Shatter

by Rachel Van Dyken

  “I’m sorry.” She choked on a sob. “When you said the deal was off, I freaked and I needed the money! Without that production company, I’m screwed, okay? Ruben made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

  “Couldn’t refuse?” The man laughed. “How do you think this makes me look? Now everyone knows you have a drug problem! My ex-wife!”

  “I do not—”

  “—April… just save it. I don’t want to hear your excuses anymore. I’m so tired of your lies. And the worst part? You thought to bring him down with you! An innocent kid? You were going to bring your innocent kid into everything? All because you needed money? I told you I’d give you money. I told you I would fix everything, only if—”

  “—Rehab.” She snorted. “Yeah, got that loud and clear.”

  “April, I love you. I know you think I’m a jackass, but I care. Jaymeson…” He choked on his words. “He cares about you.”

  “Not as much as you care for him. Admit it, you’ve always loved your son more than you loved me.”

  A pregnant pause filled the hall.

  “April, I’m not doing this here. I will, however, go to the press first thing and explain your situation. Go to rehab or go to hell. Your choice. But I’m not allowing you to hurt anymore people.”

  “I’ll tell them you drugged me!” April shouted. “I’ll tell everyone you drugged me and Alec that night!”

  “Really?”

  “I’ll say something too…” a third voice interrupted. “I’ll tell them you bribed me. I’ll tell them everything.”

  “Angelica…” The man sighed.

  Okay, I was seriously going to have a stroke. How twisted could everything get? How many lies had been told?

  “Angelica,” he repeated. “It isn’t Alec’s fault you weren’t able to make it to the set on time, and it was the final straw for us. The very fact that you’re trying to blackmail me, just pisses me off all the more.”

  “If you would just take me back and see—”

  The man laughed. “Right, I’ll just hire you again after you and my ex-wife create a story so messed up that innocent people get hurt and I end up the bad guy? Sure, why not. I’ll give you a movie role and a few million, is that what you want? Oh wait, each of you already got a million. I have Ruben to thank for that.”

  One of the woman started crying. “He said it would help ratings and get us our money. He said if we went to the press, he would do an exclusive in a few national magazines and—”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard enough.” The man cursed. Footsteps neared the door, but I was basically frozen in place along with everyone else.

  So when the man turned the corner and found not only us but an entire camera crew, Ruben included, standing with their mouths open, he didn’t know what to do either. So he stared.

  We stared.

  It was awkward to say the least.

  I nudged Jaymeson.

  He cursed and shook his head. Great. No words.

  I looked to Alec for help, but he looked about five seconds away from beating the shit out of something.

  “So…” I chuckled nervously. “I’m Demetri.”

  “Ah, David Cartwright.” He smirked. “Am I to understand you’re the one that told me to go to hell?”

  “Um.” Shit. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

  “He also called you the anti-Christ.” This from Jaymeson. Seriously?

  David chuckled. “To be fair, I deserved it.”

  “And more.” Jaymeson looked down at his feet.

  A throat cleared. “If I could just say one thing. Clearly April’s deranged. I would never pay for a media story for information or—”

  David’s fist hit Ruben’s jaw so hard that I could have sworn my body shook a bit.

  Alec laughed. “Nice.”

  “Am I the only one who hasn’t hit him yet?” I asked as Ruben staggered back to his feet.

  “I haven’t had the pleasure,” Jaymeson said as he landed another blow to Ruben’s jaw. “You’re a sick son of a bitch. You know that, right?”

  Ruben hit the ground and stayed there. “You have no proof! All you have is the ramblings of a drug-addicted whore.” Blood trickled from the side of his mouth. “Make that two drug-addicted whores.” His eyes fell to the doorway.

  I turned to see Angelica standing there. Dude, not the girl to piss off. Ruben should know better.

  “I love social media.” She scowled at Ruben and with shaking hands pulled out her cell phone and pressed a few buttons. “I’m assuming your number’s the same, David. I just sent you the video I recorded the day Ruben and I talked about our plan for putting everything on you and Alec. I recorded it just in case he turned out to be an asshole.”

