AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Five
Max
“Johnny Walker, neat,” I bark at the bartender before he has time to ask me what I want.
Aiden sits beside me. “Fink, just give us the whole bottle.”
I shake my head, furious at him for getting in my face, furious at myself for getting so enraged. I know when Addison hears everything, she’ll regret her words. I just couldn’t take any more of the pain in Sydney’s eyes.
Two glasses are placed in front of us with the bottle. He pours each of us a drink and walks off, leaving the bottle. We both take a much-needed swallow.
“I don’t think you’ve ever been that pissed at me,” Aiden says.
I turn my head to face him and grumble, “Sorry.”
“Maybe we should have told Addison before Sydney got there. She wouldn’t have been so blindsided,” he says right before taking another drink. I told him everything before I left to go find Syd and gave specific instructions that it wasn’t our story to tell. If Sydney wanted her to know, she’d have to tell her, herself.
I sigh and run my hands over my face. “You already know how I feel about that.”
“She’s hurt. You know how it affected her when Sydney left. She’s letting her emotions get the best of her.” He tries to justify Addison’s outburst.
“I get it.” I hold up my drink in a mock salute and he follows suit. The heat flows down my throat to the knots in my stomach. I thought watching Sydney and Damon together was the most trying time of my life. These past couple days have beat that tenfold. She’s not mine. I can’t have her, but my mind won’t let her go. It was easy to push those thoughts aside when she wasn’t around.
“You know it’s been over a year,” he says as if reading my mind. “Nobody would fault—”
“Don’t fucking say it. No.”
“I can still see it, Max. I can still see how you look at her and she’s the only person who would cause you to get up in Addison’s face. Shit, in my face.”
“We don’t need to have this conversation.” I glare at him, silently demanding he stops. He shakes his head, pouring two more drinks. “How are the kids?”
“You can deflect all you want. You’ll have to deal with that up there eventually.” He points up. I thought I was past the regret and torment of letting her go. But the second I laid eyes on her, the levee broke, but it brought back guilt with it.
I snicker, ignoring his comment and say, “She has a new name.”
“What?”
“Yeah, she goes by Sky. Her manager is an interesting character, but she kills it on stage.”
“Is she going back?”
“She’s only here a week.” Another reason there’s no need to deal with that up there.
I continue to tell him about my time in Los Angeles and the recording deal she got. I smile like a fool talking about her. As much as she’s been through, I’m excited for her. She just needs to find herself again.
“Did you already run her security?” He smirks.
“Hell yeah. Hired one.” I shrug one shoulder as he laughs out loud. “I needed to make sure she was safe.”
“Mm-hmm.” I flip him and his insinuating tone off.
“How’s the new guy?” I eye him wondering why he’s asking about Kase.
“He’s doing great. The guys seem to like him a lot. I think he’ll be a great addition.” He nods slowly with a stern expression and then takes a drink. “Do you know something I don’t know about him?”
“Nah. Addison seemed to like him, too.” His voice is clipped. “I overheard her tell Katie he was–in her words–scorchin’ hot.” I chuckle as his jaw tics. “It’s not fucking funny. I don’t need my wife drooling over one of your guys.”
“Honeymoon’s over already, huh?”
