Down in Flames (Silver Tongued Devils Series Book 1)

by Samantha Conley

  I keep getting texts from Josh, telling me how sorry he was for the way he acted, that he was being a jerk and wanted to go out again. I just roll my eyes. Does he really think he has a chance in hell of a second date? Even if I wasn’t with Derek right now, that guy totally blew it. I texted him back, letting him know that all was forgiven, but I didn’t think we would work out. I purposely left out any mention of Derek so there wouldn’t be any drama.

  I glance at the clock and realize it's time for me to start getting ready. He texted me earlier and said to wear something comfortable. I have no idea what his plans are, but I know I'm excited to spend some more time with him. I decide to wear a pretty, blue top, jeans, and some comfortable boots. I'm just finishing up putting on my earrings when I hear the knock at the door. I feel the rush of excitement, knowing I get to see him again. I hurry to the door and fling it open.

  "Brett?" I clear my throat. "What are you doing here? I really wasn't expecting you to drop by."

  "Can I come in?" I open the door further and he enters.

  "Um, just give me a second." I run to the table and grab my phone, shooting a quick text to Derek to let him know that Brett's here. I don't want him walking into an awkward situation. Setting the phone down, I turn back to Brett. He looks like crap. I don't know what happened to the man I fell in love with, but that man is not who I'm looking at right now. I take him in from head to toe. His once glossy hair is now flat. His complexion is sickly, and he's lost weight. He looks like half the man I used to know.

  "Not that it's not nice to see you, but I didn’t expect you to drop by. What's going on?" I try to keep my distance from him without it being too obvious. It feels strange to have him here.

  "I just needed to see you, Kristen. I don't know why. It suddenly hit me today. I still don't like the way things went down between us. I know I can't change it, and I can't make you forgive me or trust me." He looks so sad standing there. I want to hug him, but I push that thought away quickly.

  "Oh, Brett," I sigh. "I've forgiven you, but I just don’t trust you with my heart. That may make me a bitch, but I can't help the way I feel. It would just hurt both of us. I do worry about you, though." Especially after seeing him now, in person. I guess he has been partying as much as it was implied. I was kind of hoping that things weren't as bad as they are. I feel guilty that I’m the cause of this, the cause of his downward spiral into whatever the hell this is. "I don't know what to do, Brett. Why did you need to come see me?"

  "I just missed you, I guess. I needed to see your face, hear your voice." He takes a deep breath. "I still have your voicemails on my phone, just so I can hear you. Your pictures are still on my phone."

  How the hell do I respond to that? We stand there, awkwardly. I honestly don't know what to say. I shuffle my feet and bite my lip.

  "Well, I guess it's time for me to go. I never meant to hurt you, Kristen. I hope you believe that." He looks so sincere.

  "I do." He walks over to me, grabs my hand and looks me in the eyes. All I can see is the sadness in his and it breaks my heart. He lowers his head to mine, but I move, so he kisses my cheek. I look up at him, and he has a small, sad smile on his face. "Goodbye, Kristen." He turns and walks out the door.

  I sit down on the couch. I don't know what the hell just happened, but it worries me. I'm afraid things are going to get worse before they get better. I grab my phone and text Derek to let him know that Brett just left. I don't think I feel like going out anymore, though. There are too many thoughts racing through my mind, and I have a sick feeling in my stomach.

  There’s another knock at the door, and I check to see who it is this time. I barely have time to open it before Derek has me wrapped in his arms. "I was already in the parking lot when I got your text. It took all I had to stay outside. Are you okay?”

  I nod my head, but then I start to cry. He just holds me to him until I soak his shirt. With a small sniffle, I lean back.

  "What’s happened to him? He looks horrible. I barely even recognized him. I didn't do this to him, did I?" I want him to tell me it's not my fault, but when I look into his eyes, I don't know what I see. Pity? Guilt? I don't know if I want him to answer now. My heart starts to pound and I can’t breathe.

