Chapter 22 - Carter
Maddox hung up the phone and looked at me, his eyes wide. The limo lurched, and all four of us—me, Maddox, Lacie, and Veronica—almost fell over.
“What the fuck is going on? What did you mean we won’t play?” I asked. The blood was pumping in my veins. Had I heard him right?
“Apparently Morgan and Garrett were sending nudes to each other while we were in New York.”
“What?!” Lacie and Veronica said in unison.
“Garrett’s ex-girlfriend came out of the woodwork and threatened to release them if we go through with tonight’s show. Garrett says it’ll end Morgan’s career, and he doesn’t want to go on.”
“So he and Morgan…” I trailed off.
Maddox nodded.
I sat back and shrugged. “I guess we’re not playing.”
“You guys would do that for Morgan?” Lacie breathed, her eyes wide. I put his hand over Veronica’s and interlaced his fingers with hers. She looked at me with wide eyes and I nodded. It was the Grammys, and it was our album launch, but Garrett was more important than any of that.
“When we find someone, we’re loyal,” Lacie said. Vee’s mouth dropped open and I gave her a quick, tender kiss.
“It’s true,” I said. “Fuck the album launch. It’s just one show, we’ll play a thousand more.”
“This is the biggest show of the year,” Lacie breathed. “You’d give that up…?”
“Yes,” Maddox said, kissing his future wife. Veronica’s eyes misted up and I kissed her again.
“Thank you,” she whispered in my ear.
I said nothing, just held her close. She was the reason my divorce hadn’t ended in disaster, and if her friend was in trouble, I’d do anything to help them out.
Maddox and I went on the red carpet without Garrett. There were photos and questions about it, but we just smiled and posed and pretended like nothing was wrong. If anything, it would create more of a buzz. Maybe Garrett’s ex’s plan would backfire, and we’d actually get more press for not playing.
By the time we made it backstage, Garrett had Morgan in his arms. I could hear her protesting, her voice strained as she asked Garrett about us not playing the Grammys.
“Garrett called us on the way over,” I said as we all stepped through the door. I interlaced my fingers with Vee’s. “You’re one of us, now, Morgan. We won’t let you go through that.”
Morgan’s jaw dropped, and Garrett let out a sigh.
Tears welled in Morgan’s eyes. “You guys would throw away this chance to play at the Grammys just for me? I barely know you!”
Maddox chuckled. “But we know Garrett. And he knows you. We won’t play.”
Morgan looked like she was in shock. Garrett looked at me and Maddox and grinned. He nodded to us, as if to say thank you.
“We are in the market for a new PR company,” he said. “And it looks like you might be in the market for a new job.”
Morgan’s cheeks flushed and her eyes widened. She shook her head. “How could I…? I wouldn’t have any of the connections, I couldn’t—”
Vee inhaled beside me, and I could tell she wanted to go to her friend and comfort her. Garrett beat her to it, though, putting his hands on Morgan’s hips.
“I see the way people react to you, Morgan. They like you. And with the biggest rock band in the country as your first client, how could you fail?”
I glanced at Veronica. Her eyes were shining, and she squeezed my hand. Lacie and Maddox seemed to be having a similar wordless exchange.
“I have a non-compete agreement, even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to work for you!” Morgan protested.
Garrett kissed her. “I have your CEO’s number. Something tells me that when I let him know that his Managing Director hacked into my private accounts and tried to blackmail me, he’ll wave the non-compete.”
What the hell had happened between them? I’d have to ask him about it later, but at that moment I heard someone start clapping behind us.
Clap… clap… clap…
It was slow and mocking. We all turned to see Brenda, Garrett’s ex, in the doorway.
“Congratulations, Garrett, you could win an Oscar for that performance. Have you considered getting into acting?”
“Brenda,” Garrett snarled. “Aren’t you done trying to ruin my life? What’s in it for you?”
“You’re a fool,” she said to Morgan. Both Lacie and Veronica made a move towards the woman in the doorway, and then they stopped.
Brenda scoffed. “You’re exactly the same man that broke my heart, Garrett. You haven’t changed a bit. Now, you’re going to break this poor girl’s heart too.”
Garrett roared. “I broke your heart?! You left me, remember? Are you delusional?”
“I had no choice!” She screamed. Brenda trembled in the doorway, not letting her eyes drop from Garrett. She lifted her long arm and pointed her long nail at Garrett. My eyes widened and I just watched the drama unfold.
“You made me get rid of my unborn child, Garrett! I’ll never forgive you for that. Never!”
Maddox frowned at me. I had no idea what the fuck was going on. Was this why Garrett had been so crazy these past six months? I’d been so focused on my divorce, and Maddox on his own legal shit that maybe we’d missed this whole thing.
But then Garrett frowned and took a step forward.
“What?”
“Oh don’t pretend that you didn’t know! Right after I took the pregnancy test, you went in the bathroom and by the time you came back out, you wouldn’t even touch me. I got the message loud and clear.”
Garrett shook his head. “How…? What?”
“You’re a pig.”
“Brenda,” he said softly, shaking his head. “I’ve had a vasectomy.”
Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed. Garrett stiffened, his hands balling into fists. “I know you were sleeping with what’s-his-face for months before you broke up with me. I saw the messages. You might have seen them too—I saved screenshots of them in my account. Unless my vasectomy magically undid itself, the baby wasn’t mine, and I never even knew about it.”
I don’t even know what happened next. Garrett said something, and then Brenda said something else, but I was too focused on holding Veronica in my arms to know what the fuck was going on.
Finally, his ex threw something and ran down the hallway. I frowned after her before turning back to my bandmates.
“What the fuck?” Maddox said, glancing after Brenda. “And I thought I was having a crazy week.”
Lacie smacked my arm and giggled.
Garrett picked up whatever she’d thrown and opened his palm to reveal a small black USB key.
“The pictures?” Morgan said, breathless. Garrett looked at her and shrugged. Morgan scrambled to get her laptop, and then she flushed. Garrett said something in her ear and her whole face and neck turned red.
Maddox cleared his throat and the two of them jumped.
“So… are we playing this show, or what?”
Garrett looked at Morgan, and she shrugged. A grin spread over our lead singer’s lips and he nodded to us.
“Let’s light that fucking stage on fire.”