Page 2 of Fallen God

And it was only when he got closer that I noticed that his hair was plastered to his head from the rain, and that he was dressed like he had just come from the gym. I raised a questioning eyebrow, and my mouth opened to ask what the hell he was doing, but Louis got there first. “What’s happened?”

Tate looked at him for a second and then turned to me. One look at him and I knew it was going to be bad. Tate was the most laid back person I knew. Nothing fazed him at all, and yet there was nothing but panic in his usually calm eyes. Something hadn’t just happened. Something was really wrong.

“Isla.”

One word and I was on my feet.

Isla, ex–Dionysus Rising drummer and my ex–girlfriend. She had been the queen to my king for a long time. Long before we had been the golden couple of the business.

Had been. Not anymore.

“Is she ok?” I was already moving toward the door. For all of her mistakes and just like me, Isla had made her fair share of them over the last year, I still cared about her. She had been my friend a lot longer than she had been in my bed. “Is it the baby?”

At my shoulder, Tate let out a grunt of affirmation and my blood ran cold. Tugging at my dark hair, I tried to work out the dates. And no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get them to add up. “Isn’t it too early?”

“Yeah. The hospital phoned Erik. They rushed her down to surgery about an hour ago. Something about bleeding and...”

I didn’t hear his next words. I was already pushing my way out of the fire escape, the alarm attached to it blaring in my ear as I hit the pavement at a run. My trainers slapped on the ground as I headed out into the busy London Street.

Isla was having her baby. Early.

It didn’t matter to me if it wasn’t my baby she was having, or the fact that her cheating had put it inside of her.

Isla was one of us, she was family.

LOLA

It was nice being home alone. Not because I didn’t like Elodie, my roommate, because I did. She had given me somewhere to crash when everything had gone tits up with work and I’d found myself out on my ear, and for that I would be eternally grateful. Not to mention she was a cool woman, educated and fun to be around. We had become fast friends. And I loved living here. It was a damn sight better than living with Louis, my big brother.

He would have happily taken me in, but the thought of staying at his, even as gorgeous as his home was, had filled me with dread. My brother was a player. He’d always been a player and joining Dionysus Rising had made him worse. I didn’t much fancy bumping into his endless stream of women. Plus, there was, of course, the little matter of his bandmates.

Dionysus Rising.

The thought of bumping into them, particularly a certain lead singer, was enough to make shivers run up my spine and goosebumps erupt over my arms. Even the memory of the way his lips felt against the skin of my throat was enough to make me quiver inside. I had slept with my brother’s band's lead singer. He had asked me to marry him after only a few hours of knowing me, and I had stood him up. It was all as crazy as it sounded. Not that I had told many people. In fact, the only person I had even half confided in was Elodie. And only because she would understand. She was dating the guitarist, after all. She sure as hell understood why I’d had to leave my job and go into hiding.

For a time there, I was what felt like the world's most hated woman. Blamed on every front page for breaking up Dion’s relationship with his long–term girlfriend Isla.

“Fuck.” I swore softly as I banged my head against the rain soaked glass. Down below, the street was quiet. Just a few cars going about their Friday night business. Nothing to worry about, and yet I still did. I still looked out for the press even when I knew deep down that they had lost interest in me months ago. They had moved on.

It was just me who was stuck in limbo.

Half in love with the fairy tale that Dion had promised, even when I knew all along that it would turn into a nightmare.

“Fucking stop thinking about him then, you fool.” I traced a raindrop with my fingertip, my other hand curled around my traditional glass of cheap red wine. It was my one vice nowadays. After all, it wasn't like I had many friends in the city. Just Louis and Elodie and her boyfriend, Jax, who had been sworn to secrecy about my very presence. Elodie had been pretty adamant about that when he had walked in on our first meeting. Jax was to keep his mouth shut. He wasn’t to mention who Elodie’s roommate was going to be. Not to anyone, but particularly to Dion.

It was best that way.

A noise from outside caught my attention, and I squinted to see down into the dark street. It was almost impossible to see who it was, but it looked a lot like Jax’s car. The one Chance, their head of security, used when he was driving them to and from official engagements. Narrowing my eyes further, I pressed my face against the glass, desperately trying to get a better look.

And I couldn’t see anything but the great hulking form of Chance as he hunched down in the rain. I knew usually Jax would have invited his bodyguard in out of the rain, but not here. We couldn’t risk anyone knowing I was here. I didn’t think he would break any promise he made to me, or Jax, but slip ups happened, and I couldn’t risk that. Expectantly, I turned towards the door, the wine glass all but forgotten in my hands. And right on cue, I heard the key in the lock.

Elodie appeared first, her curly hair flat from the rain. She was still in the evening dress she had worn when she left for the unveiling of her new charity. Although it was looking a little worse for wear now. Without meaning to, I glanced at my watch. It was gone ten. She should have been at the after party now. The one she had invited me to. Had begged me to attend with her. The one I knew Dion would be at so had kindly declined.

“Is the party over already?” I’d half lifted myself from the window seat when I caught sight of the look that passed between them.

“Haven’t been yet.” Elodie tried to smile, and it cracked on her face. Nervously, she chewed on her bottom lip, and she kept chewing on it until Jax used his thumb to prize it out from between her teeth.

“No one bites that lip but me, Elodie,” he reminded her, and I blushed because there was so much heat in his voice. It was always that way between them. Which was one reason I liked that they spent so much time at his place instead of here. I liked Jax, but he was a rockstar and I’d had enough of those to last me a lifetime.

---