24. Garrett
GARRETT
Ten missed calls.
I can only imagine they’re as colorful as the texts littering my inbox.
DARREN: I can’t fucking believe you man
DARREN: I needed you tonight
DARREN: You’re just gonna act like I haven’t given up everything for the band?!
DARREN: Your name might be on it but you’re nothing fucking special
DARREN: You left me to hang because you’re shacking up with some gold-digging whore
DARREN: See what happens when you fuck with me
DARREN: This friendship is fucking over
Rage burns inside me like a flash fire engulfing every cell in my body. There’s a half dozen more messages after that with roughly the same tone.
I want to beat the shit out of him.
And I want to know what the hell has happened to my friend.
Darren wasn’t always like this. Hell, for a long time he was one of my best friends. I wouldn’t have brought him on if I thought this would be the outcome. But fame has a way of twisting even the best intentions within someone, and the man I knew is gone—has been for a long time.
I was just too na?ve to think he could turn it around.
“What’s wrong?” Emerson asks over her cup of coffee, so much concern laced into those two words. It makes me want to punch Darren all over again for even alluding to her at all. I’m falling in love with Emerson Andrews, and he better keep her name out of his filthy fucking mouth.
“It’s Darren.”
“What did he do now?” she asks, her dark hair a wild mess after last night. She looks gorgeous, her face devoid of makeup and wearing another one of my old band shirts from a time when we were begging dive bars to let us play a couple of songs to the regulars.
It’s almost enough to distract me from the problem at hand.
Almost.
What did he do now?
It’s a question that doesn’t have a good answer—not an actual one at least. The surface answer is that he was drunk, was asked to leave a bar and when he refused, the bouncer made him leave and then he threw a rock through the front window of the bar.
Theo’s single text summed that up for me.
But that’s not what Emerson is asking.
“He disrespected the band again and it’s impossible for us to move forward with him.
We’ve tried to get him help in the past, and while I’d love to think everyone deserves a second chance, Darren is well past that.
He doesn’t want to be better; he likes the partying and the drama and the lifestyle.
But I mean, yeah, we have some celebrity status but not that much. ”
“It’s time to meet with the rest of the band then.”
“Yeah,” I concede, running my hand through my hair as I stare off into space. “It just sucks,” I admit, feeling myself deflate as the magnitude of the situation really hits home. The band as I’ve known it is over.
It’s over.
The thought is enough to knock the wind out of me, my phone clattering to the island as I grip the edge. It’s over. Closing my eyelids, I try and breathe through the panic. The music I’ve poured my heart and soul into—bled for—is done.
Because Darren couldn’t respect himself or us enough to change.
“You are incredibly brave, Garrett North,” Emerson says quietly, her hands cupping my face, the shock of her touch forcing me to meet the intensity of her gaze.
“I’m not. I shouldn’t have waited this long.”
“Relationships almost never end when they’re supposed to. There’s always things we overlook for the sake of ourselves and the other party. This is business and personal. He didn’t just hurt you in one part of your life—he did it in both. You’re allowed to hurt and you’re allowed to grieve.”
“How do you deal with this all the time? This is one person and I feel like I’m losing a limb.”
“Are you insinuating I’m a coldhearted bitch?” She gasps, her lips twitching at the corner as my hands fall to her waist.
“Don’t get me in trouble with my wife. I don’t want to have to sleep on the couch tonight.”
“So dramatic,” she murmurs, leaning up to press her mouth to mine. I sigh into the kiss, the intimacy of this moment grounding me and allowing me to own the vulnerability of what I’ve shared. It’s a lot to process but I’m glad she’s here, even if for better or for worse is only temporary.
Fuck.
I can only deal with one crisis at a time and that one unfortunately needs to be put on the back burner.
“What should I do?” I ask, thankful I can ask that question in confidence, not just because she’s an incredible businesswoman but because I trust her.
“You should call Roan and Theo and make a plan and a couple of contingency ones too. After that, sit down with Maverick and Lachlan and tell them what you’re thinking about the future of the band.”
“You make it sound easy.”
“It’s not. But you have a team, Garrett.
Use them, and remember the vision you had for Descending North.
Change is inevitable but it should never be at the expense of the things you hold most dear.
You had a dream, Garrett, but more importantly, you’re allowed to determine whether that dream still reflects what you want today.
If it does then chase it, and if it doesn’t, figure out what you need to do to reignite that flame. ”
“You’re incredible; do you know that?”
“I do,”—she smirks—“and while flattery will get you most places, it won’t get you out of doing hard things today.”
“It was worth a try.”
“Take care of the band now, Mr. North, and later,” she purrs in a way that has my blood racing to my cock, “I’ll be sure to take care of you.”
“Where’s my phone?” I jerk out of her grasp as she snickers, her smile warming me from the inside out.
And maybe the best thing to happen to me wasn’t the band.
Maybe the best thing to ever happen to me is the woman that married me in Vegas.
And just maybe, I’ll figure out a way to keep her.