Page 16 of Broken Rock

Tate turns his head to glare at Gregg. ‘Don’t what me. The collage thing Mum made of our album covers is gone. It was on the living room wall.’

‘Oh, right. Well maybe your folks thought seeing that would... I don’t know... stress you out?’

‘Acting like they don’t know me is stressing me out. Why the hell would seeing our albums— Oh I get it. Seeing what I’ve fucked up would push me over the edge again and I’d relapse.’ He looks back at the ceiling and scrubs his hands over his face. ‘Fuck!’ He drops his hands to his sides as he continues to glare at the ceiling. ‘For the last fucking time, it had nothing to do with singing or touring or working non-stop.’

‘What was it then? We’ve been mates for going on two decades. I’m not going to pretend we’re a bunch of fucking saints by any means, but you took it to a whole new level this time.’

Tate clenches his jaw to stop himself from telling Gregg to drop it and move on. He knows by now it won’t work.

‘So you’ve got to understand why the people who know you the most have a hard time accepting you went from an occasional user to a heroin overdose in a few weeks for no reason.’

‘We went through all this in counselling. You want another apology?’

‘This isn’t about an apology, Tate. This is about why.’

‘I made a mistake.’

Gregg snorts. ‘You made a mistake? We know you made a mistake. That doesn’t explain why you made the mistake. You’ve had a hell of a lot thrown at you over the last few years and you’ve always picked yourself up and got back to it. What the fuck happened this time?’

‘It was just a stupid spur of the moment mistake.’

‘Fuck off.’

‘What?’

‘I said fuck off. This was so much more than a spur of the moment decision.’

‘I just want to forget about it and get on with my life. And that includes getting back in the studio in a few weeks.’

‘Are you sure that’s such a good idea?’

Tate just looks at him.

‘Fine. Whatever. You’re the boss. We’ll be there when you’re ready.’

‘Cheers.’

‘So what are you going to say?’

‘To who?’

‘Your adoring public of course.’

‘About what?’

‘Where you’ve been? You can’t just pop back like nothing’s happened. The truth is already out. You need to get on top of it. What did Ellen say about it?’

‘I haven’t spoken to her yet.’

Gregg shoves him in the shoulder. ‘Why the hell not? It’s her job to figure out these sorts of things for you.’

‘I’d prefer not to say anything about it.’

‘Ah come on, mate. You know that’s not going to work. Surely, it’s best to bite the bullet and get it over with in your words. Knock all these exaggerated headlines on the head, including Astrid and her nonsense. Just think about it, okay?’

‘Will do.’

‘So you want to do something this afternoon?’

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