  He cups my face with his hands. "Stop. Breathe, Kris. It's not your fault, but I can't say it doesn't have anything to do with you. To say he hasn't taken your breakup well is an understatement."

  Derek takes my hand and leads me to the couch and we both sit down.

  "I hope you don't mind, but I really don't feel like going out tonight. Can we just stay here?"

  "Of course we can. I'll just order us some pizza and we can watch some movies. I think it's a great idea."

  He gets the pizza ordered, and we turn on the movie. I can't concentrate on it, though. All these thoughts are swirling around in my head. I know the breakup was rough. Not just on him, but on me too. Maybe in the beginning, I wanted him to hurt as much as I did when he cheated on me. I never wanted this for him. To think that drugs and alcohol were the answer. Now all I want is for him to be is happy, because I'm feeling happy with Derek. We finish eating just as the movie ends. Derek moves so we're facing each other. I can see that whatever is on his mind is bothering him.

  "I've been worried about him for a long time. It seemed like the first month after y'all broke up, he was sad, but he still held out hope. Within a short period, he just started to spiral, picking up random chicks. He started drinking a lot more too. These last couple months though…" He takes a deep breath and lets it out. "I can't remember the last time I've seen him sober. And I don't think he's just drinking. I talked to Jason yesterday, after I brought you home, about this. We're going to get with Brian and let him know how concerned we are. Something needs to happen before Brett does something we can't fix. He needs help, but I think we need to be cautious about how we approach it. That's one of the reasons why I don't mind keeping quiet about us, but I won't keep quiet forever. And just so you know, Jason knows about us."

  At my questioning look, he says, "Jason was coming to see me yesterday when we were leaving and saw us in the truck. He confronted me about it when I got back home, but he's agreed that it's best we keep it quiet for now." He gazes into my eyes, and he must see something there.

  "This is not your fault, Kris. I don't blame you for breaking up with him, for not being able to trust him again. It's not on you for how he’s reacting to the situation. He had a choice, and he chose to drown himself in pussy and booze. I know you were hurt too, but you didn't decide to drink away the pain, or hop on to the next available dick. Everyone has free will. This is what he chose.”

  He pulls me closer until I’m lying with my back to his chest, between his thighs. Just being next to him makes a certain calm flow over me and I relax into him.

  Sometime later, I feel him shift, and then he’s picking me up. I look up into his face and he’s smiling down at me. He carries me to the bedroom and sits me on the side. “Anything in particular you want to sleep in?”

  “Your shirt,” I say, and one side of his mouth quirks up. He strips off his shirt and tosses it to me. I begin to take off my top, but he stops my hands.

  “You okay with me staying tonight? Or do you need some time?”

  I reach my hands to his face and bring him closer to me, kissing him softly on the lips. “Please, stay with me.”

  “No place else I’d rather be.”

  He stands up and toes off his shoes. Removing my top, I pull his T-shirt on. He reaches down and unbuttons my pants and pulls them down my hips. “Go do what you need to do so we can go to bed.”

  When I finish in the bathroom, he heads in after me. I climb in under the covers and wait. He’s out quickly and climbs in beside me, gathers me to him and kisses me on the lips.

  “Good night, Kris. Sweet dreams.”

  Chapter 20

  Derek

  Kristen and I ended up spending all of Sunday at her apartment, just chilling out. Ja
son and I have been texting back and forth about when we’re going to talk to Brian about Brett's behavior. We finally set up a meeting for tonight to talk.

  Kristen looks at me. "Are you sure this is the way you need to go about this? Kind of sounds like an intervention. Is he that far gone?" She starts to bite on her lower lip. It’s her tell when she's nervous.

  "I'm afraid if we don't take the bull by the horns now, it will get that bad, and that's the last thing we want. Brett has been my best friend since we were kids. I hate seeing him this way. We're only going to talk tonight and come up with a plan." When she nods, I give her a kiss on her forehead and head out the door.

