Page 26 of Finding Storm

He’s in the booth.

Tom and Denny are here too, sitting at the mixing desk with Noel, one of the producers.

Now that I’m here, I’m frozen, unable to go in.

I stare at the three of them through the glass.

I thought they were my family.

I trusted them.

They’ve been lying to me for years.

The betrayal cuts deep.

As if sensing I’m here, Jake’s eyes flicker up to mine. Whatever he sees on my face has him stopping singing.

He speaks. Saying something to Tom and Denny through the mike because they both turn around to look at me.

The hurt and humiliation of what happened in the restaurant flares back up, and I shove the door open. So forcefully that it bounces off the drywall.

“Storm?”

That’s Denny. He sounds worried. He should be.

“Take ten, Noel,” Tom says.

Noel looks at Tom and then me. Nods and leaves. I move a fraction to let him pass me in the doorway.

Jake walks into the room, and then it’s just the four of us.

One big, happy fucking family.

“What’s going on?” Jake looks from me to Tom to Den and back to me again. “What’s happened?”

I note the concern in his voice, and I don’t care.

My heart is pounding. My fists clenched at my sides.

My anger is palpable.

“Storm?” Tom sounds annoyed now.

That pisses me off further.

“I know,” I grind out.

“What?” Denny sounds confused. So much so that it’d be funny if it wasn’t so fucking bad.

“Jonny. I know.”

And that’s all I have to say.

Like the dirty bomb that was dropped on me less than thirty minutes ago, I drop it right back on them.

It ricochets around the room, an explosion of silence.

And if there was any doubt in my mind that it wasn’t true, I know for sure now that it is.