Page 80 of The Final Deal

Robbie’s chest rises and falls with exaggeration, breathing audible and huffy. “I wasn’t sure, but… but I think I am now.” He catches his breath for a moment. “I think Brandy cheated on me with Denver, and… the baby isn’t mine.”

My jaw drops. “What? That doesn’t make any sense. You two have been so in love since high school.”

He laughs mirthlessly and scans the lot. “That don’t mean shit when Denver fucking Black is in the picture.”

As much as he’s got a point, I really want to give Brandy the benefit of the doubt, because Denver?Really?Adrian might be an asshole, but at least he’s not a literal fucking sociopath.

“They have history,” he says quietly.

My neck snaps at that. “What? Since fucking when?”

Robbie groans softly. “Taylor’s been accusing them of having an affair for over a year. So whenever Tainted wanted to bring Brandy with them on their international tour, I told her absolutely the fuck not; with Taylor acting crazier, there was no telling what she was gonna do. That, and I didn’t want her running off with him.”

“Is that why y’all were questioned by Chicago PD?” I ask, trying to connect the pieces together. “Because of Brandy’s connection?”

He sighs heavily with pursed lips as he holds my gaze. “Taylor named Brandy in her suicide note. Blaming her for doing it.”

“Oh, my God. I…” I trail off, racking my brain for any little breadcrumb in the archives of my mind that indicate Brandy’s connection to Denver and Taylor because this is the first I’m hearing of any of it. Then again, Robbie is my brother, and I all but disappeared from everyone’s lives for a year and a half—I doubt she’d want to tell me about it if it meant the info possibly leaking to her boyfriend. “D’you think Brandy told Denver about the baby, and that was the final straw for Taylor?”

He scrubs a hand over his face hard. “Yeah. Taylor knew. She called me about it, too. I was just so fuckin’ stoked to be a dad, so I wrote her psycho ass off. But then we went to one of her ultrasounds, and the conception date was when we were on the other side of the fucking country on tour. A-and now, with the way he looked at her…”

His face crumples.

I wrap my arms around his shoulders and hug him tight, careful not to spill my coffee over him. “I’m sorry. It’s gonna hurt like hell for a while till you get everything figured out, but everythingwillbe okay.”

The tone of his voice strains, like he’s trying to hold it all inside and keep from falling apart. “How’s everything gonna be okay when the devil is after all of us on top of this?”

I hug him harder. “I know it’ll all be okay in the end. Promise.”

Chapter 32

Darkness Surrounding

–Avenged Sevenfold

Whatever number cupof coffee this is, shit ain’t doing the trick. I don’t know what kind of crack Adrian puts in the coffees he orders me, but I sure could use that extra oomph today, especially as the clock races toward midnight.

I toss the empty cup in favor of a too-sweet energy drink a roadie hands me on my way toward the stage, knowing damn well I’m probably doing more harm than good at this point.

“Hey, Steph!”

It takes a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust from the glaring overhead pole lights to the darkness of night fallen over the crowd. A blue stage light passes over, and I find Gigi waving excitedly.

“Hey,” I respond, meeting her halfway when she breaks away from her small group. “Thanks for comin’ to the show.”

“I haven’t missed a year since high school,” she says with a big smile. She juts her chin toward the stage. “Cool props. Guess the surprise band is intense, huh?”

My brows furrow and I turn to survey the stage. Stagehands have climbed up the metal rigging on the side stages, and others drag huge tarp-covered objects toward the rigs. They struggle to lift and push it up to the guys who have fastened themselves to poles to make sure they don’t fall.

The giant flailing lumps are indiscernible as someone in the crowd, but as the mastermind behind this whole show, I know what they are.

“Yeah, they can be,” I answer as tarps begin to drop.

When I turn to face Gigi, shock strikes her features. “Are… are those…?”

“Whoa!”

“Who the fuck is on next, dude?”

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