Page 151 of Wingwoman

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Jenn cheating on me.

Bzzzzz.

Me, crushing her under the weight of her own guilt.

Bzzzzz.

Happily ever after was the moment the book closed. They didn’t go on to talk about the screaming fights. Crippling debt. The infidelity.

Bzzzzz.

And if Hope stayed with me, I’d poison her too.

No, I’d much rather remember her like this. I’d rather remember her as the rainbow than watch her fade into nothing.

“You had it right the first time, Hope… I’m an asshole,” I rasped.

Then, blinking back my emotions, I pressed the phone to my ear. “Micah, hi.”

I closed my eyes against the barely audible gasp she released. She trusted me to choose her… and I broke that trust.

“Josh! That song you wrote,Decimated? Wow. Your fans are gonna go nuts for it.”

Seconds later when I opened my eyes, Hope’s back was turned, her hands fiddling with the necklace at the back of her neck.

I clenched my jaw as she set the necklace onto the coffee table, then without looking back at me, she walked out the door.

“With your permission, we’re going to release it as soon as possible. The stations are going to go berserk!”

My throat bottomed out to my stomach as the door shut behind Hope.

“So? What do you say? Can we release that song?”

Releasing that single would be the final nail in the coffin.

Which was exactly what we…she… needed.

My mind spun watching her leave, but I forced myself to feel nothing.

“Go ahead. Release it.”

Goodbye, Hope.

Forty-Two

JOSH

I sat in my studio,shrouded in darkness.

Usually, I liked to write with some candles lit around me. A few small lamps turned on for mood lighting.

But this time, the mood was dark. Dark like my heart. Dark like my mind. Like my creativity.

Cash sprawled out on the floor at my feet while I strummed random chords on my guitar absently. He was the only friend I really had left after what I had done.

Despite everything going to plan, my brain was blank. No songs came to me at all. No ghosts of lyrics haunted my thoughts.

Which was unheard of.

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