Page 19 of Rock On

That jerk knew full well I’d find out tonight. Which meant I had a choice to make.

Tell him to fuck off and never speak to me again.

Forgive him and move forward.

Or make it clear as crystal I was pissed. Then… Well, then he could grovel.

After that, maybe, I’d forgive him. Maybe. Right about now, I didn’t feel like listening to bullshit explanations, and the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I might not be part of the celebrity scene, but I wasn’t someone he could just play with that way.

With a growled sigh, I levered myself up and marched toward the door.

“Let’s go,” I snapped as I grabbed my wristlet and the lanyard with my VIP pass off the kitchen counter on my way to the apartment’s exit.

“What? Okay,” Marley said, straightening from where she was leaned against the living room wall. She finished typing out a text then shoved the phone into her pocket. “I wasn’t texting him,” she explained, following me. “I was taking care of some business I need to do afterward. I can…cancel it, I suppose, if you need me.”

“No. Don’t.”

We didn’t say a word as I started my car to make the now-familiar trip to the festival grounds.

“You know, Jay isn’t actually an asshole,” she said after a few minutes. “As far as rock stars go, he’s one of the better ones, and I’ve dealt with a lot of them over the years.”

“Don’t try to defend him. He dug this hole. He can climb out on his own. And apparently, I’m gullible.”

“Do you, um… Do you have feelings for him?” she ventured.

That was my problem. I had unbelievably deep feelings for him, though it had only been days. My parents had always told us kids,When you know you know. The last few days I’d thought they were right andI knew, so to speak. Clearly, I made a mistake. Realizing that didn’t help the pain in my heart, though.

I pressed my lips together, unable to answer Marley. I was too close to crying.

What had this been? A game? Had he been playing a game with me? Was I part of some asshole betting pool the band and crew had going? A wager to see how far he could get with an unsuspecting girl he met while on the road?

And just look how far he’d gotten with all his lines.

“Are you okay?” Marley asked.

My eyes burned again—still—and a rock had taken up residence in my throat. My chest ached, the weight of disappointment bearing down on me.

I gave the tiniest shake of my head. “Nope.”

“I’m gonna kill him. I really am, Sky. Do you… Look, you don’t have to go. I have to. I can come to your place right afterward. No. Never mind. Fuck this job. Who cares about it? I’ll ditch the gig and—”

I shook my head. “No. We’ll go. I’ll…come with you. This is my fault. I shouldn’t have let things go so far.”

“It’s not your fault he lied to you!”

“No.”

“You don’t have to—”

“I want him to know I know. And then after that… What did you tell me that Stix said to Stone yesterday? That he can fucking fuck the fuck right off.”

“Something like that.”

“Well, his brother, Jerrin—J. Waterstone—can do that. He can just fucking fuck right the hell off, too.”

Ten

Jerrin

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