Page 83 of Whirlwind

“I don’t know anything. And yes, I do find it really hard to believe Beck would screw his bandmate’s girlfriend. No matter what she says in that post or how those pics look, something’s off.”

“Total set up. He’s been stalked before by obsessed fans.”

“Shit, that’s right, I remember.” I bit my lip.

“No matter what the truth is, he could use our support right now.”

“You’re right. I’ll try him now. I’ll catch up with you in a bit.” I headed to the one corner of the parking lot where there was no booming speaker and pressed Beck’s name on my screen, my stomach swirling, clenching. I wanted to hear his voice. I dreaded hearing his anger, his coldness. I dreaded hearing him growl,“what the hell do you want?”or“yeah, I fucked her, and?”

It rang. Once. Twice.

“Violet?”

“Beck, hi. I wanted to check in with you, see how you’re doing with all this new crazy going on.” I held my breath.

No response.

Nothing.

“Beck? Are you there?”

“Did you believe it?” My eyes closed at the sad ache in his voice.

“No, I don’t. I don’t believe it. I wouldn’t have called if I did.”

He let out a breath, something akin to relief? I hoped so. “No, I don’t think you would have, Violet.”

“I’m so sorry this is happening to you.”

“Does that include you not telling me you were back with your boyfriend but you came to Nashville anyway?”

Ouch.

“I’m so sorry about that, Beck. Deeply sorry. I never wanted to lie to you.”

“But you did.”

“I did. It was a selfish thing to do.”

“Hmm.” He sucked in air, more like he was sucking on a cigarette. A dark chuckle came over the line, and a chill razored up my spine. “Selfish, huh? Why?”

“I wanted to see you again.”

“You wanted my dick.”

Whoa. “Not only your dick.” My grip tightened around my phone. “ I wanted to be with you again. I couldn’t keep away.”

Another deep inhale, long exhaling. “You got what you wanted. Like everybody else.”

“That’s not true. Beck, please…”

“I didn’t cut you to be like everybody else, Violet.”

“I’m so sorry.” He said nothing to my apology, and the silence stung. I stung, everything stung. I cleared my throat. “This Lisa is Myles’s girlfriend?”

“Was. I’ve known her for almost a year now. She’d joined Myles on the tour. I knew she had a crush on me, but I ignored it. I just kept my distance. I thought that was enough. What else was there to do? But man, I never thought she’d do something like this.”

“This took planning.”

---