  “High five!” I held out my hand and Angelica slapped it with a small grin.

  “Doesn’t mean we’re friends,” she said after she tucked her phone back into her pocket.

  I backed up. “Noted.”

  With tear-filled eyes she looked to Alec. “I know it’s not much… but I’m sorry. Things got so… messed up, and I didn’t have any projects lined up after the show, and I needed money. I need money. And April promised we could make more off the lies and stories. She said David would pay us to keep our mouths shut, and then when he didn’t, I went to Ruben.”

  “Safe to say that was a bad choice,” I muttered under my breath. Jaymeson nudged me.

  Angelica rolled her eyes. “No shit. At any rate, even if I didn’t have everything on camera, these guys did.” She nodded to the camera crew. It was then that I realized they had literally been recording the entire time. The camera guy put the camera down and shook Angelica’s hand.

  Holy crap, what did she do? Sleep with the entire crew in order to win their loyalty? Clearly it wasn’t her stunning personality.

  I scratched my head and searched for some taffy in my pockets. I needed something to distract me from this insanity.

  “Rehab and work. I can promise you both,” Alec suddenly said. I looked up at him with horror. Was he serious? Was he really going to help the devil? After everything she did?

  “W-what?” Angelica shook her head. “Why the hell would you help me?”

  “Yeah, I’m with her,” I joined in.

  Alec ignored me. “What will it be, Angelica. It’s your choice. I’ll pay for rehab, and when you’re done, I’ll put you in contact with someone so you can start working again—”

  “I think I know someone,” David interrupted. “But you need to change, Angelica. People rarely get second chances. Don’t screw yours up.” He put on his aviator sunglasses and looked to Jaymeson. “We need to talk.”

  Jaymeson nodded once and took off with his dad.

  Angelica watched them walk away and looked back to Alec. “Yes. I’ll do it.”

  Alec smiled, but this time it was a real smile, not one of his fake camera smiles that made me want to slap him across the face. Nope, it was real, genuine. Damn, but that guy had more grace than I’d ever possess in a lifetime.

  “Great.” Alec pulled out his cell. “Once your contract is up for the show, we’ll check you in to the best treatment I know of.”

  Angelica hugged Alec.

  I may have accidently gagged. It was involuntary, I swear.

  She left me and Alec staring at April’s room.

  “So how does this work exactly?” I asked. “I go in and say, Hey, I’m your son. You suck, but everything’s fine now. Hey, who’s my real dad?”

  Alec burst out laughing. “Yeah, something like that. Honestly, I’m still in a bit of shock. I thought she was innocent all along.”

  “Women rarely are.”

  We laughed and walked into the room together.

  April was sitting up in her bed. And she was crying.

  Perfect.

  “I’m not sorry,” she whispered. “I’ll never be sorry.”

  Wow. I shook my head at Alec. “You’ll never be sorry for what?”

  She sighed and brought her gaze to mine.
“For giving you up. You’ve had a great life, a great career — a family who loved you, a brother that would die for you. So I’m not going to apologize for that.”

  “Yeah, I wasn’t going to ask you to.”

  She pressed her lips together and began playing with the fabric of the blanket covering her. “Then why are you here?”

  “To apologize.” I shrugged and pointed to Alec. “We wanted to apologize for everything you’ve gone through, and we also wanted to offer help.”

  She snorted. “After everything I’ve done, you’re not only apologizing to me, but you’re going to help me? Are there cameras on or something? You don’t have enough charity cases this year?”

  “I think I get my sarcasm from her.” This I said to Alec. He chuckled and took a seat, motioning for me to follow him.

  Alec spoke first. “Yes. I know we’re both sorry that things got so bad for you. But mainly we want to help you get back on your feet again.”

  “What if I don’t want to get back on my feet?” She swallowed as a tear ran down her cheek. “What if I like my life?”

