Page 57 of The Forbidden Trio

By the time she’d paid the taxi and run up the stairs, she was crying so hard she could barely see to get her key in the door. Finally, she was in her apartment. Alone. Sobbing. In pain.

Cole.

She would not lose him to addiction again. She couldn’t do it. It was too awful. Better to nip it in the bud before… Fuck. It was too damn late. Too late to go back. Too late not to fall in love with him all over again.

She was an idiot.

She had led herself down this path. She and Cole loved each other, but they were destined to end in tragedy one way or another. She wasn’t going to wait around for those lonely, sleepless nights while he stayed out getting high with his fucking manager.

Cole.

Her heart cried out for him. And she simply cried. Cried while her cell phone went off, over and over again. While he pounded on her front door, calling her name until she had to retreat to her bedroom and pull a pillow over her head so she couldn’t hear the pain and confusion in his voice. She cried until, finally, sometime after dawn, she fell asleep and dreamed of an empty bed, and her empty, aching arms.

Chapter Eight

The morning light woke him. Cole rolled over and sat up, stiff from having fallen asleep on the sofa, his mug of tea cold and untouched on the floor. He must have made it around four o’clock, when his misery had reached its peak and he hadn’t known what the hell else to do. He couldn’t drink, couldn’t use, and he was too distraught to retreat to his studio.

Distraught? That was too fucking lame a word to even begin to describe what he was feeling. But he didn’t have the words this morning. All he knew was that Janie was gone, and he didn’t knowwhy.

He glanced at his cell phone next to him on the leather sofa. It was only eight thirty, but he was going to call his brother, anyway.

Chase picked up after six rings. “Cole? What the…? It’s still practically the middle of the night,” he said groggily. “We had a party last night. Or don’t you remember?”

“I remember that I couldn’t find you when I needed you.”

“I left with… a date. What’s going on?”

“Did you see Janie last night?” Cole demanded.

“Yeah. She was looking for you.”

“What the fuck did you say to her?”

“What? What do you mean? We talked about the album. I don’t know. The usual stuff.”

“Did you say anything to her that would have made her leave?”

“Of course not. No. I don’t think so, man. Remind me here—did you actually tell me what the fuck is going on to make you call me at the crack of dawn to interrogate me?”

“Janie’s gone. And I meangone. Left the party. Pretty damn sure she’s left me. I went to her place last night. She wouldn’t answer the door. Won’t pick up when I call.”

“Jesus. When I saw her, she was on cloud fucking nine. What did you do to mess it up?”

“Thanks for the support, bro.”

“Sorry. Fuck. I’m sorry, Cole. I’m not awake.”

“No kidding.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Look, if you hear anything, will you let me know?”

“Yeah, of course. Let me make a few calls. I’ll talk to the guys, see what I can find out.” “Thanks.”

He was glad Chase would make the calls. It fucking hurt too much to say it out loud. He wasn’t sure he could do it again.

Janie is gone.

The past was coming back to him in one big rush that raked at his flesh, at his heart, as if the memories were studded with nails.

Why? It had to have been the party. She’d never liked them. All the groupies and the drinking. But that was when he was indulging. Things were different now.Hewas different now.

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