Page 62 of Collide (The Rhapsody of Heartbeats #1)

“When did you end it, when did you stop fucking her ?”

He looks confused, then hesitant, and I know before he says a word that I’m not going to like the answer.

“How long before you met me, Alex?” I press, voice raw and shaking.

His jaw tenses.

“Two days.”

The air punches from my lungs.

Two. Fucking. Days.

I stare at him, It feels like I’m collapsing from the inside out.

I want to believe him, but it’s so close. Too close.

There’s a real chance this baby is his.

“Elena, please.” He reaches for me, desperate. I flinch away.

“I didn’t lie to you,” he whispers, voice breaking. “I swear to you, I didn’t know.”

But it doesn’t matter.

It still feels like the floor’s been ripped out from under me.

“This is what I get,” I whisper, voice hollow. “For thinking…for believing this could be something real.”

His face crumples. “No—Elena, no, please. Don’t do this.”

I shake my head, tears burning in my eyes.

“This was a mistake.” My voice cracks. “All of it.”

Alex’s eyes flood with panic, but I can’t look at him.

Not when everything I let myself hope for is unraveling right in front of me.

I sit cross-legged on my bed, a half-empty bottle of vodka balanced between my fingers, the room dimly lit by the soft glow of my bedside lamp.

Rain batters the windows in an unrelenting rhythm, matching the anguish swirling in my chest. Riley is sprawled out beside me, taking a lazy sip from the bottle before handing it back.

“This is a disaster,” she mutters, rubbing her temples. “Like, on a scale from one to ‘your boyfriend might be having a secret love child,’ this is a solid fifteen.”

I snort, but it lacks humor. My phone buzzes.

I don’t need to look. I already know the lineup: Kylie, in full crisis mode, trying to contain the media wildfire; my father, who’s left enough missed calls to drain my battery dry; Philippa, checking in every few hours; and Mark, his messages clipped but concerned.

I sigh, leaning my back against the headboard, dragging a hand through my tangled hair. “It feels like the walls are closing in. I can’t even go online without seeing my name in the headlines.”

Riley exhales sharply. “They’re eating it up. Every gossip rag, every entertainment site, even mainstream media is covering it. Half are trying to figure out if Alex is the villain or the victim, and the other half are dissecting your every move.”

I take another swig of vodka, letting the burn settle deep. “And what am I? The clueless girlfriend? The heartbroken singer? The stupid woman who got involved with the wrong guy?”

“None of the above. You’re Elena, and you don’t owe anyone a damn explanation.”

“You’re biased.” I huff

And she laughs. “Ride or die till the very end, babe.”

My phone buzzes yet again, and I glance over to see a message from Broderick.

Broderick

How are you?

Seeing his name, his words, feels like a life raft, keeping me from drifting too far from shore.

“Who is it?” Riley asks.

“Brody.”

“Are you going to text him back?” she asks, nudging my leg.

My fingers hover over the keyboard, hesitating, not wanting to drag him into this mess.

“Go on,” Riley says, tapping my leg again.

Elena

I’m surviving. It’s a mess.

Almost immediately, the three dots appear, flicker, then disappear. A second later:

Broderick

I’ll bring a vacuum.

A laugh slips out before I can stop it, the first one in what feels like days.

Elena

Better bring a mop too.

Riley raises a brow but smiles when she sees me smiling.

Broderick has a way of making things feel lighter, even when everything’s falling apart. He can pull a laugh from me when I don’t think I have it in me. But as the smile fades, that familiar heaviness creeps back in. For a moment, I wonder if I made the right choice.

If chasing the high that came with Alex, the rush of something wild and all-consuming, was worth it.

Because now, I’m collateral damage to my own bad decisions. And as much as Broderick’s words steady me, I know I can’t drag him into this mess.

I chose Alex and everything that came with him.

Now, I have to figure out if I’m going to keep drowning in it or finally let go.

Broderick deserves more than what’s left of me after this carnage.

So, for now, I’ll keep my distance.

When I look up from my phone, Riley’s staring at me.

She nudges me with her elbow. “So, are we going to ignore the fact that you disappeared with Alex?”

I groan, bringing the vodka bottle back to my lips. “I needed an escape.”

“Uh-huh.” She smirks. “And was it an escape? Or was it a mind-blowing, I need to re-evaluate my life kind of escape?”

Heat creeps up my neck, and Riley’s eyes go wide.

“Oh my God. You had sex, didn’t you?”

I bite my lip, but the way my body practically lights up at the memory gives me away.

She shrieks, grabs a pillow, and smacks me. “You totally did! And it was amazing, wasn’t it?”

I let out a breathy laugh, covering my face with both hands. “Riley, I can’t even put it into words.”

She flops dramatically onto the bed beside me. “And you’re being safe, right? Last thing we need is you running around with a love child of your own.”

The irony isn’t lost on me.

“Oh my God, yes,” I groan, nodding more to myself than to her. “I put myself on birth control weeks ago, just in case. And Alex told me he’s clean. Afterwards .”

Riley makes a face. “Not exactly peak timing.”

“Not exactly peak anything, but better late than never.”

The last thing I want is to end up in some sister-wives arrangement with Madison.

“So…” She turns to me, eyes gleaming. “Did he, you know…make you O ?”

I flush, laughing again. “Yes. I don’t even have anything to compare it to, but my God, Riley. Had I known it could feel like that …”

She throws her head back. “Thank you, God! Because if a man that hot couldn’t bring you to the peak, then honestly? Set him on fire. Return to sender.”

I laugh so hard my insides hurt, clutching a throw pillow to my chest. For a second, the weight on my heart lifts. I’m just a girl with her best friend, confessing the best and only sex of her life.

“I mean, I didn’t even know my body could do that.” My eyes go wide.

Her mouth drops open. “Wait, like multiple times?”

I nod.

“Like, back-to-back?”

I nod again, face buried in the pillow now.

She shrieks. “Elena! Oh my God, this is not a drill. This is a sexual awakening. This is a spiritual reset. You had a whole-ass transformation.”

“Stop,” I groan, but I’m grinning now, warmth buzzing in my chest.

“Okay, but seriously. Give me the full run down,” she says, stealing the bottle from my hand. “I want details. I want angles. I want scenery. Paint me a picture. ”

I hesitate, biting back a smile. “It was…slow at first. Gentle. He took his time with everything, like he wasn’t in a rush to get anywhere. Like he wanted to savor the experience.”

Riley gasps. “Okay, I need to write that down.” She holds a fake pen and scribbles on her palm like a notepad.

I laugh again, head falling back onto the pillows. “Yeah, except now I’m left dealing with the aftermath of it all.”

“Yeah, well”—she shrugs—“at least you had the best possible distraction before the shit hit the fan.”

I sigh, taking another swig of vodka. Cheers to that.

She nudges me with her foot, grinning. “Such is life, babe. So, are you gonna give me the rest of the play-by-play, or do I need to waterboard it out of you?”