Chapter 42
FORTY-TWO
We’re all anxious as we wait for Josie to get back.
Cyrus has been pacing the entire time. It puts my alpha on edge seeing our prime so distraught, but I understand why. This was his biggest fear when he allowed this fake arrangement to happen.
This was why he didn’t want us near Cleo Del Rossi. He knew it was only a matter of time before something like this happened, and he was determined to keep us away from it. But here we are, immersed in the aftermath of it anyway. All for our beautiful scent match.
Mac called shortly after Josie left with her bandmates, and offered condolences for the horrible incident. Of course, he is our friend as well as our manager, but then he had to go over the logistics for what this means for the rest of the tour.
So far, there seems to be no plan to continue. Today is more than likely the last day of the All or Nothing tour.
That name didn’t age well at all.
Just when it feels like the well is about to break, there’s a knock at the door. All of our heads whip up with hope.
“If that’s another roadie or Mac back to break more bad news, I’m going to lose it,” Malaki hisses.
Cyrus trails over to the door and looks through the peephole. When he exhales with relief, my entire body relaxes as he lets Josie in and pulls her into his body.
She doesn’t hold it in. She immediately falls apart in his arms, and I spring up to rush over to her.
“This… fucking… sucks,” she says between sobs, her hands tight around my prime’s center. He holds her back just as securely, his face morphed into his usual protective mask.
“Let’s sit down, baby,” I say, guiding them both to the couch with difficulty since neither of them wants to part.
I sit beside them and she practically climbs into our laps, letting us hold her together as she continues to let her emotions run free. We’re flanked by everyone else, and they try to push out soothing pheromones, their beasts just as on edge as ours.
“What happened? Is she going to be okay?” Jamie asks.
Josie finds it in her to nod to his question. “She…” Her eyes well up but she sits up a little bit straighter to get the words out. “They had to use Narcan. She’s weak right now, but they think she’ll be okay.”
My heart drops. I knew she had dabbled with hard substances. I saw her doing coke with my own eyes one night at a club, but I didn’t think she did that…
“Oh fuck,” Lennon says, voicing my own thoughts. “I’m so sorry, Josie. That’s awful. Did you get to speak to her?”
She shakes her head. “No, she is still recuperating. I don’t think they want anyone to see her for a while.”
Silence follows and Josie starts to cry once more. There aren’t any words that will make this better for her; all we can do is wait and be her support, no matter what she needs. My hand moves to her arm as I squeeze, my cheek resting on her shoulder as she sobs into Cyrus.
After a while, Cyrus’s scent turns even more bitter than usual. I can feel his anguish, his sadness. And when Josie’s cries subside and are left behind for demure sniffles, he speaks up for the first time.
“Omega,” he starts, capturing Josie’s attention immediately. His voice is all serious prime, his softness temporarily put to the side. “I know this is hard, but we have to talk about this. I had no idea she had started using heroin.”
She nods. “I had no idea either. I knew she did coke a lot with Raven… the lead singer of Scarlet Decay. That’s her girlfriend.
She’s the same one who tried to give Florence a line in the club bathroom in Vancouver.
” She sighs. “It’s part of the reason why I freaked out.
She’s the reason why Cleo started using.
I couldn’t stand the idea of her doing that to someone else. ”
A memory scratches at the forefront of my brain. I remember Scarlet Decay. They joined the last sector of Vicious Velvet’s last tour, but that was way after Cleo and Cyrus’s fake romance ended.
Cyrus must be thinking the same thing because his brows scrunch in confusion. “Were Cleo and Raven together before your last tour?”
“No, I don’t think they knew each other before Scarlet Decay joined the tour,” she says, then she knits her brows together. “Why are you asking?”
Tension circles around us. We all knew about Cleo’s habits, and yet we said nothing. Cyrus’s hand rubs circles into our omega’s back as he takes the reins. “We all know about her drug use, baby. I’ve known for a long time.”
Josie’s brows furrowed. “You knew about her drug use?” She looks around at all of us. “You all knew?”
We all look sheepish as we nod.
“I told them,” Cyrus admits. “Baby, I think your timeline is off a little bit with Cleo. She was already using before she met Raven.”
Her beautiful green eyes widen slightly. “Why would you think that?”
Cyrus pauses. I can see his hesitation clear as day, but then he sighs and says, “Because I caught her using once. When we were on one of our fake outings.”
Everything looks like it’s about to collapse around her. “You what?”
“I found her doing coke in the bathroom. It’s what caused me to ask my team to terminate the fake relationship between us.”
The realization flashes over her in an instant. She narrows her eyes slightly, her chest wracking up a heavy breath. She takes a second, her face going through every stage of grief as she reflects.
Finally, she seems to accept this truth from Cyrus, her body curving inward. “Is that why she hates you?” she asks, her voice small.
Cyrus grimaces. “I think so. She freaked out when I caught her, cursed at me, demanded that I not tell anyone.”
“I think she hated that I had this information on her, so she tried to discredit me in the media before I could tell anyone. If I used it, I would just look like a crazy ex trying to get even. No one would believe me. Not that I would. She just thought I would.”
Her head shakes slightly as if on autopilot. She doesn’t want to believe it, but it settles into her body like hard cement regardless.
“She was always so angry when your name was brought up…” she says, trailing off.
I can see her thoughts moving at the speed of light, realizing just how messed up this entire situation is.
“None of us knew why she hated you so much. We all just thought your personalities clashed too much. Or that she was angry to be associated with a fake relationship.”
“I always thought you were all in sync when it came to what happened between us. Our teams would have kept us in a fake relationship for way longer, but I put my foot down.”
Her lip wobbles, and my chest starts to purr. I place myself as close as I can so the vibrations can soothe her.
“I really thought Raven was the reason… I mean, she’s still horrible, but I thought it was her influence that started this. I…” She shakes her head. “I can’t wrap my mind around that. I must have been blind way longer than I thought.”
“Don’t do that,” I tell her. “It’s not your fault that you didn’t see what was happening. She hid it on purpose. She didn’t want you to know. Don’t feel bad for not seeing something that you weren’t meant to.”
She accepts that, and even pushes into my touch when I offer it. Her scent is subdued, sad. I wish there was more I could do to make her feel better, but there isn’t. We have to wait for the dust to settle, for Josie to fully accept that this wasn’t her fault and there was nothing she could do.
All of us pile onto the couch, touching Josie in any way we can.
Lennon nearly whines beside me as he reaches over and places a hand on her thigh.
She seems to relax more and more as we all settle in, happy to just lend her a supportive hand than anything else.
After a while, a round of alpha purrs sound off between us, and Josie eventually gives a lulled hum.
She’s my everything, through the good and bad, and I will do anything to help her get through this.