Page 91 of Before Now

I send the picture Chase took, keeping my promise to her.

And then it all vanishes like it never happened. Remi Saint never responds.

26

REMI

Now…

After Foster disappearsonto the bus, I spin on Xander, grabbing his hand and hauling him with me. I march all the way to the front of Glory and Nate’s bus for some semblance of privacy. We’ve been around them since he arrived, but I’m not waiting any longer to find out what he knows.

I release him and cross my arms. The sun has set, the temp dropping. Most of the light bouncing off of us belongs to the light poles scattered through the parking lot.

“Why are you here?” I ask.

“Damn, Rem,” he says, a touch of rejection in his eyes. “You really know how to make a guy feel welcome. Have you held that in this whole time?”

I soften my expression as much as I can, my face grateful for somewhat of a reprieve from the tensed state since talking with Christian. “I’m sorry. I meant why did the label and Heath send you? You must know something. Tell me what the hell is going on, Xan. Christian was terrified to be alone with me. He apologized for inappropriate conduct and offered for me to talk to legal.”

He rakes a hand through his hair, hanging onto the back of his neck after. “Heath and I were worried.”

“I’m sorry, what?” My eyes bounce between his. “You had something to do with all this? Why? What the fuck, Xander?”

He nails me with an incredulous look. “Yeah, I had something to do with this. And what the fuck is, I haven’t seen you cagey once in the two years we’ve known each other, then the second Adams walked onto the bus the other day, you shut down.”

Unbelievable.

“So, you what?” I quiet my voice, but I want to yell at him. “Decided the band—Adams—was sexually harassing me and ran to Heath? I told you nothing was happening.” I shake my head, not hiding my annoyance in the least. “What am I supposed to do now, Xander? The band thinks I made accusations against them. They aren’t going to trust me anymore, and I don’t know how to fix it.”

The band thinks I betrayed them, and it feels like Xander betrayed me. Given the reactions from Christian and Foster, I’m unsure they’ll even believe me if I try to explain. And then I’m only passing blame to Xander, who’s expected to finish the tour with my crew. A clusterfuck of its own with how Foster acted minutes ago. Everything’s always so delicate between us, and someone just took a hammer to it all.

“Rem,” Xander starts, tone lowering to pacify me, mouth turning down at the corners.

But I’m too upset.

“I can’t talk to you right now.” I back away, arms dropping to my sides. “I’ll see where Glory and Nate want to go for dinner. We’ll fill you in on our process for concerts. We can redistribute the work for tomorrow’s and cover the shot list for the meet and greet in the afternoon.”

His head falls back between his shoulder blades, but I leave him there. I shiver and wrap my arms around myself as I walk away, not even hoping for the best. Only bracing for the worst.

And I’m right to.

After dinner, I board the bus as Felix and Dev are coming through the curtain into the lounge, both carrying their duffel bags. Dev’s jaw sets, Felix immediately lowering his gaze to the floor as soon as they see me.

“I swear I didn’t say anything to the label,” I tell them again. I tried before leaving, but I cut Xander off without the entire story, so I’m missing details. “There was nothing to say. Something got twisted along the way, and I think?—”

“Can we get by?” Dev asks, closing in on me.

Part of me wants to refuse. Block them in and make them listen. But with the callousness aimed at me, they won’t hear me. The trust is gone, shattered, like I feared. As much as I hate it, force won’t repair the damage. Not without breaking something elsewhere.

I swallow the sting and move aside. Dev turns his body, inching past like I’m poisonous spikes to avoid. The next blow hits even harder.

Felix follows suit, side-stepping to maintain as much distance as possible between his front and mine. “Excuse me, Remi,” he mumbles.

I’m Remi now. Not Cam Girl.

They stomp down the stairs, and my eyes crush closed.

In a handful of hours, I went from part of the pack to a pariah.

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