  Brian, Jason, Isaac, and I agreed to meet at the little Mexican food place up the road. I walk in the door and see that I'm the last one to arrive, so I pull up the only remaining chair. The waitress walks over and I place my order for some tacos and another round of beers.

  Clearing my throat, I start the conversation. "Okay, guys. I know we've all noticed how Brett has been acting lately. Well, not just lately, but for the last few months. It’s not getting any better. As a matter of fact, it's only getting worse." Nods come from all around the table. "I can understand him needing to get with any pussy he can. I think we can all agree he's taking that to the extreme. I think he's taking the manwhore title away from Isaac." Isaac gives a small smile. "But now he's hardly ever sober. It's not just alcohol that's the problem. Some of those lowlifes he's been hanging with must be supplying him. I'm afraid if we don't do something soon, he's going to hurt himself or someone else."

  Jason looks around the table. "Brett's been our friend for a long time, and some of us before the band.” He nods to me. "Brett has always been the heart of us, but now we're just coming in second."

  Isaac looks at Jason, then me. "If Brett’s taking away the manwhore title from me, then I think we can say he definitely has a problem. I think I've seen him a couple times, buying some shit off those guys. I tried asking him about it, and he just blew me off and changed the subject. When it happened, we were already getting ready to go on stage, and I didn't have a chance to ask him again, I forgot. That makes me feel like shit. Maybe if I would have stayed on his ass, we wouldn't be in this right now." He picks up his beer and takes a long drink and slams it back on the table. "Why the hell didn't I stay on him?"

  The waitress walks up and begins to place our plates on the table. "You might wanna bring us another round, darlin'. I think it's gonna be a long night," Jason informs her.

  She nods and hurries away, but not before throwing Isaac a sexy grin, which he doesn't even seem to notice. Interesting. Or maybe he's wrapped up in self-loathing right now.

  "It's not your fault, Isaac. It’s all of us. I think we saw what we chose to." He looks at me and nods.

  We dig into our food and exchange some small talk, throwing around ideas for songs, writing lyrics, and staging for music. Most of the night, Brian doesn't say much.

  "Brian, what do you think we should do at this point? This has just as much to do with you as it does with us. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be where we are today. We all look up to you. You're as much a part of this band as each of us."

  Brian slowly peels the label off his beer bottle, then looks around the table, making sure to make eye contact with each of us.

  “I love you guys. You're more than just a band to me, you're family. To see one of my family struggling like this weighs heavy on my heart. Not only because he's hurting himself, but he's hurting us all, as a family and as a band. Professionally, this could hurt us. If he continues down this path, he's not going to be dependable. Y'all are the band, but he’s the face. He's the one who’s most recognizable. If he starts to fuck up, it could ruin us all. Personally, he has the potential to destroy this family. I’ll move heaven and earth to try and prevent that."

  My food sits heavy in my stomach. I guess in the grand scheme of things, I wasn't thinking about what it could do to us professionally. Of course, I never thought music would be my profession forever. I always figured I'd end up in construction with my dad. So when we hit it big, it was an exciting thing. Now, to think it could all come crashing down is a blow I didn't expect.

  "I think we need to sit him down and talk with him, like an intervention. But I don't want to give him the ultimatum of us all walking away. I just want him to know that we support him and love him. He needs help, but I don't know if he realizes it or not. Hell, he went to see Kris last night." Jason looks at me sharply. "She didn't say much about it, but it did upset her. We all know this path started after they broke up, but it's been nearly a year. And the way he's going about getting over her is just hurting him."

  Brian stands up. "We're supposed to meet at ten in the morning at the studio. We can have some breakfast brought in and just sit and talk like a family. Maybe that’ll get us started on the right track. I don't think we'll be lucky enough for him not to fight us on this, or agree to get help right away. It may take some time. We do have another tour coming up, so if you boys will excuse me, I'll start getting things set up. Y'all have a good night."

  I glance over it Isaac. "You're awfully quiet tonight. I expected it from stone face over here." I gesture toward Jason, who gives me the finger. "But not you. Something on your mind besides this?"

