Page 57 of Beyond the Stix
Connor
“Connor.”Danny’s loud voice cuts through the music blaring in my ears.
I open my eyes and look around the decimated bedroom. Guilt clashes into me at the destruction I’ve created. The mattress is off the frame. The overhead cabinet doors are ripped off the hinges. Clothes, books, and other items are scattered all over the place.
“Come on, Wildman. Open up.” This time it’s Callum asking.
How can I face them? How do I tell them the truth about Jessup? This whole fucking time I thought I was maybe wrong for assuming the worst about my uncle. But now? It’s even worse than I’d thought. The bastard had, in fact touched me.
Emotionally exhausted is an understatement. If I wasn’t already lying on the floor, I’d drop like a cinder block, and break into a million crumbling pieces.
“John’s gone,” Danny says calmly, like he’s kicking off his shoes and settling in. His announcement doesn’t make mefeel an ounce better. In fact, my friend’s reassurance has the opposite effect.
“What do you mean he’s gone?” I straighten up, peering over to the locked door.
“Dante kicked him out,” Callum replies. “They figured since you didn’t want to talk to him, he’s still not welcome back.”
“It’s true, Con. John left twenty minutes ago. What I overheard is that the venue security escorted him out,” Danny whispers through the door.
I want to rant in frustration, while my heart is breaking all over again. Did I want John to leave? Yes. But now—after he practically beat the hell out of Jessup to protect me, the desire to see John is overwhelming. But it’s too late. He’s gone. And I’m a damn idiot for letting him go, for telling him to go.
Why didn’t I believe John? Thinking back to everything he has done; it was all to protect me. Even after I kicked him off the bus—off my security detail, John still was there for me.
“Is he really?” I call out.
“Open the door. You know I hate talking like this,” Danny confesses, with a slight knock.
I get up from the floor, unlock the door and open it. I glance at my two friends, and I want to fucking cry. But I suck back the crazy emotions still spiraling in my chest. “There’s so much to deal with.”
“We know,” Danny and Callum say in unison, before they tug me in for a hug.
Rafe approaches and steps inside the room. “Shit, Connor.”
“I’ll clean it up,” I utter over Danny’s shoulder.
“Hell to the yes, you will. My books.” Rafe bends down and picks up several paperbacks…
“Are those romance novels?” Danny narrows his eyes on the covers. “Gay romances?”
“So fucking what? I don’t patronize you on your over-the-top obsession with gloss slathered across your lips.”
“It’s lip balm—not lip gloss, asshole. Besides, I need to keep my lips soft, in order to sing,” he says haughtily.
“How about we talk about the event tomorrow since it’s already tomorrow?” Callum asks with annoyance. “Thatiswhy we are here.”
“What’s going on?” Bobby stumbles in, rubbing at his eyes. “Hey, who tore up the place?”
“Jesus.” Rafe rolls his eyes and continues to pick up his books.
I chuckle. “I love you guys.” And I pull Danny back in for a hug. Callum, Rafe and Bobby clamber forward and wrap their arms around us. “I so needed this.”
After a while, we part and begin cleaning up the room. The light-hearted mood peters out. I know I have to tell my friends the truth about Jessup and what I’ve remembered.
“How do you know he drugged you?” Danny asks, sitting at the end of the bed now that we’ve put the mattress back on the frame. Callum and Bobby climb on and sandwich me. Rafe has dragged in a folding chair from the other room and set it by the closed door, and he’s sitting like some sentinel on watch.
“I remember always feeling sick whenever I had spent time with my uncle. The last time was a camping trip when I was nine.”
“Hey, I remember that! Weren’t we supposed to go with you?” Danny asks with frown.