I felt Alex on my skin, even though he was smart enough not to touch me. He was waiting for me to speak when the door opened again.
Fallon appeared behind his back.
She looked horrified.
And broken.
And…dangerous.
Like a fatal disease that crawled to your threshold without knocking on the door, asking you to open your mouth and let it poison you. Most of all, Fallon looked high. Her pupils were dilated and wide as saucers, her skin clammy and gray. She thrust herself at Alex, trying to peel his palms from the wall above me with quivering fingers. Cold sweat misted her forehead, and her shudders were as violent as her eyes. It scared me so much I momentarily forgot to hate her and was more worried we should be calling for an ambulance.
“You weren’t supposed to find her,” she growled, tears running down her face. She wasn’t crying. She was shedding tears. I didn’t even think she was aware she was doing it. Her face was emotionless, ill-looking. “How do you think it feels to read about you in the news, Alex? New love. New album. New songs. I’m hurting, too. Don’t play into their hands. It’s us, baby. You and me. I don’t need rehab, and you don’t need her. All we need is each other.”
Who the hell were they?
“Fallon,” he bit out, more exasperated than emotional, like she was an annoying kid he tried to tame, “busy here. Where’s your fuckboy, Bushell?”
“I don’t know!” She threw her arms in the air. “Probably doing charity stuff or something boring along those lines. Oh, my God. He’s so boring. How was he even your friend? You guys have nothing in common. I need to talk to you.”
“The only thing you need is rehab. Go back to your boyfriend. Fiancé. Whatever.”
“Don’t do this, Alex. Don’t play into their game and let them win. This is not who we are. We do us. We’ve always done us.”
I had no idea what she was talking about, and one look at Alex’s face told me he was just as oblivious to what was going on. He parked his waist next to mine, turning his head and narrowing his eyes at her.
“You’re engaged to someone else.”
“They forced me. Jenna paid me, and I needed the money. Will won’t give me access to shit unless I go to rehab.”
“What are you bloody talking about?” Alex growled.
“They wanted you to hook up with this girl! That was the plan! They wanted her to make you forget about me! About the drugs.” She stomped her foot, waving around and pointing at me. “Oh my gosh, like, how can you not see that? You don’t need a sobriety companion. You have Blake, who’s attached to you by the hip, and Lucas, who would goddamn-near kill for you!” she spat out, growing twitchier by the second.
I mulled her words over. She looked crazy, but the things she said added up pretty correctly, and that worried me. Had Jenna hired me to make Alex forget about Fallon? It sounded extremely farfetched, but I’d heard stranger things.
“Bollocks!” he yelled into her face. He was losing his cool, too. “How would you even fucking know that? No one from my team talks to you. No one!” Alex took a step in her direction, so mad I thought he could push her.
I dragged him by the arm back to me, and the mere touch between us made his face soften a little. Still, he looked scarier than I’d ever seen him.
“I know that because Will was in on it,” she cried on a full-blown sob. “Will loves me. I know he does. But I don’t love him. I love you. They wouldn’t let me talk to you.” She sniffed. “They said…” Now she was crying for real, and I wanted to cry with her, because things had gotten so much more complicated. “They said I ruined you and that you’re better off without me. That she was sweet and proper and will make you feel better.”
“Lies.” He shook his head. “No, no, no.”
“Will only ever wanted the best for you. For me, too. Blake, Lucas, and Alfie were in on it, too. Why did you think Lucas was pushing himself on this girl so hard? Is she really worthy of the attention of two rock stars? I mean, no offense.” She raked her eyes along my body, meaning the offense and then some.
I took a step toward her, about to give her a piece of my mind, but now it was Alex’s turn to pull me into him. My head was spinning with the revelation, even though I wasn’t even sure it was true.
“If you’re lying—” Alex started, raising a finger in warning.
“I’m not lying,” she cut through his words, stomping her foot again, a reoccurring tick that was more suitable for a toddler. “Why the hell would I lie? You know these people. Will wanted to save me and love me and blah blah blah. Then he felt guilty about us, so he ganged up on you with your friends and agent, who would do just about anything to keep you sober and productive. But you’re not happy, Alex, are you? How can you be happy without me? I thought about you every day.”