Page 197 of Wicked Angel
Sadly, I’d called her crying about it a few times this week.
I couldn’t exactly go crying to Shayla about her brother when I hadn’t even told her yet that we were seeing each other; I wanted to at least tell her when I could frame it as a positive. However, there really hadn’t been a moment for that, in between him disappearing, then finding him wasted at a bar with other women all over him, then him disappearing again, resurfacing to tell me the terrible secret from his past… and disappearing again.
So, unfortunately for Courteney and Larissa, they’d had to carry the weight of the emotional dump I’d usually distribute more evenly between the three of them.
I didn’t tell Courteney or anyone else about Johnny’s big confession, about the traumatic event from his childhood, and I never would unless Johnny said it was okay. But I’d been struggling—to process what he told me and to deal with his uneven behavior.
I sipped my drink, trying to pretend that his behavior didn’t bother me as much as it did. I wasn’t sure why. Courteney and I were way too close for that. She’d see right through it.
Maybe I was just tired of everyone hating him.
“Also, I made the mistake of mentioning to my sister that he and I were going through a rough patch,” I admitted. “That was fun.”
Courteney made aDear God, you didn’tsort of face, because she knew what that meant. She had a protective older brother. I had a protective older sister. But mine was way more nosey.
“Did she get all helicopter parent on you this time?” she asked with sympathy, knowing full well how my sister had circled, prepared to attend to my scrapes and bruises as soon as she gleaned that things between Flynn and I were less than copacetic. Damn, that went on for a long time.
I actually felt sorry for Elle. That must’ve been worrisome for her.
But hey, I didn’t ask her to worry about me.
“Worse,” I sighed. “She told Summer.” My sister’s bestie had called me last night, to say all the shit my sister was trying not to say so I wouldn’t shut her out. Summer never did mince words.
“And how did that go?”
“Oh, it went as you can imagine it went. Getting a lecture from the alpha female of the pack is not fun. ‘Angie, the bad guy is the one you screw when you’re in your early twenties,’” I recited, channeling Summer’s sassy yet emphatic confidence. “‘You bang him out of your system, then wise up, grow up and move on. It’s natural, sweetie.’”
“That does sound like Summer,” Courteney commiserated. Since both her husband and her big brother were Summer’s bandmates, I was assuming she’d experienced the alpha female lecture herself a time or two by now.
“‘But you don’tstaywith him,’” I continued the lecture, verbatim. “‘And you definitely don’t try to make him your husband or your baby daddy.’”
“Oh God.” A horrified look swept across Courteney’s face. “Are you pregnant?”
“No. But I don’t actually think Johnny would be a horrifying dad or anything so please get that look off your face.”
“Sorry.” Her expression melted back into sympathy. “And… what about Shayla? Have you told her?”
“Fuck.” I slumped on the table. “No, I haven’t told her. She’s been flying so high on the whole video shoot experience. She had the time of her life last week, and this week she’s got the stars in her eyes. She already told me if she ever gets famous enough to need a publicist, she’s hiring me. How could I ruin that?”
Courteney sighed with understanding. “She is flying. So high. I went by the set while they were filming to check it out. She did an amazing job, from what I could see.”
“Really? You went to watch the shoot?”
“Of course. Xander would’ve flipped if I didn’t. He’s so stoked about the new album. You could’ve come with me, though. I left you a message… but you seemed… preoccupied.”
Holy shit. “I totally missed that message. Oh my God. I’m the worst friend.”
“You are not.” Courteney reached to squeeze my arm across the table.
“Tell me about it?”
“Well, I wasn’t allowed to take any pictures and I’m not supposed to talk about the song yet, but it’s this dark, heavy ballad, that apparently Ash wrote with Cary and Summer, for Matt, and they were shooting on this dirt road outside of town. Shayla wore this wispy black thing and danced on top of these wrecked cars… it was so hot. They put a bit more red in her hair and backlit her and she’s like… fire. Just wait ’til you see it.”
“Wow,” I marveled, envisioning that. I’d seen Shayla’s new hair. And considering how hot the Players and their music was… Shayla was gonna get a lot of attention and probably more dancing gigs out of that video. “Our girl is growing up.”
Courteney laughed. Of course, she was the youngest of all the Lil Brats. But we could all argue that Shayla was the youngest in spirit. Shayla O’Reilly was afreespirit. I knew she adored me and wanted me to be happy. And as feisty as the girl was, she’d never been mad at me, ever. As friends, we’d never really fought. She’d always had my back.
Every time I thought about launching this Johnny grenade into our relationship, it made me want to weep.
