Page 67 of Silver Edge
Nearly two weeks of sleeping on the street came flooding in, and I swatted his hand away from me. “You used me to get the money and then tossed me to the side.”
His face squished into a painful, mouth open, kick-to-the-gut expression. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Barbie. She told me the truth. That you used me so you could convince your grandmother to give you money and then you were running off with her. I was just a tool to get what you wanted.”
“You believed that?” he stumbled back. “You left, ran away without a word?”
“I tried to call you, but you didn’t answer!” I shouted.
“My cell phone account was turned off for some reason. I’d raced to my grandmother’s side and didn’t leave until she passed. I tried to call Ton that day to tell you she was sick and to wait for me, I’d be back to get you, but Ton had already boarded his flight. Then my grandmother took a turn for the worst.”
Ton shook his head. “I flew back the day after he called and told him I’d bring you to him, but when I got here you were gone.”
“I waited two days. I came back to a condemned sign.” I pressed my fists to my eyes, trying to relieve the tension.
“Ton searched for you everywhere before he told me you were missing. He knew how much I needed you by my side when I buried my grandmother. How could you believe Margo?”
“The sign,” I mumbled. “The sign. It confirmed what she told me. I didn’t believe her when she told me that you’d used me. I didn’t believe her when the cop dragged me out of here. I didn’t believe her when I slept in the freezing rain all night waiting for you. But what should I have thought when I saw the condemned sign? What would you have thought?”
Drake clutched his hair, pulling it from the scalp and pacing. Fists pounded the door, shook it against the lock. “Margo. She was still on the forms at the retirement facility. When we were dating, I listed her as my emergency contact. She’s the only person I had left in my life at the time. They must’ve called her. That’s how she knew I’d be gone.”
Ton snagged her arm. “Now’s not the time. You two can talk later. You both need a minute to process all of this.”
Banging sounded outside. Strums of instruments sounded from the stage.
Drake paced, then dropped his hands to his side. “I can’t do this right now. I’m not failing my brother and my grandmother. Not tonight.”
Drake unlocked the front door and swung it open. People gushed inside, filling the small hallway and out onto the dance floor. “Don’t let her out of your sight,” he ordered Ton before disappearing with the crowd.
I tried to go after Drake, tried to find him in the sea of chaos, but the only time I spotted him, he had a fake smile plastered on his face, his eyes staring straight ahead.
I covered my ears to block out all the noise and scooted back, running smack into something hard—Ton. He snagged my upper arm and pulled me to the far corner, away from all the people.
The hall spun around me, and I wanted to run, to get away from everything, all the people and the hatred I could feel radiating from Drake. Was he right? Did I turn my back on him? I didn’t know.
I lowered my hands and kicked the wall. A King Kong on crack waiting to explode.
Ton grabbed my shoulders and held me still. “There was nothing I could do. I was on the plane. We both thought you’d wait for him. We didn’t know about Margo.”
I clutched my fists and fought the angry tears in the corners of my eyes. “He hates me. I knew I shouldn’t have believed her.”
“That man over there doesn’t hate you. He walked up and down every street in Atlanta looking for you. He’s emotional. He feared something horrible had happened to you on the tail of losing his grandmother.”
I shook my head. “Why are you defending him? You’re supposed to hate him like you hate all the other guys.”
Ton’s eyebrows knit together, the lines deepening on his bald forehead. “I saw how much he cares for you when he didn’t sleep for a week.”
“If you guys were so upset and really cared about me, why’d you have this?” I threw my hands up, encompassing the crowd around us. If Drake’s grandmother died, then he has his inheritance. He didn’t need to host the Battle of the Bands anymore.”
Ton didn’t say a word. He just walked over to the small table near the door and picked up an orange flier. “Drake thought it might be the only way we’d find you.”
I scanned the sheet of paper with an old picture of me, the wordmissing,and some contact information.
“We were going to pass them out here and make an announcement. He didn’t care about saving the club as much as he cared about saving you.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
A band member strummed his guitar, and a high-pitched squeal sounded from the speakers. I cringed at the noise, yet everyone gathered in front of the main stage in anticipation. I managed to push my way through the crowd to the bar. Based on my calculations, there were about fifty people more than the fire code capacity.
