking war,” Nash growls.

“No, I make it sound like the perfect plan. How can we fight when we don’t know what she will say? Once we know, once she’s spewed her venom into the world, we can contradict her, prove she’s lying. It’s called a counter argument, but we will do it in a much more civilized and unemotional manner.”

“You’ve been around Brooke too much,” Dylan jokes.

“I don’t need a lawyer to teach me common sense,” I say. I don’t like the insinuation I’ve spent time with Brooke, either.

“The label will want to keep her quiet,” Nash mutters.

I give him a disapproving frown. Burying his head is also not the way to deal with it.

“She is going to some second-rate gossip show to tell them how we made it so she couldn’t stay in the band. She made a mistake she’ll regret for the rest of her life. She will tell them all about your life together. Growing up and falling in love. Spin some bullshit about how she lost her way and made a mistake. But she still loves you and would do anything to win you back.

“But you’re the one preventing that, and we sided with you and that makes us the bad guys too, because we didn’t forgive and support her. That makes it everyone else’s fault if the band falls apart, and she is the one who has been wronged.

“Because that is what she wants. She doesn’t want to see you succeed. In that sense,” I look at Nash. “Give her enough rope and she will hang herself, while we do better now she is gone. That is what we should be doing. Focusing on being better in our music and our performances, getting into the charts, reachingmore fans. Hit back with our success without her. Make her irrelevant.”

“That is the most I have heard you say in one go, Ciro. And I agree with you.”

We all turn to look at Tia who has appeared behind the brothers without us seeing her.

“I have no say in what you do. It is your band and your decision how to act, but I’m not wrong in saying perhaps I have a vested interest in the situation.”

“Tia, you have a hell of a way of saying Nash is yours, Riley can go fuck herself and this is how we’re gonna do it,” Dylan laughs.

Nash reaches up his hand and puts it around Tia’s waist, pulling her closer to him. It’s a silent show he appreciates her words.

“Until we speak to Declan, I don’t know how the label wants to take this.”

“Declan is a good friend and an excellent manager,” Tia says. “He’ll listen to your suggestions because you know her better than he does. My only experience with Riley is not a good one,” Tia frowns.

“You can call her a bitch,” Dylan says.

Nash punches his arm, making Dylan scowl and grab it, rubbing it like a child.

“Dude, she tried to break you guys up. She said some horrible shit about Tia.”

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