  Isaac takes a couple minutes, like he's trying to think of what he wants to say. "It's this and something else. Both are weighing heavily on me. I think we’ve got a good game plan for Brett. Now, I just need to figure out what I'm going to do about my other problem."

  "You having women problems?" I chuckle and take a swig of my beer. He doesn't say a word and drains his own, then signals the waitress for another. "What the hell, Isaac? You never have women trouble. Or, is it just one in particular?" Isaac nods his head. "Did you knock one of the groupies up?" He chokes on the drink of beer he just took.

  "Fuck no! I haven't knocked anyone up. I'm just way out of my league on this one. One chick? For me? I never would have thought that would happen. If you ever would have thought I'd be upset over one girl, I would have laughed in your face. But I can't get her out of my head. Scared she's burying herself inside my heart."

  Jason looks at him. "Who is it?" Straight to the point for old stone face.

  Isaac shakes his head. "I'm not ready to go there yet. As much as I want us to be a couple, I don't think she's ready. Listen to me, a couple? A relationship? God, I never thought I'd hear those words come out of my mouth." Isaac takes another swig of beer. "They have any hard liquor in this place? I think I need it."

  Jason looks over at me and points to me with his bottle. “Do you wanna let your cat out of the bag?" I give him a look that says he better shut the hell up.

  "What's he talking about?” Isaac asks me. “You got something you need to let out too? You having woman trouble of your own?

  I debate on telling him about me and Kristen, but I decide against it, at least for now. "No trouble, really. I just don't want it out in the open. Not right now, but soon."

  Isaac looks at Jason. "How about you, man? I see that little hickey on the side of your neck. You got you a woman on the side?" Damn, is he blushing?

  "Nothing to talk about." He finishes off his beer and sits the bottle down. He pulls out his wallet and throws down some cash. "I'll see you boys in the morning." He turns and heads out the door.

  Isaac gets up too. "I have something I need to do tonight. I'll catch you in the morning." He throws down some cash and follows Jason.

  "You good to drive?" I holler at him. He gives me a little wave and is gone. I finish my beer and check my phone. Kristen texted me, wondering if I'm coming back over tonight or heading home. I text back that I'm going to run by my place and get some stuff, then I'll be over. I'm spending all the time I can with her. I get up, pay the check and head out to my truck.

  Chapter 21

  Derek

  Monday morning came way too early. I guess I didn’t realize that Kris went to CrossFit before the sun e
ven thought about coming up. I remember her asking me to go with her, but I think I fell back to sleep before she finished asking. I woke up again a few hours after she left. Apparently, she already snuck back in, got ready for work, and left again. I walk into the living room, running my hand through my hair and yawning. I spy a piece of paper stuck to the coffee maker and head that way. Have a great day! Xoxo, Kris. I can’t help but smile as I pour a cup of coffee and get ready to head out.

  I text Jason, Isaac, and Brett to see if we’re going to hit the gym before we go to the studio. For us, keeping in shape helps us keep the female fans just as interested in us as our music. Jason and Isaac hit me back pretty quickly with affirmatives. Nothing from Brett, though. I’m already wearing my work out clothes so I head to the gym. Since I’m the first to arrive, I go in so I can start stretching.

  After a few minutes, Jason and Isaac stroll through the doors. I check my phone, but there’s still no reply from Brett. “Y’all heard anything from Brett?”

  Negatives from both of them. It’s been a while since Brett has joined us for our work outs. It’s one of the things we’ve always done as a group or in pairs for as long as I can remember. Before music became our job, Brett and I stayed in shape working for my dad’s construction company.

  “Well, if he doesn’t show up by the time y’all stretch, we’ll start without him.” They nod and get ready.

  Instead of texting, I call Brett. It rings a few times and goes to voicemail. “Hey, man. Just wondering if you were going to join us at the gym. Don’t forget, we’re supposed to be at the studio at ten. See ya.” I put my phone away. “What’s first? Weights or cardio?” They both moan at cardio. Ha! Weights it is.