  “You like lying?” I snorted. “You enjoy spending all your money on coke? You like almost dying? Letting down your friends and family? If that’s your preference of lifestyle then who am I to judge?”

  “But…” Alec cleared his throat. “If you want something else, let us know. We can help.” He looked at me and sighed. “I think you owe your son that much.”

  She flinched as if Alec had just slapped her. “I’ll think about it.”

  “Great.” I rose from my seat and hightailed it out of there. Alec followed but grabbed my shirt, stopping me in my tracks.

  “Aren’t you going to ask who your real dad is?”

  I felt my throat clog with emotion. “Doesn’t matter. My real dad died a while ago, leaving me with the only family I know. My ass of a brother.”

  “That was a pretty speech.” Alec hit me on the back and laughed.

  “I practiced it.”

  “Sure you did.”

  We walked to Nat’s room only to find her nervously pacing back and forth as if she’d been waiting ten years for us to come spring her from her prison.

  I knocked on the door.

  “Thank God! I need real food. I’m starving. I swear, if you guys don’t feed me in five minutes I’m going to dig through Demetri’s pockets for taffy wrappers and lick them.”

  “She’s all yours, man.” I slapped Alec’s back. “Pregnant ladies be scary.”

  Nat glared.

  I smiled.

  And then she ran into my arms and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I Love you, Demetri Daniels.”

  I sighed into her hair. “I love you too.”

  How strange that a year and a half ago I was making out with her, making her life miserable, and trying to keep her from my brother, and now? Now I would freaking die for her. I would do anything for her, for my brother. I loved her so much that it physically hurt to breathe when I thought of anything happening to her.

  Family. She was my family.

  “Yeah, that hug went on a bit too long.” Alec separated us, while Nat slapped him in the stomach.

  “Hey!” I clapped my hands in excitement, scaring the crap out of Nat.

  She cursed and pushed me.

  “What?”

  “It’s not creepy anymore!”

  Crickets. I heard freaking crickets in that hospital room. Both Alec and Nat looked at me like I’d lost my mind.

  “We aren’t creepy!”

  Alec’s brow furrowed. “Get there faster, man, because at this point I’m wondering if you’re high again.”

  “Why does everyone always assume I’m high when I say random things?”

  Alec and Nat gave me that look again. Fine, whatever. “Guys, our weird little love triangle, totally not weird anymore. High five for not being blood-related!”

  I held my hand in the air. They both ignored me and walked out of the room. Whatever. I was just pumped that I hadn’t stuck my tongue down Nat’s throat after my own blood-related brother. I mean, it still gave me a grossed out feeling… family shouldn’t share, not in that way.

  “Hey, wait up.” I called after them.

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Alec

  I watched Nat pack up her two bags. I was powerless to stop it. Powerless to stop what she was doing. Instead of emptiness, I felt a jarring sense of determination.

  “You have everything you need?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Yup. I’m just going to be staying at my parents for a while, it’s not like I’m moving to Siberia or anything.”

  “Then why does it feel like Siberia?” I tucked her blonde hair behind her ear and kissed her hand. “Why does it feel like you’re going to be a thousand lifetimes away?”

  She pulled her hand back and rolled her eyes. “Next door, Alec. I’ll be next door. Plus, now that filming’s done I could really use some time to rest before the tour. You’ll see me after your counseling sessions with my mom.”

  Right. Like her mother was going to let me have my cake and eat it too. As cool as Mrs. Murray had been about everything, I highly doubted she would be okay with me pouring out my heart and soul to her and then running upstairs to sleep in her daughter’s bedroom. The same daughter I got pregnant and abandoned. Hell, it was a miracle I was still breathing.

  Exhaling, I pursed my lips together and asked the question that had been hanging over us for the past week and a half. “Are we okay?”

  Her brown eyes met mine.

  Silence.

  Not my preferred answer.

  I thought long and hard about what I could say to that, what I could say to make her stay. But in the end it wasn’t about forcing her to do something she didn’t want to do. It was about loving her regardless of where she was. I knew she needed her space. I was just hoping space meant her own bedroom or a day without texting.

  Not a different house.

  Siberia? Sure as hell felt like it.

  We only had three more weeks of Seaside bliss until we had to report to L.A. to start prepping for the tour. A bit stressful, since I was trying to fit a lifetime full of therapy in those three weeks as well as trying to win the heart of my girlfriend back. Hell, while I’m at it I’ll cure a few diseases and save the world. No biggie.

  “Two weeks.” Nat picked up her purse and slung it over her shoulder. “You have two weeks to make me remember.”

  “Remember?”

  “The Alec Daniels I fell in love with… make me remember”

  It was what she didn’t say that killed me. Because, if for some reason I couldn’t make her remember, I had a sinking feeling it meant we were lost.

  And then she walked out of my room. Remember? She wanted to remember? Challenge accepted. I’d make sure she never forgot for as long as she lived.

  I was hers.

  She was mine.

  We were permanent. And I was going to prove it.

  ****

  After Nat left, I have to admit to feeling semi-depressed. It didn’t help that Jaymeson was still pissed about everything that happened with his step-mom and dad. The good news was he at least got his teeth fixed, so now he wasn’t scaring small children. He’d decided to stay with us until the tour started. I’m pretty sure it also had to do with not wanting to go into public with his face all bruised.

  “Where’s Nat going?” Jaymeson pulled a soda from the fridge and cracked it open.

  “Back home.”

  “Um?” Jaymeson shook his head. “I thought she camped out here?”

  “Did, past tense. More soda?”

  He opened the fridge and tossed me a soda. “So, you guys are what, like on a break?”

  “We’re on a time out.” I sipped the cold liquid and briefly closed my eyes for a minute. “I’m going to prove my love.”

  Jaymeson cracked a smile. “You going to write her some more songs? Croon the hell out of her? Get her to toss her panties on stage and—�
�

  “—Seriously,” I interrupted him. “Stop hanging out with Demetri. It’s getting freaky.”

  “What’s freaky?” Demetri called from the door.

  Jaymeson raised his hand.

  Demetri took that as an invitation. No wonder I’d nearly lost my mind.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Demetri pulled out a bar stool. “We’ve got three weeks before we all go back to L.A., and Nat needs to be wooed.”

  “Not to brag, but I’m really good at wooing.” This from Jaymeson.

  “He knows wooing and sex are different, right?” I asked Demetri.

  Jaymeson took another sip of soda and snapped his fingers. “Probably why Chelsey, Kelsey? Kendra? Whatever. It’s probably why she left so pissed last night.”

  “Right, it had nothing to do with your inability to remember her name,” I pointed out.

  “Not my fault I was too distracted by bedroom activities.”

  Demetri sighed. “Hopeless romantic. P.S., I guarantee Nat will take a machete to your man parts if you listen to his advice.”

  “I’m British, which makes me foreign, therefore, good at wooing and causing girls to swoon. It’s the accent.”

  I laughed and set my soda down. “Fine, 007. What’s your plan?”

  “Oh, I’ve got to hear this.” Demetri rolled his eyes. “Yes, British man-whore, what’s your plan to help our brother out?”

  “Brother?”

  “Guilty by association.” Demetri waved me off. “So, your plan?”

  Jaymeson cleared his throat and thrust his hand into the air, asking for complete silence. “Action.”

  I waited, thinking surely he was going to say more than that. But he nodded his head and took another sip of soda as if he’d just cured world hunger.

  “Huh?” Demetri and I said in unison.

  “Action,” Jaymseon said it slower this time.

  “Dude, my hearing’s fine.” I scowled. “And I can spell so you don’t have to go into that much detail. I’m just trying to figure out what the hell you’re talking about.”

  “Big gestures.” Jaymeson threw his hands up in the air. “Big gestures and actions, but little gestures too. You can’t tell her the words because you’ve been lying. When a liar uses words to convince someone to believe them it’s like trying to swim with weight wrapped around your legs. It won’t work. Eventually you’ll tire out and sink.”